+cmadruga Posted February 27, 2023 Author Share Posted February 27, 2023 On 2/25/2023 at 9:04 AM, DZ-Jay said: Anyway, I did not mean to hijack this thread, so my apologies to @cmadruga (sorry, mate!). Hey it's ok, at least I'm getting free bumps. On 2/25/2023 at 9:33 AM, DZ-Jay said: I hope some day -- Impossible Mission (@cmadruga, I'm looking at you, mate) Ha, I've been eyeing that one but I have to finish that other GB port first. 4 hours ago, DZ-Jay said: Are there any reviews of the game? I'm on the fence about this one ... It looks interesting, but I have never knew about the original. Also, the video shows some flickering, and I wanted to know from those who've actually played it if it's like that on the console or emulator, or just an artefact of the video compressor dropping frames. Sometimes those NetBookTube+ videos do not give the game its full justice. -dZ. Folks should feel free to review any games I work on. I'm particularly curious to hear from those who have played other versions of this game back in the day. I know you grew up with the C64, but I don't think this game was as well known on that platform. Plus, that particular version was a little too slow for my taste. About flickering, the framerate from the video definitely exaggerates it. But folks can give their opinion. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 9 hours ago, cmadruga said: Hey it's ok, at least I'm getting free bumps. Next one I'll charge you ... 😁 9 hours ago, cmadruga said: Ha, I've been eyeing that one but I have to finish that other GB port first. Yes, I'm still waiting on that one. Hop to it! 9 hours ago, cmadruga said: I know you grew up with the C64, but I don't think this game was as well known on that platform. Plus, that particular version was a little too slow for my taste. I had a huge collection of games back then, but do not remember this one at all! Perhaps the C64 port wasn't that good. Honestly, I've never seen it before. 9 hours ago, cmadruga said: About flickering, the framerate from the video definitely exaggerates it. But folks can give their opinion. I would like to hear how it plays and what others think of the game -- especially from those who, like me, never played it before. dZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 (edited) I just saw a video of all the older versions, and I agree that the C64 version seems rather slow and choppy. The best one seems to be the MSX version: it looks snappy and smooth, even though none of them have smooth scrolling. It's an interesting game from the early micro era. I can see how someone who played this game back then would be endeared to it. It reminded me of similarly simple early games I had which I loved and would play again (Apple Cider Spider comes to mind). Alas, I must have missed out on this one. Perhaps someone will make a similar comparison video with the Intellivision version. It would be interesting to hear how it holds up against those other three. dZ. Edited February 27, 2023 by DZ-Jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veritas Posted April 24, 2023 Share Posted April 24, 2023 On 2/27/2023 at 11:31 AM, DZ-Jay said: I just saw a video of all the older versions, and I agree that the C64 version seems rather slow and choppy. The best one seems to be the MSX version: it looks snappy and smooth, even though none of them have smooth scrolling. It's an interesting game from the early micro era. I can see how someone who played this game back then would be endeared to it. It reminded me of similarly simple early games I had which I loved and would play again (Apple Cider Spider comes to mind). Alas, I must have missed out on this one. Perhaps someone will make a similar comparison video with the Intellivision version. It would be interesting to hear how it holds up against those other three. dZ. Having played all of them, I can say the MSX version is totally unplayable. The enemies shoot at light speed and this makes the games too fast and frustrating. Best version is the C64 one, with well calibrated difficulty that makes you want to try it "just one more time" and better sound. The ZX Spectrum version is almost impossible to play with keyboard, not sure if things improve with a joystick. Just think that to jump you need to press UP without pressing LEFT. Go figure. The inty version seems a bit too easy as you can easily kill the enemies just jumping over them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cmadruga Posted April 24, 2023 Author Share Posted April 24, 2023 1 hour ago, veritas said: Having played all of them, I can say the MSX version is totally unplayable. The enemies shoot at light speed and this makes the games too fast and frustrating. Best version is the C64 one, with well calibrated difficulty that makes you want to try it "just one more time" and better sound. The ZX Spectrum version is almost impossible to play with keyboard, not sure if things improve with a joystick. Just think that to jump you need to press UP without pressing LEFT. Go figure. The inty version seems a bit too easy as you can easily kill the enemies just jumping over them. My main reference is the MSX version, and yes, it is very difficult. However, killing enemies by jumping over them is also possible in that version. Difficult, but possible. Have you tried a higher skill setting on the Intellivision version? Either way, difficulty ramps up gradually. Also, as mentioned in the first post, the Intellivision version incorporates new features: - randomized spawn of all the elements - gameplay features: gates of 3 different heights, floaters on top of the train as well (instead of just inside), enemies that come in both directions, etc. - streamlined controls - title screen with music 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted April 24, 2023 Share Posted April 24, 2023 5 hours ago, veritas said: Having played all of them, I can say the MSX version is totally unplayable. The enemies shoot at light speed and this makes the games too fast and frustrating. Best version is the C64 one, with well calibrated difficulty that makes you want to try it "just one more time" and better sound. The ZX Spectrum version is almost impossible to play with keyboard, not sure if things improve with a joystick. Just think that to jump you need to press UP without pressing LEFT. Go figure. The inty version seems a bit too easy as you can easily kill the enemies just jumping over them. Thank you. I was just going by the videos -- the MSX one looks the smoother. However, if the difficulty is unbalanced, then I can see how it would be frustrating to play. I had a C=64 back in the 80s, but I don't remember this game. That version looks good on the video, but the scrolling is sluggish -- which is strange because the C64 does have smooth scrolling capabilities. The Intellivision version doesn't look bad at all, although the sound effects seem a bit generic. I like the title screen music, but I think it's a miss opportunity to no have included Trans-Europa Express by Kraftwerk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted April 25, 2023 Share Posted April 25, 2023 12 hours ago, DZ-Jay said: I think it's a miss opportunity to no have included Trans-Europa Express by Kraftwerk. Carlos also suggested that one, though I don't know how it would sound with the IntyBASIC music routines. If we were to use the more advanced tracker with envelopes etc, it probably could sound decent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted April 25, 2023 Share Posted April 25, 2023 5 hours ago, carlsson said: Carlos also suggested that one, though I don't know how it would sound with the IntyBASIC music routines. If we were to use the more advanced tracker with envelopes etc, it probably could sound decent. Then something to consider for the future. I wouldn’t mind helping with that … dZ. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veritas Posted May 7, 2023 Share Posted May 7, 2023 you can try the MSX version here - it's VERY hard: https://www.file-hunter.com/MSX/index.php?id=stoptheexpress And yes, would be great the Krafterks song to accompany gameplay....but the intro song in the inty version is definitely appropriate. You may have recognized the oscar-winning soundtrack by Giorgio Moroder from the movie Midnight Express (so it's still trains - perfect!): I saw from the videos that the first stage of the Inty version is a bit easier (in the second part only one enemy at the time appears inside the train for example), but then increases progressively. This is actually a good idea, even though for repeated play it can be annoying having to go many times through a super-easy first level. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veritas Posted May 7, 2023 Share Posted May 7, 2023 ...in the Inty version you can actually select the difficulty at the beginning of the game - probably the medium level starts like stage 2 and hard level is stage 3. That is really good. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted May 7, 2023 Share Posted May 7, 2023 In theory, there were several songs to choose from... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+evg2000 Posted May 7, 2023 Share Posted May 7, 2023 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinjinhawke Posted May 8, 2023 Share Posted May 8, 2023 and for the just recently passed Gordon Lightfoot his little contribution to songs about railroads and trains. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cmadruga Posted May 8, 2023 Author Share Posted May 8, 2023 On 4/24/2023 at 5:07 PM, DZ-Jay said: The Intellivision version doesn't look bad at all, although the sound effects seem a bit generic. I like the title screen music, but I think it's a miss opportunity to no have included Trans-Europa Express by Kraftwerk. Sound effects are faithful to the original... Carlsson did a great job on those. BTW, I'm more familiar with the English version of that Kraftwerk song... But it is hard to turn down a Giorgio Moroder song, as proposed by Carlsson... Speaking of Moroder, this other song from him kind of has an interesting name... 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted May 9, 2023 Share Posted May 9, 2023 11 hours ago, cmadruga said: Sound effects are faithful to the original... Carlsson did a great job on those. It wasn't intended as a knock on Carlsson ability, I know he is very talented; but a comment on the sound effects themselves. If that's how they were in the original, well then, the original had generic sound effects. *shrug* We know that the Intellivision can do so much better. 11 hours ago, cmadruga said: BTW, I'm more familiar with the English version of that Kraftwerk song... Both are great. My favorite is the remix done for the album "The Mix" in 1991. The sound is a bit less "organic," utilizing more modern digital synthesizers; but that just makes it sound ever so more mechanical, which is fitting. 11 hours ago, cmadruga said: But it is hard to turn down a Giorgio Moroder song, as proposed by Carlsson... Absolutely! A Giorgio Moroder track is an instant classic, in my opinion. The Intellivision should definitely play more Giorgio Moroder songs. dZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted May 9, 2023 Share Posted May 9, 2023 Like I commented on YouTube, this was my first time using ON FRAME and various counters to do sound effects that will keep running in parallel with the main engine. It was a bit tricky at first to come up with the methodology but after a while I could focus on replicating the MSX effects as good as I could by ear (though perhaps a little slower, PAL speed?). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted May 9, 2023 Share Posted May 9, 2023 2 minutes ago, carlsson said: Like I commented on YouTube, this was my first time using ON FRAME and various counters to do sound effects that will keep running in parallel with the main engine. It was a bit tricky at first to come up with the methodology but after a while I could focus on replicating the MSX effects as good as I could by ear (though perhaps a little slower, PAL speed?). The sound effects are fine, and they sound close to the MSX version. So, since that's what you were going for, it worked out great. 👍 The ON FRAME event runs at VBLANK speed, so it should be at 60Hz on NTSC. Only the music player runs at a standard 50Hz on every platform. -dZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted May 9, 2023 Share Posted May 9, 2023 I meant I found two sources of original sound effects, one running faster than the other so ít might depend on if those were recorded from a Japanese or European MSX. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted May 9, 2023 Share Posted May 9, 2023 4 minutes ago, carlsson said: I meant I found two sources of original sound effects, one running faster than the other so ít might depend on if those were recorded from a Japanese or European MSX. Oh, gotcha! dZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+evg2000 Posted May 9, 2023 Share Posted May 9, 2023 Just an FYI, looks like a version is also being developed for the CV and A2600. @cmadruga are you involved with them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted May 9, 2023 Share Posted May 9, 2023 CV probably is a straight dump from the MSX version? 2600 is an entirely different ballpark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cmadruga Posted May 9, 2023 Author Share Posted May 9, 2023 7 hours ago, evg2000 said: Just an FYI, looks like a version is also being developed for the CV and A2600. @cmadruga are you involved with them? No, I'm not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaxivision Posted May 12, 2023 Share Posted May 12, 2023 Received this, with the others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamikazi26 Posted May 13, 2023 Share Posted May 13, 2023 Physical copies of Stop The Express will be available on IntellivisionCollector.com soon. Material is in the mail. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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