This looks like a game made to sell via photographs in magazines. You look at the big sprites of the main character in a photo and think "wow, look at that". But when you bring the game to home and start playing it...
They were the days. Or sometimes they'd use fake screen shots or shots from another system to give you false hope. The cover art on games back then we're always an influence on buying games as well.
@@RetroCore over here in Germany we had video stores and special renting stores for video and computer games, my dad and I used those to find out about what was worth the money. Renting a game for the weekend and then, if it was fun, buying it. And then there where of course external backups, I used these also to check if a game was worth my money, if I could buy it over here that is. If I couldn't then it wasn't a loss for the publishers anyway. 🤷♀️😊
The reason for the funky CGA colors in different modes is because it's using a trick that Maniac Mansion also used to get more colors out of the mode by exploiting how composite video works. The window mode is probably emulating composite output
I understand what you mean but I don't think thats it. Maybe I didn't explain well in the video. I'm running the game full screen on one PC which is connected to another PC which captures the video. The image is split via HDMI to the TV and Capture PC. The image on the TV looks fine while the capture has the funky colours. However, if I play the game in a window it will look fine on the playing PC and Capture PC. Logically the image should not change colour between the playing PC and Capture PC as they are receiving the same signal. I wonder if the capture card is detecting the CGA colours and then applying the colour truck to the image automatically? That's the only thing I can think of.
Actually the C64 version does have the animated intro with the ship. It may be that this video used a cracked version with the intro removed, since it was originally a separate load; when booting up the game, the intro was loaded and played first, then the actual game was loaded. Also, Atari ST version apparently has an alternate death animation when protagonist is killed by one of those large Xenomorph expies as opposed to regular enemies. 🤔
Im confirm as the intro is in the C64 original. You got a cracked version with the intro removed. Same happens with Speed Ball 2, which was a seperate load and used full memory for the intro as well. Can been the same reason here.
I played this on my Tandy 1000 back in the day- borrowed it from the library. It was amusing for about 5 minutes. It also reminds me a lot of the end stage of the Predator game for NES, where all of a sudden there's this huge blocky sprite of Arnold. Huge player sprites were marketable back then. Just see China Warrior for the TG16.
As an eX Amstrad CPC464 owner, it always nice to see the old CPC win the battle of the 8 bit computers for once. Never played this game when it was released, I think I had moved onto the Amiga A500 by then. Thanks for the great video.
On CPC, the game has been programmed by Dave Perry with GFX created by Nick Bruty. This explains the technical quality of the game. That's on CPC that Trantor encounter the most part of its success. You're a bit hard on this one. I think that most of the CPC and Spectrum players will tell you that Trantor rocks, is a fabulous run'n gun far from difficult. You have lot of opportunities to refuel and despite the presence of the timer, it is just better to be careful not to just run into the crowd. I finished this one as a child back in the days. It was another era. Although it is a bit short, Trantor is a gorgeous game that made me say: Yes, this is a real CPC game. It is colorful in mode 0, with big sprites, tons of explosions on the screen, a constant framerate. The introduction is heavy and the music from David WHITTAKER is unforgettable. And to complete this superb technical achievement, the main character responds perfectly. Some may find frustrating these swarms of monsters that harass us during the game, but from the moment you understand that there are enough opportunities to refuel throughout the game, it is especially enjoyable to shoot at will. One year later, Dave Perry and Nick Bruty will create Savage. Even better with 3 different gameplay and vast maps, particularly on the "Trantor-like" one. 3 games in one. Don't hear for the C64 fanboys, frustrated by the fact Probe made bad conversions of their games on this computer. Yes, Probe was capable of the worst, but on CPC they were sometimes capable of the best. Trantor is and always will be a great game 🤩.
@@MEGAMIGA Yes indeed. A descent work for a very little game. They also committed Out Run on CPC, I don't understand what happened 😅 Appart from that, their conversion of Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles on CPC was great 👍
I would have liked to see the ST game improve the character movement. As enemies are flying at you at speed, it would be nice to turn left so you can shoot from the same spot at the point you want to shoot in the opposite direction, instead of lurching to the side and directly into the enemies. Pretty much like the Alien 3 pulse rifle but with infinite ammo.
@@ribenasquash The ST version is very disappointing. Based on a 8bit game, there was something very nice to do on 16bit systems. But I suppose that, as usual, the conversion has been gave to young developpers with very little time to work. Stuart McMillan made the graphics for this version, but for the ST versions of Out Run and Side Arms too 🤮
Probe Software, they didn't just mess up arcade ports. They were also game design geniuses. If you constantly have to jump just to shoot enemies higher than the character's waist maybe you should have cut back somewhere to allow firing in more than one direction because your weapon can't even reach half the bloody enemies! Trantor is basically a ZX Spectrum tech demo showing off a large animated sprite and they just cobbled together something that slightly resembles a game around it.
Suddenly, the UK's love affair with the Alien 3 game on Megadrive and Amiga makes sense. It's practically Trantor after a class in basic game design. (Now with 75% less BS random attacks you can't avoid.)
I owned a CPC 464 wen I were a lad, didn't have that many game's, as it was a hand me down, but did have a Disc drive which seems rare from what I've seen on RUclips. I just find it funny how you route for something, as an adult; hearing that this game was like potentially the best and not shite, brings a tear of joy lol.
Never knew about this game. I thought at first this was connected to Star Wars😅 my bad.. thanks for sharing this.. P.S. and to think he has a flamethrower.. might have come from a Manadalorian haha
I must say that this game gives me the idea that it was inspired by Metroid because of the exploration system and the beginning of the cinematics on the Sinclair (very impressive by the way). The difference in release is one year which makes me think that it is very little time to create a Metroid clone, so I will give it the benefit that it earned by releasing the same idea at the same time.
It does look similar to Metroid I guess and there is a possibility it is inspired since this came out a year later but it'd say it's more in common with the first Zillion game on the Master System as far as levels and accessing computers is concerned.
Yet another i do not know... Always love hearing of one's i don't know as genuinely that is quite rare. I think only you have shown me over 3 i don't know about, or even heard of.
Nice. There are just so many games out there that it's imposible to know them all. I also like discovering a never before knwn game, especially when it's good. sadly, this wasn't a god one.
Never heard of this game, but I have heard of one of the guys in the credits for the first version: Nick Bruty. I remember him when he was with Shiny Entertainment (Earthworm Jim 1 and 2, MDK) and Planet Moon (Giants: Citizen Kabuto and Armed & Dangerous).
I had this for the Amstrad and bought it purely for the fantastic cover art and the large well drawn sprites on the screenshot on the rear of the game. Sadly I could never get the game to load and would always crash upon showing the ship on the intro.....so I never got to find out how disappointing I would have been if I ever got around to playing it 😂
@@BlockABoots I'm sure you wouldn't have been disappointed at the time with this one. I like the Mark's work and really respect it, but there is always a preference in console games in his videos. But all the people that grew up with a computer know the fabulous time they spent on these games 😋. You would have loved Trantor at the time 🤩
I grew up with a computer. 😁 I had a commode plus 4 but would regularly visit my friends who all had different systems. Next door had a CPC but sadly only a green monitor. School friends had a Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and an Amiga. In 1987 my family bought me a Master System. Only then did I really become hooked on games. They just felt so much better. Of course, back then I knew nothing about frame rates or responsive controls. It just felt better. Still. I do have a soft spot for many old computer games. Many hours were spent on ZX Spectrum Chase HQ and Rainbow Islands. On the Amiga I remember playing loads of Stunt Car Racer and Xenon 2, which had great music but was a crap game. Speedball 2 was where it was at though. Oh, and Chaos Engine 👍
03:50 - yeah, "absolute rubbish" is very fitting :D I always hated this maze-like games, everything looks the same so much that is nearly impossible to not getting lost
For spectrum those graphics are steller. I know it's playing to its strengths by ignoring colour clash and the usual detailed sprite in monochrome, but the added frames of animation and size of sprites looks good for the very limited hardware... Amstrad version very surprising! Usually a speccy port with lower res but more colour
Coder Nick Bruty, has spoken of how, if he'd had more time, he would of made the action more directional, not just horizontal, allowed the player to clear out areas, given a more generous time limit etc. He also thought the Art on the ST version was terrible. When considering a sequel for the ST and Amiga, he envisaged a more pulled back view, with 2-player Co-op mode, with players covering each other
If my memory serves, not only does a bug prevent you from completing the Atari ST version, but it lacks the interactive scenary found in the 128K ZX Spectrum version.
Yeah, sadly this is a typical computer game of the time. Shitty gameplay and an overload of enemies that you will never be able to avoid. But yeah, it does look good, especially compared to the other versions.
After having a godawful experience with The Spectrum with one of the included games, Jack the Nipper, I’m now convinced that when you don’t have access to games from better developers, anything that you could move, had sound and wasn’t a text/graphic adventure or isometric game, was good by default.
What a pretty animation for the time! I also think the scrooling on the spectrum/cpc/msx is fairly decent considering the hardware limitations! Too bad it is a game design stinker...
Sadly many was the time when a game looked good but played poorly. Game level design back in the mid to late 80s did seem to be an after thought when it came to computer games.
Hmmm. Welp, unfortunately I don't have much to say on this game Mark. I don't believe I ever played this before on any of the platforms that it was on. But looks interesting and worth trying to have a fun time for sure bro. Maybe next week, I'll have more to say, 8^) Anthony..
I know. Funky isn't it. I have no idea why the capture card does that. It looks perfectly fine on the TV but the capture looks so odd. It only does this on PC CGA games.
@@RetroCore Savage would make a nice "Battle of the Ports", but I'm not sure I want you to talk about this one of my childhood because I'm not sure you would love it better than Trantor 😅
I always wanted this girl my Amstrad but could never find it. I think me and my brother would have loved it, for the cool graphics alone. However, it's so confusing how games were programmed with such ridiculous enemy a.i and placement. I mean they obviously had to play test it.
Exemplifies what seemed to be the norm among British computer game makers - trash meant to look good in stills. Good Lord, this makes LJN look like Nintendo themselves. I hesitate to say any of these are a winner, but you have to give the nod to the Amstrad version for actually looking competent, followed by the Atari ST and the C64. Honestly, I'm surprised that all the ports look like some effort was put into them, as that doesn't usually seem to be the case with MSX and Amstrad versions of Spectrum titles. Also, they all sound better... But is that really a flex, given how godawful a 48k spectrum sounds?
Darth Vader sent this last Stormtrooper to be cursed onto this horrible game for all eternity, getting rammed by random alien crap and looking for pointless passwords.
In 1987, it was not so obvious to make Amiga conversion. The new Commodore's system was expensive and quite rare on the market. The A500 was just arriving while Atari ST was already flooding the market with aggressing prices. Lot of games published till 1988 haven't been converted to Amiga.
The ST version is missing things like the pistons and stalagmites. Put an 8-bit game on a more powerful system and rather than add extra elements, they remove existing ones??! 🤔
Mate...next time you do a speccy game, could you please give a headphone warning? That noise went through my earphones and straight through my brain...
TRANTOR is one of those games that was Dark Souls Hard... Its a TERRIBLE Game to complete... That being said, a friend of mine did manage to defeat the Amstrad Version! I never could... Great Looking game though... If only its difficulty was fair!
Trantor: The Last Stormtrooper. What a stupid title. Did they believed that this game will spawn a franchise?! There's Atari ST port, but no Amiga one? PROBE did analyzed game's market performance, and like: Nah, screw this...
David Perry was a very good developper on Z80, which explains that Probe made good games on CPC/Spectrum. After that, Perry was not involved in the choice of Probe for conversions of his games and mode to US in 1993 to fund Shiny Entertainment, creating Earthworm Jim. And don't forget that in 1987, it was not so obvious to make Amiga conversion. The new Commodore's system was expansive and quite rare on the market. The A500 was just arriving while Atari ST was already flooding the market with aggressing prices. Lot of games published till 1988 haven't been converted to Amiga.
People have different taste and for me, this game sucks. Constantly respawning enemies, a timelimit, unavoidable enemy contact, it has it all. If this had been a NES game it would have been in good company with any LJN game. Thanks for external backups that we could test if a game was worth its money back then. And most times it wasn't. If i had been a bit older back then, being from 1982, i would have gladly paid the premium on some RPG titles like the Gold Box SSI games before betting such a budget disappointment.
I agree 100% with you. Everything that can be wrong with a game is in this game. Respawning enemies as soon as you're off screen for a split second really annoys me. It one reason why I don't like the Mega Man games.
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This looks like a game made to sell via photographs in magazines. You look at the big sprites of the main character in a photo and think "wow, look at that". But when you bring the game to home and start playing it...
I miss the days of overly detailed box art. Whether the game was good or not, it was like having album covers on the shelf
Exactly! I remembered being impressed by pictures in magazines but once I played it on my CPC, I got bored quite fast. Game is so repetitive!
They were the days. Or sometimes they'd use fake screen shots or shots from another system to give you false hope.
The cover art on games back then we're always an influence on buying games as well.
@@RetroCore over here in Germany we had video stores and special renting stores for video and computer games, my dad and I used those to find out about what was worth the money. Renting a game for the weekend and then, if it was fun, buying it.
And then there where of course external backups, I used these also to check if a game was worth my money, if I could buy it over here that is. If I couldn't then it wasn't a loss for the publishers anyway. 🤷♀️😊
The reason for the funky CGA colors in different modes is because it's using a trick that Maniac Mansion also used to get more colors out of the mode by exploiting how composite video works. The window mode is probably emulating composite output
I understand what you mean but I don't think thats it.
Maybe I didn't explain well in the video.
I'm running the game full screen on one PC which is connected to another PC which captures the video. The image is split via HDMI to the TV and Capture PC. The image on the TV looks fine while the capture has the funky colours. However, if I play the game in a window it will look fine on the playing PC and Capture PC.
Logically the image should not change colour between the playing PC and Capture PC as they are receiving the same signal.
I wonder if the capture card is detecting the CGA colours and then applying the colour truck to the image automatically? That's the only thing I can think of.
Actually the C64 version does have the animated intro with the ship. It may be that this video used a cracked version with the intro removed, since it was originally a separate load; when booting up the game, the intro was loaded and played first, then the actual game was loaded. Also, Atari ST version apparently has an alternate death animation when protagonist is killed by one of those large Xenomorph expies as opposed to regular enemies. 🤔
Im confirm as the intro is in the C64 original. You got a cracked version with the intro removed. Same happens with Speed Ball 2, which was a seperate load and used full memory for the intro as well. Can been the same reason here.
Bummer. It's a shame the cracked versions remove parts of the game.
@@SpaceFractal-g2o Guess they just HAD to have their stupid little cracktro...
One of my ever favourites. Thanks.
Glad you enjoyed it
I played this on my Tandy 1000 back in the day- borrowed it from the library. It was amusing for about 5 minutes. It also reminds me a lot of the end stage of the Predator game for NES, where all of a sudden there's this huge blocky sprite of Arnold. Huge player sprites were marketable back then. Just see China Warrior for the TG16.
As an eX Amstrad CPC464 owner, it always nice to see the old CPC win the battle of the 8 bit computers for once. Never played this game when it was released, I think I had moved onto the Amiga A500 by then. Thanks for the great video.
Glad you enjoyed it!
We need a remaster of this for the PS5 👍🏼
Thanks Mark
Lol, I best someone will do that if they read your comment 😅
@@RetroCore 😅😂
On CPC, the game has been programmed by Dave Perry with GFX created by Nick Bruty. This explains the technical quality of the game. That's on CPC that Trantor encounter the most part of its success. You're a bit hard on this one. I think that most of the CPC and Spectrum players will tell you that Trantor rocks, is a fabulous run'n gun far from difficult. You have lot of opportunities to refuel and despite the presence of the timer, it is just better to be careful not to just run into the crowd. I finished this one as a child back in the days. It was another era.
Although it is a bit short, Trantor is a gorgeous game that made me say: Yes, this is a real CPC game. It is colorful in mode 0, with big sprites, tons of explosions on the screen, a constant framerate. The introduction is heavy and the music from David WHITTAKER is unforgettable. And to complete this superb technical achievement, the main character responds perfectly. Some may find frustrating these swarms of monsters that harass us during the game, but from the moment you understand that there are enough opportunities to refuel throughout the game, it is especially enjoyable to shoot at will. One year later, Dave Perry and Nick Bruty will create Savage. Even better with 3 different gameplay and vast maps, particularly on the "Trantor-like" one. 3 games in one. Don't hear for the C64 fanboys, frustrated by the fact Probe made bad conversions of their games on this computer. Yes, Probe was capable of the worst, but on CPC they were sometimes capable of the best. Trantor is and always will be a great game 🤩.
Those guys would have made a killer Shadow Of The Beast port
IIRC, Probe made Bravestarr, too, didn't they?
@@MEGAMIGA Yes indeed. A descent work for a very little game. They also committed Out Run on CPC, I don't understand what happened 😅 Appart from that, their conversion of Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles on CPC was great 👍
I would have liked to see the ST game improve the character movement. As enemies are flying at you at speed, it would be nice to turn left so you can shoot from the same spot at the point you want to shoot in the opposite direction, instead of lurching to the side and directly into the enemies.
Pretty much like the Alien 3 pulse rifle but with infinite ammo.
@@ribenasquash The ST version is very disappointing. Based on a 8bit game, there was something very nice to do on 16bit systems. But I suppose that, as usual, the conversion has been gave to young developpers with very little time to work. Stuart McMillan made the graphics for this version, but for the ST versions of Out Run and Side Arms too 🤮
Another one to put on the “Let’s not bother with this” list. Thanks for the video.
Yep, I wouldn't bother either.
Great episode! Thanks for always showcasing games that have been lost to time.
Glad you enjoyed the video. Next week something a little more modern and well, sexy I guess.
@ Yum, teasing 😍
I played it on the Amstrad CPC back in the days. Great Port!
I agree concidering it looks like oks and sounds so much better than the original.
Love hearing about these little oddball home computer games. Great stuff 👍
Yeah, it's always a fun to see an obscure game.
Probe Software, they didn't just mess up arcade ports. They were also game design geniuses. If you constantly have to jump just to shoot enemies higher than the character's waist maybe you should have cut back somewhere to allow firing in more than one direction because your weapon can't even reach half the bloody enemies! Trantor is basically a ZX Spectrum tech demo showing off a large animated sprite and they just cobbled together something that slightly resembles a game around it.
I would agree. The game design is quite poor. Loads of enemies can't even be killed.
Serious kudos to that Amstrad port's visuals. Color me impressed.
Suddenly, the UK's love affair with the Alien 3 game on Megadrive and Amiga makes sense.
It's practically Trantor after a class in basic game design. (Now with 75% less BS random attacks you can't avoid.)
I can see where you're coming from. I remember some of those levels being incredibly tough on Alien 3. Still thought it was a crap game though.
I don't know why anyone would think being surrounded by an unending and unavoidable blizzard of enemies would amount to a good time.
That's typical computer game design. Oh so many games were like that from the West and a few from the east, too during the 80s.
I got this on the covertape of the first games magazine I ever bought, The Complete Guide To The Commodore 64.
Ah, cover tapes. I remember them very well.
Played a lot back in the day in my CPC great memories and a good looking port with an insane difficulty.
It really is!
The C64 version's little explosions are OK when you shoot enemies, but the CPC shows bits flying all over. Looks nice!
nice, was not expecting trantor.. speccy version i had, is my favorite due to the beeper tune
The Speccy sure does have a unique sound. Something that consoles after the 16bit age lost.
The audio library music sounds to something a hypothetical Amiga version would have used.
I think so. It was one of the reasons why I selected it.
I owned a CPC 464 wen I were a lad, didn't have that many game's, as it was a hand me down, but did have a Disc drive which seems rare from what I've seen on RUclips. I just find it funny how you route for something, as an adult; hearing that this game was like potentially the best and not shite, brings a tear of joy lol.
Lol, I know just what you mean. 👍
With that sound effect .....it's a defender on foot!
XD
@2:17 - Top 10 Most Brutal Dubstep Drops
Never knew about this game. I thought at first this was connected to Star Wars😅 my bad.. thanks for sharing this..
P.S. and to think he has a flamethrower.. might have come from a Manadalorian haha
That can't be a stormtrooper, he's hitting his targets.
Always happy to see the Amstrad succeed, even if the game sucks.
Yep, same here. It's the underdog so many time. The CPC and MSX always fell ill to quick cheap ZX Spectrum ports.
I must say that this game gives me the idea that it was inspired by Metroid because of the exploration system and the beginning of the cinematics on the Sinclair (very impressive by the way). The difference in release is one year which makes me think that it is very little time to create a Metroid clone, so I will give it the benefit that it earned by releasing the same idea at the same time.
It does look similar to Metroid I guess and there is a possibility it is inspired since this came out a year later but it'd say it's more in common with the first Zillion game on the Master System as far as levels and accessing computers is concerned.
Yet another i do not know... Always love hearing of one's i don't know as genuinely that is quite rare. I think only you have shown me over 3 i don't know about, or even heard of.
Nice. There are just so many games out there that it's imposible to know them all. I also like discovering a never before knwn game, especially when it's good. sadly, this wasn't a god one.
Reminds me the second part of Freddy Hardest in mechanics. Amstrad version have an amazing visual and sound stats wow!
Never heard of this game, but I have heard of one of the guys in the credits for the first version: Nick Bruty. I remember him when he was with Shiny Entertainment (Earthworm Jim 1 and 2, MDK) and Planet Moon (Giants: Citizen Kabuto and Armed & Dangerous).
Amstrad CPC version, number 1 again... If you are a CPC fan you get tired of winning, such a beast of a computer
I never owned a CPC but my neighbour did. I had a commode plus 4 myself 😅
... wow the only survivor of the death star. crazy how they were all wiped out after the star wars.
I had this for the Amstrad and bought it purely for the fantastic cover art and the large well drawn sprites on the screenshot on the rear of the game. Sadly I could never get the game to load and would always crash upon showing the ship on the intro.....so I never got to find out how disappointing I would have been if I ever got around to playing it 😂
@@BlockABoots I'm sure you wouldn't have been disappointed at the time with this one. I like the Mark's work and really respect it, but there is always a preference in console games in his videos. But all the people that grew up with a computer know the fabulous time they spent on these games 😋. You would have loved Trantor at the time 🤩
Oh man, you had a lucky escape there.
The cover art is great though. It really grabs your attention.
I grew up with a computer. 😁
I had a commode plus 4 but would regularly visit my friends who all had different systems. Next door had a CPC but sadly only a green monitor. School friends had a Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and an Amiga.
In 1987 my family bought me a Master System. Only then did I really become hooked on games. They just felt so much better. Of course, back then I knew nothing about frame rates or responsive controls. It just felt better.
Still. I do have a soft spot for many old computer games. Many hours were spent on ZX Spectrum Chase HQ and Rainbow Islands. On the Amiga I remember playing loads of Stunt Car Racer and Xenon 2, which had great music but was a crap game. Speedball 2 was where it was at though. Oh, and Chaos Engine 👍
I'm quite sure Dave Perry made the CPC version, which would explains its technical quality.
They (D.Perry/N.Bruty) developed both the Z80 (CPC/ZX) versions of the game.
Sure hope that Stormtrooper has better aim than the others in the death star, lol.😅
03:50 - yeah, "absolute rubbish" is very fitting :D
I always hated this maze-like games, everything looks the same so much that is nearly impossible to not getting lost
Why is Tina Turner in CPC loading screen 4:54 ?
Wow, one of the very few Atari ST with 50 fps scrolling. Really surprised me.
Yep, I guess that's the selling point.
The music threw me way off. This was one of the default tracks used to replace copyrighted music, back in the day!
Ah, that explains the odd feel then!
For spectrum those graphics are steller. I know it's playing to its strengths by ignoring colour clash and the usual detailed sprite in monochrome, but the added frames of animation and size of sprites looks good for the very limited hardware...
Amstrad version very surprising! Usually a speccy port with lower res but more colour
Couldn't agree more!
Coder Nick Bruty, has spoken of how, if he'd had more time, he would of made the action more directional, not just horizontal, allowed the player to clear out areas, given a more generous time limit etc.
He also thought the Art on the ST version was terrible.
When considering a sequel for the ST and Amiga, he envisaged a more pulled back view, with 2-player Co-op mode, with players covering each other
If my memory serves, not only does a bug prevent you from completing the Atari ST version, but it lacks the interactive scenary found in the 128K ZX Spectrum version.
So many computer games release where you can't complete them. I wonder if a refund was offered?
Trantor reminds me of Turrican even though Trantor was released 3 years earlier.
In a way it's a bit like Metroid.
Oh well done, Retro Gamer were praising the CPC version - I guess mainly the graphics - they never mentioned it sucked. Now we know.
Yeah, sadly this is a typical computer game of the time. Shitty gameplay and an overload of enemies that you will never be able to avoid.
But yeah, it does look good, especially compared to the other versions.
After having a godawful experience with The Spectrum with one of the included games, Jack the Nipper, I’m now convinced that when you don’t have access to games from better developers, anything that you could move, had sound and wasn’t a text/graphic adventure or isometric game, was good by default.
@@RetroCoreand typical of RG magazine and how they, in the editors own words, use articles to celebrate games.
Lol, that's so true but also so funny that we thought that back in the day.
That's a shame. Sure, celebrate the massive spirites but be honest about the gameplay.
Spent all that time animating the running, but gave him zero jumping sprites???
What a pretty animation for the time! I also think the scrooling on the spectrum/cpc/msx is fairly decent considering the hardware limitations! Too bad it is a game design stinker...
Sadly many was the time when a game looked good but played poorly. Game level design back in the mid to late 80s did seem to be an after thought when it came to computer games.
Hmmm. Welp, unfortunately I don't have much to say on this game Mark. I don't believe I ever played this before on any of the platforms that it was on. But looks interesting and worth trying to have a fun time for sure bro.
Maybe next week, I'll have more to say, 8^)
Anthony..
Ah, next week you may know with it being more modern 👍
I vaguely remember the DOS version.
Something wrong with dos version capture. The color palette is impossible for CGA.
I know. Funky isn't it. I have no idea why the capture card does that. It looks perfectly fine on the TV but the capture looks so odd. It only does this on PC CGA games.
It is distantly reminiscent of Savage.
@@fulgenzio1973 Created by the same people and released one year before Savage
That explains why 😁. Can't say I'm familiar with savage, though.
@@RetroCore Savage would make a nice "Battle of the Ports", but I'm not sure I want you to talk about this one of my childhood because I'm not sure you would love it better than Trantor 😅
I always wanted this girl my Amstrad but could never find it. I think me and my brother would have loved it, for the cool graphics alone. However, it's so confusing how games were programmed with such ridiculous enemy a.i and placement. I mean they obviously had to play test it.
I think they just didn't care about game design much back then. It was all about if it looked good in Magazines or not.
Exemplifies what seemed to be the norm among British computer game makers - trash meant to look good in stills. Good Lord, this makes LJN look like Nintendo themselves.
I hesitate to say any of these are a winner, but you have to give the nod to the Amstrad version for actually looking competent, followed by the Atari ST and the C64. Honestly, I'm surprised that all the ports look like some effort was put into them, as that doesn't usually seem to be the case with MSX and Amstrad versions of Spectrum titles. Also, they all sound better... But is that really a flex, given how godawful a 48k spectrum sounds?
Darth Vader sent this last Stormtrooper to be cursed onto this horrible game for all eternity, getting rammed by random alien crap and looking for pointless passwords.
Game looks similar to Savage, only in sci-fi setting 😀 Wonder why there was no Amiga port?
In 1987, it was not so obvious to make Amiga conversion. The new Commodore's system was expensive and quite rare on the market. The A500 was just arriving while Atari ST was already flooding the market with aggressing prices. Lot of games published till 1988 haven't been converted to Amiga.
Good and logical answer 👍
why no amiga port
Amiga at this point had yet to make sufficient inroads to warrant a conversion.
This game should have got a Famicom port
Yeah, they may have actually fixed up the playability somewhat.
The ST version is missing things like the pistons and stalagmites.
Put an 8-bit game on a more powerful system and rather than add extra elements, they remove existing ones??! 🤔
my ears is bleeding man.
From the Speccy version with it's fart sounds?
@RetroCore yes
Mate...next time you do a speccy game, could you please give a headphone warning? That noise went through my earphones and straight through my brain...
Sorry. Yeah, speccy games can do that.
TRANTOR is one of those games that was Dark Souls Hard... Its a TERRIBLE Game to complete... That being said, a friend of mine did manage to defeat the Amstrad Version! I never could...
Great Looking game though... If only its difficulty was fair!
Yeah, but Dark Souls is hard due to good game design, unlike Trantor 😅
@@RetroCore True! I could never get anywhere with it! LOL!
open pandora box of gold games
Sometimes I do like to delve in to the box of mysteries. Next week is an obscure girly game from Japan.
Amstrad wins with one. I don't understand why the ST version ended up so ugly
Different coding teams I believe.
Yeah, the enemies are very random too on the ST version.
I looked at that giant character sprite ant thought, this game's gotta be terrible.
You were correct 😅
@@RetroCore I'm sure there's a good, non-fighting game out there with massive sprites, but this sure as hell isn't one of them.
Trantor: The Last Stormtrooper. What a stupid title. Did they believed that this game will spawn a franchise?!
There's Atari ST port, but no Amiga one? PROBE did analyzed game's market performance, and like: Nah, screw this...
Very much so. It is still strange though as that never stopped Probe from releasing other crap on to the Amiga.
David Perry was a very good developper on Z80, which explains that Probe made good games on CPC/Spectrum. After that, Perry was not involved in the choice of Probe for conversions of his games and mode to US in 1993 to fund Shiny Entertainment, creating Earthworm Jim.
And don't forget that in 1987, it was not so obvious to make Amiga conversion. The new Commodore's system was expansive and quite rare on the market. The A500 was just arriving while Atari ST was already flooding the market with aggressing prices. Lot of games published till 1988 haven't been converted to Amiga.
People have different taste and for me, this game sucks.
Constantly respawning enemies, a timelimit, unavoidable enemy contact, it has it all. If this had been a NES game it would have been in good company with any LJN game.
Thanks for external backups that we could test if a game was worth its money back then. And most times it wasn't. If i had been a bit older back then, being from 1982, i would have gladly paid the premium on some RPG titles like the Gold Box SSI games before betting such a budget disappointment.
I agree 100% with you. Everything that can be wrong with a game is in this game.
Respawning enemies as soon as you're off screen for a split second really annoys me. It one reason why I don't like the Mega Man games.