Amiga 500 - This is the original, base version of James Pond 2 that all other versions were built from. The actual graphics detail is not particularly high though is certainly functional, though with this game the emphasis in the graphics is more on the colourful and impressive effects laden backgrounds than detail. Some of the nice effects apparent throughout the game worth mentioning are the general backgrounds which take advantage of the Amiga's Copper chip to create impressive transitions through the colour spectrum from one horizontal scanline to another (this effect is very apparent in the 1st screen shot along), snow effects (which change direction blowing in the wind) transparencies, little animations and big fast scrolling backdrops.

Amiga 1200 - This version has all the detail and effects of the original with some new "pulsating" effects added to certain levels (these backgrounds were originally unique to the bonus stages).

Mega Drive - The Mega Drive version is unfortunately missing many of the originals' animated backgrounds and copper effects. The big scrolling backdrops (such as the one for the train level) have been downgraded now only scrolling in one direction (and others not at all), it's snow effects are more basic (snow doesn't change direction), and all the transparencies are now also gone. Most of the backgrounds are completely different, going more for an offbeat look, and as such some are more detailed than the Amiga versions and others less.

SNES - The SNES version seems to me to be very similar to the Mega Drive version in graphics with the notable exception that it's backgrounds are in full colour and that it's snow effects are much better, it also attempts to include the moving-through-the-colour-spectrum backgrounds from the original though it must be said that the SNES' attempt is much, much cruder looking. The transparencies and scrolling backdrops are for the most part also downgraded, though a handfull of the ones missing from the Mega Drive version are still here, albeit still in a cut down form.

Atari ST - The base foreground detail here is very similar to all other versions though unfortunately there's pretty much zero background detail or effects going on in this version.

Amiga 500 - James Pond II is an extremely colourful game, in fact, I would say that generally the whole aim of the graphics style from the get go was to use the Amiga's Copper chip to it's fullest. Restraint is certainly not a word you would associate with this games colour use.

Amiga 1200 - The 1200 versions take the colourful graphics of the original and goes one higher taking the whole thing to 11 as it were, many of the backgrounds and colours used are much more vibrant and beautiful to look at.

Mega Drive - The Mega Drive version of James Pond is definitely the most conservative with it's use of colour, gone are the over the top backgrounds more in favour of browns or simple blackness. Some of the colours used for some sections are quite ill fitting and can appear garish at times. After prolonged play of this version I feel that its colour use is by far the weakest of the versions, and definitely has a detrimental affect on the overall graphics.

SNES - This version uses a lot of colour but not anywhere near as much as the Amiga versions, and as mentioned earlier it also has it's own crude looking copper style effect.

Atari ST - Pretty good colour which is actually probably the closest to the original Amiga versions in its use.

Amiga 500, Amiga 1200, Mega Drive, SNES - All these versions have very comparably high levels of animation, any differences between them is so slight that it is negligible.

Atari ST - It's quite noticeable that the Atari ST version has fewer frames of animation and looks much cruder in motion because of it.

Amiga 500, Amiga 1200 - Very good scrolling for the main levels. Extremely impressive multi-directional scrolling for the train and bonus levels.

Mega Drive - Pretty much perfect scrolling for the main levels, though as mentioned earlier the scrolling is downgraded or missing for the more impressively scrolling sections.

SNES - Very good scrolling. Where it comes to the big backdrops its similar to the Mega Drive but with a few less cuts (some of the bonus levels which no longer scrolled on Mega Drive still scroll here).

Atari ST - Much cruder than in every other version, it moves in a noticeable step and does not look that smooth.

Amiga 500, Amiga 1200 - The music to James Pond sets the atmosphere pretty well and is of pretty high quality, unfortunately the actual tunes used do tend to grate over extended periods of time. The two Amiga versions seem to have pretty much identical music.

Mega Drive - The music is of a lower quality than the Amiga versions and unfortunately manages to grate a bit more.

SNES - Pretty impressive music quality, much more xylophone sounding. Personally I'd say the SNES music wins by a small margin, it sounds differently to the other versions and is a little less annoying over extended times in my opinion.

Atari ST - Music is alright, it is a little lower quality than all the other versions though.

Amiga 500, Amiga 1200 - Pretty good Sound Effects, they're nothing special really but are quite functional, the only thing I would say is that explosion effects sound a bit on the wimpy side.

Mega Drive - Sound effects are generally of a lower quality than the Amiga versions, in some instances they have been changed for the better such as with explosions which I feel have a much better sound to them but some other sounds have been changed for the worse.

SNES - Very similar to the original Amiga version, maybe slightly higher quality but nothing too noticeable to be honest.

Atari ST - Sound effects are completely absent from this version.

Amiga, Mega Drive - Robocod is basically a platform game which plays like an amalgamation of Mario style hop n' bop game play, with The Newzealand Story's exploration based game play and huge labyrinthine levels (The Newzealand Story was a Japanese arcade game made by Taito which inexplicably became extremely popular and influential in the UK whilst fading into relative obscurity in most other places). Added to the aforementioned qualitites is James Pond's unique ability to stretch an unlimited amount vertically and cling to the ceiling, allowing the player to search for secrets and items. Overall its the sort of game designed for those who like to take their time and fully look around. Game Play wise the Mega Drive version is pretty much a very accurate recreation.

Amiga 1200 - The same as the above, except now with some new extra levels added in. The new levels are all fairly good and fit in well.

SNES - Still plays pretty well but much more slowdown is noticeable, in fact some levels (such as those under water and those with a big emphasis on flying) are constantly plagued with fairly serious slowdown issues. Some other points include the strange fact that all the upside down stages have now been flipped to the right way up (which makes those stages appear noticibly basic, empty, and short now) and the massive score board which unfortunately obscures the screen and can lead to taking cheap hits.

Atari ST - Due to the lower frame rate and slowdown the Atari ST plays noticeably worse than the other versions, it's still not a bad game by any means but whilst playing the controls feel a lot less responsive and the slowdown frequently causes you to misjudge jumps.

Amiga 500, 1200 - Great levels of presentation with loads of humour, a nice intro and great game over screen.

Mega Drive - very similar to the Amiga versions but has some slightly lower quality writing artwork in some places.

SNES - Missing a lot of the presentation from the other versions though does have nice end of level effects added in.

Atari ST - Pretty much has all the presentation of the Amiga version, though there is a noticeable chug in some places

The Amiga versions, like most Amiga games do not run full screen but in a bordered window, which does slightly count against them.

Controls between the versions differ, in the Mega Drive and SNES versions jump has it's own specific button whereas the computer versions have you pushing up to jump, the game was designed with the up method in mind and so both ways are acceptable ways to control.

There seems to have been only one release of each port of the game made for both America and Europe with no attempt at region optimization, the game was designed for the PAL standard European machines, so it seems that the game will always run too fast on US systems, the extra speed boost on US machines doesn't seem to hurt game play at all but does help to make the music of the Mega Drive version sound even more annoying than usual.

The Computer versions all have load times, which are pretty non-intrusive in their length.

The console versions of Robocod don't stand up very well to the Amiga originals unfortunately, much of the colour and energy of the original has been drained out due to the loss of the moving backgrounds and copper effect transitions. I think that just too much of the game was specifically designed to fit around the Amiga hardware and use its features to their fullest for the game to be ported accurately to the other 16-bits. Out of these console versions its difficult to find a winner, on one hand the SNES version at least retains some colour, but lamentably its game play suffers to constant slowdown, and some of the stages (the upside down ones) have been compromised. For this reason I feel that I'm going to have to go with the more conservative Mega Drive version as the best console port.

Out of the two Amiga versions the Amiga 1200 is by far and away the best version, the 1200 version has everything the the original had and much more, it's new backgrounds are all fantastic and on top of this it also has a whole bunch of extra levels added to explore.