Hi, I worked on the SNES version of this! I did all of the front end and menu systems. Tony Pomfret did all of the actual game. They were good times, thanks for reminding me ❤
@@RetroCore My pleasure! Regarding the controls, I assume you mean for the cars? If so then yes absolutely, Tony spent a large chunk of development time working on the car controls from what I remember. Something you might not know too....all of us that worked on various versions of the game were taken to the Forest Experience in Wales by US Gold and we all did some rallying, it was epic. Most of the backgrounds in the menus on the SNES version are from that trip. 😉
Peter Johnson of RAGE software deserves some credit for not simply porting MD/SNES Power Drive over to the Jaguar, instead making a real effort on what was his first Jaguar title, Power Drive Rally. He's talked of using the GPU, putting too much code onto the object processor etc, so he admits things could of been done differently, but.. He used the enhanced resolution and colour range of the Jaguar to do Presentation screens in 16 and 24-bit colour. The in game graphics use 256 colour courses, the dashboard overlays are in 16-bit colour. Music has been re-orchestrated and you have the running commentary speech from your Co-driver. It's a nice, hidden gem on the Jaguar, but sadly was never going to have the WOW factor of something like Road Rash on the 3DO.
I do agree he did a good job for his first and only Jag game. Can't say I agree with the control mechanics however the use of a higher resolution to give more game playing area was a great call. I also like the added co-pilot voiceover. I do think he could have done with a presentation advisor though. The menus lack something that the SNES version had. I think it could be the generic tire track and engine images that bring down the presentation.
@@RetroCoreHe coded it at a time it was already beyond apparent the Jaguar was a commercial disaster and there was an extremely limited market to be had, it would of been easy just to do a basic rush job, just use the 68000,Jag owners so desperate they will buy anything, like many sadly did. But I feel it was doomed from the very start. With the 3DO having things like Need For Speed and Road Rash, the 32X Virtua Racing, this running on 64-bit architecture just looked like a step backwards, in terms of what type of Driving games were being put out.
Since i've played the Jaguar version multiple times, i can more or less tell you that the car's control are based on speed (i.e. going slow makes it feel stiff but going fast makes it feel more light). I like the Jaguar version a lot, but it's in second place in terms of the best racing game on the Jaguar (that honor goes to Super Burnout). Oh and fun fact: only 4 (yes i'm not making this shit up) people worked on the Jaguar version (P.S. early previews touted support with the JagLink for LAN play but the final version only supports two players taking alternative turns unfortunately).
I was going to comment the same about the steering. I've had a blast with Jaguar on bigpemu emulator. I agree, 2nd best racer on the system behind Super Burnout.
I agree. Having played extensively the Jaguar, SNES and Genesis versions, there’s no contest on this one. I’m not an Atari apologist but in this particular case the Jag port plays, looks and sounds vastly superior to the other consoles.
Can the Jag version be completed? I forget which stage but one of the later stages using the Escort Cosworth it felt like there wasn't enough time to complete it even with clean driving. Up until that point the Jag version was ace though. I've completed the Megadrive version a few times which is a great alternative as it offers a different challenge to the Jag version.
For those who are unaware: The flickering in Power Drive for GG is essential to avoid permanent damage in the screen on real hardware (LCD persistence). Space Harrier and Super Monaco GP II also does this as well.
It's probably that, but then again, there are many games with fixed HUDs on the Game Gear, I wonder if those did cause some image retention or even burn-in or something?
It's pretty impressive technically and graphically. I bought it for the Amiga. I got pretty disappointed cause it was hard for me to maneuver the vehicle. This could be made funnier and more arcade like. Look at rc Pro Am on the Nes for example. Bad example maybe. Impressive and cool game. Too bad I was not skilled enough.
Love this game. Was used to the Jaguar game, but recently got the Mega Drive games too, which I also completed. Both are very different, but both are great. To me they control fine...
The dos version does run fullscreen, or at least it would on period correct hardware. That's just dosbox being dosbox. The window issue can be fixed in the config settings. On the current build, though, the game exhibits some seizure inducing strobing effects that shouldn't be there. I couldn't ever get rid of those. Maybe it was just the copy I downloaded. Either way, I'm not sure the game is really worth going into too much work trying to fix it. Interesting video. I never knew this game even existed.
Dos box was configured to run fullscreen at 720p but for some reason the game window was always tinny. Could be an issue with the I game sections running at a different resolution to the menus which Dos Box couldn't figure out?
@@RetroCore Your output probably needs to be either ddraw or opengl. I was initially only running at 4k, but I tested 720p since that's what you were using and that was fine as well.
Power Drive is one of the few Jaguar games which had separate PAL and NTSC releases. Could it be possible that the other one runs at 60? I do know someone who complained about the control system while playing at 50hz, but actually liked it at 60.
It runs 60 hz on NTSC, just checked. Jaguar games run 50 Hz on PAL by default. He probably used incorrect info form the wikipedia article. In fact, the devs were referring to the PAL version running at 50 FPS in that interview, but the wikipedia article incrorrectly states it ran generally 50 FPS.
I never knew there was a game gear version. Time to break out the everdrive. Owned the jaguar version for a while and absolutely love it. When you get used to the momentum of the turning, it's an excellent game. Love it.
I think the Jag version threw me off because none of the other versions had speed sensitive controls. Saying that, the Amiga version didn't even have controls 😅
I wonder what kind of shenanigans were going on to keep them from having simultaneous sound effects and music on the Mega Drive. That's almost unheard of.
I guess the music was using all the channels of the sound chip. The MD port of OutRun had a similar issue, where you had to choose either music or engine sound as you couldn't have both at the same time. Anyway, that was unusual for the console and could/should have been avoided.
Pisses me off that devs did this with megadrive games yet the nes prolly had LESS audio channels but still managed to have at least basic sfx and good music Sure,you could compromise and have a basic engine sound that swaps to a skid sound which is basically ONE audio channel and still have music It was point blank lazy With something like outrun,the iconic music was important so i can understand the choice but i would still rather have one less music channel If i really wanted to play a game with its crappy music and no sfx,well at that point you may as well mute your tv and put a cd on Lazy programming,road rash had music and basic sfx,super hangon had engine plus sfx along with music Rad racer on nes had music and sfx Errr .. basically games in general have music and soind effects,only crappy euro dev games that came from amiga era had these limitations Also,i have no idea why anyone could say the megadrive game has nice sfx,the engine sounds horrid and a few beeps n bleeps for pick ups .. really ?
I have a funny memory of seeing the Amiga version in my local Beatties toy shop around 1995/1996 it was on sale from the original price of £19.99 to the bargain price of £19.98 yes you read that right me and friend asked a member of staff who said they were told prices by the head office.
Absolutely love this game. Controls on SNES are deliberately designed to give a realistic feel and its possible to master. It's really good on MD too. A must own.
I can't help but feel the criticisms of controls / screen area ect. are more down to problems setting up emulators correctly rather than a problem with the actual game. It wouldn't be the first time Retro Core has mistaken emulator problems for faults with the real game.
Love this game! Used to play it on DOS as a kid, and like the other comment says it did run full screen on original hardware. There is also a Sega Master System version that is converted from Game Gear.
Your info on the Jaguar port is most likely wrong. Jaguar games run 60Hz on NTSC machines and 50Hz on PAL machines. Unless Power Drive was only released in PAL regions, but it was not. All Jag games are region free. 50 FPS on PAL machines is correct, but it should run 60FPS on NTSC. The gfx are completely redone, with much more color&detail. Iam impressed how different the Jag version looks! The devs also stated that the number of tracks was reduced, but they are 4x bigger than the SNES counterparts. Update: I have a Jaguar with a 60Hz/50Hz switch and the game runs 60 Hz on NTSC.
One of my favourite games on the Jaguar (but then, I've only got ten games for it!). Not the most challenging game in the world (although it can get a little tricky to finish the later stages in time), but it does have that addictive quality to it.
Did they just re use the snes sprites tor the MD version? They look too tall, which makes sense as the MD has a lower aspect ratio if it's the same sprites.
The following argument comes complete with the obvious drawbacks, but here we go 😅... PDR on Jag is a decent arcade style isometric racer and is easily better than its predecessor/source material/etc. An age old argument but it plays spot on via a Jag at 60hz and, honestly, the only detracting comments ive encountered are centred around the difficulty of the interim challenges (remember that opening CarPark stage on Driver for PS1? 😂). Personally, although i still enjoyed them, it was actually the SNES & MD versions I felt had the most wonky controls but were fun nonetheless. The arcade versions of Neo Drift Out and Gaelco WRC series are the pinnacle of this game style imo, but PDR was a more subtle, grounded take and did a decent job of it imo 👍
I thought Rally was a sequel to the game, I guess not lol but it is a decent racing game if you can get accustomed to the car's immediate acceleration and drag
They really dropped the ball on the Amiga version of this. Even the music sounds worse than the SNES original, which is the one area where most Amiga games shine! Actually, it's weird that the SNES version came first, as that's pretty unusual for racing games. Normally they start life on the MD or Amiga, but that isn't the case here. At least they kept the graphics nice on the MD, which is usually the one area where it takes a hit, but it's weird that they couldn't get music and sound effects at the same time. My guess is that it has a sound driver similar to MD Outrun, where sampled sound effects can play but interrupt the music, and rather than use FM percussion to prevent this issue like Road Rash did, they just went "nah, you're gonna have to choose."
Never played this but it always looked impressive. Friend of mine worked at Rage during the Dreamcast era after moving from Psygnosis. He told me then how they were working on their "Incoming" port ready for the DC launch.
@@RetroCoreIncoming and Expendable were very nice looking early DC titles, but very short on depth. Style over substance, but I got a good few hrs play out of each x
I remember playing the amiga version back in the day and don't remember the controls being as bad as u say. I'll have to try again on real hardware see if it controls like u say The jag version deff the nicest looking out of all the versions Peter Johnson did the awful amiga version of robocop which was just a direct atari st port
I like how 90s were all into next gen consoles, and taking advantages of new graphic possibilities, but the devs still had to make new 8-bit games for Game Gear, and Gameboy, and then for Gameboy Colour even after 2000. And while dozens of such games were a mess, there were actually a few good efforts. Power Drive is clearly one of those examples.
Weird, I have a boxed copy of the Amiga version and I don't have an issue with the controls. Well certainly not to the extent you do. I have no idea what you're doing to just slam into the walls like that.
A decent battle here thanks Mark, it's alway remarkable how a simple isometric rally game with unremarkable graphics and sound could be so different across many formats, Sadly we are in the a similar situation nowadays with the Series xb consoles and the upcoming mid gen refresh. Im finding this generation to be a complete drag with boring and over hyped games being the norm. Dunno what you feel about this gen Mark but I've found myself sat in the garage playing Ps2 and saturn games on a 55 inch samsung plasma and a 28 inch crt.
I haven't played much this year on next hen. Just a few titles. Finished the new Hellblade yesterday. It was a visual masterpiece but as a game it was rather meh. I guess I'm now waiting for Indiana Jones.
It doesn't fit within the 'battle of the ports' series because I guess some were sequels and others were rebranding, but have you considered a retrospective on Psycho Fox, Decap Attack, Magical Flying Hat Turbo Adventure, and whatever other names it had, Kid Kool(?) I had a look through your past videos and I don't think you've covered them, but apologies if so :) I think there were four or five games in total over NES, SMS and Megadrive. I bought decap in the UK, but also rented MFHTA through one of those mail order services that you subscribe to, I was surprised to find it was the same as Decap but completely different graphics.
Magical Hat and DeCapAttack are basically the same game but all the others are quite different but do feature the same play mechanics. Maybe a a Battle of the Ports is not the way to go but maybe A Retro Core Special. That's my other show that I occasionally do. Mostly the current series is hardware based.
Magical Hat actually came first by quite some time. It's the version of the game I enjoy most. Never was a fan of DeCapAttack but I do know it has its fans.
The Jaguar crowd must be struggling for top picks because Power Drive recently made someone's. I'll say I'm pretty sure it is an actual sequel, too. Different tracks and physics. The DOS version is surprisingly bad. Rage maybe weren't up to all those ports. This is one of my fave top down racing games on the Mega Drive where it's controls are arguably flawless. At least in terms or responsiveness. But oversteer is a real problem and not getting stuck in ditches is what the game ultimately amounts to. I just wanted Mega Drive game with more levels and upgrades and a save. Also a level editor. Also music and sound.
Glad I never went out of my way to play this, back in the 90s when it was being promoted. US Gold = save your valuable time and money for something else.
You said the Jaguar being 50 FPS was nothing special, but the SNES and Game Gear versions are 30 FPS while the Mega Drive version is the only one that's at 60 FPS! (The Amiga version seems to run at an unstable 60 in comparison) Edit: As another person pointed out... it's actually just that the SNES port was a PAL only release while the MD port got an NTSC release, so the SNES port actually runs at 50 FPS. My bad
@@JFD62780 The original Power Drive (i.e. the Mega Drive port) was briefly available as a Sega Channel exclusive in North America. The Jaguar version, AFAIK, is the only physical version we got in North America.
@@JFD62780 I looked it up and... yeah, it's a EU game. I use , and . to see if a game is skipping frames. If it does, then I usually assume it's 30 FPS. This PAL stuff usually confuses me. Furthermore, the MD port actually got an NTSC release, which... yeah, you can connect the dots on that one
Never forgave Denton Designs for their travesty Batman Returns on the Amiga. Nice to see them keep their unblemished record of only releasing shite on the platform.
I've only ever played the Mega Drive version (rental), and while I liked the concept (and the rendering of the music), I couldn't pass a certain stage because of the view in front of the car : it was too short and turning in the right direction at the right moment was getting too hard for me with the faster cars. I was getting anxiety by not knowing what was in front of me and eventually quit playing out of frustration. The Jaguar version seems to be better to handle in that regard with the larger view.
Here's all the ports you need for this Battle of the ports 1. ZX Speecy 2. MSX 3.NES (Fanicom) 4. PC Engine 5. N-Gage 6. Sega Saturn (Saturn Bomberman) 7. Arcade 8. PlayStation (Bomberman: Party Editon)
Oh I'm sad.. Denton Designs was a good studio in 1980's.. they make so many good games like Great Escape, Where time sttod still, Fox fights back etc.. I never heard they working on game like this..eh, you live you learn right:)
You would think with that many ports ONE of the dev teams would have realized the controls sucked and tried to improve them. Sounds like that was just baked into the game no matter what. And the Game Gear's into music cracked me up for some reason. Sounded like a cheap Apple II educational title they'd have you play in school.
Seems like you'd be better of playing an other racing game that starts with "Power Dri" then? Dunno though, missed this at the time and have never played it. Looks alright.
Ah Power Drive! Last Year I revisited this on my MD. The big difference of this Game in comparison to other similar Isometric Racing games was that you dont turn the car itself, you just steer the Front wheels and it takes some time and practice to get into this. After I played it on my MD I gave it a shot an my Retron5 just to see if how it would look via HDMI, well of course it looked better but I couldn´t drive anymore! Crashed left to right like if I never played it before. It was the same Cartridge and also the same Controller but in the Emulation of the Retron5 it feeled like a whole different Game. Since then I avoid Emulation wherever I can and use only original Hardware. Even when that means that I have to deal with sh**ty graphics.
Yeah this is the most sophisticated top down racing game of the time period because you are controlling the front wheels, the car turns _from_ the front wheels and not the central pivot point of the vehicle sprite [or does it?]. The angle of steering is actually not 8 way but a changeable amount with an analogue style of control. Making it feel more advanced than any other of it's type. Along with realistic physics, meaning the only really good version on the Mega Drive can be played to a very high level of skill and fluidity.
Have you heard of our lord and saviour called FPGA gaming? Means you can have great controls and gfx with all modern bells and whistles. Mister, analogue products or even retroscalers will fix this! Happy gaming good sir!
After playing Street Fighter 2 on my ST in the 1990s and being outraged by how awful it was, I came to see U.S. Gold more as U.S. Shite. Not surprised to see the Amiga version of Power Drive was crap...
Pisses me off that devs did this with megadrive games yet the nes prolly had LESS audio channels but still managed to have at least basic sfx and good music Sure,you could compromise and have a basic engine sound that swaps to a skid sound which is basically ONE audio channel and still have music It was point blank lazy With something like outrun,the iconic music was important so i can understand the choice but i would still rather have one less music channel If i really wanted to play a game with its crappy music and no sfx,well at that point you may as well mute your tv and put a cd on Lazy programming,road rash had music and basic sfx,super hangon had engine plus sfx along with music Rad racer on nes had music and sfx Errr .. basically games in general have music and soind effects,only crappy euro dev games that came from amiga era had these limitations Also,i have no idea why anyone could say the megadrive game has nice sfx,the engine sounds horrid and a few beeps n bleeps for pick ups .. really ? What i will say,os that the megadrive game looks the best of them,the pc game has more issues than good points,the jaguar version costs a fortune and isnt actually very good,infact it shouldn't even be on the jaguar,we aint talking about a 32bit era game like rayman The snes version looks fairly garbage tbh and jas a bad framerate and laggy controls and is slower and has less screen real-estate making an overhead game like this alot less fun,the megadrive version has more detailed textures,better rain and night time effects,runs smoothly and quick too,sich a shame about the audio,unlike the expensive toilet,the megadrive game is actually attainable as well,the snes games chunky graphics .. i will admit,i do like in some ways and its music is good too Sega should have snapped up tim follin to do audio stuff with the megadrive,write good tools for and make the thing do things it was never designed to do,or at least,wish companies like ocean and other uk,euro based companies should have hired him more,tho when o think about it,why should he pour his amazing work into garbage ..but wait,there is a game called rock n roll racing .. even that couldnt do music and sfx so hell knows,he done a game called time trax for megadrive and thar sounds amazing,maybe a different developer made the megadrive version ? Goodness knows
I remember this game being blasted on all magazines back in the day, reviews said it was really bad. The Mega Driva, Snes and Amiga versions were really bad games. The Amiga version played like shit indeed, even worse than the console versions which were already pretty bad. Denton Designs didn't make one single good game on Amiga I was surprised when I saw the Jaguar version looking so good. I have never played it, I thought it would play well... erm,, Didn't know the Game Gear version. The music is awful and the SFX sounds like an Atari 2600 game. Great, Heh.
What an ugly game! Don't think I'm missing much not playing this one. Also, the games original developer rang a bell for me. Rage Studios, don’t know why but they sounded familiar. Turns out all they’ve done is shovelware like some Revolution X console ports and Saturn Doom.
Yeah, about a month ago my old karate teacher got killed by a drunk driver. It's such an irresponsible thing to do, and yet some people just don't care.
@@zanegandini5350 Worst thing is those irresponsible drivers usually are the ones that gets out unhurt after an accident, while the responsible ones get damage or even dies on the accident.
@@bettoperu Well, my sensei got killed while on a motorcycle, so he didn't really have a fighting chance. Sounds like he was just about to pull in at home too.
Can you do a BOTP for SEGA Super Masters (not sure if the home versions are really ports of the Super Masters arcade) / Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf / Tournament Golf Amiga / ST? Use Amiga 1200 or upgraded A500 w/ 68020 or 68030 as the platform.
Hi, I worked on the SNES version of this!
I did all of the front end and menu systems.
Tony Pomfret did all of the actual game.
They were good times, thanks for reminding me ❤
Thanks for the info and for commenting.👍
I have a question about the controls. Did they turn out the way they were originally intended?
@@RetroCore My pleasure!
Regarding the controls, I assume you mean for the cars?
If so then yes absolutely, Tony spent a large chunk of development time working on the car controls from what I remember.
Something you might not know too....all of us that worked on various versions of the game were taken to the Forest Experience in Wales by US Gold and we all did some rallying, it was epic.
Most of the backgrounds in the menus on the SNES version are from that trip. 😉
The headlights effect on the MD version is fairly effective. 3:48
Yeah, the lights on n the MD version are really well done. I was impressed.
Peter Johnson of RAGE software deserves some credit for not simply porting MD/SNES Power Drive over to the Jaguar, instead making a real effort on what was his first Jaguar title, Power Drive Rally.
He's talked of using the GPU, putting too much code onto the object processor etc, so he admits things could of been done differently, but..
He used the enhanced resolution and colour range of the Jaguar to do Presentation screens in 16 and 24-bit colour.
The in game graphics use 256 colour courses, the dashboard overlays are in 16-bit colour.
Music has been re-orchestrated and you have the running commentary speech from your Co-driver.
It's a nice, hidden gem on the Jaguar, but sadly was never going to have the WOW factor of something like Road Rash on the 3DO.
I do agree he did a good job for his first and only Jag game.
Can't say I agree with the control mechanics however the use of a higher resolution to give more game playing area was a great call. I also like the added co-pilot voiceover.
I do think he could have done with a presentation advisor though. The menus lack something that the SNES version had. I think it could be the generic tire track and engine images that bring down the presentation.
@@RetroCoreHe coded it at a time it was already beyond apparent the Jaguar was a commercial disaster and there was an extremely limited market to be had, it would of been easy just to do a basic rush job, just use the 68000,Jag owners so desperate they will buy anything, like many sadly did.
But I feel it was doomed from the very start.
With the 3DO having things like Need For Speed and Road Rash, the 32X Virtua Racing, this running on 64-bit architecture just looked like a step backwards, in terms of what type of Driving games were being put out.
Since i've played the Jaguar version multiple times, i can more or less tell you that the car's control are based on speed (i.e. going slow makes it feel stiff but going fast makes it feel more light). I like the Jaguar version a lot, but it's in second place in terms of the best racing game on the Jaguar (that honor goes to Super Burnout). Oh and fun fact: only 4 (yes i'm not making this shit up) people worked on the Jaguar version (P.S. early previews touted support with the JagLink for LAN play but the final version only supports two players taking alternative turns unfortunately).
I was going to comment the same about the steering. I've had a blast with Jaguar on bigpemu emulator. I agree, 2nd best racer on the system behind Super Burnout.
I agree. Having played extensively the Jaguar, SNES and Genesis versions, there’s no contest on this one. I’m not an Atari apologist but in this particular case the Jag port plays, looks and sounds vastly superior to the other consoles.
I think the Jaguar version is the best one. One of the few really good games for the system.
Can the Jag version be completed? I forget which stage but one of the later stages using the Escort Cosworth it felt like there wasn't enough time to complete it even with clean driving. Up until that point the Jag version was ace though. I've completed the Megadrive version a few times which is a great alternative as it offers a different challenge to the Jag version.
@@MIK_F40 yes, it does have an ending
For those who are unaware: The flickering in Power Drive for GG is essential to avoid permanent damage in the screen on real hardware (LCD persistence). Space Harrier and Super Monaco GP II also does this as well.
What you wrote interested me. I did some quick research and it turns out you are absolutely right.
(via smspower forum)
Thank you for this info
Yeah, we all had a screen like that in early 2000s, and played some games with fixed HUD 😉
It's probably that, but then again, there are many games with fixed HUDs on the Game Gear, I wonder if those did cause some image retention or even burn-in or something?
I have a feeling it's more due to a sprite limit or something like that.
I do wonder too if some devs knew of the blur on the screen and used it to their advantage like some Gameboy games did!
An addictive racer that stood out from the rest.
It's pretty impressive technically and graphically. I bought it for the Amiga. I got pretty disappointed cause it was hard for me to maneuver the vehicle.
This could be made funnier and more arcade like. Look at rc Pro Am on the Nes for example. Bad example maybe.
Impressive and cool game. Too bad I was not skilled enough.
Love this game. Was used to the Jaguar game, but recently got the Mega Drive games too, which I also completed. Both are very different, but both are great. To me they control fine...
The dos version does run fullscreen, or at least it would on period correct hardware. That's just dosbox being dosbox. The window issue can be fixed in the config settings. On the current build, though, the game exhibits some seizure inducing strobing effects that shouldn't be there. I couldn't ever get rid of those. Maybe it was just the copy I downloaded. Either way, I'm not sure the game is really worth going into too much work trying to fix it. Interesting video. I never knew this game even existed.
Dos box was configured to run fullscreen at 720p but for some reason the game window was always tinny. Could be an issue with the I game sections running at a different resolution to the menus which Dos Box couldn't figure out?
@@RetroCore Your output probably needs to be either ddraw or opengl. I was initially only running at 4k, but I tested 720p since that's what you were using and that was fine as well.
@@initial_kd Yeah. The problems I had with strobing was because I didn't set the cpu cycles high enough. Oops.
I remembered playing and liking this game on msdos and I was pretty sure it wasn't that small. I'm sure it's an emulation problem.
I ran it in eXoDOS, and it came up full screen.
Power Drive is one of the few Jaguar games which had separate PAL and NTSC releases. Could it be possible that the other one runs at 60? I do know someone who complained about the control system while playing at 50hz, but actually liked it at 60.
Ah, yoh could have a point about that
It runs 60 hz on NTSC, just checked. Jaguar games run 50 Hz on PAL by default. He probably used incorrect info form the wikipedia article. In fact, the devs were referring to the PAL version running at 50 FPS in that interview, but the wikipedia article incrorrectly states it ran generally 50 FPS.
The soundtrack to this game still plays in my head, luved the Genesis version
I never knew there was a game gear version. Time to break out the everdrive. Owned the jaguar version for a while and absolutely love it. When you get used to the momentum of the turning, it's an excellent game. Love it.
I think the Jag version threw me off because none of the other versions had speed sensitive controls. Saying that, the Amiga version didn't even have controls 😅
I wonder what kind of shenanigans were going on to keep them from having simultaneous sound effects and music on the Mega Drive. That's almost unheard of.
I guess the music was using all the channels of the sound chip. The MD port of OutRun had a similar issue, where you had to choose either music or engine sound as you couldn't have both at the same time. Anyway, that was unusual for the console and could/should have been avoided.
@@Shyning77 Interesting. Can't imagine too many people chose an engine sound over music lol
@@TheFirstHunt I can't either, or just once out of curiosity. The OutRun soundtrack is too iconic and plays a big part in the experience.
Pisses me off that devs did this with megadrive games yet the nes prolly had LESS audio channels but still managed to have at least basic sfx and good music
Sure,you could compromise and have a basic engine sound that swaps to a skid sound which is basically ONE audio channel and still have music
It was point blank lazy
With something like outrun,the iconic music was important so i can understand the choice but i would still rather have one less music channel
If i really wanted to play a game with its crappy music and no sfx,well at that point you may as well mute your tv and put a cd on
Lazy programming,road rash had music and basic sfx,super hangon had engine plus sfx along with music
Rad racer on nes had music and sfx
Errr .. basically games in general have music and soind effects,only crappy euro dev games that came from amiga era had these limitations
Also,i have no idea why anyone could say the megadrive game has nice sfx,the engine sounds horrid and a few beeps n bleeps for pick ups .. really ?
I have a funny memory of seeing the Amiga version in my local Beatties toy shop around 1995/1996 it was on sale from the original price of £19.99 to the bargain price of £19.98 yes you read that right me and friend asked a member of staff who said they were told prices by the head office.
Lol, 1 pence off. Classic 90s game pricing. HMV would do that at times just to say they had the cheapest deal.
Absolutely love this game. Controls on SNES are deliberately designed to give a realistic feel and its possible to master. It's really good on MD too. A must own.
Only played Megadrive one, but runs smoother than any other. GG port looks amazing for the system.
I can't help but feel the criticisms of controls / screen area ect. are more down to problems setting up emulators correctly rather than a problem with the actual game. It wouldn't be the first time Retro Core has mistaken emulator problems for faults with the real game.
Mega Drive, snes and in a way, game gear were all played on real hardware. PC too via Dos box.
Had it on the Amiga. It was hard but I don't remember any input lag.
Love this game! Used to play it on DOS as a kid, and like the other comment says it did run full screen on original hardware. There is also a Sega Master System version that is converted from Game Gear.
@@initial_kd no, it runs very smoothly on dosbox or other emulators as well when you have the right settings, it's a good port.
Your info on the Jaguar port is most likely wrong. Jaguar games run 60Hz on NTSC machines and 50Hz on PAL machines. Unless Power Drive was only released in PAL regions, but it was not. All Jag games are region free. 50 FPS on PAL machines is correct, but it should run 60FPS on NTSC. The gfx are completely redone, with much more color&detail. Iam impressed how different the Jag version looks!
The devs also stated that the number of tracks was reduced, but they are 4x bigger than the SNES counterparts.
Update: I have a Jaguar with a 60Hz/50Hz switch and the game runs 60 Hz on NTSC.
One of my favourite games on the Jaguar (but then, I've only got ten games for it!). Not the most challenging game in the world (although it can get a little tricky to finish the later stages in time), but it does have that addictive quality to it.
Whoa! a Jaguar game port! Rare indeed. What a strange trip that console was...
Did they just re use the snes sprites tor the MD version? They look too tall, which makes sense as the MD has a lower aspect ratio if it's the same sprites.
The Megadrive has a higher resolution mode and an identical resolution mode.
Great video, as always.
I appreciate that👍
The water looks weird in the Jag version, wherever driving past rivers its like you're driving on an island in the sky
It's actually meant to be a water reflection effect using parallax scrolling.
Looks more like a hole in the ground than a reflection 😞
There was also a really cool arcade game called power drive were you raced monster trucks track and field Style
The following argument comes complete with the obvious drawbacks, but here we go 😅...
PDR on Jag is a decent arcade style isometric racer and is easily better than its predecessor/source material/etc. An age old argument but it plays spot on via a Jag at 60hz and, honestly, the only detracting comments ive encountered are centred around the difficulty of the interim challenges (remember that opening CarPark stage on Driver for PS1? 😂).
Personally, although i still enjoyed them, it was actually the SNES & MD versions I felt had the most wonky controls but were fun nonetheless.
The arcade versions of Neo Drift Out and Gaelco WRC series are the pinnacle of this game style imo, but PDR was a more subtle, grounded take and did a decent job of it imo 👍
The Gaelco WRC game is fantastic. That is by easily the best game of this type.
@@RetroCore Amazing what a Spanish team from the microcomputer days managed to do with superior hardware ;)
I thought Rally was a sequel to the game, I guess not lol but it is a decent racing game if you can get accustomed to the car's immediate acceleration and drag
They really dropped the ball on the Amiga version of this. Even the music sounds worse than the SNES original, which is the one area where most Amiga games shine! Actually, it's weird that the SNES version came first, as that's pretty unusual for racing games. Normally they start life on the MD or Amiga, but that isn't the case here. At least they kept the graphics nice on the MD, which is usually the one area where it takes a hit, but it's weird that they couldn't get music and sound effects at the same time. My guess is that it has a sound driver similar to MD Outrun, where sampled sound effects can play but interrupt the music, and rather than use FM percussion to prevent this issue like Road Rash did, they just went "nah, you're gonna have to choose."
These graphics are designed to run on 16:9 aspect ratio
What is wrong with that map of France on the Game Gear port?? 😅
Never played this but it
always looked impressive. Friend of mine worked at Rage during the Dreamcast era after moving from Psygnosis. He told me then how they were working on their "Incoming" port ready for the DC launch.
Incoming was one of the earliest games for the DC in Japan. I remember being impressed by the lighting bug could never really get in to the game.
@@RetroCoreIncoming and Expendable were very nice looking early DC titles, but very short on depth. Style over substance, but I got a good few hrs play out of each x
@@RetroCore Yes same here, feel Incoming was more a tech demo than game for sure.
What a coincidence! I just discovered this game this week, I had been eyeing the MD version but you've talked me out of it here.
It's worth getting, but perhaps bit better on SNES.
That is a coincidence 👍
The Jaguar version looks great.
Do you know how to drive in straight line ?
Sure, on a game with better controls.
I had only played the mega drive port and didn't realize there were this many ports! I also just wish the controls were better on this one too...
I remember playing the amiga version back in the day and don't remember the controls being as bad as u say. I'll have to try again on real hardware see if it controls like u say
The jag version deff the nicest looking out of all the versions
Peter Johnson did the awful amiga version of robocop which was just a direct atari st port
I said the same. It was really difficult but there was no lag AFAIK. He seems to be reviewing based on emulation. I might be wrong.
Great video! I agree with you about the Amiga version. That is an unplayable mess.
I like how 90s were all into next gen consoles, and taking advantages of new graphic possibilities, but the devs still had to make new 8-bit games for Game Gear, and Gameboy, and then for Gameboy Colour even after 2000.
And while dozens of such games were a mess, there were actually a few good efforts.
Power Drive is clearly one of those examples.
In a way it's like that now with Switch and PS4 games still being made.
True! And Switch is nowhere near as powerful as PS4
Weren't the controls meant to represent 'real' driving? I normally like this style of game but got absolutely nowhere with it on my Amiga.
So they say but they still suck. Real cars don't control like these do.
Weird, I have a boxed copy of the Amiga version and I don't have an issue with the controls. Well certainly not to the extent you do. I have no idea what you're doing to just slam into the walls like that.
It's broken. When watching the video you can actually see the car sliding across the track.
Was there a later release that patched the control issue?
A decent battle here thanks Mark, it's alway remarkable how a simple isometric rally game with unremarkable graphics and sound could be so different across many formats, Sadly we are in the a similar situation nowadays with the Series xb consoles and the upcoming mid gen refresh. Im finding this generation to be a complete drag with boring and over hyped games being the norm. Dunno what you feel about this gen Mark but I've found myself sat in the garage playing Ps2 and saturn games on a 55 inch samsung plasma and a 28 inch crt.
I haven't played much this year on next hen. Just a few titles. Finished the new Hellblade yesterday. It was a visual masterpiece but as a game it was rather meh.
I guess I'm now waiting for Indiana Jones.
The mega drive does have music and sound effects together!
Not on this game. It's an option.
This game only allows one or the other. That's why I pointed it out. It's very strange for a Mega Drive game to not allow both.
It doesn't fit within the 'battle of the ports' series because I guess some were sequels and others were rebranding, but have you considered a retrospective on Psycho Fox, Decap Attack, Magical Flying Hat Turbo Adventure, and whatever other names it had, Kid Kool(?) I had a look through your past videos and I don't think you've covered them, but apologies if so :) I think there were four or five games in total over NES, SMS and Megadrive. I bought decap in the UK, but also rented MFHTA through one of those mail order services that you subscribe to, I was surprised to find it was the same as Decap but completely different graphics.
Magical Hat and DeCapAttack are basically the same game but all the others are quite different but do feature the same play mechanics.
Maybe a a Battle of the Ports is not the way to go but maybe A Retro Core Special. That's my other show that I occasionally do. Mostly the current series is hardware based.
Magical Hat actually came first by quite some time. It's the version of the game I enjoy most. Never was a fan of DeCapAttack but I do know it has its fans.
Always was curious about this game in the day....but never bothered.
I guess i didn't miss much?
There are much better overhead racers.
The Jaguar crowd must be struggling for top picks because Power Drive recently made someone's. I'll say I'm pretty sure it is an actual sequel, too. Different tracks and physics.
The DOS version is surprisingly bad. Rage maybe weren't up to all those ports. This is one of my fave top down racing games on the Mega Drive where it's controls are arguably flawless. At least in terms or responsiveness. But oversteer is a real problem and not getting stuck in ditches is what the game ultimately amounts to.
I just wanted Mega Drive game with more levels and upgrades and a save. Also a level editor. Also music and sound.
Glad I never went out of my way to play this, back in the 90s when it was being promoted.
US Gold = save your valuable time and money for something else.
You have done a superb gameplay video here. Mind if I
share it in a Gaming leaderboards discord I created with some friends?
Sure, if they want to see someone driving in to walls.
I can't get in to this one.
You said the Jaguar being 50 FPS was nothing special, but the SNES and Game Gear versions are 30 FPS while the Mega Drive version is the only one that's at 60 FPS! (The Amiga version seems to run at an unstable 60 in comparison)
Edit: As another person pointed out... it's actually just that the SNES port was a PAL only release while the MD port got an NTSC release, so the SNES port actually runs at 50 FPS. My bad
. . .
I saw 50 on the SNES, 60 on the MD (and the Jag, weirdly enough), making me guess this game was a UK exclusive there...? (is in the US)
@@JFD62780 The original Power Drive (i.e. the Mega Drive port) was briefly available as a Sega Channel exclusive in North America. The Jaguar version, AFAIK, is the only physical version we got in North America.
@@JFD62780 I looked it up and... yeah, it's a EU game. I use , and . to see if a game is skipping frames. If it does, then I usually assume it's 30 FPS. This PAL stuff usually confuses me.
Furthermore, the MD port actually got an NTSC release, which... yeah, you can connect the dots on that one
@@JFD62780 Why weirdly enough?
Jaguar NTSC runs at 60Hz, PAL at 50 Hz.
It's ironic that strict deadlines and an antipathy towards the game hurt your review's quality.
You and Ocean have more in common than expected.
Never forgave Denton Designs for their travesty Batman Returns on the Amiga. Nice to see them keep their unblemished record of only releasing shite on the platform.
I've only ever played the Mega Drive version (rental), and while I liked the concept (and the rendering of the music), I couldn't pass a certain stage because of the view in front of the car : it was too short and turning in the right direction at the right moment was getting too hard for me with the faster cars. I was getting anxiety by not knowing what was in front of me and eventually quit playing out of frustration. The Jaguar version seems to be better to handle in that regard with the larger view.
Make Another Battle of the ports, but this time with Hudson Soft's classic, Bomberman!💣🎈
We'll see. The very first Bomber Man is quite basic.
Here's all the ports you need for this Battle of the ports
1. ZX Speecy
2. MSX
3.NES (Fanicom)
4. PC Engine
5. N-Gage
6. Sega Saturn (Saturn Bomberman)
7. Arcade
8. PlayStation (Bomberman: Party Editon)
I played SNES and DOS version, never known there were other ports 😅 SNES was the best version imo
Night racing on the mega drive looks great but those engine sounds are grating.
Yeah I agree
Cex will give u 1k for a game gear version 🤯
Mega Drive wins… FLAWLESS VICTORY!
Oh I'm sad.. Denton Designs was a good studio in 1980's.. they make so many good games like Great Escape, Where time sttod still, Fox fights back etc.. I never heard they working on game like this..eh, you live you learn right:)
the game gear version's flickering hud is super jarring. at least it was meant to be on a small screen lol
To be fair, on the Game Gear blury screen the flickering can't be noticed.
Request: Battle Of The Ports: Sky Kid ( 1985 )
I'll add sky kid to the list.
You would think with that many ports ONE of the dev teams would have realized the controls sucked and tried to improve them. Sounds like that was just baked into the game no matter what. And the Game Gear's into music cracked me up for some reason. Sounded like a cheap Apple II educational title they'd have you play in school.
Lol, the audio on the Game Gear version was pretty poor. 1 channel beeps 😅
Seems like you'd be better of playing an other racing game that starts with "Power Dri" then? Dunno though, missed this at the time and have never played it. Looks alright.
Ah Power Drive! Last Year I revisited this on my MD. The big difference of this Game in comparison to other similar Isometric Racing games was that you dont turn the car itself, you just steer the Front wheels and it takes some time and practice to get into this. After I played it on my MD I gave it a shot an my Retron5 just to see if how it would look via HDMI, well of course it looked better but I couldn´t drive anymore! Crashed left to right like if I never played it before. It was the same Cartridge and also the same Controller but in the Emulation of the Retron5 it feeled like a whole different Game. Since then I avoid Emulation wherever I can and use only original Hardware. Even when that means that I have to deal with sh**ty graphics.
Yeah this is the most sophisticated top down racing game of the time period because you are controlling the front wheels, the car turns _from_ the front wheels and not the central pivot point of the vehicle sprite [or does it?]. The angle of steering is actually not 8 way but a changeable amount with an analogue style of control. Making it feel more advanced than any other of it's type. Along with realistic physics, meaning the only really good version on the Mega Drive can be played to a very high level of skill and fluidity.
Have you heard of our lord and saviour called FPGA gaming? Means you can have great controls and gfx with all modern bells and whistles. Mister, analogue products or even retroscalers will fix this! Happy gaming good sir!
Just Everdrive
@@TheKayliedGamerChannel-RUclips love everdrives. But they will not fix a md defealt signal on a modern screen.
@@NLSagat I've got a scart in one and the image is top
unko drive! 🤣
After playing Street Fighter 2 on my ST in the 1990s and being outraged by how awful it was, I came to see U.S. Gold more as U.S. Shite. Not surprised to see the Amiga version of Power Drive was crap...
Us Gold was Shite. Everything they put out was shite. Ocean were shite too for the most part but US Gold were extra slimiey shite.
Pisses me off that devs did this with megadrive games yet the nes prolly had LESS audio channels but still managed to have at least basic sfx and good music
Sure,you could compromise and have a basic engine sound that swaps to a skid sound which is basically ONE audio channel and still have music
It was point blank lazy
With something like outrun,the iconic music was important so i can understand the choice but i would still rather have one less music channel
If i really wanted to play a game with its crappy music and no sfx,well at that point you may as well mute your tv and put a cd on
Lazy programming,road rash had music and basic sfx,super hangon had engine plus sfx along with music
Rad racer on nes had music and sfx
Errr .. basically games in general have music and soind effects,only crappy euro dev games that came from amiga era had these limitations
Also,i have no idea why anyone could say the megadrive game has nice sfx,the engine sounds horrid and a few beeps n bleeps for pick ups .. really ?
What i will say,os that the megadrive game looks the best of them,the pc game has more issues than good points,the jaguar version costs a fortune and isnt actually very good,infact it shouldn't even be on the jaguar,we aint talking about a 32bit era game like rayman
The snes version looks fairly garbage tbh and jas a bad framerate and laggy controls and is slower and has less screen real-estate making an overhead game like this alot less fun,the megadrive version has more detailed textures,better rain and night time effects,runs smoothly and quick too,sich a shame about the audio,unlike the expensive toilet,the megadrive game is actually attainable as well,the snes games chunky graphics .. i will admit,i do like in some ways and its music is good too
Sega should have snapped up tim follin to do audio stuff with the megadrive,write good tools for and make the thing do things it was never designed to do,or at least,wish companies like ocean and other uk,euro based companies should have hired him more,tho when o think about it,why should he pour his amazing work into garbage ..but wait,there is a game called rock n roll racing .. even that couldnt do music and sfx so hell knows,he done a game called time trax for megadrive and thar sounds amazing,maybe a different developer made the megadrive version ? Goodness knows
Last thing i heard from Tim Filling regarding Sega, was they hadn't paid him for the music he wrote for Dreamcast Ecco The Dolphin 😂
U S. Gold? More like fools gold!
He certainly did moved up in the corporate world. He quit Ocean Software to join U.S. GOLD😆
Lol, I think he took a step down 😂
I've never been a fan of this style of racing game. The bird's eye view makes me feel so disconnected to what is going on.
I would agree with you on that.
I still own the Jag version...I never liked it
I remember this game being blasted on all magazines back in the day, reviews said it was really bad.
The Mega Driva, Snes and Amiga versions were really bad games. The Amiga version played like shit indeed, even worse than the console versions which were already pretty bad. Denton Designs didn't make one single good game on Amiga
I was surprised when I saw the Jaguar version looking so good. I have never played it, I thought it would play well... erm,,
Didn't know the Game Gear version. The music is awful and the SFX sounds like an Atari 2600 game. Great, Heh.
Yep, it's a bad game. The so called real controls ruin it with the Amiga being the absolute worst.
What an ugly game! Don't think I'm missing much not playing this one. Also, the games original developer rang a bell for me. Rage Studios, don’t know why but they sounded familiar. Turns out all they’ve done is shovelware like some Revolution X console ports and Saturn Doom.
Twin Caliber is one of my favourite PS2 games.
Also also the very fun Incoming for PC.
Rage were never the best IMO but they do have their fans.
Jaguar WINS
ohhh, nooo...not U.S. gold! Now i know this game is going to be bad.
Never played the game, but seems more like a drunk driving simulator. Seriously do not drink and drive please.
Yeah, about a month ago my old karate teacher got killed by a drunk driver. It's such an irresponsible thing to do, and yet some people just don't care.
@@zanegandini5350 Worst thing is those irresponsible drivers usually are the ones that gets out unhurt after an accident, while the responsible ones get damage or even dies on the accident.
@@bettoperu Well, my sensei got killed while on a motorcycle, so he didn't really have a fighting chance. Sounds like he was just about to pull in at home too.
Drunk drivers are one of the worst offenders out there.
MD
U.S. Gold? That explains it all. They were never known for putting quality in anything they did nor ported to any console nor on PC.
You are spot on there. US Gold sucked more than Ocean and they sucked hard.
Can you do a BOTP for SEGA Super Masters (not sure if the home versions are really ports of the Super Masters arcade) / Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf / Tournament Golf Amiga / ST? Use Amiga 1200 or upgraded A500 w/ 68020 or 68030 as the platform.
I'll take a look in to them. I have a feeling the gold games are different game that share a similar name.