Console battle Q4 AMSTRAD GX4000 VS COMMODORE C64GS

[RodimusPrime]

Bored and stuck at work a lot for the next few weeks so fancied doing something long term on here for a bit of fun.

picked out 32 consoles and pitting them against each other in a knockout round. First up is 16 Qualifying rounds, will run this till 21/04/2017 and then the winners will be on to the next stage.

AMSTRAD GX4000 VS C64GS

Easy choice for me, grew up with the Amstrad cpc and although the Gx400 only has a few games, I am still fond of Pang, Navy Seals switchblade etc.

[merman]

C64GS has some great games too... Navy Seals, Pang

Seriously, the GS helped create some amazing carts that also work on the standard C64.
Whereas the GX4000 and Plus range were a bit of a dead end...

[crusto]

I believe they are both pretty crap, but have never played on either of them. I voted for the GX4000 out of some misguided sense of loyalty, being a CPC owner.

[RodimusPrime]

I believe they are both pretty crap, but have never played on either of them. I voted for the GX4000 out of some misguided sense of loyalty, being a CPC owner.

TBF, 99.9% of what happens on this forum is explained by misguided loyalty

[markopoloman]

I believe they are both pretty crap, but have never played on either of them. I voted for the GX4000 out of some misguided sense of loyalty, being a CPC owner.

TBF, 99.9% of what happens on this forum is explained by misguided loyalty

That's a lie.

(I voted for the C64GS because I had a C64 as a kid)



It is better though. So there.

[Antiriad2097]

Has to be the C64GS here. It is utterly pointless, but the quality of C64 games available on cart mean the GX4000's limited library can't begin to compete.

[ivarf]

Has to be the C64GS here. It is utterly pointless, but the quality of C64 games available on cart mean the GX4000's limited library can't begin to compete.

But all the C64GS games were just brown and grey crap games weren't they? And they were 24.99 not 1.99 and there were few of them. Not one ofn them did anything a C64 couldn't so why buy one?

[Mayhem]

But all the C64GS games were just brown and grey crap games weren't they? And they were 24.99 not 1.99 and there were few of them. Not one ofn them did anything a C64 couldn't so why buy one?

The games were priced between £15-25 depending on the publisher. And Navy SEALS and Robocop 2 are definitely not brown and grey heh. Only a couple truly used the format to do things that would struggle on disk though, such as Battle Command and Shadow of the Beast.

[ivarf]

But all the C64GS games were just brown and grey crap games weren't they? And they were 24.99 not 1.99 and there were few of them. Not one ofn them did anything a C64 couldn't so why buy one?

The games were priced between £15-25 depending on the publisher. And Navy SEALS and Robocop 2 are definitely not brown and grey heh. Only a couple truly used the format to do things that would struggle on disk though, such as Battle Command and Shadow of the Beast.

Sounds like the Amstrad GX 4000 ...

[Antiriad2097]

Has to be the C64GS here. It is utterly pointless, but the quality of C64 games available on cart mean the GX4000's limited library can't begin to compete.

But all the C64GS games were just brown and grey crap games weren't they? And they were 24.99 not 1.99 and there were few of them. Not one ofn them did anything a C64 couldn't so why buy one?

I did say it was utterly pointless, the reason being the C64 exists. But in a battle against the GX4000, I'd rather have the GS.

[ivarf]

Best hardware? No discussion, the Amstrad GX4000, except for sound.
Best games? Discuss! My guess, if you pick only a handful games, the Amstrad wins

[paranoid marvin]

The fact that c64gs games worked on a standard c64 makes the whole system utterly pointless. I don't think the same could be said for the gx4000, is to play gx4000 you had to own the console? On the other hand, you had to want to play Amstrad games...

If I was stranded on a desert island and was forced to choose between the machines it would definitely be the c64gs - but id still be thinking of my beloved VCS whilst we were playing.

[ivarf]

Even the bog standard Amstrad CPC can do things like what are shown below

Pinball Dreams
http://youtube.com/watch?v=AUnwb-Ujzh8

Batman Forever demo
http://youtube.com/watch?v=QadPMxfQxS4


The GX4000 has hardware sprites, better hardware scrolling, DMA sound, 32 colours onscreen before any tricks are used, a palette of 4096 colours and SCART output. Sprites can use 16 colours in up to 640x200 pixels.

The hardware in the Amstrad GX4000 is also used in the Amstrad plus series. The few games that used the machine well, were early games that still only scratched the surface of what was possible

[Antiriad2097]

The few games that used the machine well

And there lies the problem. Amazing hardware without much in the way of decent games is fairly useless.

See also the current Switch lineup.

[paranoid marvin]

The few games that used the machine well

And there lies the problem. Amazing hardware without much in the way of decent games is fairly useless.

See also the current Switch lineup.

I agree. A (very) limited library, and not all the games were great. There's a fine line between a system with or without a large enough catalogue of quality games to make it worth buying. The Vectrex just about sneaks into the former whilst the Commodore and Amstrad machines are very much in the latter.