Some background info split into three sections, Spoilered as its identical in each topic to save the same questions being asked, perhaps please read have a skim read once.
Preamble
Spoiler
None of this is in any way attempting to downgrade these games on other platforms, someone will love them elsewhere regardless of which we are all here for our retro computing experiences because we enjoy it. I sometimes enjoy titles (which are not tested here) on other platforms too!
This was initially planned to be about 10 "of the well known" but the list started to grow to 20 then 30... I had to be sensible so it is now only 21 games, otherwise it could of grown to about 100 or more.
I'm aware there are some perhaps 'better' candidates for this and also that some of the games I played do actually exist on platforms I have not tested. The reason for this is as I worked with what I "had to hand" already plus what I could find easily and actually loaded without too much difficulty.
For example I did have a couple more Oric Atmos games and some more MSX versions too, however as I was unable to get them to load I had to discount them which was a bit of a shame unfortunately but I did not want to waste too much time hunting more versions down. In general, if the version I had to hand did not work and one or two attempts (say a tape and a disc version) obtained from elsewhere did not function despite adjusting emulation machine type settings etc then I ignored that game on that machine.
Its not really a group review as such, perhaps in some ways it could be considered 'mini comments' about each game as I saw them, errors and omissions excepted! I'm also purposely not covering our versions of these games here. I do point out some differences between versions where I noticed them but this is merely for reference such as playing speed and controls etc.
This was initially planned to be about 10 "of the well known" but the list started to grow to 20 then 30... I had to be sensible so it is now only 21 games, otherwise it could of grown to about 100 or more.
I'm aware there are some perhaps 'better' candidates for this and also that some of the games I played do actually exist on platforms I have not tested. The reason for this is as I worked with what I "had to hand" already plus what I could find easily and actually loaded without too much difficulty.
For example I did have a couple more Oric Atmos games and some more MSX versions too, however as I was unable to get them to load I had to discount them which was a bit of a shame unfortunately but I did not want to waste too much time hunting more versions down. In general, if the version I had to hand did not work and one or two attempts (say a tape and a disc version) obtained from elsewhere did not function despite adjusting emulation machine type settings etc then I ignored that game on that machine.
Its not really a group review as such, perhaps in some ways it could be considered 'mini comments' about each game as I saw them, errors and omissions excepted! I'm also purposely not covering our versions of these games here. I do point out some differences between versions where I noticed them but this is merely for reference such as playing speed and controls etc.
Emulation stuff
Spoiler
The chosen machines being emulated along with their respective emulators I used for this are:
Amstrad CPC464 and CPC6128 via the CPCE95 and WinApe emulators
BBC Micro Model B and Master 128 via the B-Em and BeebEm emulators
Commodore Plus4 and C64 via the Hoxs and Vice emulators
MSX and MSX2 via the BlueMSX emulator
Oric Atmos via the Oricutron emulator
Amstrad CPC464 and CPC6128 via the CPCE95 and WinApe emulators
BBC Micro Model B and Master 128 via the B-Em and BeebEm emulators
Commodore Plus4 and C64 via the Hoxs and Vice emulators
MSX and MSX2 via the BlueMSX emulator
Oric Atmos via the Oricutron emulator
Spoiler
How I did this:
I did not run one emulator then each game in turn and play, as I'd likely forget anything specific about it between each variant! Instead I did it the harder way. One game tested on each platform in turn, taking a few screenshots and making very brief notes as I played. No real attempt was made to play them too hard or for too long, merely enough to get a feel for them in their different environment and how they were. Had I played with one emulator and each game, I may of lost thoughts about some of them when it came to using a different emulator for the next round, so although it was a lot more work I think it was worth it.
The comments on each version are not always in alphabetical order in each topic, this is by machine playing order rather than design as I used one text file per game for all machines and it does not reflect any form of rating, that being because a machine is first or last in the topic does not make its version of the game any better or worse.
I did not run one emulator then each game in turn and play, as I'd likely forget anything specific about it between each variant! Instead I did it the harder way. One game tested on each platform in turn, taking a few screenshots and making very brief notes as I played. No real attempt was made to play them too hard or for too long, merely enough to get a feel for them in their different environment and how they were. Had I played with one emulator and each game, I may of lost thoughts about some of them when it came to using a different emulator for the next round, so although it was a lot more work I think it was worth it.
The comments on each version are not always in alphabetical order in each topic, this is by machine playing order rather than design as I used one text file per game for all machines and it does not reflect any form of rating, that being because a machine is first or last in the topic does not make its version of the game any better or worse.
Spoiler
Its fair to say it took me ages and ages to do this over a couple of weeks as I had available free time, inclination and energy but it is something I had planned on doing quite a few months ago.
If you get half as much enjoyment from viewing the screenshots and reading my short comments on how I found each variant to be and perhaps posting a reply or two I'm happy.
Please enjoy!
If you get half as much enjoyment from viewing the screenshots and reading my short comments on how I found each variant to be and perhaps posting a reply or two I'm happy.
Please enjoy!
BBC
Emulator: BeebEm
There is a blue and white loading screen to start things off followed by a page of control keys. After that the simple title screen with author credits and previous high score are shown. The title page does feature some speech saying "Spy Hunter" on first load and good sound effects. There is no title tune as such.
The game offers both a narrow and widescreen option. The graphics in the narrow view look quite nice but in widescreen although a bit more playable they do look pixelated. Relative good use of colour has been made.
The controls are responsive to player input, the game plays at quite a sensible speed and the sound effects during gameplay are effective.
AMSTRAD CPC
Emulator: CPCE95
A very nice detailed loading screen starts things off, followed by a demo mode which consists of the level scrolling while offering a choice of control methods and skill level.
The game speed is a little bit slower than other versions but the controls respond well.
The graphics although not a high resolution are relatively colourful and the explosion effects are quite well done, as are the ingame sound effects too.
CBM64
Emulator: Vice64
There was no loading screen as such and once the game loaded it entered into a demo mode. Upon a keypress the choice of keyboard or joystick control was offered along with a skill level.
The ingame sound effects are quite good but the game plays at a slightly slower pace than expected. The version I used appeared (after testing) to have a timer bug but that does not distract from the screenshots.
