32X: Atari games' T-MEK

[Gabriel]

Since there is some talk of Shadow Squadron here, does anyone know what the force field for the little fighter was supposed to do? As far as I can tell, it doesn't stop damage. It doesn't speed you up. It doesn't do anything!

 

One day I hope to get hold of Afterburner for my 32X.

[Witchfynde]

Yeah, I agree, it just seemed to suck up the energy.

 

The only good it seemed to do was to hold it down when you blew up that huge ship in the second to the last round so you could see it split right in half. That was a very impressive sight indeed!

[SS]

A quick and dirty review of all the 32X games :

 

After Burner

Amazing Spiderman: Web of Fire

BC Racers

Black Thorne

Brutal Above the Claw

Cosmic Carnage

DarXide (European only)

Doom

FIFA Soccer 96 (European only)

Golf Magazine : 36 Great Holes

Knuckles Chaotix

Kolibri

Metalhead

Mortal Kombat II

Motocross Championship

NBA Jam Tournament Edition

NFL Quarterback Club

Pitfall: Mayan Adventure

Primal Rage

RBI Baseball 95

Romance Of 3 Kingdoms (Japan only)

Shadow Squadron

Space Harrier

Star Trek Starfleet Academy

Star Wars: The Arcade Game

T-Mek

Tempo

Toughman Contest

Virtua Fighter

Virtua Racing Deluxe

World Series Baseball '95

Wrestlemania Arcade

WWF Raw

Zaxxon's Motherbase

[Flojomojo]

A quick and dirty review of all the 32X games :

 

After Burner      

DarXide  (European only)    

FIFA Soccer 96  (European only)      

Golf Magazine : 36 Great Holes    

Kolibri    

Shadow Squadron      

Space Harrier        

Virtua Fighter      

Virtua Racing Deluxe        

World Series Baseball '95    

Great list, thanks. I had never played DarXide before .... just loaded it up in GENS to have a look. Great graphics (for the time), nice control, good music, boring game at least to start -- you're apparently an asteroid janitor at first. This would have turned some heads in the US had it been released there.

 

As for the other "good" games you list above, the bulk of them were on the Saturn, so it's easy to see why the 32X never caught on. I left Kolibri in there since it's pretty ....

[Gabriel]

Hey! I disagree with the thumbs down rating of Metal Head.

 

I'd give it a It's not that bad. The rest seem to be pretty good assessments. Except I'd give the Star Trek game a

[Gunstar]

 

I really want Shadow Squadrin ant Metalhead the most' date=' those are my main reasons beyond Starwars and Startrek to have a 32X. [/quote']

 

Well, unless you played it and loved it, or you have to have anything Star Wars, it's not really worth it. Shadow Squadron is a bit fun and different though, despite totally ridiculous gameplay.

 

 

Are we talking about the same game?!? I was never under the impression that Shadow Squadron was a "Star Wars" game...I thought it was just an original 3D space dogfighting game like Wingcommander, Battlesphere or Colony Wars...if it is based on the Star Wars universe, then I am even more interested...

[Gunstar]

Well, here are my ratings of what I have so far:

 

StarWars

StarTrek Academy

T-mek

Space Harrier

 

None are great, but all are good in my opinion. But I don't mind plain polygon graphics, if I want textures, I'll play games on my systems that have them...actually, Star Trek does have textures...simple ones, but effective. It's ALL about gameplay for me, regardless of graphics, the better the graphics, great, but I've got a lot of games with good graphics and terrible gameplay that just collect dust, so those graphics aren't being seen by me anyway! But I think these are SOLID graphics for their time, considering the competion of the 3DO and Jaguar (both of which have better graphics, but the 32X suprised me, I was expecting SNES FX graphics and got better). I have no problem with frame-rates on these games, they may not be 30-60fps, but I don't find them too bad either. It only takes 15fps for believable movement and 24fps (like films in the theatre) to pass the eyes perception of movement (not see any "stuttering" of framerate at all). I'll even put up with lower than 15fps in some games if the games are otherwise good and the slow framerate doesn't effect the fun (like AvP on the Jaguar 10-15fps and a FANTASTIC game!). But then, I still play and like polygon games on 16-bit computers like the ST which run at about 5-10fps too. FPS just isn't very improtant to me if the game is fun. Nor graphics.

[Witchfynde]

 

I really want Shadow Squadrin ant Metalhead the most' date=' those are my main reasons beyond Starwars and Startrek to have a 32X. [/quote']

 

Well, unless you played it and loved it, or you have to have anything Star Wars, it's not really worth it. Shadow Squadron is a bit fun and different though, despite totally ridiculous gameplay.

 

 

Are we talking about the same game?!? I was never under the impression that Shadow Squadron was a "Star Wars" game...I thought it was just an original 3D space dogfighting game like Wingcommander, Battlesphere or Colony Wars...if it is based on the Star Wars universe, then I am even more interested...

 

Well, first, the second part of that quote is from me, which, no S. Squadron isn't a Star Wars game at all, you're right. The gameplay's mechanics and physics and all are ridiculous, but it's not bad at all otherwise.

[SS]

I left Kolibri in there since it's pretty ....

 

I gave Kolibri a 'cuz it's pretty! No fun but sure nice to look at.

[Flojomojo]

DarXide, a nice-looking 32X game that was never released in the US, is coming to Pocket PC.

 

http://www.frontier.co.uk/

http://www.frontier.co.uk/press/release/da...mpannounce.html

[Gunstar]

Now I have to get DARXIDE! Thanks for the link Flojomojo (yes, I linked to the 32x version)! Very impressive looking for the 32X...my view of the 32X just keeps improving with every game I get (almost*) and seeing this one put it over the top!

 

*I recently got three more 32X games; Shadow Squadron, Kolibri and Toughman Contest. SS is a great polygon space fighter in the tradition of Wing Commander, Colony Wars without the story, just one mission after another. I've made it to level 4 so far, don't know how long the game is, but you can't save or get a passcode, that part sucks. I think the graphics and framerate are solid and the gameplay rocks (hard mode)! Not texture mapped like Darxide, but good none the less.

Kalbri is very cool looking and from the little I've played so far (SS is taking up my time), it seems mildly interesting, I give it a nuetral and SS a thumbs up.

Toughman Contest is a waste of silicon, it sucks. It's a Super Punchout wanna be that is too slow and sluggish with VERY 16-bit looking graphics, not that that would matter if the game played well. Avoid unless a collector.

2 out of 3 ain't bad and it's the first bad game I bought on the 32X.

[Witchfynde]

*I recently got three more 32X games; Shadow Squadron, Kolibri and Toughman Contest. SS is a great polygon space fighter in the tradition of Wing Commander, Colony Wars without the story, just one mission after another. I've made it to level 4 so far, don't know how long the game is, but you can't save or get a passcode, that part sucks.

 

Yeah, I never liked that either, but you've only got two more levels to go! Six in all. If you get stuck, let us know, as I could've figure out level 6 for a long time.

 

Toughman Contest is a waste of silicon, it sucks.

 

Yeah, that's what I heard, but I wouldn't have bought it anyway, since I'm not into fighting games.

[Gunstar]

Yeah, I'm not much into fighting games myself either, but I'd never heard of Toughman Contest, and thought it might be a decent game for two people to play...WRONG! I only payed a $1.99 for it at Goodwill, where I work part-time. 5 games came in; Shadow Squadron, Kolbri, NBA t.e., Mortal Kombat II and Toughman. I bought SS and Kolobri right off the bat, the others I wasn't interested in as I have NBA Jam on my Jag, which is the best home version anyway, so I didn't need it, the other two being fighting games only interested me because of the price and I have the system. I just returned Toughman today and exchanged it for Mortal Kombat II, so I have a decent fighter and no more cr*p games in my 32X collection for now...7 total so far...

 

Now I just need MetalHead, Virtua Racing deluxe, Darxide and MotorCross to get all the games I know I want for the system, although there are probably a few more I'll like and probably a few I don't know exist, like ones not released in the states, i.e.-Darxide!

 

Were there any good 32X/SegaCD games released that were decent? I know of a couple of interactive movie titles like Farenheit, but were any other GOOD game released for the 32X on CD? I still need a Segacd, but so far Battlecorps and SoulStar are the only regular SegaCD titles that interest me, but I hope there are a couple that take advantage of the 32X hardware...

[Flojomojo]

Were there any good 32X/SegaCD games released that were decent? I know of a couple of interactive movie titles like Farenheit, but were any other GOOD game released for the 32X on CD? I still need a Segacd, but so far Battlecorps and SoulStar are the only regular SegaCD titles that interest me, but I hope there are a couple that take advantage of the 32X hardware...

I don't have a Sega CD anymore, but when I did, these stuck out:

 

Tomcat Alley (slick FMV game)

Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Darkside (2D fighting game with lots of characters and moves

Silpheed (trippy shooter)

Batman Returns/Batman and Robin (good driving sequences -- B&R is ALL driving)

Sonic CD

Snatcher (adventure game)

Rise of the Dragon (adventure game)

Heart of the Alien (Out of this World & exclusive sequel)

 

Remember that "taking advantage of the hardware" in the case of the Sega CD meant having a stereo CD soundtrack, so don't get your hopes up in most cases.

[Witchfynde]

Yeah, I'm not much into fighting games myself either, but I'd never heard of Toughman Contest, and thought it might be a decent game for two people to play...WRONG! I only payed a $1.99 for it at Goodwill, where I work part-time. 5 games came in; Shadow Squadron, Kolbri, NBA t.e., Mortal Kombat II and Toughman.  

 

Wow, I've NEVER heard of that many coming in at once! Someone must've gotten rid of several, or all of their games...

 

Were there any good 32X/SegaCD games released that were decent?

 

Couldn't help ya there/don't know, sorry.

[Witchfynde]

I don't have a Sega CD anymore, but when I did, these stuck out:

 

Silpheed (trippy shooter)

Snatcher (adventure game)

Heart of the Alien (Out of this World & exclusive sequel)

 

Heh, yeah, Silpheed was pretty killer at times: level 4, I think it was, made me think it was Zaxxon made into the next level (i. e. polygons), while level 8 was really amazing, having the background of two opposing starfleets at war with each other. I input a code to skip to that level and handed a buddy of mine the controller just so I could actually enjoy looking at the fight for once, since if you don't concentrate on the action that's going on in front of you, you're dead!

 

I've always wanted the (at times) gruesome Snatcher, and I traded in my Genesis copy of Out of This World so I could get Heart/Alien for only $19 (a decent price back then)...

 

BTW, do you know whatever happened to Virgin software? I don't think they're around anymore, which is odd, considering they were the pioneers (I think) of the cinematic game. Also, when you beat the game, at the end they thanked Bolt Thrower...they're not talking about the death metal band, are they?

[Gunstar]

Remember that "taking advantage of the hardware" in the case of the Sega CD meant having a stereo CD soundtrack, so don't get your hopes up in most cases.

 

Sorry, I guess I wasn't clear enough...I mean, I want to know of any good *32X* CD games that take advantage of the *32X* hardware. Farenheit is the only *32X* CD game that I know of, and was wondering if there were any more released and if so, which take advantage of the *32X* hardware...is that more clear? E.G.-a game that requires BOTH the Segacd AND *32X*

[Witchfynde]

DID any games require both systems? I don't think any did, that wouldn't be very feasible on Sega's part, not everyone had the 32X and a CD system.

[Flojomojo]

Remember that "taking advantage of the hardware" in the case of the Sega CD meant having a stereo CD soundtrack, so don't get your hopes up in most cases.

 

Sorry, I guess I wasn't clear enough...I mean, I want to know of any good *32X* CD games that take advantage of the *32X* hardware. Farenheit is the only *32X* CD game that I know of, and was wondering if there were any more released and if so, which take advantage of the *32X* hardware...is that more clear? E.G.-a game that requires BOTH the Segacd AND *32X*

Yeah, I know what you meant, but there really isn't much worth talking about. You're talking about a subset of a subset in this case.

 

Here's a list. http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/32x/file/sega_32x.txt

There weren't many. I would think there would be more Fahrenheit-style hybrid discs with both the Sega CD and 32XCD version on it. Note the long list of never-released games as well.

 

Good luck getting your hands on DarXide, it was never released in the US and is going to be expensive if you find it. IMHO, not playing that on an emulator instead clearly falls under the heading of "more money than brains."

[Gunstar]

Remember that "taking advantage of the hardware" in the case of the Sega CD meant having a stereo CD soundtrack, so don't get your hopes up in most cases.

 

Sorry, I guess I wasn't clear enough...I mean, I want to know of any good *32X* CD games that take advantage of the *32X* hardware. Farenheit is the only *32X* CD game that I know of, and was wondering if there were any more released and if so, which take advantage of the *32X* hardware...is that more clear? E.G.-a game that requires BOTH the Segacd AND *32X*

Yeah, I know what you meant, but there really isn't much worth talking about. You're talking about a subset of a subset in this case.

 

Here's a list. http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/32x/file/sega_32x.txt[/url

There weren't many. I would think there would be more Fahrenheit-style hybrid discs with both the Sega CD and 32XCD version on it. Note the long list of never-released games as well.

 

Good luck getting your hands on DarXide, it was never released in the US and is going to be expensive if you find it. IMHO, not playing that on an emulator instead clearly falls under the heading of "more money than brains."

 

Thanks for the list. I'm a collector, that's one reason I don't care about emulators. The second reason is that an emulator has not yet been made that "emulates" the system/games 100%. I doubt VERY much that any emulator you have played 32X games on has the games, especially polygonal, running at the full frame rate they run at on the REAL hardware. I have tried emulators in the past, of systems I own, and I know this to be the case. I will try out Darxide on a 32X emulator, but it will not determine my final judgement of the game because I know it will not run the game as well as a real 32X. I'm sure the frame-rate will not be nearly as high as it will be on the real thing. They never are...I do thank you again for bringing this game to my attention.

[Flojomojo]

Thanks for the list. I'm a collector, that's one reason I don't care about emulators. The second reason is that an emulator has not yet been made that "emulates" the system/games 100%. I doubt VERY much that any emulator you have played 32X games on has the games, especially polygonal, running at the full frame rate they run at on the REAL hardware. I have tried emulators in the past, of systems I own, and I know this to be the case. I will try out Darxide on a 32X emulator, but it will not determine my final judgement of the game because I know it will not run the game as well as a real 32X. I'm sure the frame-rate will not be nearly as high as it will be on the real thing. They never are...I do thank you again for bringing this game to my attention.

I'm a player, but that doesn't mean that i don't buy a lot of games. I've played every one of the 32X games that you have on the real hardware, such as it is.

 

From what you're saying, I have to guess that you haven't tried the GENS emulator at all. That's my way of saying that you're completely mistaken. GENS runs all Genesis and Megadrive games at full speed with no glitches (with the possible exception of Virtua Racing, which I haven't seen dumped to ROM format). It also runs more than 75% of the 32X library at full speed with no glitches. Star Wars Arcade is almost perfectly emulated on GENS (not to say it's a perfect game, no way is that true). And why do you say "especially polygonal," as if flat-shaded polygon graphics are any kind of stretch for a modern CPU?

 

Let me put it this way: If I were to sit you in front of two screens, one running GENS on a computer and the other running a cartridge of the same game on a Genesis, i would bet you any amount of cash that you would NOT be able to tell the difference between them. I'll bet I could even trick you into choosing the wrong every time one via some sort of external mcguffin like putting the Genesis controller on the emulated version.

 

My advice to you is to be very, very careful about using words like "never" when you're talking about computer technology.

[Gunstar]

You said it yourself: it runs 75% of 32X software at full speed. 75% doesn't equal 100% in my book. It also depends on the speed of your computer, of course. But emulation is a complicated thing and just because a PC may be 100 times more powerful than the 32X, does not automatically follow that it can emulate a 32X at 100% full speed all the time. I have tried the GENS emulator, but not on the PC, I have the Dreamcast version, and I know it's in an early stage and doubt it to be as good as the PC version. From my personal experience, I haven't yet found an emulator that can emulate a system from within the last ten years at 100%. I also know I COULD tell the difference between the emulation and the real thing, I'm not fooled so easily, I'm very critical about these things.

Besides any of this, I prefer the real thing because I can use the controllers the game was made for, play it on a big TV screen instead of my little 17" monitor, and sit in and easy chair while doing it. I'd much rather play console game this way, the way they were intended. I'm also a studying Electronics student and I LOVE hardware, I like the real thing and find it distasteful to use emulators instead of the real hardware. You can collect emulators I suppose, but that's not a real collection. Might as well tell a collector of fine art that the prints are just as good. Might as well tell a collector of fine automobiles that minatures and driving simulations on the PC are just as good. You just don't get it, nothing wrong with that, being a "player" is fine. I'm a "player" first and foremost, like you, but I'm also a collector, and emulators mean exactly ZERO to a collector. I use them only to get a taste of the real thing and in many cases, it's an inferior taste; like getting generic sandwich cookies instead of Oreos, they just don't taste as good. Play your emulators and more power to you, I'll stick to collecting and playing the real thing.

[Flojomojo]

Sorry Gunstar, I "get it," and I have my preferences. Both of our viewpoints are valid, but my gaming style offers a lot more flexibilty and variety. I have an extensive collection of "real" goods as well, but I choose not to deal with the buggy piece of add-on $hit that is the 32X. If you think it's a wonderful piece of hardware, by all means enjoy it. I'll be playing the same stuff with SuperSal2x antialiasing on my big monitor or on my laptop while you're sitting on the floor with the 32X tied to the boob tube. It's all good; it's not like I don't have and touch any consoles. You're the one limiting your horizons.

 

You said yourself you haven't even tried GENS, yet you're ready to dismiss it out of hand. It's your loss.

 

As for your analogies:

Might as well tell a collector of fine art that the prints are just as good.

Don't try to tell me that 32X video games are fine art. A ROM cartridge is every bit the reproduction that a ROM file on a computer is -- and each of them contain exactly the same data. And wouldn't you rather have the chance to see a poster of a rare painting than not have access to it at all? That's how it is in the art world: there is ONE original. If you don't want to fly to the Netherlands to see Starry Night, your only other option is books and prints. There are thousands of copies of "Toughman Contest" to be had, but even if there were only one, it would still be a sorry turd.

 

Might as well tell a collector of fine automobiles that minatures and driving simulations on the PC are just as good.

This is just silly. I'm not mocking you for playing the 32X versions of T-MEK, Virtua Racing, Virtua Fighter, Star Wars Arcade and Space Harrier instead of the real stand-up versions. That would be a much closer analogy than putting me down for running the exact same code on a different platform.

 

like getting generic sandwich cookies instead of Oreos, they just don't taste as good

I think you're being overly sentimental. Just because something is "original" doesn't mean it can't be improved upon. Oreos are disgusting. They're loaded with saturated fat and they have a greasy aftertaste. Something like Paul Newman's "oreo emulator" is much nicer to eat ... and better for you as well.

 

I'm just trying to open your eyes, not convert you. If you feel so strongly about it, no amount of cajoling will change your mind; it's already made up. Just don't expect me to join your dumpster-diving behind Goodwill and Salvation Army.

[Gunstar]

Try selling your emulators and rom IMAGES as a "collection" or seperately down the road to a collector. What I have is the real, physical product. Plus you get the boxes and manuals and art work on them, etc.

I'm not comparing video games to fine art in the sense that they are or will be worth as much. Any collector wants the REAL thing, which is a cartridge, regardless if the data is the same. How about this analogy: tell a stamp collector that prints and copies are as good as the real stamp that tons of "original copies" were made of at one time. Most stamps are'nt worth much monitarily. But Rare ones are, and a rom image downloaded off the net to a virtual machine will never be qualified as rare or collectable. I play emulators a lot. I just eventually buy the real hardware and original copies of software to have a "library" of what I like, something tangable to show off and use and collect. Emulators are fine, but they will NEVER be as fun and enjoyable, to me, as having the real thing in front of me. I don't sit on the floor. I sit in an VERY comfortable lazy boy. I have a 36" TV with S-video that gives me a picture that is very good, VGA is not a big enough improvement over the bigger screen to warrant settling for a 17" monitor; the bigger screen allows for better emersion into the imaginary world I'm playing in. If I ever have the money for an overhead LCD projector that can display VGA, wall size, I may change my mind. I don't care to play on PC's if I can help it. I also don't care for playing games with a keyboard which most PC games and emulators require. I have classic computers too, and I play games on them with keyboard, but I still prefer a fully function controller. I'm not "missing out" on anything. I already told you that I paln on trying out this emulator and Darxide, but If I like the game, you can sure bet I'll locate it and buy it to play on my console and large screen with my totally kick-butt surround sound system, which is better than any multi-media system on a PC. I just think it's a much better experience. As far as your Arcade machine reference, your absolutely right, and if I had the money and space, I'd buy and collect original arcade games. I CAN afford classic systems that sell for $20 bucks and games for less than $5, so I play them because they are better than emulators. In more ways than an emulator just running the software as well. Like you said, we both have valid points, but I also think your missing out by using emulators when you could or do have the real thing.

[Gunstar]

Since there is some talk of Shadow Squadron here, does anyone know what the force field for the little fighter was supposed to do?  As far as I can tell, it doesn't stop damage.  It doesn't speed you up.  It doesn't do anything!

 

One day I hope to get hold of Afterburner for my 32X.

 

If you double tap the eccelerator, you'll get an "afterburner" boost. If you double tap (holding down the second tap-same above) the fire button, you get a super shot (which detracts from shields). If you double tap and hold the the shield button, you are surrounded by a shield that protects you from destruction when used in combination with the "afterburner" effect to use your ship as a weapon and slice through the big ships. Ever watch the intro demo? It shows these things in action.