Fantam 39 Amstrad Action Revised Amstrad At The Arcades By Fantam39

                                   Amstrad At The Arcades

  When you knew you were operating with a 8 bit computer you'd sometimes wonder how the developers would squeeze the arcade version of the game you'd spent all your holiday money on but the programmers still managed and sometimes they were as faithful to the arcade version as you'd wanted let's take Robocop for example when I was young and staying at Center Parcs there was a bowling ally and a row of arcade machines the two I'd play were Super Monaco GP and Robocop the feeling is nothing like I could express today it was just perfect as action would go you were Robocop walking down downtown and shooting punk after punk till you'd reach the end and be faced with the mighty ED209 the feeling was perfect aiming up at windows shooting a punk and watching him fall to the ground plus motorbikes racing down the street and having you blow there bike up before it ran over you then there was the items to pick up like a three way bullet spray to make taking out multiple targets and when you'd done this you'd hear a loud roar as ED209 would appear on screen making you aim for his head to destroy him blinding gameplay in those days, then after all of that you'd hear there was a conversion been made for your CPC how is this going to feel been compressed to only 64k. Then I got hold of the finished product and fair play the graphics weren't as good as the arcade version but everything from the original was in included and played well enough for you to remember the arcade version you'd played.When you want you favorite game on your Amstrad you needed everything the original had but had to understand the graphics were going to be to the machines limits, that I could handle I just wanted the same enjoyment and be able to play the arcade game of my dreams at home. It still amazes me today how the mighty games made a near perfect transmission to the humble CPC, many arcade hits were converted in those days including Gryzor, Final Fight, Chase H.Q and many others. So been 8 bit didn't have an restraints in those days the Amstrad was more than capable of bringing the magic home. I remember Operation Wolf I first thought how is anyone going to do this but they did and it worked really well arcade conversions didn't have to make any compromises on account of the small about memory the developers had to work with. Super Monaco GP showed how to add presentation to a arcade conversion including the women holding up the get ready to race card and even the options screen had digitized graphics in the back ground. Dragons Lair on the other hand didn't recreate what the arcade version was instead created a new format that was based on different aspects of the arcade original but it worked and became a classic with the new look it was given implementing certain aspects of the arcade with Software Projects own inclusions based on the original. Popularity was probably why so many conversions made it to the Amstrad people getting hooked on certain titles and now been given the option to play at home on there system.