09-24-2022, 01:05 PM
Ole, Toro
Spanish tradition or animal cruelty? It's both. The Amstrad version was only released in Spain and lucky because the Spectrum version was released in the UK as well and it is considered one of the worst games on the computer that says A LOT. One magazine gave it 0, the others gave it low scores and people complained to CRASH magazine (considered the most popular at the time) that they weren't harsh enough. Not because of the game itself but because of bullfighting (even though the complete irony, some Brits actually go on holiday and go to a bullring for a visit). They complain about this but don't complain about Cabela's Dangerous Hunts/Adventures series where you kill animals and some endangered ones for some of the spinoffs, complete double standards from gamers. Even the review on CPC Game Reviews felt uncomfortable playing the game despite having detailed graphics and timing based gameplay. Wait... Was there a Spanish only PS4 game that had bull fighting?
My opinion? It was one of the earliest games from Dinamic from 1985, this is actually one of the easier games since they are known for tough games (the Spanish scene is like every game is Dark Souls). The game is okay gameplay wise from that era. Controls need to get used to (press up to call the bull then the direction and the fire button where the bull is heading towards with the right timing, it took a lot to work it out). Do think that there should have been an option not to murder the bull and let it live honorably after the passes with the red sheet.
Another game where the background is part of the sprites.
Techno Cop
Half Mode 0 (driving) and half Mode 1 (action) meaning that the game has two different styles of graphics. Something that isn't in the other versions. Had problems due to that Caprice input bug. Will do the enemies at some point.
Bronx Street Cop
Another Light Gun shooter but using the Magnum Light Phaser this time. On emulation, using a mouse feels great to play yet apparently the light gun itself was known to be bad. The keyboard/joystick version however feels very clunky to play (struggle to get past the Training Mission yet can almost complete the game with the Light Gun version). This game was published by Codemasters on the Spectrum but Mastertronic on the Amstrad along with American Turbo King, Jungle Warfare and F-16 Fighting Falcon.
Different publishers re-release games all the time but in the case of these games seems very unusual, especially since Supersonic Software and Optimus more or less only developed games for Codemasters. It can't be the gun as that was made by Amstrad even if it plays a part of it. Now that's a mystery that I wonder myself along with why does this use the same soundtrack as Motocross Simulator?
Speaking of which...
F-16 Fighting Falcon
MiG 29 Fighter
No, you're not seeing double. They used the exact same plane! Checked both games thoroughly for graphical differences and there are none. Actually a lot of the graphics are the same in both games (probably a good 85-90% if I have to guess) but technically they are classed as different games and specialist web sites such as CPC Power, CPC Game Reviews and Spectrum Computing all say the same thing (the Spectrum version is more interesting due to different staff on both games, the Amstrad version has both done by Supersonic Software). It even got two different reviews both contradict each other!
Now to get the Spectrum backlog down and a more interesting one to start with:
As a warning due to how the Spectrum does graphics, all the rips are in monochrome (black and white) as the palette is generated by the computer using 8x8 blocks even if the "sprites" aren't hence the colour clash. The palettes if there are any are provided. So if you're wondering why the rips look like that, that's why because it was designed for just two colors and some games also have shadow masks too. The exceptions are the loading screens as those have to be captured (but you can see the palette workaround that the computer does) and will do an example if Super Hang-On gets ripped.
Road Race
Ocean were working on a port of Konami's Hyper Rally (presumably would have been published under Imagine) originally on the MSX. When it got late into development, they felt that the game wasn't to their standard and cancelled the game also probably saving money by not giving Konami any royalties (this was their 4th MSX port after Yie Ar Kung Fu 2, Konami's Tennis and only by name Konami's Golf, there were no more MSX ports from them afterwards). So what happened then because the game was more or less done on a technical level, Ocean changed a few things (the car, the name of the game, km/h to mph, minor HUD details and the loading screen) and released the game for free in a magazine. This was considered one of the first full games that Your Sinclair gave out before the magazines were giving out free games at a monthly basis to the annoyance of the gaming industry. It was only until years later where people discovered the origins of the game from Mark R Jones. The Konami copyright and the Hyper Rally text are still in the font.
Sure the game is basic in terms of gameplay but it is decent and there are far worse games on the Spectrum. It does feel unfinished though such as the non working attract mode. Also noticed that the game also sends junk (cut off sprites) into the RAM, spent about a 5 hour goose chase comparing pixels from a sprite when it turned out after resetting the game and reloaded back into gameplay that the sprites weren't there. If it isn't for the backlog, probably will end up ripping the original game.
Nightmare Rally
Rolling Thunder
Rocky/Rocco
Another early Dinamic game but had to be recalled in the UK due to copyright reasons with a certain movie. Yeah, the graphics are like this... Yeah, that's Glass Joe as a portrait and on the loading screen... Frank Bruno's Boxing wasn't the only Punch-Out clone back then.
Smiths Super Champs
Let's add a packet of crisps (potato chips) to the list of stuff Yawackhary had ripped from non-gaming companies releasing games. Smiths were a company who released snack foods (examples include Scampi Fries, Bacon Fries and err... their bacon rashers Frazzles) but did release chips such as the Salt & Shake that I believe might be still going (they are plain crisps with a small blue bag where you add the salt in yourself instead of getting salted or ready salted as they are known in the UK). Now they are a sub-brand of Lay's, sub-brand because Walkers is used as the main brand in the UK and only using Smiths as a sub-brand for a few snacks including them awful Funyuns that you see in supermarkets piled high that no one eats. Not to be confused with the Australian Smiths potato chip brand.
James Bond 007 Action Pack
Lord Bromley's Estate
Q's Armoury
Bundles are popular such as the Genesis having Altered Beast or Sonic, SNES having the glorious Super Mario All-Stars & Super Mario World, Switch having all sorts including the recent of writing Splatoon 3, even the Amiga had the Batman pack. For the Spectrum, the James Bond 007 Action Pack was the bundle for the second generation. The Spectrum is divided into two commercial eras, the first were the ones who bought it mainly as a cheap computer to program stuff and play games on the sly but the second era was when Amstrad took over and made the computer a lot more accessible with the 2A. Having a built-in tape player, more focused on games because Clive Sinclair hated the idea and why the QL only really had one notable game but Alan Sugar was more for gaming, cheap budget games from £1.99 (imagine paying a few bucks for a brand new game), re-releases like the PlayStation Hits of today and magazines gave out free games. It also improved the games because the 128k was the default now having a better sound chip and more RAM. Actually I vaguely remember my older brother having this bundle.
This makes it interesting because the emulator that I use ZXSEC doesn't support the Magnum Light Phaser and only the Gunstick but because it loads the graphics into the memory, it means that I can rip from the games even if I can't get past the title screen... Actually the only emulator that works with this gun out of dozens is RealSpectrum and the palette is different compared to the newer emulators. Can see what they mean now by the gun...
A Nightmare on Robinson Street
Basically Operation Wolf meets Neighbours.
Pang
Trans-Europe Rallye
WEC Le Mans
Really enjoyed playing and ripping this one. For a Spectrum racing game, it's fast and still very playable today. Noticed the differences between the Spectrum and the Amstrad versions in terms of their approach. With the Spectrum, there isn't many cars on screen, less roadside objects with Konami signs. While with the Amstrad, there are more cars on screen making it a bit harder, more color despite using a similar mode to the Spectrum, more roadside objects (with an Ocean sign that the C64 version also got, that was on the sly) but the frame rate takes a bit of a hit. Despite that, it's still playable in terms of the hardware and both versions are one of the best racing games on their computers easily within the Top 5 in terms of the commercial era.
Rocman
Have a guess why I ripped this.
Mr. Wimpy
Not too much left on the Spectrum backlog, most of them are racing games (Enduro Racer, Super Hang-On, Days of Thunder), a few arcade ports and a doctor who is popular. Having problems finding the graphics to some of the enemies in Deathchase and for Road Racer (aka Formula One on the TC 2068), the boundaries aren't 100% correct. Yeah, unless I find something else that interests me that's it for the Speccy. Like with the CPC, many of the Ocean games are a no-go for me due to doing various programming tricks (split bitplanes, compression, nightmare layout). There's like 1000s of games, nearly 8000 that Spectrum Computing class as arcade alone and still gets new stuff. The modern games can look lovely but like with the Amstrad Spanish scene, won't be ripping them in the respects of the programmers. Am tempted to rip a couple but the last thing that I want to do is annoy the developer just for ripping graphics from the game. Very rare that I rip homebrew or fan games, mostly stick to commercial titles and prototypes.
Speaking of which, there is one rip light due to that the sheet got lost and that's because the game is cursed. Speed Duel. My usual ripping emulator doesn't get past the joystick select screen (but got the graphics) so had to boot up on RealSpectrum. On there it couldn't do a race as literally as soon as you start the car kept crashing by itself until Game Over. It even caused my computer to crash at 11am while ripping, a computer that rarely crashes and just about count with two hands over 4 years. I was extremely close of finishing the rip, just one palette away. Not risking that again...
Matador
Picador
Bull
Bullring
Spanish tradition or animal cruelty? It's both. The Amstrad version was only released in Spain and lucky because the Spectrum version was released in the UK as well and it is considered one of the worst games on the computer that says A LOT. One magazine gave it 0, the others gave it low scores and people complained to CRASH magazine (considered the most popular at the time) that they weren't harsh enough. Not because of the game itself but because of bullfighting (even though the complete irony, some Brits actually go on holiday and go to a bullring for a visit). They complain about this but don't complain about Cabela's Dangerous Hunts/Adventures series where you kill animals and some endangered ones for some of the spinoffs, complete double standards from gamers. Even the review on CPC Game Reviews felt uncomfortable playing the game despite having detailed graphics and timing based gameplay. Wait... Was there a Spanish only PS4 game that had bull fighting?
My opinion? It was one of the earliest games from Dinamic from 1985, this is actually one of the easier games since they are known for tough games (the Spanish scene is like every game is Dark Souls). The game is okay gameplay wise from that era. Controls need to get used to (press up to call the bull then the direction and the fire button where the bull is heading towards with the right timing, it took a lot to work it out). Do think that there should have been an option not to murder the bull and let it live honorably after the passes with the red sheet.
Another game where the background is part of the sprites.
Techno Cop
Technocop
Enemy Vehicles
Objects
Half Mode 0 (driving) and half Mode 1 (action) meaning that the game has two different styles of graphics. Something that isn't in the other versions. Had problems due to that Caprice input bug. Will do the enemies at some point.
Bronx Street Cop
Targets
Another Light Gun shooter but using the Magnum Light Phaser this time. On emulation, using a mouse feels great to play yet apparently the light gun itself was known to be bad. The keyboard/joystick version however feels very clunky to play (struggle to get past the Training Mission yet can almost complete the game with the Light Gun version). This game was published by Codemasters on the Spectrum but Mastertronic on the Amstrad along with American Turbo King, Jungle Warfare and F-16 Fighting Falcon.
Different publishers re-release games all the time but in the case of these games seems very unusual, especially since Supersonic Software and Optimus more or less only developed games for Codemasters. It can't be the gun as that was made by Amstrad even if it plays a part of it. Now that's a mystery that I wonder myself along with why does this use the same soundtrack as Motocross Simulator?
Speaking of which...
F-16 Fighting Falcon
F-16 Fighting Falcon
MiG 29 Fighter
MiG-29
No, you're not seeing double. They used the exact same plane! Checked both games thoroughly for graphical differences and there are none. Actually a lot of the graphics are the same in both games (probably a good 85-90% if I have to guess) but technically they are classed as different games and specialist web sites such as CPC Power, CPC Game Reviews and Spectrum Computing all say the same thing (the Spectrum version is more interesting due to different staff on both games, the Amstrad version has both done by Supersonic Software). It even got two different reviews both contradict each other!
Now to get the Spectrum backlog down and a more interesting one to start with:
As a warning due to how the Spectrum does graphics, all the rips are in monochrome (black and white) as the palette is generated by the computer using 8x8 blocks even if the "sprites" aren't hence the colour clash. The palettes if there are any are provided. So if you're wondering why the rips look like that, that's why because it was designed for just two colors and some games also have shadow masks too. The exceptions are the loading screens as those have to be captured (but you can see the palette workaround that the computer does) and will do an example if Super Hang-On gets ripped.
Road Race
Car
Ocean were working on a port of Konami's Hyper Rally (presumably would have been published under Imagine) originally on the MSX. When it got late into development, they felt that the game wasn't to their standard and cancelled the game also probably saving money by not giving Konami any royalties (this was their 4th MSX port after Yie Ar Kung Fu 2, Konami's Tennis and only by name Konami's Golf, there were no more MSX ports from them afterwards). So what happened then because the game was more or less done on a technical level, Ocean changed a few things (the car, the name of the game, km/h to mph, minor HUD details and the loading screen) and released the game for free in a magazine. This was considered one of the first full games that Your Sinclair gave out before the magazines were giving out free games at a monthly basis to the annoyance of the gaming industry. It was only until years later where people discovered the origins of the game from Mark R Jones. The Konami copyright and the Hyper Rally text are still in the font.
Sure the game is basic in terms of gameplay but it is decent and there are far worse games on the Spectrum. It does feel unfinished though such as the non working attract mode. Also noticed that the game also sends junk (cut off sprites) into the RAM, spent about a 5 hour goose chase comparing pixels from a sprite when it turned out after resetting the game and reloaded back into gameplay that the sprites weren't there. If it isn't for the backlog, probably will end up ripping the original game.
Nightmare Rally
Car
Rolling Thunder
Albatross
Rocky/Rocco
Gameplay Graphics
Another early Dinamic game but had to be recalled in the UK due to copyright reasons with a certain movie. Yeah, the graphics are like this... Yeah, that's Glass Joe as a portrait and on the loading screen... Frank Bruno's Boxing wasn't the only Punch-Out clone back then.
Smiths Super Champs
Bike
Let's add a packet of crisps (potato chips) to the list of stuff Yawackhary had ripped from non-gaming companies releasing games. Smiths were a company who released snack foods (examples include Scampi Fries, Bacon Fries and err... their bacon rashers Frazzles) but did release chips such as the Salt & Shake that I believe might be still going (they are plain crisps with a small blue bag where you add the salt in yourself instead of getting salted or ready salted as they are known in the UK). Now they are a sub-brand of Lay's, sub-brand because Walkers is used as the main brand in the UK and only using Smiths as a sub-brand for a few snacks including them awful Funyuns that you see in supermarkets piled high that no one eats. Not to be confused with the Australian Smiths potato chip brand.
James Bond 007 Action Pack
Lord Bromley's Estate
James Bond
Enemies
Backgrounds
Q's Armoury
Gameplay Graphics
Bundles are popular such as the Genesis having Altered Beast or Sonic, SNES having the glorious Super Mario All-Stars & Super Mario World, Switch having all sorts including the recent of writing Splatoon 3, even the Amiga had the Batman pack. For the Spectrum, the James Bond 007 Action Pack was the bundle for the second generation. The Spectrum is divided into two commercial eras, the first were the ones who bought it mainly as a cheap computer to program stuff and play games on the sly but the second era was when Amstrad took over and made the computer a lot more accessible with the 2A. Having a built-in tape player, more focused on games because Clive Sinclair hated the idea and why the QL only really had one notable game but Alan Sugar was more for gaming, cheap budget games from £1.99 (imagine paying a few bucks for a brand new game), re-releases like the PlayStation Hits of today and magazines gave out free games. It also improved the games because the 128k was the default now having a better sound chip and more RAM. Actually I vaguely remember my older brother having this bundle.
This makes it interesting because the emulator that I use ZXSEC doesn't support the Magnum Light Phaser and only the Gunstick but because it loads the graphics into the memory, it means that I can rip from the games even if I can't get past the title screen... Actually the only emulator that works with this gun out of dozens is RealSpectrum and the palette is different compared to the newer emulators. Can see what they mean now by the gun...
A Nightmare on Robinson Street
Enemies
Basically Operation Wolf meets Neighbours.
Pang
Player
Trans-Europe Rallye
Car
Obstacles
WEC Le Mans
Car
Really enjoyed playing and ripping this one. For a Spectrum racing game, it's fast and still very playable today. Noticed the differences between the Spectrum and the Amstrad versions in terms of their approach. With the Spectrum, there isn't many cars on screen, less roadside objects with Konami signs. While with the Amstrad, there are more cars on screen making it a bit harder, more color despite using a similar mode to the Spectrum, more roadside objects (with an Ocean sign that the C64 version also got, that was on the sly) but the frame rate takes a bit of a hit. Despite that, it's still playable in terms of the hardware and both versions are one of the best racing games on their computers easily within the Top 5 in terms of the commercial era.
Rocman
Rocman
Have a guess why I ripped this.
Mr. Wimpy
Mr. Wimpy
Enemies
Items
Not too much left on the Spectrum backlog, most of them are racing games (Enduro Racer, Super Hang-On, Days of Thunder), a few arcade ports and a doctor who is popular. Having problems finding the graphics to some of the enemies in Deathchase and for Road Racer (aka Formula One on the TC 2068), the boundaries aren't 100% correct. Yeah, unless I find something else that interests me that's it for the Speccy. Like with the CPC, many of the Ocean games are a no-go for me due to doing various programming tricks (split bitplanes, compression, nightmare layout). There's like 1000s of games, nearly 8000 that Spectrum Computing class as arcade alone and still gets new stuff. The modern games can look lovely but like with the Amstrad Spanish scene, won't be ripping them in the respects of the programmers. Am tempted to rip a couple but the last thing that I want to do is annoy the developer just for ripping graphics from the game. Very rare that I rip homebrew or fan games, mostly stick to commercial titles and prototypes.
Speaking of which, there is one rip light due to that the sheet got lost and that's because the game is cursed. Speed Duel. My usual ripping emulator doesn't get past the joystick select screen (but got the graphics) so had to boot up on RealSpectrum. On there it couldn't do a race as literally as soon as you start the car kept crashing by itself until Game Over. It even caused my computer to crash at 11am while ripping, a computer that rarely crashes and just about count with two hands over 4 years. I was extremely close of finishing the rip, just one palette away. Not risking that again...