Wizard of Wor question

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matmico399
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Wizard of Wor question

Postby matmico399 » June 15th, 2016, 9:36 pm

What is the best version of Wizard of Wor on a console you have played besides the Astrocade version? I luved this game as a kid and want to play it again! Suggestions.

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scotland
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Re: Wizard of Wor question

Postby scotland » June 15th, 2016, 10:32 pm

Wow, I love Wizard of Wor, my friend.

I still try for high scores each year at a local video game convention. Its a great mix of fantasy and sci fi, like Joust (or He Man and Krull). I will be interested to know what versions people recommend, especially as I don't have an Astrocade. Maybe time for a modern reboot as a FPS (not serious)

As a sidenote, this game is known in the VIC 20 community for being vaporware, even having a screenshot shown on the back of some boxes in the top row under Arcade Excitement. Yet it never came out. The VICs short life is probably one reason, but the VIC also has only one joystick port and no hardware sprites, so this would have been challenging. The C64 got Wizard of Wor early in its life, in 1983, which may have been what happened.

I remember the C64 as a good port, but its been years so I should try it again. Its also on the PS2 Midway Arcade Treasures 2 disc, but here is an issue - even if the PS2 version is a better port, the PS2 controller is too different from the arcade original. Its a joystick (or arcade stick) game, not an analog stick. A good arcade port requires the correct controls. I will have to see how odd it is to play it on a duelshock 2 instead of a slik stik on the C64.

matmico399
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Re: Wizard of Wor question

Postby matmico399 » June 16th, 2016, 4:47 pm

Thanks Scotland. I saw Dave gave Wizard of Wor on the PS2 Midway Arcade Treasures 2 as the biggest disappointment in the lot. He says it's a bad port and moves way too fast. Does anyone know of it on another compilation type game that we haven't heard about? I used to have it as a kid on my 2600, but the flicker was horrible.

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scotland
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Re: Wizard of Wor question

Postby scotland » June 16th, 2016, 6:49 pm

It seems it was not on the Midway collections on the N64 or Dreamcast. Try to play tbe C64 version, or maybe some has down a bootleg famicom version. That would not surprise me at all.

Its funny how simple games like this can be messed up. Its like the craftsmanship is overlooked - they port the basics of the game, but miss the rounds of playtesting to get the game balance right. I feel that way on some sequels too - some just really miss the fun of the original. Ever felt that way?

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zetax
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Re: Wizard of Wor question

Postby zetax » June 16th, 2016, 9:12 pm

I've enjoyed the Atari 8-bit computer version for 30 years or so. Published by Roklan, cartridge format, pretty faithful to the original.

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Atariboy
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Re: Wizard of Wor question

Postby Atariboy » June 16th, 2016, 10:30 pm

Wizard of Wor is indeed all bugged in Midway Arcade Treasures 2. The emulator runs it at much too fast of a speed and the sound effects aren't correctly triggered. But happily, Midway Arcade Origins fixes all of this on the PS3 and 360 and in my eyes is the reason to buy that collection.

It's also on Midway Arcade Treasures: Extended Play for the Playstation Portable and performs well enough, although you'll want to input the code for original aspect ratio if you acquire this version since it definitely suffers when stretched to the default 16:9 proportions (Sideways movement seems much faster than vertical when it's all stretched out).

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scotland
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Re: Wizard of Wor question

Postby scotland » June 17th, 2016, 9:24 pm

Neat info - I had not even known about these recent versions. A portable version is going to suffer as the 2 player gameplay is a highlight, but the console versions sound interesting.

Any games in a "If you liked this, try these" spiritual successors?

matmico399
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Re: Wizard of Wor question

Postby matmico399 » June 17th, 2016, 9:58 pm

I'm all over Midway Arcade Origins on the 360. Going for around $17. I can't wait to play this with my son just like I did with a great friend back in the day! Thanks Atari! Plus a ton of other classics on that disc....

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Atariboy
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Re: Wizard of Wor question

Postby Atariboy » June 17th, 2016, 11:20 pm

matmico399 wrote:I'm all over Midway Arcade Origins on the 360. Going for around $17. I can't wait to play this with my son just like I did with a great friend back in the day! Thanks Atari! Plus a ton of other classics on that disc....


Just so you don't get too down when/if you see it, I believe that there's a bug at least on the 360 version that will only happen once.

When you meet the criteria for the single achievement that's tied to Wizard of Wor, the game slowed to a crawl for me simultaneously with the achievement popping. It has been a while but I don't think it was an isolated incident since I seem to recall other people reporting the same behavior. You have to exit the game and return for it to run normally again.

But it never happened ever again afterwards.

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AtariToday
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Re: Wizard of Wor question

Postby AtariToday » January 15th, 2017, 9:26 am

zetax wrote:I've enjoyed the Atari 8-bit computer version for 30 years or so. Published by Roklan, cartridge format, pretty faithful to the original.



Yes. The Atari 8-bit/XE line of computers is the way to go! I got a copy about 2 weeks ago and it's getting some serious gameplay. I'm a huge fan of the Atari 2600 version as it's fun (and for nostalgia reasons) but the version published by Roklan really takes it to the next level.


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