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Atomic Planet replies to GCN MMAC cries

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Deleted member 284

Unconfirmed Member
JackFrost2012 said:
Capcom is giving you TEN Mega Man games for $30. Now, I'm no mathologist, but I think that comes out to ... *gets calculator* about $2.73 per game. Two dollars and seventy-three cents! That's less than the cost of an overpriced cup of coffee.

Damn, you weren't kidding about not being a mathologist. David Dayton wants to see you. He wants his innability to do basic math back.
 

NotMSRP

Member
I believe this anthology is to only cover the original MM series, the Dr. Wily saga. There can be more MMACs in the future since Capcom has a million games under the MM name.
 
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Deleted member 284

Unconfirmed Member
bobbyconover said:
I'm actually really tempted to get the Cube version specifically for the interview clip, except that I doubt I'd ever be able to see it. You have to beat Megaman 8 to unlock it, and I'm afraid that might be a bit tough when being forced to play the game backwards!

Actually, 7 and 8 have the controls setup correctly. Its the NES games that are effed up.
 

ge-man

Member
bobbyconover said:
I'm just surprised that throughout all of this, nobody has mentioned that the collection lacks both Megaman Battle & Chase - which was famously ready for US release (ads actually ran in magazines at the time), translation and all, but was supposedly denied by SCEA - and Megaman Soccer, which seems like it could've easily been added since they managed MM7 well enough. And hey, how about Rockboard, the Rockman party board game that beat Mario Party to the punch by 10 years. I would've loved to finally play that in English!

Not that I'm complaining - I just can't believe nobody else has been. :D



I'm actually really tempted to get the Cube version specifically for the interview clip, except that I doubt I'd ever be able to see it. You have to beat Megaman 8 to unlock it, and I'm afraid that might be a bit tough when being forced to play the game backwards!

You don't have to beat MM8 as far as I can tell, but I can'trecall what needs to be done. AP did a pretty good job of making the extras a reasonable goal.
 
olubode said:
Actually, 7 and 8 have the controls setup correctly. Its the NES games that are effed up.

Oh, no way. I might seriously have to pick it up, then, especially considering (just to work yet another little slam in) that I tried to play Megaman 8 3 times last night - no lie - and it froze the system every time during the intro animation. I might end up having to own the cube version just to play it.

Now to wait for a ridiculously cheap Fry's sale to price-match at Best Buy and then use the "gift card trick" on! I'm looking to beat that $2.73 per game by at least a good 75 cents.

You don't have to beat MM8 as far as I can tell, but I can'trecall what needs to be done. AP did a pretty good job of making the extras a reasonable goal.

I'm going on GameFaqs here, but I guess it could be wrong.
 

jarrod

Banned
dark10x said:
No, I'd say it applies to Gamecube as well...

Despite the hardware differences, porting a PSX game to ANY other platform will almost always be easier than porting something from the Saturn...
For a sprite based 2D platformer? The game didn't even push Saturn in any significant way, I doubt it even used both SH2s... the extra effort would've been negligible. Atomic Planet could've thrown in the Wily Wars too for good measure.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
jarrod said:
For a sprite based 2D platformer? The game didn't even push Saturn in any significant way, I doubt it even used both SH2s... the extra effort would've been negligible. Atomic Planet could've thrown in the Wily Wars too for good measure.

In reality, the main point is that supporting TWO code bases is simply a lot of extra effort. Why would they port one version to GC and another to PS2? That's too much extra testing to worry about...

Still, regardless of how hard it pushed the Saturn, it is likely easier to port from the PSX to GC...even if only by a tiny bit.
 

jarrod

Banned
dark10x said:
In reality, the main point is that supporting TWO code bases is simply a lot of extra effort. Why would they port one version to GC and another to PS2? That's too much extra testing to worry about...
I understand that, but again it wouldn't have been even remotely difficult in all likelyhood. And it would've been a nice counter to the lack of remixed soundtracks... then again, with a little effort it probably wouldn't have been difficult to fit everything in the GC version anyway. I'm just dissapointed Capcom/Atomic Planet settled on giving us the worst verion of the game. :/


dark10x said:
Still, regardless of how hard it pushed the Saturn, it is likely easier to port from the PSX to GC...even if only by a tiny bit.
LIke I said, a neglibile bit.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
Regardless of how small that little bit was, PSX -> PS2 is EXTREMELY simple and PSX -> GC is probably just a tad bit easier than SAT -> GC (in this case). So, they already had one version basically complete and just needed to work on the other.

WHY would they have used the Saturn version? It's pretty obvious that they took the quick route for each game here, so MM8 wouldn't really be any different.
 

jarrod

Banned
dark10x said:
Regardless of how small that little bit was, PSX -> PS2 is EXTREMELY simple and PSX -> GC is probably just a tad bit easier than SAT -> GC (in this case). So, they already had one version basically complete and just needed to work on the other.

WHY would they have used the Saturn version? It's pretty obvious that they took the quick route for each game here, so MM8 wouldn't really be any different.
They didn't take the quick route with MegaMan 1-6 though, so why settle when it comes to MM8? Again, I undertand the why here, I just don't feel it's justified. Porting a Saturn port (the games were built on PS1 first) is nothing in development terms today... if they were using emulation, that I could understand (as emulating a Saturn on PS2/GC would be a nightmare) but when they're rebulding these games from scratch I see no reason not to use the best version. Or why not just add the additional Saturn content (animation, bosses, bonus options) to the PSX port then? If they're porting how much extra effort would throwing in some more animation frames take?
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
jarrod said:
They didn't take the quick route with MegaMan 1-6 though, so why settle when it comes to MM8? Again, I undertand the why here, I just don't feel it's justified. Porting a Saturn port (the games were built on PS1 first) is nothing in development terms today... if they were using emulation, that I could understand (as emulating a Saturn on PS2/GC would be a nightmare) but when they're rebulding these games from scratch I see no reason not to use the best version. Or why not just add the additional Saturn content (animation, bosses, bonus options) to the PSX port then? If they're porting how much extra effort would throwing in some more animation frames take?

...but they DID take the "quick" route with MM1-6. They simply ported the titles from Rockman Complete Works. Emulation would not have been possible here if they wanted to keep the updated features...and porting THOSE versions would certainly be easier than building them all from scratch again.
 

Kumiko Nikaido

Vindication...sweet.
The even sadder thing about Mega Man 8 found in MMAC is that it's whack job compared to the PS version.

The flaws:

* FMV animation cinemas are washed out color-wise in GC version. (Never mind the use of Bink Video's compression routine).

* Game runs at a different resolution or something: Character sprite sizes are "off", i.e Mega Man and enemies are tinier and "squished" looking compared to what's seen on PS and Saturn editions. (Same effect in game selection walk screens.....WTH!?)

* Why are there now black borders on the screen? (PS2 have them on top; GC on sides)

* Music and audio are sampled much higher or lower. Audio balancing is even off (more noticable in PS2 version). Even missing some spoken audio clips.

Yep, Atomic Planet sucks.
 

Hotsuma

Member
This all could have been avoided if Capcom would have done the collection in house. I don't understand why Sega farmed out Sega Ages and Capcom farmed out MMC. You would think that the parent companies would have a slight bit of pride in some of their older works.

Seriously, is the GC version as bad as some of you guys are making it sound or is the Gamecube only bunch up in arms because the PS2 version seems to be the more polished of the two?
 

DDayton

(more a nerd than a geek)
The main point of contention is the poor choice in control setup and the complete and utter lack of rearranged in game music in the GC version.
 

Kumiko Nikaido

Vindication...sweet.
Hotsuma said:
This all could have been avoided if Capcom would have done the collection in house. I don't understand why Sega farmed out Sega Ages and Capcom farmed out MMC. You would think that the parent companies would have a slight bit of pride in some of their older works.

Seriously, is the GC version as bad as some of you guys are making it sound or is the Gamecube only bunch up in arms because the PS2 version seems to be the more polished of the two?

Yes, Capcom should have done this in-house from the get-go.

As a Mega Man purist, both versions have their technical problems, but the GC version is more sloppier. When you have a reversed control scheme and no remixed music in-game a la Rockman Complete Works, then someone really fell asleep over at Atomic Planet's quality control center.
 

Deku Tree

Member
I like the MMAC GC controls with my hori digital controller.
And I'm not a fan of J-Pop, so the remixed music wasn't really a priority for me.
 

kiryogi

Banned
Unlocking the interview or cartoon is just having to get to Wily's tower in Megaman 8 (Beat all 8 robot masters)

edit: and don't forget us cube owners got a color manual! :D
 

DDayton

(more a nerd than a geek)
Actually, considering this is a US-only release, and it consists of quick ports of the PSX games, I'd say the fault lies between Capcom USA and Atomic Planet.

Although it would probably do no good, I'm wondering if there is a way to signal protest to Capcom in Japan... let them know that their American subsidiary is sullying their good name.
 

MoxManiac

Member
So is Mega Man 8 in the PS2 MMAC not 100% perfect? I tried it for a few mins, seemed fine to me, though the lifebar looked slightly different to me for some reason..
 

Kumiko Nikaido

Vindication...sweet.
MoxManiac said:
So is Mega Man 8 in the PS2 MMAC not 100% perfect? I tried it for a few mins, seemed fine to me, though the lifebar looked slightly different to me for some reason..

No, it's not perfect. There's noticable borders now and the music/sound effects are sampled differently among other things.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
And I'm not a fan of J-Pop, so the remixed music wasn't really a priority for me.

That kinda struck me...

How could you possibly think that the music in Megaman is "J-pop"?
 

MoxManiac

Member
Why?? I can understand the GC version, but couldn't they have just dumped the contents of the MM8 PSX CD onto MMAC then just have the PS2 execute the code as a PSX game?
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
MoxManiac said:
Why?? I can understand the GC version, but couldn't they have just dumped the contents of the MM8 PSX CD onto MMAC then just have the PS2 execute the code as a PSX game?

I don't think that would have worked, though. Remember, all of the games are directly tied to the overall menu system. Not only that, they couldn't just execute a PSX EXE within the constraints of a PS2 EXE.
 
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Deleted member 284

Unconfirmed Member
Jonnyboy117 said:
No, B still jumps and A still shoots in both Mega Man 7 and 8 on GameCube.

Hmmmm, maybe I've unlocked something in my cube version...let me go and play it again.

Edit: I am an idiot. Its backwards in all versions. I guess I just adopted to the different control scheme once I finished MM1
 

Alcibiades

Member
Jonnyboy117 said:
No, B still jumps and A still shoots in both Mega Man 7 and 8 on GameCube.

I think that since those are SNES and PS-X games though, they don't follow the 2-button thing, and X can be used to jump, which is to the right of the shoot button...
 
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Deleted member 284

Unconfirmed Member
efralope said:
I think that since those are SNES and PS-X games though, they don't follow the 2-button thing, and X can be used to jump, which is to the right of the shoot button...

Or that would be why ;)
 

jarrod

Banned
dark10x said:
...but they DID take the "quick" route with MM1-6. They simply ported the titles from Rockman Complete Works. Emulation would not have been possible here if they wanted to keep the updated features...
"Updated features" doesn't signify "the quick route" I think. That would be simple NES ports.


dark10x said:
...and porting THOSE versions would certainly be easier than building them all from scratch again.
What? They were built from scratch... are you saying NES ports would've been more complicated than PS1 ports?!
 

silenttwn

Member
dark10x said:
I also got a kick out of the Factor 5 comment. Fully orchestrated?!? There have been a number of PS2 titles with chip music that really DID sound orchestrated (Onimusha 1, for example)...but if there was any recent games that very obviously used chip music, it was the two RS games from Factor 5.

I don't know, I always thought the Rogue Squadron games sound really great. I think the reason some people find the sound less convincing is because of the instrument samples used.. I think they were going for very realistic sounding instrument samples which make it sound different. There's one brass sample used that's like "Brass 1" on MIDI that makes it sound very fake like though.. they should've stayed away from that.
 
"They also handled the bug ridden, slowdown enhanced GBA port of Puzzle Fighter. Fantastic."


I know. I asked if they were good, and mega man honestly answered "not a chance, fancy pants!" He's so honest. That anime is freakin' hilarious. I've never seen it before.


"DOOO-DEEE-DOOOO-EEEEEE SUPER FIGHTING ROBOT.........DOOO-DEEE-DOOO-EEEEEE......... MEGAMAN!"

Cheese.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
What? They were built from scratch... are you saying NES ports would've been more complicated than PS1 ports?!

They were NOT built from scratch.

Why were they the easy route you ask?

Simple. Extra features were a requirement for release. Porting from NES would have required work done to add those features. Emulation would have been impossible as well.

They did NOT build the PSX games, though. Those were already made and they simply ported them over. That was the easiest route they could have taken if they wanted all of those features.

I don't know, I always thought the Rogue Squadron games sound really great. I think the reason some people find the sound less convincing is because of the instrument samples used.. I think they were going for very realistic sounding instrument samples which make it sound different. There's one brass sample used that's like "Brass 1" on MIDI that makes it sound very fake like though.. they should've stayed away from that.

I dunno, it just sounds so cheap compared to what most PSX/PS2 titles use...
 

ninge

Member
They also handled the bug ridden, slowdown enhanced GBA port of Puzzle Fighter. Fantastic.

You try porting a 320meg 65000 colour game from the much more powerful psone to an 8meg 256 colours over 4 layers for all backgronds + 256 colour for all sprites less powerful GBA with all features intact and minimal slowdown and then we'll talk :)
 

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
ninge said:
You try porting a 320meg 65000 colour game from the much more powerful psone to an 8meg 256*4 colour for all backgronds + 256 colour for all sprites less powerful GBA with all features intact and minimal slowdown and then we'll talk :)

From my little GBA development experience, space bites you in the ass badly (and color limitations) and I have never attempted a port like that (I am no pro... yet... ;)).

Ninge, why do you say 256*4 for BGs ? I thought 256 colors (either 256*1 palette or 16*16 palettes) were shared between all BGs as you have space for 2x256 colors palettes (one for BGs and one for OBJs) or 2x16x16 colors palettes given the Palette RAM.

Typos :).
 

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
ninge said:
Clearly i know nothing about programming the GBA :p

I've fixed my post :)

Oh be good hehe, you know I nitpick for other posters who might read and try to learn something from the pros.

You helped me get rid of some nasty stuff and gave tons of hints for the collision detection system :).

You know I was not making fun of you :).
 

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
Ok cool, now back to work on the portable you know about.

We want to see great games :).

I cannot wait until they relax the NDAs on PSP's specs... well, I will pay for a PSP homebrew programming kit :).
 
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