Thursday, June 30, 2022

Ports of Entry: Infogrames

This list does not include games by Gremlin Interactive.

 

Unknown lead platform:

 

Mandragore

First released for Thomson MO & Thomson TO in 1984

Released for Apple II in 1985

 

Passengers on the Wind

First released for Amstrad CPC, MSX, & Thomson TO in 1986

Released for Atari ST, Commodore 64, & PC in 1987

 

Final Assault

First released for Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Thomson MO, & Thomson TO in 1987

Released for Atari ST, Commodore 64, & PC in September 1988

Ported to ZX Spectrum in 1988

 

Hostages

First released for Amiga & Atari ST in 1988

Released for PC in March 1989

Released for Commodore 64 in August 1989

Released for Apple IIgs & Macintosh in December 1989

Ported to NES in December 1989

 

North & South

First released for Amiga & Atari ST in 1989

Ported to Commodore 64 in 1989

Released for PC in 1990

Ported to Amstrad CPC & NES in 1990

 

Tintin on the Moon

First released for Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, & PC in 1989

Ported to ZX Spectrum in 1989

 

Drakkhen

First released for Amiga, Atari ST, & PC in 1989

Released for FM Towns in November 1990


The Amiga version is the most colorful of the initial releases, with up to 40 colors at once, but the Atari ST version also breaks the system's 16 color limit and I'm not sure how.

 

The Smurfs

First released for SNES in September 1994

Released for Genesis in November 1994

Ported to Sega CD in 1995

 

Prisoner of Ice

Released for PC & Macintosh in 1995

 

Tintin in Tibet

Released for Genesis & SNES in 1995

Ported to Gameboy in 1995

Ported to DOS/Windows & Game Gear in 1996

 

Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time

Released for PlayStation & PC in 1999


 

Select chronology: 

 
8-bit era: 
 
Title Lead platform Date Contemporary ports
Mandragore ??? 1984 Same-year releases on Thomson MO & Thomson TO
1985 release on Apple II
Vera Cruz Amstrad CPC 1985 1986 ports to various European microcomputers
Passengers on the Wind ??? 1986 Same-year releases on Amstrad CPC, MSX, & Thomson TO
1987 releases on Atari ST, C64, & PC

 

Early 16-bit era: 
Title Lead platform Date Contemporary ports
Final Assault ??? 1987 Too many to fit here
Hostages ??? 1988 Same-year releases on Amiga & Atari ST
1989 releases on various computers
1989 port to NES
North & South ??? 1989 Same-year releases on Amiga & Atari ST
Same-year port to C64
1990 release on PC
1990 ports to Amstrad CPC & NES
Tintin on the Moon ??? 1989 Too many to fit here
Drakkhen ??? 1989 Same-year releases on Amiga, Atari ST, & PC
1990 release on FM Towns
Alpha Waves Atari ST 1990 Same-year port to PC
1991 port to Amiga

 

DOS era: 
Title Date Contemporary ports
Alone in the Dark 1992 1993 ports to FM Towns & PC-98
Alone in the Dark 2 1993 1994 ports to FM Towns & PC-98
Call of Cthulhu: Shadow of the Comet 1993
Alone in the Dark 3 1994 1995 port to PC-98
 

 

Late 16-bit era: 
Title Lead platform Date Contemporary ports
The Smurfs ??? 9/1/1994 Same-quarter releases for SNES & Genesis
1995 port to Sega CD
Prisoner of Ice ??? 1995 Same-year releases for PC & Macintosh
Tintin in Tibet ??? 1995 Same-year releases for Genesis & SNES
Same-year port to Gameboy
1996 ports to DOS/Windows & Game Gear

 

32-bit era: 
Title Lead platform Date Contemporary ports
Mission: Impossible Nintendo 64 7/18/1998 1999 port to PlayStation
Outcast Windows 6/26/1999
Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time ??? 6/29/1999 Same-year releases on PlayStation & PC
Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare PlayStation 5/18/2001 Same-quarter ports to Dreamcast & PC
Same-year port to PS2
Boiling Point: Road to Hell Windows 5/19/2005
Labels:

6 comments:

  1. Tman O3June 30, 2022 at 11:53 PM

    I can't wait til ports of entry is all cleared out of the way

    ReplyDelete
  2. Narwhal, the Wargaming ScribeJuly 1, 2022 at 5:40 AM

    Are you going to play those games ? Because Passengers of the Wind (not "on") is going to trigger some massive culture shock - I will be curious about this one. As a game, it is mediocre or even worse though. Great comics though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Narwhal, the Wargaming ScribeJuly 1, 2022 at 6:05 AM

      Now that I see all those French games (Vera Cruz, Passengers, Final Assault, Hostages/Operation Jupiter, and for Loriciels Sapiens), all weird and super interesting, I wonder whether I should cover them on the side, in addition to my wargame blogging.

      Delete
    2. AhabJuly 1, 2022 at 8:48 AM

      Are you going to play those games ?
      Possibly. These lists aren't necessarily 1:1 with my playlists, and when the time comes for Infogrames (not for awhile - Hostages is the first whale), I'll pick and choose my ancestors. Of course Infogrames has way more games than what I listed, but of all the early ones, those interest me the most, at least right now.

      The UK release does seem to be called Passengers on the Wind. No idea if this is a deliberate change, or a mistranslation, or just someone failing to read the translator's handwriting.
      https://www.mobygames.com/game/atari-st/passengers-on-the-wind/screenshots/gameShotId,321940/

      And I would definitely read classic French game coverage if you were inclined to do that.

      Delete
    3. Narwhal, the Wargaming ScribeJuly 1, 2022 at 9:37 AM

      Ah funny. The eurocomics was translated as "of the wind".

      http://frenchcomicsassociation.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/PASSAGERS-DU-VENT_Delcourt_web.pdf

      Delete
  3. ViilaJuly 3, 2022 at 11:08 AM

    "Atari ST version also breaks the system's 16 color limit and I'm not sure how."

    Atari ST is also capable of doing scanline tricks, but in much more limited fashion than the Amiga which has extra hardware support for them. Amiga can leave them to the copper chip which will do them automatically, which leaves the CPU free to do whatever, whereas Atari has do it "manually" and rely on CPU interrupts on each HBlank to keep count of where the screen retrace is and then fiddle with the palette registers during the horizontal blanking.

    This is more laborous and slower and ties up the CPU a bunch, so consequently it's rarer in ST games than in Amiga games, but you do still occasionally see split palettes and other tricks like these in more advanced games that want to show off.

    With Drakkhen I'm 99% certain that the thick black horizontal border between the game view and the menu on the bottom is where the main palette switch happens (takes a long time to change all 16 colour registers with the CPU, I wouldn't be surprised if it needs the two scanlines). And the sky is single colour throughout, that colour's register is just changed per scaline to create the gradient effect (trivial on Amiga, non trivial but very possible on ST). So even though the sky is, say, colour 1 throughout, what colour 1 is changes from one scanline to the next.

    ReplyDelete

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