I just found your Amiga version video, the game looks so much better on the Amiga than on PC. Back then I wasn't even aware of the existence of Amiga computers.

BTW, it seems that my memory is playing tricks on me, but I just listened to the PC speaker intro tune of the PC version and I think I remember it differently. I even loaded the multi-product demo 2 from MPS FPS which has a section showing F-19 gameplay, and it has the same PC speaker tune as the one in YouTube videos, which in turn kind of resembles the one from the Roland version. While what I remember was a different tune. Do you know if there were any changes between updates to the game?

MrFlibble wrote on 2021-04-01, 19:58:

I just found your Amiga version video, the game looks so much better on the Amiga than on PC. Back then I wasn't even aware of the existence of Amiga computers.

BTW, it seems that my memory is playing tricks on me, but I just listened to the PC speaker intro tune of the PC version and I think I remember it differently. I even loaded the multi-product demo 2 from MPS FPS which has a section showing F-19 gameplay, and it has the same PC speaker tune as the one in YouTube videos, which in turn kind of resembles the one from the Roland version. While what I remember was a different tune. Do you know if there were any changes between updates to the game?

Maybe you heard the Tandy version which has more polyphony in it's intro music?

https://youtu.be/nXYzaOw1Va0 <- F-19 Tandy version (running on DOSBox)

I'm not aware of any major changes between the versions of the game other than some bugfixes.

Although Amiga version looked better, the PC version run more fluid on better hardware.

I listened to the PC Speaker tune as rendered by DOSBox a couple more times. I think this emulated PC Speaker sound is generally somewhat different from how I remember the real thing that I had (a stock IBM 386 PC). Maybe I really mis-remember the tune, and/or I somehow "remixed" it in my head and think that this is what I actually heard. I certainly had no other flight sims at the time so I could not remember it from there. Maybe there's some other PC speaker tune that I mistake for the F-19 theme.

Oddly enough, I also had Prince of Persia back then but I clearly and correctly remember the intro tune from that game (then again, who doesn't?).

On PCs without sound cards, F-19 did try to squeeze the best out of the PC speaker it could. It would simulate polyphony on it in the intro. It was quite speed-sensitive though, as you can hear here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_f8v2Xd6wg

(the three concluding notes in the end appear to be missing here, but that might be because of the timing issue due to the machine being to fast.)

I noticed that too. I set DOSBox to 2750 cycles for testing, maybe this is a bit high for F-19 though. At present, after having listened to the tune a couple more times, I'm inclined to think that I did not memorise it 100pc right, and also there's likely some other, vaguely or partially similar tune that I know from a different game that is interfering with my memory. I wonder what that tune is though.

MrFlibble wrote on 2021-04-01, 19:58:

I just found your Amiga version video, the game looks so much better on the Amiga than on PC. Back then I wasn't even aware of the existence of Amiga computers.

You should try the upgraded version (F-1117A) ´which has a nice 256 color VGA.

sf78 wrote on 2021-04-06, 10:35:

You should try the upgraded version (F-1117A) ´which has a nice 256 color VGA.

Oh, I do have that one 😀 I was not aware of this game's existence until about 1997-1998, and you can imagine my excitement when I saw the familiar F-19-esque cockpit on a 256-colour screenshot with the purple dusk sky in a magazine article that gave a retrospective of the flight sim genre on the PC. I wasn't able to get my hands on it until much later, but F-117A is an excellent enhanced remake.

MrFlibble wrote on 2021-04-06, 13:28:

Oh, I do have that one 😀 I was not aware of this game's existence until about 1997-1998, and you can imagine my excitement when I saw the familiar F-19-esque cockpit on a 256-colour screenshot with the purple dusk sky in a magazine article that gave a retrospective of the flight sim genre on the PC. I wasn't able to get my hands on it until much later, but F-117A is an excellent enhanced remake.

Yeah, it was quite annoying when the Amiga had better visual/audio experience, but the gameplay was a total slideshow and there were no analogue flightsticks available. In the end you had to choose between playability and eye candy.

Interestingly there is EGA version of F-117 Stealth Fighter 2.0 which I'm currently hunting for. It's weird that it was not merged together with the VGA one and was released as separate version. If anyone has it please let me know.

damson wrote on 2021-04-08, 08:00:

Interestingly there is EGA version of F-117 Stealth Fighter 2.0

This is certainly the first time I hear about this! You mean like it was sold separately? How odd.

MrFlibble wrote on 2021-04-08, 08:42:

damson wrote on 2021-04-08, 08:00:

Interestingly there is EGA version of F-117 Stealth Fighter 2.0

This is certainly the first time I hear about this! You mean like it was sold separately? How odd.

Not that odd, actually. At least within the adventure game genre, it was quite common for game publishers to release separate 16-color EGA/Tandy versions of 256-color VGA/MCGA games.

damson wrote on 2021-04-08, 08:00:

It's weird that it was not merged together with the VGA one and was released as separate version.

Probably because that would require either relying on some kind of dithering algorithm to render the 256-color artwork in 16 colors, which wasn't always ideal, or including separate 16-color artwork along with the 256-color assets in a single distribution, which would have required more floppies and hard drive space. Better to split it up into two different versions, then. Each optimized for their respective target graphics modes.

digger wrote on 2021-04-09, 17:45:

Probably because that would require either relying on some kind of dithering algorithm to render the 256-color artwork in 16 colors, which wasn't always ideal, or including separate 16-color artwork along with the 256-color assets in a single distribution, which would have required more floppies and hard drive space. Better to split it up into two different versions, then. Each optimized for their respective target graphics modes.

Well, probably you're right, it saved them maybe 1 fdd per copy, but many other games did that (Test Drive 3, LHX Attack Chopper, even earlier games from Microprose like F-19 and F-15 SE2).

Anyway, here's another gem from Microprose, although it's a simulator it's not about flying - Geoff Crammond's Formula 1 Grand Prix. Still an awesome game.

https://youtu.be/IivuwShDgko

I wonder how many flight simulators had a proper "high resolution" (=640*350) EGA version... also, I wonder if any VGA flight simulator chose 640*480@16 colours instead of 320*200@256 colours.

I really enjoy your YT channel and loved your Longbow series.

I don't know if you take requests but would you care to do a playthrough for any of the following?

Nighthawk F-117 Stealth Fighter 2.0
Falcon 3.0
EF-2000
Jane's Longbow 2
Jane's F-15
Lock-On Modern Air Combat

Cheers

Zup wrote on 2021-04-22, 09:23:

I wonder how many flight simulators had a proper "high resolution" (=640*350) EGA version... also, I wonder if any VGA flight simulator chose 640*480@16 colours instead of 320*200@256 colours.

That would be a short but interesting list.

Of the top of my head I only know this one:

https://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/flight-action

https://twitter.com/gravislizard/status/13004 … 1842944?lang=de

appiah4 wrote on 2021-04-22, 10:24:

I really enjoy your YT channel and loved your Longbow series. […]
Show full quote

I really enjoy your YT channel and loved your Longbow series.

I don't know if you take requests but would you care to do a playthrough for any of the following?

Nighthawk F-117 Stealth Fighter 2.0
Falcon 3.0
EF-2000
Jane's Longbow 2
Jane's F-15
Lock-On Modern Air Combat

Cheers

Thanks! I did few videos of F-117 both on Amiga and PC. There are 2 vids (and one from campaign ending) of Jane's Longbow 2, and few from Lock On (few F-15 missions and one in A-10 IIRC). I'm planning on flying Jane's F-15 at some point in the future, same goes for EF2000. You might want to browse my vids, there are over 1000 of them at this point, you might find something interesting. I have many playlists that group several vids thematically, so that might help with the browsing.

Zup wrote on 2021-04-22, 09:23:

I wonder how many flight simulators had a proper "high resolution" (=640*350) EGA version... also, I wonder if any VGA flight simulator chose 640*480@16 colours instead of 320*200@256 colours.

Not much I guess, only few comes to mind, like FS3 and 4 and Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer 2.0. I don't know any that had 640x480@16 colors in VGA mode.

Does Corncob 3-D count? It's 640x350.

30 years ago PC version of Microprose F-117 Stealth Fighter 2.0 was released. What better way to celebrate if not with a tribute video of Intro Remake:

https://youtu.be/h11v4VkUen8

Nice! But I still prefer the original 320x200x256 version.