[AMSTRAD CPC] Elevator Action - Longplay & Review

#amstrad #amstradcpc #amstradcpc464
Longplay and review for "Elevator Action" on the Amstrad CPC!
It's coin-op conversion time to the CPC with an early classic from Taito - Elevator Action! Starting at the top of a 30 storey building, Otto the super spy has to use the lifts to infiltrate the building, recover all the secret documents, shoot the gangsters and escape in the waiting car in the basement! Simple stuff? But the gameplay holds some hidden depths. Let's beat the game and find out how the conversion to the Amstrad holds up - coming out 5 years after the original coin-op arrived in the arcades! Plus we'll take a little look at the other conversions too!
(c) Quicksilva 1987 / Taito 1983
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elevato...
www.cpc-power.com/index.php?p...
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Background music featured - "Victory" by "24:7" - 247retro.bandcamp.com/
Timings -
00:00 Intro
00:43 Game History
01:40 Arcade Version
04:40 AMSTRAD LONGPLAY
19:20 Other Versions Discussion & Footage
26:16 Amstrad Action Review
28:09 My Final Review & Conclusion

[@jas.c.brooke]

Thanks 🙂Pleased to see time and effort being put into game reviews - something that never happened back in the 80's! But much now is for nostalga's sake, so I thought I'd add my bit and give you some background... Yes, I did the graphics as well as the programming. In fact all 3 programmers all worked separately on the Spectrum, Amstrad and C64 versions. We all worked full time writing games at Binary Design during the day. At night time and weekends, we'd go to our respective homes and work on Elevator, with the deadline being just eight weeks. I had to buy an Amstrad CPC and dev system, which cost £700 total and left me earning just £300 for the entire project. Compared to that, yes: as you supposed- writing nusic was a far better way of earning an income. I actually wrote my own music for the Amstrad version of Elevator, because they presented us with the MSX version (written in Japan) as a basis for our conversions and the tune was totally uninspiring. I'd not witnessed it in the arcade at that point. Also, I'd just written a music driver, so this was a chance to try it out. I wrote an original piece that was quite catchy and had people "singing" the tune around the office for weeks to come. However, the publisher wouldn't pay extra for music and so it was decided David Whittaker would produce music in-house instead, thereby effectively getting it free but ending up with no sound effects- which adds further to the "unresponsive" feel. You're right: fast frame rates were certainly lacking and impacting responsiveness. It being my first CPC game, I didn't have experience on the CPC to risk any adventurous optimisations and thereby risk not getting the game done on time. Finally: Of all three games, the one that was late in completion was...? ...the C64- even though the lad who wrote it boasted of all his experience in the games industry in cotrast to Pete (Specturm) and I. Eventually, he brought in the "final" version and they set it up to test it out in the office. With the boss taking hold of the joystick, the first words out of the programmer's mouth provided us with the other outcome of Elevator that circulated round the office for weeks to come:- "Don't go down the left hand elevator - it crashes!"

[@Xyphoe]

Oh wow! It's an honour when someone involved with the game comes and watches plus leaves a comment! And thank you for so much detail there - wish I'd found you on Twitter now before finishing this because I could have asked a few questions and had all those details in the video! I've pinned this comment though. And glad you liked the video - I always try to be as fair and reasonable as possible, and if a game doesn't turn out how we hoped (ie it wasn't very good) I find it unfair to pin too much on the coder because in most cases it's the fault of the publisher setting unrealistic and short deadlines - especially on Amstrad versions being the '3rd placed machine'. I still enjoyed Elevator Action a lot and it's even more impressive this was your first Amstrad game! I have done a video on your only other (I believe) Amstrad coding job which was FEUD! What a brilliant job there you did! kzbin.info/www/bejne/kJzKYWVvj8StbJY Although this vid is different to my usual ones because it's edited from a live stream - because I thought it better showing the map plus discussing where we are and what we are doing live so it's easier to follow for people unfamiliar with the game. And of course we love Feud, in our 'Top 10 Amstrad Budget Games' vid (kzbin.info/www/bejne/qn6Xnnp9jq-Sq5I) your Feud was voted into 7th place after several live streams looking into all the best budget games and having the community vote and score them!

[@Xyphoe]

Oh and what happened to the music YOU made for Elevator Action? Did it get used on a different game in the end?

[@Xyphoe]

Just a heads up for you Jas, over on the Amstrad (CPC Wiki) forums some discovered there was a bit of unused memory in the game (a little over 4kb) and they were "able to increase the game speed by a couple of screen refreshes" and they've put out a new updated version of the game that runs a little faster :) www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/games/elevator-action-a-speed-patch Thought you might be interested in this. Obviously I bet you wished your bosses at the time gave you the luxury of more time to go over your games for such optimisations! But it's been done now :)

[@jas.c.brooke]

@@Xyphoe Oh no: That 4k was the bullet store! - If you put code in it then fire too many times on a level, it'll crash! .... only kiddin'. There was certainly potential for optimisation, whether by writing "blank" tiles by just filling with colour or updating only the tiles that needed to change. It's good to know you got what you asked for with the upping of frame rate. Retrospectively, I can't really say I wish I'd been given more time. I actually can't fathom how I managed to do so much stuff in those days. I can't have learned what sleep was until I was older! But if I'd spent more time on one thing, something else would not be done. It is what it is - though it isn't now, is it! While I'm on, I noticed you asked about the music that didn't end up in the game, in the key of E I recall. It was one main track for in-game and title with a jingle for when you hit the lights and some backing to when you got in the car at the end of a level. None of it got used on any other game but the tune plays on in my head... on... and on... and so I STILL can't get any sleep! 😃

[@Xyphoe]

@@jas.c.brooke the chap who did the work has detailed his 4 optimisations on the forum now if you are interested! But yes, that's youth for you and having the energy to work so late into the night and get by on so little sleep, no way I can do it myself these days like I used to either!! I pull the very rare concessional allnighter on a project and then need 2 days to recover! Talking of recovery.... and well if you ever find the disks for that music, and any others - do let us know! There's definitely a large bunch of Amstrad/8-bit music fans out there that would love to hear it!

[@yahhteebockity]

cheers for the review and longplay - totally agree with the music - this music for the cpc is great!

[@heyhonpuds]

I love Elevator Action. One of the first arcade cabs I ever played as a kid. Great vid, cheers Xyphoe 👍

[@Xyphoe]

Thank you Heyhon!!

[@Joliie]

Some serious Elevator Action right there :)

[@Xyphoe]

And a little Escalator Action too! xD

[@davidfernandezsabio3844]

A decent port on the CPC despite low frame rate and control problems.Never had it back in the day as I can remember nor saw the coin-op till much years later and appreciated both versions.Keep the good work.Cheers!

[@Xyphoe]

Cheers David - same here, I was too young to see the coin-op in the arcades - it had long gone before I was old enough to experience real arcades and I never owned the conversion as a kid. It was years later via emulation I got to experience it, but fell in love with it instantly - both versions!

[@psychodraculo]

I really enjoyed this on the CPC back in the day. I think you should try Mission Elevator, which has a bit more depth to the gameplay, like an action adventure. Great video!

[@Xyphoe]

Thanks mate! And I might do one day (Mission Elevator) but I think it takes nearly an hour to beat! Yikes!

[@DrebinYT]

Awesome game mate 🙂

[@Xyphoe]

Thank you - always had a spot in my heart for this game on whatever system!

[@robsmall6466]

All in all not the worst conversion in the world. A fair effort was made with this

[@Xyphoe]

100% agreed Rob!

[@elgaleonretroPirata]

Hello friend

[@Xyphoe]

¡Hola!

[@SwainyAtRetroAsylum]

Er… The Speccy 128k version of Elevator Action has exactly the same music as the Amstrad version. 😂

[@Xyphoe]

Oh really? Sorry about that.... I did chuck about 3 different dumps at my Speccy emu! And nadda - no music. How odd. If there's any more corrections to make for the vid I'll pin a comment.

[@SwainyAtRetroAsylum]

@@Xyphoe Probably running your emulator in 48k mode mate 👍