Battlesphere.

It does float! And doesn't get soggy in milk! :)

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Battlesphere.

Post by 3DOKid » Sat Jul 04, 2009 9:13 pm

I've always been aware that this commands silly money - is it even close to be worth the silly money? i see it's highly regarded but assuming I can get some of the greatest games ever made ever for <£40 is it really worth it? And why isn't there a CD version?

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Re: Battlesphere.

Post by Walter_j64bit » Sat Jul 04, 2009 9:49 pm

3DOKid wrote:I've always been aware that this commands silly money - is it even close to be worth the silly money? i see it's highly regarded but assuming I can get some of the greatest games ever made ever for <£40 is it really worth it? And why isn't there a CD version?
It's the only Jag game where you can network 16 consoles and have 32 potential players all at one time :P this all before Team match on Halo :wink:

"Greatest games ever made ever made" I would say Yes! It's what Star Raiders should have been! The game play kicks butt, I suck at the game but anyway. :D Some say it's better than Wing Commander I have on idea, I haven't never tried the game. It's the killer app for the Jag.

Yes the is worth the investment if anything it's sound investment.

No CD version, 4Play/ScatoLOGIC Inc. would have to recode the game from the ground up and 4Play/ScatoLOGIC Inc. doesn't have the time to do that and on other note there's no wright protection when it comes JagCD's. :shock:
Last edited by Walter_j64bit on Thu Jul 09, 2009 8:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by 3DO Experience » Sat Jul 04, 2009 11:28 pm

What's the difference between BattleSphere and BattleSphere Gold?
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Post by Walter_j64bit » Sun Jul 05, 2009 1:13 am

3DO Experience wrote:What's the difference between BattleSphere and BattleSphere Gold?
There are so much enhanced things going on I can't list all but I'll add a link so you see. :wink:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &viewitem=

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Post by Trev » Sun Jul 05, 2009 2:50 am

Is the A.I. all that some claim?

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Post by 3DO Experience » Sun Jul 05, 2009 5:50 am

Walter_j64bit wrote:...There are so much enhanced things going on I can't list all but I'll add a link so you see. :wink: ...
Thanks but I'm looking for just the differences as I don't own the first version either.
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Post by 3DOKid » Sun Jul 05, 2009 6:41 am

Assuming I despise on-line co-operative/team play/death match in all it's insidious guises and have been doing since 1989 when my brother was cheating me at link play Syndicate on the Amiga...

What is the single player like? :wink:

Is the main problem, I seem to remember, the lack of blank Carts?

I just find it annoying that I won't play it unless I shell-out $500US. Is it their some 'git' who has about 20 copies of this? Maybe we should each spend $300 on camouflage facepaint and balaclavas and go rob him instead?

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Post by 3DO Experience » Sun Jul 05, 2009 6:52 am

I normally stumble across them on evilbay for $400 to $600, that $725 was just another show of retro-fadness. The non-gold version yikes, lets not even go there!
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Post by doctorclu » Sun Jul 05, 2009 8:20 am

3DOKid wrote: I just find it annoying that I won't play it unless I shell-out $500US. Is it their some 'git' who has about 20 copies of this? Maybe we should each spend $300 on camouflage facepaint and balaclavas and go rob him instead?
Heheh..that was hilarious.

Battlesphere: It really is a good game. It was worth it at $75 when it first came out, and Battlesphere gold was worth $150 when it came out.

The game is very fluid. The "Free for All" is lots of fun in single players mode along with "Gauntlet". And then there is "Alone Against the Empires" which is truly what Star Raiders for the Atari 800 in 1979 would have been like with the power of the 32/64 bit Jaguar.

I mean that is what I like about Battlesphere. The problem I have with the Atari ST is short of a Falcon or an Atari TT030, generally graphics are a trade off for good gameplay. I am a 8 bit gamer, and a 32/64 bit gamer. (Of course somehow the Lynx has a good feel to their games most of the time.)

Ok let's spell it out. Atari 800 and Star Raiders (1979) had gameplay with it's simple graphics that was just AWESOME. Still just great to play. That game sucks you in even today.

Star Raiders for the ST (1985) you just don't feel it. The explosions are lame, the sounds are weak, and the game is just blah.

Alone Against the Empires (1999) under Battlesphere on the Jaguar, it feels like the Atari 800, plus all the pretty effects you always imagined to go along with it. Or at least does a decent job of it since I have a big imagination. ;) But wow, what a game!! And THEY PORTED THE ATARI 800 STAR RAIDERS SOUNDS!! That was a nice touch.

So that is just single player.

Now hook up with other friends (I've done this a few times) and you get a network of Jaguars. Every ship can have a pilot and a gunner. Three Jaguars, six players. I've been a part of a four Jaguar network. Most I have heard of is 10. I mean, that is cool!! Takes a bit to sync them all at once, but once you're in you're in!! And then the mayhem!! Oh gawd!!

Simply, Battlesphere, sadly, might actually be worth $75, $300, geez even $500 if you are looking for the experience of what a Jaguar can truly do.

If I were starting late in the game, and I almost did, I would be hunting down a copy and saving my money for this gem.

Does it suck that no more copies are being made, that Scatologic have not taken the advice to have other people pick up the mantle and make more copies, or to sell rom images to make more money at not manufacturing cost? You bet. Sucks balls. And what a waste!! Every Jaguar fan should have this game.

Bear in mind, Battlesphere and the work that went behind it was a labour of love. Scott, Doug, and Steph really poured their heart into that game long after the Jaguar was dead. In some ways they inspired the Jaguar community to continue developing. In some ways they were this light that said "Battlesphere is coming.. we're still working on it" I came in a year before the release, the end of a six to seven year wait to the long awaited game.

And when they finished making the hundreds of carts, complete with boxes and manuals (they set the bar for releases since), they turned over the profits to the Diabetes Foundation (since Steph for one is a Diabetic). Wow.

So to the third party producers the same question gets asked "Will you turn over ALL profits to the diabetes foundation" Well, naturally the answer is no since they want to make SOME profit for their trouble. Scatologic want a labor of love to make the carts, and the same to turn over all profits.

Not selling rom images that will work on the Skunkboard.. until a way of personal identification is made to sell an image to one user, this will probably never happen.

But wow, great game. Don't hate the game or say "Sour grapes" all because it is rare, or people ask stoopidly high prices for it. It is a good game, and I hope at some point people get to experience how fun it is.

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Post by 3DOKid » Sun Jul 05, 2009 8:36 am

Okay - you sold it to me.

I don't think piracy, honestly, would change a thing. I bet, even if, the Battlesphere guys floated a website so you could download the ROM image for $50, 75% of people on here would pay it. I imagine the same would be true of all retro game forums.

I mean we love the systems, and personally I'd rather give $50, $100 towards a labour of love than another game with the words PS3, 360 or Wii on the cover.

The situation with Battlesphere now is that:

1) Few people have the game.
2) Nobody makes any profit.
3) Nobody plays the game.

Nobody is winning especially if the profits go to help a charity. Seems silly to me.

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Post by doctorclu » Sun Jul 05, 2009 8:50 am

It's a sticky situation. The Scatologic folk put a lot of work into the project, so naturally many realize that it is their baby. People work to be respectful, but at the same time, they want to see the game enjoyed.

At the moment what Scatologic has done is given a limited market and one that people will sell copies to a few for top dollar to turn around and sell for higher dollar. I think to a degree the creators are flattered.

These great dollars do not go to the charities however, and that is the saddest part. I think Battlesphere could yet pull in some more money for the charity they supported. And maybe one day if there is a way to code rom images to be user specific, that might be possible.

The good news is, Jaguar cartridges are now being made for a much cheaper price. What used to cost $60 to make now costs like $20 with new designed boards and newer chips. So this SHOULD bring down costs of new cartridges for the Jaguar being sold. Should.

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Post by 3DOKid » Sun Jul 05, 2009 8:57 am

I hope so. It sounds like they did so many things right. Even the sentiments. I love to see hardware pushed.

It wouldn't be hard to control the price of the original release. All it needs is a change of the box cover. Collectors, and most of us are, will still pay a premium for an original-original.

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Post by doctorclu » Sun Jul 05, 2009 9:01 am

So what all have you heard about Battlesphere? What was your impression about the game before I gave you my statement about the game?

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Post by Walter_j64bit » Sun Jul 05, 2009 1:07 pm

I've got all I need to run a 3 Jag network game but I haven't had the time to run the network I have vacation time coming soon, I know I can call one of my Jag friends to come by help play. :wink:

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Post by doctorclu » Sun Jul 05, 2009 3:22 pm

So where do you live again?

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Post by Walter_j64bit » Sun Jul 05, 2009 4:44 pm

doctorclu wrote:So where do you live again?
:lol:

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Post by Trev » Sun Jul 05, 2009 9:17 pm

Again, I ask about the AI?

I remember reading a lengthy, detailed, and (imho) silly argument about it's massive strengths. I've no doubt it's good, but I hate the logic of 'it's better than any PS1 game ever because so & so said logic' :roll: I forget where I read it (I'm sure Atari regulars know) but I think this lone individual did more dis-credit to the game than anything.

Give me specifics ... I love good AI, and am sad that many games lack in this category.

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Post by JimmyCDi » Sun Jul 05, 2009 9:38 pm

3DO Experience wrote:
Walter_j64bit wrote:...There are so much enhanced things going on I can't list all but I'll add a link so you see. :wink: ...
Thanks but I'm looking for just the differences as I don't own the first version either.
The only differences you will really notice:
+Gold has more polished menus
+Gold replaces some of the explosions (you do not get more explosions, just different ones)
+When a ship is being shot in Original, you can see a trail of fire coming from the ship. In Gold, you only see green boxes that indicate where the enemy is being shot.
+Gold includes a handful of minigames (pong and a very basic shmup) that were pretty cool before the homebrew scene took off.

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Post by JimmyCDi » Sun Jul 05, 2009 9:46 pm

Trev wrote:Again, I ask about the AI?

I remember reading a lengthy, detailed, and (imho) silly argument about it's massive strengths. I've no doubt it's good, but I hate the logic of 'it's better than any PS1 game ever because so & so said logic' :roll: I forget where I read it (I'm sure Atari regulars know) but I think this lone individual did more dis-credit to the game than anything.

Give me specifics ... I love good AI, and am sad that many games lack in this category.
The AI is tough to describe... all ships seems to run off the same AI code, it just gets progressively more difficult as you continue. At its' worst enemies will notice you the second you come into firing distance, they'll stick close to your ship and fly around in circles so you can't see them, they'll shoot faster and fly faster, they just get better like you'd expect. From the outset they're pretty slow and dumb though.

You cannot strafe or switch to 3rd person view in BS, so when you're not looking directly at an enemy, you're flying away from one. Makes it tough to see what the AI is up to by itself :P

My biggest gripe is with friendly forces, which you can position in Alone Against the Empire. They're not so smart: even if an enemy is tailing you, and you fly past friendly ships they rarely help. Guess networking could help with that though.
Last edited by JimmyCDi on Mon Jul 06, 2009 12:50 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by 3DO Experience » Sun Jul 05, 2009 11:07 pm

Thanks Jimmy, I've seen how bad the menus look on the Gold version... I'm afraid of how they look on the original hahaha. Not that I would want to pay for the original :) but the mini games sound nice, I'm sure the explosions are better but it's sad to hear about the fire.
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Post by doctorclu » Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:00 pm

Walter_j64bit wrote:I've got all I need to run a 3 Jag network game but I haven't had the time to run the network I have vacation time coming soon, I know I can call one of my Jag friends to come by help play. :wink:
And for those reading, I have the ability to make a network just as large as Walter's... he expressed interest in getting a Battlesphere network together, just seeing if he was in the D/FW area for a little Battlesphere fun.

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Post by doctorclu » Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:02 pm

3DO Experience wrote:Thanks Jimmy, I've seen how bad the menus look on the Gold version... I'm afraid of how they look on the original hahaha. Not that I would want to pay for the original :) but the mini games sound nice, I'm sure the explosions are better but it's sad to hear about the fire.
Honestly I don't remember the menus being bad looking. Compared to what?

The only thing I remembered about Battlesphere vs. Battlesphere Gold was that the BS:G was like the original Battlesphere, just more bells and whistles, touched up graphics, and hidden games.

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Post by 3DO Experience » Tue Jul 07, 2009 12:04 am

it was just raised out of the background, very ugly looking
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