Sounds in XM games

[DracIsBack]

Using the Expansion module, can a developer utilize all three sound chips at once in a game? If so, I'm looking forward to seeing what the musicians and sound effects folks can pull off with this!

 

Always was annoyed that only two released 7800 games used a POKEY (Ballblazer and Commando) and only one used a POKEY and a TIA (Commando).

[GroovyBee]

Yep! I don't see why you couldn't use all three sound sources at once. However, if you are using trackers on POKEY and the YM2151 then I can see quite a lot of CPU time going on updating sounds.

[DracIsBack]

I suppose we could see some really cool music demos, much like you see in the A8 scene! Great way to show off what the combo can do!

[Lynxpro]

Using the Expansion module, can a developer utilize all three sound chips at once in a game? If so, I'm looking forward to seeing what the musicians and sound effects folks can pull off with this!

 

Always was annoyed that only two released 7800 games used a POKEY (Ballblazer and Commando) and only one used a POKEY and a TIA (Commando).

 

 

I just watched a clip of Commando on the A8 and it was terrible. The conspiracist in me is quick to believe the A8/XEGS version was purposefully meant to be weaker than the 7800 version. After all, Sculptured Software did both ports...

 

The developers who did the C64 version seemed to go out of their way with the music although at the cost of it being less faithful to the arcade original. The NES version just looked terrible.

[DracIsBack]

I just watched a clip of Commando on the A8 and it was terrible.

 

Don't agree. I have both and have played the heck out of each. I find it fairly similar to the 7800 version with a couple of differences:

 

1. The sound is a bit less. On the A8 Pokey is doing everything. On the 7800, POKEY is exclusively for music while TIA does the sound effects, so the music is ironically a bit fuller in the 7800 version.

 

2. There seem to be fewer colors on screen. Again, given that Maria usually has an easier time with on-screen colors (being newer and all), it's understandable.

 

All the levels and bonuses are there in the A8 version and it's quite fun to play, I think,

 

The conspiracist in me is quick to believe the A8/XEGS version was purposefully meant to be weaker than the 7800 version

.

 

Given that the XEGS was given 'flagship' status while the two were in market, it would seem odd. It was the one 'front and center' in the posters, featured on TV more etc.

 

The conspiracy theorist in me once felt that the 7800 was purposefully crippled in some games to make the XE look better. Case in point: Karateka. Another case: Summer Games, which had more events. After having seen programmers talk though it seems like there's a more realistic explanation in those cases. For the XE, Atari licensed the existing code that someone else did and put them on a cartridge. For the 7800, they had to pay people to develop them. Given Tramiel cheapness, the 7800 versions suffered. Sorta like how the XE Desert Falcon jerks along while the 7800 version (done by the original developers and inherited by Tramiel Atari) is smooth.