Thanks Ton, it means a lot to me.
Well... Sprite ripping is really stressing me out and under intense pressure especially right now. In some cases, still up past 4 am trying and failing to get a sheet done even when getting up early. Even cutting down to easier to rip and mainly racing games hasn't helped, it eats up too much time especially when you get stuck on a rip due to
some issue.
Just running out of time... No, I can't leave it for another day or have a break. There's too many games that exist, too many that haven't been ripped since many systems on tSR are something like 1-2% in terms of rips if that, keep finding old sheets on the site that are just too poor in quality (
this is an example, had to do a title screen rip) and often feel like the only one ripping regarding certain systems with zero help most of the time on top of health issues with vision, fatigue and movement and that I really do struggle playing most games now. Also don't have the privilege to go out for a better quality of life because it's even more miserable outside (no access to countryside and had really bad rain). Enough writing in pain, let's go straight to the rips.
C64
Firstly been looking at disk images via DirMaster to see if I could rip directly rather than from savestates and loading up SpritePad. The only success for me were two loading screens (Simpsons Copy Protection screen was close but it had a palette issue) so... have to do it the usual longer way. Anyway let's get this backlog down:
Human Killing Machine
Snokie
An early scrolling platformer from 1983. Yep, this was before Pac-Land never mind Super Mario Bros. Also it's really hard because all it takes is to fall into a tiny pit to lose a life.
Max Torque
Ended up re-ripping this one twice, it was one of my earlier C64 rips. Only ripped it due to being the closest game to Hang-On on the C64.
After Burner (PAL)
Why PAL? Two completely different versions of the same game with two different regions.
Also an interesting fact, the Activision versions of After Burner were the first to have the melody versions of Final Take Off and After Burner as heard on the OST in game (even though these were technically covers by Adam Gilmore and Dave Lowe). The original arcade version and most other ports were incomplete, the only other ones that had the melody versions were the PC Engine/TurboGrafx, Saturn and the 3DS versions. The Master System version does have it too but it's cut down in length.
Winter Supersports 92
Had to fast track this game in the queue (technically this is one of my last games in the backlog since it's nearly frozen haha, well that's not going to be a title screen/font rip). Another fact, according to the disk it goes from Event 5 to 7 so there's an event missing. Just like Sonic CD with its missing stage.
Also didn't notice until after ripping that the bobsleigh graphics were recycled from Winter Olympiad 88 (aka Winter Challenge but
not the same Winter Challenge as on the Genesis).
Super Monaco GP
Super Bowl Sunday
Miami Chase
F1 GP Circuits
Xeno
Sadly there are no blades in this game... Basically air hockey, only a lot more fiddly to control. Also I have no clue what the other sprites are, I know one is the paddle and the other is the puck. Tried looking at screenshots but people struggle just as much as myself with the game and changing difficulty but doesn't show up. This version seems unfinished especially when you assemble the sprites, it looks like the more detailed Spectrum version.
Congo Bongo (Disk)
This version is very mysterious. We don't know the developer apart from his first name, the publisher or even the correct year (estimated around 1985) but we do know that it only came out on disk and is similar to the Apple II version. Compared to the more common cartridge/tape version that we do know was published by Sega in the US and US Gold in the UK, it's a complete different port resembling more like the arcade. The other version looked like an Atari 5200/8-bit port with a 2600 look on the player and only had 2 levels. More confusingly the disk version that US Gold published in the UK had screenshots of the common cartridge/tape version suggesting that it was that version yet the disk dumps that I can find were all this version.
Due to the confusion, used the Pepto NTSC palette as it is likely to be made in the US and the use of the disk format around this timeframe suggests that. The programmer's called Ken but little else... Ken Jordan possibly?
Pitstop II
Montezuma's Revenge
Blades of Steel
Just as surprised that there was a version of this game on the C64, it's more known on the NES and the arcade. Couldn't rip the fighters sadly...
Lethal Weapon
One of the last Ocean games on the computer and the case where the budget re-release on The Hit Squad (no relation to a game that I ripped from) is worth quite a bit of money. Technically this is also my final C64 game to rip from as the others were either exported, partially exported or already WIP. Yeah, I'm too old for this sheet...
Out Run Europa
This makes it the 3rd version of the game that I ripped from and the longest in development. The loading screen is from an era when it was also known as Out Run Europe (US Gold's planned sequel to Out Run until Turbo Out Run, was already in the process of changing it to Europa in the leaked screenshots, footage and a 1989 advert). Hence why it has the more Out Run feel compared to the actual game and other loading/title screens in other versions.
Also happens that the C64 version is one of the best versions just on the grounds of frame rate and not having a blocky feel in the controls. It does suffer from palette glitches though and the title theme only sounds correct on models made before June 1987 (there is a hardware fix though that some have made).
Mean Machine
Stick with the Vinnie Jones film, you get more enjoyment than this game...
RoadBlasters
The handling in this version is pretty bad making it easy to miss powerups. Yeah, sticking with the Genesis version of this classic.
Bburago Rally
A nice looking Hungarian racing game that's been in the backlog since November 2023. It's one of those where it got a physical release but when it came out in 1995, it would have been pretty hard to find since the commercial life of the C64 had finished. The original version happens to be completely undumped so the only thing around the Internet are either hacked versions that have English translations (there's one common version floating around where someone hacked in the Lotus music select screen) or a partially dumped version that crashes needing Disk B.
Oh and it's not licensed from the actual Bburago company from what I've gathered...
Regarding Pocket Rockets, managed to rip the roadside objects but dropping the bikes. Also did "Brooklyn Plumbers".
It might be the last time that I'll ever rip from that series sadly...
Sadly had to drop a fair few games... Tour de France, the layering was doing my head in... Couldn't even rip from the Test Drive games. Battle Valley was also dropped. After exporting the helicopter and tank sprites but yet to resize and crop (like with every game with SpritePad), there were a few notable sprites that are completely missing and not in the savestate at all! The rotor for the helicopter, the bullets and the rope when lifting the girders, might be more... Basket Master was dropped due to assembly issues. Doctor Who and the Mines of Terror was dropped due to what appears in a savestate and what is displayed in game, the sprites don't match! Also Power Drift seems glitchy (loading screen and graphic corruption, reused sprites like when I lost it came up 1st due to someone else using the Jason sprite) and I don't know whether its the tape or it's meant to be like that... Tried a disk copy and it crashed on the opening credits screen, both in PAL and NTSC.
Arcade
Max RPM
Forgotten racing game by Midway that hasn't even appeared in their collections, Spy Hunter 2 uses the same engine [ha!] as this game.
Super Dead Heat
It took exactly 5 years! Literally from when it first got added to MAME. Had to find a palette that had 16 unique colors though due to the black on a black background thing. Also yet another game that I can't play...
I did look into Lupin the Shooting but GD-ROM Explorer couldn't detect the converted GDI. Everywhere uses .chd due to MAME but the downside is that NAOMI/Dreamcast uses GD-ROM format and couldn't find a gdi. As mentioned tried to convert a .chd to .gdi using chdman but it didn't work...
Amstrad CPC
Clearing the backlog...
Motor Massacre
Half driving, half top down shooter with clunky controls and a bit of Gauntlet/Mad Max inspiration. Had been in the backlog for ages. Couldn't rip the enemy cars because they change per city and I really did struggle even with cheats just to get to the arena of City 1.
Simulador Profesional de Tenis
Took 6 and a half years to finish... The game icon was already done back then.
(Oh and in case people are wondering, why doesn't it have a SPN tag on the site? That's because there's an English version of the game that appeared in the Multi Sports collection, said collection had Spanish, English, French and Italian text on the box. The translation does have typos but is understandable. Judging by the DOS version, I think there was suppose to be an English release on its own but by 1992, the Amstrad CPC was nearly done in terms of the commercial era. Plus it could confuse people with the Codemasters game when the title gets translated into English...)
Grand Prix 500 2
Amazing how technology advances compared to the first game. This is a very good looking 8-bit racing game. Not just on the Amstrad but period (only some PC Engine/TurboGrafx and a few arcade racing games look better in terms of 8-bit systems). Framerate is actually decent by Amstrad standards and has good controls too. The only issue being for having good graphics and a decent frame rate, yeah you have a small playing window...
S.T.U.N. Runner
This game hurts my eyes... Also yet another Domark game that feels like a prototype that got released (APB see below, Skull & Crossbones), the weird placement of the map screen being the only place with music, the original UK version even has an unfinished loading screen!
As of writing, it was my 3,333rd sheet on tSR and that would have been enough for me. Sadly there's still some more rips to do...
Star Driver
While a
certain game was the last commercial era game, there was a brief time when indies were trying to save the system. Radical Software (not to be confused with the
other Radical) were an indie company before the term even existed and yeah, the name is as 90s as you can get... So how do you release games that you self publish in the days before the Internet? Adverts and mail order. Radical Software weren't the only ones doing this, the Spectrum had text adventures where you could mail order.
They didn't last too long, their DOOM styled game never came out and their fighting game was in development hell, apparently 80% coded but only 20% of the graphics were done. Funnily enough some graphics from that game were examples in a paint tool... Literally when Amstrad Action stopped publishing and they gave them massive support during when there were no games at all coming out, it was finished for any interest in the computer (at least for a good long while), their WIP games were destroyed and their finished games ended up in the public domain. So yep, a sprite rip without any moral dilemma.
Also it seems that I cannot play the 1 player mode, the graphic of the car is glitched and it crashes [not that crash] not too far in game with a trippy effect. 2 players fine though.
Xyphoes Fantasy
Hey there guys... Wait this isn't the Amstream... and I'm not Xyphoe...
Anyway... It was fairly impressive at its time to the point where you could say that this was like the Amiga having Shadow of the Beast or the Genesis having the Sonic/Zyrinx games but like Shadow of the Beast, people don't like this one anymore... It's hard to class but called it Action because Level 1 is an action platformer with visual cues from Shadow of the Beast, Level 2 is a shmup on a horse (before Shinobi 3), then it goes to a Barbarian styled fighting level (due to Barbarian was VERY POPULAR at the time especially in the UK, mainly for having model Maria Whittaker on the cover and in France where they still call it one of their favourite games on the Amstrad), Level 3 is similar to 1 but with worse graphics, more linear level design and you can kick. The final boss... Cannot be accessed on the version that I'm playing but apparently you have to collect every item in the game...
Also despite been doing Amstrad sprite rips for about 6 years, I don't think that I ever got mentioned in the community... Don't recall any shout outs on Xyphoe's channel, any mentions on various Amstrad forums or places. Then as soon as I've done Black Warrior Aran (that took a rainy day),
it turned out that nearly all the graphics were ripped on CPCPower...
(Yeah, it should be Xyphoe's Fantasy but the developers were French and part of the demoscene so...)
RoadBlasters
Been in the backlog as long as Simulador Profesional de Tenis. Actually... This port is quite good considering the hardware. Miles better [ha] controls and graphics than the C64 version, and a better palette than the Genesis version but I imagine that someone can do a color hack for that one because it's a really good port. The main issues being the missing stage select, missing advice and there's some input lag/control response issue. It's not as bad if you control via the keyboard but more noticeable on the joystick option. Also could do being a just little bit faster but this is the Amstrad, it could be worse.
APB
This game is so buggy and crash prone, not the funny kind either... How it got high reviews, not from magazines but from the community, I never know... It really is an unfinished game and shouldn't have been released at this state.
It's been in the backlog for over two years despite being almost finished then and a thing to note. In the arcade original, there is clear info on which criminal uses which car and what vehicles aren't used by the criminals. Not in this version! (That's why it took over two years, just gave up...)
Off Shore Warrior
This game strangely enough is connected to the Fire & Forget series and not just Titus worked on the games, the manual even says after the events of Fire & Forget 1, the world got reunited and decided to host a speedboat contest. Also you wonder whether Speedboat Assassin was either inspired or in the case of the Spectrum version planned to be a port of this game. The game is too jerky for me to play...
Nigel Mansell's Grand Prix
Yet another backlog entry, this time from August 2023. What took so long? Those tiny graphics of the cars and signs while nearly everything else was ripped back then. This is the earlier Nigel Mansell game, not the other one. I've ripped more from the moustached driver than the moustached plumber.
Gonzzalezz
More stereotypes! Even though the game uses Mode 1, both styles of game have a different graphical style. Also EVERYTHING is trying to kill you meaning that I can't get much further than the start on either part. It meant that I ended up watching a longplay video just to make sure, it's why it got updated, thought one sprite but turned out to be something else.
This was taking waaaaaaaaaay longer than it should, all down to Gonzzalezz's hammock. The missing foot on him was driving me crazy and managed to find it, the graphics were mixed in with the playing screen that appears to be garbage in the graphics viewer. Sadly I couldn't find the Native American Chief NPC where you could have a peaceful smoke...
Mundial de Fútbol
Operation Thunderbolt
Finally... One very lesser known fact about the game. No, not because the GX4000 version has a different palette that's too dark to see anything or that it actually got a proper dev cycle compared to the rushed out in 12 days C64 version but rather there IS indeed a cursor in this game. Taito in their short sightedness decided to make the cursor a POWER UP in the arcade original, this affected nearly all conversations (the SNES version is a different game). Meaning Ocean had to add dust graphics to show roughly where you shot. Andrew Deakin had secretly made the cursor a 4 pixel line but because TV and monitor resolutions/clarity were rather poor in the late 1980s, you couldn't see clearly and one Amstrad Action review gave the game 20%. It's only playing via emulation that you can see it and automatically this makes the game a
touch easier. A touch because it's still very hard even if you slowdown the game just because of the amount of enemies on screen.
By the way, had to use a level skip cheat in this game and made a savestate so it only uses Disk 2 rather than swapping disks after the loading screen. Also because I cannot complete Mission 8 with speed set at 10%, it means one of the boundaries may not be correct on two graphics so I used best judgment on the enemy throwing. It's only one blank line...
Operation Wolf
Finally... Just took too long in the backlog... I think this version is either based on a bootleg or a machine with faulty copy protection rather than a Taito original since it's missing the boss and hostage at Stage 2 plus "The Enemy Has Located You!" stages, those that were also missing in MAME until the copy protection chip got emulated. Said machine must have also had a glitch where if you take out the enemies, it takes AGES for a helicopter or a tank to show up. A couple of graphics were also glitched in the graphics viewer and had to verify in game.
Probably in my younger days, would have ripped the arcade originals of Wolf and Thunderbolt.
Technocop
Found a complete sheet while uploading various loading screens.
Game Over 2 / Phantis
Technically my final CPC game to rip from. Also a case of regional differences. In the Spanish original, you play as Commander Serena. Outside of Spain because it's too much playing as large breasted woman, got completely changed to the armoured Major Locke (made you look?). Apparently the original got too much for Spain too since later releases that came out got Locke too. Apart from that, the loading screen and the name, the rest is the same or is it? Nope, since Locke and Serena are different in size they have different hit boxes and Serena waves at you at the Phantis title screen. Phantis also has an extra enemy too.
Grange Hill
The adventure game where EVERYTHING is literally trying to kill you from parents to paving stones. Very cynical and while it was before I existed, the actual TV show wasn't this cynical just a typical drama really (but got praise at the time for being a bit more mature themed than the usual children's TV, now it's mainly a drama just in a school setting like sooooo many TV shows and anime, definitely not for me just by the setting alone)...
I know what you're thinking, this was ripped after Game Over 2 right? Technically there was a font rip done a couple of years ago and the loading screen was taken then.
Daley Thompson's Super-Test
Wanted to finish this one off by any means. Since many of the graphics in particular the backgrounds aren't in the graphics viewer and improvised.
Beach-Head
Obliterator
Horrible controls to put it very lightly, unplayable is what I would use... Adventure controls do not work in this style of game... Only reason why it even got ripped outside that it was in the backlog was simply because the original game on the Amiga/Atari ST was done by Psygnosis.
Return of the Jedi and Pub Games also got ripped as well, the former about 6 years and the other just over a year in terms of backlog. The Billiards game from Pub Games had to be abandoned though as a fair amount of graphics are missing (the cue, the table, text, strength bar) and can't exactly cheat. Some were unlucky... Was doing Hunchback 2 but it's coded pretty badly, it needs to be run on a 464 otherwise the tape doesn't seem to load claiming files are missing... Meaning that it wouldn't work on any of the disk drive computers but... it was later released on disk as part of the 6128 pack. Even if it could load, it's hard getting the right boundaries as the game is far too glitchy. The only reason why was apparently Spectrum legend "Joffa Smiff" worked on the game. The other being Iron Trackers, it needed the smallest sprites and the crashing of the quad to rip and wanted to finish this off from last year but... the game is broken on emulation and tried two different emulators (one the screen was broke and the controls refused to work in both). So that had to be scrapped. Various other games had to be scrapped too (Vindicator, Street Gang, Infernal Runner that was done by the Another World dev, The Games: Summer Edition, Arachnophobia, Golden Basket).
Just one certain game now and that's it for me!
Genesis
World Championship Soccer 2
Remember when I said about LOW expectations? Yeah, it's a sports game and this one was done by Sensible Software, meaning yes this game is connected to Sensible Soccer but you can't tell by the graphics. Probably the only football game where the players look like Ian McShane just like the C64 Match Day where they all look like Daley Thompson.
Game Boy
Top Gear Pocket / Rally
While others have ripped from the game before, they didn't realise that the cars have two layers due to palette limitations. So sorry Quirby64 and HeavyShell for re-ripping your sheets... At least all 15 cars have been ripped, plus their "real names" and some kind person also identified Type AR too...
Top Gear Pocket / Rally 2
Unlike the original, this takes far longer mainly due to the layering isn't as easy with the alignment and finding the palette of the CPU cars. Sadly didn't have time to do all 17 cars.
Chase H.Q.
This is just like RoadBlasters/Max Torque on the C64 with better handling, at least it was a fairly quick and easy rip. Plus there are all sorts of goof ups regarding the enemy cars. Stage 1 when you arrest Ralph, it shows Carlos' sprites. On Stage 2, Nancy shows Antonio's car rather than Carlos, then when it comes to arresting, it's Ralph's sprites! Then on top of that, Nancy says arrest Andrew but you already arrested Carlos... Oh geez... Due to the confusion, just call the enemy that appears in game.
In terms of versions, outside of the arcade original only the FM Towns is on par regarding ports and think the Saturn version was okay. Spectrum and Amstrad versions come close for their system limitations. Every other version though... PC Engine/TurboGrafx has dodgy collision detection and the usual go to port of the Sharp X68000 is instead apparently a fan made "amateur" clone that got turned into an official port, the rest are even worse including this version. Honestly, have played more on Special Criminal Investigation...
I did look into the FM Towns version but just found glitchy backgrounds.
Chase H.Q. Secret Police
This was the game that nearly killed the series and killed it on consoles. While the series was on a decline compared to the height of the first two games, ports aside was still decent. Having side scrolling action platformer and quiz spin offs were fine. A game where you spend much of the time controlling a basic crudely drawn map isn't. It's a game that sounds nice as an idea regarding a strategy based racing game but the execution sadly isn't and has poor collision detection too. Even a recoloured version of Super Chase H.Q. would have been a better option (the only decent one of the 3 Game Boy games).
About a 1/3 of the ROM but less in the European version is also blank space. The EUR ROM containing a language select that ISN'T used! Offset 0F5020 if anyone is interested. Also due to the game using the link cable, I cannot verify the palette on the small playable characters. Tried mGBA but it crashes.
Re-Volt (Prototype)
A prototype that is barely functional. As in graphically, it's getting there but gameplay wise it had only just begun as the powerups don't collect and you're always at 4th place. It seems that fans for this game are REALLY dedicated since they were the ones who identified that Race Time uses some graphics and code from this game (how? That game had compression while the graphics are uncompressed in this game), on top of that identified which car is which as a few of them in game have the same name and one swapped the names around.
I've also included the Game Boy palette because it still technically runs but is visually glitchy regarding the backdrops. I'll imagine that had it come out, a GBC only message would have popped up.
Super Chase H.Q.
There, all 3 games.
Lamborghini American Challenge
Roadsters Trophy
Now its colorized version/sequel of the above and was in the backlog for 2 years. Much of the sprites are the same but there were some changes though (Diablo, portraits, map). Still it's better than what Titus did consider with Digital Eclipse doing a top down racer...
Did a bit of V-Rally but don't like tile aligning. With games like this and especially San Francisco Rush, you can see why back in the early days people didn't bother with sprite boundary boxes. Also looked into various racing games in the past. Formula One 2000 is WIP, taking longer than it should. F1 Championship Season 2000 has compression issues. Nigel Mansell's World Championship (
yet another version of this game) doesn't have any sprites in the ROM hinting it might be framebuffered, there are maps in 1bpp mode though. Jeep Jamboree uses the same engine as Nigel Mansell. So yeah, a racing game left for me on the GB/GBC plus maybe more from TGR 2.
MSX
City Connection
The Spectrum version is definitely better and probably the NES version too... This is really cut down... Only 6 stages, barely any sprites and missing features/gameplay mechanics. Plus really bad sound... It also shows one of the weaknesses of the MSX, due to that its harder to do scrolling a lot of games just change the screen when you get to the border or make it one screen. There are scrolling games on the MSX but usually they are vertical as it is easier to do (only the MSX2+/Turbo R has the hardware capabilities for a horizontal scroll without resorting to tricks, even then only a very few games supported this e.g. Space Manbow, Laydock 2).
There are a few sprites that I don't know whether they're used, checking the arcade original they are but not on the longplay video of this version.
All I can say, the plans have
really cut back now...
Do have one question though... What do you do if a sprite or an image is natively a jpg file?
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