Flashback: The Quest for Identity

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Flashback: The Quest for Identity

Post by Junker_05 »

PLEASE, for the love of God, tell me you people played this back in the 'day. I think it's still one of the best platform adventure games to this very day.

Today, we see all this shitty "retro-revival" crap flooding the market. If any 90's title deserves a retro-rehash, it's definitely this. Why the hell are they wasting our time, re-releasing fucking MegaDrive games on god-damned overpriced DVD?

It's a damn shame that U.S Gold went under. Did anyone else play this absolute gem of a game?

Image

EDIT: If you haven't played this genius bit of platform adventuring, get on it RIGHT FUCKIN' NOW.

Here are the DOS files (the game's now in the Public Domain, so there should be no copyright issues here):
http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/74/Fl ... (DOS).html

And here is the emulator to run said DOS files natively in XP:
http://linux.softpedia.com/get/System/E ... 9662.shtml

I suggest you get going.
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Re: Flashback: The Quest for Identity

Post by Artemio »

Yes Delphine Software made an incredible game. I bought it when it came out for the Genny, but had played a bit of it on the Amiga.

I still play it once in a while, as a matter of fact I played it a month or so ago on my Genesis and took a pic of it:

Image

The Sega Cd version has cinemas in pre-rendered 3D and a full soundtrack. I honestly believe that the original polygon cinemas are better than the pre-rendered ones. I also like the cart based music more as well, since it only shows up in specific parts to spice up the action, and otherwise you get a very quiet game with ambient sound. I believe that adds up to a very personal experience.
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Re: Flashback: The Quest for Identity

Post by Anubis »

I have the Genesis version, but I've yet to play it.

I know that recently someone ported the PC version to Sega Saturn. I want to check it out. Apparently it's a good conversion.

It's funny that it's now on almost every system. The Genesis, the CD, and now the Saturn.
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Re: Flashback: The Quest for Identity

Post by Junker_05 »

The original polygon cinemas were far better. I prefer them only because I grew up with them, and having played most versions of Flashback, the other sound bites are awful and the music to go with them really doesn't suit the ambience.

Plus, the pre-rendered cutscenes on the Mega/Sega CD version were terrible... just terrible. And on top of that, the voice acting in that version has, by far, the most atrocious voice work I've ever seen in a video game.
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Re: Flashback: The Quest for Identity

Post by el_ash »

I had the Genesis version, it's a bit tough in some parts...not sure if I ever beat the game? (it's been a long time)
I loved the old rotoscoped platformer games! :mrgreen:

Does anyone remember the first game like this and it's sequel? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_of_the_Alien
(It was the first game like "Flashback" I ever played, so when flashback came out I was excited!)

Or the sequel to Flashback? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fade_to_Black_(video_game)

Of course there was this game as well http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackthorne

Man I miss games like these!
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Re: Flashback: The Quest for Identity

Post by Artemio »

The first one was Out of Thsi World, the prequel to Heart of the Alien.

Yes, I love the genre as well.
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Re: Flashback: The Quest for Identity

Post by Junker_05 »

I found Flashback to have far better gameplay mechanics than Another World/Out Of This World (why the fuck can't you guys just stick with one title?!). I found Another World's controls to be a bit clunky, and the slight unresponsiveness started to piss me off after a while (especially at the beginning).
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Re: Flashback: The Quest for Identity

Post by JimboKudo »

I beat Another World for the 8 or 9th time about a week ago, and I have the Sega CD version of Flashback which i've beaten only once. I'm trying to beat it on medium, but I'm actually having a hard time with the morphs on the later levels (they take way too many hits to kill). Any tips to beating them would be quite welcome actually...
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Re: Flashback: The Quest for Identity

Post by best name ever »

Junker_05 wrote: Here are the DOS files (the game's now in the Public Domain, so there should be no copyright issues here):
Theirs noway its Public Domain, there still selling it for the Iphone/Ipod touch for $2 on iTunes
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Re: Flashback: The Quest for Identity

Post by Junker_05 »

It's probably just some guy who's taken the game, made an iPhone port (which is terrible, by the way; Conrad handles like a boat in it) and decided to charge $2 for his efforts.

The game IS in the public domain.
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Re: Flashback: The Quest for Identity

Post by best name ever »

No…you’re wrong! :/ Someone can't just put flashback on the app store without owning the copy right law, apple would not allow it. You probably got this information that it was public domain from some abandonware site. :P
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Re: Flashback: The Quest for Identity

Post by Supergrom »

To quote IGN:
"The version for the Apple devices seems to be a very, very rushed conversion of the open source emulator that's been made available to the public domain. The controls use a virtual D-pad that appears anywhere the player rests his thumb, with action buttons firmly located on the left side of the screen."
http://wireless.ign.com/articles/980/980678p1.html

Now that wording is pretty unclear, and I can't seem to find anything else about it, but it sounds to me like it very well could have been released to the public in a similar way to how id makes a habit of releasing their source code to the public several years after the games cease to be profitable. I'm not sure, as I can't find any definitive and clearly worded evidence either way.

EDIT: ok, so on a little more digging, it appears that you are both partially right. According to the Wikipedia entry to the developer (Manomio LLC), the app is just a port of an open source engine that will run flashback called REminiscence. As such, the initial app download is just over a meg. However, when you first launch the app, it then downloads about 3 megs of game data that is not in the public domain, and is essentially being pirated. Hence, it snuck into the app store because the app itself is not illegal, and apple probably didnt examine it too closely, but in my opinion it is much worse than simply downloading an 18 year old game by a now defunct company, because all Manomio did was port the code for an emulator and start charging for it. BOOOOOOOO!
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Re: Flashback: The Quest for Identity

Post by best name ever »

Actually I just read this and it sounds as if “junker_05” is right! And that Manomio the person who made the Iphone/Ipod touch version actually asked if they could get some sort of licensing deal and they said that the rights were lost when the company went bankrupt. So guess it is public domain!
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Re: Flashback: The Quest for Identity

Post by stalepie »

I recently re-beat this game and have had it in my collection (on the Genesis) since it came out. It's a DEFINITE classic. I'd forgotten how good it was, in my mind tending to think that it paled in comparison to Out of this World (Another World) but actually it may be better, or at least holds its own.

I loved the fluid animation and the way all the gameplay is timed, like how the enemies are placed, and how you have just enough room to run and hang from a ledge, things like that. It really created an impressive futuristic world, especially the city stuff, but the jungle level and end levels are cool too. I love little touches (mysteries) like the old pipe-smoking suspenders-wearing man who sells you an anti-g belt.

Also liked the synth music and sound effects.

Graphics still look good to this day. I watched a video on YouTube of the SNES and Amiga versions, but still like the Genny version best.
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Re: Flashback: The Quest for Identity

Post by Marc »

I played Flashback in the 90s and had a great time with it.

By the way, the 15th anniversary edition of Another World for the PC is well worth picking up. The graphical upgrades (higher res and extra detail in the backgrounds, for example) as well as the remastered sound enhance the experience.

Of course, you still have the option to play with the original settings (or mix and match settings).

Here's a screen with all the enhanced graphics settings turned on:

Image

Compare that to the original:

Image

O.O
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Re: Flashback: The Quest for Identity

Post by Artemio »

awesome =) i love that game
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Re: Flashback: The Quest for Identity

Post by JimboKudo »

Image

(Got this from deviantart)
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Re: Flashback: The Quest for Identity

Post by stalepie »

That painting looks very nice. It even captures some of Chahi's style.

It's interesting, I never liked the updating he did to the game (pictured above) with the higher resolution. It looks a little better in some ways, but it really just looks like he went over the old drawings and added more shading. In other words, the original impression is lost even if the original is blocky/lower-res/jaggy, etc. I tend to feel this way about any game that gets updates, though.
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