Amiga CD32 and Amiga 500/1200 Shoot Em Ups

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 11:31 pm

Spectrum had its cult status among here too; I remember playing with one at a cousin's home when I was a kid. I realized how much is loved in the UK recently, when I bought Retro Gamer. Also important for any self-respected platform, a number of key killer applications like Manic Miner, School Daze and others that bcass for sure knows better than me.

Anyway, C64 trounced anything else soon, here at least, but I'm pretty sure everywhere. This is all pre-history for me, I didn't get a home computer until the A500.

by the way guys, that Disposable Hero CD32 from Super Laydock arrived and it's in mint condition as he said. He's a great person to deal with - you know already but I just had to say.

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 7:42 pm

So,

I got myself a CD32, eventually. It's a unit manufactured in Philppines in 1994, PAL signal and european. I have a bunch of noobs question about the system.

1) the rca output seems to be composite. is there a way to output RGB? My 500 has an RGB scart and the games look much better, of course.

2) about the joypad - I used a megadrive pad and while some original games recognize it, some don't. Do I really have to hunt down a CD32 pad? *sigh*

3) about the cd-rom compilations of ECS/AGA titles - one of these cds came with my unit and it's sweet - I was finally able to play Deluxe Galaga! However, many of the games still require keyboard input, for example to write you name in the high score. Is it possible to have a keyboard on CD32, or I basically have to reset whenever I top my score?

4) about saves - the menu with that "cd" key isn't clear. Where does the CD32 exactly save data? Do I need some external memory device?

5) I've often read on these boards that CD32 allows you to switch between 50hz and 60hz manually. If true, where's that switch?

6) How is the CD32 lens when it comes to endurance? Will the repeated use of burned cds eventually damage it?

Thanks guys, more impressions on the games to follow!

ED-057 · Post by **ED-057** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 8:23 pm

You do have S-video, but it's possible to get RGB as well by either soldering wires on the motherboard or getting an expansion such as SX-1 or SX-32 (see here http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showcat.cgi?CATID=9). One of those would also give you RAM, HDD, and all the other missing ports.

On other Amigas (not sure about the CD32) you can access a boot menu by holding down both mouse buttons when you reset/power on the system. There you can select 50/60hz

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 9:58 pm

If you don't want to modify your CD 32 for RGB I suggest you use an S-VHS cord to connect it to your TV. The quality is very good.

As for keyboards, most Amiga keyboards can be connected, for instance those of the Amiga 4000. There are also PS/2 adpaters that allow you to connect PC keyboards. I got one from this ebay seller a few months ago: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrp ... ingham4d79
Send him a message, he may have more; I think he's making them himself.
Some games seem to be incompatible, though. For instance Ruff 'n Tumble works neither with an Amiga keyboard nor with the adapter, IIRC.

There is a joypad called Competition Pro for CD 32, much better than the original pad. Highly recommended.

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 12:19 am

Yeah, the honeybee Competition Pro is the absolute priority right now - with the megadrive pad I can play half the games (can't play Super Stardust for example...)

EDIT - wow, just wow - I've been looking out there and I'm already convinced the pad is so scarce to find that it'll cost me more than the CD32 itself...Crap!

And, whoa, getting my hands on an SX expansion would be cool too. Anyone knows the price / a seller? I can imagine they're not easy finds...

EDIT:

My original games so far:

Disposable Hero
Super Stardust
Alien Breed SE / Qwak
Superfrog
Lemmings (pressed by our good old friend - PDO!)
Alien Breed Tower Assault (includes Alien Breed 2!)
Banshee
Fire & Ice
Jetstrike
Pinball Fantasies
Soccer Kid

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 3:35 am

I was able to load WIN UAEX on my Xbox and tried Shadow of the Beast 2... didn't like it much. And the games loaded kinda slow for something off a HDD. Also, are all the games limited to ONE button? Being a 16 bit computer, you'd think it'd have at least 2 or more.

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 9:27 am

No, many late releases support a second button (Apidya, Turrican, Turrican II, Turrican III, Lionheart and many others)
Shadow of the beast II is your first approach with the amiga lineup? I can feel your pain. Why don't you try your WinUAEX with something actually good?

Edit: maybe a fellow German shmupper can help me with this ebay item: 170073925819

MJR · Post by **MJR** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 11:35 am

Specineff wrote:I was able to load WIN UAEX on my Xbox and tried Shadow of the Beast 2... didn't like it much. And the games loaded kinda slow for something off a HDD. Also, are all the games limited to ONE button? Being a 16 bit computer, you'd think it'd have at least 2 or more.

shadow of the beast II definitely is a school example for unfair and unplayable game. I DID 1CC it when I was a kid which probably proved that I was a moron.

You should try following games: Turrican I&II, Z-out, starray, battle squadron, speedball II, stardust & super stardust, chaos engine..

Your amiga emu has slow loading times because it loads the games from emulated floppy drive.

If you are a real wiz with winuae, you can try creating a virtual HDD partition and insall whdload, then you can updoad HDD installed games from amiga.magix.name - just get whdload and they load up in a flash. But that can be a pain to set up if you're not familiar with the thing..

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 2:33 am

Ceph wrote:As for keyboards, most Amiga keyboards can be connected, for instance those of the Amiga 4000.

Wait, are you saying that an Amiga keyboard would connect directly to that "AUX" port near the joystick mouse ports? That would be so sweet!

auryn · Post by **auryn** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 11:44 am

howdy shmup forum! nice place you have here...

fave amiga shooters:

Super Stardust
Banshee
Overkill
Z-Out
Agony

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 7:13 pm

ED-057 wrote:You do have S-video, but it's possible to get RGB as well by either soldering wires on the motherboard or getting an expansion such as SX-1 or SX-32 (see here http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showcat.cgi?CATID=9). One of those would also give you RAM, HDD, and all the other missing ports.

On other Amigas (not sure about the CD32) you can access a boot menu by holding down both mouse buttons when you reset/power on the system. There you can select 50/60hz

Ookay, so the SX-1 sells for over 100 euro on ebay:

ebay item: 250084611182

...pretty pricey. I'd like to try soldering wires on the motherboard, can anyone redirect me to a FAQ? Thanks!

Michaelm · Post by **Michaelm** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 7:24 pm

There's a German Amiga forum that is currently checking interest in a new SX32 Pro. There's no clarity yet on if and when or even how much the price would be but if you would be serious in getting one no matter what the price will be just PM me to get on the list.

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 8:46 pm

Michaelm wrote: if you would be serious in getting one no matter what the price will be just PM me to get on the list.

Thanks, but no thanks - if I wanted a so expensive solution I could have bid on that SX-1 on ebay. I have no real need for this expansion other than RGB output, so I'm probably fine with soldering wires. I just need to discover how to do it.

Michaelm · Post by **Michaelm** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 9:52 pm

Google is your friend

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 2:43 pm

Thanks, I'll try not to get too intimidated by these docs. ^^

I've lurked on the amiga.org and a1k.org and sheesh - someone willing to trade an amiga 4000 for an SX32pro!

How much does this stuff cost?

Michaelm · Post by **Michaelm** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 2:54 pm

An SX32Pro easily goes for above 200 euro.
The new batch, if they come should be around or probably below that price.
But it depends on how much are made I guess.
Anyway it's the only turbo solution for the CD32 with an 68030.

If you plan on soldering to the motherboard I've heard that you need an extra little circuit to protect the video chip as it isn't protected in the CD32.
As far as I know this doesn't have to mean you destroy your CD32 but there's a possibility it could. The extra circuit should prevent that.

If you have a French CD32 you can use RGB from the mini din-8.

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 4:32 pm

Michaelm wrote: If you have a French CD32 you can use RGB from the mini din-8.

Ah! I have one of those! I thought the previous owner had installed the mini din-8. I bought a mini din-8 to Scart cable, but all I can see is a very dark, almost black shadow of the picture; I suppose that means that the scart plug isn't wired correctly. Any idea how to correct this?

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 4:38 pm

mini din-8 is the same plug that Svideo cords have, right?

Well, surely a french CD32 would cost less than an SX32 - But I suppose it does output Secam, right?

thanks to all the informative replies, btw

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 4:57 pm

Turrican wrote:mini din-8 is the same plug that Svideo cords have, right?

Nope it's a different plug. About Secam, Secam has the same number of lines as PAL, and RGB is RGB, so it doesn't matter.

What about my mini din-8 problem?

Michaelm · Post by **Michaelm** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 6:06 pm

Well, I've found this for Turrican.
http://www.hardwarebook.info/CD32_TP9
And this.
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=2 ... cd32+video

And on this page for Ceph you can find the pinout of the French 8-pin mini-din. It's the 2nd one explained.
http://stason.org/TULARC/pc/amiga/cd32/53-Pinouts.html
You should be able to make your own cable now