Amiga CD32 questions

[FRO]

1. Are there any good shmups that were released for the unit?

2. Is it worth buying one for shmups in general?

3. Does anyone know of a site that shows compatibility w/ standard Amiga CD-based games? I know at one time I read somewhere that several Amiga CD titles worked on the CD32, but I've never found a list.

4. I know there are several models out (SX-1, SX32, CD32x, etc) - which one should I search for if I want to buy one to use at home w/ an NTSC TV? I've read that some models work w/ either PAL or NTSC, so I'd like to know what to look for.

Thanks!

[D]

As a European I can only advise you to stay away.
The system has no pros, only cons.

Not really helping you in your question, just giving advise.

It's made from really ugly ass plastic, and the joypads are a joke.

[Thunder Force]

Are there any good shmups that were released for the unit?

Allegedly there's a good version of Deluxe Galaga for the unit (not a Namco game despite the name, it's actually a predecessor to the PC shmup Warblade).

[Super Laydock]

As a European I can only advise you to stay away.
The system has no pros, only cons.

Not really helping you in your question, just giving advise.

It's made from really ugly ass plastic, and the joypads are a joke.

Only cons? You've got to be kidding!
It's indeed very far from being the most attractive machine on the block, but it has got some decent games and some more than decent ones).
You also can use other joysticks and pads on the machine as it got a standard joystick/mouse connector.


There are some noteworthy shmups on the system:

Project-X (predeccesor to X2: No relief on the PSX)
Banshee (war themed vertical shmup with plane)
Disposable Hero (very nice shmup and worth having)
Super Stardust (a very nice asteroid style shmup)
Lunar-C (nice)
Overkill (not familiar with)

And other borderliners are for instance: Jungle Strike (3d isometric multidirectional helicopter shmup), Seek and Destroy (also multi directional helicopter shooting).

For a nice list of games for the CD32 check here (screenshots and all):
http://hol.abime.net/search.php?&N_ref_ ... mitstart=0

Some other great games imo are: Last Ninja 3, Alien Breed II: Tower Assault, The Chaos Engine, IK+, both Zools (Sonic rip offs), Pinball Fantasies and Pinball Illusions (very addictive).

AFAIK most NTSC games will work on a Pal System and vice versa if you have a mouse connected to the system and press the right (or left I am not sure anymore). Make sure you're tv can handle the respective output though.

[Sly Cherry Chunks]

Overkill was a fancy Defender clone with posh graphics and many, many layers of paralax. It looked awesome but wasn't as much fun as Datastorm.

[FRO]

There are enough shmups in that list to make it worth tracking down, regardless of how "ugly" it looks. Yeah, the controllers are goofy looking, but they serve one purpose - control. Thanks for the link & info!

[sven666]

system has lots of great games besides shmups too...

[visuatrox]

There are good shmups for it, and yes it is worth buying just for the shmups.

You can play basically any CD based Amiga game, and even floppy and HDD too (if you have one of the expansions). The CD32 is not just a console, it also works as a computer, therefore you could do custom made booting CD's for basically anything. But unless you are a hardcore Amiga user (I guess not) don't count on that being particularly easy.

4. I know there are several models out (SX-1, SX32, CD32x, etc) - which one should I search for if I want to buy one to use at home w/ an NTSC TV? I've read that some models work w/ either PAL or NTSC, so I'd like to know what to look for.

CD32 is the console, avaible in both PAL and NTSC flavour. Depending on the native territory of the system, it defaults to either one. But you can still in the rom manually select the region.

SX-1, SX32, CD32x are just different kinds of hardware expansions (that usually add a possibility for hdd, floppy and keyboard). Enabling you to basically use the CD32 as a Amiga 1200 computer, and giving you access to all the floppy and HDD based games too.

Do NOT get a NTSC Amiga CD32, and forget about playing NTSC games on it. I have tried this in practise and it does not work very well. Sure you can force displaying in NTSC, but game speed and graphics get distorted. Like 99% of Amiga games were designed for PAL, and majority of CD32 games did not get released for NTSC at all as it basically was discontinued right after the US release. And also the NTSC games are hard to find.

[dave4shmups]

There are good shmups for it, and yes it is worth buying just for the shmups.

You can play basically any CD based Amiga game, and even floppy and HDD too (if you have one of the expansions). The CD32 is not just a console, it also works as a computer, therefore you could do custom made booting CD's for basically anything. But unless you are a hardcore Amiga user (I guess not) don't count on that being particularly easy.

4. I know there are several models out (SX-1, SX32, CD32x, etc) - which one should I search for if I want to buy one to use at home w/ an NTSC TV? I've read that some models work w/ either PAL or NTSC, so I'd like to know what to look for.

CD32 is the console, avaible in both PAL and NTSC flavour. Depending on the native territory of the system, it defaults to either one. But you can still in the rom manually select the region.

SX-1, SX32, CD32x are just different kinds of hardware expansions (that usually add a possibility for hdd, floppy and keyboard). Enabling you to basically use the CD32 as a Amiga 1200 computer, and giving you access to all the floppy and HDD based games too.

Do NOT get a NTSC Amiga CD32, and forget about playing NTSC games on it. I have tried this in practise and it does not work very well. Sure you can force displaying in NTSC, but game speed and graphics get distorted. Like 99% of Amiga games were designed for PAL, and majority of CD32 games did not get released for NTSC at all as it basically was discontinued right after the US release. And also the NTSC games are hard to find.

Wait a sec., I was told that the CD32 is region free, and hooking up a PAL console to an NTSC TV, which is what FRO would have to do, unless he get's an NTSC CD32, wouldn't work.

@FRO-check out the Amiga Hall of Light: http://hol.abime.net . You can find a complete list of Amiga CD32 releases on that site, here: http://hol.abime.net/search.php?&N_ref_hardware=6

Plus, CDTV releases, here:
http://hol.abime.net/search.php?&N_ref_hardware=7

The CDTV came out before the CD32, but it's games are compatible with the CD32. There were several CDTV exclusive shmups, plus Turrican 1 and 2!

[D]

OK.
*convinced*

Now I want one (almost)
Just trying to warn you. But now the prove is here.
I'm glad I was proven wrong

[sven666]

OK.
*convinced*

Now I want one (almost)
Just trying to warn you. But now the prove is here.
I'm glad I was proven wrong

you were proboably thinking about the jaguar

[FRO]

So what's the verdict here, folks? Do I wait for a CD32 on eBay that specifies PAL (& hope it works w/ my NTSC TV), or just forget about owning a CD32 (cuz I'm sure not going to purchase a PAL TV w/ power converter just for a CD32)?

[sven666]

So what's the verdict here, folks? Do I wait for a CD32 on eBay that specifies PAL (& hope it works w/ my NTSC TV), or just forget about owning a CD32 (cuz I'm sure not going to purchase a PAL TV w/ power converter just for a CD32)?

if you have a somewhat new TV i think you should be fine with a PAL system?

[visuatrox]

Well I seriously advice getting a PAL CD32 or nothing. Because even though the CD32 is region free, and you can manually select 50/60hz, forcing a game to run in either one mess them up. And then how are you going to change the options if you can't see them . And actually most of the CD32's sold on Ebay are the PAL systems (just look for an european seller).

btw see faq here:
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/amiga/CD32-FAQ/part1/

[dave4shmups]

*shrugs* I've just always been told that, without exception, you do not hook up PAL consoles to NTSC televisons; regardless.

[FRO]

Thanks for the suggestions, all. Oh and Dave - love the new sig!

[dave4shmups]

Thanks for the suggestions, all. Oh and Dave - love the new sig!

Thanks FRO! Well, I guess this is one PAL system that'll work on a US TV, given what has been said. Which is nice, since an NTSC CD32 is impossible to track down, anyway.

[ST Dragon]

The best looking CD based Shooter on the AMIGA was T-Zero & was released in 1999.

http://hol.abime.net/1551

http://www.amiworld.it/giochi/tzero/tzero_eng.html

http://www.retrogaming.it/amiga/t-zero.htm


















But you'll need a pretty beefed up AGA AMIGA to play it... At least a 68030 with 8MB, but ideally something like this:

Amiga 4000
Kickstart 3.1
CyberStorm PPC 640e/200 + 68060/50
CyberVision 64
50 Mbyte ram
CD-ROM ATAPI Pioneer 10x

So I don't think it's playable on the CD-32 since it was basically an A1200 in disguise using a 68020 CPU @ 14MHZ.

[dave4shmups]

The best looking CD based Shooter on the AMIGA was T-Zero & was released in 1999.

http://hol.abime.net/1551

http://www.amiworld.it/giochi/tzero/tzero_eng.html

http://www.retrogaming.it/amiga/t-zero.htm


















But you'll need a pretty beefed up AGA AMIGA to play it... At least a 68030 with 8MB, but ideally something like this:

Amiga 4000
Kickstart 3.1
CyberStorm PPC 640e/200 + 68060/50
CyberVision 64
50 Mbyte ram
CD-ROM ATAPI Pioneer 10x

So I don't think it's playable on the CD-32 since it was basically an A1200 in disguise using a 68020 CPU @ 14MHZ.

Thanks for those pics! That shmup looks down-right next-gen!

[Super Laydock]

The best looking CD based Shooter on the AMIGA was T-Zero & was released in 1999.

http://hol.abime.net/1551

http://www.amiworld.it/giochi/tzero/tzero_eng.html

http://www.retrogaming.it/amiga/t-zero.htm

WOW, that one looks downright amazing! Even more considering the hardware age. Shame I don't have the proper machine to run this game.

Anyway, thank you very much for the info and links.

[Thunder Force]

T-Zero sounds like the Amiga prequel to the Italian pc shmup Steel Saviour aka "T-Zwei".

[Turrican]

Funnily enough, there was another Italian shmup on the amiga with a similar name: T-Racer.

http://hol.abime.net/3998

Sure, not as gorgeous, but at least playable on an humble ECS system.

By the way, the real question with CD32 is: should I get one of those, or an Amiga 1200? Besides the CD media, I can't see many advantages CD32 has on a 1200.

[Shatterhand]

You should get an A1200 , IMO.

You can upgrade it later if you want. Nearly all good CD32 games were released for non-CD amigas too. You arent missing much if you get an A1200 and not a CD32.

[ST Dragon]

Actually you're not missing anything at all, especially if you consider the fact that you can easily install an external CD-ROM drive to the A1200, an accelerator card to reach the impressive speed of 68060 CPU at 60MHZ & 64MB RAM.

The good AMIGA CD games like Alien Breed, Breathless, Fears, Gloom, & T-Zero, needed a pretty Beefy AMIGA to play them on anyway & were not even playable on a stock CD-32 to start with. I have heard that it's possible to upgrade the CD-32's stock CPU to a 68030, add a hard disk, mouse & keyboard, but I've never actually seen one.

Most serious AMIGA collectors get an A4000 desktop or Tower & upgrade it to suit their needs. There are even PCI converter cards that fit onto those AMIGA Zorro expansion slots, enabling you to use some fairy modern PC based cards.

Bare in mind though that AMIGA retro collecting can be as expensive as NEOGEO AES & the PCE/TG-16.

The all time best AMIGA games, were released during the A500 time line though, so a handful of CD-ROM Amiga games, probably doesn’t justify spending a lot of money on the AMIGA realm.
A stock A1200 & A500 with 1MB of RAM, will allow you to play more than 96% of the known AMIGA games. We’re talking about a library of shooters larger than the SNES, Genesis & NES collection put together.

[Turrican]

The all time best AMIGA games, were released during the A500 time line though, so a handful of CD-ROM Amiga games, probably doesn’t justify spending a lot of money on the AMIGA realm.

Yeah, that pretty much sums the situation. I love my Amiga 500 but I don't really feel a diehard Amiga user who wants a 4000 or such... That would be like enter the X68000 scene, if not worse. I'm a gamer, not an hardware collector.

However, I'd love to get an Amiga with hard disk, you know, to finally install Monkey, Monkey2, Beneath and such. And a 1200 would give me opportunity to play Banshee.

btw, what about the Commodore A570? Does it play CDTV and CD32 games? If so, that would be an option as well.

A stock A1200 & A500 with 1MB of RAM, will allow you to play more than 96% of the known AMIGA games. We’re talking about a library of shooters larger than the SNES, Genesis & NES collection put together.

Did you really make a comparison?

[ST Dragon]

I remember reading some articles on the popular AMIGA Mags of the time (AMIGA Power, Format & CU) that made some pretty analytical game compatibility charts for the OCS/ECS & AGA chipsets.

The A1200 is not 100% backwards compatible to the A500 game library which makes up more than the 91% of the total AMIGA game library.

Same goes for the A500+ & A600, but not as much as the A1200.

So by owning a basic stock A500 & A1200, you can play most of the existing AMIGA games excluding the CD-Rom based ones of course, most of which are also available on disks or hard drive installable.

Also, there are very few good hardware demanding AMIGA games, which are worth spending money to upgrade the AMIGA in order to play them properly.

If you check the total number of Shoot Em Ups released for the AMIGA computers, you’ll be shocked by their vast numbers. There were new ones literally released every month. It far exceeds anything we’ve seen on any other system since then.

As for the A570...
No, it was not even 100% compatible with the CD-TV let alone the CD-32.
It was the CD-ROM add-on for the A500, but it had more RAM & new O/S (Kickstart 2.0) compared to 0.5MB RAM & Kickstart 1.3 of the CD-TV, making it incompatible with CD-TV, which was a failure anyways.



A570 Review:

http://amiga.emugaming.com/a570cd.html

Tech Specs:

http://amiga.emugaming.com/a570.html

I remember back in 1994 there were more than one brands making 32-Bit CD-Rom add-on for the A1200, which connected via the PCMCIA card slot.
Some of which offered 100% compatibility to the CD-32 titles. But even then, there were some compatibility issues which have plagued the AMIGA realm ever since its birth.

[dave4shmups]

Bare in mind though that AMIGA retro collecting can be as expensive as NEOGEO AES & the PCE/TG-16.

Actually the PC Engine isn't that expensive to collect for; on the HuCard side, at least, it's usually a helluva lot cheaper then Saturn collecting.

Anyway, thanks for all that info! Where would one purchase an Amiga A4000? Would you pretty much just have to buy it in parts? I've never seen a retro computer come with it's monitor; at least not on Ebay.

[Specineff]

The monitor is the easiest part to get, actually.

[neorichieb1971]

I do not believe you can use a PAL CD32 in the USA.

For a start, the system will boot up in PAL mode, so unless your TV is a multisystem TV you aint gonna have a clue because it will either be in black or white or scroll out of sync. How are you going to adjust menu's and such when you cannot read them?

In the UK most TV's are RGB which is not 50/60hz dependant. Using the modulator for PAL output to a NTSC TV will cause problems and vice versa.

Only with RGB will you get the benefits.


Your best bet is to get a NTSC unit. The games may not work right, but at least you will see them. If you do have a multisystem TV or RGB capable monitor you could play the games in PAL mode in theory, but I still have my doubts on if the modulator will output a non native signal in color.


Does the CD32 use the same AV out as the amiga?

[ST Dragon]

I've never actually seen a CD-32 in action, but I would imagine that it does use the same AV out as the Amiga, which has been common for Amiga computers.
Actually the TV-Out modulator on the A1200 is very good quality & for some time (until I bought a Commodore 1084S) I was using it on my old (1989) 29" SONY multi system TV. Much better quality than my GFti4200 128MB AGP 8X TV-OUT by the way!

I would imagine that most US NTSC TVs, even without RGB, will be multi system like the European TVs, so I doubt that he will have any problems playing a Euro PAL CD-32 on his US TV set.

The CD-32 came out around 1993-1994 & most new consoles of the time like the Jaguar & 3DO, connected to the TV via composite RCA (Yellow, Red, and White) cable. They were not restricted to RGB only, so I don't think it will be a problem on US NTSC TVs.

But if the worse comes to the worse, it won’t be that hard finding an old Commodore 1084S monitor. I bought mine in 2001 for 30 Euros.

So, if you really want a CD-32, I say go for the PAL version.

Or else just stick to an A500 & A1200 combo with a commodore 1084S monitor.