I really believe the music was composed on the Atari ST, and I do think it sounds better than the Amiga version. It's probably the only case where I believe the Atari ST psg got a better sound than the Samples on Amiga. I've heard more than once (apparently even from the man himself) that David Whittaker was kinda lazy as a musician, usually doing music in just a day and getting the check as soon as possible. If you take notice, you'll see all his songs have more or less the same structure, but lazy or not, I still think he made some great tracks and I think the music for Xenon is awesome. It's the best aspect of the game.
@Rooflesoft Games yeah, the amiga one samples the chiptune versions "instruments" to rebuild in a tracker, so sounds softer, the sid chip tries to emulate the sound of the tune but has fundamentally different makeup, so sounds different, the AY tunes make perfect use of the capabilities of the chip to make a great, crisp tune with a thumping beat. To my ears, the faster clocked ST version sounds "as intended" but that and the 128k spectrum versions (bias aside) sound equally as good and better than the rest. The 464 versions tune is just a tiny bit too slow
I also like the ST music better because it sounds more like a "computer game", and for some reason it's hard to duplicate the square waves on the Amiga which only uses samples. As for the sequel Xenon II, the Amiga wins hands down due to the mod tracking. I don't mind the ST chiptune version but you can't hear it at all when firing...
@@rafaellima83 It is true that some aspects of the music sound better on the ST, I do remember being slightly disappointed by the Amiga version music track even though all in all it is very acceptable. David Whittaker's musics are indeed strange beasts, they have some very original sounds and catchy melodies but they repeat a lot and can be very rapidly tiring when repeated at length.
Wow! This brings back some great memories of my old atari st. This game was nearly always at the top of my game pile. It's true, about waggling the joystick left and right, to transform between tank and space ship. I remember way back in the day, this game used to be on a British Saturday morning kids game show, they used it in a competition. I'm sure the show was called "get fresh" and features an alien called Gilbert. The game was slightly altered to fit in with the show, but was all there complete. Of course my memory could be wrong.
As a kid, my cousin used to always copy whatever I did, but never managed to do it quite so well. I see the mirror image relationship between the Amiga and Atari ST. AND no kidding my cousin actually ended up buying an Atari ST, while I, naturally, had an Amiga.
Amiga hardware has sort of an history in the arcades, as it was used to control American Laser Games titles such as Mad Dog McCree. There was also an other Amiga based coin op system called "Cubo CD32" wich hosted quiz, card games, puzzle games and the likes. Small companies in the West that couldn't afford designing and manifacturing their own PCBs would rather disassemble stock machines.
Amiga 3000s also powered those Virtuality arcade games or "rides" or "experiences" or whatever you want to call them. The only one I ever got to play was Dactyl Nightmare, and while it was awesome for 1992-93, it certainly didn't run at 90Hz 🤮.
One the first game I ever played, on the family's brand new Atari ST! Even to this day I can hum the music. Always thought the presentation was great: the vertical scrolling at the beginning, the digitized guy when you start, the music, etc. The gameplay was pretty good too with the shape-shifting ship sets the game apart from other shooters.
If memory serves, another such Amiga-based arcade title exists, Ninja something. I remember getting the full version of the MS-DOS port out of a Shareware mag once.
i loved xenon as a kid! Saw it first on the Atari ST, then i got it for my spectrum and later the amiga. if i remember correctly in all versions (that i played) you can morph between the millennium falcon and the x-wing by wiggling the joystick side-to-side briefly (and quickly). Also, the Atari ST, 128k Spectrum, MSX and Amstrad all had pin compatible variants of the same sound chip, mostly just clocked differently, which is why (tempo aside,) those formats sound identical.
I can assure on Amiga, Spectrum, ST and MSX versions you can change your vehicle by wiggling the stick instead of pressing the space bar. Dunno about the other versions.
Why Arcade Ports And Other Ports From Did Not Make Their Way To Microsoft Windows Except For Daytona USA And Darius Gaiden And Virtua Cop And The House Of The Dead And Earthworm Jim
Great battle thanks mark. I definitely didn't see this in a arcade tbh and you're right it wouldn't get a second glance. I definitely did see this on Get Fresh on a Saturday morning with Gaz Top and being a kid lapped up anything gaming related on the box. We're swamped with videogames now in comparison to those old days.
I don't think any of the Arcadia games would stand off in an Arcade alley to be quite honest. Another shooter made for the system was Sidewinder and that was a very mediocre shooter even on Amiga. Maybe New York Warriors, only because it has an insane amount of bullets on screen, it has the most bullets on screen I had ever seen on Amiga up until Mega Typhoon was released. But games like Road Wars and Magic Johnson Basketball really had no place in an arcade. - Funny thing is that the first time I saw Battle Squadron on Amiga I was SURE that was an Arcade game, I was really surprised when I Found out that was an original amiga game. It really looked and felt like an arcade game to me back at the day.
None of them would really stand of on an arcade alley. Some of those games were kinda mediocre even for amiga standard... I had forgotten Ninja Mission was also an Arcadia game, that game would be completely dimissed on an arcade. And Road Wars.... what the hell were they thinking? That would never fly on an arcade. Next thing would be someone trying to do an arcade version of Lemmings........ OH NO THEY ALSO DID THAT.
I believe the Arcadia machine held multiple games at one time, and the player selected the one they wanted to play. I know that all those you mention were Arcadia games, with the possible exception of World Darts which I'm not sure about. I have a feeling that Space Ranger was another Arcadia game; on the Amiga it is one I enjoyed.
Xenon 2 was one of my fav games as a kid. My big brother showed it to me on his Atari ST. My mind was blown to the amazing music. Without it, we perhaps would never have had Tyrian 2k? :)
I had already lost my heart to Slap fight, so there wasn't too much space for Xenon anymore. Although there are a lot worse shooters out there. The Amiga version wasn't bad.
Hey Mark. Remember how i mention that me and my family are from the Bronx? Guess what bro, the new Joker movie that he's dancing on those flight of stairs is where my father use to go to school near Yankee stadium. At one point, we and the locals thought nothing of it, now we can't even get close to them seeing its a recent tourist attraction now. Anthony...
Another great Battle of the Port series! Congrats! I think the Arcade Version is still the best one! What do you think? Would be very nice if you would make a sort of classification of the ports at the end of you videos to show where you classified each one of them!
When playing the arcade version on MAME, I've noticed it runs way faster than it should on the PAL Amiga. Anyone know if it was running at 60Hz on the RGB monitor or they just jacked up the speed to make it more difficult?
I hadn't realized until now that Xenon was the obvious inspiration (cough, ripoff) for Epyx's Zarlor Mercenary on the Lynx. I also wasn't aware there was an arcade version, and it's a bit puzzling why that version couldn't have been ported to the Amiga without any changes. Oh, well.
this has that bitmap bros style ......it has the same style as klash/speed ball also looks like it was one of those pre-mobile touchscreen systems options you used to /still can see at bars and restaurants ........
I miss those cheesy tiny podium early 00's quiz machines. Would be a fun toy for a while. This music though! Go Sato of Seibu Kaihatsu fame had not a single moment of musical training (but the usual mandatory instrument from Japanese schooling) and he went on to achieve greatness (taste in his genre depending he peaked with Viper Phase-1).
I remember the cover of C + VG magazine with Xenon and the claim "The first home coin-op". Actually in 1987 seeing a game like that on Amiga, for me that I was accustomed to the poor color palette of the C64 was pure science fiction. Arcadia was an Amiga based platform, Sidewinder, Rockford and another couple of action games were released in addition to Xenon. The metallic look of the BB is unmistakable, even personally I have always considered them excessively overrated. Great video!
I agree. I read somewhere else that Bitmap Brothers used to bribe game journalists with dinners and fancy gifts. That would explain why their games always got so many good reviews. Xenon isn't very good, Magic Pockets is a bad game, Gods is mediocre, Xenon 2 is awful. Cadaver is average at best. Speedball was kinda nice, not too great, but playable enough to be fun. Speedball 2 and The Chaos Engine were their only good games IMO, and then with The Chaos Engine 2 they went back to doing crap games.
Great video Marc, thanks! I certainly never saw Xenon in the arcades and as you say, although the gameplay is fine for a computer or console game where time is not a problem, in the arcades it would just have been a pain to play. I played it on the ST long before I got my own Amiga and I liked it quite on both platforms although the Amiga version is indeed way smoother and I am glad I played it in this order. :D You did not delve too much into which company ported which port which is a bit of a shame as they seem to have made very different choices for each port. The C64 and Amstrad CPC are quite interesting in how the approaches taken contrast: the developers of the Amstrad version clearly put the emphasis on great visuals but totally omitted the performance of the game, while the C64 version runs very smoothly but has clearly inferior graphics: the power ups icons are abysmally poor and it is clear that the developers did not have enough time to polish that one. At least they had the common sense to select their priorities correctly (performance and gameplay first, appearance second).
Didn’t play this much at the time as I was a BEEB owner but I do remember this on Get Fresh with Gaz Top, surely one of the first proper “gaming” on TV shows that wasn’t just a “and you can play games on them too” part of computer shows
@@jaysmith2858 I hate to tell you this, but the Amiga's joystick port wasn't modern when the Amiga came out. Extension cables for that thing have been cheap and common for decades.
@@JoystickVersusMachine They may have been both cheap and common where you lived, but they certainly weren't where I was. I bought many joysticks over the years but never came across any extension cables in any of the shops I visited.
@@jaysmith2858 All I can tell you is that the Sega branded ones got pretty cheap here by around 96 or 97. They weren't really expensive to begin with. And they were everywhere.
I never even knew there was an arcade version of this. Xenon wouldn't have lasted long in an arcade environment and would be swapped out for something else pretty quickly I guess. I can't see it tempting many to drop a coin, there were many much, much better shooters at that point. I doubt it could have even been competitive against older games like Xevious.
@@adamhenry6793 Xenon 2 is *the* overrated shoot-em up on the Amiga. It is beautiful but the gameplay is lacking and uninspiring while the scrolling is horribly slow and tedious. It is good on screenshots but that is about it.
If only there was a version with the ST's lifebar, C64's gameplay, and arcade's sound. Tbh, this game doesn't look fun to play, and I've played its sequel on the Mega Drive/SMS that wasn't all that fun either. I've heard the Amiga version is better, but I haven't tried it for myself. I'll stick with the Aleste series, Dragon Spirit, Truxton, Twin Cobra or Vapor Trail if I'm in the mood for a vertically scrolling shooter.
Xenon 2 is awful on Amiga too. You'll hear amiga Fanboys swearing on how good it is and shit. It's all nostalgia-inudcted trippy. It's a piece of shit, it was a piece of shit back in the day, the only thing going for it is its soundtrack. The game is slow, jerky, bland, boring, uninspired and plays horribly. I'll never understand how that game got so much hype. It's not good. The Mega-Drive version isn't much different from the Amiga one to be quite honest, maybe just soundwise. Xenon 1 was a better game, and still wasn't all that good.
There is really no comparison between the Xenons and the Japanese STG. If you want to play an Amiga vertical shmup you're better off with Hybris, Battle Squadron, Banshee and Wings of Death (wich is my favourite). But even these would be considered average at best on a Japanese console or in the arcades.
Compared to Japanese shooters both Xenon games are last. But for a computer game fan the second game is better. Thankfully I'm a video game fan, or in other words, console and arcade games.
Only a couple of my friends had 16bit computers and I remember when they loaded this I thought it was bloody terrible. Didn't show off 16bit computers at all.
You just need to wiggle the stick. Hold button and rotate the stick is how you release a bomb on Battle Squadron. But while the game tells you you have to it clockwise, it will work if you do it anti-clockwise too. Actually it will work if you hold button and press the 4 directions in any order very quickly, as long as you dont repeat. So hold button - Up, Down, Right, Left or Up, Left, Right, Down or Left, Right, Up, Down or any other combination will work :D
So, after playing Xenon 2 on Amiga and ST long ago, I finally get to see what the first one looks like. I am quite surprised that this was originally an arcade title. It looks kinda bland as an arcade game, and I never saw it ever, not in an arcade, not even outside a milk bar either. But it might have gotten a run, after all, Terra Cresta hung around for awhile, and that's older than this, then there's Galaga, that was immortal! It doesn't look bad, but it doesn't seem to have the same charm as something like Slap Fight, or, Terra Cresta! Actually, it looks very British, especially with that guy with the sunglasses saying "Sector 1"! It might have been sorta cool then, but looks corny now!
I only remember playing the sequel. The graphics were amazing! After playing EGA games that game really showed off the VGA colours! The prequel doesn’t look as good or fun as the second one.
@@timoheinonen9570 I am just saying that graphically there is no reason for it to look like that. Also, on a MSX you can have scrolling but it's gotta come with a memory mapper.
@@valentine_puppy MSX 2 already has proper scolling for Space Manbow, but tiles will dissapear and appear entirely on the overscan area. Ok for old TVs, weird for moder ones. But yeah, This was your typical "lazy Spectrum port". Most european games on MSX are like that, unfortunately.
It looks like you're using a later, cracked copy of the ST port. The original release is from January 1988. There are some videos here on yt of the Kelly X Beta version for the ST with a 1987 copyright.The Arcadia and Amiga ports came later that year. The Arcadia ROM in the video is from 1989.
I'm not sure how anyone played those Spectrum ports. I can't tell anything apart. This is a nice example of a game where the Amiga's custom hardware is used to make the game play smoother. So many games either add a rainbow sky in the background and call it a day or worse, do absolutely nothing at all.
If you want to be polite you could say that ZX Spectrum games are an aquired taste, but truth is that even the most praised (by their community) games are hard to endure by somebody who is used to play on other machines.
@@amerigocosta7452 You are wrong. I played lots of C64 games in my childhood and have also played lots of MSX games, but I still prefer ZX Spectrum. I have 13 Spectrum compatible computers currently in working condition and at the same time only one MSX 2+ computer and that specific MSX I have owned for 20 years. For me the limitations are one factor that makes computers more interesting and also helps to differentiate between different systems.
I was a little late in getting into the ST, so ended up trying the C64 version before the ST version. The C64 scrolling was lovely, but the music and sound fx were very disspointing. I know artists were limited by the C64 colour palate, but some poor choices were made, invisible bullet syndrome rears it's ugly head.
The individual handing the CPC version a 9/10 score and using bulk text from ST and Amiga versions in his review, clearly never played it. Yes it's faster than version shown here, but not to any real degree. Same applies to C+VG who called it a nippy little game.. 57% Amstrad Action, looks good but oh so slow.
Xenon replaced Starglider on ITV's Get Fresh kids TV programme, as neither the kids playing, nor the audience, had a bloody clue what was going on and the show creators wanted a more points orientated game
I used to watch Get Fresh with Gilbert the Alien but I don't remember the game segments. I think I was mostly just waiting for the cartoons to come on.
Not sure if the review versions differed, but the C. C. I magazine reviewer who looked at the Amiga version, felt the difficulty was just about right to keep it challenging, whilst avoiding too much frustration. I coukd barely make it to sector 2 😂
I remember seeing an arcade cab' with Xenon playing during some holidays in Spain. It was only way later that I learned about it being actually an Amiga in disguise. As far as arcade games go, it's a bit hard to tell, but as far as computer shooters go, Xenon was the shit at the time! Loved the ST version, the music will be forever engraved in my mind and this version has my favorite rendition of the soundtrack but the Amiga version has smoother frame rate and thus is more enjoyable to play. Xenon 2 soon I guess? The Mega Drive port of that game is UTTERLY LAZY ASS CRAP! Absolutely shameful by Mega Drive standards.
The Arcadia machines were a fail really and supposed to eat into the megadrive and Nintendo play choice machines territory. I'm pretty sure they loaded the game rather than supplied by rom. Then the home ports came out on what is considered budget labels the amiga being 19.99 I think. There was a shooter up that was track based that used some sort of battle sphere. I think you swap between vehicle and aircraft by haggling the joystick on 1 button controllers
Xenon is a mediocre shooter and its better than the sequel, which is the most overrated piece of crap to ever appear on Amiga. Now a few notes... I know you complain when we mention emulations.... but I am playing Xenon on my Amiga A600 right now just to be sure (Because I played it 2 days ago, coincidently :D) The game isn't as fast as your video shows. I dont know if the Arcadia system isn't emulated properly on Mame but every Arcadia game I played was like ten times faster than on real Amiga (I really wonder if it was like this on the arcadia hardware or is just bad emulation).... so I understand the game being so fast on the arcade version on your video. But the Amiga Version? No way it's that fast on normal real hardware. Or there's something wrong with my copy, I dunno , because I am checking other videos on youtube and they are all like the speed of your video. But its really weird, I am running the game on the hardware it was supposed to run.... Now I have to investigate more :) I remember you once said you run Amiga games on real hardware... what hardware are you using there? Now Bitmap Brothers ALWAYS made their games first for the Atari ST maybe probably up until Speedball 2 or Gods, I am not sure. Even though the Arcadia version was released first, I really doubt it wasn't just a lazy port from an Atari ST base code. And Atari ST version was released in 88 100% sure. Maybe your cracked copy changed the year copyright or something, you can easily find the Atari ST version on the web with an 88 copyright. - I first played this game on the MSX... and finished it back at the day. Being a lazy port from the Spectrum, and have played all the versions, I must say, I really think the spectrum version is the most playable of all of them. And now I want to fire it up on my MSX, because I really don't remember it being THAT bad as you say. But it only used 1 button indeed, because FUCK LAZY SPECTRUM PORT. European games never used 2 buttons on MSX, urgh.
Speed difference between the Arcade and the home Amiga is likely because the Arcade is NTSC and the Basic Amiga version is PAL. The Arcade also had a more fuller image while the Amiga is stuck in a box while the bottom quarter of the screen is black, just like most PAL Amiga games. The only reason it doesn't look too bad on the video is because I crop out a lot of the unused screen area. During the end comparison section you can see the whopping big black bar on the home amaiga version.
@@RetroCore It's not just a PAL vs NTSC thing. Look at those videos: ruclips.net/video/0ca-XDFQccI/видео.html ruclips.net/video/K1GGnCwg0PY/видео.html ruclips.net/video/0LUFaLsu08U/видео.html That's how Xenon runs on my Amiga, on real hardware with the original configuration (7mhz CPU). On your video even the Amiga version is running a lot faster than that. That's why I was wondering if you are using an emulator or a souped-up Amiga with a faster CPU than a 68k at 7mhz. I just played it while I was watching your video to be sure I wasn't dreaming. The game would be a lot more enjoyable if it ran at the speed shown at your video (Though the hitbox problems probably would still exist and be even more annoying at this speed) Regarding the arcade version, I've played another Arcadia games on MAME which I also have played on my own amiga. On Mame they were a LOT faster than on my real hardware, and I don't know if that's an emulation issue or its just that the Arcadia hardware was more powerful than a vanilla Amiga and games were written to take advantage of that. I do know Xenon 2 runs a lot faster on Winuae if you configure it to be more powerful than a "Vanilla" A500/A600, but I don't know if the same happens with the first game.
Yep, ST first up until Speedball II, which had sprites done on an Amiga first and the Amiga Starfield pitch being the reason the game was delayed. Xenon II was done on a 386 PC but coded by The Assembly Line, going off memory, it was only designed by Bitmap Bros.
Never play this game, funny thing you were mentioning in your video....Each game have an improvement, but it sacrifice something else... I laugh when you mentioned the Amstrad CPC. "Good looking until started to move".
There was also a pinball game called Xenon that predates all of these- it was released in 1980 by Bally, and that's what I still associate with the name.
CPC - Now this is a true lazy port. Forget the ones where the graphics are just the Spectrum version with more colour, here they've ported the graphics over from the 16 bits but made no effort whatsoever to optimise the code to account for the CPC's larger frame buffer. This would be a candidate for the Amstrad's limited hardware scrolling as well. What a waste. The Spectrum version could have been a lot better as well. There's no actual need for the scrolling to tear that badly.
At full speed it probably would have been way too fast, although they could have worked around that by using double buffering. This would have made a slower but still smooth game possible
ST version way, way too hard. Think I only ever reached Sector II and I believe there isn't even an ending sequence for completing all 4 sectors, it just dumps you back to Sector I
Hmmmm. Must be something wrong with the CPC version you're playing as mine is faster than that and can change craft. Not a great game anyway but better than what you show here.
Come on MSDos you can do way better than this, btw I hope you show other graphic mode for MSDos coz sometime some of MSDos game have unique palette color mapping coz how limited is each graphic mode offer and many Game support Tandy 1000 coz how superior is Tandy 1000 when handle graphic and music unlike IBM own MSDos computer.
If it could do better it would have! Btw the version shown IS the Tandy/EGA version, the CGA version is 4 colours and looks and sounds much worse, they could have shown that to be more in fair comparison with cheaper PC models!
@@CastleFamilyThe while in here Mark say he use EGA and EGA is different than Tandy mode which many still say The Best MSDos ever made and the music way way different than other MSDos computer back in day and probably the only one can compete with Tandy is MSDos with EGA + AdLib which not cheap back in day.
Bhirawa Maylana check the back of the box on moby games, tandy and ega (they put ega and cga wrong way round on box) look the same, probably just made Tandy compatible, but don’t be disappointed, alot of DOS stuff was behind Amiga, ST in the 80s.
@@CastleFamilyThe i am sorry I can only find front cover and it's say required CGA, EGA, VGA or Tandy card and program for IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2, Tandy 1000 and other 100% PC compatibles.
I prefer the STs music strangely, but maybe that’s because that’s the one I played as a kid.
Makes sense.
I really believe the music was composed on the Atari ST, and I do think it sounds better than the Amiga version. It's probably the only case where I believe the Atari ST psg got a better sound than the Samples on Amiga.
I've heard more than once (apparently even from the man himself) that David Whittaker was kinda lazy as a musician, usually doing music in just a day and getting the check as soon as possible. If you take notice, you'll see all his songs have more or less the same structure, but lazy or not, I still think he made some great tracks and I think the music for Xenon is awesome. It's the best aspect of the game.
@Rooflesoft Games yeah, the amiga one samples the chiptune versions "instruments" to rebuild in a tracker, so sounds softer, the sid chip tries to emulate the sound of the tune but has fundamentally different makeup, so sounds different, the AY tunes make perfect use of the capabilities of the chip to make a great, crisp tune with a thumping beat. To my ears, the faster clocked ST version sounds "as intended" but that and the 128k spectrum versions (bias aside) sound equally as good and better than the rest. The 464 versions tune is just a tiny bit too slow
I also like the ST music better because it sounds more like a "computer game", and for some reason it's hard to duplicate the square waves on the Amiga which only uses samples.
As for the sequel Xenon II, the Amiga wins hands down due to the mod tracking. I don't mind the ST chiptune version but you can't hear it at all when firing...
@@rafaellima83 It is true that some aspects of the music sound better on the ST, I do remember being slightly disappointed by the Amiga version music track even though all in all it is very acceptable.
David Whittaker's musics are indeed strange beasts, they have some very original sounds and catchy melodies but they repeat a lot and can be very rapidly tiring when repeated at length.
The Bitmap Brothers, good coders, good artists. But game designers? Not so much.
Nice! I always enjoy this series. I have great memories of Xenon on the ST as a kid
I'm doing Xenon 2 next week. That actually made it to Japanese machines too.
Wow! This brings back some great memories of my old atari st. This game was nearly always at the top of my game pile. It's true, about waggling the joystick left and right, to transform between tank and space ship. I remember way back in the day, this game used to be on a British Saturday morning kids game show, they used it in a competition. I'm sure the show was called "get fresh" and features an alien called Gilbert. The game was slightly altered to fit in with the show, but was all there complete.
Of course my memory could be wrong.
As a kid, my cousin used to always copy whatever I did, but never managed to do it quite so well. I see the mirror image relationship between the Amiga and Atari ST. AND no kidding my cousin actually ended up buying an Atari ST, while I, naturally, had an Amiga.
Amiga hardware has sort of an history in the arcades, as it was used to control American Laser Games titles such as Mad Dog McCree. There was also an other Amiga based coin op system called "Cubo CD32" wich hosted quiz, card games, puzzle games and the likes. Small companies in the West that couldn't afford designing and manifacturing their own PCBs would rather disassemble stock machines.
Amiga 3000s also powered those Virtuality arcade games or "rides" or "experiences" or whatever you want to call them. The only one I ever got to play was Dactyl Nightmare, and while it was awesome for 1992-93, it certainly didn't run at 90Hz 🤮.
One the first game I ever played, on the family's brand new Atari ST! Even to this day I can hum the music. Always thought the presentation was great: the vertical scrolling at the beginning, the digitized guy when you start, the music, etc. The gameplay was pretty good too with the shape-shifting ship sets the game apart from other shooters.
If memory serves, another such Amiga-based arcade title exists, Ninja something. I remember getting the full version of the MS-DOS port out of a Shareware mag once.
I hope we get a scary battle of the ports during Halloween week.
Nah, it's to be expected. Not sure there is anything that could be done.
i loved xenon as a kid! Saw it first on the Atari ST, then i got it for my spectrum and later the amiga. if i remember correctly in all versions (that i played) you can morph between the millennium falcon and the x-wing by wiggling the joystick side-to-side briefly (and quickly).
Also, the Atari ST, 128k Spectrum, MSX and Amstrad all had pin compatible variants of the same sound chip, mostly just clocked differently, which is why (tempo aside,) those formats sound identical.
I'm nkt aware that you can change in to the actual Millennium Falcon or Xwing. Maybe. Hacked verson?
@@RetroCore heh, oops, didn't mean to lead you down a path there, it's just what they looked like to 12yr old me :)
I can assure on Amiga, Spectrum, ST and MSX versions you can change your vehicle by wiggling the stick instead of pressing the space bar. Dunno about the other versions.
Why Arcade Ports And Other Ports From Did Not Make Their Way To Microsoft Windows Except For Daytona USA And Darius Gaiden And Virtua Cop And The House Of The Dead And Earthworm Jim
I played this back in the day on the Spectrum and ST. Both very good versions.
Great battle thanks mark. I definitely didn't see this in a arcade tbh and you're right it wouldn't get a second glance. I definitely did see this on Get Fresh on a Saturday morning with Gaz Top and being a kid lapped up anything gaming related on the box. We're swamped with videogames now in comparison to those old days.
Oh man, yeah. I remember that. I always wanted to phone in to play it.
I don't think any of the Arcadia games would stand off in an Arcade alley to be quite honest. Another shooter made for the system was Sidewinder and that was a very mediocre shooter even on Amiga.
Maybe New York Warriors, only because it has an insane amount of bullets on screen, it has the most bullets on screen I had ever seen on Amiga up until Mega Typhoon was released.
But games like Road Wars and Magic Johnson Basketball really had no place in an arcade.
-
Funny thing is that the first time I saw Battle Squadron on Amiga I was SURE that was an Arcade game, I was really surprised when I Found out that was an original amiga game. It really looked and felt like an arcade game to me back at the day.
I had the Atari ST version. I used to play this game a lot! A couple of years later came the amazing Xenon 2...
Saturdays are battle of the ports👍👍 Brilliant 👍🤩🤩🤩
Yeah 🎉
Around this time there were a few other coin-ops developed on Amiga hardware including Aaargh, Ninja Mission, Road Wars, Rockford, and World Darts
None of them would really stand of on an arcade alley. Some of those games were kinda mediocre even for amiga standard... I had forgotten Ninja Mission was also an Arcadia game, that game would be completely dimissed on an arcade.
And Road Wars.... what the hell were they thinking? That would never fly on an arcade.
Next thing would be someone trying to do an arcade version of Lemmings........ OH NO THEY ALSO DID THAT.
I believe the Arcadia machine held multiple games at one time, and the player selected the one they wanted to play. I know that all those you mention were Arcadia games, with the possible exception of World Darts which I'm not sure about. I have a feeling that Space Ranger was another Arcadia game; on the Amiga it is one I enjoyed.
Xenon 2 was one of my fav games as a kid. My big brother showed it to me on his Atari ST. My mind was blown to the amazing music. Without it, we perhaps would never have had Tyrian 2k? :)
Creators of Tyrian actually said their biggest inspiration was Compile games, with even one of the songs on the soundtrack being called "Zanac".
I had already lost my heart to Slap fight, so there wasn't too much space for Xenon anymore. Although there are a lot worse shooters out there. The Amiga version wasn't bad.
Well, the arcade DID use Amiga hardware, so yeah. I'd be more shocked if it were bad.
Hey Mark.
Remember how i mention that me and my family are from the Bronx? Guess what bro, the new Joker movie that he's dancing on those flight of stairs is where my father use to go to school near Yankee stadium. At one point, we and the locals thought nothing of it, now we can't even get close to them seeing its a recent tourist attraction now.
Anthony...
Ah, a timeless classic the arcade version is Mark. Never a dull moment playing it for sure. 8^0
Anthony..
Why was there no Soundblaster card used in the XENON.
The sequels theme tune has just become my latest ear worm....
Bomb the Bass
Another great Battle of the Port series! Congrats! I think the Arcade Version is still the best one! What do you think? Would be very nice if you would make a sort of classification of the ports at the end of you videos to show where you classified each one of them!
Nice idea but pointless since everyone would have their own opinion. Personally I think they're all rubbish. I don't think this is a very ggod game.
When playing the arcade version on MAME, I've noticed it runs way faster than it should on the PAL Amiga. Anyone know if it was running at 60Hz on the RGB monitor or they just jacked up the speed to make it more difficult?
I have a feeling its running in RGB because the play area is larger just like a RGB Amiga.
I hadn't realized until now that Xenon was the obvious inspiration (cough, ripoff) for Epyx's Zarlor Mercenary on the Lynx. I also wasn't aware there was an arcade version, and it's a bit puzzling why that version couldn't have been ported to the Amiga without any changes. Oh, well.
this has that bitmap bros style ......it has the same style as klash/speed ball also looks like it was one of those pre-mobile touchscreen systems options you used to /still can see at bars and restaurants ........
I miss those cheesy tiny podium early 00's quiz machines. Would be a fun toy for a while. This music though! Go Sato of Seibu Kaihatsu fame had not a single moment of musical training (but the usual mandatory instrument from Japanese schooling) and he went on to achieve greatness (taste in his genre depending he peaked with Viper Phase-1).
Xenon 2 was one of my favourite PC games
I remember the cover of C + VG magazine with Xenon and the claim "The first home coin-op". Actually in 1987 seeing a game like that on Amiga, for me that I was accustomed to the poor color palette of the C64 was pure science fiction. Arcadia was an Amiga based platform, Sidewinder, Rockford and another couple of action games were released in addition to Xenon. The metallic look of the BB is unmistakable, even personally I have always considered them excessively overrated. Great video!
I agree. I read somewhere else that Bitmap Brothers used to bribe game journalists with dinners and fancy gifts.
That would explain why their games always got so many good reviews.
Xenon isn't very good, Magic Pockets is a bad game, Gods is mediocre, Xenon 2 is awful. Cadaver is average at best.
Speedball was kinda nice, not too great, but playable enough to be fun. Speedball 2 and The Chaos Engine were their only good games IMO, and then with The Chaos Engine 2 they went back to doing crap games.
I didn't play this much, but did play xenon 2 loads on my Amiga - maybe do that at a later date?
Battle of the ports iz on COOOL 🎮🕹
Indeed!
Great video Marc, thanks!
I certainly never saw Xenon in the arcades and as you say, although the gameplay is fine for a computer or console game where time is not a problem, in the arcades it would just have been a pain to play.
I played it on the ST long before I got my own Amiga and I liked it quite on both platforms although the Amiga version is indeed way smoother and I am glad I played it in this order. :D
You did not delve too much into which company ported which port which is a bit of a shame as they seem to have made very different choices for each port. The C64 and Amstrad CPC are quite interesting in how the approaches taken contrast: the developers of the Amstrad version clearly put the emphasis on great visuals but totally omitted the performance of the game, while the C64 version runs very smoothly but has clearly inferior graphics: the power ups icons are abysmally poor and it is clear that the developers did not have enough time to polish that one. At least they had the common sense to select their priorities correctly (performance and gameplay first, appearance second).
I beleive all are bybthe same team besides the C64 version which is often the case.
Play online in your browser:
Xenon MSX: www.file-hunter.com/MSX/index.php?id=xenon
Xenon II Amiga: www.file-hunter.com/AMIGA/#Xenon_II
Didn’t play this much at the time as I was a BEEB owner but I do remember this on Get Fresh with Gaz Top, surely one of the first proper “gaming” on TV shows that wasn’t just a “and you can play games on them too” part of computer shows
Yeah, it's remember that too. Little did we know it was just some dude controlling the direction as you shouted it out.
How long is your joystick cable if you're not "sitting on top of your Amiga? :-) :-)
The wonderful modern world of extention cables 👍
@@RetroCore I hate to tell you this, but the Amiga isn't modern. 😉
@@jaysmith2858 I hate to tell you this, but the Amiga's joystick port wasn't modern when the Amiga came out. Extension cables for that thing have been cheap and common for decades.
@@JoystickVersusMachine They may have been both cheap and common where you lived, but they certainly weren't where I was. I bought many joysticks over the years but never came across any extension cables in any of the shops I visited.
@@jaysmith2858 All I can tell you is that the Sega branded ones got pretty cheap here by around 96 or 97. They weren't really expensive to begin with. And they were everywhere.
I never even knew there was an arcade version of this. Xenon wouldn't have lasted long in an arcade environment and would be swapped out for something else pretty quickly I guess. I can't see it tempting many to drop a coin, there were many much, much better shooters at that point.
I doubt it could have even been competitive against older games like Xevious.
I also don't understand the love Xevious gets. But saying that I would rather play that than Xenon.
Personally I prefer Xenon 2 Megablast. It is a much better game. Next episode perhaps? :D
Was it on ZX?
@@adamhenry6793 it was ported to a lot of platforms. I don't think it's on the Speccy.
@@YuukoEnjoyer I'll check it!
@@adamhenry6793 Xenon 2 is *the* overrated shoot-em up on the Amiga. It is beautiful but the gameplay is lacking and uninspiring while the scrolling is horribly slow and tedious. It is good on screenshots but that is about it.
I'd have to agree with you there.
A decent early Bitmap Brothers offering
If only there was a version with the ST's lifebar, C64's gameplay, and arcade's sound. Tbh, this game doesn't look fun to play, and I've played its sequel on the Mega Drive/SMS that wasn't all that fun either. I've heard the Amiga version is better, but I haven't tried it for myself. I'll stick with the Aleste series, Dragon Spirit, Truxton, Twin Cobra or Vapor Trail if I'm in the mood for a vertically scrolling shooter.
Xenon 2 is awful on Amiga too.
You'll hear amiga Fanboys swearing on how good it is and shit. It's all nostalgia-inudcted trippy. It's a piece of shit, it was a piece of shit back in the day, the only thing going for it is its soundtrack. The game is slow, jerky, bland, boring, uninspired and plays horribly.
I'll never understand how that game got so much hype. It's not good. The Mega-Drive version isn't much different from the Amiga one to be quite honest, maybe just soundwise.
Xenon 1 was a better game, and still wasn't all that good.
There is really no comparison between the Xenons and the Japanese STG. If you want to play an Amiga vertical shmup you're better off with Hybris, Battle Squadron, Banshee and Wings of Death (wich is my favourite). But even these would be considered average at best on a Japanese console or in the arcades.
Compared to Japanese shooters both Xenon games are last. But for a computer game fan the second game is better. Thankfully I'm a video game fan, or in other words, console and arcade games.
Not unless you had an MSX 2 with Japanese games. It was just like having a console in a computer.
Take the C64 version and get yourself a decent poke.
I played It a lot in my amiga 500 with a crappy joystick ahhh the good old times
i feel at home here👍
me too pal👍👍👍
Didn't know about the arcade original . I played back in the day on the amiga and thought it was ok
I loved this game in the day.
Xenon 2 wasn’t bad either.
u can use another joystick button as space bar too
Only a couple of my friends had 16bit computers and I remember when they loaded this I thought it was bloody terrible. Didn't show off 16bit computers at all.
Out of interest, what was the first 16-bit title that you felt showed them off properly?
Oh ! - Now we need "Battle of the Ports - Xenon 2 Megablast" !!!
Coming soon.
3:35....not entirely true. IIRC holding the fire button and doing a clockwise movement will transform your ship anyway
You just need to wiggle the stick.
Hold button and rotate the stick is how you release a bomb on Battle Squadron. But while the game tells you you have to it clockwise, it will work if you do it anti-clockwise too.
Actually it will work if you hold button and press the 4 directions in any order very quickly, as long as you dont repeat. So hold button - Up, Down, Right, Left or Up, Left, Right, Down or Left, Right, Up, Down or any other combination will work :D
Well, that's kind of dumb since making a random movement in a area packed with projectiles everywhere isn't so easy.
So, after playing Xenon 2 on Amiga and ST long ago, I finally get to see what the first one looks like. I am quite surprised that this was originally an arcade title. It looks kinda bland as an arcade game, and I never saw it ever, not in an arcade, not even outside a milk bar either. But it might have gotten a run, after all, Terra Cresta hung around for awhile, and that's older than this, then there's Galaga, that was immortal!
It doesn't look bad, but it doesn't seem to have the same charm as something like Slap Fight, or, Terra Cresta!
Actually, it looks very British, especially with that guy with the sunglasses saying "Sector 1"! It might have been sorta cool then, but looks corny now!
Interesting. The DOS version has support for Tandy graphics, but no Tandy sound for music?
Nope. When the game starts you get an option menu for graphics only. No sound options.
@@RetroCore Weird. Maybe there's a setup.exe somewhere? Odd they didn't utilize the Tandy sound. That was as famous as the graphics.
Commodore 64 is insane like 60 fps jajaja. The conversión is near to the Árcade. But the cpc conversión have a good job with the color palette.
Maybe you knew this already but on the Amiga and ST you can waggle the joystick to switch ship mode :)
No, I didn't know that.
I only remember playing the sequel. The graphics were amazing! After playing EGA games that game really showed off the VGA colours! The prequel doesn’t look as good or fun as the second one.
It isn't. It's a typical computer game. Console shooters are way better.
Ugh I wasn't expecting the MSX version to be that hideous.
Apparently the unmodified version is even worse.
Yeah really, I mean space manbow for god-sakes. It's just asinine for it to be like that. Especially the colors.
@@valentine_puppy Space Manbow needs to be played on MSX 2+ for proper scrolling, so hardly a fair comparison.
@@timoheinonen9570 I am just saying that graphically there is no reason for it to look like that. Also, on a MSX you can have scrolling but it's gotta come with a memory mapper.
@@valentine_puppy MSX 2 already has proper scolling for Space Manbow, but tiles will dissapear and appear entirely on the overscan area. Ok for old TVs, weird for moder ones.
But yeah, This was your typical "lazy Spectrum port". Most european games on MSX are like that, unfortunately.
It looks like you're using a later, cracked copy of the ST port. The original release is from January 1988. There are some videos here on yt of the Kelly X Beta version for the ST with a 1987 copyright.The Arcadia and Amiga ports came later that year. The Arcadia ROM in the video is from 1989.
Thanks for the info.
I'm not sure how anyone played those Spectrum ports. I can't tell anything apart.
This is a nice example of a game where the Amiga's custom hardware is used to make the game play smoother. So many games either add a rainbow sky in the background and call it a day or worse, do absolutely nothing at all.
@Rooflesoft Games As bad as it is, at least I can see the bullets.
If you want to be polite you could say that ZX Spectrum games are an aquired taste, but truth is that even the most praised (by their community) games are hard to endure by somebody who is used to play on other machines.
This is very true.
@@amerigocosta7452 You are wrong. I played lots of C64 games in my childhood and have also played lots of MSX games, but I still prefer ZX Spectrum. I have 13 Spectrum compatible computers currently in working condition and at the same time only one MSX 2+ computer and that specific MSX I have owned for 20 years. For me the limitations are one factor that makes computers more interesting and also helps to differentiate between different systems.
I was a little late in getting into the ST, so ended up trying the C64 version before the ST version.
The C64 scrolling was lovely, but the music and sound fx were very disspointing.
I know artists were limited by the C64 colour palate, but some poor choices were made, invisible bullet syndrome rears it's ugly head.
The individual handing the CPC version a 9/10 score and using bulk text from ST and Amiga versions in his review, clearly never played it.
Yes it's faster than version shown here, but not to any real degree.
Same applies to C+VG who called it a nippy little game..
57% Amstrad Action, looks good but oh so slow.
Xenon replaced Starglider on ITV's Get Fresh kids TV programme, as neither the kids playing, nor the audience, had a bloody clue what was going on and the show creators wanted a more points orientated game
I used to watch Get Fresh with Gilbert the Alien but I don't remember the game segments. I think I was mostly just waiting for the cartoons to come on.
I had the Atari ST version.
Not sure if the review versions differed, but the C. C. I magazine reviewer who looked at the Amiga version, felt the difficulty was just about right to keep it challenging, whilst avoiding too much frustration.
I coukd barely make it to sector 2 😂
Same here. But we didn't have someone lining our pockets to say otherwise.
I remember seeing an arcade cab' with Xenon playing during some holidays in Spain. It was only way later that I learned about it being actually an Amiga in disguise.
As far as arcade games go, it's a bit hard to tell, but as far as computer shooters go, Xenon was the shit at the time! Loved the ST version, the music will be forever engraved in my mind and this version has my favorite rendition of the soundtrack but the Amiga version has smoother frame rate and thus is more enjoyable to play.
Xenon 2 soon I guess? The Mega Drive port of that game is UTTERLY LAZY ASS CRAP! Absolutely shameful by Mega Drive standards.
The Arcadia machines were a fail really and supposed to eat into the megadrive and Nintendo play choice machines territory. I'm pretty sure they loaded the game rather than supplied by rom. Then the home ports came out on what is considered budget labels the amiga being 19.99 I think. There was a shooter up that was track based that used some sort of battle sphere. I think you swap between vehicle and aircraft by haggling the joystick on 1 button controllers
Xenon is a mediocre shooter and its better than the sequel, which is the most overrated piece of crap to ever appear on Amiga.
Now a few notes...
I know you complain when we mention emulations.... but I am playing Xenon on my Amiga A600 right now just to be sure (Because I played it 2 days ago, coincidently :D)
The game isn't as fast as your video shows.
I dont know if the Arcadia system isn't emulated properly on Mame but every Arcadia game I played was like ten times faster than on real Amiga (I really wonder if it was like this on the arcadia hardware or is just bad emulation).... so I understand the game being so fast on the arcade version on your video.
But the Amiga Version? No way it's that fast on normal real hardware. Or there's something wrong with my copy, I dunno , because I am checking other videos on youtube and they are all like the speed of your video. But its really weird, I am running the game on the hardware it was supposed to run.... Now I have to investigate more :)
I remember you once said you run Amiga games on real hardware... what hardware are you using there?
Now Bitmap Brothers ALWAYS made their games first for the Atari ST maybe probably up until Speedball 2 or Gods, I am not sure. Even though the Arcadia version was released first, I really doubt it wasn't just a lazy port from an Atari ST base code.
And Atari ST version was released in 88 100% sure. Maybe your cracked copy changed the year copyright or something, you can easily find the Atari ST version on the web with an 88 copyright.
-
I first played this game on the MSX... and finished it back at the day. Being a lazy port from the Spectrum, and have played all the versions, I must say, I really think the spectrum version is the most playable of all of them.
And now I want to fire it up on my MSX, because I really don't remember it being THAT bad as you say. But it only used 1 button indeed, because FUCK LAZY SPECTRUM PORT. European games never used 2 buttons on MSX, urgh.
Speed difference between the Arcade and the home Amiga is likely because the Arcade is NTSC and the Basic Amiga version is PAL. The Arcade also had a more fuller image while the Amiga is stuck in a box while the bottom quarter of the screen is black, just like most PAL Amiga games. The only reason it doesn't look too bad on the video is because I crop out a lot of the unused screen area. During the end comparison section you can see the whopping big black bar on the home amaiga version.
@@RetroCore It's not just a PAL vs NTSC thing.
Look at those videos:
ruclips.net/video/0ca-XDFQccI/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/K1GGnCwg0PY/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/0LUFaLsu08U/видео.html
That's how Xenon runs on my Amiga, on real hardware with the original configuration (7mhz CPU).
On your video even the Amiga version is running a lot faster than that. That's why I was wondering if you are using an emulator or a souped-up Amiga with a faster CPU than a 68k at 7mhz.
I just played it while I was watching your video to be sure I wasn't dreaming. The game would be a lot more enjoyable if it ran at the speed shown at your video (Though the hitbox problems probably would still exist and be even more annoying at this speed)
Regarding the arcade version, I've played another Arcadia games on MAME which I also have played on my own amiga. On Mame they were a LOT faster than on my real hardware, and I don't know if that's an emulation issue or its just that the Arcadia hardware was more powerful than a vanilla Amiga and games were written to take advantage of that.
I do know Xenon 2 runs a lot faster on Winuae if you configure it to be more powerful than a "Vanilla" A500/A600, but I don't know if the same happens with the first game.
Yep, ST first up until Speedball II, which had sprites done on an Amiga first and the Amiga Starfield pitch being the reason the game was delayed.
Xenon II was done on a 386 PC but coded by The Assembly Line, going off memory, it was only designed by Bitmap Bros.
The arcade version isn’t dated 1987, it’s dated 1989 right there on the title screen. How did you miss that?!?
Looks like it says 1987 to me.
Retro Core 0:26 mark says MCMLXXXIX, which is 1989
Never play this game, funny thing you were mentioning in your video....Each game have an improvement, but it sacrifice something else... I laugh when you mentioned the Amstrad CPC. "Good looking until started to move".
That's quite a common issue with CPC stuff. Looks great until it moves.
@@RetroCore I never knew that, always learning something new everyday.
👍👍
Xenon was turned down by several uk publishers, before Virgin signed it.
I can see why. I know it is considered a classic but is it really?
I seem to remember a manga released here in the US by the same name back in the early 90s.
That's right, there was a manga called Xenon. It's unrelated to this of course.
There was also a pinball game called Xenon that predates all of these- it was released in 1980 by Bally, and that's what I still associate with the name.
@@paulbrown638
Hey, that was indeed a very good looking machine.
IIrc there is a decent conversion for visual pinball.
ahhhh Melbourne House, straya
CPC - Now this is a true lazy port. Forget the ones where the graphics are just the Spectrum version with more colour, here they've ported the graphics over from the 16 bits but made no effort whatsoever to optimise the code to account for the CPC's larger frame buffer. This would be a candidate for the Amstrad's limited hardware scrolling as well. What a waste.
The Spectrum version could have been a lot better as well. There's no actual need for the scrolling to tear that badly.
It would have looked better for sure.
At full speed it probably would have been way too fast, although they could have worked around that by using double buffering. This would have made a slower but still smooth game possible
Nice! :)
Amiga and C64 versions sound terrible, I much prefer the Spectrum followed by the ST.
ST version way, way too hard.
Think I only ever reached Sector II and I believe there isn't even an ending sequence for completing all 4 sectors, it just dumps you back to Sector I
Quite a good game, but no Megablast like the sequel XD. What happened to my beloved Amstrad with this horrible port?? OMG!!
The original Kelly X on ST:
ruclips.net/video/Fewp-yPgJ10/видео.html
Hmmmm. Must be something wrong with the CPC version you're playing as mine is faster than that and can change craft. Not a great game anyway but better than what you show here.
Come on MSDos you can do way better than this, btw I hope you show other graphic mode for MSDos coz sometime some of MSDos game have unique palette color mapping coz how limited is each graphic mode offer and many Game support Tandy 1000 coz how superior is Tandy 1000 when handle graphic and music unlike IBM own MSDos computer.
If it could do better it would have! Btw the version shown IS the Tandy/EGA version, the CGA version is 4 colours and looks and sounds much worse, they could have shown that to be more in fair comparison with cheaper PC models!
@@CastleFamilyThe while in here Mark say he use EGA and EGA is different than Tandy mode which many still say The Best MSDos ever made and the music way way different than other MSDos computer back in day and probably the only one can compete with Tandy is MSDos with EGA + AdLib which not cheap back in day.
But if there no different I can only say I really disappoint with MSDos port.
Bhirawa Maylana check the back of the box on moby games, tandy and ega (they put ega and cga wrong way round on box) look the same, probably just made Tandy compatible, but don’t be disappointed, alot of DOS stuff was behind Amiga, ST in the 80s.
@@CastleFamilyThe i am sorry I can only find front cover and it's say required CGA, EGA, VGA or Tandy card and program for IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2, Tandy 1000 and other 100% PC compatibles.
Amiga version is arcade perfect..
You need to inform yourself better about the release dates. See other comments, you're mostly wrong...