Arch games that are better than the Amiga Versions

[stuslayer]

Oh, and of course... Dune II! Though I dunno what platform it was ported from. What a game that was BITD!!

[stuslayer]

Flashback - although I only ever got to play the first level demo from an Acorn User coverdisc...

[robcfg]

Hero Quest!

I think the Archimedes version was absolutely stunning!

[SarahWalker]

Oh, and of course... Dune II! Though I dunno what platform it was ported from. What a game that was BITD!!

PC. The Arc version is something of a visual downgrade.

Flashback - although I only ever got to play the first level demo from an Acorn User coverdisc...

Also ported from the PC version, hence why it's a bit more colourful than the Amiga version (which itself is a port of the Mega Drive version, though the MD version ended up released later...).

[fwibbler]

Pipe Mania:

Amiga: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUCKC_-8rnM
Archimedes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is6ejcghdX0

Again, just all-round much nicer on the Archimedes, more colours, higher res etc. Having played most versions of Pipe Mania, under it's various names across numerous platforms, I'd class the Archimedes version as the best version ever made.

Perhaps its because it was the first (and only at the time) version that I played, I always thought the BBC version was excellent and very polished and frankly, better than the other 8-bit versions.

[kppot]

I's suggest the following list for cross platform titles

Heimdall
Lemmings (Oh no)
Populous
Dune 2
SpeedBall 2
Chaos Engine
Descent (yay)
Hero Quest
Elite
Flashback
Chuck Rock
Gods
Magic Pockets
Alone in the Dark (can run it on A3000, but 3020 refuses to run it)
James Pond
Sim City
Simon The Sorcerer
Swiv
Wolfenstein
Zool

[sirbod]

14 of which are available via JASPP using PackMan on modern machines
Elite is available on Ian Bell’s.

Note to self....sort out Chaos Engine

[SarahWalker]

Yes, but what makes any of those "Arch games that are better than the Amiga Versions"?

[scruss]

Indeed. That's just a list.

I'd be monstrously surprised if Arch SWIV was better than the Amiga version. The Amiga's custom chips handle the lots of tiny objects trying to kill you very well.

[MatthewThompson]

Indeed. That's just a list.

I'd be monstrously surprised if Arch SWIV was better than the Amiga version. The Amiga's custom chips handle the lots of tiny objects trying to kill you very well.

From what I remember Swiv on the Archimedes was pretty much the same as the Amiga version, it was brilliant and I actually managed to complete it, one of the best shoot-em-ups I have played.

I'm not aware of any Arc version being better than the Amiga version, they were either the same or inferior from my experience, Cannon Fodder was exactly the same as was Lemmings, Lotus Turbo 2 on the Atari ST was inferior than the Arc version.

Some of the Arc versions missed out 2 player options, or introduction sequeneces (Lemmings).

But I cannot think of one where the Amiga version was worse than the Arc version.

[kieranhj]

Sadly one would presume that given the very limited Archimedes market size, any development budget for ports would have precluded significant improvements or additional features, regardless of the capabilities of the machine.

[scruss]

From what I remember Swiv on the Archimedes was pretty much the same as the Amiga version

One of the unusual things about the ported Silkworm franchise games is that the developers had full access to all the arcade machine resources. Where possible, they ported them. I don't know how much of the actual arcade source made it into the final release, but all the ports were kept as faithful to the original as time and platform allowed.

There's only been one time I thought that the Amiga had an amazing port of a game, only to find that another version blew it away. That was Will Harvey's Zany Golf. While I thought it looked and sounded amazing on the Amiga, I played it recently on the Apple IIgs — and it looked and sounded so much better. The sound on the IIgs was unbelievable. Pretty much everything else about the machine was tedious, but it sounded lovely.

[SarahWalker]

SWIV is not an arcade conversion, it was an Amiga/ST original.

[IanJeffray]

IIRC SWIV having issues on machines other than a 'basic' ARM2/8MHz because it had to implement scrolling palette switching between the zones, which the Arc doesn't have hardware to support. When it worked, you didn't notice, but when it failed it was obviously a mess.

The original also has a shaded HUD font which was dropped for the Arc port, so at least in that tiny respect, the Arc version can't be considered "better".

But it's still a great game.

[AndyMc1280]

I keep seeing "Syndicate" for The Archimedes on ebay. My mates were really into it back in the day (Amiga).

[NickLuvsRetro]

I was saddened that PowerMonger was never completed by Krisalis. It's my favorite Bullfrog game from back in the day (I still have an Amiga copy and box here), and I feel like the Archimedes would have crunched the 3D landscape processing better than the Amiga or Atari ST.

[MatthewThompson]

I was saddened that PowerMonger was never completed by Krisalis. It's my favorite Bullfrog game from back in the day (I still have an Amiga copy and box here), and I feel like the Archimedes would have crunched the 3D landscape processing better than the Amiga or Atari ST.

I remember seeing a preview and screenshot in Acorn User on the games page, this was usually a good sign, but for whatever reason it never happened, same with Soccer Kid, Hill Street Blues and probably a load more. Krisalis were great they gave the Archimedes so many good games.

[wmd]

I have just come across a version of Xenon II on the Archimedes with the Acorn User '97 update. It allows for sound effects to be played without cancelling music channels during gameplay, possibly making it the best home computer version? I know the Amiga version has an extra intro that the Archimedes version does not have, so it's probably a close call on this one... The channel cancelling is pretty bad on the Amiga version though so I know which version I would prefer. It's a shame they didn't try to get it running at 50fps on the Archimedes version, I'm sure it's capable of it.

[wmd]

Pipe Mania:

Amiga: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUCKC_-8rnM
Archimedes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is6ejcghdX0

Again, just all-round much nicer on the Archimedes, more colours, higher res etc. Having played most versions of Pipe Mania, under it's various names across numerous platforms, I'd class the Archimedes version as the best version ever made.

Just been playing this, and as well as the superior presentation, the Archimedes version has 3 different gameplay modes, one of which is called "The Archimedes Mode" which has different scoring mechanics (as detailed in the game's !Help file). Each gameplay mode has its own high score table. Unfortunately though, unlike the Amiga version, high scores are not saved to disk, at least not on the unprotected version I have. Can anyone confirm if this is something that was removed from later releases? There's at least one game where later releases removed high score saving (Zelanites - Superior compilation release) so am interested if that might also be the case here.

[sirbod]

high scores are not saved to disk, at least not on the unprotected version I have

My notes would indicate it doesn't save the High Score to disk and a quick scan of the code for OS_GBPB / OS_File more or less confirms it.

[wmd]

That's a shame, seems like a really weird thing to leave out, especially given that new score tables were added to the Archimedes version for the new modes.

[tricky]

Sounds like an opportunity for an Archie coder

[wmd]

This is the kind of thing that gets added to Amiga WHDLoad games, but I guess there are simply not enough people out there (still active) with the relevant experience in ARM assembler.

[wmd]

I was just reading an old thread on the retrogameboards forum, and someone mentions that the graphics in the Archimedes version of The Last Ninja are unique to that version - with much more detail compared to the other releases. However, they also mention that the music isn't as good as the Amiga version, sadly. I suppose if someone were to hack the Amiga MODs into the Arc version then that would be the best version of the game...

[SarahWalker]

I'd have said the Amiga graphics probably fit the game better; the Arc graphics are a tad garish. The Amiga version also has a better feel imo.

[wmd]

Yes, you're probably right. At best, the Arc graphics are just different, rather than being better. It's quite odd that Superior went to all that effort for this conversion, redoing all the graphics and the music.

[atsampson]

There was a discussion of the Archimedes Last Ninja on Amiga forum EAB a few years ago, including a comment from the author Andy Catling:

I hope you weren't too disappointed when you played the final game. I think the graphics were ok for the time, but the gameplay left a lot to be desired. The conversion was based on the BBC micro version of the game, because I didn't have access to the original C64 version, so I think some things might have been lost in translation. I also really hated the music that was done for the game. I wanted a more subtle and ambient traditional japanese feel, but it ended up as some up-tempo fiasco.

[SarahWalker]

That would explain the slightly off feel! Pity Superior couldn't splash out for a copy of Amiga Ninja Remix for comparison. The BBC/Electron conversions are a bit of a technical miracle but not really all that great to play.

[Nerdilicious!]

Iron Lord (Cygnus) might qualify, being written in BBC BASIC by an intern with no access to the source code and with completely different music (because the MD was a medieval music buff and picked out better tunes to use).

http://ironlord.acornarcade.com/faq.shtml

[wmd]

Interesting find. I only ever played the Archimedes version back when it was originally released so had no idea about the different music. By comparison, the Amiga music sounds like typical 90s Amiga game music, whereas the Archimedes version sounds more era-appropriate for the game's setting. Whether or not it is better is likely to be quite subjective though. Maybe the thread title should be changed to "Archimedes games that are different to the Amiga versions".