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Atari v Commodore


stevelanc

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Does anybody have any views on where any titles were launched on both Atari and Commodore - and the Atari version is the better of the two?

 

Steve

 

Yes, agreed. The City have the best music ever. Also think M.U.L.E. because of the 4-ports ... better all round feel too. Also Lucasfilms Ballblazer and especially Rescue on Fractalus (at least here in Norway PAL ... C64 version is way slower). Mostly also liked Synapse better on Atari, with the exception of Survivor maybe ...

 

Also liked Bounty Bob Strikes Back better on the Atari

 

Stinker on Atari too though ... Talladega and Pitstop was better on C64 ... Talladega is probably not even the same game. Like Blue Thunder too ... not same game at all

 

Now playing Hobgoblin :-) Got my cart today ... Wish I had enough for an EE version too :-/

 

Take Atarian care

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Ofcourse Koronis Rift an The Eidolon are clearly better.

Probably a matter of taste but but often said: Boulder Dash and Drop Zone are better on the A8.

Amaurote is way better aswell.

Archon clearly wins by the correct light & dark colouring.

Rainbow Walker is also better.

 

An exception is Commando. The original game on the C64 has a perfect soundtrack for the release date, while the atari version never was released.... until the release of the Prototype some years ago.

That finished prototype beats the C64 version in size, sequences, and playability.

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Probably a matter of taste but but often said: Boulder Dash and Drop Zone are better on the A8.

 

Well, with Boulder Dash i've never been quite sure where people saw the difference but the C64 version of Dropzone runs out of bullets just a teeny bit too quickly (Andrew Braybrook commented on that in an interview about Uridium if memory serves) and is apparently easier because there are less nasties in action at any one time.

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Boulder Dash is clearly better, but it might be more apparent in PAL since it would likely run a bit slower. But again, it might well be a tinkering issue rather than lack of CPU cycles.

 

Pole Position is better on Atari, despite the cars looking like an amateurish lego build.

 

Spelunker - speed and sound effects better, but again likely a conversion rather than technical issue.

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Does anybody have any views on where any titles were launched on both Atari and Commodore - and the Atari version is the better of the two?

 

David's Midnight Magic. The Atari version uses artifacting to get four colors in 320-wide mode. The Commodore version tries, but artifacting doesn't work on the C64.

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Does anybody have any views on where any titles were launched on both Atari and Commodore - and the Atari version is the better of the two?

 

Karateka. The graphics were nearly identical. However, the audio was done much better on the Atari. The music sounded better, and the sound effects sounded much more believable. Everything sounded more powerful on the Atari. I was unimpressed playing the c64 version after playing the Atari version. The c64 version seems "wimpy" because of how the msx/sfx were done.

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I hated Karateka regardless of platform.

I can remember slogging through it just to see what happens. Finally get to a girl, run over to her only to have her beat the shit out the hero.

Never played it again after that farce.

 

I had similar experience. I spent the wole evening playing and finally got beaten by the girl. Then I wanted to take revenge on her and got kicked out again. Only then I started to think and I run to her. It was already like 4 in morning but I was very glad I managed to finish the game before school. First class animation.

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It's funny as, thinking back. But at the time, it was such a pain of a game to play. Finally get through and one mistake ended it all.

 

Would have been a better game if they'd gotten someone who knew how to program to do it... like Archer McLean.

Yeah getting kicked in the nuts can be pretty painful. :lol:

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I think the Atari was a much more powerful computer but just didn't have the level of development that the c=64 got, so the c=64 ended up appearing as the superior system in the long run (imho.) This is also something that happens a lot (again imho, 7800 v nes, saturn v psx, dreamcast v ps2, xbox v ps2, lynx v gameboy, etc.)

Edited by Godzilla
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I think the Atari was a much more powerful computer but just didn't have the level of development that the c=64 got, so the c=64 ended up appearing as the superior system in the long run (imho.) This is also something that happens a lot (again imho, 7800 v nes, saturn v psx, dreamcast v ps2, xbox v ps2, lynx v gameboy, etc.)

Define "more powerful" in a universally accepted way.

 

It's a subjective term. Dependant on many things. Cost/perfomance ratio being one of many. Raw numbers vs practical use is another.

 

They both had their strong points and weaknesses. Neither is more powerfull then the other unless one wants to pick and choose specific points to argue meaningless numbers with no real-world worth over. In that case, then both are more powerfull then each other depending on which side of the fence you want to be.

 

It's been like 25+ years people, can't we let it go already. :ponder:

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Well,

I would like to see more posts / answers which list GAMES that are better on the A8 than on the C64. And of course some explanation why the game(s) is (are) better...

 

Personally I don`t like these general answers that say "Atari is better because of better architecture... bla de bla... Atari is more powerful... bla de bla... because it is my favourite computer... bla de bla..." and other redundant things... allthough I own an Atari 8Bit (and no other 8bit computer).

 

Here is some game comparing on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcbdNxsB7DA

 

-Andreas Koch.

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ALTERNATE REALITY : THE CITY

 

post-6191-1227322467_thumb.png post-6191-1227322488_thumb.png

post-6191-1227324602_thumb.png post-6191-1227324189_thumb.jpg

Atari screenshots

 

Originally programed on Atari systems, Alternate Reality shows how much powerful could be a well programed game on Atari Systems. Is a pleasure to watch a lot of colorful screens, smooth moves and great ambient effects. Despite the C64 have the SID, the Atari music sounds better. This is a extensive game, and Atari have the advantage of his fast disk drive and can use the extra memory to abbreviate the loading. The C64 version is a nightmare to play, because the continue slow loadings.

 

Well, for sure this is a game made-it specially for Atari Systems and C64 lose a lot on the conversion, but really, there are a lot of things on it that can't be reached for a C64. However, the Atari 8bit version could be the best version of all systems including the 16bit ;)

 

post-6191-1227323434_thumb.png post-6191-1227324383_thumb.png

post-6191-1227323428_thumb.png post-6191-1227324494_thumb.png

C64 screenshots

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I think the AR graphics (the static ones, anyway) are overrated.

 

Just look at them - all they are is crap 4 colour pics with rainbow effects. The C64 version looks well underdone and doesn't reflect the capabilities of the machine.

 

Despite being a "lesser" game, I reckon they did a much better job of The Dungeon's graphics. It also seems to use PMG underlays to good effect to add extra colour.

 

The best way to compare is to do it yourself. Practically all the games mentioned so far are easy to obtain as ATR or D64 images, and the emulators will even the score somewhat due to being able to run in accelerated mode/warp during any annoying lengthy disk accesses.

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I think the AR graphics (the static ones, anyway) are overrated.

 

Just look at them - all they are is crap 4 colour pics with rainbow effects. The C64 version looks well underdone and doesn't reflect the capabilities of the machine.

 

 

The A8 pictures are underdone aswell.

In a german Gamesmag (back in the 80's) they had perfect words for this "Fuzzy-Sprites". And the Picture with the look through the gate shows the unbelievable worse usage of DLIs.

The only positive aspect is that they gained a view of depth that the c64 never can reach, but this is destroyed fully in the gate picture, because the same effect is shown inside and outside the ship.

 

Well, they used a THAT small range for the games 3D view. And with a graphics windows size like this, you simply could do 12 real colours per scanline without a cpu consuming colour- kernal, plus this DLI-depth-effect

 

So I'd say: If the C64 version is underdone(due to the cpu and palette limits), the Atari version is far more underdone...

Edited by emkay
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Here is some game comparing on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcbdNxsB7DA

 

-Andreas Koch.

 

Could someone please name the Music that is played when Bombjack is showed in the clip?

 

It's always interesting to me that people use such chiptunes (sometimes real SIDs) when doing a presentation with Atari games. But in Atari games you only see musicians doing weird sounding "pokey-music" as in Tempest Extreme...

 

I'm wondering even more that my demonstrations mostly got ignored, while they showed the potential of the real possible... : To have such Chip tunes on the A8 usable for games.

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yup, as programmer the gate did not impressed me too much as the DLIs went through walls and over the borders but never mind... I was more impressed of the city intro and the changing stats plus the starfield plus loading routines.

 

the ambient sound fx in city are not bad at all... ;) and I love the details price put there like the waterfall in the background, the rain effect plus thunder...

 

and yes... the mini sprites did not scared me much except for the "huge" dragon... ;)

 

But we should not start the whole discussion year by year... maybe we should just research the older threads otherwise we have here the "war" again...but we should "change" that now... and I believe "Yes. We can!".

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