Quake (Saturn) vs. Quake (N64)

[bargora]

I skipped straight from Doom II to Quake II, but now I want to go back and play the first Quake. I have no doubt that the PC version is the best version. But I want to play it while sitting in the comfy chair in front of the big tube, not on my computer. So which console version should I play? Saturn or N64?

And while I've already played Quake II on the PlayStation, feel free to comment if the N64 version of QII beats the pants off of the PS version.

[fishsandwich]

It's weird you post this topic... just a few weeks a go I was on a weird Quake kick where I started comparing all the versions of Quake that I had around the house.

Being a big Saturn fan, I tried like hell to convince myself that the Saturn version was the best one out there. There is no Quake I for PSX, so that reduced it to the Saturn versus the N64. I played the hell out of Saturn Quake and got pretty far, enjoying myself all the while. Then I slapped in the N64 version and realized that the Saturn version looks like shit compared to the N64 game. Damn.

The Saturn tries... it really does. It's a damned good effort by Lobotomy, but what worked in Powerslave does not work in Quake so well (same basic game engine.) The graphics just look dark and muddy compared to the N64 version. Still, full 3-D on the Saturn is impressive in its own right, but the N64 is just a stronger 3-D system.

Quake II for N64 even better, and Quake II for PSX is surprisingly good. Quake I (the port of the PC version you can get off the net) for Dreamcast is the best of all in terms of clean graphics, but that's to be expected.

I prefer the N64 version of Quake II to the PSX version, but the PSX version does have its charme... better control overall and brighter colours. The music is damned irritating, though. Too loud, too much rock, not enough atmosphere.

[SegaAges]

If I had to pick, I would go with the 64 versions of them. Just remember that q3:a is on dc and it rocks

[roushimsx]

I'm going with the N64 version as well. The highlights of the Saturn port are the colored lighting and the new bonus levels, but other than that it's drastically inferior to the N64 version. Control isn't as good, framerate is worse, graphics are worse (unless you HAVE to have colored lighting), etc

Apparently they had a beta up and running on the Playstation in a week or something that was based on the Saturn version, but ran ~30fps. Shame it never got further developed and released (legally or otherwise ).

But the Saturn version DOES rock in that it automatically unlocks Death Tank Zwei in Duke Nukem 3D. That right there is reason enough to pick it up (well, assuming you have friends)

Oh, and allow me to jump on the Quake II-on-PSX-was-impressive train, because it was so much better than I expected.

[cyberfluxor]

I have Quake 1 & 2 for N64 and 3 for the Dreamcast. Of couse Quake 3 is arena, so don't expect a story line, just pure pvp or pvc action deathmatches. It's worth check out like the Unreal Turnament.

But going back to Quake 1, I can't rate the Saturn version because I've never played it, but along with the others in this post replying, I've heard it's not a spectical. The N64 allows up to 4 player deathmatch and 10 maps (If I remember correctly). Theres a nice arsenal of weapons to choose from. Never playing the original PC version, I'm not sure if the single player is the same but regardless I found it quite fun and worth my time. The controls are just like in the 2nd so if you're use to those, you're good to go; If you're not they are easy to learn and simple to use. There's parts where it's dark as hell and guys pop out nowhere sooo, it's a better choice to play it late at night with no lights on.

But to make it simple, try it on the N64, I'm sure it'll be worth your wild.

[Pantechnicon]

This is good info for me too because although I've played through Quakes I and II on PC I've been planning on getting them for N64 so that I can have them in eternal cartridge forms.

...Plus in my limited experience the N64 controller is extrememy well-suited for FPS's. This is probably not a majority opinion but it works for me.

[cityside75]

I didn't vote because I haven't played the Saturn version, but this is one Saturn game that intrigues me. From what I'm gathering, Saturn Quake is fine playability-wise?

I'll third (or fourth) that Quake 2 PSX was really good, the graphics were reasonably accurate and the framerate was rock solid, even had 4-player split screen that was playable.

Did anyone else here try to play Quake on your underpowered PC's when it came out? I wanted this so bad, it seemed so revolutionary that I tried playing it on a 486dx-133 and it ran at about 4 FPS and I played it!

[The_4th_Survivor]

I'm going to have to vote for the Saturn version of "Quake".

I've owned and played the N64 version a long while ago, but decided to get rid of it through one of those 'trade in'
deals that EB games was doing a few years back.

Anyway, I feel that the Saturn version of Quake, although not as graphically sharp as the N64 version, has so much more to offer.

From the darker feel of the game (probably due to the lower color and polygon count) to the full fledged CD soundtrack by Trent Reznor (if you can call it a soundtrack as opposed to just ambient noise. ), a copy of Quake is also required if you want to play one of the greatest (IMHO) multi-player games ever: "Deathtank Zwei".




Of course, you'd need a copy of "Duke Nukem 3D" in order to play Deathtank Zwei, but you would need to at least have an old memory save for Quake in order to unlock it on the Duke Nukem 3D game disc.

[roushimsx]

Of course, you'd need a copy of "Duke Nukem 3D" in order to play Deathtank Zwei, but you would need to at least have an old memory save for Quake in order to unlock it on the Duke Nukem 3D game disc.

Nah, Quake just makes it easier to play it. If you go through Duke Nukem 3d and destroy all of the toilets then it unlocks as well

[Pantechnicon]

Did anyone else here try to play Quake on your underpowered PC's when it came out? I wanted this so bad, it seemed so revolutionary that I tried playing it on a 486dx-133 and it ran at about 4 FPS and I played it!

This was more or less my experience with Quake's predecessor, Doom. The short version of the story is that I wound up spneding $2000 to replace my 386SX-25 with a 486DX-33 in order to play a $6 shareware title. It's a vicious cycle, and became one of the main reasons why I gave up on PC gaming altogether.

[LinkNZ]

Quake 1 on the N64 was actually only 2 player split screen.

And IMO the N64 ver was vastly superior, no contest. The Saturn version was amazing from a technical standpoint (I remember Sega fans laughing cause their machine could do something PSX supposedly couldn't)..... but other than the fancy but sometimes out-of-place colored lights, the N64 version was much more enjoyable.

Great graphics, great framerate, faithful and definitely the best conversion. One of the first times I had seen 'loading' in a cart game before tho, although they called it 'building' when the level uncompressed or whatever it was doing and was only a few seconds.

[Jagasian]

In good conscience, I cannot vote for either.

I know you want to play a console version, but let me just say this. I have been playing Quake (the original one) since it was released in 1996. I still play Quake 1 deathmatch, regularly, online. So suffice it to say, I may know a thing or two about the game. The various console versions, aside from the unofficial Xbox port (you need a modded Xbox to play it), are so incredibly bad compared to the PC version, that I wouldn't even call them "Quake". They are something that tries to resemble Quake, at best. I can categorically say that you are utterly wasting your time playing the N64 or Saturn versions.

Not only that, but Quake is best played with a keyboard and mouse. In my highly educated opinion on the matter (i live and breath the game), you should play the PC version if you want to play Quake. One of the best versions for the PC is called ezQuake, which you can get here. Because Id Software open sourced the game, people have modernized the technology a bit, but you can still play the game in "faithful" mode... and the graphics will look just like the original Quake. Or if you want, you can play in "eye candy" mode, which modernizes the graphics, as you can see in the screenshots on the ezQuake page.

One other thing, and again, this is coming from somebody that lives and breaths Quake. The single player is not really worth playing. Quake is all about multiplayer, especially free for all deathmatch, 1 on 1 deathmatch, team play deathmatch, capture the flag, and team fortress. Single player is worth playing through once, but any more than that is just cutting into your time that you could spend playing Quake multiplayer

[roushimsx]

The single player is not really worth playing.

Lies, Episodes 1 and 3 will always be awesome.

What I really loved about the PC version were the single player mods that people put out. stuff like Starship, Zerstorer, Jawbreaker, Penumbra of Domination, Beyond Belief, Prodigy SE, and pretty much anything by Iikka Keranen.

Seal of Neharah was a nice effort by killed by really bad direction/camera work and voice work on the cinemas Some nice devilishly hard levels, though.

I haven't really been into Quake's multiplayer in a long time. I have fond memories of playing Rocket Arena, CTF, and Team Fortress all night long for months. Rremember when the keys WERE the flags? and you had to play on normal quake levels? That shit was FUN! E1M1 and DM3 were hella fun CTF levels. Rocket Arena got too damn many maps.. I was happy with the initial batch that came out and the occansional test map that'd cycle on the servers, but the stock maps were just fine.

But yea, single player was where it was at, man. Ever play Runner's Delight? Fucking GOLD! Mission Packs 1 and 2 were the heat, too.

mmm...memories. I may have to fire up Mission Pack 2 this weekend for the first time in forever.

[Jagasian]

What I really loved about the PC version were the single player mods that people put out. stuff like Starship, Zerstorer, Jawbreaker, Penumbra of Domination, Beyond Belief, Prodigy SE, and pretty much anything by Iikka Keranen.

If by single player you don't just mean the single player that came with Quake (which is what the console versions have, right?), then I agree with you. There are mods, expansion packs, and mission packs that are truely awesome. Zerstorer will always be a favorite of mine I still need to play Seal of Nahara... yeah, yeah, I know, what am I waiting for

[roushimsx]

I still need to play Seal of Nahara... yeah, yeah, I know, what am I waiting for

The 4 hour cinematic or whatever it was that tells the story before you play the first level is fucking PAINFUL. It's broken up in chapters and whatnot, which is nice, but man... oh...oh you'll see...

Zerstorer was so. damn. good. I remember when the teaser of it came out and made me fill my drawers. Awesome stuff.

[petewhitley]

...Plus in my limited experience the N64 controller is extrememy well-suited for FPS's. This is probably not a majority opinion but it works for me.

I agree. I've enjoyed most FPS games on the N64 because of that controller. I think the "Turok" setup is the best; arrows for foward/backward and strafe, stick for aiming. Might not be the most accurate movement, but it feels right.

[MegaDrive20XX]

Saturn verison is nice, but N64's controls are perfect for FPS, plus you get deathmatch mode!