Here is some info about the different versions of TNZS, in particular it shows the mix of level sets (scroll down a little). I feel like this is a game that should have all of the revisions far more than many of their other releases where the differences are often quite subtle:
http://gaminghell.co.uk/TheNewZealandStory7.htmlSumez wrote:
I think Rainbow Islands is mostly famous in Europe due to the surprisingly good Amiga port. I never saw it on arcade until I tried it at a collector's place around the turn of the century.
It used to pop up in arcades quite a bit in the UK. Certainly not as common as Bubble Bobble, but my local arcade had it (I think) prior to the computer releases. I remember we were all excited when we found out there was a home version coming, which would often result in huge disappointment, but turned out pretty well in this case.
MJR wrote:
Normally the people who made C64 home conversions only had few weeks to do it. R-type was put together in six weeks I think. And generally without any documentation or source code. Developers might had a coin op cabinet, which they then played and recorded on video tape, but they rarely had any clue about the inner workings of the machine. So in this context, it's a miracle that they managed to put any conversions out at all, and not a suprise that many of them were so terrible.
I think also there was a tendency to focus on the wrong things. Japanese ports to the NES would often focus on getting the gameplay right and sacrifice many of the features of the arcade, where as some of the 8 bit computer ports would be trying to wedge in features that were never going to work on more limited hardware. The C64 version of Buggy Boy is quite a good example of how to do it. It changes a fair bit from the arcade, but the result was a fun, playable game (for the time). But yes, tight deadlines and limited resources from software companies trying to make a quick buck were also heavily to blame.
Udderdude wrote:
Sumez wrote:
Funny enough, of the contemporary home ports, the NES version of TNZS probably also has the most pleasing sounding conversion of the iconic soundtrack. Amiga and MegaDrive versions both sound weird. PC Engine one is oddly a bit of a travesty
The NES one, meanwhile, got the Tim Follin treatment.
I still like the NES soundtrack more than the arcade original
Completely agree. He also did a great job with the Bionic Commando soundtrack on the C64. It starts off like a funkier version of the arcade, then he just completely takes it off in his own direction!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1wsC-YdL-U