Isometric & Oblique Projection Games

[Rogue Trooper]

Well we haven't posted the one game that even the article on isometric games says is a true isometric game... Q*bert! &%$**#&^*&$

[align=center:1f2go8rx]QBert Levels 1-3[/align:1f2go8rx]

Another one that I enjoy is He-Man And The Power Of Grayskull for the GBA.

[align=center:1f2go8rx]He-Man And The Power Of Grayskull (GBA) - Mission 1[/align:1f2go8rx]

I wonder what type of "angled" game this is based on that same article!  True isometric or oblique?

RT, Congo Bongo was one game that had a tough time making it to a home system "intact."  I think one of the best versions out there is the ColecoVision version and even that one isn't arcade perfect.  It suffers some issues with collision detection, from what I've read.  It does look better than the 5200 version and has three out of the four screens.

[align=center:1f2go8rx]Congo Bongo Review ColecoVision[/align:1f2go8rx]

Seems game was asking too much of many of the hardware platforms it appeared on, which again makes me wonder why the 2600 version is singled out.If more powerful systems stuggled with the visuals and dropped levels due to space issues, then what more could be done on 2600?.

For myself a game should only really feature in said section of Gamestm if more could have been done with the hardware, ie only to look at say C64 Chase H.Q next to what was done with S.C.I or Outrun compared to Turbo Outrun.

Gamestm often seemed to expect bizzare feats of coding as 2600 versions of Congo Bongo, Zaxxon, Double Dragon, Rampage etc featured, along with Tempest, which was'nt even finished.

By all means word an article along lines of it being daft to even try and convert a far more powerful arcade game, released years after the home hardware in question ( ie Double dragon), but i find it really far too harsh to slag off the results clever coders did get out of the primitive 2600.

[TrekMD]

I agree, RT.  The fact there's a 2600 version of Congo Bongo and that even attempts the isometric view for the first screen is amazing.  I don't know if homebrewers today could find ways of getting a better port done (with more memory and new programming techniques) but what was accomplished originally was pretty good given the hardware.

I actually might have preferred they didn't try the isomteric view and something along the lines of what was done for the SG-1000. 

[align=center:gquxynu5]Congo Bongo (1983) (SEGA) (SG-1000)[/align:gquxynu5]

[Rogue Trooper]

Cheers Trek...i'm not 'trolling' Gamestm (or any other publication), more that a lot more could have been done with a feature like this.Rather than 'salute' the skills of those responsible for what was achived, in a 'you'd never have thought something like this would have been possible' manner, it reads more like the comments i've read on youtube video's of people who clearly got into gaming with PS2 etc and were'nt even born when games they are viewing were released.

I know it was (dunno if it's still a regular Gamestm feature, stopped my sub ages ago) only a 2-page article, but given that it was regular part of their Retro section, i had hoped for something of a more intelligent approach.

But then, this is the same publication who slagged off in a comments section Xbox version of HL2 for not having same resolution as PC version, who really slagged off C64 version of Space Harrier, before later praising it to the 9's in a C64 Vs Speccy Vs CPC 'Clash Of The Titans' feature.

For myself as long as hardware has been used to best of it's abilities and real attempt made to capture the 'essence' of the original game and playability does'nt come second fiddle to the graphics (thinking Amiga/ST Operation Wolf here, looked far better than C64 ver, played like a brick, same with Bionic Commando), then it's not a 'disaster' as nothing more could be done with resources avaiable.

[64bitRuss]

The Immortal for NES. I think it was on Genesis too.

The Immortal (NES)

[DreamcastRIP]

The Immortal for NES. I think it was on Genesis too.

The Immortal absolutely was not a NES game that subsequently also appeared on other formats. It was originally released on the Apple IIGS and was later also released on the Atari ST, Amiga, DOS, NES, and Mega Drive/Genesis.

If there's one version of the game to not go for in preference to the other available versions then it would be the NES version because much of the game's violence was removed so to comply with Nintendo's 'family friendly' image. Also, I believe the NES version was uniquely singled out for its high difficulty level relative to all other versions.

[DreamcastRIP]

Gamestm often seemed to expect bizzare feats of coding as 2600 versions of Congo Bongo, Zaxxon, Double Dragon, Rampage etc featured, along with Tempest, which was'nt even finished.

By all means word an article along lines of it being daft to even try and convert a far more powerful arcade game, released years after the home hardware in question ( ie Double dragon), but i find it really far too harsh to slag off the results clever coders did get out of the primitive 2600.

Agreed. I have one of the gamesTM bookazines somewhere, Vol.4 I think it is, and seem to recall that four of the six 'Conversion catastrophies' (or whatever it was they named those series of articles) were Atari 2600 games. Given the vast number of piss poor arcade coin-op conversions released across myriad different systems it seemed as though the publication sought to single out the 2600 for persecution. Far easier to pick on an old console from a now defunct console manufacturer than to pick on games from console manufacturers that are still going and thus risk being seen to criticise the brands that contribute advertising revenue to the IP stable of publications I suppose...

[Rogue Trooper]

The Immortal started out as an online multi-player RPG for the Apple II but as development went on, it changed into a single player adventure game.I 1st saw it reviewed in various 16 Bit Micro machines, but think it was 1 Meg machines only, which put it out of my range, so picked up the MD version (and loved it), which is meant to be the same as ST/Amiga versions.

The NES version i'm led to believe features smaller sprites, more music, bit more dialog, no spider level, less violence and quite a few frustrating sections, so overal, it's a 'weaker' version.

[TL]

Another more obscure game I bought for the ST was H.A.T.E. by Gremlin, it's a little bit like Zaxxon.

ATARI ST HATE

[Rogue Trooper]

Another more obscure game I bought for the ST was H.A.T.E. by Gremlin, it's a little bit like Zaxxon.

ATARI ST HATE

There's also English software's Leviathan which i tried on C64 (played like a brick!) seem to recal it appeared on Amiga/ST as well.


And Tony Crowther's Zig Zag on C64-which i had, just could'nt get on with at the time.

[Bobinator]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Sonic 3D Blast. I figured it'd be like the first post. And... well, I'm not going to lie. I like 3D Blast. Is it the best Sonic game? Nah. But it's very playable, no matter which version you play it on. Sure, the whole Flicky thing is a pain in the butt, sometimes, but I learned to enjoy the game anyway. I grew up on the PC version, myself, which kept the Saturn soundtrack, which made the game sound like a fruity Euro disco.

Sonic 3D Blast Saturn version - Part 9 (Gene Gadget)

There was also Twouble, a pretty average Looney Toons game I used to have on the Game Boy Color. I think I got this when I turned... wait, six? I think there was a bowling alley involved. And pizza. It wasn't very good pizza. Crap, I'm old. But, yeah, this is a game I can't say I really have nostalgia for. It exists. I played it. That's as far as my childhood memories go. But hey, it's isometric! And the music's nice. Infograme's stuff always had a really distinctive sound to it.

Sylvester & Tweety: Breakfast on the Run GBC Gameplay

[DreamcastRIP]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Sonic 3D Blast. I figured it'd be like the first post...

I'm guessing that's partly because many of us here grew up owning an 8-bit home micro so that's where our minds go to first when thinking of retro gaming rather than the likes of Mega Drive and Saturn that came many years later.

[Rogue Trooper]

DC pretty much nails it.I grew up playing and watching a lot of isometric games on the C64/Speccy/Cpc and arcades and they seemed very popular on the ST and Amiga, but whilst i was aware of a good few on the MD, i never really bothered with them per say, guess at the time they felt a stale?.

[TL]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Sonic 3D Blast. I figured it'd be like the first post. And... well, I'm not going to lie. I like 3D Blast. Is it the best Sonic game? Nah. But it's very playable, no matter which version you play it on. Sure, the whole Flicky thing is a pain in the butt, sometimes, but I learned to enjoy the game anyway. I grew up on the PC version, myself, which kept the Saturn soundtrack, which made the game sound like a fruity Euro disco.

I like Sonic 3D too, I have it on the Saturn and was actually planning to post it but you beat me too it.

Another great isometric game on the Saturn is Dark Saviour:

Sega Saturn Games: Dark Savior Overview

[DreamcastRIP]

I see from his games collection and wall display that dcultrapro is a proud SegAtarian. Top bloke! 

[TL]

This game really needs to be in this thread too:

Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters 1989 Atari Mame Retro Arcade Games