I've got an Archimedes, an A3020 I think. It's a neat computer, but most of the games are just ports of Amiga titles. It supposedly has one of the best versions of Elite, though, and I hear Paradroid 2000 is pretty good as well.
I've got an Archimedes, an A3020 I think. It's a neat computer, but most of the games are just ports of Amiga titles. It supposedly has one of the best versions of Elite, though, and I hear Paradroid 2000 is pretty good as well.
yhea. reading my copies is what got me really looking into the uk retro computer stuff.Originally Posted by Nature Boy
i hear the same thing but i still can't confirm that though i've tried
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=131104
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Id take an Amstrad over the speccy any day. The colors are alot better, and the music doesnt blow.
They also look cooler (the unit itself)
Aetherbyte: PC-Engine and more homebrew
can't that be compaired to saying something like
"Id take an Atari Jaguar over the NES any day. The colors are alot better, and the music doesnt blow.
They also look cooler (the unit itself)"
just an example, i acually like the jag.
does the amstrad have the same number of good games? exclusives?
it may be more colorful or better sounding but if the games are crappy or not as plentiful....
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I'm not into boxes for the sake of boxes, Sir Clive's Sinclair Spectrum is my choice. There's a lot of games on it that I want to try out, and some are arcade ports (but not all).
Amstrad has a good-looking port of Contra (Gryzor) but nothing else sticks in my mind.
Actually, the ZX Spectrum has a pretty decent-looking version of Savage which I've been meaning to play. There may be better versions, but that one doesn't look horrible.
Last edited by Ed Oscuro; 11-27-2009 at 08:57 PM.
no it cant, because then youd be comparing apples and oranges. Atari Jaguar != NES in terms of time of release and general spirit of the hardware...
Your original question was RETRO COMPUTERS, so its assumed all comparisons are within that realm.
As for the Amstrad, look up the game library, alot of the same games as the spectrum with nicer colors, and better sound. Gryzor is a big one to show off. Things got a very good library of games.
ALOT of the games look really sharp, and have very vibrant colors. I really dont like playing games on a computer where the palette is dull, or monochrome.
The PSG in the amstrad does some pretty nice stuff!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2EqX3rpJ6M check that out.
and dont mind the Platoon remix in the middle of it
Aetherbyte: PC-Engine and more homebrew
point taken, but i did say it was a bad example.
though i get the impression that the spectrum has many more exclusives not avalible on the amstrad and perhaps an overall much larger library of games?
i'm going to make a guess here that the amstrad is also harder to find and more expensive.
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amstrads aren't too hard to find, and contain the typical 80s spread of games.
i cant think of any exclusives, but i also cant think of any on the spectrum really either
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Both are horrible, but as far as gaming concerned, the Spectrum is just useless. So yes, Amstrad; also large library of games, better sound/graphics/playability (hey you can connect an Atari joystick to the machine, you can't to the Spectrum), and an inch better than the Speccy.
Yeah there are some exclusives on Spectrum, Ultimate games spring to mind, but they are not worth persuing.
Last edited by tom; 11-28-2009 at 02:07 AM.
Having been playing with a number of the previously mentioned in emulation, I'd really like to have a BBC model B. It has quite a few good games and seems to be pretty easy to program.
Funnily enough, before I had played either computer I got in a big argument on a British gaming forum about the Amstrad being better than the Spectrum. I made the same arguments you guys are about the Amstrad having better graphics. But when I actually imported and played both systems, I completely change my tune. Amstrad games may be colorful, but they're SLOW and many are virtually unplayable.
There are lots of great exclusives for the Spectrum and virtually none for the Amstrad. Plus, almost all Spectrum to Amstrad ports look just like the Spectrum version, so they don't really take advantage of the extra colors. The Amstrad isn't a bad machine, it's much more reliable than the Spectrum and there are less compatibility issues across models, it's just a completely unnecessary computer.
If you're looking for arcade ports maybe the Amstrad is better, but who in this day and age wants to play arcade ports when you have MAME and whatnot? The only reason to dust off any of these old computers is to play the exclusives, and there's no comparison between the Amstrad and Spectrum.
Last edited by blue lander; 11-30-2009 at 02:44 PM.
theres no comparison between either of them really. When you get right the hell down to it they're both huge piles of garbage.
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From a technical standpoint the Spectrum is definitely a toy computer, but it actually has a fantastic library of creative, well written games we didn't have access to in the United States. Getting a Spectrum is like getting an MSX, you discover dozens of world class games you didn't even know existed. I think British game developers lost their way in the Amiga era, when they were too obsessed with outdoing Mario and Sonic, but back in the early 80's they cranked out quality games on par with what was coming out of the US or Japan.
Also, for everybody who's saying that Spectrum games look better on the Amstrad when they're ported over, can anybody name one? I'm not talking about arcade or Commodore 64 ports, I mean a game that was developed on the Spectrum and then ported to the Amstrad with superior graphics.
Last edited by blue lander; 12-01-2009 at 09:53 AM.
world class games....I wouldn't go that far. Cranked out quality games on par with USA and Japan.. You gotta be kidding.
Actually, many British computer programmers started out on Spectrum, doing some half arsed covers of well known titles...eg Frogger, Galaxian, Missile Command, Miner 2049er and so forth. They learned their craft and did some excellent programming later on Amiga, ST, consoles. The rest was shovelware from the likes of Ocean, Elite, Domark, Grandslam, CRL.....
But one thing you will not find on a Spectrum...a world class game.
Last edited by tom; 12-01-2009 at 11:36 AM.
I'd have to disagree. I'd compare the games produced by Ultimate PTG, Hewson, and Codemasters against what was coming out of Japan or the US at the same time. I'm not saying I'd necessarily put Raffaele Cecco and Matthew Smith in the same category as Shigeru Miyamoto, but they still made some damn fun games.
You cannot compare UK companies with classic US companies like Origin, early EA, Infocom, Sierra, Sir-Tech, Mindscape, Broderbund, Synapse, Microprose, Omnitrend, Activision (in their prime before Activision set up a UK software house and went downhill), Datasoft, Lucasfilm, Sirius Software...etc. Those companies produced high quality 8-bit software by very talented programmers...Joe Vierra, Bill Hogue, Sid Meier, Richard Garriot, Doug Smith, Anne Westfall, Dan(ny) Bunton, Stephen Landrum, Bill Heineman, Edward Hobbs...etc..... their games sold wordwide, softs by Ultimate PtG on the other hand, did not.
Some of those companies actually had softs out on Spectrum, eg Activision, Microprose, well, they tried, what can one say....Codemasters on Spectrum, that'll work, Sir-Tech, obviously, that would never work.
Last edited by tom; 12-01-2009 at 05:31 PM.
lol, for someone that knows so much about retro computers you certainly seem to hate them.
i can scarely recall a computer in any of our conversations that you didn't think of as "junk" possibly with the exception of a few MSX2 models. i'm not harping on you or anything, you've helped me out pc wise on many occasions but i just find this funny.
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The UK certainly had a wealth of programming talent though: Jeff Minter, Andrew Braybrook, Nick Jones, Chris Butler, John Twiddy, Zac Townsend, Dave Collier, John Rowlands, Jon Hare, Stephen Ruddy, Geoff Crammond, Archer Maclean, Paul Woakes, Nick Gollop, Dan Phillips, Stan Schembri, Steve Snake, Andy Walker, Peter Baron, Dave Thomas, Jon Ritman. And that's a quick think on matters...
Just because some of their output isn't as well known as that produced by the people Tom mentioned, doesn't mean it wasn't good. Mind you, I'm only going through my brain for C64 guys here cos that's the machine I know best
Yes, excellent programmers....on C64 and A8. Also, Raffaele Cecco excelled on C64, but Matthew Smith and his Manic Miner/Jet Set Willy....ouch.The UK certainly had a wealth of programming talent though: Jeff Minter, Andrew Braybrook, Nick Jones, Chris Butler, John Twiddy, Zac Townsend, Dave Collier, John Rowlands, Jon Hare, Stephen Ruddy, Geoff Crammond, Archer Maclean, Paul Woakes, Nick Gollop, Dan Phillips, Stan Schembri, Steve Snake, Andy Walker, Peter Baron, Dave Thomas, Jon Ritman. And that's a quick think on matters...
Just because some of their output isn't as well known as that produced by the people Tom mentioned, doesn't mean it wasn't good. Mind you, I'm only going through my brain for C64 guys here cos that's the machine I know best
Last edited by tom; 12-02-2009 at 06:04 AM.
Getting back to the main topic, (and this is a question for people who have actual hands on experience rather than just watching videos on youtube) If somebody wanted to buy one European computer, would you actually recommend the Amstrad over the Spectrum? And I'm talking about a nice Amstrad built Spectrum +2 with a built in reliable tape deck, good keyboard, uses Atari joysticks and doesn't reset every time you look at it funny.
Last edited by blue lander; 12-02-2009 at 08:44 AM.
The Speccy +2 you mention is probably the best compromise and certainly one of the better build quality and reliability issues. Plus you get 128k for some enhanced or exclusive games.
Raf didn't program anything on the C64; Nick Jones converted all his games while at Hewson and Mikro-Gen along with Time Machine, and Jon Williams programmed First Samurai on the C64 for Vivid Image.
Nick Jones btw would later work on various console projects including the Earthworm Jim titles... guy was an unheralded legend in C64 circles imo.
Did the +2 have a better sound chip than the earlier models? Because if you listen to the theme title of a game like Aufweidersehen Monty (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVl-_wH84dc) and compare it to older Spectrum games whose soundtracks consist of beeps and fart sounds, it's hard to believe they came out of the same device
Yeah, I meant Nick Jones, Cybernoid and Stormlord, excellent C64 titles, but Raffaele Cecco got all the credit.
A good prove how UK programmers learned their craft on 8-bit and were great on consoles later on.
Last edited by tom; 12-02-2009 at 09:57 AM.
Yes. The 128, +2 and similar models used the AY-3-8910 chip, from the same family that was also used in the Vectrex, Atari ST and Intellivision.
Actually the AWM track isn't too bad of a translation from the original C64 SID version...
Last edited by Mayhem; 12-02-2009 at 10:08 AM.
Nothing can hold a candle to the SID, but in this instance I actually prefer the Spectrum version of that song. Seems like it has more channel separation. The Amstrad version is probably the weakest http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXpcmEU_qrA
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