The UKFF Retro Gaming Thread

[FLips]

James Pond 3: Operation Starfi5h

Another game I loved as a kid I was worried that it would suffer the same fate as Zool, Chuck Rock or even it's own prequel Robocod and just not hold up at all. James Pond 3 however is still bloody fantastic. It's actually impressive looking at it now how much the game has going for it.

James Pond himself has a much better character design in this compared to the other Pond games, and the game itself is about as good as a Mario clone as you can get.

The levels are arguably more varied than Super Mario World with the majority being left to right platforming but also some really clever puzzle levels in there, and some require the use of items such as Spring Boots or Jetpacks to manouvre through the stage.
The levels themselves have a bunch of stuff to find in them with most levels having 4 Teacups, but also maps to open secret levels, satellite parts, and in one case a second character that then will appear playable in future levels. Also exclusive to the Amiga version (I'll get into that) are Save Game items and to my surprise Penguin Hideouts because this game is still sponsored by Penguin Biscuits on the Amiga but not the primary MD version or the SNES port. 

@jazzygeofferzwould be in heaven on the world map as every stage is a pun! The first world being cheese based (we're on the moon!) e.g "Garden of Edam". The entire game itself is entirely dairy based so there's a lot of cheese, milk, yogurt, ice cream, etc. 

The gameplay is excellent and does so many unique things such as the Mario Galaxy style gravity so you can run up walls and ceilings, items such as umbrellas help you float to hidden places, bombs will open up hidden blocks, guns that you can load with different food ammo help blast through all the mice. He handles a little loose for some of the tighter accurate jumps which is sometimes an issue but it's nothing major as the game doesn't often require it.
Each world has a boss which are quite fun too ranging from giant custard beasts to a robotic cow each with their own unique method to defeat it.

The game is huge too as counting every stage including secret ones, cheese mines and other hidden places you're looking at probably close to 100 levels. Thankfully the save function exists so it's not impossible to get through them.

As I mentioned earlier, the Amiga version is it's own thing as not only was it only made for the AGA and CD32 versions, but also the Amiga this time round is the port of the Mega Drive version! This comes with some positives and negatives. Positives are instead of the massively daft password system they used on the MD you have a save function which is decent, also I would argue the music is a slightly better quality. You can also pick easy mode on the Amiga which gives you a few extra hits.
Negatively, it doesn't look as good with some animation on the world map and in-game items lacking, but also plain black starry backgrounds instead of the paralax mountains and backgrounds in the MD version. Sound effects are less detailed but also less annoying than the Mega Drive version, especially the end level score.

Overall an absolutely cracking game. A little more accuracy on the platforming and it would be next to perfect. There's so much to do in it, the gameplay is tough but more than fair especially with easy mode available, the music memorable and the stages lovely to look at (even if the MD looks better).
It's a shame this was the last game in a series already past the prime of it's popularity because I feel they really found their stride with it. Not as good as the game it takes so much from in Super Mario World, but certainly much better than every other Mario clone out there. It's a complete game that is fun to play, clear with it's objectives and varied from start to finish. It's probably controversial to some, but it's the best platformer on the Amiga and enters my Top 5.

Having replayed some games over the last few days too, my top 5 order has changed also.

1. Chaos Engine
2. The Secret of Monkey IslandTM
3. Ruff N Tumble
4. Cannon Fodder
5. Turrican II

is now

1. Turrican II
2. The Secret of Monkey IslandTM
3. James Pond 3
4. Cannon Fodder
5. Chaos Engine

The new list being judged on what I can actually finish. Admittedly I cheated to finish Turrican but as a game it's pretty flawless, I'm just bad at it. James Pond 3 replaces Ruff N Tumble as though that game is brilliant I prefered James Pond and can't get past the 2nd world on Ruff. Chaos Engine only moves to 5 based on the fact yet again I can't get past the 2nd world, and also the quality of the rest of the games above it.

Edited April 28, 2022 by FelatioLips

[Jazzy G]

@FelatioLipsI remember watching you streaming Operation Starfish back in the day.

Incidentally, I'm contemplating bringing my Saturday night beat em up streams back. 

[Devon Malcolm]

Turrican 2 is brilliant. The C64 version was amazing quality for its time. Don't remember finding it too tough but admittedly that was a loooooong time ago.

[FLips]

47 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

Turrican 2 is brilliant. The C64 version was amazing quality for its time. Don't remember finding it too tough but admittedly that was a loooooong time ago.

Just had a look of that C64 version and that is bloody impressive.

[Onyx2]

Zzap! 64 lost their minds over it (and rightly so) and I played their demo for it about 8,000 times.

[Devon Malcolm]

Outside of maybe the conversion of Rainbow Islands, I don't recall playing a better C64 game.

[Onyx2]

14 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

Outside of maybe the conversion of Rainbow Islands, I don't recall playing a better C64 game.

An astonishing piece of work from Ocean considering their reputation for shovelling licences on to the platform at the time. I'd throw CREATURES into the mix too but the game style wasn't everyone's cup of tea I know.

[Jazzy G]

For some reason Turrican 2 ended up getting ported to the Megadrive as Universal Soldier. 

That port of Rainbow Islands was great as well. Their port of Bubble Bobble was also pretty impressive. 

Edited April 28, 2022 by jazzygeofferz

[Devon Malcolm]

2 hours ago, Onyx2 said:

An astonishing piece of work from Ocean considering their reputation for shovelling licences on to the platform at the time. I'd throw CREATURES into the mix too but the game style wasn't everyone's cup of tea I know.

I preferred the sequel, mainly because I've always preferred platformers. It's one of C64's best too.

[Chris B]

On 4/28/2022 at 12:51 PM, Devon Malcolm said:

Outside of maybe the conversion of Rainbow Islands, I don't recall playing a better C64 game.

While Commodore Format were pretty much always going to top off their coverage of it with the 100% thing, I really did enjoy Mayhem in Monsterland, and it was seriously impressive in terms of what they got out of the C64.

[Jazzy G]

On 4/28/2022 at 1:06 PM, Onyx2 said:

An astonishing piece of work from Ocean considering their reputation for shovelling licences on to the platform at the time. I'd throw CREATURES into the mix too but the game style wasn't everyone's cup of tea I know.

Kim Justice's video about Ocean is cracking. All her videos about the 80s software houses are. 

[Jazzy G]

Speaking of Kim Justice and licensed Ocean games, she's done a video looking at them all. It's 2 and a quarter hours long. I'll probably give it a watch while I'm seeing whether I have space to download FIFA on my PS4 tonight. 

 

[BigJag]

https://www.theguardian.com/games/2022/may/06/forty-years-of-joystick-waggling-the-glory-of-multi-sport-video-games?s=08

Comp Pro was my choice of stick. A Zip stick was too loose. It lacked the three stage firmness settings of the Competition Pro. 

[Merzbow]

I used to see this in the shops all the time but never thought about picking it up until today, a strange little Sega made football management sim with RPG and story elements.

Did anyone play it back in the day?

 

[DCW]

Based off Pro Evo? looks very similar to PES 4 or 5. Cool looking game & concept.