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Post subject: Disney & Virgin's classic 16-bit platformers on modern PCs!
PostPosted: Fri Aug 05, 2016 1:05 am 
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Man, this has made my day! Disney has released new updated versions of three classic 16-bit platformers based on their creative licences in the 1990's for today's modern PC operating systems! That's right, they've ported the console versions of these games to be compatible for your modern PC but still with the engines and gameplay of them intact!

According to this Polygon article Aladdin seems to be ported from the superior Genesis version. The Lion King's PC port probably came from the Genesis version too. The Jungle Book's port seems to come from the Genesis version. Its SNES port probably looks better than Genesis' while Genesis' is a bit more brighter but I think I prefer the SNES version. It looks a bit closer to the new movie (which I thought was meh) while the Genesis version' colourful flair feels inspired by Disney's animation. HOWEVER, the environments in the Genesis version have got a lot more verticality to it, which may make its gameplay the better bet. I've read that the old Win 95 or PC DOS versions of many of Disney's games just couldn't work on later Windows systems anyway.
http://www.polygon.com/2016/8/4/1237337 ... ook-pc-gog

This is AWESOME news!!! :shock: :D :mrgreen: I can only imagine as Disney brings more of those platforming classics that they (Disney Software) and Virgin Interactive & sometimes other developers (Capcom & Eurocom) have made in their heydays of the 1990's! Hopefully more games like the Donald Duck games, Mickey Mouse games and Toy Story 1 will be ported to the PC soon after. That would be ace!

I have read parts of this retrospective (Start from page 3) on mainly Donald Duck games at least twice this year, I think, in the lead up to these huge surprises of PC re-releases! What brilliant timing! HG101 also did a Mickey Mania retrospective.

Comparisons (Just have a brief look at each. Make sure not to see the whole playthroughs as they're short!):
Mega Drive Longplay [106] Aladdin
SNES Longplay [351] Aladdin (a)
Aladdin (Sega Genesis vs Snes) Side by Side Comparison (Not a full playthrough)
Console Wars - Aladdin (Super Nintendo vs Sega Genesis) (Old review divided into categories)
* ADDED on 11/09/2016: Aladdin: SNES vs. Genesis - Which Is Better? (Oct 16, 2015. Avoid seeing it as it contains the full gameplay walkthrough.)
Game vs Game Episode 6 - Aladdin (Genesis vs SNES vs SMS) (May 24, 2016. See this if you want.)
* ADDED on 03/10/2016: Disney Aladdin Gameplay Full Movie Game - Walt Disney Episode 1 HD (The Kids Club - My Superheroes in Real Life. Nov 29, 2013. For the SNES game. Badly chopping framerate. But read the description about the tie-in animation movies.)

The Lion King | Mega Drive & SNES | Comparison - Dual Longplay (The MD version's screen is bigger & its visuals seem better & more saturated)
* ADDED on 11/09/2016: Console Wars - The Lion King - Super Nintendo vs Sega Genesis (Nov 27, 2015. Genesis' version got the best GRAPHICS award. However the SNES version got the best PRESENTATION & SOUND awards. But both versions were tied for the best GAMEPLAY award because visually and level-design wise it just looks so similar. But the best version goes to the SNES version, which is a bit weird as I think many users commenting on many other retrospective videos for this game perhaps preferred the Genesis version like all other Disney games.)
Game vs Game Episode 9 - The Lion King (SNES vs Genesis) (Dec 31, 2014. See this if you want.)
* ADDED on 03/10/2016: Lion King | Mega Drive, SNES & Amiga | Comparison - Triple Longplay (silenig. Feb 19, 2016. "This is an update of a previous video..." 3 years ago above. Check the level structures & timecodes in description.)

The Jungle Book (Sega Genesis vs Snes) Side by Side Comparison (Not a full playthrough)

* EDIT (06/08/2016): Uh oh, some users in their reviews indicated that at least the new PC re-release version of Aladdin is based on the inferior DOS PC port of the arguably superior Genesis version. So it's a DOS-emulated software running on your latest computer operating system with many technical deficiencies that marked the DOS port. Aw, well, too bad then... You can notice the massive dithering on the pixels in those PC (DOS-based) releases, not sure if the Genesis version had so much dithering too.

* EDIT (23/08/2016): RPS wrote out a 'Have You Played...?" article on the Aladdin game a few days before GOG released these three platformers. There are balanced thoughts to the DOS release of this game.
Have You Played… Disney’s Aladdin?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* EDIT (11/09/2016): These Genesis and Super Nintendo comparison videos of several other Disney games could prove to be quite useful should Disney ever decide to attempt ports of either side of the remaining 1990's platformer games onto modern PC systems!
Console Wars - Mickey Mouse - Magical Quest vs World of Illusion (SNES vs SEGA) (Mar 29, 2014. Best PRESENTATION and SOUND awards go to the Genesis version. HOWEVER the SNES version was recognized for best GRAPHICS award at the start and then in the end BEST GAMEPLAY award!)
Console Wars - Toy Story - Super Nintendo vs Sega Genesis (May 20, 2015. The SNES version got the best GRAPHICS award, while the Genesis version got awarded for PRESENTATION, SOUND and victoriously for GAMEPLAY too.)
Console Wars - Mickey Mania - Super Nintendo vs Sega Genesis (Sep 4, 2016. Full sweep-over win to the Sega Genesis version.)

* EDIT (03/10/2016): Found by accident from user silenig - he also has several cool playlists of dual and even triple longplay videos of many games!
Toy Story | Mega Drive/Genesis & SNES - Comparison, Dual Longplay (Jul 27, 2015. Check the nice description with level structures and timecodes.)
Mickey Mania | Mega Drive & SNES | Comparison - Dual Longplay (Jun 22, 2014. Check timecodes in description.)
Mickey Mania | Sega Mega CD & PlayStation | Comparison - Dual Longplay (Jun 23, 2014. Mega CD's character animations are a bit more fluid. But the enhanced PSX version have vastly more detailed parallax backgrounds behind the fore background.)
Pinocchio | Mega Drive/Genesis & SNES - Comparison/ Dual Longplay (Nov 22, 2015. The SNES version's backgrounds seem to have better, more pleasant colouring & contrast while the MD version suffers from bad dithering. Even one theatrical stage has more spot-lighting in the SNES version! Character animations and level designs for both are virtually the same.)
The Great Circus Mystery | Comparison - Dual Longplay (Apr 25, 2016. "Magical Quest 2: The Great Circus Mystery Starring Mickey and Minnie | Mega Drive/ Genesis & SNES | Comparison - Dual Longplay". The MD version is a little bit blurry - the fonts and visuals in the SNES version are a lot clearer & sharper, thus bringing out more shininess & colour. The level backgrounds have a little bit more detail. The MD game appears a bit too overly bright in some places.)

* ADDED (06/10/2016): Came across this another video by accident while researching an user, SmiteSA, who makes his 'Rom Pit' videos, which usually showcase gameplay of several or one SNES (And also Jaguar) console games, which are often Japanese only. It's to accompany the other Pinocchio gameplay video just above here, which is of great luck! But he says that it's a very bad game!
Rom Pit - Pinocchio (SNES) (Sep 29, 2016. "Another Disney game on the SNES, which typically means it's a well-animated disaster. This one came really late in the console's life, but it has some seriously bad gameplay decisions. It's hard to figure out what to do and the levels are long and ridiculous. Probably the worst mine cart stage ever made can be found in this game. Thanks to stage select, we can check out most of the art, at least!")
SNES Rom Pit #52 - Mickey, Waldo and Anime (Mar 10, 2015. 3 games covered here including 'Great Circus Mystery', which can be seen in another video above this user's lot. He says they're all awful. I agreed when I saw another video of this game.)

* ADDED (08/10/2016):
Disney Games - Did You Know Gaming? Feat. JonTron (DidYouKnowGaming? Jun 13, 2016. A basic overview of the 90's 2D Disney platformers.)

* ADDED (11/10/2016):
TOP 5 DISNEY SUPER NINTENDO GAMES (RetroLiberty. Sep 26, 2016. Oh man. This is grand! About time someone did a video like this one and this was put out two weeks ago before I first saw it! It's got an OK presentation. The games covered are 5: "The Lion King", 4: "Goof Troop" [Never heard of this], 3: The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse, 2: Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow, 1: Aladdin.
"Disney video games in the 8 bit days were amazing...but how were the 16 bit Disney games for the Super Nintendo? What game will take home the top spot as the best Disney SNES game of all time?")


Last edited by ObiKKa on Mon Oct 10, 2016 9:06 pm, edited 9 times in total.

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Post subject: Re: Punky Skunk - 16-bit platformer on PS1
PostPosted: Wed Aug 31, 2016 6:44 pm 
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An interesting tidbit for this recent retrospective to a platformer that came on the PS1 called 'Punky Skunk'. Published by that most famous of the obscure 80's/90's publishers Jaleco - it was supposed to come out for the SNES, but then they'd changed their mind and resurrected it to appear on the Playstation instead! I'm sure that nobody here, including me, has ever heard of this game due to that reason alone.

However, words of caution, it's just a very difficult game to play in some parts.
Quote:
Despite all of its flaws and general unfinished state, Punky Skunk is a worthy addition to a mascot platformer afficcionado's collection for its choice of protagonist alone. Just keep in mind that the boss battles - especially the third one, which is a volleyball match whose winner is the first one to score eight points, with loss resulting in an instant death - aren't reccommended for the faint of heart, though.


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Post subject: Re: Disney's classic 32-bit platformers on modern PCs?
PostPosted: Sun Oct 02, 2016 3:48 pm 
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Hey all. I've come across this new comparison video from Youtuber 'Canal Vc Decide', which makes regular comparison videos of a game across two or so different electronic platforms just to see what the visuals and sounds of them are like side-by-side. This video is of Disney's Hercules game on the PC and PSX. But, surprisingly, wouldn't you know it that the PC port looks by far the worst out of the two versions in the video! Here's to hoping that Disney may eventually port the PSX variant over to the modern PC OSes via the GOG store one day.
Disney's Hercules (Pc vs Playstation) Side by Side Comparison (Hercules Action Game) (Sep 24, 2016)

In this new video from Canal Vc Decide the Hercules game on the PC & PSX has been given a lookover. As you can see the PC game was a sheer lazy port from the PSX version as the visual compression in it is very bad. Objects are densely blurred in the foreground in one forward-running mode in the PC version. Even the colours in the PC port are so badly muted! They sparkle instead in the PSX version very nicely! Just to top it all off see at the very end of the video where the colour saturation is so amplified in the PC port whereas the PSX version's look very natural as in the other segments of the gameplay.


There are lots of longplay and walkthrough videos of the Hercules game for the PSX. But suggests mostly not to look at them and they only last for 1 hour to 1.5 hours!


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Post subject: Re: Titus the Fox - 1992 platformer
PostPosted: Tue Oct 18, 2016 4:25 am 
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Wow, this is a nice surprise. Titus the Fox, actually a 16-bit platformer made by the French developer Titus Interactive in 1992 that came on Amiga, DOS PC and other platforms has been released digitally (for sale) on GOG. It packs in a lot of content, too. While the colour tonality is not rather great it looks to have a solid design and many people liked it. So it's worth playing for the fans of true retro platformers. But keep in mind that it is tough.

https://www.gog.com/news/release_titus_ ... h_and_back
Titus the Fox gameplay (PC Game, 1992) (Squakenet. Jun 6, 2014.)
Titus The Fox (i386DX. May 25, 2008.)


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Post subject: Re: Rayman prototype on SNES CD!
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2016 3:03 am 
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Well, this is smashing or 'incroyable' (French for incredible)! The famous French creator Michel Ancel has found a prototype of the original Rayman game with a 2-player mode for the SNES CD add-on 24 years or so after making it. The chip he's got still works on the SNES! He says that he hopes to port it to the Nintendo Switch, nice.

http://www.retrocollect.com/News/rayman ... eplay.html
http://www.geek.com/games/rayman-snes-p ... l-1676274/
http://gbatemp.net/threads/michel-ancel ... me.446058/
http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/ray ... e-version/
https://www.sauceink.com/gaming/2016/10 ... r-25-years (Also links to below Unseen64's synopsis)
http://www.thezeroreview.com/newsitoria ... uncovered/

Ah, Unseen64's old 2010 synopsis on the cancellation of this SNES version:
https://www.unseen64.net/2010/07/10/ray ... cancelled/ (10-07-2010)

---

Some other surprise SNES release news:
* A prototype ROM of a comic book-based platformer that looks similar to some of the Spider-Man titles on the SFC/SNES called 'Shadowhawk' has been leaked online, of course at SNESCentral. SNESCentral does have lists of so many unreleased SNES games and prototypes but that NOT ALL have their own public releases for us to get our mitts on! There are still so many left that nobody's found any ROM or cartridge to date or probably never will be found and restored for backup. This one looks interesting.
http://www.retrocollect.com/News/unrele ... nline.html

* Looks like there's a publisher that does re-release old 16-bit and older generation console games for the modern market with pretty expensive price tags for the carts themselves or even release never-released English-language versions from those old consoles today!
http://www.retrocollect.com/News/piko-i ... ari-j.html
http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2016/1 ... esis_games
Quote:
Further adding to Piko Interactive’s line-up, Super Nintendo collectors can finally get their hands on the cancelled English version of Iron Commando: Koutetsu no Senshi, another side scrolling 16-bit brawler with plenty on offer.


Last edited by ObiKKa on Sat Nov 19, 2016 8:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: Disney & Virgin's classic 16-bit platformers on modern P
PostPosted: Thu Nov 03, 2016 8:15 am 
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Hmm. This raised my curiosity when I read and then saw the trailer video. Now it interested me even more that I checked the various reviews. To my great surprise it is garnering so many 9/10 to 10/10's from the professional reviewers! That's great news for a 2D platformer that mimics the 16-bit and 32-bit (PSX/Saturn) glory days of the platformers! This was 9 years in the making! This game looked a bit like Braid but better if you come to think of it but also more closely resembles the Japanese developer Treasure Co.'s famous platformers & shooters from the 90's like Gunstar Heroes and Dynamite Headdy!

https://www.gog.com/news/release_owlboy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owlboy (Wiki of the game's development saga from the Norwegian developer D-Pad Studio. Giantbomb page.)
http://www.dpadstudio.com/about.html ("Our team, which is situated in Norway, the US, and Canada, consists of 5 people, and we first started working together in 2007. The company, D-Pad Studio AS, was founded in 2011, and is registered in Bergen, Norway.")

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpl0rErG6_s (IGN review)

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/owlboy (90% average from 15 positive reviews!)

http://au.ign.com/articles/2016/11/03/owlboy-review (9.3/10)
https://www.destructoid.com/review-owlboy-395667.phtml (10/10!)
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/1 ... oy-review/ (Great review, but points out two major flaws.)
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016- ... boy-review (No rating. But gets the recommended tag and says that "Owlboy is a modern day retro classic.")
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/the-x-b ... oy/.108400 (Ooh, this comes from the Anime News Network, surprisingly enough. Does point out some foibles but praises both the graphics and story of this game wholeheartedly. Though did say that it's not quite as Metroidvania as last year's Ori and the Blind Boy and Axiom Verge.)
http://www.godisageek.com/reviews/owlboy-review/ (Chris White on November 11, 2016. 9.5/10!)

* For references to Treasure Co.'s classic games:
Spoiler! :
Wiki
http://archive.kontek.net/gunstarheroes ... asure.html (Fansite for Treasure & Gunstar Heroes)
http://www.1up.com/features/13-years-treasure
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/1 ... ching_.php (January 5, 2009. Interview.)
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/2630 ... easure.php (January 5, 2016. Christian Nutt. This actually links to a fully translated interview link at Shmuplations!)
http://kotaku.com/the-most-unappreciate ... 1687497360 (Ben Bertoli, 2/25/15 11:00am. Includes Dynamite Headdy but also other cool gems from other developers.)
http://nichegamer.com/2016/03/23/rumor- ... deo-games/ (Unfortunately Treasure may have stopped making games or at least be in development hibernation for a while.)


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