Classicamiga Forum Retro Edition
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Thread: Got me a new toy.
Demon Cleaner 08:52 15th May 2017
it's the truth.
[Reply]
Harrison 09:14 15th May 2017
My first computer was an Amstrad CPC464. And I loved it!

It had far better graphics and colour palette than the C64, if you had the proper colour monitor of course, and not the budget greenscreen. That was really design for word processing only.

Graphically one of my favourites was Gryzor, which i think was onr of the best looking versions, but it did use flip screen rather than sideways scrolling due it it being harder to code on the CPC.

The sound chip was identical to the Acorn BBC I think as it has 3 channels plus noise. No other 8bit system could match SID, which was always the superior thing the C64 had, but I always thought the C64 colour palette was very limited, muted and muddy and the graphics always looked blocky. Still had some great games though.

What gave the CPC a bad rep was how close its basic language was to the ZX Spectrum. This meant a lot of games were just ported Speccy games. They didn't utilise the CPC at all and just looked like Speccy games with single colour sprites and no colour clash. But when games were actually coded for the CPC they looked great.

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Teho 19:11 15th May 2017
Most C64 games used a graphics mode that had bigger pixels but then allowed for up to four colours in each colour cell, whereas other 8-bit computers only allowed two. That's the reason C64 games tend to look blockier. It does have a mode with smaller pixels with only two colours per cell, but hardly anyone used it. Most devs preferred the freedom of using more colours where they wanted while avoiding the colour clash or monochrome looking graphics of other platforms. I agree with you on the palette though, the C64's choice of colours weren't too pretty.

I expect you know what colour cells are, I don't think I can explain them easily. But The 8-bit Guy has an excellent video which makes it easy to understand how they worked and why old-school graphics were the way they were. I highly recommend watching if one is interested.
[Reply]
Buleste 11:05 16th May 2017
I have to say for me palette of the CPC is a little too purple/pink for me in many instances but in other games it's spot on. The C64 can also be too purple/brown. However when it comes to games that were released on all formats the CPC is the uncle who wears the loud shirts, a fact which I quite like.

I hate that MSX and CPC owners had to put up with straight Spectrum ports just because they shared the same CPU and soundchip (in the later models of Spectrum). Very lazy production.
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