Battle of the Ports - Thunder Storm / Cobra Command (サンダーストーム) Show 524 - 60fps
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- Опубликовано: 29 сен 2024
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Time Code
00:29 - Arcade
03:03 - Mega CD
05:25 - Saturn
07:49 - PlayStation
09:27 - Windows
11:21 - All versions side by side
Enjoy!
#retrocore
#battleoftheports
#Cobracommand
I've never seen the arcade machine, so while the Mega CD port might be rough, seeing it running in the store at launch definitely gave this Nintendo kid pangs of jealousy. The NES game was one of the first games I ever saw running on that system in a store kiosk as well, it really left an impression on me too.
I love those baritone farts of the mega cd SFX. A very Wolfteam trademark 😂
you mean the usual genesis yamaha audio chipset farts? xD
That's right, Cobra Command, not Cobra Commander as in the main antagonist of G.I. Joe, known as Action Force in the UK...
The Takara Video Challenger was a 1987 VHS tape based home console with a light gun.
But I think it's not even supported in MAME yet. Might be hard to do.
I also checked for the Sharp X-1 port, also released in same year of 1985 as the MSX port. It appears to be impossible to find any information or file for it, unfortunately.
The missing MSX port has good information online. But you're right. The source file for it appears to be impossible to find. However, there's a website that presumably lets you emulate it online. I haven't tried that as it doesn't work on the phone screen.
Thanks for the comment info about the possibility to emulate the MSX version online. I'd like to check that out.
That Windows port is silky smooth, even more so than the arcade. The Saturn and PS versions aren't too far behind either, and the Saturn version is worth getting for the added features alone. Sadly the Sega CD version looks the worst out of all the ports, but that's to be expected for such an early release on the system, as well as the limited color palette. Still, Wolfteam did the best they could, and the other ports should have implemented the lock-on color change, as that's really handy!
I agree about the lock-on colour change as well. It's a good feature.
Wolfteam never misses, their port of Road Avenger is also amazing, full of quality of life enhancements and a game feel unlike the arcade and other ports. They knew what they were doing.
I have this game for the PlayStation, of course the version that comes with Road Blaster. And I quiet like it. I don't like FMV games, but Thunder Storm LX-3 is quiet enjoyable. Sadly I never finished the game because is quiet relentless.
It can be thought. For me it's quite easy as I've played it hundreds of times over the past 30 years or so.
Honestly, you're not missing much with the Video Challenger release of Thunder Storm. The video of that game never changes and you're supposed to judge yourself based on the gun's score.
Video Challenger was a lightgun that worked through videotapes you played. If you're thinking of Worlds of Wonder and their "Action Max", you're mostly there.
Thanks, I wondered how on earth you could do an FMV game with VHS. I had visions of having to fast forward and rewind the tape all the time! 😂
I remember this game was at a Showbiz pizza I went to as a kid and I was always super fascinated by it, and the into scene was burned into my memory lol.
I was so "wowed" with this on my mega cd back in 93...I knew I was middle class then 😅
You weren't the only one 😂👍
Damn.
I haven't seen the Sega CD version of this for at least 2 decades, probably 3.
And the first seconds of videos made lots of memories shine hard on my memory. I had a friend who had this game, and he hated it because he could barely beat the first level.
I begun playing it and got really good at it, and it was maybe the only game of this kind that I actually enjoyed playing it on the Sega CD (and I played Sewer Shark of course Road Avenger, Time Gal, etc), and I guess it was a mix of the great atmosphere with the sound and how I really enjoy the idea of flying choppers and jets.
I didn't even know there was versions for the Saturn and PS1. I now want to try the Saturn one :)
I'm surprised that they renamed the game "Cobra Command" in Western markets, due to the fact Hasbro had a character who's name is like 2 letters off that debuted at least a year earlier. You'd expect their lawyers would jump at the opportunity to sue or threaten a cease and desist to the game producers to change it back to Thunder Storm.
You're referring to Cobra Commander, first released as a toy in 1982, 2 years before this game here.
@@ObiKKa I know Hasbro has a history of problems copyrighting/trademarking certain Transformers names (their embarrassing suit over DC's Bumblebee but also their own embarrassing lack of protecting the name Shockwave), but you would think they'd try to be a little more stringent on a game called Cobra Command.
Sega CD version is still my favorite(have on Saturn also) . something about the audio and pixel art of the cockpit. Plus I really enjoyed the ending music. It was the 1st game I bought for my yet to open Sega CD Christmas gift. The OG launch model 1. I remember being so excited looking at the box screen shots trying imagine how the fmv would look when I could finally play it on Christmas. No internet back then for any previews.. Never seen a Sega CD run in person yet. I still enjoy playing it today. Being a target shooting game I some how feel it has long replay value. Such an exciting time to grow up :)
Yes the mega cd was grainy as hell , with small window and slow frame rate but at the time still impressive compared to normal sprite games on the megadrive
the Sega CD version is not bad actually, this was one of the first module for Sega CD FMV games now on
also, i actually never heard that awesome but rare PC port. i wonder if it still running on Windows 10?
I was running it on Windows 7 but I do believe it will run on Windows 10 in compatability mode.
@@RetroCore i would want to try that game, but where did you find that anyway?
I'm one of those retro guys who absolutely loves Laser Disc/FMV games, I still play these classics on a regular basis, so anytime they get some love, I'm front and center showing support. This was actually one of the better titles in the genre actually, as it felt much more interactive than the standard titles did at the time.
Indeed. For me though the best of all has to be Road Blasters / Road Avenger, also by Data East.
@@RetroCore Agree 100%, as that is one of, if not the only Laser Disc game I hear people often say they are a fan of on a regular basis. I wish this genre got more love, as I was rather excited when the "Taito LD Game Collection" was announced last year along with a planned western release. Sadly I have seen no mention of it since, so I'm afraid it may have been canceled, especially if the Japanese release didn't sell well.
This one is one of the better ones for sure
@@RetroCore Road Avenger car is in the garage at the very start of Double Dragon! 🙂
I do wonder if any future re-releases of the game will censor the New York stage, as I am surprised the *towers* on the Windows version were left intact, even if it is Japan-only.
Why wouldn’t it be? Do you shoot them down in the game? If it’s just background element it sets a time to it. Can’t pretend it didn’t exist.
Game is set in 1984
@sloppynyuszi Unfortunately, Shadow Dancer on the Mega Drive did on the SEGA Genesis Classics version (it’s one large rectangle there, but oddly enough, it wasn’t changed in the game’s ending).
Yeah, some changes are just dumb. Removing parts of history is never cool. Especially when it's just part of the background art.
Absolutely! 👍
And that explains what the hell the red chopper is doing there at the start of Double Dragon II.
The Road Blaster/Road Avenger car is in Double Dragon as well
@@solarflare9078 Yep. I think that was mentioned in the Double Dragon video yonks ago, so I didn't need to reiterate.
The game was also available as an early AppStore game, and I bought it for my iPod Touch. I guess the timing coincided with the Windows port. But I don't think I got on well with the touch screen controls.
The Mega CD's crap graphics may have been a bit of a blessing in disguise. The cleaner the video becomes, the more obvious it is that a lot of the backgrounds are completely flat. So in a way this helped the Mega CD feel like it had elaboratly animated cel-painted 3D backgrounds throughout, even though it was all just rough edges and colour palette problems from the digitisation and heavy compression.
Some parts of the Mega CD version were even redrawn.
The sega cd version has bad frame rates but the images makes it look like flash animation. The music fits perfectly with the way how it looks and play.
The audio on the Mega CD version is perfect I think.
Some of the sound effects in the MEGA CD version, are right out of various games from Wolf Team's Mega Drive games (that were brought to the US thanks to Renovation). I can hear them so clearly (like the explosion effect from games like Sol-Deace, El-Viento, etc.).
Indeed. The Telenet group did like to share resources.
One of the few FMV games I genuinely enjoy! I recognize the English voice from the arcade intro as William Ross, so the dub was probably handled by Frontier Enterprises, an early localization company he started in Tokyo. Frontier did a bunch of dubs for Toho, Toei and a few others. They did a fair bit of live action stuff too, like one of my favorite Japanese non-Kaiju monster flicks: Legend of the Dinosaurs and Monster Birds. Love them or hate them, they were out there filling a niche that was woefully underserved.
Hey, some nice trivia there about the English voices work. 👍. Thanks for sharing.
@@RetroCore You're welcome. Even if the end product wasn't always great. I find the who and why of that stuff fascinating.
I still have my Sega CD copy of Cobra Command (US version) after all these years. I need to fix my Model 1 to see if the disc still runs though.
Got to get a Model 2 man they’re still a little finicky though I bought a few that had junk lasers but I’ve heard they’re the more reliable of the two.
There is a photo here of two men infront of a house. 9:30 what’s that about?
Ah, that's the company that developed the PC version. It's a very small doujin company. Basically homebrew but their port was officially licensed and released in stores. In small quantities mind you.
@@RetroCore ah, interesting. I thought you put some family photos in by accident 😅
I put so much time into this with my UK launch model, Sega CD, mind you, there wasn't much else worth playing for many a month.
That port looks like homemade soup, but it IS fun to play.
For what it's worth, the OpenMSX emulator can play laserdisc games from a disc image, however I came up empty when I tried to find a copy on the net. I have copies of the Palcom laserdisc games, like Astron Belt and Starfighters, but no others.
Yeah, that's the big issue, finding the actual images.
Finding the laser disc image of Thunder Storn is nit so tricky but the MSX computer software to accompany it is very hard to find.
@@RetroCore When I looked, I didn't see a downloadable disc image for it. In fact, I'm having trouble finding a complete list of what games were available on laserdisc for the MSX. Most lists only have the nine games that I have. Some also list two murder mystery games, which I don't have.
None of the lists have Thunder Storm or Cobra Command listed. I did see a forum post from someone who was looking for the software to run it, but I never saw any actual source for the disc image.
Been researching FMV games again recently, LD games basically took forever to arrive, and even then they were still too expensive for the average consumer. Can't imagine MSX overlays would look very good on LD video, kind of low in color depth.
Wow less than 15-fps on Mega CD is actually quite poor objectively since most of the FMV titles on that platform are 15-fps. Funnily I think some modern color reduction, rotoscoping, and dithering algorithms would work better for Sega CD FMV. The matter improved later but too late and not improved enough that many noticed.
SS port would have benefitted from MPEG card support but perhaps the release timing and or budget didn't allow that. That HUD effects movement is quite nice, more games like that should have done things that since any interactivity is hard to come by in linear rail shooters. PS1 port is serviceable, decent codec quality and more importantly built-in hardware to decode it.😉
What is it about Japan for exclusive PC/Windows ports, more than a few I'd have liked in NA heh? Was most curious about that one though, wasn't sure if it would reach DVD format. HUD sure is flat and boring though, applies to what I was saying about low color depth overlay graphics. 2bpp(4 colors) overlays likely, from what I've seen 4bpp(16 colors) minimum looks better with LD footage Eg. Laseractive/SS/PS1.
It would be cool seeing Cobra Command being ported to the SNES using the MSU-1 chip, much like how Super Road Blaster did it :)
Great video, I miss playing the iPhone version since apple delisted the game!
Digital media sucks for this very reason 😢
@@RetrodudeG If you've previously bought it, it should still be available to you in the AppStore. After watching this video I reinstalled it onto my iPad.
Sega CD might be worst of the ports but if it had been ported much later it could have been so much better looking :)
The Windows port closely matches the looks and sounds of the dedicated arcade version. They made multiple versions of the arcade game on different hardware as conversion kits, you showed the Sega Astron Belt conversion in the video. I'd say the best are the dedicated and Mach 3 conversion versions myself.
Can't believe there was an MSX version! That would have been amazing back in the day... Super Cobra on steroids. Probably only an option for bloody rich kids though.
Never knew about this back in the day. Wow, on the MSX as well. I still own be it in my parents' loft Toshiba HX-10 MSX
Never been much on laser games but thanks for your effort
No worries!
I found an OBI for this inside my Tactics Formula manual. Been looking for a cheap copy without an OBI, but it's not the easiest thing to come across.
Thanks for another great arcade botp. It is really appreciated and you make the weekend just that little bit greater, tysm (thank you so much)
Does the Saturn port support the mission stick?
Does the mega cs version support that Meg drive analog controller?
Does the paystation version support the analog flight stick?
I know these are not flying games. But I do not see myself playing this with digital controls.
Arcade game had smooth analog controls! And that made the game so much fun
What a out the video frame rate differences between the satutrn and playstation ports?
Looking really forward to an updated botp version when you get those other version running!
I love Laser Disc games but they were the ultimate contradiction, they looked absolutely amazing but were mostly crap.
Seeing pictures of this game in EGM before the Sega CD hit the USA, compelled me to beg for a Sega CD that Christmas. At the time, I didn’t know it was an old arcade game. Ultimately it wasn’t the best game, but I was impressed with it at the time
Great episode, Mark. It looks so fun. I gotta play it. It looks like Tokyo Movie Shinshua did the animation
That's wild that it got a Windows port so many years later, obviously a cult hit in Japan then, these laser disc games are like a mix of old school anime and retro gaming, I can see why you have played it so much, it looks like a lot fun.
I remember when i played this one on my new Mega CD, i thought it was awesome but not so much this days 😅
I really regret selling my Mega CD back in the day, only way to afford the newer consoles when i was young with no extra cash 😅
Thanks Mark 👍🏼
Ahhh, I heard you still use the legendary Windows 7...
Lol, indeed. I used 3 different Windows systems. XP, 7 and 10. I do have a Windows 11 laptop but that's left if work. Can't stand the menu system on 11.
@@RetroCore Windows 11 is awful. Be glad you barely use it
Whoa, thanks for unearthing the PC version! Amazing!
Great video, as always. I like the Windows version.
best lazer disc game i have seen yet!
It's the better looking Laserdisc game
LOVE the rudeness of the Mega CD port
Odd how the Mega CD version is using FM sfx, especially given Wolfteam’s FM sound effects…
I guess the Mega CD was busy since this was their first FMV game. Later releases did improve video quality and frame rate plus had better sound effects.
The funny thing with the "shooting" is, things don't really blow up when you hit them, only when they are scripted to.
Such are the limitations of FMV
I have no idea if Mark’s Japanese pronunciation is perfect or not… but it always sounds good to me
Isn't he japanese?
@jmbenetti He’s British, but has been living in Japan for the second half of his life
As solarflare mentioned, I'm actually British but I've been living in Japan since 1998 😅
Yep, that is correct 👍
That's nice to hear.
I can speak Japanese so I hope I'm pronouncing things correctly 😅
I'm hoping this and road blaster gets a port to modern systems like Time Gal and Ninja Hayato did
I think Road Blasters saw a release on mobile devices at one point but as always it's long been delisted.
It's seem Windows win.
yo good stuff as always mark, could you do sonic cd as your next battle of the ports episode?
Sonic CD? I'm sure I've covered that at some point. I'll need to go back and check. If not, I'll add it yo the to do list.
Did you ever do pirates! Or Pirates!gold ? 13:58
Yet another title that makes me sad Saturn never did better
Need to do Road Avenger now, that wasn't a bad game on Mega CD
He's done it before
@@solarflare9078 do you have a link? I'd love to see that one!