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Carnivius β CPC mock ups - R-Type
Published: 2005-12-11 22:14:59 +0000 UTC; Views: 1515; Favourites: 16; Downloads: 53
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Description
Another Mode 0 CPC mock up of a Mode 1 game. I always felt the CPC owners got sorta cheated with R-Type. We got a version lacking in color, with minimal sound and a very small screen. C64 owners got a large screen, more color (though still the drab C64 palette) and a decent soundtrack. Wanted to make up a screenshot showing how R-Type could have looked on the old Amstrad. 16 colors 160x240 'wide pixel' resolution. Used a shot of the original arcade game as reference. Ships were easy but the tiles at the bottom were very hard since the original arcade version used a sort of beigey color scheme for those. The CPC doesn't have those colors. The C64 version used greyscale for that part. The CPC only has 1 grey. So I had to improvise with different colors. It's a matter of opinion if my choices worked or not but I think they look fine and theres actually more detail in this than the original higher res CPC version so I'm pleased with it. Been told that it looks closer to the arcade game than the C64 version does so even better.Related content
Comments: 7
Excellent work, sir!
I always wondered why Mode 0 wasn't used more when I was young - I didn't notice any real speed hit (indeed there are some very playable games using the mode), but recent years (and Retro Gamer magazine) revealed the reason: lazy ports from Spectrum games.
Sad but true. Looking at this and what could have been. This looks better than the Master System version (which I loved).
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Yup, the CPC was behind the C64 and Spectrum so it was often the victim of lazy ports from developers who just couldn't be bothered. Still even then some of those games ended up with nicer color schemes like Head Over Heels for example.
I was emailed a lil while ago by some folks who were remaking CPC R-Type to take more advantage of the CPC rather than the Speccy port that got released and were asking for my asistance. I had to turn them down due to moving home at that time but from the bits I saw they didn't need my help at all. No idea how it's looking now as I've been away from the CPC scene for a long time (I mostly do non-computer related activties these days) but I hope it got completed and shows what these games could have been.
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Head over Heels, Batman, the Dizzy games - all looked better than the Spectrum equivalents; in the latter's case the lack of colour clash helped a great deal.
Although of Mode 1 games, there's a little something I kinda miss in new games; the fact that a palette would change in some games depending on the area. I'm thinking Curse of Sherwood here, I thought it was nifty how the red in the palette became blue near the river (white when you froze it), sorta gave the areas a general ambience of their own in a very primitive way.
I'll stop getting misty-eyed and retro crazy now.
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That palette switching between screens was something I was doing in some of my CPC Mode 1 inspired projects. I agree with what you say it added to some Mode 1 games that made it superior to the Spectrum and is what I was saying about Head Over Heels having nice color schemes for each room rather than the Spectrum being forced to use all one color on black cos of that attribute problem. I have a pic of the game in my gallery somewhere. The game was called Hotel of Hell.
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oh right
Amstrad CPC
My fault
I think Amstard wasn't that big here in Germany so I didn't think about that. Another option is I am probably only talking bullshit again.
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I think that a company called Schneider probably manufactured the CPC in germany. Was very succesful in companies like France, Spain and England.
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"Another Mode 0 CPC mock up of a Mode 1 game" i am sorry to sound like a complete n00b but WHAT?!
whats Mode 0 and whats a CPC? That could stand for Commodore PC but wouldn't make much sense since there was only the C64 or was there first the...no. Now I am getting all retarded and I am saying bullshit so could you please explain stuff for me. That would help me a lot.
I like how you used the C64 colour pallet though (at least I think thatβs what you used, didnβt you?)
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