great review man you know your stuff, i had a +2 back in the day, i just wish i was more knowladgeable on what the speccy was capable of, maybe i would have appreciated it more!
How they did that is that they change the INK color for every scan line....quite simple, actually. The effect on speccy is called "rainbow processor effect".
It takes lot of processing power, thus the effect can only be used when the screen is (relatively) static such as title or high score screens.
Interesting to note you picked up upon the multiple colours per characted square technique employed on the title screen text. I'm sure this wasn't the only Software Creations game to demonstrate this effect, I seem to remeber it on a high score table somewhere, maybe one of the Agent X games. Elite's 'Paperboy' conversion does something similar within the border area of the screen. Clever coding and use of the ULA.
@minijimi I also remember playing this as a kid, both on the original hardware (I had a +2 when this came out) and on the emulator. I also found this difficult first time around, got as far as the end of level one (which was "Capital", not "Netwood Forest"). Found it on an emulator some time ago and got to "Deep Cave Tunnel"). One heck of a good game.
great review man you know your stuff, i had a +2 back in the day, i just wish i was more knowladgeable on what the speccy was capable of, maybe i would have appreciated it more!
rainxxxx 9 months ago
How they did that is that they change the INK color for every scan line....quite simple, actually. The effect on speccy is called "rainbow processor effect".
It takes lot of processing power, thus the effect can only be used when the screen is (relatively) static such as title or high score screens.
arttuy 4 years ago
Thanks!
alaggan 3 years ago
Black Lamp on the Spectrum (title screen) shows similar colour cycling.
alaggan 4 years ago
Interesting to note you picked up upon the multiple colours per characted square technique employed on the title screen text. I'm sure this wasn't the only Software Creations game to demonstrate this effect, I seem to remeber it on a high score table somewhere, maybe one of the Agent X games. Elite's 'Paperboy' conversion does something similar within the border area of the screen. Clever coding and use of the ULA.
alaggan 4 years ago
Tim Follin music. You can never go wrong.
LiontamerVGF 4 years ago
Tim Follin, thanks
khawarmajeed 2 years ago
That game looks pretty damn hard!
I never owned a Spectrum myself but I had a C64 back in the day.
I like these videos, interesting to see what the Spectrum was like.
laffer35 4 years ago
Agreed, the game is difficult. I remember as a kid I did quite well, but I played it for many hours.
minijimi 4 years ago
Comment removed
6332Mark 7 months ago
@minijimi I also remember playing this as a kid, both on the original hardware (I had a +2 when this came out) and on the emulator. I also found this difficult first time around, got as far as the end of level one (which was "Capital", not "Netwood Forest"). Found it on an emulator some time ago and got to "Deep Cave Tunnel"). One heck of a good game.
6332Mark 7 months ago