Discuss: Spectrum vs Amstrad Gaming

[batman877]

The only game I can think of which was noticably bad on the Amstrad was Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade which seemed to have a bug meaning it was impossible to get past the first level (I had the C64 version which was good).

It wasn't that bad... just ported straight from the Spectrum version (hence the monochrome blue!) I had the cassette version at the time and had no problem finishing the first level. Perhaps there was a problem with a compilation version you had (or even a ROM)? Disk versions of compilations were notorious for leaving off vital code so that the games would fit onto the lowest amount of disks possible. Turbo OutRun is a good example, whilst the standard alone version was fine.

[JamesC]

The only game I can think of which was noticably bad on the Amstrad was Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade which seemed to have a bug meaning it was impossible to get past the first level (I had the C64 version which was good).

It wasn't that bad... just ported straight from the Spectrum version (hence the monochrome blue!) I had the cassette version at the time and had no problem finishing the first level. Perhaps there was a problem with a compilation version you had (or even a ROM)? Disk versions of compilations were notorious for leaving off vital code so that the games would fit onto the lowest amount of disks possible. Turbo OutRun is a good example, whilst the standard alone version was fine.

It could have been a compilation versio but def wasn't a copy. You could get through the whole cave but then it would just stop, so we never got to the train section.
I made it all the way to the end on the C64 version though. I really liked the game at the time but the multiload was a bit of a pain.

[NeppyDreamy]

Give me playability anyday over a few more colours. Thats one reason why i still love Atari VCS games or other older games (Gameboy etc). Its like kids of today playing Pacman or other arcade hits and saying theyre rubbish as the graphics are poor. Its all about gameplay. Theres been threads before where people talk about how much better xxx was than xxx due to technical stuff. No one cared about that ! Like i say it was games games games

where is the like button
W H E R E I S T H E L I K E B U T T O N

the console war these days is pointless anyway. you've got Nintendo doing their own thing to the others, and the only difference between PS4 and XBOne is the few exclusives, and what friends you have on what console side.

back in the day I'm led to believe from what I know that it was indeed the games that made people prefer, especially in the 90s where SNES/MD was pretty much equal in NA/EU

can't really comment on the main topic tho

[ivarf]

You'd have used the monitor a lot, trust me on that. It'd sure beat arguing with the rest of your family for the use of the TV set in the evening, and even if you had a spare colour TV - as I did - there'd still be a lot of games that'd look better in clear monochrome than fuzzy colour.

Back in the 80s, I had a 464 with colour monitor, a green monitor and the TV modulator. The only item that got little use was the TV-modulator as its fuzzy image couldnt be compared to the RGB colour monitor. For serious work, and mine was used a lot for that as well, the 80 coloumn hires green monitor was gold too.

[kiwimike]

I had a 464 for a while, and I was a bit unfair on it at the time, thinking the games were rubbish. Before the benefit of internet, in NZ we relied on what games were on the shelf, what magazines told us. Retail was unfair, magazines were unfair, ultimately we were unfair on the machine as well without all the facts.
I had a Spectrum as well, and yes I preferred it- because other kids had them too so I had a ton of games for it. On 464 I really only had Amsoft games, and Cauldron. Loved Cauldron
BUT- That said, living at home, and I loved text adventures, so that green screen monitor and full keyboard was brilliant for playing adventure games away from the main TV