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There seems to be a lot of 'Fanboyism' chat around at mo'. I thought you might be interested in knowing what is was like back in the day...
Date:1986.
Location: 1st Year of High Scool
THE COMPUTERS WE PLAYED:
Commodore 64, (Price £250)
had the best graphics, sound, processor, lots of superb games (I had well over 1,000 games by the end of the era). Games slightly more expensive, (average £9.99, budget games from 99p).
Spectrum 48 (Price £89-129) (later +, later 128),
had terrible graphic, squeaky sound, bad processor, the widest selection of games. Games cheaper, (average £7.99, budget games from 99p).
Amstrad (Price £250+)
Had ok graphics, but atrocious colour palette, ok sound, fewest games. (Games price as C64).
There was also the Atari 800, which was, like most Atari systems, had far superior technology, but very few games, which you could only buy mail order, or from very specialist shop (average £15-£20, later budget games from £2.99). Also like all Atari systems, the marketing was wrong and no-one bought one.
I had a Commodore 64, as most of my friends did, which was strange since Spectrum's were initially far more popular.
I personally never liked Spectrum games because the graphics were so flickery, the background (i.e. most of the screen, was always black with the graphics in bright colours over the top). I have enjoyed a few Spectrum games for a few hours round a friends, but I could'nt ever want one.
One boy had an Amstrad, which was an ugly machine, games came out 1yr later, if ever, had a very bad colour palette, and the 'tape machine' (games came on Audio tape back then, making copying very, very easy) was joined onto the computer (all the others had a seperate tape machine, so if it went wrong {which used to happen often} it was easy to replace). I believe he secretly knew, and was ashamed, but he'd never hear a word against Amstrad, some may say like X-Box Fanboys today.
With tapes machines, each game tool 5-15 minutes to load, many games were 'multi-loaders', meaning they had to load each level, each cut-scene (a few years later). On some games, (this was before 'continue' or 'save; had been dreamed of you'd have a 25 minute game, of which 20 minutes could be loading time, 5 minutes gameplay.
Only the very best multi-load games could be played seriously. The loading time between action was too long, and then you might only have 3 lives and no Continues. Games were very hard, and you only finished a few games. Now people are angry if they can't finish a game in 20 hrs.
One boy had an Atari 800, but not many games, but seriously, ever game he had was absolutely solid plameplay, and the smoothest graphics and sound (though the colour palette was very limited, but still always looked good), so it was very pretty to play on.
There were 2 schools of Software development, some developers mainly developed some Spectrum and Amstrad, because the code was similar, some developed mainly for the C64 and Atari because they were the best processors, some delevoped for Spectrum and C64 because they were the most commercial.
One time I had a long-running dispute with the Amstrad fanboy, because he insisted there were loads of games for it, I said there weren't, a prime example being Boulderdah once of the best games ever made, a challeging Puzzle game that was, maybe the Pimkin of it's day. Developed on for Atari and C64, it was once those games that everyone who has it talks about it, whenever, 1 yr later, whatever the new big game was.
I said it wasn't out on Amstrad, (which was a reason for it being s***e), he said it was, and he said he had a mag with a reveiw for it. We argued for months, he was always saying he was going to bring a magazine in to prove it. But he never did, for months and months.
One day I was ill (very rare) and had the day off school, and what happened, that day? He brought in the magazine to prove it to me, The one day I wasn't there.
He was proved right, but he never proved it to me, and in his desperateness degraded his 'machine of choice'. He actually never mentioned the incident of him showing his magazine to me, but everyone else told me about him bringing the magazine and showing them.
After this he became an absolute console geek, buying a PC Engine, (supreme old school console, very expensive, games only import mailorder), and a Master System (and all the terrible SEGA conversions of games like OUTRUN,SPACEHARRIER and ENDURO RACER, games that worked as Arcade machines with stunning graphics, but were atrocious on a poor home console with flickery graohics), and lots of games for both.
That's the main points,
A Few Classic C64Games
(How many names do you recognise from Modern games)
Boulderdash
International Karate (IK & IK+)
Dropzone (a 'Defender' game, which was also big)
Impossible Mission
Spy Hunter
Gauntlet
Tetris (first ever version)
What do you think...
How much as changed?
Anyone feeling nostalgic?
V.
Date:1986.
Location: 1st Year of High Scool
THE COMPUTERS WE PLAYED:
Commodore 64, (Price £250)
had the best graphics, sound, processor, lots of superb games (I had well over 1,000 games by the end of the era). Games slightly more expensive, (average £9.99, budget games from 99p).
Spectrum 48 (Price £89-129) (later +, later 128),
had terrible graphic, squeaky sound, bad processor, the widest selection of games. Games cheaper, (average £7.99, budget games from 99p).
Amstrad (Price £250+)
Had ok graphics, but atrocious colour palette, ok sound, fewest games. (Games price as C64).
There was also the Atari 800, which was, like most Atari systems, had far superior technology, but very few games, which you could only buy mail order, or from very specialist shop (average £15-£20, later budget games from £2.99). Also like all Atari systems, the marketing was wrong and no-one bought one.
I had a Commodore 64, as most of my friends did, which was strange since Spectrum's were initially far more popular.
I personally never liked Spectrum games because the graphics were so flickery, the background (i.e. most of the screen, was always black with the graphics in bright colours over the top). I have enjoyed a few Spectrum games for a few hours round a friends, but I could'nt ever want one.
One boy had an Amstrad, which was an ugly machine, games came out 1yr later, if ever, had a very bad colour palette, and the 'tape machine' (games came on Audio tape back then, making copying very, very easy) was joined onto the computer (all the others had a seperate tape machine, so if it went wrong {which used to happen often} it was easy to replace). I believe he secretly knew, and was ashamed, but he'd never hear a word against Amstrad, some may say like X-Box Fanboys today.
With tapes machines, each game tool 5-15 minutes to load, many games were 'multi-loaders', meaning they had to load each level, each cut-scene (a few years later). On some games, (this was before 'continue' or 'save; had been dreamed of you'd have a 25 minute game, of which 20 minutes could be loading time, 5 minutes gameplay.
Only the very best multi-load games could be played seriously. The loading time between action was too long, and then you might only have 3 lives and no Continues. Games were very hard, and you only finished a few games. Now people are angry if they can't finish a game in 20 hrs.
One boy had an Atari 800, but not many games, but seriously, ever game he had was absolutely solid plameplay, and the smoothest graphics and sound (though the colour palette was very limited, but still always looked good), so it was very pretty to play on.
There were 2 schools of Software development, some developers mainly developed some Spectrum and Amstrad, because the code was similar, some developed mainly for the C64 and Atari because they were the best processors, some delevoped for Spectrum and C64 because they were the most commercial.
One time I had a long-running dispute with the Amstrad fanboy, because he insisted there were loads of games for it, I said there weren't, a prime example being Boulderdah once of the best games ever made, a challeging Puzzle game that was, maybe the Pimkin of it's day. Developed on for Atari and C64, it was once those games that everyone who has it talks about it, whenever, 1 yr later, whatever the new big game was.
I said it wasn't out on Amstrad, (which was a reason for it being s***e), he said it was, and he said he had a mag with a reveiw for it. We argued for months, he was always saying he was going to bring a magazine in to prove it. But he never did, for months and months.
One day I was ill (very rare) and had the day off school, and what happened, that day? He brought in the magazine to prove it to me, The one day I wasn't there.
He was proved right, but he never proved it to me, and in his desperateness degraded his 'machine of choice'. He actually never mentioned the incident of him showing his magazine to me, but everyone else told me about him bringing the magazine and showing them.
After this he became an absolute console geek, buying a PC Engine, (supreme old school console, very expensive, games only import mailorder), and a Master System (and all the terrible SEGA conversions of games like OUTRUN,SPACEHARRIER and ENDURO RACER, games that worked as Arcade machines with stunning graphics, but were atrocious on a poor home console with flickery graohics), and lots of games for both.
That's the main points,
A Few Classic C64Games
(How many names do you recognise from Modern games)
Boulderdash
International Karate (IK & IK+)
Dropzone (a 'Defender' game, which was also big)
Impossible Mission
Spy Hunter
Gauntlet
Tetris (first ever version)
What do you think...
How much as changed?
Anyone feeling nostalgic?
V.
I'm too young for this, but I have many fond memories of playing on an Atari that my Auntie got for me...
Oh yay...
Oh yay...
Ah, sweet memories.
Unfortunately the closest I came to any arcades was the corner in the bowling alley and the solitary machine in the reception at the swimming pool.
But I always loved wasting my locker money on getting beaten up by a lizard-headed bloke with a sword...
:^)
Unfortunately the closest I came to any arcades was the corner in the bowling alley and the solitary machine in the reception at the swimming pool.
But I always loved wasting my locker money on getting beaten up by a lizard-headed bloke with a sword...
:^)
Arcades were king back then.
There were 2 really good arcades near me (a 1hr bus ride / day trip out to), where the owners really knew the good games.
Back then almost everything was 10p per play, 6 for 50p, 7 for £1, only the very latest (often with handlebars or novelty cabinets, Enduro Racer, Out Run etc.) were 20p a play.
Sweet days.
R-type forever.
(+Mario Brothers & Super Mario Brothers in the Arcades!)
V.
There were 2 really good arcades near me (a 1hr bus ride / day trip out to), where the owners really knew the good games.
Back then almost everything was 10p per play, 6 for 50p, 7 for £1, only the very latest (often with handlebars or novelty cabinets, Enduro Racer, Out Run etc.) were 20p a play.
Sweet days.
R-type forever.
(+Mario Brothers & Super Mario Brothers in the Arcades!)
V.
I was never lucky enough to play Enduro Racer in the arcades, but I can't fault the mastersystem version, pure playability.
Except the deserty level with the boulders...
Then again I do have a habit of taking to lame games...
:^)
Except the deserty level with the boulders...
Then again I do have a habit of taking to lame games...
:^)
Seriously?
The ARCADE machine was a stunningly fast 3D action game, the Master System conversion was a diagonally scrolling 3D diaster.
Outrun also, the ARCADE was king, but the conversion were terrible.
Space Harrier?
Every conversion was terrible, because it was just too fast and every conversation had flicker, the ARCADE MACHINE was just too fast, just luck and speed!
V
The ARCADE machine was a stunningly fast 3D action game, the Master System conversion was a diagonally scrolling 3D diaster.
Outrun also, the ARCADE was king, but the conversion were terrible.
Space Harrier?
Every conversion was terrible, because it was just too fast and every conversation had flicker, the ARCADE MACHINE was just too fast, just luck and speed!
V
vorderman wrote:
> After this he became an absolute console geek, buying a PC Engine,
> (supreme old school console, very expensive, games only import
> mailorder), and a Master System (and all the terrible SEGA conversions
> of games like OUTRUN,SPACEHARRIER and ENDURO RACER, games that worked
> as Arcade machines with stunning graphics, but were atrocious on a
> poor home console with flickery graohics), and lots of games for
> both.
How can you say that? Enduro Racer ruled.
I loved that game :^)
Okay, Space Harrier was pants, and I only ever played the fantastic Outrun on other computers so can't mention the mastersystem conversion, but Enduro Racer was frickin' awsome...
Remember the credits? When they acknowledged actual bikers... and the sad music that fitted perfectly the end of the emotional rollercoaster ride...
I'll shut up now :^)
> After this he became an absolute console geek, buying a PC Engine,
> (supreme old school console, very expensive, games only import
> mailorder), and a Master System (and all the terrible SEGA conversions
> of games like OUTRUN,SPACEHARRIER and ENDURO RACER, games that worked
> as Arcade machines with stunning graphics, but were atrocious on a
> poor home console with flickery graohics), and lots of games for
> both.
How can you say that? Enduro Racer ruled.
I loved that game :^)
Okay, Space Harrier was pants, and I only ever played the fantastic Outrun on other computers so can't mention the mastersystem conversion, but Enduro Racer was frickin' awsome...
Remember the credits? When they acknowledged actual bikers... and the sad music that fitted perfectly the end of the emotional rollercoaster ride...
I'll shut up now :^)
There seems to be a lot of 'Fanboyism' chat around at mo'. I thought you might be interested in knowing what is was like back in the day...
Date:1986.
Location: 1st Year of High Scool
THE COMPUTERS WE PLAYED:
Commodore 64, (Price £250)
had the best graphics, sound, processor, lots of superb games (I had well over 1,000 games by the end of the era). Games slightly more expensive, (average £9.99, budget games from 99p).
Spectrum 48 (Price £89-129) (later +, later 128),
had terrible graphic, squeaky sound, bad processor, the widest selection of games. Games cheaper, (average £7.99, budget games from 99p).
Amstrad (Price £250+)
Had ok graphics, but atrocious colour palette, ok sound, fewest games. (Games price as C64).
There was also the Atari 800, which was, like most Atari systems, had far superior technology, but very few games, which you could only buy mail order, or from very specialist shop (average £15-£20, later budget games from £2.99). Also like all Atari systems, the marketing was wrong and no-one bought one.
I had a Commodore 64, as most of my friends did, which was strange since Spectrum's were initially far more popular.
I personally never liked Spectrum games because the graphics were so flickery, the background (i.e. most of the screen, was always black with the graphics in bright colours over the top). I have enjoyed a few Spectrum games for a few hours round a friends, but I could'nt ever want one.
One boy had an Amstrad, which was an ugly machine, games came out 1yr later, if ever, had a very bad colour palette, and the 'tape machine' (games came on Audio tape back then, making copying very, very easy) was joined onto the computer (all the others had a seperate tape machine, so if it went wrong {which used to happen often} it was easy to replace). I believe he secretly knew, and was ashamed, but he'd never hear a word against Amstrad, some may say like X-Box Fanboys today.
With tapes machines, each game tool 5-15 minutes to load, many games were 'multi-loaders', meaning they had to load each level, each cut-scene (a few years later). On some games, (this was before 'continue' or 'save; had been dreamed of you'd have a 25 minute game, of which 20 minutes could be loading time, 5 minutes gameplay.
Only the very best multi-load games could be played seriously. The loading time between action was too long, and then you might only have 3 lives and no Continues. Games were very hard, and you only finished a few games. Now people are angry if they can't finish a game in 20 hrs.
One boy had an Atari 800, but not many games, but seriously, ever game he had was absolutely solid plameplay, and the smoothest graphics and sound (though the colour palette was very limited, but still always looked good), so it was very pretty to play on.
There were 2 schools of Software development, some developers mainly developed some Spectrum and Amstrad, because the code was similar, some developed mainly for the C64 and Atari because they were the best processors, some delevoped for Spectrum and C64 because they were the most commercial.
One time I had a long-running dispute with the Amstrad fanboy, because he insisted there were loads of games for it, I said there weren't, a prime example being Boulderdah once of the best games ever made, a challeging Puzzle game that was, maybe the Pimkin of it's day. Developed on for Atari and C64, it was once those games that everyone who has it talks about it, whenever, 1 yr later, whatever the new big game was.
I said it wasn't out on Amstrad, (which was a reason for it being s***e), he said it was, and he said he had a mag with a reveiw for it. We argued for months, he was always saying he was going to bring a magazine in to prove it. But he never did, for months and months.
One day I was ill (very rare) and had the day off school, and what happened, that day? He brought in the magazine to prove it to me, The one day I wasn't there.
He was proved right, but he never proved it to me, and in his desperateness degraded his 'machine of choice'. He actually never mentioned the incident of him showing his magazine to me, but everyone else told me about him bringing the magazine and showing them.
After this he became an absolute console geek, buying a PC Engine, (supreme old school console, very expensive, games only import mailorder), and a Master System (and all the terrible SEGA conversions of games like OUTRUN,SPACEHARRIER and ENDURO RACER, games that worked as Arcade machines with stunning graphics, but were atrocious on a poor home console with flickery graohics), and lots of games for both.
That's the main points,
A Few Classic C64Games
(How many names do you recognise from Modern games)
Boulderdash
International Karate (IK & IK+)
Dropzone (a 'Defender' game, which was also big)
Impossible Mission
Spy Hunter
Gauntlet
Tetris (first ever version)
What do you think...
How much as changed?
Anyone feeling nostalgic?
V.
Date:1986.
Location: 1st Year of High Scool
THE COMPUTERS WE PLAYED:
Commodore 64, (Price £250)
had the best graphics, sound, processor, lots of superb games (I had well over 1,000 games by the end of the era). Games slightly more expensive, (average £9.99, budget games from 99p).
Spectrum 48 (Price £89-129) (later +, later 128),
had terrible graphic, squeaky sound, bad processor, the widest selection of games. Games cheaper, (average £7.99, budget games from 99p).
Amstrad (Price £250+)
Had ok graphics, but atrocious colour palette, ok sound, fewest games. (Games price as C64).
There was also the Atari 800, which was, like most Atari systems, had far superior technology, but very few games, which you could only buy mail order, or from very specialist shop (average £15-£20, later budget games from £2.99). Also like all Atari systems, the marketing was wrong and no-one bought one.
I had a Commodore 64, as most of my friends did, which was strange since Spectrum's were initially far more popular.
I personally never liked Spectrum games because the graphics were so flickery, the background (i.e. most of the screen, was always black with the graphics in bright colours over the top). I have enjoyed a few Spectrum games for a few hours round a friends, but I could'nt ever want one.
One boy had an Amstrad, which was an ugly machine, games came out 1yr later, if ever, had a very bad colour palette, and the 'tape machine' (games came on Audio tape back then, making copying very, very easy) was joined onto the computer (all the others had a seperate tape machine, so if it went wrong {which used to happen often} it was easy to replace). I believe he secretly knew, and was ashamed, but he'd never hear a word against Amstrad, some may say like X-Box Fanboys today.
With tapes machines, each game tool 5-15 minutes to load, many games were 'multi-loaders', meaning they had to load each level, each cut-scene (a few years later). On some games, (this was before 'continue' or 'save; had been dreamed of you'd have a 25 minute game, of which 20 minutes could be loading time, 5 minutes gameplay.
Only the very best multi-load games could be played seriously. The loading time between action was too long, and then you might only have 3 lives and no Continues. Games were very hard, and you only finished a few games. Now people are angry if they can't finish a game in 20 hrs.
One boy had an Atari 800, but not many games, but seriously, ever game he had was absolutely solid plameplay, and the smoothest graphics and sound (though the colour palette was very limited, but still always looked good), so it was very pretty to play on.
There were 2 schools of Software development, some developers mainly developed some Spectrum and Amstrad, because the code was similar, some developed mainly for the C64 and Atari because they were the best processors, some delevoped for Spectrum and C64 because they were the most commercial.
One time I had a long-running dispute with the Amstrad fanboy, because he insisted there were loads of games for it, I said there weren't, a prime example being Boulderdah once of the best games ever made, a challeging Puzzle game that was, maybe the Pimkin of it's day. Developed on for Atari and C64, it was once those games that everyone who has it talks about it, whenever, 1 yr later, whatever the new big game was.
I said it wasn't out on Amstrad, (which was a reason for it being s***e), he said it was, and he said he had a mag with a reveiw for it. We argued for months, he was always saying he was going to bring a magazine in to prove it. But he never did, for months and months.
One day I was ill (very rare) and had the day off school, and what happened, that day? He brought in the magazine to prove it to me, The one day I wasn't there.
He was proved right, but he never proved it to me, and in his desperateness degraded his 'machine of choice'. He actually never mentioned the incident of him showing his magazine to me, but everyone else told me about him bringing the magazine and showing them.
After this he became an absolute console geek, buying a PC Engine, (supreme old school console, very expensive, games only import mailorder), and a Master System (and all the terrible SEGA conversions of games like OUTRUN,SPACEHARRIER and ENDURO RACER, games that worked as Arcade machines with stunning graphics, but were atrocious on a poor home console with flickery graohics), and lots of games for both.
That's the main points,
A Few Classic C64Games
(How many names do you recognise from Modern games)
Boulderdash
International Karate (IK & IK+)
Dropzone (a 'Defender' game, which was also big)
Impossible Mission
Spy Hunter
Gauntlet
Tetris (first ever version)
What do you think...
How much as changed?
Anyone feeling nostalgic?
V.