Games Titles that would be great additions to the SAM coupe and/or 128k spectrum

[Prosystemsearch]

Though the two machines have different arcitechture internally in many areas, both deserve a place of notability.

 

What the 128k spectrum could have had: 128k specific Version of Star raiders II(aka The last Star fighter re-branded), Donkey Kong Jr., Jr, Pacman, Double Dragon 3, Wizard of Wor, Qix, Tron: Deadly Discs, Mr. TNT, Sinistar, Montezuma's revenge, and Abyssal Zone.

 

Needs to be ported to SAM coupe: Actual SAM version of Elite, (the one already released is the ZX spectrum 48k version placed into a floppy disc) MAniac Mansion, Ballblazer, Qix, Double dragon, Turrican 1 and 2, Montezuma's Revenge, Sinistar, SAM specific version of Commando, R-type, Pacmania, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr, Aliens, Alien Syndrome, Gradius, Salamander, Star raiders, Terra Cresta, Batman: The Caped Crusader, Strider, and Alien storm

[Prosystemsearch]

Uh Hello?

[carlsson]

I suppose Jr Pac-Man and Double Dragon 3 both fell within the time segment the Spectrum 128 and eventually +2A/B were commercially viable, so it makes sense to find versions of those. Many of the other games you mention were old news by then, and not that attractive to publish improved versions of, in particular not if license costs were involved: far better to come up with brand new budget games without any extra costs involved than to remake Qix, Wizard of Wor or Montezuma's Revenge which at most would sell in the £3.99 range.

 

I don't know about the hardware capacities of the SAM Coupé - though I've seen a half dozen in real life - but I think the market was so small that very few software manufacturers would care. You could compare with how many of said games exist in 128K improved versions for the CPC6128+, Enterprise 128, CoCo 3 etc, all of which I think sold in comparable volumes although a few years earlier and were not as hyped as the SAM Coupé was.

[JamesD]

The 128K Speccy would benefit mostly from fewer disk loads and maybe some additional graphics. Plus you have a sound chip, so you could add some background music and new sounds to a few games. Beyond that you aren't gaining a lot though.

The mode 4 graphics of the SAM Coupe would make better looking versions of some Speccy games, but due to the linear screen memory layout and 4 bit / pixel graphics it's not a simple change from Speccy code. You could still use a lot of Speccy game logic though. Without palette registers you don't end up with games that are as arcade accurate as CoCo 3 Donkey Kong, but it's much better than the Speccy.

A few games might benefit just from the linear screen memory layout of Mode 2, but the standard Speccy screen layout has some advantages for writing data to consecutive lines. I ran into this comparing my 64 column font code to the Speccy version. So, pretty much anything using sprites might be better off with the original layout, AKA Mode 1 and all you have is a Speccy game if you do that. Since those would look better in Mode 4 it's pretty much a moot point though.

For new ports, a faster CPU is a huge plus, but the Coupe CPU has so many wait states I don't think you'll gain a lot except for games like Elite, and maybe you'd have faster gameplay with some isometric games. Some of the gains may simply be due to switching to the linear screen layout of the new graphics modes.

Games I think would work well on the SAM would be things like Kings Quest. Since the SAM 4 bit / pixel mode is only 256 pixels wide there might be some issues.
The SCUMM game engine. Once you have the engine ported I think it's largely an issue of background artwork and data manipulation rather than writing a lot of new code for each game.

I haven't looked into it's requirements though.

Edited February 19, 2016 by JamesD

[high voltage]

SAM Coupe, I should have bought one when shops sold them off for GBP 15. Man that was one of the biggest flops in UK next to the Gizmondo.

 

As for the Spectrum 128 it was as little supported as the C128 was. The extra work would've cost extra monies companies just couldn't justify.

Edited February 21, 2016 by high voltage

[Prosystemsearch]

SAM Coupe, I should have bought one when shops sold them off for GBP 15. Man that was one of the biggest flops in UK next to the Gizmondo.

 

As for the Spectrum 128 it was as little supported as the C128 was. The extra work would've cost extra monies companies just couldn't justify.

Not entirely true.There is 128 spectrum version of Elite, along with many arcade games with spectrum 128k ports.

[JamesD]

SAM Coupe, I should have bought one when shops sold them off for GBP 15. Man that was one of the biggest flops in UK next to the Gizmondo.

 

As for the Spectrum 128 it was as little supported as the C128 was. The extra work would've cost extra monies companies just couldn't justify.

Well, I think a lot of Spectrum 128 purchasers were like C128 purchasers. They wanted to run their old software and a few new programs.

I think 128 versions of some games would have certainly sold, but people often had the regular version already and weren't willing to pay for it again.

If the Spectrum 128 had been introduced instead of the Spectrum+, it might have meant more support for the platform just because of less initial competition from 16 bit machines.

The SAM Coupe' was released in 1989. It was a decent upgrade, but by then the PC had VGA and according to the wiki, the first 486s. It's a bit late for an 8 bit, especially only running at 6MHz. Maybe with a CPU like the MSX Turbo R, but then it's still 8 bit and compiler support wasn't that great. Machines needed better high level language support to go with faster CPU speeds and more RAM. Plus by then it's graphics were underpowered even for an 8 bit. No palette registers, no sprites, and still 256x192 when 640x400 was common.

Really, the SAM is more like what should have been introduced in 1985 and even then it should have had palette registers or something like the ULA+.

 

Since we are talking about new support that's all a bit of a moot point, but I think developers releasing new titles are making the same choices.

I noticed that the new game threads (Games List 2015, 2014, etc...) on World of Spectrum have a lot of titles.

Some run on all machines, some require at least the 128 with the AY chip, and some even support the ULA+. I didn't notice any supporting the SAM but I didn't look through them all.

Edited February 21, 2016 by JamesD

[JamesD]

Ok, so there is also a worldofsam.org website. There are some good new releases there.
And the SAM does have palette registers with 128 to choose from. I didn't think it did.
I double checked after looking at a couple pics.

Edited February 21, 2016 by JamesD