Why was Putty Squad cancelled in Amiga format?

[Giorgio_de]

In 1994 I got a demo of the first 5 levels in The One Amiga magazine and they even reviewed the game giving it like 93%, but then it was never released on Amiga, only on the SNES (which I fortunatly have).  So what happened?? Because the 5 levels that I had absolutely rocked on the Amiga!!

[pjhutch]

Yes, it was a game I really wanted, some companies even had it their product list and i ordered it. it never appeared and never found out why...

[Giorgio_de]

It never made sense to me since most Amiga magazines reviewed the full game and gave it glowing reviews.  I ordered it too, it was the only game I ever ordered pre-release.  It would have been such a good 2 set piece with the equally good Putty.

[The_Power_of_the_Ginger]

Well, I've got half a story (and would like the full picture, as would many)...

1994: Putty Squad is reviewed in all magazines. All the magazines' screenshots indicate they have the full version (except Amiga Action, where the shots all come from levels in the demo. Hmm.)

1995: Amiga Power questions where the 91%-rated game got to. As does The One Amiga. Spokesman for System 3, who produced the game says "It'll be out at the end of the month."  'Difficult' times for the Amiga are blamed. Uncertain future, and all that.

1996: Widely accepted tat Putty Squad is not to be realeased.

1998: Alive Mediasoft (formerly Direct Software) announce they are to release Putty Squad. Amiga Format and CU Amiga get excited by the prospect. The latter puts it as a demo on their last CD.

1999: Things get confusing. Alive Mediasoft appears to be a company on the up, but doesn't release the game, but advertises it.

2000: Alive Mediasoft disappear, much to the anger of the community, some of whom had placed orders and didn't get their money back (*Cough*). Putty Squad falls away again.

Anyone know where I can get a SNES emulator, seeing as technically I've paid fro the game... :-D

[Giorgio_de]

Hi there, you can get a Apple macintosh SNES emulator at: http://emulation.net/snes/

and a PC SNES emulator at http://emuparadise.org/emulators/snes.php

and the SNES ROM at http://www.romnation.net/index.php/roms/snes/p/

It is almost exactly the same as the Amiga version except for the little funny rapper character who appears on the 2nd or 3rd level and plays a tune which makes all the baddies dance like idiots.  His funny tune is better on the Amiga (as most music was best on the Amiga)

[The_Power_of_the_Ginger]

Ah, mr Ted. A great distraction to the enemies in that game.

Thanks very much, by the way. I shall look forward to rescuing bots, avoid evil wizards and admire the gameplay.

[x56h34]

A real shame that this game never saw the light of day. :-(

[mendark]

1994: Putty Squad is reviewed in all magazines. All the magazines' screenshots indicate they have the full version (except Amiga Action, where the shots all come from levels in the demo. Hmm.)

IF any of these magazines HAD the full version, would they please be so kind to (accidently ofcourse) spread it on the net  :-o

[leirbag28]

 What on earth are you people talking about? the game was indeed released as I have the FULL game right here with the box and all, including instructions.
 I also have Putty the first one, which I find kind of sluggish and boring compared to Putty Squad.

 I am going to be Posting it on ebay soon if anyone is interested?




Edit:  Haha fooled ya! don't you wish! I actually DO NOT have such game, but I do have the CD32 version of Putty and the PUTTY SQUAD Demo wich is quite neat.........shame about the tiny screen though...........I really hated when they didnt do games in Overscan like ALL the normal Console games.

[AmiVeteran]

That's funny because the Sega Megadrive had a resolution of 320*244 which is definately *not* overscan, more equivilent to NTSC, and I distinctly remember a border on at least one game (Batman). (Part of the problem with some Amiga titles is either the NTSC ports or smaller screensize to increase the framerate (especially if it's a poor conversion). The SNES seemed to have some kind of higher resolution mode than this or was at least capable of something different.

The latest consoles would have overscan, something the Amiga was capable of a decade before.

[leirbag28]

 I think You are wrong on that........approx. 98% of Console games that I have seen are NTSC overscan.......probably 352 x 240..........I live here in USA and I have seen almost all consoles under the sun. NTSC is a great format and  IMHO better than PAL, because of less flickering and faster frame rate.

Putty may be am exception because System 3 were too lazy to improve the game and make it a larger screen size.

Take a look at Gods, for the SNES.........what a disaster............they basically slapped the Amiga version on there and speeded things up, which make it look funny.........and added a nice intro.

[AmiVeteran]

NTSC is called Never The Same Colour Twice - and you're wrong it is a very inferior format - just look at Justin Timberlake's videos which you can buy over here which have been converted across with their bog standard colour rendition.

I live in a PAL zone and have *never* seen overscan on a Megadrive - maybe in the US but not over here oh no matey. And that's the point I am correct as I live in the UK and not the US. However it may be the case where you are.

But that's bog standard!!!! The resolution you quoted is very poor.

Frame rate is part of the problem with NTSC say for example if you converted from a movie you would normally use 3:2 pulldown unless you progressively scan the image.

This leads to a juddery picture. With PAL they sometimes just speed the video up slightly. Having watched a progressive PAL video it is totally a holy experience.

Still when digital video broadcasting takes off in the US it will be pretty good as the specs I have read are very similar to those all around the globe, and suffer none of the artifacts.

Before you say I can't compare the US as I haven't seen a NTSC signal, I have seen one, where the monitor was capable of displaying it, you could also trick the Amiga into going into 60Hz mode. There is not advantage into going into 60Hz apart from the game playing faster on the Amiga it may appear smooth but then there is the issue of the smaller resolution. A Pal game can be perfectly playable just look at some of the Pal classics out there.

Also a friend has stayed in the US and came back saying that it is true - the NTSC pictures out there are truely awful.

Sorry mate, but NTSC is not a very good standard, just read the specifications.

[StevenJGore]

just look at Justin Timberlake's videos

Err... no thank you! :-)

It is definitely a shame about Putty Squad though. :-(

[jeffimix]

@AmiVeteran

/me hugs his massive HD component color widescreen who cares about the picture on our junky little CRT tubes... hehe

[leirbag28]

@AmiVeteran

 The thing is that when you disply NTSC in your country, it probably doesnt look the same as when someone is viewing it here in 60Hz on an NTSC TV, the same goes for us when we use PAL, it basically looks horrible andd flickers like crazy, and the colors get distorted even on an RGB monitor.......so thats not really a good way of telling. Philip makes special TV's here in the USA that disply both NTSC an PAL...they even Auto adjust when displaying PAL and shrink the image to fit the screen and display all the lines. I suspect that the PHILIPS RGB monitors that they made for Amiga over there in UK probably do the same exept they expand for NTSC...............I suspect it because I have a MAGNOVOX (Same as PHILIPS in UK) that is the American Version of that PHILIPS CM888K or whatever that monitor is called...its a neat monitor and is better than the 1084s...............so try using NTSC on those monitors as that may be a good way of telling what NTSC looks like here in USA, unless the colors get distorted, then its not.

 Th reason MegaDrive games were not Overscan is probably because they were ported from NTSC versions............Video Games companies Prioritize the USA and JAPAN for creating Video games, so other countries get leftovers I suspect.

 As far as I see it, all PAL is the same as NTSC but with more lines to fill the black borders for PAL countries and runs at 50hz which will flicker more because when in interlace mode, since its a slower hz you will see the 2 fields of an interlaced screen flashing more because its slower............on NTSC I suspect they flash faster between the 2 fields and the flickering is less noticable.

 Oh one question I wanted to ask you............you said something about running PAL in 60Hz?  how do you do that?  and can NTSC also be rn in 50hz as oppsoed to 60hz?  Degrader seems to allow for this but it never works for me............the reason I ask is because I want to run PAL games in NTSC mode or actually run PAL in 60Hz so that maybe a game like Ruff N Tumble may work in USA TV's (currently it doesnt even with WHDLoad)  There is a game called OUTFALL that ddoes this wonderfull trick of switching from PAL to NTSC without the speed of the music changing, or without the image shifting or shrinking........Absolutely amazing! I want to be able to do this with every game that is PAL, so that I can play them on huge American TV's