11-24-2023, 08:51 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-01-2023, 01:25 PM by Yawackhary.)
Thanks. Often when deciding what to rip I'll try to be varied because variety is a spice of life.
When I was younger, I tried to go for games that I did like (Lucky Dime Caper, Point Blank, Special Criminal Investigation, Pang, Out Run, etc), the well known stuff (Streets of Rage series, Wonder Boy series, SMB2, even Sonic 2 at one point) or a popular media IP but gaming is more than just the stuff you like or what's popular. Probably due to being more of a Sega not-just-Sonic ripper than a Nintendo (or nowadays PC as well) ripper, it was easier to go down the rabbit hole. Starting off the Master System and Genesis going beyond the basics, then when it got tricky moved on to uncharted territory with Amstrad/Spectrum/C64 with some arcade games along the way. Had I been younger, maybe have gone towards the Japanese computers as well e.g. MSX, Sharp X68000. It might have been Superjustinbros and shadowman44 since they tend to rip more obscure games. Saying that did do a fair few GBA, SNES and GB games, even NES... Sometimes to help out on projects, sometimes to get more of the library on tSR.
Probably might have guessed but my NES and Spectrum rips don't tend to have much passion. It might be psychological since they were the most popular in the 1980s. Anyway enough rambling...
Bearing in mind some games that I do decide have been in the backlog for quite a long time e.g. Congo Bongo C64 Disk in May, Double Dribble C64 in April while others are on a whim (but less these days). Some like Motorcross Racer on the C64 was planned but took until early-November before I could find a disk copy.
Just a few rips due to losing interest in gaming... No Amstrad this time.
C64
Motorcross Racer
Was struggling with the Blades of Steel rip (ripped the players and the referee but... not the fight mode and can't access the player vs goalie mode) so I thought of ripping something easier. As for the game itself, feels very Atari 2600 like just with better graphics.
Dalek Attack
Unlike the Spectrum version, this wasn't the last commercial C64 game (think that was Lemmings, late 1993/early 1994) and contains a shmup stage. Due to an upcoming series of a doctor who goes on adventures, this rip has been fast tracked. The Doctor looks more like a detective than anything and despite the flyer for the game calling the companion Ace, it doesn't look like her either from what I've gathered.
I looked into the C64 original of Airborne Ranger but it only loads whatever sprites are on screen...
Spectrum
Emilio Butragueño Futbol
Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo(breaths out)oooooooooooool! Another Spanish game, this time a jerky moving clone of Tehkan World Cup that was really popular at the time. Weirdly Ocean were co-credited so I do wonder whether they were going to rebrand this game outside of Spain (maybe as a licensed version of Tehkan World Cup?) but plans fell through or whether they were able to get to the rights of the player. Ocean didn't publish this game since most releases in Spain from them were published and distributed by Erbe. There was also an Italian C64 game that had Ocean's name on them as well...
Speedboat Assassin
This seems to be a rip off/inspired by Off Shore Warrior... That wasn't released on the Spectrum. There's not many chase view games where you play as a speedboat but when they did, they all came out roughly the same time! (Off Shore Warrior, this game, Live and Let Die, even Butcher Hill with one of the levels. Then there's Aqua Jack and Hydra where you're on a hovercraft.)
Continental Circus
Dalek Attack
Was going to wait until it was my last Spectrum rip (as it was the final commercial game released around 30 years ago!) but with a certain show returning, it has been fast tracked. The Doctor and Ace were ripped on July 24 2022 making them one of my earliest Spectrum rips, only a bit of fixing was needed.
Some bad news, having problems ripping Freddy Hardest in South Manhattan. The enemies from what have been done is okay and almost ready but Freddy himself, I cannot find the sprite boundaries for all the sprites. Tried experimenting but only got to half way. Then again it is VERY common that Spectrum games have their graphics in strips.
Not much left on the Spectrum... Just mainly fighting in the streets and Operation Mansell.
When I was younger, I tried to go for games that I did like (Lucky Dime Caper, Point Blank, Special Criminal Investigation, Pang, Out Run, etc), the well known stuff (Streets of Rage series, Wonder Boy series, SMB2, even Sonic 2 at one point) or a popular media IP but gaming is more than just the stuff you like or what's popular. Probably due to being more of a Sega not-just-Sonic ripper than a Nintendo (or nowadays PC as well) ripper, it was easier to go down the rabbit hole. Starting off the Master System and Genesis going beyond the basics, then when it got tricky moved on to uncharted territory with Amstrad/Spectrum/C64 with some arcade games along the way. Had I been younger, maybe have gone towards the Japanese computers as well e.g. MSX, Sharp X68000. It might have been Superjustinbros and shadowman44 since they tend to rip more obscure games. Saying that did do a fair few GBA, SNES and GB games, even NES... Sometimes to help out on projects, sometimes to get more of the library on tSR.
Probably might have guessed but my NES and Spectrum rips don't tend to have much passion. It might be psychological since they were the most popular in the 1980s. Anyway enough rambling...
- A well known classic, sometimes ripped from more than one version. I try to avoid the well known games these days just because there are far better rippers out there that can go into detail, know the game off by heart or smart enough to make tools. Avoid anything Sonic because I do not have the level of Super OCD that some of the fan base has.
- A well known classic but the version might be a bit more obscure.
- A well known cult game, usually known for one quality e.g. some C64 games were sprite ripped because of the soundtrack even if the game itself is forgotten.
- A well known bad game. I was aware of Renegade 3 and Human Killing Machine for years (even though personally Renegade 3 isn't that bad, if it was called The Time Traveller Fighter or something it wouldn't have been as slated. It was more of a typical only have a few weeks to make this game type of thing with 3 people.) I don't tend to do too much of these...
- A real obscurity and ripping for the sake of preserving forgotten gaming history. This is where the bulk of the past 5 years have been. Anything from Super Speed Race to the first plug and play mahjong machine to pre-Rayman Ubisoft games.
- Relating to that, some times prototypes. They are a part of gaming history.
- Sometimes I see a game on tSR and if doable for me to expand the content. This is kinda rare and mainly like title screen stuff.
- The game is easy enough for me to rip. Again doesn't happen often.
- I don't tend to do modern games, mainly because that's covered by more competent rippers who know what they are doing (and in the case of the latest Nintendo game, I DO NOT WANT TO GO THERE). Did that before with Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber back in the day and personally it should be re-ripped, my latest game in terms of release date still remains the DS Lupin game. Do have a couple of PSP games that have been in the pipeline for a while. So yeah, most of the rips are comfortably in the 8 and 16-bit eras (3rd/4th gen) with a few 32 bit (5th gen/GBA).
- Believe it or not there are games that I do like to rip but can't... Many Amstrad Ocean games. F1 Pole Position 64 and especially F1 World Grand Prix 2 on the N64. The PSP Inspector Zenigata pachinko game. Even though I have been ripping for a long time, not smart enough to do any programming. Fixing GB headers with a guide is probably the most that I can do. Like wise there were some games that I had to abandon... While some have been put as WIP on here, others haven't and are rotting away.
- In some cases, I actually like the series/games. Hence why some of the games that I rip, I get to rip multiple times or an IP that I REALLY like. e.g. Bugs Bunny, Simpsons, Lupin III, Batman. (also applies to characters too)
- Within the past year or two, there has been more focus on racing games so they tend to get ripped. It along with a few platformers are more or less the only genres that I can play, even then only selected games.
Bearing in mind some games that I do decide have been in the backlog for quite a long time e.g. Congo Bongo C64 Disk in May, Double Dribble C64 in April while others are on a whim (but less these days). Some like Motorcross Racer on the C64 was planned but took until early-November before I could find a disk copy.
Just a few rips due to losing interest in gaming... No Amstrad this time.
C64
Motorcross Racer
Rider
Was struggling with the Blades of Steel rip (ripped the players and the referee but... not the fight mode and can't access the player vs goalie mode) so I thought of ripping something easier. As for the game itself, feels very Atari 2600 like just with better graphics.
Dalek Attack
The Doctor
Ace
Unlike the Spectrum version, this wasn't the last commercial C64 game (think that was Lemmings, late 1993/early 1994) and contains a shmup stage. Due to an upcoming series of a doctor who goes on adventures, this rip has been fast tracked. The Doctor looks more like a detective than anything and despite the flyer for the game calling the companion Ace, it doesn't look like her either from what I've gathered.
I looked into the C64 original of Airborne Ranger but it only loads whatever sprites are on screen...
Spectrum
Emilio Butragueño Futbol
Players
Referee
Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo(breaths out)oooooooooooool! Another Spanish game, this time a jerky moving clone of Tehkan World Cup that was really popular at the time. Weirdly Ocean were co-credited so I do wonder whether they were going to rebrand this game outside of Spain (maybe as a licensed version of Tehkan World Cup?) but plans fell through or whether they were able to get to the rights of the player. Ocean didn't publish this game since most releases in Spain from them were published and distributed by Erbe. There was also an Italian C64 game that had Ocean's name on them as well...
Speedboat Assassin
Assassin Class Assault Speedboat
This seems to be a rip off/inspired by Off Shore Warrior... That wasn't released on the Spectrum. There's not many chase view games where you play as a speedboat but when they did, they all came out roughly the same time! (Off Shore Warrior, this game, Live and Let Die, even Butcher Hill with one of the levels. Then there's Aqua Jack and Hydra where you're on a hovercraft.)
Continental Circus
Car
Backgrounds
Dalek Attack
The Doctor
Ace
Was going to wait until it was my last Spectrum rip (as it was the final commercial game released around 30 years ago!) but with a certain show returning, it has been fast tracked. The Doctor and Ace were ripped on July 24 2022 making them one of my earliest Spectrum rips, only a bit of fixing was needed.
Some bad news, having problems ripping Freddy Hardest in South Manhattan. The enemies from what have been done is okay and almost ready but Freddy himself, I cannot find the sprite boundaries for all the sprites. Tried experimenting but only got to half way. Then again it is VERY common that Spectrum games have their graphics in strips.
Not much left on the Spectrum... Just mainly fighting in the streets and Operation Mansell.