VIDEO of Lords of Thunder Sega CD vs Lords of Thunder Turbo Duo

[awack]

Oh yeah, even though the sega cd port is missing colors, sound fx, detail and animations its still Fundamentally a very strong game, put the game on one of the more difficult settings, and you still have one of the best shooters ever, with good gameplay, amazing sound and great graphics.

[tomaitheous]

Oh yeah, even though the sega cd port is missing colors, sound fx, detail and animations its still Fundamentally a very strong game, put the game on one of the more difficult settings, and you still have one of the best shooters ever, with good gameplay, amazing sound and great graphics.

Heh, that is weird that it's missing some tiles and animation. I could understand some effects (like the transparent water drain effect), but there should be more than enough memory to handle said missing stuffs. Maybe the sub-ram and main ram thingy was giving the a few problems, so they just cut it. As in, it was a completely quick port. They even use sprites for overlapping scroll areas (cause you can see them flicker/blank out on the SegaCD) instead of doing BG overlapping layers. Hmm... maybe they use the second BG layer to free up some color restrictions. That would make VRAM a little less overall available than the Duo version, and maybe the reason for the animation and tile cuts for some areas.

[kool kitty89]

Heh, that is weird that it's missing some tiles and animation. I could understand some effects (like the transparent water drain effect), but there should be more than enough memory to handle said missing stuffs. Maybe the sub-ram and main ram thingy was giving the a few problems, so they just cut it. As in, it was a completely quick port. They even use sprites for overlapping scroll areas (cause you can see them flicker/blank out on the SegaCD) instead of doing BG overlapping layers. Hmm... maybe they use the second BG layer to free up some color restrictions. That would make VRAM a little less overall available than the Duo version, and maybe the reason for the animation and tile cuts for some areas.

Someone should check this in an emulator.

[akm]

Maybe the sub-ram and main ram thingy was giving the a few problems, so they just cut it. As in, it was a completely quick port.

I was contemplating this the other day, and it's quite possible that's all it was--a quick port. As far as I know the Mega CD wasn't even close to being on the same level of popularity as the PC Engine CD/DUO in Japan, and in America by the time it got its release ('95), things were already winding down for the Sega CD (not that it was really a runaway success to begin with, but that's aside the point).

[Black_Tiger]

I was contemplating this the other day, and it's quite possible that's all it was--a quick port. As far as I know the Mega CD wasn't even close to being on the same level of popularity as the PC Engine CD/DUO in Japan, and in America by the time it got its release ('95), things were already winding down for the Sega CD (not that it was really a runaway success to begin with, but that's aside the point).

Lords of Thunder and The Space Adventure were ported for western audiences and were not released in Japan (where a large audience had already experienced them).

Lords of Thunder certainly wasn't just a rushed port, as its few "flaws" are overshadowed by all the strengths, additions and top quality localization. Even spending the time/money to redo the music for whatever reason is another sign of real effort. Many ports just happen to leave select aspects out, just as many original games are missing things that seem like a no-brainer.

[akm]

Lords of Thunder and The Space Adventure were ported for western audiences and were not released in Japan (where a large audience had already experienced them).

Ah, okay.. I see now, you are right, it wasn't released in Japan. Hm, strange! That makes me even more appreciative of the fact that we got it even as-is in North America.

As far as the rushed thing, yeah, it was just a thought that popped into my mind. I too agree that some of the additions are nice (the voices are great, for instance). And of course, the music. All great stuff. A sign that the team cared? Perhaps.

On a side note, does anyone know the credits list for the game? Actually, both versions (Sega CD and Turbo DUO)? I'm curious to know if certain team members (or all) worked on both versions. I'm also interested to know if the soundtrack was handled by the same musician (or group of musicians) in both titles.

[Black_Tiger]

Ah, okay.. I see now, you are right, it wasn't released in Japan. Hm, strange! That makes me even more appreciative of the fact that we got it even as-is in North America.

As far as the rushed thing, yeah, it was just a thought that popped into my mind. I too agree that some of the additions are nice (the voices are great, for instance). And of course, the music. All great stuff. A sign that the team cared? Perhaps.

On a side note, does anyone know the credits list for the game? Actually, both versions (Sega CD and Turbo DUO)? I'm curious to know if certain team members (or all) worked on both versions. I'm also interested to know if the soundtrack was handled by the same musician (or group of musicians) in both titles.

Many Genesis fans have been critical of LoT for Sega-CD over the years, because they figure that if the game isn't as good in any way other than color, then it must be a bad port. Yet you don't often hear Genesis fans trashing TFIV as a rushed job, even though it has some heavy slowdown and stops all sound to run samples. LoT is just to the PC Engine what Sonic is to the Genesis and a great port to competing hardware can't be perfect.

I can't check the credits at the moment, but I believe that the Sega-CD version was developed in Japan. When you stick the game in a PC CD drive, the disc is titled "Winds of Thunder".

[kool kitty89]

Many Genesis fans have been critical of LoT for Sega-CD over the years, because they figure that if the game isn't as good in any way other than color, then it must be a bad port. Yet you don't often hear Genesis fans trashing TFIV as a rushed job, even though it has some heavy slowdown and stops all sound to run samples. LoT is just to the PC Engine what Sonic is to the Genesis and a great port to competing hardware can't be perfect.

I can't check the credits at the moment, but I believe that the Sega-CD version was developed in Japan. When you stick the game in a PC CD drive, the disc is titled "Winds of Thunder".

Those aren't indications of TFIV being rushed though. All of Technosoft's games had the same issue with sample playback, and they never fixed it.

And for a game pushing things as much as TFIV does at times, the Slowdown isn't that unreasonable either.




Oh, and Tomaithous, I finally checked, and it looks like the BGs are using normal single plane BGs, not paired for better color. Both scroll planes are also used, including slaving one layer for very large enemies in some areas, but there's large stretches where it's just one BG layer plus sprites being used too.

[Black_Tiger]

Those aren't indications of TFIV being rushed though. All of Technosoft's games had the same issue with sample playback, and they never fixed it.

And for a game pushing things as much as TFIV does at times, the Slowdown isn't that unreasonable either.




Oh, and Tomaithous, I finally checked, and it looks like the BGs are using normal single plane BGs, not paired for better color. Both scroll planes are also used, including slaving one layer for very large enemies in some areas, but there's large stretches where it's just one BG layer plus sprites being used too.

That's my point, Lords of Thunder for Sega-CD doesn't show any real signs of a rushed port either. However, there are many signs that they took advantage of the new hardware and did a great job with the color. The knee jerk reaction of console fans receiving a port from a rival console that isn't as good overall is to dismiss it as a poor port. Too many PCE fans like to rag on it too, to champion their favorite console.

Cobra II on Sega-CD is also missing a few tiles here and there, but it also adds a few. Their hiring of Westone to do an original Dungeon Explorer tailored to Sega-CD, instead of just porting DEII, is another sign that Hudson was serious about publishing for Sega-CD.

Mega Bomberman may be a low effort port, aside from the excellent music, but chances are they farmed it out to a lower profile team, since even a poor quality port like it is still stands out as a great game and the visual style works without all the color and detail.

[Kamahl]

Lords of Thunder SCD is bad due to the broken difficulty (for the easy side, the game is way too easy even on the hardest setting), the slowdown, and the incorrectly placed music (the best song is no longer on the last stage). The horrible sound effects and the unimpressive use of the hardware (besides color, it's actually managed very well) are minor issues.

EDIT: I can forgive everything but the difficulty and music really get on my nerves (the incorrect placement, not cleaner style)

[kool kitty89]

Most people don't like the new arrangements of the music as much as the PCE soundtrack either.

[Kamahl]

Most people don't like the new arrangements of the music as much as the PCE soundtrack either.

I know, I prefer the originals too but I don't mind the new style.

[kool kitty89]

I know, I prefer the originals too but I don't mind the new style.

Another one of those "minor" complaint areas.

Hell, the SFX issue can be worked around if you're using a model 1 Gen/MD and mixing cable.


Still kind of funky (not good) grating FM sound effects for a lot of things though, but that's not all that uncommon on MD either. (why more devs didn't use PSG SFX I'm not sure, but that works well for a ton of stuff and there's a reason a lot of SNES SFX are sampled PSG sounds . . . even worse are games that use hit and miss quality FM SFX and no PSG in music either -Bloodlines comes to mind . . . decent PSG drums probably would have been better than those weak FM drums too :P )

[TmEE]

The PCE version soundtrack is like garbage to me, MCD all the way.

[evilevoix]

I think people bash the SEGA CD version so much as its such a superior machine in terms of CPU strength and multi scrolling backgrounds. I myself prefer the PCE version but the sound fx (not the cd music) are always iffy to me. Other than that it rules.