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[Knuf]

It's clearly the Amiga version with the WHDLoad patch applied.

I had the AMIGA version back in the day and though it is a good version of the game it's missing the small pick up item animations that all the other versions have which makes it a bit inferior in my eyes.On the AMIGA it just pops up a black screen with the text you picked up "item name".

WAT
On the Amiga those animations are definitely present, you're just misremembering, check this out.

And you had to use both the joystick and the keyboard which made it a bit cumbersome to play.

Just use the WHDLoad patch which among other fixes lets you use a two buttons joypad!

 

[KainXVIII]

PC floppy version, of course (with MT-32 support), cutscenes are so silky smooth 😍

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDxz4oO5-Ck

 

[Meneses]

Still, to this day, one of my favorite games ever.

I lost count of how many times i've played through Flashback on my old Megadrive.

I've always wanted a port / faithful remake on modern consoles but that remake a few years back broke my heart.

 

[fermcr]

It's a pity Flashback isn't on GOG.
Great game at the time.

 

[Santar]

WAT
On the Amiga those animations are definitely present, you're just misremembering, check this out.

Nope, just check this out for evidence: https://youtu.be/4S8UQ7nttdQ?t=26m55s
I guess maybe the game played the animations if you installed it or ran it on Amiga 1200 or something?
My floppy version on the A500 definitely didn't play those animations; I remember being a bit bummed out by that back in the day.

 

[Lagamorph]

I had the Mega Drive version and loved it as a kid, my dad loved it too.

There was one mission I always remember though, you and to get to a generator with a keycard and use it within the time limit but it was so difficult to be in the right position to use the keyboard, and it had a really small margin for error (both the timing and the detection area)

 

[The_Super_Inframan]

Nope, just check this out for evidence: https://youtu.be/4S8UQ7nttdQ?t=26m55s
I guess maybe the game played the animations if you installed it or ran it on Amiga 1200 or something?
My floppy version on the A500 definitely didn't play those animations; I remember being a bit bummed out by that back in the day.

I played the game on my Amiga 500 without HDD back in the day and the pick up animations where definitely there.

I can remember them vividly

 

[WITHE1982]

I own the Mega Drive version and have probably played through it 30+ times but IMHO the definitive version is on the Amiga. It is a close run thing but the music/sounds are infinitely better and the graphics just that little crisper.

I remember the day I discovered the "run through walls" glitch and cut my playtime in half. You could complete Death tower in around 1 minute. Probably the first glitch I ever used.

 

[Santar]

I played the game on my Amiga 500 without HDD back in the day and the pick up animations where definitely there.

I can remember them vividly

After using some google fu it seems that according to http://superadventuresingaming.blogspot.no/2011/12/flashback-amiga.html:

Well I've looked it up and it turns out that Amiga users playing the game from floppy disks have to turn non-essential ingame cutscenes on manually by pressing ctrl+c. I have no clue why they didn't just put that option in the menu with a little warning about the extra loading times.

Fascinating, weird that they didn't put that in the options. You learn something new every day!

 

[Knuf]

Nope, just check this out for evidence: https://youtu.be/4S8UQ7nttdQ?t=26m55s
I guess maybe the game played the animations if you installed it or ran it on Amiga 1200 or something?
My floppy version on the A500 definitely didn't play those animations; I remember being a bit bummed out by that back in the day.

Just checked the Flashback Amiga manual: cutscenes are also present in the floppy version, but if you don't run the game from hdd they're turned off by default and you've got to press CTRL+C to activate them.
You didn't read the manuals that came with Amiga games back then, did you?

Spoiler

Neither did I.

 

[Trunx28]

Got the SNES version during a sellout of some video rental shop, together with Young Merlin (another forgotten pearl).

I always thought that the cutscenes had to be this slow .. But the game itself was pretty neat, had this Prince of Persia in Space vibe. Never played the other versions, though, so I could never compare it. Time to dust my old cartridge off ..

 

[Screaming Meat]

Personally? Gotta be the Amiga version.

 

[Fularu]

These animations are not in the AMIGA version

I had the AMIGA version back in the day and though it is a good version of the game it's missing the small pick up item animations that all the other versions have which makes it a bit inferior in my eyes.On the AMIGA it just pops up a black screen with the text you picked up "item name".
And you had to use both the joystick and the keyboard which made it a bit cumbersome to play.

Of course those pickup animations were in the Amiga version (read your manual which was kind of mandatory because of how the copy protection worked ).

I knew I had read otherwise, so I did some googling and found this on the wikipedia page for Flashback:



The Amiga version was released first though...

It really does seem like the game was meant for the Mega Drive, it seems designed for that console's controller. It never felt right for me on other platforms.

The game was developped on Amiga 3000 and 4000 machines at Delphine Software between 1991 and 1992. While the original graphic palette was made with the Megadrive in mind, they couldn't cram the game into a cart (hence the delay in releasing it). But the game was made on the Amiga and used its strenghts to the fullest.

As such, it's an Amiga game through and through.

 

[AppleSeason]

Definitely not Snes. That Slowdown on the cutscenes... Not to mention the music being different at times, as when you pick the holocube in the begining

The PC version seemed like the best looking one for me at the time. Not sure if it was me or the cutscenes were longer in PC than snes.

 

[Hahs]

My first topic here guys, let's be helpful and construtive.

I'm a great Flashback fan and grew up playing the Genesis version and at the time (early 90's) I had access to both Genesis and SNES versions but I always preffered Sega's conterpart. Recently I read that the Genesis version is preffered by it's creator too, so I can think of Sega's version as the root and SNES a later port of it.

Sometime later when I got my Sega CD 2 I loved the new version with CD quality soundtrack but the new FMV sequences kinda broke the experience for me, as the old ones were so more nostalgic (and better), in my opinion of course.

Now I have almost all "greater" versions of Flashback, except Jaguar and Amiga ones and I know these two are considered the best by many, so what is the definitive experience except these? I like the DOS version too but it has a very wierd aspect ratio and I'm not able to fix it to fit my Sony 21' CRT. I like the 3DO version too, maybe it's better than Sega CD one for it's colors but I dislike the aditional input lag in this particular version, in the end I find them quite similar but I really hate input lag more than anything else factor.

So what you GAF friends think as the definitive version of this great classic?

PS: The remake launched some years ago doesn't count, for god's sake. That's terrible.

Got free copy of the remake for review (360), and it was impressive, but not to my overall liking. Played the original on PC which makes the remake seem like bad joke. Would love a remaster of the OG though.

 

[Parsnip]

I played the SNES version back in the day, and it blew my mind when couple years ago I learned that some versions (Amiga and DOS?) had a few extra sequences in the intro fmv.

Amiga version has my favorite renditions of the soundtrack.

 

[HueyFreeman]

Thread after my own heart

OP, you honestly seem like the most knowledgeable person about Flashback, I'm reading your info for tips! Totally agree about Sega CD though - was kind of gutting to see what they'd done to the cutscenes. Taking these wonderful cutscenes and replacing them with some of the worst CG imaginable - such a confused time in gaming.

Really sounds like I should find a way to play the Amiga version some day. I've really only ever experienced the Genesis version.

 

[paulogy]

I'm going with Genesis version as that's the only one I really know (and played extensively). But it's one of my favorite games of all time.

What version is the one packed in on the arcade cabinet inside the Flashback PS3 remake?

 

[Fularu]

I'm going with Genesis version as that's the only one I really know (and played extensively). But it's one of my favorite games of all time.

What version is the one packed in on the arcade cabinet inside the Flashback PS3 remake?

AFAIK it's the Genesis one.

 

[MimiMe]

Only played it on the Amiga500. One of my all time favourites and still hoping for an Another World like remake.

Only remembering it playing on a console (I guess SNES) at my friends house and being bummed; after telling him how amazing it is.

 

[2+2=5]

Flashback is one of those games that while present on other platforms too was always associated with the Amiga, so i would say Amiga.

 

[mabec]

Thank you for creating this thread. This game is one of my childhood favorites and at one point in my life I think I was close to owning almost every version of this game. I looked and searched but all I could find right now was the Mac version, its still sealed tho

If I could I would buy the IP and breathe new life in to it

 

[Pandy]

Amiga version, with a two-button controller.

 

[HueyFreeman]

Only played it on the Amiga500. One of my all time favourites and still hoping for an Another World like remake.

Only remembering it playing on a console (I guess SNES) at my friends house and being bummed; after telling him how amazing it is.

This so much. To see the game ported into fully HD (recogizing widescreen is probably not possible here) with top quality sound and no slowdown/bugs, across all consoles known to man. It's the recognition and treatment that this, one of the greatest games ever made, deserves.

To this day, I still have no idea how Paul Cuisset so fundamentally misunderstood his own fucking game with the remake, but I hope the games opportunities didn't die with that. We should maybe start a petition.

 

[KTallguy]

Cain and Rinse had a good podcast on it recently.

 

[mrklaw]

It's been a while since I played it on Amiga, but as far as I remember you have to use the keyboard for several functions (space, F1 or similar), making it quite cumbersome.

Most regular Amiga controllers have one button, but didn't it support up to two buttons on custom controllers - unlike most games - but three was required or something like that? I don't remember the specifics, just that you had to use the keyboard, which was annoying compared to many other versions.

I think it did. I seem to remember mangling the cable on a mega drive pad to get two fire button support on my Amiga.

 

[Stevey]

Amiga gets my vote.

 

[EDarkness]

I have the Genesis version and the Jaguar version and I like the Jag version best. Anytime I go back to play it, I always play the Jag version. Wasn't there a remake or something a few years ago?

 

[Putyouinmyoven]

I do miss these "cinematic platformer" games - I really enjoyed Prince of Persia, Flashback, Abe's Odysee and Exoduss etc. They just have a nice feel to them, like when you make a jump and know instantly that you weren't close enough and you're about to fall into a spike pit.

Are there any modern games like these, other than the Abe's Odysee remake?

 

[Sinatar]

I do miss these "cinematic platformer" games - I really enjoyed Prince of Persia, Flashback, Abe's Odysee and Exoduss etc. They just have a nice feel to them, like when you make a jump and know instantly that you weren't close enough and you're about to fall into a spike pit.

Are there any modern games like these, other than the Abe's Odysee remake?

Deadlight plays a lot like a cinematic platformer, I thought it was pretty good. Just turn off the hint system that highlights everything.

 

[mabec]

etc

Blackthorne

 

[The_Super_Inframan]

I do miss these "cinematic platformer" games - I really enjoyed Prince of Persia, Flashback, Abe's Odysee and Exoduss etc. They just have a nice feel to them, like when you make a jump and know instantly that you weren't close enough and you're about to fall into a spike pit.

Are there any modern games like these, other than the Abe's Odysee remake?

Inside

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0V2rPVQWfM

great game

its on PC/Xbox/Ps4

 

[TheSecondSpitter]

GAF hasn't witnessed an Amiga vs Genesis war on this scale since the first Clinton administration.

 

[Bedlam]

I first played the PC version back in the day and found it fantastic, much better than the Genesis version I played later.

Since everyone applauds the Amiga version, what does it do better than the PC version? Normally PC versions were ahead of their Amiga counterparts. Syndicate etc. Or are they basically identical?

 

[mattiewheels]

The Amiga version is the best version (and was the one Delphine did the developpement for). The canned ST version would have been interesting to see though

I watched the comparison vid, and in the Amiga version, where the cinematic of picking up the cube should play, instead it's just a screen of text that says "You picked up the holocube". Don't know if that's the best version.

Edit: Ah, just read that you can turn them on. Weird.

 

[Sinatar]

The only advantage Amiga has over DOS is the music, and that's only if you're using a soundblaster. DOS version with MT-32 music is the best.

 

[s_mirage]

PC version: smoother, extended cutscenes, MT-32 music.

 

[Lancelot]

PC version: smoother, extended cutscenes, MT-32 music.

Did you see it on PC? The game is fine but it has a weird aspect ratio, it's does not fill the 4:3 screen. Messing with the monitor settings also does not help.

 

[mattiewheels]

Those redone animations in bad early CG look unholy, man. I can't believe I've never seen them before.

 

[Fularu]

The only advantage Amiga has over DOS is the music, and that's only if you're using a soundblaster. DOS version with MT-32 music is the best.

PC version: smoother, extended cutscenes, MT-32 music.

No, the Amiga version will always look better than the PC version (both releases) because of how the game was drawn on the Amiga.

Also because of MS Dos memory limitations, Conrad's animations will never feel as smooth as when played on the Amiga.

 

[rezn0r]

2nd/3rd/4th/whatever'd on great first thread! Only ever played the Genesis version, makes me want to dig it out again.

Also a few posts above - thanks for reminding me to play Inside. It's happening this weekend.

 

[Lionheart1827]

I've only ever played the SNES version unfortunately, but even that one holds a place in my heart. Great game, interesting world/story/gameplay. Music was great.