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"Missing games: Skycopter"


MegaManFan

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This notation has bothered me on my video games list for some time. On one hand I feel like my Jaguar collection is incomplete, but on the other hand I don't know that I'd want to shell out whatever it goes for now (if one could even be found) for something that SFAIK was never commercially released to retail (because it was for some kind of arcade cab kids toy entertainment thing), doesn't have a box or manual, and I'd get no fun out of owning because from what I recall of their other game (Speedster II, which I do own) there's pretty much nothing to it and no replay value.

 

Keep sweating it, or FUHGEDDABOUTIT?

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Speedster II/Skycopter overpriced multi-cart coming soon! With overlays, manual and box no less. Only real completists will have them AND the kiddie-ride arcade "cabs" to truly enjoy them though. If not, will have to keep looking I'm afraid. Maybe some Walmarts still have them stashed "in the back"? Or something. Probably not as they've already made room for all the Super NES Mini's they'll be stocking next. :lol:

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Speedster II/Skycopter overpriced multi-cart coming soon! With overlays, manual and box no less. Only real completists will have them

Why the intended ruffling of the feathers for those who're enjoying getting physical goods for their Jaguars? I'm not losing any sleep over my Jag, but I am having fun with it. = ) I think the majority of physical cart / box sets released recently have been awesome.

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- About a year ago (or so, would have to search in emails), I was approached (sorry, don't recall the name after a year) if I could do some fixes / improvements on both games

- I got both source codes, but before I could get to it, life happened, and I didn't have energy to do jag coding for quite a while

- my next coding spree this year I actually started working with GPU, and the rest is history (see the RoadRash thread)

 

As you can imagine, the 3D engine research&development around Road Rash is two orders of magnitude more exciting than going back and "fixing" those two games.

 

I do feel bad, however, that I didn't get to it and am just sitting on those source codes (though I have no idea if they're publicly available or not).

 

 

 

I'm about to start another jag coding spree, so I'll consider revisiting those source codes first, as once I get back to RR, there's no going back (for quite a while again).

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I've heard ludicrous ideas in the Jaguar community, but wanting to "improve" Skycopter and Speedster II takes the cake.

 

The only interesting (and I'm using the word generously) things about these games are:

1) they're rare and unusual,

2) they're so bad they make other stinkers look like masterpieces.

 

Take a look at it:

 

Who in their right mind thinks "gee, that looks like a good game to me, it only needs a few improvements?"

Bad graphics, bad music, bad sound effects, no gameplay and absolutely not fun. There's absolutely nothing to salvage.

The best way to "improve" them is to trash everything and start from scratch. With rB+ and a few hours, you'd get a much better result.

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I've heard ludicrous ideas in the Jaguar community, but wanting to "improve" Skycopter and Speedster II takes the cake.

 

The only interesting (and I'm using the word generously) things about these games are:

1) they're rare and unusual,

2) they're so bad they make other stinkers look like masterpieces.

 

Take a look at it:

 

Who in their right mind thinks "gee, that looks like a good game to me, it only needs a few improvements?"

Bad graphics, bad music, bad sound effects, no gameplay and absolutely not fun. There's absolutely nothing to salvage.

The best way to "improve" them is to trash everything and start from scratch. With rB+ and a few hours, you'd get a much better result.

 

Well....you can control the car without going off the road every 2 seconds..so it's better than checkered flag in that regard at least!

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- I've heard on more than one occasion, that these games are actually fun to PG-6 audience.

- This would not be only about improving them, but also fixing few bugs, remapping input and so on.

- As far as improvements go, I was originally thinking more along the lines of creating second game mode (thus keeping the original mode intact, for historical reasons) with all the gameplay/engine improvements.

 

Honestly, even my current (faaar from finished) 3D engine version of the RR would be a huge improvement over Speedster's racing engine.

 

If an 2D artists was to be found, who could draw some nice kid-friendly art assets (say, Candyland environment), it could make for a nice, fun game, even for PG-13+ audience..

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- I've heard on more than one occasion, that these games are actually fun to PG-6 audience.

Maybe to kids who have never experienced anything better. Which, in 2017, is pretty doubtful.

 

A Jaguar game aimed at children is not a bad idea, but they deserve better than this pile of junk - and using it as a base makes no sense.

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If somebody has a Jaguar at home in 2017, there's no way his kids weren't exposed to LOTS of various HW platforms / games. Since console space at home is often limited, usually it means rotating 3-4 consoles every few years (hence kids get exposed to many consoles).

 

Yet these two games, for some unfathomable reason [to us, hardcore geeks], still proved fun to those kids.

 

Yes, I don't understand the appeal to these games myself either, but that's because I'm looking at it from a hardcore gamer perspective. I see racing, and can't unconsciously avoid comparison with NFS / F1/ Dirt / ...

 

This codebase has integrated high-level C with GPU code (only blitting bitmaps, nothing fancy here) and Audio library, so arguably, its only strong point is the full Makefile integration of all engine components, not its separate components per se (e.g. racing component in itself).

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So a game where you go at a snail's pace in a straight line, with no other cars, is comparable to Need for Speed?

What ? I thought that sarcasm was obvious, but alas, not. So, a bit more slowly now - I always compare all racing games to NFS 1, as for me that's the gameplay benchmark (although in Speedster case, we should probably compare it to something like F1 GP or Pole Position) - especially the introduction of a rally concept (the 3 Alpine segments).

 

Of course, Speedster does not stand a remote chance of snowball in hell.

 

Gameplay-wise, this is worse than worst racing games I played on Atari 800 XL.

 

I don't even think I played any racer as bad, ever. This rivals those YT videos of "Worst 20 racing games on C64".

 

This is clearly a pre-pre-alpha, where someone, somewhere, while talking to coder, said - "Wait, you already spend 3 days coding this. This is good enough ! Why do you want to spend another day to add curves, hills ? What ? AI ? I ain't paying for that sh*t! Ship it ! "

 

And "what's good about this game is the makefile" is not a joke, but a serious statement?

Well, from my standpoint, as a coder, this is the only redeeming quality about it :)

 

Really, its makefile is beautiful. I haven't built the executable yet, as my OS paths are different, so I just examined it in notepad.

 

Thinking about it, that makefile must have taken about half of all effort that went into the game :)

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Maybe to kids who have never experienced anything better. Which, in 2017, is pretty doubtful.

 

A Jaguar game aimed at children is not a bad idea, but they deserve better than this pile of junk - and using it as a base makes no sense.

Not true! As I keep stating, my kids (8 and 9!) love Speedster II because it lets them be...kids. Honking horns, flattening traffic cones, and watching the flying birds, cows, and 'copters is what they love right now. They've found most other games, with the exception of CV Smurf Rescue (played to watch the Smurfs fall on their butts) and iOS Pocket Trains too difficult at first blush and therefore inadequate to capture their attention. I'm sure they'll move on to Rayman as soon as they get the hang of the Jag controller, but it's not very friendly to little hands. And those CV controllers...ugh. I'm going to let them try BBCQ this weekend, but again, those Painlines...ugh.

 

Besides, these games, while horrible for adults, were made for kiddie coin-ops, and not the home game market. They should be judged against their peers, such as the kiddie coin-op sit-astrides (fighter jets, sports cars) that were available at Wal-Mart etc. in the '90s. Which are also terrible entertainment for adults. :)

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