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
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:
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
I can't wait til ports of entry is all cleared out of the way
ReplyDeleteAre 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.
ReplyDeleteNow 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.
DeleteAre you going to play those games ?
DeletePossibly. 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.
Ah funny. The eurocomics was translated as "of the wind".
Deletehttp://frenchcomicsassociation.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/PASSAGERS-DU-VENT_Delcourt_web.pdf
"Atari ST version also breaks the system's 16 color limit and I'm not sure how."
ReplyDeleteAtari 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.