Any comparison screenshots?

Actually PSX version doesn't have hot air effects on lava levels so they are also 256x192

What about in Mednafen?

Should be interesting to see in action, I've always heard that the PS1 version had a higher color depth but it's quite hard to tell in stills 🙁.

look at:
- whole left part of the waterfall under the bridge
- wall of the destroyed building
- grass over the boy's head

Nice observational skills, these all do tend to showcase the dithered PC palette. However, it seems like the PC version features somewhat higher quality backgrounds? For example, the destroyed hut beneath Andy seems far more compressed in the PS1 version. Could this just be ePSXe messing with the output?

Just zoom both pictures in separate tabs (turn off filtering) and ctrl-tab between them.
You will notice the difference almost everywhere.

Mednafen

Thanks for this comparison. So you would say that the colors and certainly having a good gamepad make the PSX the best version?

holaplaneta wrote on 2020-04-28, 01:02:

Thanks for this comparison. So you would say that the colors and certainly having a good gamepad make the PSX the best version?

At this point it is probably worth considering HODE, the engine rewrite.
http://cyxdown.free.fr/hode/

Well the PS1 version sure has more colors, but some parts of the picture look a bit like a compressed jpeg. This is my personal opinion, but not everything looks better imo. It depends what I look at. The water is better, but the picture overall looks "compressed" to me.

The PS1 version seems a tiny bit darker? I wonder why, it seems pretty random

Thanks to the open source nature of the HODE engine, this game has been fan ported to the original XBox*. You can read about it here:

https://www.emuxtras.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=183&t=6935

* Your XBox has to be modded (i.e. able to run unofficial software, using either a hard mod or a soft mod) to run this, of course.

As the user above already mentioned the PS1 version look like it has compression artifacts. It is not a problem with the screenshot, I just checked.

What a shame that this game runs on such small resolution on PC. Captain Claw released in 1997 and ran at 640x480.
All those 3D models and scenes just rotting somewhere on old hard disk and probably lost forever. They could have used it for a remaster. Only 2D sprites would have to be remade.

antrad wrote on 2021-04-10, 21:57:

As the user above already mentioned the PS1 version look like it has compression artifacts. It is not a problem with the screenshot, I just checked.

What a shame that this game runs on such small resolution on PC. Captain Claw released in 1997 and ran at 640x480.
All those 3D models and scenes just rotting somewhere on old hard disk and probably lost forever. They could have used it for a remaster. Only 2D sprites would have to be remade.

A 640x480 version was planned but has been canned probably because of the delay.

https://archive.org/details/secretservicemaga … age/n9/mode/2up
notice weapon strap on picture nr 5 and 6

640x480 would require a dvd
game was released in 1998
ps2 (with a dvd) was released in 2000
standalone dvd price was the same as ps2 😉

robertmo wrote on 2021-04-11, 19:20:

640x480 would require a dvd game was released in 1998 ps2 (with a dvd) was released in 2000 standalone dvd price was the same as […]
Show full quote

640x480 would require a dvd
game was released in 1998
ps2 (with a dvd) was released in 2000
standalone dvd price was the same as ps2 😉

640x480 version was only for pc not PS. Dvd is not neceesary for a 640x480 game.

Ah, yes, The Heart of Darkness.. I rember that one!

(That awesome game which's development took so long, that people were afraid it wouldn't make it to release.)

About 20 years ago, there was a little drama because of it, if memory serves.

From what I remember, in Germany, people were upset because a major cornflakes company
did include this game and other titles on little CD-ROMs as gimmicks (gifts).

You know, these kind of gimmicks/extras that are hidden surprises in the box..

Well, the issue was not the gift as such,
in some EU countries they're fine still (but are forbidden in the US?),
but the fact that these were "demo" versions only (trial?)..

The spokesman of the company then felt forced to make a statement.
I *think* it did go like this:
"You didn't seriously expect to get a full version for this price, didn't you?"
😂

Edit: Typos fixed.