PSP adaptation = easier missions?

D

-danr-

Vice Admiral
*CIC, please forgive me if I'm not supposed to use your images in here*

Anyway, take a look at the below image carefully, just bumped into it on the CIC.

On the PSP screen we see the cockpit of a Rapier from Wing Commander 1 (presumably not SM1 or SM2, unless they're on PSP too)

psp6.jpg


The VDU shows that the Rapier is autotargeting a Ralari, but it's not showing as red on the radar - in fact the autopilot light is on, I guess it's safe to assume that this is the 'Save The Ralari' mission, I think with Bossman as your wingman.

We can see that there are other Confed ships on the radar, all of the attacking cats have been killed - this is probably at the end of the mission, back at the Tiger's Claw just before landing.

But then I notice that the Rapier has two dumbfires, half-a-tank of afterburner gas, full shields, and possibly full armour (hard to tell if the starboard armour is slightly chipped away). Now, I for one, can remember this mission being a notorious bitch, the type that you'll spend maybe an hour trying to beat. If I recall correctly, the only way to win is to slip past some Salthi at N1 before hitting ramming speed to knock out the Gratha quickly before they ice the captured Ralari.

I always came out battered.

So, can we assume that the owner of this picture is either very good at Wing Commander, or does the PSP have differences in some of the missions?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Must be very good at Wing Commander -- that isn't really an EA Replay screenshot. :)

(When the game was first announced, Chris mocked up what it would look like by loading screenshots from the PC version on his PSP...)
 
Bandit LOAF said:
Must be very good at Wing Commander -- that isn't really an EA Replay screenshot. :)

(When the game was first announced, Chris mocked up what it would look like by loading screenshots from the PC version on his PSP...)
Click to expand...

Talk about a major tease, which he only added to... I finally thought I'd get to play the original, so I shelled out $20 for my copy and when I eagerly put it in the system... well I think my normal catch phrase gives you a pretty good idea of how I felt about it "Oh you gotta be F****** kidding me!"
 
Yeah, the PSP version used the SNES port, didn't it? Mock-up screenshot aside, the mission to save the Ralari was easier there.
 
Catnip said:
Yeah, the PSP version used the SNES port, didn't it? Mock-up screenshot aside, the mission to save the Ralari was easier there.
Click to expand...

Would be interested to see that as I've never played the SNES version, although by all acounts it's much worse than the PC equivalent.

Also, what an interesting job somebody has, tasked with finding the archived SNES version and reviving it in the 21st century on a whole new platform with a whole new potential audience.
 
-danr- said:
Would be interested to see that as I've never played the SNES version, although by all acounts it's much worse than the PC equivalent.

Also, what an interesting job somebody has, tasked with finding the archived SNES version and reviving it in the 21st century on a whole new platform with a whole new potential audience.
Click to expand...

Yeah you'll probably be disappointed. I'm... as Loaf once coined it, an SNES Wing Commander Veteran. Thats how I experienced the first game. The graphics aren't as good, and the use a lot less pixels in game.
 
I don't think the resolution (number of pixels) is the limitation for the SNES ports. What you're noticing is likely that the game had a more limited color palette compared to the VGA PC version. I don't understand how the SNES's various modes work, but the end result looks a lot more like the 32-color Amiga version than it does the 256-color VGA one (with some exceptions... like that Mode-7 (?) takeoff scroll). (Another huge limitation on graphics was how small the game had to be to fit on a cartridge -- WC SNES is about 800kb... about 20% of the space allowed the *smallest* PC version. It's amazing that it's as close to the original as it is.)
 
Max Gene said:
I still want to know how Chris Reid did that. Hooooooly crap.
Click to expand...

Should be simple enough, I believe the PSP can display JPEG images - all Chris had to do was take a screenshot of WC1 in-flight, save it on his PC and upload it to the PSP via the USB cable.
 
-danr- said:
Should be simple enough, I believe the PSP can display JPEG images - all Chris had to do was take a screenshot of WC1 in-flight, save it on his PC and upload it to the PSP via the USB cable.
Click to expand...

I belive he was referring to beating the mission and remaining in such good shape, and even not using all missiles in the procces
 
Bandit LOAF said:
I don't think the resolution (number of pixels) is the limitation for the SNES ports. What you're noticing is likely that the game had a more limited color palette compared to the VGA PC version. I don't understand how the SNES's various modes work, but the end result looks a lot more like the 32-color Amiga version than it does the 256-color VGA one (with some exceptions... like that Mode-7 (?) takeoff scroll). (Another huge limitation on graphics was how small the game had to be to fit on a cartridge -- WC SNES is about 800kb... about 20% of the space allowed the *smallest* PC version. It's amazing that it's as close to the original as it is.)
Click to expand...

Yeah... I think thats what I meant. Thanks for the clarification!
 
Truth be told, I never got the hang of using dumb-fires, so my pc playthrough of that mission involved me replaying endlessly till i succeeded in taking all the fighters down without using the dumb-fires.

Then again, I most recently played through it on sega-cd and there i got several ludicrous kills via the missiles when i got to the gratha - including one epic, firing a ff at a ship, then burning after a 2nd, my wingman took out the first and as i turned to intercept the third - who was pretty much about to seal the ralari kill, the ff hit him and he blew.

So - I don't think its impossible to finish the mission without using the dumb-fires, and especially not on the PC! (theres other ways to achieve the same effect too, but I dont wish to besmirch Chris' good name!
 
I've definitely beaten said mission without my dumbfires on previous runs, due to a combination of difficulty aiming them and occasionally unresponsive controls. I always had to make a few ramming runs, though. I can understand dumbfires still being mounted, but no damage? Nice!
 
Max Gene said:
I've definitely beaten said mission without my dumbfires on previous runs, due to a combination of difficulty aiming them and occasionally unresponsive controls. I always had to make a few ramming runs, though. I can understand dumbfires still being mounted, but no damage? Nice!
Click to expand...

Oh god I remember the ramming runs... those were not fun! Especially when you already hace damage. You know, I think I've taken more damage being slammed into be an enemy ship, then I have by enemy weapons fire
 
sopsp.png


:D A pipe dream I think.

(PS: If this annoys the Standoff team, please feel free to tell me to delete)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top