Favourite Amiga shmup?

Herr Schatten · Post by **Herr Schatten** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 1:28 pm

MikeB wrote:Never played hybris.. what's all the fuss about then?

Nostalgia.

It's a blatant rip-off of Terra Cresta. As such, it's not particularly terrible, but not really good either.

MikeB · Post by **MikeB** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 1:29 pm

ah yes.. only just realised this was A500 specific. I'd highly recommend trying Overkill and Banshee in WINAUE if you can though. Banshee's a little Euro-shmuppy but has some great humour, such as being able to shoot women pushing babies in prams and people in telephone boxes if you type 'I AM EXQUISITELY EVIL' and press return at the title screen. No I know it's not big or clever but it sure is fun

MikeB · Post by **MikeB** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 1:39 pm

It's a blatant rip-off of Terra Cresta. As such, it's not particularly terrible, but not really good either.

Heh.. having said that Battle Squadron is a fairly blatant copy of Terra Force!!

Wonder what was going on with all the amiga-developer Nichibitsu-love at that time?!

Post by **Shatterhand** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 1:46 pm

Hybris and Battle Squadron were made by the same people if I am not mistaken. Battle Squadron was marketed as sequel to Hybris. So it makes sense

Sly Cherry Chunks · Post by **Sly Cherry Chunks** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 2:03 pm

Herr Schatten wrote:
MikeB wrote:Never played hybris.. what's all the fuss about then?
Nostalgia.

It's a blatant rip-off of Terra Cresta. As such, it's not particularly terrible, but not really good either.

Apidya = poor man's Gradius

Z-Out = poor man's R-Type

You can use the "rip-off" argument to poo-poo pretty much any Amiga shooter.

Post by **Shatterhand** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 2:15 pm

Apidya is better than any gradius game released before it. Maybe better than any Gradius game ever...

And except by the power-up bar and horizontal scroll, there isn't a lot similar to both games. I think Apidya rips-off more from R-Type than Gradius, at least on the level design department.

Herr Schatten · Post by **Herr Schatten** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 2:29 pm

Sly Cherry Chunks wrote:You can use the "rip-off" argument to poo-poo pretty much any Amiga shooter.

I didn't mean it that way. There's nothing wrong with ripping off a good game as long as the result is still a good game. Apidya, Z-Out and Battle Squadron all fall into that category. Hybris's mediocrity has nothing to do with it being a rip-off.

mcgeezer · Post by **mcgeezer** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 5:46 pm

While I thought Project X was technically very good from Team 17 I never got the feeling that the game was polished enough, I always found the collision detection a bit iffy and also the spirtes seemed not to be going at 50FPS. Z-Out I have to say was a good game and was quite well polished but I never got hooked on it - I guess cos it was because it was a side scroller and I prefer verticals.

I'm well pleased there are people who like the Amiga still - I thought I was the only one.

MikeB · Post by **MikeB** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 5:55 pm

Thanks to WINUAE on XBox I've been revisiting loads of amiga stuff as of late, and am surprised how well much of it still plays. As mentioned Uridium 2 is still a favourite, and I really love the platform shooter Ruff'n'Tumble which IMO out-Turrican's Turrican..

Also been digging Guardian, Roadkill, Seek & Destroy, Putty & Zeewolf.

Project X I never really liked even at the time to be honest, its just wave after wave of dull attack patterns with no rhyme or reason or feeling of overall connectivity to them.. X2 on the Playstation (the sequel) was the same but at least you could revel in the amazing pyrotechnic light-show..

Post by **Shatterhand** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 5:57 pm

Big Amiga fan here, spent countless hours playing games on my dad's A500 then my own A600

One of the best systems ever, gaming-wise.

Post by **Shatterhand** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 6:00 pm

Project X I never really liked even at the time to be honest, its just wave after wave of dull attack patterns with no rhyme or reason or feeling of overall connectivity to them.. X2 on the Playstation (the sequel) was the same but at least you could revel in the amazing pyrotechnic light-show..

That exactly how I see it.

Ruff 'n' Tumble is awesome, one of the best 2d platform games ever. Putty was also excellent and way underrated (I had both games on my personal 100 best games of all time I made years ago).

And it always nice to be able to discuss with gaming journalists who are inteligent and can discuss in a civil way without being extremely annoying and stupid, unlike a certain journalist we unfortunately happened to know sometime ago....

Ahem

MikeB · Post by **MikeB** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 6:10 pm

Ruff 'n' Tumble is awesome, one of the best 2d platform games ever.

Yay! I've found the only other person out there who (A) has actually heard of/played this game (B) is a fellow Ruff Rogers fan

MJR · Post by **MJR** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 6:25 pm

I remeber ruff'n'tumble too, I saw it at the time when I was working at terramarque.. I was immediately impressed by it. It was fitting swansong for amiga

MikeB · Post by **MikeB** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 6:42 pm

Yeah.. shame it came out so late in the Amiga's life and thus went on to sell a grand total of about 12 copies, it really was quite brilliant. Graftgold's Virocop suffered a similar fate.

I recently discovered that Ruff was designed by Jason Perkins (who wrote Thing on a Spring and Monty on the Run for Gremlin back in the C64 days) and the graphics were by Robin Levy who also did the visuals for Armalyte, Hunter's Moon and Putty. That's some pedigree eh?

MJR · Post by **MJR** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 6:57 pm

I didn't know robin was responsible for armalyte.. Stavros told me that after renegade went belly up, Jason went on to be a producer at Sony, about just when they were releasing playstation one. As he was pals with stavros, he even tried to take our P.I.Dollarally to playstation, but for some reason it never happened. Maybe it was because their anti-2D attitude? Pity.

But now I strayed from the topic..

Project X was horrible but I still 1cc:d it!!!!

here, carry on

szycag · Post by **szycag** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 7:04 pm

Which part of Gradius has the maggots eating rats

yojo! · Post by **yojo!** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 7:25 pm

ED-057 wrote:
yojo! wrote:1943 is a close second.
You look lost. Perhaps you were heading for this topic http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... sc&start=0

Yep, I was checking to see if people actually played Amiga games...
Amiga and the arcade scene were at their peak in the late 80s; too bad US gold ended up snagging the major licenses just to get the games butchered by either GO!, Probe software and TIERTEX. The other developpers got left with the most obscre ones (Sales Curve, Factor 5) and they showed that awesome ports could be achieved on the Amiga when you knew what you were doing. (Silkworm, Saint Dragon, Ninja Warriors, R-Type).

Post by **Shatterhand** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 7:26 pm

I remember reading about it in a preview of Ruff'n'Tumble on The One Magazine, the preview was going like "It's looking pretty good for a 1st game from a new development team" .

And although it was AGA, I actually played some of Virocop, I remember being very fun. I was kinda surprised to see a graftgold game so late on the Amiga life.

Oohh, those were the times

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 7:44 pm

Bah... Ruff was a lot of eye candy, but the couldn't match the smoothness of a title like Turrican II.

I agree with MJR that nostalgia aside Datastorm has aged the best. And yes, I've played Deluxe Galaga too.

Post by **Shatterhand** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 7:52 pm

yojo! wrote:
ED-057 wrote:
yojo! wrote:1943 is a close second.
You look lost. Perhaps you were heading for this topic http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... sc&start=0
Yep, I was checking to see if people actually played Amiga games...
Amiga and the arcade scene were at their peak in the late 80s; too bad US gold ended up snagging the major licenses just to get the games butchered by either GO!, Probe software and TIERTEX. The other developpers got left with the most obscre ones (Sales Curve, Factor 5) and they showed that awesome ports could be achieved on the Amiga when you knew what you were doing. (Silkworm, Saint Dragon, Ninja Warriors, R-Type).

Probew software made some great porting jobs when they had the proper time to do it. It's usually said that those ports were shit mainly because U.S.Gold would go like "Here, take this hump of money, and give me a port of this game in 2 weeks"

Look at the ports Probe did for Acclaim and Virgin. Smash T.V., T2, Mortal Kombat 1 and 2 were pretty good ports IMO.

But truth has to be said, say the name "Tiertex" nearby an amiga fan, and he will instantly try to kill you.

MikeB · Post by **MikeB** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 8:12 pm

Bah... Ruff was a lot of eye candy, but the couldn't match the smoothness of a title like Turrican II

Don't worry I still have much love for turri 2

D · Post by D » Mon Oct 15, 2007 8:41 pm

Shatterhand wrote:Apidya is better than any gradius game released before it. Maybe better than any Gradius game ever...

The Gameboy has more processing power than a ps3.
The Amiga sucks. Hybris is the least bad shmup on the system.
People, please do not be tempted to get into Amiga, save yourself.
Check some youtube video, have a beer and have a laugh about it or emulate it. The only good thing about the system is the music, which is better than almost anything. reasonably good audio hardware, but terrific music programmers. Check out 2 games:
-Sly Spy (Data East)
-Ghouls n Ghosts (Capcom)
These 2 Amiga games have the best music IMHO.
Good luck.
The only thing the Amiga can do reasonably well are simple puzzle games like Rodland and Bomberman (Dynablaster). I loathe the Amiga system.

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 9:06 pm

Did you not take your medication today? Or did your nurse give you the wrong pills?

Fenrir · Post by **Fenrir** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 9:29 pm

D wrote:
Shatterhand wrote:Apidya is better than any gradius game released before it. Maybe better than any Gradius game ever...
The Gameboy has more processing power than a ps3.
The Amiga sucks. Hybris is the least bad shmup on the system.
People, please do not be tempted to get into Amiga, save yourself.
Check some youtube video, have a beer and have a laugh about it or emulate it. The only good thing about the system is the music, which is better than almost anything. reasonably good audio hardware, but terrific music programmers. Check out 2 games:
-Sly Spy (Data East)
-Ghouls n Ghosts (Capcom)
These 2 Amiga games have the best music IMHO.
Good luck.
The only thing the Amiga can do reasonably well are simple puzzle games like Rodland and Bomberman (Dynablaster). I loathe the Amiga system.

Soon it will all be over, don't worry.

yojo! · Post by **yojo!** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 12:27 am

D wrote: The Gameboy has more processing power than a ps3.
The Amiga sucks. Hybris is the least bad shmup on the system.
People, please do not be tempted to get into Amiga, save yourself.

Which leads me to my next point: Don't do drugs.

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 12:42 am

Shatterhand wrote: Probew software made some great porting jobs when they had the proper time to do it. It's usually said that those ports were shit mainly because U.S.Gold would go like "Here, take this hump of money, and give me a port of this game in 2 weeks"

Look at the ports Probe did for Acclaim and Virgin. Smash T.V., T2, Mortal Kombat 1 and 2 were pretty good ports IMO.

I miss Probe. The terrible ports Probe often did with Acclaim were the same deal of being rushed. Mortal Kombat GB was one of those that was rushed and it shows. They did some nice ports. I like their GB b/w version of BAM2 (though it would have been nice if the shapes were easier to tell apart). Too bad Probe was absorbed into Acclaim.

D · Post by D » Tue Oct 16, 2007 6:11 am

Everyone buy an Amiga now. It is awesome.
*back on medication*

Emperor Fossil · Post by **Emperor Fossil** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 7:35 am

mcgeezer wrote:While I thought Project X was technically very good from Team 17 I never got the feeling that the game was polished enough, I always found the collision detection a bit iffy and also the spirtes seemed not to be going at 50FPS.

Yup, Project X only runs at 25hz. Add to that the inertia on the ship, plus the generally dull attack waves, and you're left with something that just isn't much fun. I've never really understood how that game came to be so popular.

MJR · Post by **MJR** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 11:56 am

Hope you still remember it was not amiga which sucked, but the abysmal business practices in european development community in the late 80's. Often it was not only the laughably short converting times, but also zero communication with the japanese and no equipment for importing gfx and code data - that made their life miserable.

In a short chat on TCE forum guy who converted UN squadron for atari ST said that in order to get the graphics, they ran the game on some shitty video capture card which was connected to the computer, then the artist tried to recreate the main sprite from the video captured screenshot.
The coder just played the game lot and drew lot of diagrams.

Teque had it better; they actually were the first ones who were able to import the graphics and code, and their equipment was self-built! Before that people just played the game and tried to memorize everything which of course sucked - but not always; guy who used to work at craftgold said that rainbow islands was converted on this method. Impressive.

Also with some Midway's games there was often custom-built hardware and crazy programming which just wasn't possible to convert in quick time because it was not always even decipherable (some of their arcade games had self-modifying code..!)

And yes, I used to love turrican but playing super metroid has greatly diminished that memory.. :/

Post by **Shatterhand** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 12:03 pm

Team17 had the right contacts so their games were always over-hyped on magazines. Not that they all sucked (Superfrog was brilliant, Alien Breed was awesome), but even when they weren't all that hot (Gameplay aside, as technically all their games were very impressive), magazines were always raving about them.

Add that to the fact that Project X indeed had some real nice graphics, and people go all crazy about it.

Talking about arcade ports, two ports made by The Sales Curve are usually regarded as BETTER than the original arcade games (Silkworm and Rodland), and their other ports were really pretty good.

It's easy to notice, most of the time, only the ports published by U.S.Gold were really shitty... though to be honest, when they worked with a developer other than Go!, Probe or Tiertex, they had a great port - Shadow Dancer.

Favourite Amiga shmup?

What's your favourite Amiga shmup?