Commando: tried the 8-bit version for the first time

[Gunstar]

I was finally able to play Commando on the A8 for the first time. The 256K file version. I owned a 7800 for years and Commando and Ikari Warriors were to of my all-time favorites, at the arcade and on the 7800.

 

I must say I am quite impressed with the 8-bit version. It plays just like the 7800 version, and the graphics are fantastic for the 8-bit, though do fall a bit short of the awsome 7800 version. I can't wait to upgrade my memory and try the hacked Commando+ 320k version, it looks like it may have the edge over the 7800 in graphics. Good stuff.

 

I've always been a fan of these types of games, but the 8-bit seems to always fall short, IMHO, in games like Commando (it is the exception). For example, after seeing screen shots of the games 'Who Dares Wins' 1&2 I thought there was hope...until I tried them and found out how unplayable they are. Are there any other games like Commando or Ikari Warriors for the 8-bit that I may have missed or forgotten? I seem to recall something...but just don't quite remember.

Edited October 28, 2011 by Gunstar

[MrFish]

Don't get too excited about the Hacked version. Only the title screen and title screen music (Hubbard version) have been modified. The game plays and looks the same, IIRC. It would be nice to see the info displays hacked for either hi-res or some DLI color changes.

Edited October 28, 2011 by MrFish

[Ayreon]

Gun Law http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-gun-law_2343.html and L.A. Swat http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-los-angeles-swat_3043.html are kinda commondo style games. I never played Gun Law, But LA Swat was ok for a budget game. No music, but you could put your fave cassete after loading.

[Irgendwer]

DELETED

Edited October 28, 2011 by Irgendwer

[qix_maniac]

love Ikari Warriors on my atari ST ...did not realize it was available on Atari XE/XL?

[Gunstar]

love Ikari Warriors on my atari ST ...did not realize it was available on Atari XE/XL?

It's not, I was refering to the 7800 version. The 2600 also has a version, but sadly, no 8-bit version.

 

I don't know how many of you remember pre-Commando/Ikari Warriors era, but one of the very first games of this type was an arcade game called 'Front Line,' it was released on the 2600 I know, and 2600's contemporaries of the day. Was Front line ever released for the A8's though? That was a good game.

[Gunstar]

Gun Law http://www.atarimani...n-law_2343.html and L.A. Swat http://www.atarimani...-swat_3043.html are kinda commondo style games. I never played Gun Law, But LA Swat was ok for a budget game. No music, but you could put your fave cassete after loading.

 

I have L.A. Swat, and you are right, it's good for a budget title. I think Gun Law may have been the other Commando clone I was trying to remember. I'll have to check it out again as I don't recall if it's playable or not...thanks!

[NRV]

I don't know how many of you remember pre-Commando/Ikari Warriors era, but one of the very first games of this type was an arcade game called 'Front Line,' it was released on the 2600 I know, and 2600's contemporaries of the day. Was Front line ever released for the A8's though? That was a good game.

 

Nop. No release.

Yep. Good game .

The only "problem" is that is difficult to replicate the control system.

 

http://www.arcade-mu...hp?game_id=7859

 

http://strategywiki....wiki/Front_Line

[Gunstar]

I don't know how many of you remember pre-Commando/Ikari Warriors era, but one of the very first games of this type was an arcade game called 'Front Line,' it was released on the 2600 I know, and 2600's contemporaries of the day. Was Front line ever released for the A8's though? That was a good game.

 

Nop. No release.

Yep. Good game .

The only "problem" is that is difficult to replicate the control system.

 

http://www.arcade-mu...hp?game_id=7859

 

http://strategywiki....wiki/Front_Line

 

It took me half an hour of recollection of my childhood just to remember it was called 'Front Line' and I think the control would be best with ST mouse or Atari trackball in trackball mode. So how about some 8-bit programmer hopping to it, eh?

 

in any case, as I recall, they seemed to translate the control scheme pretty well to the 2600...actually I don't recall if it just used the joystick or if it also used paddle/driving controller in the second port?

Edited October 28, 2011 by Gunstar

[+therealbountybob]

wish someone would make Commando work on a stock 130XE

[Gunstar]

wish someone would make Commando work on a stock 130XE

 

You can buy the cartridge. Atari Rage has it here: http://atari-sales.c...ore/frames.html

I think it was originally released on an XE cartridge too, wasn't it? If not, it's on cart now, at the above site and I think Video61 also sells it.

 

But yeah, no freebie Commando unless you have at least 256K (192K extended) memory. With the 320XE I guess you get a new title screen and music, seems a lot of extra memory for just that though...I'll have to confirm that once I get another 256K installed in my 1200XL.

 

I watched the video at Atari Rage of the Commando cartridge, and although the title screen and music are the same as my 256K file version, I did notice that the cartridge version uses some DLI's like in the first level, there are two shades of green for grass and trees and on the file version there is only one shade...unless that has something to do with my PAL ANTIC...

 

And a tip for anyone who has a tv/monitor like my 1084S that has horizontal width control, I recommend squeezing the width as narrow as possible, this give Commando a screen ration much closer to the original arcade game. See below.

Edited October 28, 2011 by Gunstar

[Gunstar]

Also, after adjusting my 1200XL's internal color pot (something I never did after installing the PAL Antic), I have the colors back in line the way they should be, and low and behold, Commando has some DLI's in the landscape that weren't showing up properly before my fix, so I have to give this version of Commando a couple more points in the graphics department for good use of color&DLI's. Edging the graphics ever closer (in qualtiy, not exactness) to the 7800 version.

[Gunstar]

Gun Law http://www.atarimani...n-law_2343.html and L.A. Swat http://www.atarimani...-swat_3043.html are kinda commondo style games. I never played Gun Law, But LA Swat was ok for a budget game. No music, but you could put your fave cassete after loading.

 

I have L.A. Swat, and you are right, it's good for a budget title. I think Gun Law may have been the other Commando clone I was trying to remember. I'll have to check it out again as I don't recall if it's playable or not...thanks!

 

I checked out Gun Law, good graphics, crap control and therefore gameplay,,,a shame really. The other game that's pretty good is 'Who Dares Wins II." This one has good gameplay, once you get the hang of it, but the graphics are lacking. I haven't looked into WDW I yet, if it's even on the Atari. Of course neither title compares to Commando in the graphic, control and gameplay departments.

 

We need 8-bit IKari Warriors! Or Rambo or one of the other titles like these that came out on the C64/Amiga/ST.

Green Berett is promising, at least we have it on the 8-bit, though I prefer the top-down scrollers to side-scrollers with shooters.

Edited October 30, 2011 by Gunstar

[Mclaneinc]

Blimey, I'd NEVER seen Commando on the 8bit, that's a quality bit of coding, looks brill.

 

The old 8bit, still pulling out surprises after all this time, excellent!

[Gunstar]

Blimey, I'd NEVER seen Commando on the 8bit, that's a quality bit of coding, looks brill.

 

The old 8bit, still pulling out surprises after all this time, excellent!

 

Go to the page below, click on "CARTS" one of the XL buttons at the top of the site page. It will take you to the first page of the catalog, scroll down through the A's and B's until you reach the C's and shortly thereafter, Commando. Under the picture on the right you can click on a video of the game that is much clearer than my pics. Then stick around and check out some of the other new games they have out for the 'ol 8-bit, like Tempest Xtreem and Space Harrier and Outrun. There's a lot there at the site to distract you, so check out the games I mentioned first, you don't want to miss them.

 

Tempest Xtreem, Space Harrier and the soon to be released Outrun are new games done by modern programmers looking at the 8-bits from a modern perspective and designing games "outside of the box" both visual and audio. Deciding the old 8-bit can still learn new tricks.

 

Commando is just a prototype game that should have been released in the late 80's but never was, still good. You may find some other late era stuff at this site too (both released and unreleased), that you didn't know about...maybe Xenophobe? Or Deflector?

 

 

http://atari-sales.c...ore/frames.html

Edited October 30, 2011 by Gunstar

[texacala]

Commando's sequel, Mercs, was ported to the C64 and Amstrad but I've read they are pretty terrible. The Genesis port is terrific and arguably better than the arcade version. I'd love to see this game ported to the A8 based on that version. And yeah, Ikari Warriors would be incredible on the A8-- I think it it could get close to the 7800 version and completely beat out both C64 ports. And how about a port of Guerilla War? That is an *amazing* 8-bit game

[Mclaneinc]

@Gunstar, I was just playing Commando via Altirra, very nice indeed, looking forward to Outrun as well, Space HArrier is just a work of magic..

[oky2000]

Where can I find the 320k hacked version of Commando?

[MrFish]

Where can I find the 320k hacked version of Commando?

 

At Fandal's site.

[oky2000]

Where can I find the 320k hacked version of Commando?

 

At Fandal's site.

 

.........

[Gunstar]

@Gunstar, I was just playing Commando via Altirra, very nice indeed, looking forward to Outrun as well, Space HArrier is just a work of magic..

 

Space Harrier is a dream, I too am looking forward to Outrun. I noticed you didn't mention Tempest Xtreem, I know it's not much to look at, Live wire was about as good looking and that's from years ago, but are you listening to these games, they all have amazing stereo music, digitized voice and sound effects and wave table effects, etc. Plus, T Xtreem does keep the same basic gameplay of it's older brother counter-part Tempest 2000 on the Jaguar, rather than that of classic Tempest.

Edited October 30, 2011 by Gunstar

[Mclaneinc]

Where can I find the 320k hacked version of Commando?

 

 

http://www.atarionline.pl/arch/C/Commando%20%28v2%29/Commando%2B%20%28320%29.xex

[Mclaneinc]

 

Space Harrier is a dream, I too am looking forward to Outrun. I noticed you didn't mention Tempest Xtreem, I know it's not much to look at, Live wire was about as good looking and that's from years ago, but are you listening to these games, they all have amazing stereo music, digitized voice and sound effects and wave table effects, etc. Plus, T Xtreem does keep the same basic gameplay of it's older brother counter-part Tempest 2000 on the Jaguar, rather than that of classic Tempest.

 

Sorry, totally forgot about Tempest, lovely little update..

 

I love what these guys are doing these days, using coding skills, tricks and tech not around in those days and also the ease of collaboration that the Net makes possible just allows for good idea's to become great idea's which then turn into great real games.

 

Put it all together and one time impossibilities become real....

 

Just waiting for Call of Duty to be released on the Atari

[Gunstar]

Give me Ikari Warriors (or a good clone or sequels to Ikari Or Commando) and an 8-bit Road Rash and I'll be happy.

[Mclaneinc]

Me, I just wish Randy Glover would come out of retirement and do another Jumpman (or finish the PC version he was doing)