Battle of the Ports

[Leon Retro]

and even my computer teacher looked down on consoles and how they were for children.

Some people felt that consoles were too restrictive compared to a computer. That was true, but the advantage of consoles was how they were designed to run fast action games, which meant lots of coin-op ports felt more satisfying than on computers. Just look at coin-op ports on the Master System compared to 8-bit computers. Then you have the PCE which delivered convincing coin-op ports because of its amazing 16-bit GPU.

When 16-bit consoles arrived, it really cemented the idea that console gaming tended to offer better quality games. Consoles finally had really nice graphics and sound to go alongside well-crafted gameplay. The 16-bit console war was such a great time for gaming.

I didn't get the Amiga till much matter, but I loved the Atari ST back inthe day and play all those lovely flight and racing sims . F29 was just amazing back inthe day

I have great memories of getting an Amiga in 1989 and thinking games like Shadow of the Beast were incredible. Then I enjoyed titles such as Kick Off 2, Lotus 1-3, Battle Squadron, Speedball 2, Stunt Car Racer, Sensible Soccer, RoboCod etc.... I think most people who had an Amiga back in the day have a lot of nostalgia for the machine.

I hope the people behind The C64 end up making The Amiga. I guess they would shrink it a bit, seeing it's a big computer.

[samanosuke]

Isn’t The C64 just a Raspberry Pi in a C64 case? No, what I’d sooner see is if someone could stick a Vampire v4 into something like an A1000 keyboard. Then you’d have the ultimate FPGA-based Amiga in a compact yet authentic case, much like the Spectrum Next.

[Leon Retro]

Isn’t The C64 just a Raspberry Pi in a C64 case?

Well, it is a Pi sort of board running the Vice emulator. But the emulator has been coded really well and feels convincing. Lots of C64 fans have bought one and they say it feels authentic. I've been using it quite a bit over the past few weeks and I'm really happy with it. I much prefer having a replica C64 over just a Pi, even if it's just emulation.

I know why some people are turned off by emulation, but when emulation is done well, the results are nice. I emulate all sorts of consoles and computers -- and lots of emulators do a great job. I wouldn't agree with someone who thinks, for example, Neo Geo, SNES and PC Engine emulation doesn't feel authentic. To me it feels convincing enough to make me feel happy to use emulation.

The only time emulation is a problem, is with badly coded emulators that don't run well on any hardware. An emulator is only as good as the skill and dedication of its creator(s).

Amiga emulation got to the point where it runs well and feels really authentic. People have spent decades working on Amiga emulation, to the point where it became rock solid in all areas.

Of course, emulation will never gel with some people because they can't help but think the emulation might not be 100% perfect. That worry will irritate some, so FPGA is the perfect solution for those people. I'm just someone who is happy to use emulation if it doesn't have any obvious issues that spoil the experience. I wouldn't use any emulator that feels broken in any way.

So I'd be happy with an Amiga replica running an emulator if the hardware inside was capable enough to get the most out of the emulation. From my experience something like a Raspberry Pi 3 is sufficient.

[Yakumo]

[Kotatsu Neko]

I always loved the sprite work in the MD version. It's really well drawn and animated. Backdrops are good too, given the subject matter. The Japanese MD cart is ultra rare and crazy expensive now too.

As for the game, yeah it's pretty mindless, but fun for a few minutes.

[Yakumo]

It's the 90's and there is time for Klax!

[S3M]

Kudos for doing another game with so many versions.

[Yakumo]

Cheers. Took me around 18 hours in total to make this episode. Missed a few too. Had no idea there was a Sam Coupe version and a US GameBoy version that looked more like the Arcade.

[JazzFunk]

I always liked Klax. I don't remember the Amiga version looking that bad but my Amiga had a TV modulator on it so it was probably blurred to buggery.

PCE version looks really nice. Never had the Western MD version, only the Namco JP version but you can't go wrong with that.

It's good is Klax, if only for a quickish blast ever so often. I just get bored of these tile puzzlers very quickly but at least this has some visual panache.

Nice vid, as per.

[Yakumo]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles wanna be, the Battletoads are here! Does the game suck or is it all they say it is? How about the ports? Can the Amiga produce a good port of a NES game? Watch on to find out.

Please note that the Game Boy and Master System games are not included since they are different games. Same goes for the arcade game.
The Xbox One Rare collection version isn't featured because that's just emulation running on the Xbox One.

[JazzFunk]

No SNES version?

Great vid but you need SNES at least, it actually makes the game look vastly appealing in screenshots. It looked like 50% better than all the other versions but was basically the same game.

It was as rubbish as the other versions but dang it looks goooooood

[JazzFunk]

[Yakumo]

The SNES game is a completely different game just like the master system version.

[JazzFunk]

I have played and owned NES, MD and SNES versions of this game.

Whilst I'll admit the SNES version is significantly different, it still shares levels and gameplay.

To assert it is 'completely different' is - to be frank - quite, quite ridiculous!

Anyway, they're all a bag o' shoit, anyway.

[Yakumo]

Anyway, they're all a bag o' shoit, anyway.

I'll agree with that.