I'm drooling over your anticipated Amstrad feature...

GetDexter · Post by **GetDexter** » Mon May 15, 2006 5:46 am

My argument as to why the Amstrad was a fantastic machine -

GET DEXTER ! An Amstrad exclusive and the most underrated isometric 3D game ever. In my book it SHARES TOP PLACE WITH HEAD OVER HEELS!!

Also its versions of

Spindizzy
Mercenary
Sorcery
Chase HQ
StarGlider
to name just a few, were far superior to the other 8-bit versions.

And did the Speccy have CPM, thus enabling it to run the wonderful Infocom text adventures? No! So us Amstrad users could play the wonderful Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy, Zork, Planetfall, The Leather Goddesses Of Phobos etc, while Spectrum owners were left drooling.

So there.

Opa-Opa · Post by **Opa-Opa** » Mon May 15, 2006 6:01 am

I owned CBM 64/128 and Spectrum 48/128 machines and can say with my hand on my heart that I never once was left "drooling" for anything on the Amstrad.

I'm am sure it was a capable machine but it was just another Amstrad "knock off".

Amstrad board meeting minutes....

"Stereo's are selling well, lets make those and sell them"
"VCR's are selling well, lets make those and sell them"
"Home computers are selling well, lets make those and sell them"

Â£299.00 for the colour monitor setup..? No thanks..

As anything games related interests me I am looking foward to reading all about the machine and hopefully learning lots of new things about a computer I never had/wanted, but left drooling, nah... I don't think so.

revgiblet · Post by **revgiblet** » Mon May 15, 2006 6:10 am

Just looking through my hard drive I notice that although I have a C64 emulator, a Spectrum emulator, a BBC emulator and even a ZX81 emulator I have no Amstrad CPC emulator. Why is that?

Is it because the only game I would ever play on it is 'Oh Mummy'? Why, yes, I think it is.

The best 8-bit version of Mercenary was on the CPC? Wash your mouth out with hydrochloric acid. The beige breadbin OWNED this game.

necronom · Post by **necronom** » Mon May 15, 2006 6:33 am

For me, the Amstrad never really existed. It's just a name that appeared on adverts "Available now for C64, Spectrum and Amstrad". At school it was always C64 and Spectrum and I don't think I've ever seen an Amstrad in real life (maybe I saw one in Dixons). I certainly haven't ever played on one (apart from trying an emulator once) or known anyone who had one. I actually know someone who had a Dragon 32 though

I think the problem people have is that it was quite similar to the C64 and had mostly the same games, so people don't really see the point in it. I see it as "like a C64, but without the SID chip". I think it gets ignored by C64 and Spectrum fans. Probably unfairly. It just wasn't distinctive enough.

I could be wrong, but that's how I see it.

Darran@Retro Gamer · Post by **Darran@Retro Gamer** » Mon May 15, 2006 6:36 am

Waits for someone to start talking about how the BBC was better...

Post by **CraigGrannell** » Mon May 15, 2006 6:46 am

The Oric owns them all, clearly.

TMR · Post by **TMR** » Mon May 15, 2006 6:55 am

revgiblet wrote:The best 8-bit version of Mercenary was on the CPC? Wash your mouth out with hydrochloric acid. The beige breadbin OWNED this game.

Actually, the Atari 8-bit version of Mercenary is the best... ran like the C64, but with a 1.7MHz 6502 pushing things around rather than the C64's 0.98MHz 6510 it was significantly faster on the refresh.

revgiblet · Post by **revgiblet** » Mon May 15, 2006 6:57 am

TMR wrote:
revgiblet wrote:The best 8-bit version of Mercenary was on the CPC? Wash your mouth out with hydrochloric acid. The beige breadbin OWNED this game.
Actually, the Atari 8-bit version of Mercenary is the best... ran like the C64, but with a 1.7MHz 6502 pushing things around rather than the C64's 0.98MHz 6510 it was significantly faster on the refresh.

Why don't you just go back to Russia, you Atari-loving pinko.

DonkeySpank · Post by **DonkeySpank** » Mon May 15, 2006 7:02 am

I am also waiting with baited breath for the Amstrad article.

I ran out of bog roll two days ago and it'll save me a trip to the supermarket!

Darran@Retro Gamer · Post by **Darran@Retro Gamer** » Mon May 15, 2006 7:02 am

DonkeySpank wrote:I am also waiting with baited breath for the Amstrad article.

I ran out of bog roll two days ago and it'll save me a trip to the supermarket!

TMR · Post by **TMR** » Mon May 15, 2006 7:07 am

necronom wrote:I think the problem people have is that it was quite similar to the C64 and had mostly the same games, so people don't really see the point in it. I see it as "like a C64, but without the SID chip".

The hardware is very different and each side has advantages and disadvantages; the C64 has hardware smooth scrolling but has to move everything through software after that whilst the CPC has the option to alter the screen start address and dimensions (smooth vertical scrolling should be a snap, but the "port the Speccy" approach to a lot of games didn't lead to this far more optimal method being used much), the C64 has hardware sprites whilst the CPC is palette-based so software sprites don't suffer from clash but have a far higher CPU overhead.

The budget game Mission Genocide (by Paul "Spindizzy" Shirley) shows off the CPC hardware far more than most full-price commercial titles do, something like that scrolling with graphics similar to Dominator on the CPC is certainly possible.

TMR · Post by **TMR** » Mon May 15, 2006 7:08 am

revgiblet wrote:
TMR wrote:Actually, the Atari 8-bit version of Mercenary is the best... ran like the C64, but with a 1.7MHz 6502 pushing things around rather than the C64's 0.98MHz 6510 it was significantly faster on the refresh.
Why don't you just go back to Russia, you Atari-loving pinko.

Because i'm a C64 fan, but a realist at the same time...? =-) i completed Mercenary on both using different methods.

GetDexter · Post by **GetDexter** » Mon May 15, 2006 7:08 am

revgiblet wrote:
TMR wrote:
revgiblet wrote:The best 8-bit version of Mercenary was on the CPC? Wash your mouth out with hydrochloric acid. The beige breadbin OWNED this game.
Actually, the Atari 8-bit version of Mercenary is the best... ran like the C64, but with a 1.7MHz 6502 pushing things around rather than the C64's 0.98MHz 6510 it was significantly faster on the refresh.
Why don't you just go back to Russia, you Atari-loving pinko.

What's a 'pinko' ?

revgiblet · Post by **revgiblet** » Mon May 15, 2006 7:14 am

GetDexter wrote:What's a 'pinko' ?

I don't know.

DonkeySpank · Post by **DonkeySpank** » Mon May 15, 2006 7:14 am

an atari lover?

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