By now, two years after this video was uploaded, Piko has finished the Mega Drive version with all the soundtrack completed by Chris Hülsbleck himself and an ending, re-released the SNES one with some weaknesses fixed and brought the NES version to light. Jim and his late creator Fernando Vélez's legacy feel completely vindicated. Bravo!
That background scrolling effect in the Super Famicom version makes me feel sick, and I've never experienced that with any other 16 bit game before. Weird.
The game originally came with a pair of 3D glasses and having stuff scroll in the wrong direction gives it a pseudo-3D effect. Annoying you can't turn it off as it always put me off playing too.
The weird parallax scrolling in some versions was for pulfrich 3D glasses. It was a type of 3D that was kind of popular in the 90s, and it relied on parallax motion for the effect.
I was just under the impression that it was meant to look like you were running around a circle or cylinder or something and the background layer were getting closer to becoming foreground?
So, Jim Power was a childhood reference for me. There was that video store I went to quite frequently to rent movies and games, and in it, a fantastic arcade-style display with a HUGE TV set in which the son of the owner and his pals played, generally, either Neo Geo or Amiga games (with an enormous double arcade-syle joystick that was popular in my country: Telemach Professional). I remember there was an occasional Mega Drive hooked on it, too. But I disgress. Sometimes, when the Amiga was hooked on, there was that game with that awesome colour palette and a guy that looked like a camp counsellor shooting left and right. Graphically and design-wise, it impressed me to no end. Because I didn't catch the title, I had to browse magazines from the era looking for the game, even if I knew I never could play it... That was 1992-93. Well, as the movie title goes, “never say never again”: enter the emulation era in the early 2000s. At last I was able to play it. I really liked it: the game's art and design still shine, Chris Hullsbeck's music is AWESOME and the difficulty is insane, like all good Euro-games of the era. Now I'll surprise you: the best version of Jim Power is obviously the Amiga one, but my favourite is... The PC Engine CD one! I know it's washed-down and all, but it has three things that I love: 1) Hullsbeck's music in CD quality, 2) an actual jump button and 3) the fact that Jim keeps his ridiculous ‘tude era outfit, coupled with the fake anime intro. It's a charming port in its bizarrism, to say it simple and clearly. Then, on to the Sega and Nintendo console ports: - I can't say I like the SNES one despite having plenty of virtues. After trying it on real hardware, I think they went too far with the parallax layers and always manages to make me feel dizzy and physically sick. Other than that, it's laudable that they tried to give the game a twist with some Mode 7 goodness, and it's fairly close to the original. - Too bad the Mega Drive one wasn't finished: It's very, very faithful to the original Amiga version, but I'm positive the anaglyphic 3D levels - if I get to play them - will make me sick as well. The downside on both versions is the loss of that early 90s narm charm by turning Jim into a random, unoriginal Buck Rogers-Dan Dare character instead of the sublimely ridiculous boy-scout of the Amiga version.
It looks like the Mega Drive port could have been the definitive one. It seemed extremely promising. And again Huelsbeck proves that he had excellent command over the Mega Drive sound chip. As for the ST version, it's another game that would have greatly benefited from an STE port instead of sticking to the old original ST. It's a shame that most studios took advantage of the full compatibility between the ST and STE to only develop games for the weakest, but better implanted, standard.
Well, flash forward to 2021 and we've got two new ports: the NES version and complete Mega Drive version. Can't wait to see how the latter compares to the others, noone's uploaded any gameplay footage as far as I know but someone did upload the MD soundtrack and it's unsurprisingly fantastic.
There's a recent release on current systems featuring the completed Genesis version and the NES remake. Also oddly enough it features an anime style intro featuring BOTH character designs for Jim. Sadly it doesn't include the Amiga or SNES versions, which would have been nice. 🤷
Played the Amiga version and could complete the game without loosing a life. Just dont rush it. Move a few pixel kill anyone you see. It will take some time but you will actually see the end.
I remember seeing the rom floating around but never ended up playing it. These ports are surprisingly mostly good across the board. The weakest ones are definitely bad due to the hardware of the original version being so much higher than the other computer ports at the time. But I really like what they did with the Amiga original and the console ports.
the snes port was programmed by velez and dubale, also known as V.D. dev. this french duo is well known for pushing the limats of whatever video game system they are programming on. this can be scene in their game boy, GBA and ds work, like getting a fully bloodded 3d engine onto a GBA cartridge and getting a full sandbox game onto the DS.
For people complaining how the main hero looks. You *really* should take a look at how he looks at the ending screen, when you beat the game. It's like he is a sexual pervert and the lady he saves just noticed that and gives a look like "Uh-Oh, what I got into? Maybe I was better not being saved by this sicko". I find it very funny :D
Yeah but the only reason I could assume he composed for those 2 games as well is with their soundfont, I hate the fact that Hudson stole Factor 5's 8 player mode.
He has converted the music for International Super Star Soccer Deluxe and the unreleased Mega Drive version of Indiana Jones Greatest Adventures. Though yeah, none of those are his compositions, he just ported the music.
Nice parallax scrolling on the Amiga, shows what it's really capable of unlike a lot of other games. Looks good enough to be a Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis game. The Amstrad version does LOOK impressive in it's own right though considering how most games on the CPC looked.
Jim Power is definitely one of the best Amiga games ever and what many ports of Arcade games should have been on Amiga. I'm quite surprised how Jim Power wasn't ported to C64 because C64 was very popular in many European countries, especially in Finland. The C64 port could have been a demake but with smooth scrolling. The PC Engine CD port should have been great. Interestingly enough, it's one of the few PC Engine games developed in Europe. I have heard rumors about the development kit that Loriciel used for the PC Engine CD port was made by Factor 5. After all, Chris Huelsbeck did that amazing CD soundtrack by himself. It's shame how the SNES port was made to be overly gimmicky instead of being actually a fun game. It had the potential to be the best version of Jim Power. I'm sure the SNES port was supposed to be released in Europe by Loriciel themselves. I'm glad the Mega Drive port got finally completed. I guess the Mega Drive is the best port and the most closest to the original Amiga version but that wouldn't be a surprise because both Mega Drive have same CPU with bit different clock speeds. Chris Huelsbeck once said he only managed to convert few music tracks for the Mega Drive port but apparently he did finish the entire soundtrack.
Great video of a not so great game! Enemies take way to much hits. I can't decide what's the best version, though, they all have their problems. If it weren't for the weird scrolling I'd probably go with the SNES-version.
The Amiga version is technically outstanding, if only that team could have done every single Amiga arcade port. They really needed a better art team though, guys better at drawing and animating who understood basic colour theory. Just because you can put detailed, colourful graphics everywhere, doesn't mean you should. So many stages are haphazard and lacking in thought, the colour choices are pushing everything forward to the frontal plane. At least from the SNES version onward they toned the colour down a bit and fixed the bad action figure player sprite a bit. It is what it is I guess, peak early 90s tude' in an action platformer.
Amiga has more scroll planes, too many. On SNES and the Megadrive copy they have the furthest background scrolling inverted, if you advance the background too and faster than the character and it should move backwards. On average the best is the Amiga and SNES if we forget that background scroll bug.
I remember this being a big Amiga game before the console port. I don't think I've seen a better RUclips Channel. Thank You and Keep up the great work.
Excellent as always Mark, I definitely prefer the Amiga version, I really don't like the parallax scrolling on the console versions, I find it really off putting.
That 1st boss kinda looked like 1st boss from Ghouls n Ghosts, games like this showed potential Amiga had, unfortunately, there was so much piracy that developers slowly cancelled their games, and then there was poor decisions of Commodore itself :( Had no idea Amstrad version existed as wel, but, even back then you would say "save money for another platform instead"
Game was truly excellent on the Amiga, and I still believe that's the best version. Where the - honestly a bit unusual - 'reverse' parallax scrolling becomes truly distracting, to me, is in the SNES port. It seriously messes with my eyes, giving the impression Jim is running inside a hamster wheel, making the whole scenario spin, according to his movements. Also, did you play the MD unreleased port on an emulator, at 50hz? I tried it - via MD Everdrive - on my Japanese MD2 and the game is definitely too fast, and almost impossible to play, while yours seems perfectly timed.
The guys who own the rights to Jim Power claimed they found a complete Genesis rom and were going to release it as DLC for the Steam port of the DOS version. That was four years ago. Still hasn't happened.
And here I am again, right after Piko announces the re-release of Jim Power, with an Amiga CD-32 port, a NES version built from scratch, the final touches of the Mega Drive version, and according to them, some touches and tweaks on the SNES version, to make the game more fair.
I understand that Piko interactive were looking to release a physical version of the Mega Drive game complete with full soundtrack and ending but nothing happened. Did the passing of Jim Power's co-creator, Fernando Velez have anything to do with it?
I doubt it. In the past Piko have said other things that never came to light. I have a feeling they couldn't get the full game code or had trouble compiling it.
@@RetroCore They have the game code up and running. I understand it's a schedule issue they have just run behind or put aside to focus on other projects, it's a very small company with lots of projects taking place at the same time, very overwhelming for them. Last thing they said it's that it's finally going to be released at the end of the year.
If someone is interested: Jim Power is on Steam and includes the PC version, SNES original and enhanced, hit hearts have been added, as well as the "3D" parallax scrolling has been turned off, and the unreleased Sega Genesis version. The publisher mentioned in 2016 that there was going to release a Nintendo 8 bit version as a DLC... But I think it was never released. Pretty cheap for all those versions but no AMIGA version here. store.steampowered.com/app/370270/Jim_Power_The_Lost_Dimension/
Was the Mega drive version that late in the porting cycle? sources say that Loriciel went bankrupt in 1995. Sad really, The mega Drive version looked really nice. I especially like that Space Harrier type checkerboard they used. the animation and scrolling is great too. The SFC port I think is the best of the bunch- and the Amiga original was certainly a showpiece for the system.
Yep, the MD version was probably an attempt by Loriciel to bring in some cash but they ran out of money before the game could be completed. The Amiga version really is great though.
@@RetroCore The Mega Drive version was actually completed, just not leaked/published up to this day, and it won't until PikoInteractive releases it. I believe the fact that it wasn't released back in the day was more related to publishing issues than anything.
@ben owen Well, you will see it when it's released if the Mega Drive version was completed or not. Ask Chris Hulsbeck if you still have any doubts about it.
@Benjamin Jagun Thanks, but I own the game. In fact, the first RUclips uploads of the Mega Drive version soundtrack were actually done by myself. One more thing, the Mega Drive version was picked up by Piko but not actually completed by them. They accessed a fully finished build of the game dating from December 1993 which had been kept unpreserved/undumped during all these years, the unfinished version with a single piece of music track (Mutant's Forest) we all know taking that place. What they simply did was changing the splash screens and copyright to reflect the change from Loriciel to Piko, and then release it as it is.
I didn't know about this game before. Definitely going to try it out on the Amiga! Looks and sound nothing short of fantastic on that system! I just love Chris Huelsbeck! The SNES game could've been perfect, but once again they sacrificed gameplay for the stupid overusage of the gimmick known as Mode 7. The overhead Contra stage looked far more enjoyable in the DOS version, and the constantly spinning bosses just looked awful. Plus why did they make the background scroll in the wrong direction? It really messed with my eyes! Yet another great show! Thank you for making these!
I love Jim Power SO MUCH. I know its a flawed game in some aspects and not spectular or anything, but there's something that always makes me go back to play it even after all these years. Its probably the soundtrack , but I really enjoy playing the game. So, thanks for making this video :D Actually, I must say it makes me very happy that, since you begun covering non-arcade games, you are giving a lot of attention to games that were made on Amiga or had a big impact on it. Being an amiga fanboy, I obviously love to see Amiga games being featured that are actually GOOD , hehe :D The game was actually developed be the team who later would be known as "VD-DEV" (First it was "Digital Concept") and made some really impressive games for the Gameboy Color and the GBA. Loriciel just published it. I usually say the coder probably wrote down on paper all the tricks he knew on programming for the Amiga and then thought "Ok, how do I write a game around this?". It's clear the game was crafted for the Amiga hardware... everything is clearly designed to take advantage of the way the Copper, Blitter and Hardware Sprites work on the Amiga hardware. The things you mention people always saying about Jim Power (Being very hard and the nauseous parallax) are usually said just about the SNES version, which is for some reason the most famous version of the game. The original Amiga game is far of being a hard game, it's just a heavy memorization test with a not very difficulty execution. I've finished it a few times, and with some practice someone could finish it without losing lives without much effort. The SNES version in the other hand is brutal. The fact the game is a bit faster (probably a 50hz X 60hz issue) already ups the challenge, but the new levels they added is just ridiculous.. like you said, the overhead levels are just too hard and not enjoyable at all, and the new horizontal shoot'em up levels are also brutally hard. They are still heavy memorization tests, but there are too many "surprise kills" on those levels and the execution isn't as easy as on the original levels. I have never played the PC-Engine version, but how sloppy it looks... its funny because they achieve parallax on some levels, yet the game seems to be coded by monkeys or something, everything moves just so wrongly... And the Parallax on the "newer" versions don't bother me either, but I can't help saying how stupid they look. It's a shame because the Amiga version looks SO GOOD, I find so impressive how the artist managed to make the game look so colorful while the foreground, enemies and power up icons could all use only 8 colors (All of them, the very same 7 colors plus 1 for transparency), and the SNES version could look gorgeous, but that stupid parallax effect just kills it. It'a shame those guys didn't develop another Amiga game (That was their first game, their next game was "The Smurfs Travel the World" for the Gameboy and Game Gear, and then they went to focus on developing games for handhelds), I bet they could have achieved even greater things with the hardware.
the soundtrack is indeed pretty good (and even AWESOME if we talk about the forest tune) but visually (and as I've just said in my comment) I think that the jim power games are quite unappealing, with some very amateurish graphic assets and even the way the guy is shooting look quite dumb. guess I'm spoiled by the turrican games as far as european action games go but still :P but one thing for sure is that the amiga version is an awesome technical achievement and I feel that it pushes the hardware to its limits just like do other amiga games such as project-x or shadow fighter
@@ryzmaker11 The way the guy is shooting is due to hardware limitations. Well, ok, of course the artist could have done differently somehow, but the sprite could only be 32 pixels wide, and I guess that was the solution he found :) I don't think Project X really does anything that amazing with the hardware (Well, ok, it pushes a lot of stuff on screen very smoothly on 32 colors mode... but its just smart use of the blitter and Mega Typhoon does it a lot better. Apidya also looks great, moves a lot of stuff on screen but on top of it has an amazing soundtrack and, most importante, an excellent gameplay, both missing on Project-X). Shadow Fighter in the other hand its another game that was really obviously made around the hardware. I am amazed this game was made by a (then) 17 years old kid who had to stop development of the game midway because he had to do obligatory military service on his country when he turned 18. It really uses all the hardware has to offer... Copper splits, smart use of sprites to add parallax/BG animation, dual playfield, palette changes mid-screen, etc. Two games on Amiga I find incredibly impressive and I think rarely gets the attention they deserve is Mr. Nutz and Mega Typhoon. Mr. Nutz actually uses the same tricks of Jim Power, but moves a SHITLOAD more of stuff on screen, and that bonus level is just out of this world. And Mega Typhoon... how the HECK that coder made a shoot'em up on Amiga SO HECTIC as later Toaplan/Early Cave games? It's a shame he decided to do the whole game alone, as his graphics are really vomit-indulcing sometimes, but the code on that is freaking magic, there's no other Amiga game that moves so much on screen while keep a steady 50 fps framerate. That is a lot more impressive than Project-X imo.
@@rafaellima83 what I found impressive with project-x is that it uses the full 320x256 display unlike most other amiga games (that often have cropped screen in a way or another) yet it throws quite many sprites and at 50 fps so it's quite the achievement for the amiga hardware which can be considered as a "trade-off machine" yet this game ticks quite many boxes at once but yes you reminded me about mega typhoon and I had the same reaction as you when I discovered it (I remember your comment in one video). it clearly seems like a manic shooter although this one does have cropped screen with large borders on each side but STILL, still, really impressive amount of shit flying everywhere at 50fps and the graphics are quite cool IMO (much nicer than jim power :P) as yeah, mr nutz is another top tier achievement on amiga but also another with vastly cropped screen
although Genesis are incomplete from Loriciel themselves, Piko Interactive finished it and release that in 2021 alongside the NES version, which must be said, it's freaking awesome! Especially the NES version, Piko break it's boundaries of the NES limitations with it's very fluid animations it gives! i recommended that game for sure
There's also a supposed prototype NES version, owned by current right holder, Piko Interactive. They promised to release it (together with the updated MD version) as a part of the Steam release but alas... four years have passed, and no news whatsoever about those.
Some may like the Contra 3-like overhead stages in Jim Power for the SNES, but I do not. I hated Contra 3's overhead stages, but at least this seems far less nauseating and frustrating. At least the SNES port is still easily the best port shown in the video with the Mega Drive not too far behind it. Talking of which, it's a crying shame Loriciel couldn't finish the game, as it could've been just as good and maybe even better than the SNES version.
I didn't really mind the overhead stages on Contra 3 but the ones on Jim Power are much more difficult. But yeah, like you said the ones on Jim Power don't make you feel as ill.
Finished this excellent and hard game on the Amiga when it was released. The Megadrive version is not bad but i prefer the feeling on the Amiga, less fast, more smooth.
The background scrolling of the SNES version. Why. Someone flipped a bit or an operator and decided to leave it? Harder to look at than the mothership fight in the ST version
one thing im wasent aware of, there has recently been a kickstarter project from this game. Im would instantly liked the homebrew port of the NES version, that for sure. Im only seen footage (some of its longplay), its looks and seens to play excellently done. Also the Mega drive version has finally been released with some fixes to it. also with a SNES version that fixed the dizzy scrolling (seens to been same version as in the steam version). Other ports also been rereleased (Amiga CD32 with PC-Engine soundtrack). Cool to see game like this to been rereleased and eventuelly got some issues fixed on some platforms.
Great game on the Amiga eventho I've always had a hard time beating the first two stages! It's worth noting that the MS-DOS version is the only one having a (much needed!) life bar. You can also disable part of the parallax scrolling wich will help dosbox rendering the game (I think the game expects a 386 so cycles should be set accordingly under dosbox).
Great video as always! Just a quick question though. In the SNES version, the top-down view levels rotate around your character, while the MS DOS version has the top-down view stages stay static. Which version do you prefer for the top-down view stages, the SNES or the MS DOS?
i remember a few years ago, with my good friend Jessie, we did a challenge, Ripping all the game music versions for Jim Power. it was the minimum for us, as we are some solid Chris Huelsbeck's fans ;) cheers Mark.
Yakumo, do you have good access to PC-98 games? I believe you had some issues covering some FM Towns games like Shadow of the Beast, don't know if it's the same in that case. There's lot of home computer games which have PC-98 versions that could be considered for Battle of the Ports, if you have the means to cover them of course.
@@RetroCore Good. I hope you will eventually do the Alone in the Dark games. Those have many ports, especially the first two games, which include FM-Towns and PC-98 versions (Alone in the Dark 3 also has a PC-98 version). Would be interesting features for sure.
A bunch of japanese ports of this very european game. That's surprised me. The game looks delicious in original Amiga and Mega Drive, in terms of playing. I enjoyed a lot this BotP ;)
@@RetroCore I'm pretty sure the Japanese PC Engine games by Loriciel were also brought to France thanks to the import business that Sodipeng (Société de Distribution de la PC Engine, subsidiary of Guillemot International) had with NEC/Hudson for bringing the Japanese systems and games to France back in the day. That must have been the big reason why a French company like Loriciel would be interested in developing and publishing games for this system in the first place.
I saw someone in the comments section of an Amiga long-play pretty much complaining that it is too easy. I think that ST version actually looks pretty good - is that running on a 520ST spec? Are you sure that the PCE CD version was not released in France? It was popular there.
Megadrive Port is the most well adjusted in speed and scrolling in parallax, the sound is amazing , potty not officially released , anyway found in some Chinese carts hehe
@@solarflare9078 It's out now, and not only that, you can get the Megadrive/Genesis, SNES, NES and DOS versions all in one go by buying the game on GOG. Yes, you can get the roms for use in emulators/multicarts.
The jerky windowed crap on the Amiga is a result of that crap being ported from the Atari ST in a manner very similar to how CPC games would get ported from the ZX Spectrum. These ports also had very short deadlines and low budgets, and were done just to cash in on the game name.
Interestingly enough, I still have SNES cart and yet i bought the steam version from Piko Interactive. Best part about it, I played the DOS on my 486 with no problems.
Crazy how a 1985 computer, the Amiga 1000, outperforms a 1987 console *combined* with a 1991 CD-Rom add-on, the PC Engine! In comparison, the Amiga version runs in higher resolution + with better graphics + with better scrollings + with better sound FX! And it also has better controls. But the sad thing here is that the potentially best all-around version, the Mega Drive one, was canceled! It already looks and sounds so good and I'm sure that it has the best playability. But I have to say that other than the music, I never found the Jim Power games to be appealing. The art direction is too messy and some graphic assets look plain awful (very amateurish). In comparison, I much prefer other European action-platformers such as Risky Wood, Wolfchild or the Turrican series!!
Well the CD add-on doesn't add anything other than RAM and storage and some sound stuff. Nothing extra in the graphics department other than lots of space.
With the missing animations and lack of attacks it doesn't look like the PCE CD version was finished but maybe that's just me. I tried playing the Genesis version of this when the ROM was leaked but didn't know it wasn't a finished game so once I got stuck I gave up. The game is nice technically but ugly art wise. You see a game like Shadow of the Beast or Puggsy and wonder what the hell happened.
Ah, I usually don't make suggestions or "requests" as I know you probably have a list of what you want to do for your next videos. But some non-arcade Konami games could make some really interesting videos. Castlevania, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the original NES platform game, not the arcade brawler), Metal Gear .... Maybe even International Super Star Soccer Deluxe which had a weird and very unknown PS1 release. Think about it :) :)
@@RetroCore That would be interesting too... and at least the MSX version has an english patch nowadays (Dunno about the PC-88 version). You could cover the differences on the storyline of all versions..... Metal Gear Solid 5 wasn't the first time Konami dropped the ball and asked Hideo Kojima to cut stuff of their game because he was late as heck with development, but at least with Snatcher he could tell the whole story on later releases :)
@@RetroCore Well, you can always make another one. :) Piko even finished up the Megadrive version. @DRAKONOLUS I'm amazed at how well the NES version turned out. Beautiful graphics and animation (especially on Jim himself), improved balancing (while still being quite difficult), the music is BANGIN', and they didn't use the annoying layers that made the SNES/Genesis versions so hard to play.
As much as I like the Amiga version I'd love to have Sega MD version just for the music alone. So sad it never came to full release. Also, I do like the music in Atari ST version because of the chip sound.
Great choice for a game to cover! I always had that sinking feeling that the PCE version looked like a shit port, and it actually was. Music's still good, tho! God damn! With stage 1 taking influence from Ys 3, even (For all versions, TBH)! Thank God for the SNES release being so impressive and adding so much to the game at the cost of difficulty, I hope someone has the fucking balls to unearth the code of the MD prototype and finish it cuz I've been hankerin' to see it finished and hear all the music
I think "inspiration" may be a little too kind for what happened here. I think they also 'Dark Horse'-ed a few other music tracks in this game, too. It does, however, make me wish the Amiga had seen a properly coded port of Ys 3 (or any Ys, really). At least we know it could've done the music justice.
@@RetroCore Piko Interactive have the rights of Jim Power and I emailed them once to know if they'll gonna release a full version of the Mega Drive port. they say yes of course with all the music and stuff but that never came out :/
By now, two years after this video was uploaded, Piko has finished the Mega Drive version with all the soundtrack completed by Chris Hülsbleck himself and an ending, re-released the SNES one with some weaknesses fixed and brought the NES version to light. Jim and his late creator Fernando Vélez's legacy feel completely vindicated. Bravo!
That background scrolling effect in the Super Famicom version makes me feel sick, and I've never experienced that with any other 16 bit game before. Weird.
The game originally came with a pair of 3D glasses and having stuff scroll in the wrong direction gives it a pseudo-3D effect.
Annoying you can't turn it off as it always put me off playing too.
Yeah the only game I've seen where the background layers move in the wrong direction, makes me feel sick too and I enjoy games like power drift
@@Larry Without the glasses it looks like you're playing in a cylindrical tube!
That's right. I forgot to mention that. It doesn't bother me though.
The Steam release (emulating the SNES and DOS ports) includes a version of the SNES release that flips the direction of the parallax scrolling.
The Parallax Effect in Amiga is more comfortable to eyes, more smooth.
The weird parallax scrolling in some versions was for pulfrich 3D glasses. It was a type of 3D that was kind of popular in the 90s, and it relied on parallax motion for the effect.
I was just under the impression that it was meant to look like you were running around a circle or cylinder or something and the background layer were getting closer to becoming foreground?
The 1st level theme is a rearrangement of Ys III A Searing Struggle
Chris Hülsbeck tunes are unmistaken. There were so many great composers during the 8 and 16bit era.
Check out a runplay of Jim Power with full music almost without shot noises on my channel in the PC Engine CD playlist
this is the most euro game that euro ever euro'd
It is VERY euro
Boris is missing as an end of level baddie tho ?
Luckily he wasn't around in 1995.
No, for that it needs to be more worse :)
Fantastically Euro. These were the kind of games some of us grew up with at home.
I love how in the SNES version they were like, "we're going to use Mode 7 in as many areas and on as many things as we possibly can"!
So, Jim Power was a childhood reference for me. There was that video store I went to quite frequently to rent movies and games, and in it, a fantastic arcade-style display with a HUGE TV set in which the son of the owner and his pals played, generally, either Neo Geo or Amiga games (with an enormous double arcade-syle joystick that was popular in my country: Telemach Professional). I remember there was an occasional Mega Drive hooked on it, too.
But I disgress. Sometimes, when the Amiga was hooked on, there was that game with that awesome colour palette and a guy that looked like a camp counsellor shooting left and right. Graphically and design-wise, it impressed me to no end. Because I didn't catch the title, I had to browse magazines from the era looking for the game, even if I knew I never could play it... That was 1992-93.
Well, as the movie title goes, “never say never again”: enter the emulation era in the early 2000s. At last I was able to play it. I really liked it: the game's art and design still shine, Chris Hullsbeck's music is AWESOME and the difficulty is insane, like all good Euro-games of the era.
Now I'll surprise you: the best version of Jim Power is obviously the Amiga one, but my favourite is... The PC Engine CD one! I know it's washed-down and all, but it has three things that I love: 1) Hullsbeck's music in CD quality, 2) an actual jump button and 3) the fact that Jim keeps his ridiculous ‘tude era outfit, coupled with the fake anime intro. It's a charming port in its bizarrism, to say it simple and clearly.
Then, on to the Sega and Nintendo console ports:
- I can't say I like the SNES one despite having plenty of virtues. After trying it on real hardware, I think they went too far with the parallax layers and always manages to make me feel dizzy and physically sick. Other than that, it's laudable that they tried to give the game a twist with some Mode 7 goodness, and it's fairly close to the original.
- Too bad the Mega Drive one wasn't finished: It's very, very faithful to the original Amiga version, but I'm positive the anaglyphic 3D levels - if I get to play them - will make me sick as well.
The downside on both versions is the loss of that early 90s narm charm by turning Jim into a random, unoriginal Buck Rogers-Dan Dare character instead of the sublimely ridiculous boy-scout of the Amiga version.
It looks like the Mega Drive port could have been the definitive one. It seemed extremely promising. And again Huelsbeck proves that he had excellent command over the Mega Drive sound chip. As for the ST version, it's another game that would have greatly benefited from an STE port instead of sticking to the old original ST. It's a shame that most studios took advantage of the full compatibility between the ST and STE to only develop games for the weakest, but better implanted, standard.
And ST ports to Amiga. The Atari ST should have been released with better sound and blitter so Amiga games ported from Atari would be better.
Another one that I need to try. Thanks for the review.
You're welcome.
Well, flash forward to 2021 and we've got two new ports: the NES version and complete Mega Drive version. Can't wait to see how the latter compares to the others, noone's uploaded any gameplay footage as far as I know but someone did upload the MD soundtrack and it's unsurprisingly fantastic.
A sega genesis finished copy could really be the best!
This is so 90' on your face that is so lovely
It sure is. Just look at the Amiga version of Jim. Green shirts, green hat, ripped body, lazer gun and a sweet accessories belt. That's so 90's.
There's a recent release on current systems featuring the completed Genesis version and the NES remake. Also oddly enough it features an anime style intro featuring BOTH character designs for Jim. Sadly it doesn't include the Amiga or SNES versions, which would have been nice. 🤷
That's an odd release. I need to check that out at some point. I'm interested in knowing what all the other music tracks sound like on the Mega Drive.
Played the Amiga version and could complete the game without loosing a life. Just dont rush it. Move a few pixel kill anyone you see. It will take some time but you will actually see the end.
That's true. The Amiga version isn't that tough. The SNES version is a right bitch though.
Same. For me, Raf World (Journey to Silius) was as hard as this.
I remember seeing the rom floating around but never ended up playing it. These ports are surprisingly mostly good across the board. The weakest ones are definitely bad due to the hardware of the original version being so much higher than the other computer ports at the time. But I really like what they did with the Amiga original and the console ports.
the snes port was programmed by velez and dubale, also known as V.D. dev. this french duo is well known for pushing the limats of whatever video game system they are programming on. this can be scene in their game boy, GBA and ds work, like getting a fully bloodded 3d engine onto a GBA cartridge and getting a full sandbox game onto the DS.
V. D. has some skill👍
The music in the SNES version sounds awesome! I'm going to have to listen to that soundtrack. Great video!
ben owen again, Chris Hulsbeck makes THE best 1616-bit soundtracks IMO. Also the Mega Drive version sounds great, and so is the Atari ST version.
For people complaining how the main hero looks.
You *really* should take a look at how he looks at the ending screen, when you beat the game.
It's like he is a sexual pervert and the lady he saves just noticed that and gives a look like "Uh-Oh, what I got into? Maybe I was better not being saved by this sicko". I find it very funny :D
I think both of his designs are fine. But I haven't seen the ending 0.0
Not a big fan of the game, but man does it look and sound good on the Amiga.
Hard game but really neat. I love the Chris Hulsbeck music! SNES version in my collection. :)
Might be placeholder for Chris Huelsbeck the Megadrive version uses Mega Turrican SFX.
I think the only games Chris has only composed for the Genesis is Mega Turrican, Jim Power and Mega Bomberman.
It's a shame he didn't work more on the Mega Drive.
Yeah but the only reason I could assume he composed for those 2 games as well is with their soundfont, I hate the fact that Hudson stole Factor 5's 8 player mode.
Chris wasn't the composer on Mega Bomberman, that was Jun Chikuma.
I was talking about the original Mega Bomberman demo that Factor 5 created, not the one Hudson released.
He has converted the music for International Super Star Soccer Deluxe and the unreleased Mega Drive version of Indiana Jones Greatest Adventures.
Though yeah, none of those are his compositions, he just ported the music.
Nice parallax scrolling on the Amiga, shows what it's really capable of unlike a lot of other games. Looks good enough to be a Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis game. The Amstrad version does LOOK impressive in it's own right though considering how most games on the CPC looked.
the base in this game sounds so much more godly with a subwoofer
That it does. I play all games through the home cinema system.
Man, that Genesis port's music is buttkicking as heck! It's 1 of my Genesis jams I should say!
And how! Was that the song used in the outro with all the comparisons side by side?
@@NIGH11 No, it's TOO GOOD for that.
yeas i agree & it's a shame that we never got the full MD soundtrack ...
@ben owen imagine Level 1/Forgotten Path's theme song in the MD version...
Jim Power is definitely one of the best Amiga games ever and what many ports of Arcade games should have been on Amiga.
I'm quite surprised how Jim Power wasn't ported to C64 because C64 was very popular in many European countries, especially in Finland.
The C64 port could have been a demake but with smooth scrolling.
The PC Engine CD port should have been great. Interestingly enough, it's one of the few PC Engine games developed in Europe.
I have heard rumors about the development kit that Loriciel used for the PC Engine CD port was made by Factor 5.
After all, Chris Huelsbeck did that amazing CD soundtrack by himself.
It's shame how the SNES port was made to be overly gimmicky instead of being actually a fun game. It had the potential to be the best version of Jim Power. I'm sure the SNES port was supposed to be released in Europe by Loriciel themselves.
I'm glad the Mega Drive port got finally completed. I guess the Mega Drive is the best port and the most closest to the original Amiga version but that wouldn't be a surprise because both Mega Drive have same CPU with bit different clock speeds.
Chris Huelsbeck once said he only managed to convert few music tracks for the Mega Drive port but apparently he did finish the entire soundtrack.
It is very strange that the C64 didn't get a version. I guess they thought the machine wasn't work porting the game to.
14:10 Jim is on his way to Hilltop zone 1
No he's not, he's being welcomed to the Fantasy Zone. GET READY!
Azrial Alaria lol
Wherever Jim goes he is taking that big ass boss with him. They gonna need a BFG.
@@AzrialAlaria you sir, just made my day.
Great video of a not so great game! Enemies take way to much hits. I can't decide what's the best version, though, they all have their problems. If it weren't for the weird scrolling I'd probably go with the SNES-version.
The Amiga version is technically outstanding, if only that team could have done every single Amiga arcade port.
They really needed a better art team though, guys better at drawing and animating who understood basic colour theory. Just because you can put detailed, colourful graphics everywhere, doesn't mean you should. So many stages are haphazard and lacking in thought, the colour choices are pushing everything forward to the frontal plane. At least from the SNES version onward they toned the colour down a bit and fixed the bad action figure player sprite a bit. It is what it is I guess, peak early 90s tude' in an action platformer.
The Amiga version was limited to 7 colours for the foreground scrolling layer. It's difficult to make artwork with so few colours.
Amiga has more scroll planes, too many.
On SNES and the Megadrive copy they have the furthest background scrolling inverted, if you advance the background too and faster than the character and it should move backwards.
On average the best is the Amiga and SNES if we forget that background scroll bug.
I remember this being a big Amiga game before the console port. I don't think I've seen a better RUclips Channel. Thank You and Keep up the great work.
The music in the Megadrive unreleased version (only one track lol) is soooooo good
Fun Fact: it uses Mega Turrican's sound engine.
Yup! Only 3 games- this, Mega Turrican and that Bomberman demo use it
@Benjamin Jagun Yeah~! I need to get to -playing it when I can, so glad it got bought back, even more amazing music to enjoy! :>
I still have the Pc Engine music from this game on my IPhone.
Excellent as always Mark, I definitely prefer the Amiga version, I really don't like the parallax scrolling on the console versions, I find it really off putting.
That 1st boss kinda looked like 1st boss from Ghouls n Ghosts, games like this showed potential Amiga had, unfortunately, there was so much piracy that developers slowly cancelled their games, and then there was poor decisions of Commodore itself :( Had no idea Amstrad version existed as wel, but, even back then you would say "save money for another platform instead"
The boss is actually "inspired" from Ghouls'n Ghosts. I remember reading about that years ago in a magazine.
Game was truly excellent on the Amiga, and I still believe that's the best version. Where the - honestly a bit unusual - 'reverse' parallax scrolling becomes truly distracting, to me, is in the SNES port. It seriously messes with my eyes, giving the impression Jim is running inside a hamster wheel, making the whole scenario spin, according to his movements.
Also, did you play the MD unreleased port on an emulator, at 50hz? I tried it - via MD Everdrive - on my Japanese MD2 and the game is definitely too fast, and almost impossible to play, while yours seems perfectly timed.
The guys who own the rights to Jim Power claimed they found a complete Genesis rom and were going to release it as DLC for the Steam port of the DOS version. That was four years ago. Still hasn't happened.
"They had us in the first half"
They probably sold it off for big bucks to some collector.
Last thing they mentioned is that the Mega Drive version is finally going to be released this fall. Physical cartridge and all.
@@WeskerSega How long ago was that? I don't see anything from Piki in the past three years since they showed off that Nes version.
@@lorddalek Some months ago in the Sega 16 forums. The man in charge of the company usually shows up there to give insights about upcoming releases.
By the VD Dev guys who did very impressive things on the GB, GBA and DS.
They sure did, V-Rally 3 for the GBA could almost pass as an early PSX game!
VD Dev and Shin'en were the gods of amazing looking handheld games.
Sega is my favorite!
SAME!so Agree😉
@@magicvampirelver1321 Indeed! 🤗
ESPECIALLY with that AWESOME music that's 1 of my many jams!
@@ExtremeWreck Yeah!
The music on Jim Power is great, mostly. Level on and the forest zombie level are my favourites.
R.I.P. Fernando Velez the coding beast.
Amiga just destroy them all because Jim Power runs flawless and beautifully in my 1985 Amiga 1000!!!
true
And here I am again, right after Piko announces the re-release of Jim Power, with an Amiga CD-32 port, a NES version built from scratch, the final touches of the Mega Drive version, and according to them, some touches and tweaks on the SNES version, to make the game more fair.
Great looking game on Amiga and Megadrvie, SNES could be good too if parallax scroll into right direction.
Played the amiga version alot and loved the graphics .shame the megadrive version wasn't released officially as looked very good
I understand that Piko interactive were looking to release a physical version of the Mega Drive game complete with full soundtrack and ending but nothing happened. Did the passing of Jim Power's co-creator, Fernando Velez have anything to do with it?
fuck off Piko
i just leaved a bad comment about them to spray the truth.
I doubt it. In the past Piko have said other things that never came to light. I have a feeling they couldn't get the full game code or had trouble compiling it.
@@RetroCore They have the game code up and running. I understand it's a schedule issue they have just run behind or put aside to focus on other projects, it's a very small company with lots of projects taking place at the same time, very overwhelming for them. Last thing they said it's that it's finally going to be released at the end of the year.
If someone is interested: Jim Power is on Steam and includes the PC version, SNES original and enhanced, hit hearts have been added, as well as the "3D" parallax scrolling has been turned off, and the unreleased Sega Genesis version. The publisher mentioned in 2016 that there was going to release a Nintendo 8 bit version as a DLC... But I think it was never released. Pretty cheap for all those versions but no AMIGA version here. store.steampowered.com/app/370270/Jim_Power_The_Lost_Dimension/
The one version that I want is the Amiga version!! Aaaahhhh. For some reason on UK eBay there only seems to be the US SNES version.
Was the Mega drive version that late in the porting cycle? sources say that Loriciel went bankrupt in 1995. Sad really, The mega Drive version looked really nice. I especially like that Space Harrier type checkerboard they used. the animation and scrolling is great too. The SFC port I think is the best of the bunch- and the Amiga original was certainly a showpiece for the system.
Yep, the MD version was probably an attempt by Loriciel to bring in some cash but they ran out of money before the game could be completed.
The Amiga version really is great though.
@@RetroCore The Mega Drive version was actually completed, just not leaked/published up to this day, and it won't until PikoInteractive releases it. I believe the fact that it wasn't released back in the day was more related to publishing issues than anything.
@ben owen Well, you will see it when it's released if the Mega Drive version was completed or not. Ask Chris Hulsbeck if you still have any doubts about it.
@Benjamin Jagun Thanks, but I own the game. In fact, the first RUclips uploads of the Mega Drive version soundtrack were actually done by myself. One more thing, the Mega Drive version was picked up by Piko but not actually completed by them. They accessed a fully finished build of the game dating from December 1993 which had been kept unpreserved/undumped during all these years, the unfinished version with a single piece of music track (Mutant's Forest) we all know taking that place. What they simply did was changing the splash screens and copyright to reflect the change from Loriciel to Piko, and then release it as it is.
I didn't know about this game before. Definitely going to try it out on the Amiga! Looks and sound nothing short of fantastic on that system! I just love Chris Huelsbeck! The SNES game could've been perfect, but once again they sacrificed gameplay for the stupid overusage of the gimmick known as Mode 7. The overhead Contra stage looked far more enjoyable in the DOS version, and the constantly spinning bosses just looked awful. Plus why did they make the background scroll in the wrong direction? It really messed with my eyes! Yet another great show! Thank you for making these!
The SNES version originally shipped with 3D glasses which when worn actually gave the screen a 3D depth effect thanks to the backwards scrolling.
@@RetroCore Ah now that explains things! Thanks for the reply! :)
Honestly IMO the SNES version is very good! Though nowhere near is the Amiga original.
I love Jim Power SO MUCH. I know its a flawed game in some aspects and not spectular or anything, but there's something that always makes me go back to play it even after all these years. Its probably the soundtrack , but I really enjoy playing the game. So, thanks for making this video :D Actually, I must say it makes me very happy that, since you begun covering non-arcade games, you are giving a lot of attention to games that were made on Amiga or had a big impact on it. Being an amiga fanboy, I obviously love to see Amiga games being featured that are actually GOOD , hehe :D
The game was actually developed be the team who later would be known as "VD-DEV" (First it was "Digital Concept") and made some really impressive games for the Gameboy Color and the GBA. Loriciel just published it.
I usually say the coder probably wrote down on paper all the tricks he knew on programming for the Amiga and then thought "Ok, how do I write a game around this?". It's clear the game was crafted for the Amiga hardware... everything is clearly designed to take advantage of the way the Copper, Blitter and Hardware Sprites work on the Amiga hardware.
The things you mention people always saying about Jim Power (Being very hard and the nauseous parallax) are usually said just about the SNES version, which is for some reason the most famous version of the game.
The original Amiga game is far of being a hard game, it's just a heavy memorization test with a not very difficulty execution. I've finished it a few times, and with some practice someone could finish it without losing lives without much effort.
The SNES version in the other hand is brutal. The fact the game is a bit faster (probably a 50hz X 60hz issue) already ups the challenge, but the new levels they added is just ridiculous.. like you said, the overhead levels are just too hard and not enjoyable at all, and the new horizontal shoot'em up levels are also brutally hard. They are still heavy memorization tests, but there are too many "surprise kills" on those levels and the execution isn't as easy as on the original levels.
I have never played the PC-Engine version, but how sloppy it looks... its funny because they achieve parallax on some levels, yet the game seems to be coded by monkeys or something, everything moves just so wrongly...
And the Parallax on the "newer" versions don't bother me either, but I can't help saying how stupid they look. It's a shame because the Amiga version looks SO GOOD, I find so impressive how the artist managed to make the game look so colorful while the foreground, enemies and power up icons could all use only 8 colors (All of them, the very same 7 colors plus 1 for transparency), and the SNES version could look gorgeous, but that stupid parallax effect just kills it.
It'a shame those guys didn't develop another Amiga game (That was their first game, their next game was "The Smurfs Travel the World" for the Gameboy and Game Gear, and then they went to focus on developing games for handhelds), I bet they could have achieved even greater things with the hardware.
I'll have to check out what other stuff VD dev did. They sure know how to use an Amiga.
the soundtrack is indeed pretty good (and even AWESOME if we talk about the forest tune) but visually (and as I've just said in my comment) I think that the jim power games are quite unappealing, with some very amateurish graphic assets and even the way the guy is shooting look quite dumb. guess I'm spoiled by the turrican games as far as european action games go but still :P
but one thing for sure is that the amiga version is an awesome technical achievement and I feel that it pushes the hardware to its limits just like do other amiga games such as project-x or shadow fighter
@@ryzmaker11 The way the guy is shooting is due to hardware limitations. Well, ok, of course the artist could have done differently somehow, but the sprite could only be 32 pixels wide, and I guess that was the solution he found :)
I don't think Project X really does anything that amazing with the hardware (Well, ok, it pushes a lot of stuff on screen very smoothly on 32 colors mode... but its just smart use of the blitter and Mega Typhoon does it a lot better. Apidya also looks great, moves a lot of stuff on screen but on top of it has an amazing soundtrack and, most importante, an excellent gameplay, both missing on Project-X).
Shadow Fighter in the other hand its another game that was really obviously made around the hardware. I am amazed this game was made by a (then) 17 years old kid who had to stop development of the game midway because he had to do obligatory military service on his country when he turned 18. It really uses all the hardware has to offer... Copper splits, smart use of sprites to add parallax/BG animation, dual playfield, palette changes mid-screen, etc.
Two games on Amiga I find incredibly impressive and I think rarely gets the attention they deserve is Mr. Nutz and Mega Typhoon.
Mr. Nutz actually uses the same tricks of Jim Power, but moves a SHITLOAD more of stuff on screen, and that bonus level is just out of this world.
And Mega Typhoon... how the HECK that coder made a shoot'em up on Amiga SO HECTIC as later Toaplan/Early Cave games? It's a shame he decided to do the whole game alone, as his graphics are really vomit-indulcing sometimes, but the code on that is freaking magic, there's no other Amiga game that moves so much on screen while keep a steady 50 fps framerate. That is a lot more impressive than Project-X imo.
@@rafaellima83 what I found impressive with project-x is that it uses the full 320x256 display unlike most other amiga games (that often have cropped screen in a way or another) yet it throws quite many sprites and at 50 fps so it's quite the achievement for the amiga hardware which can be considered as a "trade-off machine" yet this game ticks quite many boxes at once
but yes you reminded me about mega typhoon and I had the same reaction as you when I discovered it (I remember your comment in one video). it clearly seems like a manic shooter although this one does have cropped screen with large borders on each side but STILL, still, really impressive amount of shit flying everywhere at 50fps and the graphics are quite cool IMO (much nicer than jim power :P)
as yeah, mr nutz is another top tier achievement on amiga but also another with vastly cropped screen
btw 17 year old? wow, dude was beast. also what are the most impressive amiga 3D games you think?
although Genesis are incomplete from Loriciel themselves, Piko Interactive finished it and release that in 2021 alongside the NES version, which must be said, it's freaking awesome!
Especially the NES version, Piko break it's boundaries of the NES limitations with it's very fluid animations it gives!
i recommended that game for sure
Love the videos. Keep up the good work 👍
Thanks Rasher basher.
the pc engine version plays like a fan made flash game
It’s got Jim, it’s got power, what’s not to love?
Amazing video. Can i suggest Sim City for a future release?
Sim City is a tough one as each version of the game would require too much time.
There's also a supposed prototype NES version, owned by current right holder, Piko Interactive. They promised to release it (together with the updated MD version) as a part of the Steam release but alas... four years have passed, and no news whatsoever about those.
That's not a prototype, the NES version is a brand new retroport: ruclips.net/video/OG5V-VWRtP0/видео.html
Yeesh, why is the parallax scrolling moving in reverse in the DOS and most console versions? That's really distracting to me just trying to watch it!
It's to give a "3D" effect. It doesn't bother me really. I kind of think it looks funky.
Looks like a game that should have ported to Sega CD
As long as they redid the music. The CD tracks on the PC Engine version are kind of weak compared to the chip tunes I feel.
Even being a shitty port it's one of the best looking Atari ST games... i loved it back in the day
NETnews Agreed to be fair I don’t think they could have done much better.
The parallax scrolling on the SNES version is sick inducing.
That didn't happen for me. it's a good port.
Some may like the Contra 3-like overhead stages in Jim Power for the SNES, but I do not. I hated Contra 3's overhead stages, but at least this seems far less nauseating and frustrating. At least the SNES port is still easily the best port shown in the video with the Mega Drive not too far behind it. Talking of which, it's a crying shame Loriciel couldn't finish the game, as it could've been just as good and maybe even better than the SNES version.
I didn't really mind the overhead stages on Contra 3 but the ones on Jim Power are much more difficult. But yeah, like you said the ones on Jim Power don't make you feel as ill.
Finished this excellent and hard game on the Amiga when it was released.
The Megadrive version is not bad but i prefer the feeling on the Amiga, less fast, more smooth.
You need to play the Mega Drive version in PAL mode as it wasn't programmed to run on NTSC systems.
@@RetroCore
さて、私はそうします、ありがとう :D
The famous Velez & Dubail. The masters of GB and GBA development.
The background scrolling of the SNES version. Why. Someone flipped a bit or an operator and decided to leave it? Harder to look at than the mothership fight in the ST version
Haha. Good to know Marl. Also bro. King of Fighters XV was announced at EVO. WOW!
Anthony..
one thing im wasent aware of, there has recently been a kickstarter project from this game.
Im would instantly liked the homebrew port of the NES version, that for sure. Im only seen footage (some of its longplay), its looks and seens to play excellently done.
Also the Mega drive version has finally been released with some fixes to it. also with a SNES version that fixed the dizzy scrolling (seens to been same version as in the steam version). Other ports also been rereleased (Amiga CD32 with PC-Engine soundtrack).
Cool to see game like this to been rereleased and eventuelly got some issues fixed on some platforms.
I'd like to check out the Mega Drive version just for the soundtrack. I'm interested in knowing how it turned out.
Here is how the sprites was used in the Amiga version: codetapper.com/amiga/sprite-tricks/jim-power/
Nice link. Thanks.
Great game on the Amiga eventho I've always had a hard time beating the first two stages! It's worth noting that the MS-DOS version is the only one having a (much needed!) life bar. You can also disable part of the parallax scrolling wich will help dosbox rendering the game (I think the game expects a 386 so cycles should be set accordingly under dosbox).
Didn't know the studio went bankrupt, shame about the mega drive version, had such potential!
Great video as always!
Just a quick question though.
In the SNES version, the top-down view levels rotate around your character, while the MS DOS version has the top-down view stages stay static.
Which version do you prefer for the top-down view stages, the SNES or the MS DOS?
The SNES version is better. The MS Dos version also has those clouds which obscure the view sometimes.
Loriciel is just the publisher. The developers were the legendary duo VD-dev
oh, I see. Did they also develop the other ports?
i remember a few years ago, with my good friend Jessie,
we did a challenge, Ripping all the game music versions for Jim Power.
it was the minimum for us, as we are some solid Chris Huelsbeck's fans ;)
cheers Mark.
I was just playing this on the Amiga today Mark. i didn't know you can read minds. 8^)
Anthony..
I have the power.
The AMIGA is the best of the lot.
I think Piko Interactive were at one point, hoping to do an Amiga CD32 release, but couldn't find anyone reliable enough to do the game.
Are Piko interactive still around?
@@RetroCore Piko released the Amiga CD32. it's pretty much the same of the Amiga but PC Engine CD theme in background
So in the shmup portion of the game the ship looks like the R-9 from R-Type, but has the shield system from the Silverhawk from Darius? Lol
yep, no shame in "borrowing" I guess.
Yakumo, do you have good access to PC-98 games? I believe you had some issues covering some FM Towns games like Shadow of the Beast, don't know if it's the same in that case. There's lot of home computer games which have PC-98 versions that could be considered for Battle of the Ports, if you have the means to cover them of course.
I do have a very large collection of PC-88 and PC-98 games. But I am missing some.
@@RetroCore Good. I hope you will eventually do the Alone in the Dark games. Those have many ports, especially the first two games, which include FM-Towns and PC-98 versions (Alone in the Dark 3 also has a PC-98 version). Would be interesting features for sure.
I'll add it to the list. Now that I'm covering none Arcade games as well the to do list has shot up to over 200 titles.
A bunch of japanese ports of this very european game. That's surprised me. The game looks delicious in original Amiga and Mega Drive, in terms of playing.
I enjoyed a lot this BotP ;)
There's actually no Japanese ports. They were all developed in Europe including the PC Engine version that was only sold in Japan.
@@RetroCore I'm pretty sure the Japanese PC Engine games by Loriciel were also brought to France thanks to the import business that Sodipeng (Société de Distribution de la PC Engine, subsidiary of Guillemot International) had with NEC/Hudson for bringing the Japanese systems and games to France back in the day. That must have been the big reason why a French company like Loriciel would be interested in developing and publishing games for this system in the first place.
AWESØME⚡RetroCore iLØVE YOUR BATTLE of THE PORTS vidz🕹🎮🎮🎮to COOOL😎👍
Cheers man. Thanks for watching.
yeahhhh,really awesome videos,thanx a lot .
I saw someone in the comments section of an Amiga long-play pretty much complaining that it is too easy.
I think that ST version actually looks pretty good - is that running on a 520ST spec?
Are you sure that the PCE CD version was not released in France? It was popular there.
Megadrive Port is the most well adjusted in speed and scrolling in parallax, the sound is amazing , potty not officially released , anyway found in some Chinese carts hehe
The MD version was meant to get an official release from Pikko. I wonder what happened.
@@RetroCore It was recently finished and to be released soon!
@@solarflare9078 It's out now, and not only that, you can get the Megadrive/Genesis, SNES, NES and DOS versions all in one go by buying the game on GOG. Yes, you can get the roms for use in emulators/multicarts.
subbed because Jim mutha fkng POWER
The jerky windowed crap on the Amiga is a result of that crap being ported from the Atari ST in a manner very similar to how CPC games would get ported from the ZX Spectrum. These ports also had very short deadlines and low budgets, and were done just to cash in on the game name.
Seems like most Amiga Arcade ports were done in this fashion for the first half of its life.
@@RetroCore ruclips.net/video/33kH9DdNznA/видео.html
This is what Street Fighter 2 could have been on the Amiga.
Interestingly enough, I still have SNES cart and yet i bought the steam version from Piko Interactive. Best part about it, I played the DOS on my 486 with no problems.
That's why it worked for you. I don't have an old PC for stuff like this 😕
Amiga wins, unless you like feeling sick playing the snes, md or dos versions!
Nah, forget about the DOS version unless you want an easier game. The Dos version's music isn't as good as the SNES or MD.
*Amiga and SNES win.
I've always been 50/50 on how I like this game. Really easy to die if you don't jump right. But not entirely impassable either.
Crazy how a 1985 computer, the Amiga 1000, outperforms a 1987 console *combined* with a 1991 CD-Rom add-on, the PC Engine! In comparison, the Amiga version runs in higher resolution + with better graphics + with better scrollings + with better sound FX! And it also has better controls.
But the sad thing here is that the potentially best all-around version, the Mega Drive one, was canceled! It already looks and sounds so good and I'm sure that it has the best playability.
But I have to say that other than the music, I never found the Jim Power games to be appealing. The art direction is too messy and some graphic assets look plain awful (very amateurish). In comparison, I much prefer other European action-platformers such as Risky Wood, Wolfchild or the Turrican series!!
I respect your opinion, I still enjoyed Jim Power, but again, Turrican FTW.
Well the CD add-on doesn't add anything other than RAM and storage and some sound stuff. Nothing extra in the graphics department other than lots of space.
With the missing animations and lack of attacks it doesn't look like the PCE CD version was finished but maybe that's just me.
I tried playing the Genesis version of this when the ROM was leaked but didn't know it wasn't a finished game so once I got stuck I gave up. The game is nice technically but ugly art wise. You see a game like Shadow of the Beast or Puggsy and wonder what the hell happened.
Ah, I usually don't make suggestions or "requests" as I know you probably have a list of what you want to do for your next videos.
But some non-arcade Konami games could make some really interesting videos. Castlevania, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the original NES platform game, not the arcade brawler), Metal Gear .... Maybe even International Super Star Soccer Deluxe which had a weird and very unknown PS1 release. Think about it :) :)
I've always wanted to cover all versions of Snatcher.
@@RetroCore That would be interesting too... and at least the MSX version has an english patch nowadays (Dunno about the PC-88 version).
You could cover the differences on the storyline of all versions..... Metal Gear Solid 5 wasn't the first time Konami dropped the ball and asked Hideo Kojima to cut stuff of their game because he was late as heck with development, but at least with Snatcher he could tell the whole story on later releases :)
@@RetroCore Oh, duh, I forgot Japanese is not a barrier for you :)
Yep, I can play them in Japanese 👍. But I will always take the English option for RPG type games if there is one.
And now it's left the newer version made by Piko Company, for the Nes / Famicom console. A demake, but very great and very well done version.
Bummer. Now my video is outdated 😅
@@RetroCore Well, you can always make another one. :) Piko even finished up the Megadrive version.
@DRAKONOLUS I'm amazed at how well the NES version turned out. Beautiful graphics and animation (especially on Jim himself), improved balancing (while still being quite difficult), the music is BANGIN', and they didn't use the annoying layers that made the SNES/Genesis versions so hard to play.
This is the kind of game perfect for amiga ,but the snes game is awesome too
Best part of this game was the first level music... which was copied almost exactly from Ys III - A Searing Struggle.
And that's why it's so great!
The super nes versión is spectacular
10:59
The No Beam
Amiga version is the best!
As much as I like the Amiga version I'd love to have Sega MD version just for the music alone. So sad it never came to full release.
Also, I do like the music in Atari ST version because of the chip sound.
Wow, the parallax on the SNES/dos/mega drive version is so damn wrong. Looks like he is walking on a cilinder.
Great choice for a game to cover! I always had that sinking feeling that the PCE version looked like a shit port, and it actually was. Music's still good, tho! God damn! With stage 1 taking influence from Ys 3, even (For all versions, TBH)! Thank God for the SNES release being so impressive and adding so much to the game at the cost of difficulty, I hope someone has the fucking balls to unearth the code of the MD prototype and finish it cuz I've been hankerin' to see it finished and hear all the music
I think "inspiration" may be a little too kind for what happened here. I think they also 'Dark Horse'-ed a few other music tracks in this game, too. It does, however, make me wish the Amiga had seen a properly coded port of Ys 3 (or any Ys, really). At least we know it could've done the music justice.
I'd also love to hear the full Mega Drive soundtrack just to hear how the tracks were arranged.
@@RetroCore Piko Interactive have the rights of Jim Power and I emailed them once to know if they'll gonna release a full version of the Mega Drive port. they say yes of course with all the music and stuff but that never came out :/
08:20 - meow meow meow meow
hhahahahaha
Very similar to Turrican good but not up to par with that franchise
Need to add NES port for now lol. And it is GREAT!