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.