Don't forget that the Saturn port also has a cheat code to have options to play it in English along with the water balloon transparency. The code is Left, Right, Left, Right, Left, Right, A, B, C, A on the title screen.
Ving were really just talented people all around. The saturn ports, FM Towns and such were just a thing of beauty. They were really a great part for porting those Taito games.
They sure were but where are Ving now? Well they seem to have moved on from games and now concentrating on bicycles, radio controlled helicopters and valve amplifiers. So sad :(
The PC-Engine's version has very charming sound, that is complementary to the technically superior Arcade version. Something was just special about that chip that NEC had.
No it is not. Just because in the US the said it was 16bit so it didn't look weak against the Mega Drive and SNES. The bits are based upon the CPU. The PC Engine has an 8bit Cpu. It does have a 16bit GPU but it is an 8bit system. You wouldn't called the Mega Drive a 32bit system just because the Motorola 68000 inside is a 32-bit processor. Same thing.
I freakin' love this game! I have it for the Sega Saturn and the Taito Legends 2 for PS2. Still looks and plays better on the Saturn, looks as good as the arcade! The last boss is brutal. I can never get passed him.
No contest, the Saturn version wins the port contest (PS2 versions are emulation, so they aren't ports). Saturn version is considered to be arcade perfect, and I'd have no reason to argue that.
I don't think you can go wrong with any of these ports. It is a pity the Amiga version didn't get a release though... It would've made a nice companion to New Zealand Story, Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands and Parasol Stars. Is it me or Taito one of those game companies that are 'hidden in plain sight'? Everyone,'s heard of them but it seems Space Invaders is about all anyone ever talks about with any depth. I know you've covered a few Taito games in the past but would you consider doing a Taito retrospective, at all? They've got an interesting library and history and it would make a nice change from other channels gushing over Nintendo, Sega, Capcom, Konami and, to a lesser extent, Namco catalogues. Just a thought. :)
I did have all 4 Memorial Collection discs for the PS2 at one point but sold them. Saying that I could just emulate a lot of their arcade stuff plus I have a load of Taito console games too for various systems. It's sure an idea for a show. I'll give it a think.
I have the 4 Memories discs, I'd never dream of parting with them, even with ports that are close on Saturn. Of course I'm a Taito fan, so that could be a huge reason why.
Actually asfor Amiga version AFAIK , this was the near final version. It was the version to make into QA stage at Ocean UK which canceled the version before the final QA steps. So it could have something altered in the end, or not... But probably not from what is presented anyway... As for the cancel reason I've heard so much excuses, I don't really know the true version.
anyone noticed that the "bubble+water" used as weapon in this game, is coming directly from Bubble Bobble. !n_n ho wait ! Ving ported the game on Saturn O_o, i knew well Ving on exotics systems, never expected to read this logo on a Saturn ^_^ funny & they did a good job, as usual.
Ving were Taito's studio of choice for later and excellent Arcade perfect Ports to the Saturn. Ving ported Elevator Action Returns, Bubble Synthphony, Night Striker, Mizu Baku Dai Boken and others.
I've set my cap at no more than $100 for any Saturn title, anything over that & I will just buy a reproduction for or burn it myself. There's still quite a few excellent Japanese Saturn titles that can be had for well under that so it was a nice personal compromise.
Is it a possibility if you could cover Rodland in a future Battle Of The Ports please? I think that Japanese arcade game got an official port release for the Amiga. It also got an official Speccy port release as well which is interesting.
If you want to do something really obscure that nobody cares about, check out Radikal Bikers. Ported to the PS1 and to the GBC, which was amazing but unreleased.
See,you can see why the NES wasn't huge in the UK, as we were spoilt by the Amiga. As much as I loved Super Mario Bros but I couldn't part with my Amiga or come to buy the NES. Old Amiga fanboy,I know :)
+221b It did,yes.Plenty of decent platformers for the Amiga.But you can sort of see why the UK wasn't mad for the NES.Plus Amiga PD was simply awesome back then: Spaceballs demo! :)
Pity about that one-button joystick, though. That was the only thing preventing the Amiga from being a truly great gaming platform. Although how much was the joystick actually used in Amiga games? I went from CoCo 2 to NES to PC myself, and most early PC platformers just ignored the joystick and were controlled entirely via the keyboard, with the arrow keys handling movement, the Ctrl key handling jumping and the Alt key handling a secondary action like shooting. It worked fairly well, since this was before the Windows and Menu keys were added to the keyboard so the Ctrl and Alt keys were right next to each other at the time.
+221b We just dealt with that one button, and used UP for jump. Going back now,it's kind of painful,yeah. I think games came as a secondary item to these computers back then.They weren't made exclusively for games so that's why the joysticks werent made with the computers, in hind sight bundling a 4 button 'own made' joypad may of helped. However, just look at the CD32..that was made for games and still flopped. Still, a great legacy steeped many by many a great story.
I've heard it has some connection to the Bubble Bobble series, but outside of water bubbles, I see no real connection myself other than both being super cute games that are excellent.
@@RetroCore We're about the same age (44, 45 next month), and when I feel energetic enough, you are darned right I play my old school games in my collection.
That's very easy to do. I've done it with a few games on the Saturn in the past. We'll, it's easy to do as long as the game being changed used CD audio.
You said in your video that the P.C. Engine version was a nice 8-bit port, was the P.C. engine 8-bit or 16-bit or could it do both (e.g. 8-bit and 16-bit processors built in). I can also remember something about the Snes being 8-bit but with superior graphics tech to the Megadrive. Liquid Kids is a nice looking game, reminds me of Bubble-Bobble.
Christopher Sobieniak I knew size was due to the "bigger is better" mentality back then (is that still relevant these days?) but I had no idea RF regulations were also a factor.
Don't forget that the Saturn port also has a cheat code to have options to play it in English along with the water balloon transparency.
The code is Left, Right, Left, Right, Left, Right, A, B, C, A on the title screen.
I never knew that. Thanks for sharing.
Ving were really just talented people all around. The saturn ports, FM Towns and such were just a thing of beauty. They were really a great part for porting those Taito games.
They sure were but where are Ving now? Well they seem to have moved on from games and now concentrating on bicycles, radio controlled helicopters and valve amplifiers. So sad :(
The PC-Engine's version has very charming sound, that is complementary to the technically superior Arcade version. Something was just special about that chip that NEC had.
i discovered this videopodcast yesterday and is just become my favourite, great job!
that's great! I'm glad you are enjoying my channel on UA-cam.
I feel a little bit of pride that Ocean France did a great port :)
The Turbografx-16/PC Engine is actually a 16-bit game console
No it is not. Just because in the US the said it was 16bit so it didn't look weak against the Mega Drive and SNES.
The bits are based upon the CPU. The PC Engine has an 8bit Cpu. It does have a 16bit GPU but it is an 8bit system. You wouldn't called the Mega Drive a 32bit system just because the Motorola 68000 inside is a 32-bit processor. Same thing.
@@RetroCore good point, well played
No problem.
Awesome game, I don't feel like it got enough love
I freakin' love this game! I have it for the Sega Saturn and the Taito Legends 2 for PS2. Still looks and plays better on the Saturn, looks as good as the arcade! The last boss is brutal. I can never get passed him.
I agree. I also had it on the Taito Memorial collection but it just didn't look as sweet as the Saturn port.
No contest, the Saturn version wins the port contest (PS2 versions are emulation, so they aren't ports). Saturn version is considered to be arcade perfect, and I'd have no reason to argue that.
Other than the arcade you are right, though I bet they could’ve ported it to SFC/SNES with a DSP chip
@@TrainmasterCurt Probably wouldn't even need a chip, could probably be done with a stock SNES since the game isn't exactly a speedy one.
Back then games were so pretty and sweet looking they were able to give you diabetes, and hell hard as dark souls.
Hahaha, that's right. Talking of Dark Souls, I'm playing the 3 game now at level 84 and still keep getting killed.
I don't think you can go wrong with any of these ports. It is a pity the Amiga version didn't get a release though... It would've made a nice companion to New Zealand Story, Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands and Parasol Stars.
Is it me or Taito one of those game companies that are 'hidden in plain sight'? Everyone,'s heard of them but it seems Space Invaders is about all anyone ever talks about with any depth. I know you've covered a few Taito games in the past but would you consider doing a Taito retrospective, at all? They've got an interesting library and history and it would make a nice change from other channels gushing over Nintendo, Sega, Capcom, Konami and, to a lesser extent, Namco catalogues. Just a thought. :)
I did have all 4 Memorial Collection discs for the PS2 at one point but sold them. Saying that I could just emulate a lot of their arcade stuff plus I have a load of Taito console games too for various systems. It's sure an idea for a show. I'll give it a think.
+Retro Core They certainly had more than just Space Invaders.
I have the 4 Memories discs, I'd never dream of parting with them, even with ports that are close on Saturn. Of course I'm a Taito fan, so that could be a huge reason why.
Just got the PC Engine version the other day. Excellent game!
Yeah, I was surprised at how well the PC Engine handled the game.
I wish the Saturn version wasn't so damned expensive!
Yeah, these days it's very pricey. I bought mine sealed about 8 years ago and even then it was just over the original retail price.
Actually asfor Amiga version AFAIK , this was the near final version. It was the version to make into QA stage at Ocean UK which canceled the version before the final QA steps.
So it could have something altered in the end, or not... But probably not from what is presented anyway...
As for the cancel reason I've heard so much excuses, I don't really know the true version.
Well, with Snow Bothers they say they couldn't get the rights so I would expect they'd use the same excuse here too.
anyone noticed that the "bubble+water" used as weapon in this game, is coming directly from Bubble Bobble. !n_n
ho wait ! Ving ported the game on Saturn O_o, i knew well Ving on exotics systems, never expected to read this logo on a Saturn ^_^ funny & they did a good job, as usual.
Ving were Taito's studio of choice for later and excellent Arcade perfect Ports to the Saturn. Ving ported Elevator Action Returns, Bubble Synthphony, Night Striker, Mizu Baku Dai Boken and others.
Immediately went to eBay looking for this after watching but my God it’s another one of those extremely expensive Saturn titles.
Yep, it sure is. But I think in the US everything is just extra expensive.
I've set my cap at no more than $100 for any Saturn title, anything over that & I will just buy a reproduction for or burn it myself. There's still quite a few excellent Japanese Saturn titles that can be had for well under that so it was a nice personal compromise.
Why did they not make a SFC/SNES port?
It would have slowed down like hell unless they added an FX chip.
Retro Core DSP you meant right?
@@RetroCore Shows you don't know what you're talking about 😉
Is it a possibility if you could cover Rodland in a future Battle Of The Ports please? I think that Japanese arcade game got an official port release for the Amiga. It also got an official Speccy port release as well which is interesting.
Rod Land is a lovely wee game. I sunk a lot of hours into the Amiga version. :)
Sure, why not. I'll do it for next weeks show :)
If you want to do something really obscure that nobody cares about, check out Radikal Bikers. Ported to the PS1 and to the GBC, which was amazing but unreleased.
Can't say I've ever heard about that one but I will give it a look.
See,you can see why the NES wasn't huge in the UK, as we were spoilt by the Amiga. As much as I loved Super Mario Bros but I couldn't part with my Amiga or come to buy the NES. Old Amiga fanboy,I know :)
Mario is crap anyway :p actually, I honestly don't find Mario entertaining at all.
The Amiga had a port of Great Giana Sisters, didn't it? Who needs Mario when you have that?
+221b It did,yes.Plenty of decent platformers for the Amiga.But you can sort of see why the UK wasn't mad for the NES.Plus Amiga PD was simply awesome back then: Spaceballs demo! :)
Pity about that one-button joystick, though. That was the only thing preventing the Amiga from being a truly great gaming platform.
Although how much was the joystick actually used in Amiga games? I went from CoCo 2 to NES to PC myself, and most early PC platformers just ignored the joystick and were controlled entirely via the keyboard, with the arrow keys handling movement, the Ctrl key handling jumping and the Alt key handling a secondary action like shooting. It worked fairly well, since this was before the Windows and Menu keys were added to the keyboard so the Ctrl and Alt keys were right next to each other at the time.
+221b We just dealt with that one button, and used UP for jump. Going back now,it's kind of painful,yeah. I think games came as a secondary item to these computers back then.They weren't made exclusively for games so that's why the joysticks werent made with the computers, in hind sight bundling a 4 button 'own made' joypad may of helped. However, just look at the CD32..that was made for games and still flopped. Still, a great legacy steeped many by many a great story.
Is this game supposed to be a sequel to another game?
Not that I know of.
Wasn't it sort of a spiritual successor to New Zealand Story?
@@littleman7514 I heard that one too.
I've heard it has some connection to the Bubble Bobble series, but outside of water bubbles, I see no real connection myself other than both being super cute games that are excellent.
Haha, how old is this dude, very nice :D :D
I'm 40, still playing games since the 80's and I ain't gonna stop :p
im 40 as well, best age and still playing video games :)
@@RetroCore We're about the same age (44, 45 next month), and when I feel energetic enough, you are darned right I play my old school games in my collection.
Somebody should make a version with PC Engine music recorded to a CD replacing the arcade music in the saturn port
That's very easy to do. I've done it with a few games on the Saturn in the past. We'll, it's easy to do as long as the game being changed used CD audio.
You said in your video that the P.C. Engine version was a nice 8-bit port, was the P.C. engine 8-bit or 16-bit or could it do both (e.g. 8-bit and 16-bit processors built in).
I can also remember something about the Snes being 8-bit but with superior graphics tech to the Megadrive.
Liquid Kids is a nice looking game, reminds me of Bubble-Bobble.
Techinically it's known as an 8bit system.
+Retro Core Still, for an 8-bit system, they certainly showed how far they could push the limits beyond what was possible on others in that group.
They sure could. They also showed that your console can be extremely compact too then magically grow in to an ugly beast when released in the states.
Thanks to our expectations concerning size and RF shielding rules from the FCC.
Christopher Sobieniak I knew size was due to the "bigger is better" mentality back then (is that still relevant these days?) but I had no idea RF regulations were also a factor.
I prefer the Arcade Archives version.
Me too. In fact, Hamster put a lot of time and effort into releasing such Taito titles on Arcade Archives.