Turrican Remakes for Turrican Fans!

ST Dragon · Post by **ST Dragon** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 9:19 pm

One of my all time favourite series happens to be the Turrican series & specifically Turrican II, which was the sole purpose I got an AMIGA back in the day, to enjoy the incredible soundtrack by Chris Huelsbeck!
It simply gets into your soul!

I don’t understand why Factor5 never made an A1200 version of Turrican?
That would have rocked!

During my recent searches, these are my latest findings:

T4 Funeral for the PC.
A PC remake of the original series, with kick ass Photoshop graphics.
http://kickme.to/t4f

I haven't downloaded T4 yet, as I'm on 56K ...
But judging from the screenshots, what I don't like, is the Turrican sprite it self.
He looks as it he has a hump! ... Crippled!

The level graphics & design look excellent. Very professional work… But I’ll have to see it in action to have a clearer view.
How good is the animation & Bosses & how does it compare to the classic series in the music & gameplay department?

Another Turrican remake::

Turrican 2002.
http://www.pekaro.de/
Judging by the screenshots, it’s using level graphics of the PC version & the AMIGA Turrican I & II character sprite.
Has anybody tried it?
How good is it?

Apparently, it seems that they’re currently working on a GBA version as well!
http://www.pekaro.de/content/t2002/t2002_gba.html

For Commodore 64 fans, Turrican 3 was released last week for the C64!

http://www.smash-designs.de/

Turrican II PC-DOS version is the best out of all the systems that it has been released on, imho.
It’s shocking that Sun-Project managed to squeeze the AMIGA quality soundtrack from the Sound Blaster Pro back then! Also, with 256 on screen colours, compared to the 32-64 of the AMIGA / Genesis / PCE versions & 128 of the SNES version, they don’t quite match the PC version quality wise imo.

It’s a pity that Turrican PC isn’t supported by DOS-BOX emu yet!
It freezes after the title screen & there is no music!

it290 · Post by **it290** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 10:18 pm

Turrican 2 for the Amiga actually uses more than the standard 32 colors onscreen thanks to the copper background. I don't think a VGA card can do that.

Anyway, that T4 remake looks like total crap. Nowhere near the style of the original.

ST Dragon · Post by **ST Dragon** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 10:50 pm

Yes you're right, I forgot about the copper technic, but the basic colours were not any more than 32-64Half-Bright.

Now for another query…

I was wondering if you knew, whether Mega Turrican on the Genesis was released before Turrican 3 for the AMIGA or was it the other way around?
Legend has it, that it was it originally developed for the Genesis & that the AMIGA version is actually a stripped down port of the Genesis version.
Some other Rumors say, that in order to fit it into 1 disk (Traditionally the previous 2 consisted of only one disk) they reduced the graphics of the AMIGA port, which explains why the AMIGA version actually looks worse, with less background planes & colours...
Others say that simply the Genesis is the better system in the graphics department, but I say that’s unplaced, as no Genesis platform game that I know of, can compare to Lion Heart in the graphics department.

Sly Cherry Chunks · Post by **Sly Cherry Chunks** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 11:06 pm

http://www.nemmelheim.de/turrican/

T2002 is awesome, the main draw is that it has an expansive and easy to use level editor that goes with it. I built a bunch of my own levels (inculding one made from the Z-Out graphics) that can be dowloaded from the above site.

T4Funeral is worth it for the music alone. The tune for the final stage 'destruction' is amazing.

Bydobasher · Post by **Bydobasher** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 11:37 pm

Have any of you Turrican fans ever played Super Turrican for the NES? No one ever seems to talk about this one; it's always Amiga 1/2/3, C64 1/2 and Mega, and to a lesser extent, Super 1/2 on SNES. Anyway, I ask because I downloaded it recently and it seems really cool, although I haven't gotten very far yet.

Anyone have an opinion on this one?

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 11:47 pm

Yeah, I have an opinion of it, Bydobasher. Feel free to click my "www" button and read

Anyway, ST Dragon, are you serious when you say PC-DOS Turrican II version to be the best? I haven't played it, but I can't say I like the graphic style, really.

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 12:07 am

ST Dragon wrote:I was wondering if you knew, whether Mega Turrican on the Genesis was released before Turrican 3 for the AMIGA or was it the other way around?
Legend has it, that it was it originally developed for the Genesis & that the AMIGA version is actually a stripped down port of the Genesis version.
Some other Rumors say, that in order to fit it into 1 disk (Traditionally the previous 2 consisted of only one disk) they reduced the graphics of the AMIGA port, which explains why the AMIGA version actually looks worse, with less background planes & colours...
Others say that simply the Genesis is the better system in the graphics department, but I say that’s unplaced, as no Genesis platform game that I know of, can compare to Lion Heart in the graphics department.

The Turrican SETA, truly the best Turrican site out there, has a "facts" page that answers to most of your questions. Indeed, Mega Turrican was released before, and Turrican 3 is a later port of that game. However, I wouldn't define Turrican 3 as a "stripped down port": it may lack some parallax background but the sound quality is vastly improved. This, and they added some nice graphic effects, like water blur in the underwater dungeon. If anyone has the chance, he should always go for T3 imho.

In any case, as you point out, the amiga would have been more than capable to retain all of Mega Turrican's graphics. If they didn't fit them into the port it is porobably due the fact that the amiga market was already dying at that time, so they didn't put all that effort into the port, or so I guess.

Bydobasher · Post by **Bydobasher** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 12:15 am

I've read your opinion, Turrican. Where do you think I found about it in the first place?

I was just wondering if anyone besides yourself had played the darn thing. There's barely any information on the web that I can see -- excepting your excellent tribute of course -- no one seems to have heard of it over at GameFAQs, etc.

ST Dragon · Post by **ST Dragon** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 12:17 am

Yes I belive that the PC version is the best.
The only thing I didn't like about the PC version is that the Turrican sprite had a very large head compared to the AMIGA & the 1st level Boss (Indian Mecha) looked better on the AMIGA… (And maybe a few more enemies that I can’t remember…)
But other than that, the in-game graphics are greatly enhanced, adding a lot more colours & detail. The intro & ending look better & some of the enemy sprites have more detail.
All the secrets from the AMIGA are preserved (Plus some new ones) & the epic music is identical. The gameplay is superb & on par with the AMIGA. Overall it feels & plays just like the AMIGA, but with a major face lift in the visuals department.

I happen to be a die hard AMIGA fan. & have completed both PC & AMIGA versions hundreds of times in the past.
I have found all secrets & accomplished some pretty high scores.
So this is my objective opinion.

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 12:33 am

Bydobasher wrote:I've read your opinion, Turrican. Where do you think I found about it in the first place?

I was just wondering if anyone besides yourself had played the darn thing. There's barely any information on the web that I can see -- excepting your excellent tribute of course -- no one seems to have heard of it over at GameFAQs, etc.

*blush* thank you, I'm honoured.

Bydobasher wrote:I happen to be a die hard AMIGA fan. & have completed both PC & AMIGA versions hundreds of times in the past.
I have found all secrets & accomplished some pretty high scores.
So this is my objective opinion.

Sure, I wasn't questioning that. It's your opinion and you're well entitled to it, you would even if you were such a dedicated fan. All I can say is that I too noticed the bigheaded sprite and really hated it at first glance.

it290 · Post by **it290** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 3:04 am

Oh yeah, all you Turrican fans should try the PD Amiga game 'Super Obliteration'. It features the Turrican sprite and basically plays similarly to Pang/Buster Bros. Nice music by (IIRC) Bjorn Lynne, too. The game also has a few different control schemes to suit any taste.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 3:10 am

Turrican wrote: The Turrican SETA, truly the best Turrican site out there, has a "facts" page that answers to most of your questions.

Address plz? KTHX, w00t.

ST Dragon · Post by **ST Dragon** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 8:38 am

Here ya go:

Main page:
http://www.nemmelheim.de/turrican/index2.php

Facts:
http://www.nemmelheim.de/turrican/facts/

sven666 · Post by **sven666** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 12:33 pm

turrican game was pants... but the MP3 section comes highly recommended..

ace!!

im gonna rock out to turrican tunes all day!

Marc · Post by **Marc** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 1:01 pm

turrican game was pants

Heresey! Nah, of all the games I really love, Turrican is the one that I can understand people not digging in the same way. They were a little sprawling, empty and unfocused, and while that was what appealed to me I can understand how it might bug people more into the Contra/Metroid way of things.

sven666 · Post by **sven666** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 1:07 pm

Marc wrote:
turrican game was pants
Heresey! Nah, of all the games I really love, Turrican is the one that I can understand people not digging in the same way. They were a little sprawling, empty and unfocused, and while that was what appealed to me I can understand how it might bug people more into the Contra/Metroid way of things.

i meant the downloadable PC versions above

turrican on amiga/SNES is ace!

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 4:16 pm

Mega Turrican for the genesis was my favorite. I remember thinking that Turrican was an official part of the ALIENS mythos when i was little. PSH! Stupid kid! I always wondered how companies like Factor 5 and Konami could get away with ripping off Alien so blalantly without getting sued.

ST Dragon · Post by **ST Dragon** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 9:20 pm

Turrican wrote:
Bydobasher wrote:I've read your opinion, Turrican. Where do you think I found about it in the first place?

I was just wondering if anyone besides yourself had played the darn thing. There's barely any information on the web that I can see -- excepting your excellent tribute of course -- no one seems to have heard of it over at GameFAQs, etc.
*blush* thank you, I'm honoured.

Bydobasher wrote:I happen to be a die hard AMIGA fan. & have completed both PC & AMIGA versions hundreds of times in the past.
I have found all secrets & accomplished some pretty high scores.
So this is my objective opinion.
Sure, I wasn't questioning that. It's your opinion and you're well entitled to it, you would even if you were such a dedicated fan. All I can say is that I too noticed the bigheaded sprite and really hated it at first glance.

I have read your cool article of the Turrican series some time ago, but I never expected that you also posted here.
I got some of the nice wallpapers & flyers from your article. Thanks for posting them.

My favourite of the series is Turrican II, but I always liked the lightning whip (Turrican I) better than the 360 plasma of T2.
The Lightning Whip just feels more power & sinister. The continuous burning explosion that appears when it hits a wall is a very satisfying feeling. It would have been cool if it could get reflected off walls, like the lasers in the 2nd stage in Unreal 2.

The Turrican 2 smart bomb was one the coolest to ever grace a platform shooter. Factor 5 should have also added it in T3.
Also, why for God’s sake didn’t they include the "power lines" of T1 & 2 in T3?
It’s one of the coolest & more useful secondary weapons & would always come in handy when in a tight spot.

You might want to mention in your article that, in Turrican II, the Shmup Speed Section & the Boss at the end of it, look very similar to the 2nd level & Boss of Aero Blasters Arcade/Genesis/PCE. (The Bosses & the multi layered background scrolling, look very similar)

Aero Blasters:

Turrican 2:

It would be cool if you included a review of Turrican PC-DOS, as it so happens to be, one of the better incarnations of T2.
That would make your cool article more “complete”
The Turrican sprite might have a “big” head, but the game is an excellent & enhanced remake. You should really give it a try, as it’s got everything the original T2 had to offer.

I always wondered if the final Boss in Turrican II, was actually the machine, as it looks very different from the Machine that appears in the T2 intro & the final Boss in T3…
If it’s not the Machine, then what is that huge mecha supposed to be?

T2 - Final Boss

T2 - Machine Intro

T3 - The Machine

Apparently Alien & Aero Blasters were not the only ones Turrican was influenced from...

The Machine Boss in Super Turrican for the NES, looks very similar to the 2nd Level Boss in Aldynes for the SuperGrafX...

Super Turrican (NES)

Aldynes (SuperGrafX)

Julie Bell & Boris have done some awesome heroic-fantasy art especially for Conan…
Julie Bell has also made the Game cover illustrations of, Eternal Champions, Splatter House 3, Strider 2 & Wolfenstein 3D.
As for Boris, he has done the ones of, Ecco 1 & 2, Golden Axe 2, Star Control, Wings of Wor.
If anyone knows any other covers made by this couple, post them here…

ST Dragon · Post by **ST Dragon** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 10:45 pm

Here are all the latest Turricans...

http://www.nemmelheim.de/turrican/in_development.php

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 12:17 am

ST Dragon wrote:I have read your cool article of the Turrican series some time ago, but I never expected that you also posted here.
I got some of the nice wallpapers & flyers from your article. Thanks for posting them.

^_^

My favourite of the series is Turrican II, but I always liked the lightning whip (Turrican I) better than the 360 plasma of T2.
The Lightning Whip just feels more power & sinister. The continuous burning explosion that appears when it hits a wall is a very satisfying feeling.

True, the whip's look is cooler, but Turrican stands still while using it. So, imho, the one in T2 gets more points because of the really awesome animation of Turrican firing at 360°.

The Turrican 2 smart bomb was one the coolest to ever grace a platform shooter. Factor 5 should have also added it in T3.
Also, why for God’s sake didn’t they include the "power lines" of T1 & 2 in T3?

As you know, part of the staff changed while doing 3. Perhaps they felt power lines were "old". Anyway, they were wrong and I agree, it's really a shame that they replaced it with those stereotyped smart bombs.

It would be cool if you included a review of Turrican PC-DOS, as it so happens to be, one of the better incarnations of T2.
That would make your cool article more “complete”
The Turrican sprite might have a “big” head, but the game is an excellent & enhanced remake. You should really give it a try, as it’s got everything the original T2 had to offer.

I should play it before really writing something about, it would be more honest. I always thought it didn't go much farther than a graphical facelift, and since I don't like the new graphics... But sure, I'd like to try it. Only problem, I'm a Mac user.

I always wondered if the final Boss in Turrican II, was actually the machine, as it looks very different from the Machine that appears in the T2 intro & the final Boss in T3…
If it’s not the Machine, then what is that huge mecha supposed to be?

Umm, perhaps a big mecha piloted by the machine himself? I always thought so.

You might want to mention in your article that, in Turrican II, the Shmup Speed Section & the Boss at the end of it, look very similar to the 2nd level & Boss of Aero Blasters Arcade/Genesis/PCE. (The Bosses & the multi layered background scrolling, look very similar)

The Machine Boss in Super Turrican for the NES, looks very similar to the 2nd Level Boss in Aldynes for the SuperGrafX...

Gosh, Manfred Trenz totally stole that from Aldynes! Awesome discovery man, I'll add that, thanks for pointing it out!

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 12:20 am

ST Dragon wrote:Here are all the latest Turricans...

http://www.nemmelheim.de/turrican/in_development.php

Thanks man, but I know the SETA site well. You'll notice some contributions from me if you search it.

df0notfound · Post by **df0notfound** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 1:26 am

ST Dragon wrote: Legend has it, that it was it originally developed for the Genesis & that the AMIGA version is actually a stripped down port of the Genesis version.
Some other Rumors say, that in order to fit it into 1 disk (Traditionally the previous 2 consisted of only one disk) they reduced the graphics of the AMIGA port, which explains why the AMIGA version actually looks worse, with less background planes & colours...
Others say that simply the Genesis is the better system in the graphics department, but I say that’s unplaced, as no Genesis platform game that I know of, can compare to Lion Heart in the graphics department.

Strange, genesis version looked absolute gash compared to the amiga when i saw it, horrific music too

Samudra · Post by **Samudra** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 5:24 pm

Turrican wrote:
ST Dragon wrote:
The Machine Boss in Super Turrican for the NES, looks very similar to the 2nd Level Boss in Aldynes for the SuperGrafX...
Gosh, Manfred Trenz totally stole that from Aldynes! Awesome discovery man, I'll add that, thanks for pointing it out!

"Good artists copy, great artists steal."
-Picasso

Samudra · Post by **Samudra** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 5:40 pm

ST Dragon wrote: Julie Bell & Boris have done some awesome heroic-fantasy art especially for Conan…
Julie Bell has also made the Game cover illustrations of, Eternal Champions, Splatter House 3, Strider 2 & Wolfenstein 3D.
As for Boris, he has done the ones of, Ecco 1 & 2, Golden Axe 2, Star Control, Wings of Wor.
If anyone knows any other covers made by this couple, post them here…

If Boris did the cover for Golden Axe II, I'm pretty sure he did the cover for the European release of Golden Axe as well as it is very similar.

ST Dragon · Post by **ST Dragon** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 9:48 pm

That doesn't quite look like Boris' art imo...

ST Dragon · Post by **ST Dragon** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 9:59 pm

Samudra wrote:
Turrican wrote:
ST Dragon wrote:
The Machine Boss in Super Turrican for the NES, looks very similar to the 2nd Level Boss in Aldynes for the SuperGrafX...
Gosh, Manfred Trenz totally stole that from Aldynes! Awesome discovery man, I'll add that, thanks for pointing it out!
"Good artists copy, great artists steal."
-Picasso

It's weird how a lot of AMIGA developers copied art form the PCE & SuperGrafX when almost nobody in Europe knew of their existence back in 1990.
So how did Manfred Trez get to play Aldynes in the 1st place & copy the 2nd level Boss?

Also in the last level of Apidya, you get to fight a huge sea shell that looks similar to the shell of the mermaid Boss of Gaiares (MD) & later on you get to fight a grotesque Zombie figure, similar to the 4th level Boss of Gynoug / Wings of Wor (MD)
As for the Horner Final Boss, that reminds me a lot of DonPachi’s Bee insects, but that was released 3 years later.

Same as the Project X speed run Bonus stages, look almost identical to the speed run section of the 2nd level of Aero Blasters Arcade/PCE/Genesis, which was also usd in Turrican II shmup stages.

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 10:18 pm

df0notfound wrote:
ST Dragon wrote: Legend has it, that it was it originally developed for the Genesis & that the AMIGA version is actually a stripped down port of the Genesis version.
Some other Rumors say, that in order to fit it into 1 disk (Traditionally the previous 2 consisted of only one disk) they reduced the graphics of the AMIGA port, which explains why the AMIGA version actually looks worse, with less background planes & colours...
Others say that simply the Genesis is the better system in the graphics department, but I say that’s unplaced, as no Genesis platform game that I know of, can compare to Lion Heart in the graphics department.
Strange, genesis version looked absolute gash compared to the amiga when i saw it, horrific music too

That's a bit harsh. The Genesis version of Mega Turrican certainly doesn't look or sound as good as Turrican 3, but the graphics and sound quality are extremely good and definatly push the Genesis hardware. That info about Turrican 3 being a toned down port of the Genesis version is definatly wrong, though.

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 10:20 pm

I thought the speed run section came from Gradius.

But yeah, they were huge otaku themselves, just look at Kaiko's other works, like Gem'X. Probably Manfred was a PCE gamer, that's cool!

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 10:25 pm

Isn't there also a boss in one of Manfred Trenz's games that resembles the core from Gradius?

ST Dragon · Post by **ST Dragon** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 10:49 pm

Turrican wrote:I thought the speed run section came from Gradius.

But yeah, they were huge otaku themselves, just look at Kaiko's other works, like Gem'X. Probably Manfred was a PCE gamer, that's cool!

Just try Aero Blasters & play the speed run level in stage 2...

Yah but where did he find a PCE back in 1990?
Nobody knew about that little white box back then.