Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet

[cessnaace]

The classic British TV series from the 60's, THUNDERBIRDS, and the equally cool CAPTAIN SCARLET have apparently been out on the PS2 in England for some time.

http://www.blast-games.com/en/default.asp
http://www.blast-games.com/en/backcatalogue.asp

But they're not listed here in the non-U.S. release section. Do these games in fact exist, and if so can an American or Japanese PS2 play them, being that they're PAL format? I'd guess not, but I'd really like to try them out!!!

[Bojay1997]

They are PAL only and require a PAL PS2, as well as a monitor to play them properly in the States. Having said that, these two games are horrible. I think they spent all the development money on obtaining the licenses rather than on good gameplay. You can find both games for under $10 each on Ebay UK or from various on-line retailers.

[Amos]

I collect Thunderbirds games, so I had to have the PS2 version. That was when I found out that there were PS2 games in the UK with blue plastic cases instead of black. It looks awesome on my shelf, still sealed, because I know I'll never have the hardware to play it. :(

(After looking at link in the OP) Holy crap! Mr. Bean for the DS?

[cessnaace]

Something about this makes my brain tingle with little vibrating question marks. The Sega Master System will play both NTSC and PAL games. And I've heard the same about the Atari Jaguar (although I've only bought NTSC releases for it). So, why can't an advanced system like the PS2 output both PAL and NTSC (I won't even get into the SECAM format).

The power usage is a different matter. When I lived in Germany back when I was in High School we had converters that would convert 110 volts to 220. I assume they make converters that will down-convert 220 to 110.


Mark

[ProgrammingAce]

Something abouut this makes my brain tingle with little vibrating question marks. The Sega Master System will play both NTSC and PAL games. And I've heard the same about the Atari Jaguar (although I've only bought NTSC releases for it). So, why can't an advanced system like the PS2 output both PAL and NTSC (I won't even get into the SECAM format).

They could, but they chose not to. The Xbox handles multiple formats fine, the PS2 and Gamecube do not.

[cessnaace]

They could, but they chose not to. The Xbox handles multiple formats fine, the PS2 and Gamecube do not.

The original Xbox (180) or the highly unrelieable Xbox 360? I've put off buying an Xbox 360 because of the problem with the Red Ring of Death. I bought a used Xbox (180) back when EB (now GameStop) was selling refurbished ones for $80. I've only had two problems with it. Sometimes the tray won't open, in which case I give it a firm punch downward just above the CD-ROM tray. The other problem is that it will not always read discs of certain games. Cleaning the disc, nor the laser lens, do any good. I have to buy a second copy. I don't trust Microsoft when it comes to hardware.

Meanwhile, my Sega Master System, Genesis (Model 2) 32X, Saturn, Dreamcast, Nomad; Nintendo SNES, GameCube, Gameboy Advance SP, DS; Sony PlayStation; 3DO (Goldstar model); Atari VCS (Heavy Sixer), 7800; Jaguar, Lynx all work fine. I've only had my original Model 1 NES, and my Mattel Intellivision die on me. I've had my Atari VCS since 1978!!! Why Microsoft can't get it together is beyond me.

[ProgrammingAce]

yeah... ok... i'm sorry you bought a sucky xbox? I don't really see what that has to do with the video modes though. I'm sure smacking it is doing wonders for it's reliablilty.

But both the Xbox1 and the 360 natively support PAL, NTSC-U, NTSC-J, and PAL-M formats.

[PapaStu]

Well debug systems have multi video-capabilities in them from the get go. My debug PlayStations can play PAL games all day, not that I'd be able to play them due to a lack of proper outputs on my TV.

I'd assume that the modern systems do not support PAL because out TV's here don't support them, so don't give the systems the ability to output that way. Besides it helps control the importation of games and stuff that companies are still caught up in, in regards to consoles.

@Cessnaace
Prog meant the XBox. Don't call it the Xbox 180. The damn thing is just called the XBox. Certain drives in the XBox's are noted for being more prone to failure. Open the disc tray to see what kind you've got. Thompson drives are notorious for being crappy. Also, as some of the games got bigger and used layered discs the earlier drives tended to have problems reading them. I know I had that issue with Doom 3 and my original launch Xbox. Played it later on my Samsung drive and it played just fine.

Also the RRoD problem has mostly gone away. If you're going to potentially have a mass problem it would be E-74, but like RRoD, its fully covered. Also the new Jasper units are much better off as compared to the earlier units. MS has made things better in that regard.

[yok-dfa]

Having said that, these two games are horrible. I think they spent all the development money on obtaining the licenses rather than on good gameplay.
I would say that's the case with all games by that publisher (blast! (http://www.blast-games.com/en/default.asp)). Together with Phoenix Games they are the biggest publisher of PAL PS2 shovelware...

[Spartacus]

You know I never realized the Thunderbirds were produced in the UK. I must have seen episodes on TV in the 60’s when I was in elementary school. The marionette puppetry was sort of clunky, but trying to spot the wires was fun and not always easy. I thought the special effects were pretty darn good for its day!
The NES Thunderbirds game has the "5 4 3 2 1 Thunderbirds Are Go!" intro and plays like a vertical scrolling shooter. You can fly Thunderbirds 1, 2, 3, 4 and the Firefly. Except for the text language, the Japanese version is identical to the North American version.
The SNES Thunderbirds game only came out it Japan. It has the "5 4 3 2 1 Thunderbirds Are Go!" intro too - with the original voiceover. It plays horizontally and vertically using Thunderbirds 1, 2, 3, 4 - plus pod vehicle Elevator Cars and The Mole.
The PS2 Thunderbirds game has none of the voice work from the series and that was a shocking bummer. I enjoyed playing the game though. It’s mostly top down ala Desert Strike, but mixes in a lot of different gameplay. Shooting, putting out fires, rescues, hauling, etc. It even has some Asteroids type segments. It’s just fun in a very campy corny type way. Landing Thunderbird 1 vertically on a pad in the game is just so retro, it’s hard to believe anyway thought it might happen that way, even back then!
Never heard of Captain Scarlet until I bought the game. It’s a vehicle shooter using a few different Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle’s and it’s about as basic as it gets. Maybe if I had seen the show I might have gotten more enjoyment out of it.
Sad to say neither of the PS2 games offer a 60hz option, but Captain Scarlet offered 4:3 and 16:9 screen formats.
http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/2168/thunderbirdsy.th.jpg (http://img268.imageshack.us/my.php?image=thunderbirdsy.jpg)



They could, but they chose not to. The Xbox handles multiple formats fine, the PS2 and Gamecube do not.

Well my Japanese Xbox seems to handle NTSC games well enough. But if the North American Xbox can handle NTSC-J - you’d never know it. At least it doesn’t play any Japanese software I own! Perhaps Japanese software developers intentionally did that. The PAL Taito Legends 2 works just fine, but I guess everybody knows that.



Well debug systems have multi video-capabilities in them from the get go. My debug PlayStations can play PAL games all day, not that I'd be able to play them due to a lack of proper outputs on my TV.

I have a chipped PS1 that will “sort of” play PAL games. But even when running the signal through a digital video converter it only displays in black and white. The converter does stop the roll though. My green PS1 debug unit just goes to a blue screen immediately after the PlayStation logo displays. It will play Japanese games just fine, but balks at PAL. Maybe the blue PS1 debug units are different, I don’t know.

[ProgrammingAce]

Well my Japanese Xbox seems to handle NTSC games well enough. But if the North American Xbox can handle NTSC-J - you’d never know it. At least it doesn’t play any Japanese software I own! Perhaps Japanese software developers intentionally did that. The PAL Taito Legends 2 works just fine, but I guess everybody knows that.


The system is capable, but most of the games are region locked to prevent it. Region locking was up to the publisher and was done on a per-title basis.

[cessnaace]

Not to get this thread back on track or anything, but I went back to the Blast website to see if they released any of their games for the Xbox360. They haven't. No THUNDERBIRDS or CAPTAIN SCARLET for the Xbox360.

The PS2 is heavily represented though, as is the DS. Even the wii. And the PC. But what got me was LTTLE BRITAIN: THE VIDEO GAME for the PS2. They say they make games strictly targeting young children. Young children? Little Britain? The TV show isn't aimed at children, that's for sure. Maybe they could make FAMILY GUY:PETER AND CHICKEN SUIT MAN BEAT EACH OTHER TO A BLOODY PULP The Video Game for the PS2. Must be 3 years of age or older. LOL!

Oh, and I'm not the only one who refers to the Xbox as the Xbox 180. People frequently refer to Microsoft's next console as the Xbox 720 while we're on the subject. Why couldn't they name the 360 the Xbox 2 and be normal?

[Cryomancer]

I've never heard the original be called the 180. I have however heard it called Dreamcast 2!

If anything the 360 is the Xbox 720, since the games for it run in 720p (or most of them do anyway). Releasing the next with that name would be a poor marketing choice, since by then everything will probably be 1080p, and it would make it sound dated. I realize that you are referencing rotational degrees, but the resolutions correlate.