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Retro Arena: The Bitmap Brothers

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    #16
    I would pick Speedball II but it's pretty much slam dunked this already

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      #17
      Originally posted by ZipZap View Post
      It sure is! Obviously the graphics and sound aren't as good as the Amiga (and they weren't great by C64 standards), but it's fast and smooth and plays well. I believe they also re-balanced a few things from the Amiga verison.
      Yeah, I know a few people who have played the Amiga and C64 versions, and they prefer the C64 version amazingly enough! The programmer, Carl Muller (sadly no longer with us) was also responsible for trying to hack the disk version of the US TMNT game (conversion of the NES title) onto tape in a workable fashion.
      Lie with passion and be forever damned...

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        #18
        Yep, Speedball 2. The first needs some love for having a few different pitch arrangements, something the sequel dropped. Other than those, I adore the Bitmap Brothers style and their pixel art is second to none, in my opinion, but I haven't always got into the games. I liked Z too. It's a pretty accomplished Command & Conquer type.

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          #19
          Originally posted by JazzFunk View Post
          Only Bitmap game worth playing is Speedball 2.



          Originally posted by QualityChimp View Post
          Not a massive fan of sport games, so Speedball 2, which was mainly about punching people, seemed restrictive.
          You can get really good at the game and play it on a deeper level. You'd be surprised how much depth the game has.


          Originally posted by QualityChimp View Post
          Xenon 2. Yeah, the game's limited, but even now, I clearly remember hearing the intro with the Bomb Da Bass sample and my mind was blown.
          I remember it blew me away -- and all my friends. But I wish the intro had been PD demo, rather than having to pay £20 for a game that wasn't very good.


          Originally posted by Asura View Post
          I also unapologetically loved Xenon 2. The mitigating factor was that I was very young and completely floored by the novelty.
          Well, the music was really impressive, and the graphics are attractive, so I think a lot of people fell for its charms. But sadly it's not a very good shooter. I have no idea why magazines like C&VG awarded it 95%.


          Originally posted by Dogg Thang View Post
          , I adore the Bitmap Brothers style and their pixel art is second to none,
          I really like the graphics in Xenon II, so it's a shame that the Brothers didn't craft a game full of variety and thrills. It's just too samey and boring after a while.

          Originally posted by Dogg Thang View Post
          I liked Z too. It's a pretty accomplished Command & Conquer type.
          I've heard good things about it, but it's not my cup of tea. I've never been interested in Command & Conquer type of games.
          Last edited by Leon Retro; 09-10-2018, 01:48.

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            #20
            The intro music to Gods is frikkin boss.
            Last edited by Baseley09; 08-10-2018, 20:07.

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              #21
              Originally posted by Baseley09 View Post
              The intro music to Gods is frikkin boss.


              100% 90s nostalgia.

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                #22
                Anyone know what's going on with the Bitmap Brothers? [MENTION=3611]Duddyroar[/MENTION]?

                Their website is horribly out-of-date with news from 2007 and reviews from 2014.

                The splash page is hyping Speedball 2 being optimised for Xperia Play phones!

                Shame The Chaos Engine never made it to Android, I might have played that.

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                  #23
                  Originally posted by Leon Retro View Post
                  100% 90s nostalgia.
                  What I love about Amiga music is because it was ‘real’ music, as opposed to chiptune, many Amiga games represent a snapshot of music trends of the time. That Gods soundtrack is a direct reflection of the electronic/rave/dance culture prevalent during the late 80s and early 90s. It’s a dose of nostalgia in more ways than one.

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                    #24
                    Speedball II for me as well, in my top ten of all time. I found a way to get ridiculously high scores once you had a couple of the best players.

                    Gods, Magic Pockets and Chaos Engine were also good fun, I also liked Xenon II though as a tech demo rather than an example of great gameplay. I remember at the 'computer club' I used to go to the Amiga version royally lorded it over the ST version.

                    The design and overall look of the Bitmaps games was superb and had their own fingerprint, a bit like Cinemaware.

                    When I got rid of my Amiga setup I hung on to my Bitmap originals which are still in the attic.

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                      #25
                      Originally posted by Anpanman View Post

                      The design and overall look of the Bitmaps games was superb and had their own fingerprint, a bit like Cinemaware.

                      When I got rid of my Amiga setup I hung on to my Bitmap originals which are still in the attic.
                      I might do a Cinemaware thread at some point.

                      I kept some of my favourite 8 & 16-bit games. I've still got the big box Shadow of the Beast for the Amiga.

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                        #26
                        Originally posted by samanosuke View Post
                        What I love about Amiga music is because it was ‘real’ music, as opposed to chiptune, many Amiga games represent a snapshot of music trends of the time. That Gods soundtrack is a direct reflection of the electronic/rave/dance culture prevalent during the late 80s and early 90s. It’s a dose of nostalgia in more ways than one.
                        Yeah, the Amiga allowed people to make music that sounded similar to the popular electronic music of the time. You could have drum samples etc.. that helped deliver a studio quality feel. What's also great -- is musicians could also deliver more organic and experimental music if they wished to. If you listen to all sorts of Amiga tunes, you realise that the machine could deliver a diverse range of music.



                        Originally posted by Anpanman View Post

                        The design and overall look of the Bitmaps games was superb and had their own fingerprint, a bit like Cinemaware.

                        When I got rid of my Amiga setup I hung on to my Bitmap originals which are still in the attic.
                        I might do a Cinemaware thread at some point.

                        I kept some of my favourite 8 & 16-bit games. I've still got the big box Shadow of the Beast for the Amiga.

                        Comment


                          #27
                          Originally posted by samanosuke View Post
                          What I love about Amiga music is because it was ‘real’ music, as opposed to chiptune, many Amiga games represent a snapshot of music trends of the time. That Gods soundtrack is a direct reflection of the electronic/rave/dance culture prevalent during the late 80s and early 90s. It’s a dose of nostalgia in more ways than one.
                          It was sample heavy, and thus sounded better, I'll give you that... but in a way, it also lost a bit of the melody driven hook that the C64 SID gave composers and what made many tracks, and as a result Amiga tunes to me are somewhat far less memorable overall.
                          Lie with passion and be forever damned...

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                            #28
                            Originally posted by Protocol Penguin View Post
                            Magic Pockets in gameplay is a slow, inferior version of Graftgold’s Fire & Ice, and I have no idea what they were thinking using their metallic visual style in a ‘cute’ platform game, I know it was their signature look, but it just doesn’t work...
                            There is some debate about how much the term "art direction" could even be applied to computer games back then. Certainly there were good games but part of me wonders if that happened by accident as much as on purpose.

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                              #29
                              Originally posted by Mayhem View Post
                              and as a result Amiga tunes to me are somewhat far less memorable overall.
                              Not all Amiga tunes sound 'sample heavy' like a techno/rave piece of music. Some musicians delivered more organic music with a SID chip vibe. You could do a lot with the sound chip, so how you approached creating music could vary. Some tunes even used virtual sound channels, such as Turrican 2, so you got richer sounding music.

                              When it came to music that sounded like the popular techno/rave/dance tunes of the time, it was certainly impressive and caught people's attention, simply because it was something new that 8-bit machines hadn't been good at. Listening to the tunes now, you can easily tell they're far from studio quality, but they were similar enough at the time to make people think the Amiga could do amazing things with music.

                              Originally posted by Asura View Post
                              There is some debate about how much the term "art direction" could even be applied to computer games back then.
                              Well, The Bitmap Brothers are a clear example of a developer having "art direction". They carefully planned how their games would look. I think it would be the same for other professional developers at Team 17 and Core Design. Psygnosis are another great example of a publishing house trying their best to have strong "art direction" from the box art to the overall design of their games.

                              Back in the 80s, there was certainly a strong element of Indie sort of developers making experimental games that took a few weeks to make. But at the same time -- there were plenty of publishers and developers who took a very professional approach to marketing, box art, and games development.

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                                #30
                                I only played Xenon 1&2 and Speedball 1&2.

                                I remember getting Xenon 2 and Gunhed on the PC Engine around the same time. I never really bothered with my Amiga again after that.

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