Okay an old-timer retro question.

Can anyone remember the difference between the original alien breed and the special edition? I've only ever played the special edition on the Amiga (those were the days) so just wondering what this version will be missing.

As a complete coincidence - from the sequels I picked up alien breed 2, but not tower assualt. More interested in the original though as it had more of a limited ammo survival feel so you had to explore every bit of the map, whereas I felt the follow up was more about waves of enemies - so in some way it was more a matter of getting off the level as quickly as possible

Well, it's not I like remember this exactly, but the GoG version doesn't seem to have Pong on Intex terminals.

Also, I just got to level 6 in GoG's version and it's completely different from the one described here: http://forum.speeddemosarchive.com/post/alien_breed_special_edition_1992.html

and it would seem that this level from the GoG version is nowhere to be found in the Special Edition, if you believe that link!

from what ive found out this is the standard edition the Special Edition 92 release for budget software houses was for Amiga only PC unfortunately got a port of standard Alien Breed in 93

I should have read this thread before buying. I totally forgot about the Special Edition, which felt like a completely reworked game. In the Special Ed, the pacing is very different -- you don't even see an alien until the end of the first level. It felt more like "Aliens," where things start out quiet and creepy, you gradually discover what happened to the ship, and then the aliens kick up their assault.

Back again - hadn't realised that the PC never got the special edition. I therefore started snooping around some old amiga sites.

Amiga Magazine Rack (excellent site for a bit of nostalgia) had a few reviews for special edition. Seems it had double the levels of the original and reworked the maps a little. Other than that ramped up the difficulty for the guardians (which I found the only way to kill them in special edition was just to have bought loads of lives and out last them!) and ironed out some bugs.

All in all, I'll still buy, but then end up digging out my emulator files or buying the new amiga forever to go through the special edition again. - oh the hardship :)

I actually fired up the Spec Edition on my Amiga emulator, if anything the Aliens are more aggressive on the first level and from what I've read the game is longer, so it's basically the same game but with added difficulty maybe?

From a convenience and playability standpoint the GOG version here is well worth the what, $3 you pay? If you're handy with an Amiga emulator and know where to get the disk images you can go that route, but so far I've been happy with the GOG version. And from what I've read the Tower Assault port is very faithful to the Amiga version. And if you want balls out difficulty that's the version to play anyways.

The main advantage to me the Amiga versions have is the sound is better, Commodore was the king of sound back in the day. But that's minor, minor nitpicky stuff.

Well, each one has his own priorities, but for me this is hardly minor nitpicky stuff. I've just checked videos to see what the sound quality is in the PC version, and there's a really giant gap with the Amiga. Because of that, Alien Breed is one more GOG game I put in the category "no buy until Amiga version". Which is sad considering Team17 was most of all an Amiga game dev company back then.

Cinemaware has recently showed that it was possible to give us Amiga versions here on GOG (with some emulation problems though), too bad that it still doesn't seem like a priority.

(And yeah, digging up old threads...)

I've played through both versions in my time.

As far as I remember, these are the differences:

1. Original Alien Breed had 6 levels, the Special Edition many more (perhaps 12?).

2. In Special Edition, there were sewers on the maps which made your life dangeropus because in you fell into one you couldn't get out easily.

3. The Special Edition lacked an intro and an outro. It was quite annoying, after I've completed the game, I only got a message saying "So you expected an outro? Hey, but it's only a budget game! If you want a stellar intro and outro, wait for Alien Breed 2!" (I'm not kidding.)

4. In the original Alien Breed, the map is the cheapest thing in the shop, in Special Breed, it's very expensive.

This is wrong. Look up "Alien Breed Special Edition" on YouTube. There are lots of aliens on the first level (and that's DEFINITELY the first level because you start next to your ship). The entire game plays like a classier more stylish version of Gauntlet.

S.x. I remember the end of Alien Breed.

You're right.

S.x. SPOILER follows....

Nah, all the bosses are vulnerable to the same tactic. They can't get you in the corner of the room. As they come down the screen retreat to the corner and wait for them to go up the screen before firing.

S.x.