Rubbish Arcade versions questions.
Are there any of the following games where the conversions could have been done much better on the Speccy 48/128?.
1) Kung Fu Master is surely one of the worst disappointments. If you look at Thundercats with its fast game play, large characters and decent scrolling then this could have been done in the same mould.
2) Nemesis. Again when you look how good R-Type was this game was clearly rushed. Great arcade game too which set the standards for the year.
Double Dragon remake is a breath of fresh air. I loved the arcade version and hated the original speccy version. The demo of the remake looks great!!
1) Kung Fu Master is surely one of the worst disappointments. If you look at Thundercats with its fast game play, large characters and decent scrolling then this could have been done in the same mould.
2) Nemesis. Again when you look how good R-Type was this game was clearly rushed. Great arcade game too which set the standards for the year.
Double Dragon remake is a breath of fresh air. I loved the arcade version and hated the original speccy version. The demo of the remake looks great!!
Post edited by spainboy on
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Jackal was another poor conversion - I loved the arcade game but the Speccy version was total garbage
R-Type.
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Drawn by someone who's arms are tied to their side?
loved the arcade machine
utterly HATED the spectrum conversion ..... hated it so much i took it back to the shop!
go play fernadez must die on c64 then to make up for jackal
Look , we're talking about a Spectrum 48k here, a machine designed as a home computer vs a dedicated arcade board. It's no wonder that many games couldn't live up to their arcade counterpart! Having said that, the wizardry of some programmers made the humble Speccy sing like a canary, and produced some astounding conversions. Gnereally the best are those that, rather than take a direct conversion, looked at replicating the spirit of the arcade game.
I've said this before, but for many of us , just having a game that reminded us of those couple of weeks spent in the amusement arcade during the summer holidays was enough to satisfy us. We never expected an aracde perfect conversion, just something that was playable and which with a bit of imagination coupled with a pair of rose tinted spectacles made use feel we were back playing the arcade original.
Then there are those REALLY special conversions that are even more playable than the arcade original like Commando and Bombjack
It's a shame really that some of the best arcade games were ported by people who seemingly didn't care (Kung Fu Master, Double Dragon, Breakthru) whilst some of the more obscure got lavish treatment (Bombjack, Renegade)
Absolutely agree. I would add Spy Hunter and Tapper.
On the other side, there are some Spectrum games as good as the arcade version: Green Beret, Konami's Ping Pong (I didnt know there was an arcade version!), Renegade, West Bank, Hypersports, ...
All good games those - Hypersports and Green Beret are both brilliant (the brilliance of Jof) and yes the other games are all great too.
Arcade games could be converted 'well' if a good programmer took the correct approach - alas too many times they seemed to be a quick 'cash in' job as the publishers new the games would sell on the back of their arcade popularity.
The scroll is sharp. Sound causes headaches. The control system is slow. No 128k version. Really dissapointing.... :(
Kung Fu Master, what a shame!.
I think the Speccy version of Renegade is far better than the arcade version. Same goes for Spy Hunter.
Street Fighter 2
Bad Bad Bad
Street Fighter (both of them) were poor on the Speccy, but I think Final Fight was a pretty decent effort. It could have been far worse anyway.
I think that that the Speccy version of Final Fight is a mess to be honest. They've tried too hard to fit massive sprites in and the screen scrolls up & down when it doesnt really need to. They should have down sized the sprites and got the game running at a decent speed.
I also disagree about Super Hang On, other than the dodgy music I though it was a decent attempt.
By the way, about the first post, I went to appreciate the Fairlight games more since that time. Except for this, my views are pretty much the same as then.
What? :eek: This is one of the finest Spectrum coin-op conversions! A real masterpiece if you ask me.
Yeah, I remember buying that - I was so disgusted with it after playing it once, I never touched it again.
I disagree. The original game is so basic, the Spectrum version does a good job altogether in imitating it.
Wait until you see Soldier Of Light, Breakthru, Hydra, Vindicators, Track 'n' Field, Line Of Fire, ESWAT etc. to see a really disgusting Spectrum conversion.
By the way, last October I wrote a special article for the gamesark.it videogame web portal about the worst and the best of Spectrum coin-op conversions according to yours truly. You can recognize the games even if you don't understand Italian :D
Re. Pitfighter, it's a pretty ropey game in the first place and only made slightly interesting by the digitised characters in the original that were never going to make it to the speccy.
Agree, DK sucked on the spectrum.
agree with Pang, love that on the spec. (I'm guessing that was in the 'good' section)
was Rodland originally an arcade thing? can't imagine it was much better than the spec version if so. blown away the first time I played that, even in monochrome
Not a bad game, anyway.