ULTIMATE GUIDE: TURRICAN II: THE FINAL FIGHT
CONVERSION CAPERS
ATARI ST 1991 Q With fewer colours, a smaller viewing
Most conversions of Turrican II were well-received by the gaming press, but which ones are best to play today?
area and poorer sound, the ST version of Turrican II is less impressive than the Amiga version. That’s not to say that it’s bad – it still ranks very well as an Atari ST game.
GAME BOY 1992 ZX SPECTRUM 1991
Q It’s like the Mega Drive
Q While it was well-received by the press, we’d rate this as one of the least enjoyable versions of Turrican II. The visuals pack in plenty of colour, which is nice to see, but the movement is stiff and the scrolling is jerky.
game, but in monochrome and with fewer sprites. This means no shoot-’em-up stages and poor Universal Soldierthemed replacements. It’s not bad, but you’ll want to play it on one of the later models to mitigate motion blur.
MEGA DRIVE 1992
AMSTRAD CPC 1991
Q Technically this is a good conversion, but it’s
Q It doesn’t move as smoothly as the
marred by the need to shoehorn a licence into the game. It looks good and sounds fine, but the loss of the shoot-’em-up levels is a downer and the replacement platform levels are quite weak.
C64 game, but the Amstrad version is built to the machine’s strengths and features the chunky, colourful visuals the machine is remembered for.
AMIGA 1991 Q Amusingly, Rainbow Arts’ conversion of
Turrican II was finished before the original. It’s an excellent rendition of the game with detailed visuals and some altered gameplay elements, such as the design of the first boss and the final level.
CDTV 1991 Q This is the same game as the Amiga
version, with no extras at all – a shame, given how good a CD soundtrack could be. Despite this, it’s a much sought-after item and has become expensive as a result.
PC 1995 Q This DOS version appeared much later than
the other versions of the game, and features the best presentation as a result – the Amiga music has been reused and the graphics have been completely redrawn. It’s pretty easy to get hold of still, as it was given away as a cover CD on various magazines.
RETRO GAMER | 47