ChinnyVision - Ep 100 - Nemesis - CPC, C64, Spectrum, Gameboy, MSX
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ก.ย. 2024
- A Konami arcade smash, Nemesis found its way to the UK home systems via imagine. Of course today we know the game as Gradius, but back then it was Nemesis. How do the Imagine ports stack up, and how does Konami's own cart release for the MSX look? We look at the Amstrad CPC, C64, Sinclair Spectrum and MSX versions PLUS for the first time the Nintendo Gameboy version using the original hardware.
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Time for a boring anecdote.
Picture the scene. It's 1990. A teenager is on a bus playing Nemesis on his Game Boy. It's the future - an arcade machine in his hands. He's so engrossed that even when the bus reaches his stop (the Gateshead MetroCentre - going to buy more games) he doesn't want to stop playing. He tries to disembark without taking his eyes off the screen. He drops the Game Boy as he exits the bus and it falls on the road! In full panic mode, he picks it up to find it is still working perfectly. No explosion of plastic parts, just a dent in one corner and the game is still running just fine. Game Boy strong like bull!
Unfortunately the end of level boss has killed him during the panic so the whole episode was pointless.
I still have that Game Boy. It still works perfectly and Nemesis is still brilliant on it.
Thanks for this video and all the others. Roll on the next 100!
I can't believe you've only got 1000 ish subscribers. Your channel is one of my favorite retro channels on youtube. We need to get the word out!
+chizzer71 When I started this I reckoned on 100 tops! It's probably all a bit niche for the masses.
Congratulations on hitting the 100 milestone :)
Good video as always. Definite win for the MSX in spite of its scrolling. I only played the Speccy version via emulation and I thought it was okay but not one I'd want to play given I ahve an Amiga emulator and all the H-Scrolling games on there.
Hay! Great episode and congrats on the 100th episode!
That CPC opening image is really cool!
When it comes to Konami, MSX always wins! You should try Nemesis 2 on MSX, it's much better and, for many people (me included), the best MSX1 game ever.
There is a version for the Gameboy Color on the Konami Collection Volume 1. The same compilation has a version of F1 Spirit called Konami Racing. There is a version for MSX on Konami Games Collection Volume 3 that uses the SCC+ sound chip for improved sound. You need the sound cartridge sold with Snatcher
Great video mate, never seen this, I have salamander on c64
YNWA
Always surprising with what they could get out of the Gameboy kit when the right people were involved. Same as the MSX. It really, really goes to show what happens when you have the right crew involved.
Along with just how resource constrained the UK sector would feel in comparison… having to crunch those computer versions into a single load would easily have hurt them by comparison with how much room they'd have had on an MSX cart :)
+hellfire64 The MSX cart is only 128k IIRC so while bigger its not that much bigger. The most notable thing about the MSX version can't be shown on a video. It's that it *feels* like the arcade version when you play it.
That Amstrad CPC version - about 5 seconds before you said it I thought to myself "that looks like a BBC Micro game..."
+I only did it for the Timex Calculator Watch It's that horrible magenta that does it.
Lots of fond memories of the C64 version but you're slowly selling me on getting an MSX...
The MSX version looks great..surely all they had to do is ROL (role data left in assembly language)the data through the characters for smooth landscape.
Indeed, among those compared, excluding the GameBoy version, the MSX version of Nemesis is among those that best approach the arcade. What I disagree with is when it says "MSX limited hardware", when the Spectrum and Amstrad are really limited machines. If we want to talk about numbers on paper, an MSX1 is definitely ahead of the C64, CPU, memory, VDP with dedicated VRAM, higher number of sprites (32 vs 8) and the jerky scrolling is only due to a programming choice, not certainly why a smooth scrolling could not be achieved. Konami was more interested in keeping the arcade gameplay intact, rather than thinking about moving the screen 1 pixel or 8. Just a detail. Westerners are fetishists on graphics and then forget good gameplay.
Here's an MSX patch which adds smooth scrolling, new voices, other game modes etc.:
www.msx.org/forum/msx-talk/software/nemesis-gradius-enhanced-ips-patch?page=0
The definitive port?
Some clever programmer has made a hack for a number of MSX games that change the jerky graphics to smooth hardware. Nemesis included. 👍😃
I'd say the MSX version is best, despite the jerky scrolling. The C64 version looks OK and moves well. The Amstrad was given a terrible port. The Game Boy got a very nice port that looks great on the Super Game Boy. This was a really interesting video. Thanks, Chinny :D
Great video =D
Salamander on the C64 was way better.
+RMGB TV I only ever had Delta on C64 - A bit of a gradius clone, but more about remembering waves.
wow didn't think the msx could be that good
I remember being hugely disappointed when I took delivery of the Speccy version of this back in '87. We'd been playing the arcade game to death and the magazines had been hyping the port to death so I was expecting it to be brilliant, but oh dear - it's shockingly bad. And to make things even worse, once I'd actually played it I discovered that much of the magazine footage I'd seen was actually just mocked-up screenshots and the real game even *looked* far worse. Complete crap, and a total waste of money. :-(
I've played the Gameboy version before and really liked it, but that MSX version looks superb! It's such a shame about the jerky scrolling - you see that quite often on MSX titles and I'm not sure why - the Speccy doesn't have any scrolling hardware either but it manages a fairly decent scroll for its version of the game. If they'd just scrolled in 4 pixel jumps instead of 8 I can't help but feel it'd have looked far better. Maybe you don't notice it so much while you're playing, I'll have to give it a go.
Congrats on the 100 video anniversary! :-)
+Blerkotron You honestly don't notice the poor scrolling when playing the MSX. You are focussed on your own sprite and the enemies which are smooth hardware sprites.
I assume the large chunks for scrolling are related to using the hardware sprites as you often see this happening in games that use them.
C64 version music at least doesn't get on your wick like the CPC versions did 😂
I played this on the C64 back in the day quite a bit and thought it was quite alright... sure Salamander is better, but this was a good enough port for what it was.
And I think your copy is bugged somehow, as I have never had the issues you encountered while playing.
Don't think I could get used to the MAX version. No matter how good the gameplay is, the jerky scrolling would put me off no end.
Love this game but not all ports are actually that playable.
For the love of god, man: speed, speed, option, laser, option, option.
+Saturnalian I don't like that much speed and missiles are a life saver.
You won't get far in the C64 version without 2 speed ups. (Or was it 3?)
Mnyeh, I disagree with you on the C64 version, but you already knew that. Yes, the enemy bullets are a bit big, as are the expando-sprite bosses, and the sound glitches a bit but you get used to it, was just about the best shooter around at the time. And as good a conversion as we could have hoped for at the time.
One kid at school had an msx and had this and the sequel (possibly 2 sequels?) and rarely played this as it was far better. (Also, exclusive to the msx, so was almost its killer app...) Flat, dull sprites and eye-wrenching scrolling, best thing about this one is that boss sprite.
I'm with you on the spectrum and amstrad versions though, they're as insultingly bad as Jail Break was.
+GigerPunk I keep saying it to everyone but honestly, the MSX scrolling really wasn't a problem because your eyes are generally on yourself and the main enemies all of which move about fine, On a 22 inch TV set to 4:3 it was fine. Larger TV's may be a problem.
The Game Boy version is my favourite out of the above ports. The MSX is pretty in screenshots but I just can't get on with the character scrolling. It's just too jarring for me. It's a pity. If the MSX had per pixel scrolling it would've been a beast of a machine games-wise.