Simon the Sorcerer parts 1 and 2 constitute a treasured double act amongst fans of traditional point and click adventure games. 'Upgrading' to the 3D realm for the long-awaited third entry in the series wasn't met with quite the same degree of approval. It was tantamount to wringing the neck of Adventure Soft's prized golden goose and flushing it down the toilet. Then events really took a turn...
Tuesday, 24 November 2020
Friday, 6 November 2020
Why there's a stampeding rhino enemy in Ocean's Hudson Hawk Amiga/Atari ST platform game
Undoubtedly one of life's great unresolved mysteries... until now!Stompy is present in the two 16-bit games, yet none of the five 8-bit interpretations for the home micros/consoles. FYI precisely zero rhinos feature in the 1991 movie starring Bruce Willis, Danny Aiello and Andie MacDowell. Gosh! How intriguing! Almost makes you want to delve into the article or watch the YouTube video version...
Monday, 12 October 2020
Games for girls
Traditionally, video gaming was a hobby principally participated in by young
boys, which from the viewpoint of capitalist-oriented publishers, left a
vast portion of the potential market untapped. In 1984, Case Computer
Simulations sought to remedy this by releasing a series of games aimed
specifically at girls. To eliminate any shred of doubt, they coined it
'Games for Girls',...
Teen reacts to the Amiga 500
I'm not quite sure how old he is actually. He looks like he's
in his late teens - certainly too young to have experienced the Amiga when
it was current anyway, and that's the point.
The title of Ryan Smith's YouTube, hardware tear-down video, 'Why not to
buy an Amiga in...
Sunday, 11 October 2020
Kid Reacts to Speedball II for the Amiga
Not an official 'Kids React' video, though probably the closest thing
we're likely to see. 14-year-old Brae joins his uncle (at gunpoint by the
looks of it) for a violent
bout of futuristic, cyberpunk sports-brawling. Thumb-screws firmly
in place and tightened, he even...
Meet the official Turrican II joystick
Don't be surprised if you've never seen
one of these before in the wild; they are extremely rare. Not eBay
l@@k l@@k super-mega rare, I mean really-properly rare. They were bundled
with copies of Turrican II for the Amiga and Commodore 64, only ever sold
in Germany from what I can gather. "Double fun" guaranteed!
Regrettably, the joystick itself isn't actually an...
When Halloween's over, true horror begins...
Oh wait, no need to. Wait that ...
HUDson Baulk
Writing my bottom 10 list of games featuring criminally gargantuan HUDs,
I Googled the heck out of the topic and found naff all. My problem was not
knowing the keywords people might use to describe all those ridiculous,
screen real estate hijacking gizmos and wotsits. Had I guessed that
'status panels' might be among them, I would have stumbled across this
post...
Block rockin' beats
Copywriters and marketing gurus are hired because they know precisely how
to deliver that killer, witty one-line zinger. The kind that grab you by
the jugular, mercilessly manipulating you into parting with your
hard-earned cash or signing your life away.
So what went wrong here? (see C&VG
issue 152, July 1994, page 63)
You beat your
brother.
...
1080p composite images of entire Amiga game levels
Over at Deviant Art TheGouldFish
has been busily creating stunning HD maps of some of the most popular
Amiga game classics.
They're constructed by snagging the backdrops using the map ripping tool,
Maptapper, and stitching them together with multiple in-game screenshots
of the enemies and animated segments to populate the landscapes.
Wow, what an arduous task that...
Tuesday, 6 October 2020
Is game sales chart data worthless?
Having compiled a multi-format game sales chart database comprising over
10,000 entries I couldn't help noticing a few anomalies. For instance,
games appearing in the top-selling lists that were never actually finished
or published for the designated system. Judging by the reader's letter and
editor's response below as printed in Zero magazine in the '90s, the
reason...
Don't read this
Something that's always baffled me is why people deliberately seek out
movie, game or whatever spoilers and then blame the person responsible for
the inevitable spoiling having revealed key details of the plot or solution.
An all too common occurrence sadly, yet the letter below written to Zero
magazine is in another league. I've never known someone to completely wash
their...
I'm afraid of no toast
If you don't currently suffer from any irrational fears, you may well develop some new entirely logical ones after playing Tony Crowther's Phobia, a uniquely stylised, claustrophobic headmasher of a shmup that will pilfer your precious sleep and haunt your waking dreams. Psychotherapy not included!download ebook in epub for...
Monday, 5 October 2020
Every Slimer has his day
Of course you've always wanted to be a vile, mucous-dribbling slug entrusted with rearing a brood of mini-mes. Crawl the walls, trap grubs in bubbles and feed them to your clan to keep them nourished, exuding a basking glow of green-blooded vitality. You win, you've got the job, congratulations. I've already switched your name to Steg the Slug and informed the social security office.download ebook...
There's no going back
If you're a firm believer in the old axiom of pooch as man's best friend and all copies of Sleepwalker, Fire and Ice and Scooby and Scrappy-Doo are completely sold out with no hope of a second dispatch, Doofus may well be the Amiga platform game for you. Protagonist Tim's pet - the eponymous Doofus - is utterly useless and the game, in general, doesn't fare much better. It's bland, uneventful,...
Sunday, 4 October 2020
Transformers - Amiga games in disguise
Meet Thexder, a jet-fighter-mecha-morphing robot from the land of the rising sun, available for every known platform under it. It's one of the earliest run 'n' gun platformers, hence the primitive graphics and sound. Look beyond this and a deviously clever, rapid-fire action experience awaits. One that inspired many better-known, much-revered examples from the genre such as Turrican, Metal...
Saturday, 3 October 2020
Remember the time when Saddam Hussein wrote in to Amiga Action magazine seeking flight sim advice?
Madman
I am having some trouble with the
68000-based F-18A laser targeting and bomb guidance system currently
being used in the Persian Gulf. As I know you are all incredibly
computer-knowledgeable on Amiga Action, I have decided to write to you
for help. Peace.
S. Hussein, Baghdad
What you need to do is gain control...
PD: public domain or pure drivel?
Back in the '90s we had legitimately free software as we do now, only it
was known as 'public domain' because the authors permitted modification
and distribution of their work as long as it was carried out on a
not-for-profit basis. As there was a tendency for PD software to emerge
from the brains and bedrooms of single, amateur coders, diplomatically
speaking, it was...
Friday, 2 October 2020
Walking alone? Never!
I can't decide if G Bucknell should be awarded the Amiga Action
letter-writing Muppet of the year award, or if he/she had ingeniously
managed to hudwink the recipient into believing they're completely
backwards just for a lark. Either way, I had to share this tasty morsel of
nostalgic nonsense from the long lost world of dead tree publishing.
Liver-fool
I am writing...
Big Bang games development
Reading through the letters pages of C&VG I stumbled across an
interesting perspective on the development of video games as expounded by
an unashamed pirate attempting to justify the money-saving rouse.
Thomas compares the cost of a pirated disk to that of a legitimate retail
package and questions why the gap should be so wide given that the only
difference is a...
The all-time greatest Amiga Power reader's letters ever!
My friends agree with me
Dear AP
I have been
reading your magazines since they first came out. But I would like to
share a few ideas. I have noticed in some other magazines they have had
a page with drawings of say Soinc (sic) punching Mairo (sic) in the
face. I find this quite funny and good fun to read and my friends agree
with me so...
Thursday, 1 October 2020
The collected works of moi
For reasons that now escape me, I once believed it would be a sensible idea to create humongous PDF compilations of all my articles, complete with 637 gazillion pictures. The largest of these megabooks filled several thousand pages, occupying well over a gigabyte of data. Problem is, they were totally layout-locked rather than reflowable as is the modern way, so absolutely painful to read on...
Remember when reading magazines made time-travellers of us all?
Why were Amiga magazine publishers (and magazine publishers in general) incapable of printing the current/correct publication date on their issues? I explore the contentious controversy with a bit of help from a bemused former Amiga Action reader.download ebook in epub for...
Wednesday, 30 September 2020
Kid Gloves killed the video game star?
Had gaming magazines throughout the nineties continued to publish full commercial software releases via their covermounted floppy disks, would the phenomenon have had a detrimental impact on the industry? I join Amiga Power and ELSPA spokesman, Roger Bennett, in deliberating over the pros and cons of the notoriously polemic argument.download ebook in epub for...
Tuesday, 29 September 2020
CarVup? What's the connection?
Exploring the origins of CarVup's mysterious title. Core Design's cutesy vehicular-based platformer published for the Atari ST and Amiga in 1990, that is. What do you mean you don't care? You're the reason this remains an X-File... of sorts.download ebook in epub for...
Thursday, 17 September 2020
Public domain palaver
I take a brief squint at the public domain scene, pondering the perceived threat posed by magazine coverdisks and how the mail-order distribution libraries made a living from such meagre margins.download ebook in epub for...
Saturday, 12 September 2020
Why did Bananaman never star in his own video game?
I examine the mysterious case of Bananaman's video-gaming no-show, along the way consulting insiders who we would expect to have more than an inkling into the matter. Will studying the character's development and legacy offer any further clues? Finally, I postulate what a potential, licensed tie-in Bananaman game might entail. Would it fly with DC Thomson or is it just yellow, moon-shaped fruit?download...
Quiet computing, a reality?
As computer technology forges ahead in proficiency, one casualty could well be your peace of mind. Pacier components require more robust cooling techniques and this can lead to a surge in noise nuisance. Not that it's inevitable mind you; choose the right kit to begin with/replace the worst noise pollution offenders in your system, then acquaint it with the right temperature management software and...
Friday, 11 September 2020
Backing up your Windows system - a (Norton) Ghost story
How would you like to be able to experiment with/completely destroy your Windows system with carefree abandon, safe in the knowledge that it can be effortless restored to its former pristine glory in a matter of minutes should disaster strike? Allow me to explain the hard drive partition imaging/restoration process... with a bit of help from Patrick, Demi and Whoopi.download ebook in epub for...
Thursday, 10 September 2020
Forum construction by numbers
If you've ever wondered how to install and administrate your own community web forum/bulletin board, this is the how-to guide for you. It covers the advantages and drawbacks of the various DIY and managed solutions available, how much they cost, where to host them, and how to perform essential maintenance tasks such as exporting backups.download ebook in epub for...
Wednesday, 9 September 2020
A pre-Windows 7 guide to running classic DOS games on 'modern' hardware
This guide was originally written in 2005 so it's almost a retro 'how to' emulate retro games article. All jolly meta!It covers the basic tenets of coercing ancient DOS games into cooperating with what were then contemporary operating systems. Typical problems you may encounter, potential solutions, plus software recommendations are all touched upon.download ebook in epub for...
Tuesday, 8 September 2020
A website design primer
Everything you need to know to get started in the world of web design and site management, covering all the subjects you might have spotted in the list of keywords.download ebook in epub for...
Friday, 4 September 2020
The demoscene; a forgotten art form?
Definition, origins, legacy. I apply the 101 treatment to the computational craft instigated by inspirational Commodore 64 adopters way back in the mists of time and primitive circuitry.download ebook in epub for...
Thursday, 3 September 2020
The newbie's guide to emulating the classic Amiga
I explore the trials and tribulations of running Amiga games on modern hardware via the two most popular emulators for Commodore’s 16 and 32-bit systems; FS-UAE and WinUAE. I cover how to implement the Kickstart firmware, where to find ROMs and games, and the way in which the various models should be configured for optimal success.
Bookending my tutorial is the story of how I came to own my first...
Monday, 31 August 2020
Meet the JoystickMaster
I quiz Richard Sekula, former sales manager at Spectravideo, concerning his involvement in devising the monumental golden GamesMaster joystick. An iconic trophy that would be used to reward celebrity (and lowly commoner) contestants for winning challenges throughout seven series of the massively popular Channel 4 TV show back in the '90s.
download ebook in epub for...
Sunday, 30 August 2020
GamesMaster, all of it, quite literally
From Butlins redcoat to island castaway, I chart the rise and demise of TVs' most successful video gaming entertainment show ever produced. Dominic Diamond's notoriously risque quips and dour delivery as memorable as the celebrity challenges, GamesMaster has gone down in history as an inexplicable anomaly never to be repeated.
Seven whole series worth of reviews, contests, golden joysticks, editorial...
Saturday, 29 August 2020
Under the influence
Bad Influence was the family-friendly, less-edgy, often educational alternative to GamesMaster, running parallel with Dominik's show between 1992 and 1996 on CITV. Hosted by Violet Berlin and Andy Crane, it covered similar gaming ground, though also expanded its scope to embrace general technological developments with a focus on how they were being used creatively at the time and would be in...
Sunday, 23 August 2020
Oceans apart
Living in Manchester I pass by the former headquarters of Ocean Software all the time. An unforgivable missed opportunity then not to drop into the Quaker friends' meeting house for an impromptu unguided tour and photo-snooping session.Walking amongst the dead, risking life, limb and incarceration, I tread the illustrious path of the game-developing superstar-heroes who gifted us so many unforgettable...
Friday, 21 August 2020
The Retrogaming Sales Chart Database is ready to rumble!
When I wasn't looking, my Amiga Game Sales Chart Database contracted The Virus and evolved. Meet the Retrogaming Sales Chart Database! Or RGSCDB for those of you who appreciate snazzy, unmemorable acronyms! As I imagine you've already gathered, it now features sales ranking data from multiple old-school computer and console systems rather than just the Amiga. These include, in alphabetical order,...
Friday, 7 August 2020
Kid Gloves as the progenitor of Angry Video Game Nerds
Whilst irate NES gamers tore their hair out in frustration attempting to beat the insanely difficult Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Battletoads, we Amiga and Atari ST computer users wrangled with the deceptively jolly, cutesy-bouncy platformer, Kid Gloves. Featuring music bearing deeper-rooted resilience than an earworm wearing climbing crampons, and a death animation you'll love then loath after...
Thursday, 6 August 2020
Amiga spotting with The IT Crowd
Given the regular appearance of vintage computer hardware in the nerdy tech support-oriented TV sitcom, The IT Crowd, surely the mighty, historically significant Commodore Amiga must at some point also have been treated to a cameo role? Jason Fitzpatrick, curator of the Centre for Computing History in Cambridge, was responsible for decorating the basement set seen on screen, so he'd certainly be able...
And now for something completely different
I trace the lesser-known musical history of former Commodore UK managing director, David Pleasance, discovering that a flair for symphonic crafts runs in his family.
download ebook in epub for...
And sometimes when we touch...
Gaming history is littered with the broken corpses of failed console/computer joysticks, joypads and other obscure peripherals. Triax's Turbo Touch 360 is a prime example. What seemed like an ingenious 'why has this never been tried before now?' concept, in retrospect, was a bungled misstep. Even now we're all using touchscreen smartphones and other digital devices, apparently, we prefer something...
The top 76 most expensive Amiga games sold on eBay
I scour millions of eBay listings to establish which Amiga games have the potential to bankrupt collectors.
download ebook in epub for...
Feel the rhythm! Feel the rhyme! Get on up, its bobsled time!
I stumble across one of Clive Sinclair's notoriously ostracised C5 bike-go-kart crossbreed velomobiles at Flambards theme park in Helston, Cornwall, triggering a retrospective scrutiny of Clive's failed fling with the electric vehicle market.
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The lost art of the Amiga shovel-em-up
I interrogate the Amiga's gaming back-catalogue to discover why it endured so many lazy, slapdash arcade coin-op ports that weren't worth the floppy disks they were delivered upon.
download ebook in epub for...
Xeroxmorphs in Dittoland - for God and Country
Doody is the original, single-screen, two-player Mario Bros game for the Amiga, only featuring non-copyright infringing graphics and for gratis. Don't tell Nintendo!
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We can't build our dreams, on suspicious minds
Amiga Rod-land-esque platformer, Trap 'Em, could more accurately be anointed 'Trap 'Em Then Obliterate The Alien Critters With Your Laser Gun', for that is the mechanism by which our squidgy foes can be expected to expire. Except that's not quite so catchy, is it? Plus, any airborne baddies can be blasted outright minus the inconvenience of prior trapage. As an appetite-whetting synopsis, I suspect...
Commodore had a video game burial ground too
Sometimes situations transpire that result in games publishers being left lumbered with many thousands of unsaleable copies of an ill-fated title. Occasionally the rumours that surplus stock is dealt with by donning a hard hat and visiting a landfill dump riding in a JCB are absolutely true!
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Achy breaky Menace
I scrutinise Guru Larry Jnr's allegation that the licensed Amiga platform game, Dennis the Menace, was deliberately rendered unbeatable to cover-up the fact (?) that it was released unfinished. In a separate article found elsewhere on my blog, you'll find an interview I conducted with the game's coder, former Ocean Software developer Ben Walshaw, to establish if there is any truth to the rumour.
download...
Hazy Game Reviews
Because System 3's Putty wasn't nearly Silly enough, Pink Pig Software took the stretchy ball of protagonist gloop, multiplied it by three and transformed the scenario into a single-screen arena duelling affair. 'Blob Kombat' was what transpired; a charmingly animated, three-player, AGA-powered shareware title entirely deserving of the moderate fee charged.
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Eggclusive news - Could Alfred be your next local MP. Don't count your chickens!
With platform games ten-a-penny on the Amiga, Mindscape were forced to think outside the coop when promoting the release of Alfred Chicken.
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Don't copy that floppy! ...steal it instead
The not-so-well hidden secret of Top Secret is that it's a shameless Rod-land rip-off, minus some of the core elements that make it so satisfying to play; spontaneous ladder generation and the fairies' comically unconventional means of attack. Is whatever remains worthy of your attention? Is Top Secret "probably the best PD game ever" as Amiga Power magazine optimistically suggested? Albeit on the...
Warlocks. No, it's all true!
Benny Hill wasn't especially known for his affiliation with video games, yet here is gurning his way onto your ZX Spectrum's telebox screen doing what he does best; being chased by anyone and eventually everyone (unfortunately minus his borrowed signature theme tune). It would seem that all his lascivious leering has finally driven Benny to change his ways, turning him to the light side of community-minded...
Om nom nom nom
'Cookie' is the ultimate cake-baking simulator you can feed to your sweet-toothed ZX Spectrum or Amiga. You'd hope so as it was made by Ultimate Play the Game, thus establishing high expectations. Charlie the Chef's sole objective is to corral the sentient, unruly ingredients required for his recipe, steering them from the larder into a giant mixing bowl using well-time flour bag projectiles without...
House of Christmas Cards
Robotron is all fine and dandy, but where's King Rudolph the Santa Emperor with his sack of yuletide remixed trinkets? And what about his unruly, sentient deck of cards? And surely 2084 should have had a duel energy bar health system implemented by then? Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar, to Robotron's detriment, didn't consider any of these critical conundrums, so it's fortuitous that Stavros Fasoulas...
Wednesday, 5 August 2020
Guns don't kill kids, Amigas do
If you've ever played Operation Wolf and wished you could swap the ice-cold-hearted, battle-hardened enemy soldiers for innocent school kids, earning points for assassinating them with a sniper rifle, just out of sporting curiosity, Schoolyard Slaughter is no doubt the game for you! Appropriately enough it was devised by the likely non-existent, anonymous developers, Sickworld Software, and kicked...
Your country needs you! Join the quest to preserve extreme violence for the masses!
Proving that pretty graphics alone a good game do not make, top-down, two-player arena combat extravaganza, Extreme Violence, is infinitely unputdownable. It's even been known to spark real-world violence of an extreme nature. Just ask my armless, one-legged sister, Eileen.
You'll find an alternative video adaptation of this article on YouTube.
download ebook in epub for...
Skidmarks Racer 'diska-zine'
Acid Software, publishers of the Super Sprint-inspired isometric racing game, Skidmarks for the Amiga, initially intended to issue a regular, accompanying, disk-based magazine, yours for the price of a stamp. Did it ever happen? Were you a subscriber? Please allow me to rev my investigative engine, churn the dirt, sift through the mucky evidence and douse it in shaken champagne. Or just do a bit of...
Remembering Fukio Mitsuji
I excavate a fascinating long lost C&VG interview with Bubble Bobble and Rainbow Islands designer/artist, Fukio Mitsuji, preserving it for posterity.
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Cowaplunger duds!
Round the Bend is the sewer-situated, parody-packed kid's equivalent of the satirical, puppet-powered Spitting Image TV show, attracting sufficient viewing figures to warrant its own home micro computer game in 1991. As did its more adult-oriented analogue, adapted for off-beat bash 'em up fans by Domark. Round the Bend publishers, Impulze, were equally enamoured with Doc Croc, Jemimah Wellington-Green,...
Things Ain't Working Out Down At The Farm
In the UK, playing computer games based on Italian comic book characters we'd never heard of wasn't a fantastically popular pastime. I'd hazard a guess the same would apply to every other non-Italian-speaking country in the world. All of which explains why when I mention 'Lupo Alberto' you'll likely furrow your brow with dumbfounded befuddlement, crab-stepping away into the shadows whistling nonchalantly,...
Xeroxmorphs in Dittoland - T-Racer
In 1992 Team 17's Project-X was the preposterously-gorgeously slick shmup to beat. Polished to a lustre 17 fathoms beyond eye-melting. Because it was the number one R-Type-killer to stomp into the mud, mockingly chanting "haha, we killed your R-Type-killer dead", Virtual Dreams attempted to replicate it two years later by virtue of their me-too work of art, T-Racer. It certainly looks the part - you'd...
Putting the kids first with Ocean France coder, Michel Janicki
I discuss some of Ocean France's most impressive game releases with the talented coder who helped to breathe life into them. Special attention is quite rightly paid to the almost-lost work of art, Liquid Kids.
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A little console-ation
Commodore's second games console endeavour, the CD32, introduced Amiga owners to 32-bit, CD-based gaming, finally embracing the joypad as a means of control. I explore its development, promotion, reception and sadly shortlived lifespan. To be this good will take SEGA ages!
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Getting out of my depth for Pete's sake
Wild West, gunslinging desperado, Badlands Pete, is appointed chief daughter-rescuer on behalf of the governor in ARC's 2D, side-scrolling arcade shooter. Only problem is he can't mosey with his pistol drawn, which tends to limit his kidnap-recovery mission. No matter, Badlands Pete is better-known for its 'Strip-A-Motion' claim to fame. Even if it is of debatable veracity.
download ebook in...
Jack of all bombs
Bomberman aka Dyna Blaster for the Amiga. Published in 1991, one of the earliest, undiluted, pure-bred entries in the infamous terrorism-glamorising series. Fantastically addictive mayhem for all the family! 'Nuff said.
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The Games that Weren't Article that Wasn't
Now that the former Game That Wasn't, Ultracore (nee Hardcore), has finally been salvaged from pixel scrapyard oblivion, published for the SEGA Mega Drive, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PS Vita in 2019, people like to ignore the fact that Digital Illusions' run 'n' gun platform shoot 'em up was originally intended for release on the Amiga. Nevermind, I'm just glad it materialised full stop,...
Men of Lowe moral fibre
Exactly how close have we sailed to realising a mega-budget, live-action Leisure Suit Larry movie? I go undercover to investigate.
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Xeroxmorphs in Dittoland - Super Beau in Wonder World
Playing Kid Gloves II for more than five seconds you'll be struck by how little it has in common with Kid Gloves part I. There's a good reason for that; scratch just below the Pritt-Sticked on name tag and it's actually an independently developed cutesy platformer previously known as Little Beau. Ironically, it plays far more like Wonder Boy than the game it was adopted to sequelise.
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The cure for the summertime zoos
CJ's Elephant Antics is Codemasters reasonably successful attempt to recreate the magic of Taito's arcade classic, New Zealand Story. OK, so it's somewhat trunkcated *pause for uncontrollable laughter*, yet wholesome, convivial fun regardless. We play as the acronymous, titular CJ who ain't gonna take it no more! He's fled captivity homeward bound for Africa, crossing continents, conquering climates...
Xeroxmorphs in Dittoland - Alien Bash II
There's no avoiding the elephant in the room - Alien Bash II is a freebie, PD rendition of The Chaos Engine. Lock, stock, kit and caboodle... or whatever the phrase is. If it hadn't been given away for nuffink via an Amiga Format cover disk, I suspect the Bitmap Brothers might have sued for plagiarism damages. That minor quibble aside, it looks great, and plays exceptionally well for an amateur hobbyist...
Slam plonk the Flonk!
What was that funny game called we used to play at school where you'd kick a row of six furry, brown, Furby-like critters at an opponent? If you managed to boot all your 'Beloms' onto their side of the pitch so they were reluctantly in possession of all twelve simultaneously, you could then charge over into their territory and declare yourself victorious. I can't remember, nevermind. Anyway, it was...
Spodland lives!
In 1992 Amiga Power in collaboration with The Hidden, developers of everyone's favourite samurai duck, Donk, ran a design a game competition, the illustrious prize being for the winning entry to be transformed into a fully playable, cover-mounted public domain game. Who won, and where can you download their magnum opus today?
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What's up doc?
Psycho scientist steals secret Nesquik recipes. Quicky the Nesquik bunny leaps into action to recover them. That's the gist of Nestle's promotional platform game, dished up in 1995 as a freebie accompaniment to their Frankenfood breakfast cereal sold in Germany.
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Meet Wildcat's big brother
"Blazing your way to glory" in Wings of Fury initially rests on one's ability to successfully lift off from an aircraft carrier situated in the Pacific Ocean. A tricky task that flummoxes many newcomers to such an extent that they give up at the first hurdle, never to fully appreciate the joys of the horizontally scrolling, arcade-strategy flight sim that captivated my inner Maverick as a child. As...
You can tell a penguin by what he has to say
Deceptively simple, our cutesy penguin protagonist's goal in Crazy Seasons is to shove together in a designated order a selection of four blocks labelled with geometrically distinct shapes. These can be located anywhere on the single-screen levels, often guarded by patrolling enemies of the wildlife variety. While these can easily be killed by ramming blocks into them or using a temporary bonus revolver,...
Bondyman, Bondyman, does anything a Spider can
Loopy scientist, Dr Devious, operating under the influence of an unhealthy obsession with Picasso's cubist paintings has devised a gizmo that turns buildings, objects and even people into solid, useless cubes that then only serve to take up space and trip up unsuspecting pedestrians. To counter this gravely serious threat, the secret service drafts in their most trusted 007 impersonator, JJ Maverick....
You can't do magic
We, a mighty wizard's incompetent apprentice have opened Pandora's box unleashing an army of 'Fuzzball' critters into his tower to wreak havoc. To complicate matters further, we too have been transformed into a quadriplegic ball of fluff. To regain the boss's trust and convince him to transform us back to human form we must clear each single-screen level by collecting treasure and eliminating the...
The Amiga's longest games of all time... ever... in the whole, wide world
With a bit of help from YouTube and the amazing folk who make World of Longplays a reality, I discover which Amiga games offer the best value for money in terms of completion time.
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reTHINK Pink
If you're rich, sleepwalk and reside in a mansion packed to the rafters with expensive ornaments, don't be surprised if you receive a visit from the Pink Panther, cat burglar extraordinaire. For it is his 'duty' to rob you blind whilst preoccupied roaming the extensive corridors of your home, obliviously unaware of the Panther of colour's crooked, clandestine scheme. Anyway, that's their problem....
A bundle of dreams
Bundling Ocean Software's highly acclaimed Batman the movie multi-genre, arcade-action platform game with Amiga 500 hardware back in 1989 played an immensely influential role in the system's proliferation. I chart the rise of the console-beating computer beginning with that key decision made by Commodore's then UK managing director, David Pleasance.
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The Vampire Strikes Back
Count Dracula is up to his old neck-chewing tricks again over in Transylvania (the Vampire's Empire) and only Doctor Van Helsing is qualified and equipped to banish him back to his box permanently. In Magic Bytes' horror-themed platformer we learn that to contain the deadly threat our doc saviour must target Dracula by reflecting magic light beams deep into the core of his soul via the precision positioning...
Three ways to die in Babyland
Baby Jo goes home. That's almost the title and this cutesy, quirky French platformer in a nutshell. Except the eponymous tyke is blessed with genuine personality, a comically novel health-monitoring system and beautifully simplistic cartoony graphics that would entice hardcore cynics and big soft pansies alike. Plus, just for the helluvit up pops Daffy Duck! I got that carried away by this off-the-wall...
In the Ocean you can remember your name 'cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain
I don my head to toe detective trenchcoat and fedora to investigate the mysterious origins of Ocean Software's name.
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Tuesday, 4 August 2020
More fox than you can sheikh a golden scooter at
During the height of the super-cute platformer game era, Titus' contribution was to lend their mascot, Titus the Fox, to the cause. It's an entertaining, solidly constructed effort enlivened with charming graphics, albeit one hampered by excessively rapid motion and infuriating inertia. Interaction with springs, weaponised crates, skateboards and magic carpets further enhance the above-average offering...
Is cloning the future a pre-crime?
Dr A. Noid, perpetrator of the Great Biological Holocaust, remains on the loose in a post-apocalyptic world crawling with slime-oozing zombies high on 'SLU'. Naturally, as a totally coincidental Mad Max look-a-like bounty hunter, we're obliged to engage our ATV in obliterating all vehicular threats in our path whilst dodging mines and gun turrets. Because battering ram combat vehicles generally won't...
The Oliver Twins Story
Honoured to be granted the opportunity of an early sneak preview of the Oliver twins' new biography, I share my verdict.
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We've got tonight babe, why don't you stay?
Today, games presented entirely through an artistic silhouette perspective are so commonplace they probably represent a genre in themselves. Back in 1991 when Jason Kingsley introduced us to the intriguing visual effect via his hack 'n' slash platformer, Blade Warrior, it was a genuine novelty. Featureless sprite outlines set against minimally tinted moonlit backdrops alone sufficient to make the...
Now playing in Squint-o-vision
Many Amiga game developers were guilty of wasting swathes of playfield screen real estate, instead dedicating the space to enormous pixel-hogging HUDs. Typically this was done to minimise the system resources required to animate the active playing area at a reasonable framerate without going above and beyond the call of duty in the application of sophisticated workarounds. I track down the worst offenders...
The Unreviewables
Some games are such pitiful non-entities that I'd struggle to find enough words to form what you could justifiably call a review. Here I explain why Dick Tracy for the Amiga falls into such a category, while writing far more on the subject than it deserves.
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Serve the public trust, protect the innocent, fix Robocop
I investigate Guru Larry Jnr's claim that Ocean attempted to cover-up a graphically distorted level of RoboCop for the Commodore 64 by setting an unbeatably stingy time limit in the preceding stage. All because they couldn't be bothered, or didn't have the time, to fix the issue prior to release.
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hulkhoganwearsyellownickers
Ocean's first foray into sweaty, muscle-bound, square circle brawling wasn't canvas-quaking by any stretch of the imagination, yet when you experience it at the pinnacle of your childhood WWF Wrestlemania fixation, playing against an excitable flesh and blood opponent, it tends to make an impact extending far beyond its impartial merit. Embodying The Ultimate Warrior, stalking Sergeant Slaughter beyond...
Xeroxmorphs in Dittoland - guilty feet have got no rhythm
Leading a second-rate cast of B movie imposters in Codemasters' hack 'n' slash platformer, Sword & The Rose (aka Prince Clumsy), we Loki horns with a deja vu-spiking gaggle of ghouls, ghosts and goblins. Can you guess from which famous duo of Capcom games it draws inspiration/nicks the design and artwork lock, stock and barrel?
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My samoflange is all out of whack
Beyond the Ice Palace is by and large an unremarkable Ghosts 'n' Goblins-esque platforming romp concerned with redressing the wonky balance between good and evil. What makes it worthy of deeper analysis is an intriguing origin story that belies its non-licensed status. More specifically, Beyond the Ice Palace was initially developed as an official accompaniment to the ThunderCats cartoon, later debranded...
Xeroxmorphs in Dittoland - Indiana Groans and the Dead Ephalump Pilgrimage
One man's dream has become one man's destiny! But which man, Tusker or Indiana Jones? Either way, we're duty-bound to follow in our father's footsteps in search of the legendary elephant graveyard, sequestered somewhere deep within the undiscovered, inhospitable tropics of African. Will we unearth ivory beyond our wildest dreams or just the desiccated bones of Sean Connery?
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Hedgehog balloon keepy-upy. What could possibly go wrong?
The main drawback of Pang is an unforgivable deficit of hedgehogs. Harry's Balloons seeks to set the record straight, introducing an all-new colour-changing mechanic and a plot that defies human interpretation.
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Heaven is a halfpipe when you're a sk8er boi
Skidz from Core Design aptly demonstrates that kidz can be kool as well as environmentally responsible. Whether we choose to ride BMX or skateboard wheelz, our mission is to collect 75% of the litter strewn across each obstacle course stage, earning bonus points in between for performing stunts. Scavenged refreshments boost health, whilst money can be exchanged for hardware upgrades. Skidz is pretty...
Just my rifle, Sony and me
In Infogrames' Safari Guns we're invited to shoot local wildlife and photograph the scurrilous poachers slaughtering endangered species to produce tacky tourist trinkets. Or is it the other way round? Either way, it's like Operation Wolf with a muddled stance towards violence, armed with a Nikon.
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Hair today, gone tomorrow
Scientific boffin genius, Dr Bakterius, has been kidnapped by a shady terrorist organisation known as O.M.A., impelling bumbling private eye detectives, Mort and Phil aka Clever and Smart, into incisive action. If you're Spanish and have terrible taste in illustrated fiction, you may recognise the not-so-dynamic duo from a newsagent comic book stand near you. In the top-down action-puzzle game of...
Spiderfanfaction
Mary Jane has been kidnapped by the facelessly enigmatic supervillain, Mysterio, retreating to his home turf playground to begin taunting her imminent knight in red and blue lycra, Spider-Man. Luring Spidey through six booby-trapped movie sets, Mysterio is in a prime position to execute the special effect trickery he has spent his former career perfecting. Venturing through 250 screens worth of hostile,...
Le Coup du parapluie starring Bub and Bob
Rainbows retired, Bub and Bob are back, now armed to the teeth with... Mary Poppins prop paraphernalia. Parasol Stars is the arguably better sequel to Taito's arcade coin-op classic hit, Rainbow Islands. You'll struggle to find a baddie dispatch mechanic to rival the satisfaction of unbridled umbrella battery! In close combat situations, it functions as a blunt bludgeoning tool or water droplet propulsion...
Games coder Steve Howard discusses Bride of Frankenstein and Werewolves in London
I chat to the frightfully talented coder of two blood-curdling 8-bit arcade-action games of classic horror origin. We explore the design decisions taken, artistic influences and what might have been without the imposition of the primitive host systems' limitations.
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Talkin' bout a revolution
Despotic mononymous nutjob, Fernandez, has overthrown the legitimate government of the Democratic Republic of El Diablo. As a fearless Commando substitute for hire, we're drafted in to oust him from his cushy self-appointed kingdom via a top-down, vertically scrolling shooter that takes inspiration from all the usual suspects... Ikari Warriors, Rambo, Gun.Smoke etc. Enhancements to the basic formula...
Your move creep
An in-depth analysis of Ocean Software's innovative, experimental effort to combat piracy through dongle-based authorisation. RoboCop 3, published in 1992, was chosen as the game through which to test the optimistic technique. Accompanying three floppy disks was a hardware device you would be obliged, rather inconveniently, to connect to one of your Amiga system's joystick ports whenever playing the...
War was more fun in my day
Sturmtruppen is the run-and-gun Amiga-exclusive World War II horizontally scrolling platform game you've never heard of, based on the Italian comic book you've never heard of. Think Green Beret crossed with Silkworm, inflected with the 'humour' of Dad's Army. What keeps it marginally interesting is the capacity to switch between various modes of transport, and a generous selection of diverse weaponry....
More fun than a barrel of monkeys
In CarVup we star as Arnie, a cute little vehicle that would look right at home in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, yet was actually plucked from Jaleco's City Connection arcade coin-op. Our goal is simply to explore every last area of a given level within a limited timeframe, transforming the appearance of platforms to reverse Captain Grim's evil influence. It's a sub-genre in itself believe it or not -...
National Thexder's Egyptian Vacation
Denton Designs' one of a kind scrolling 2D action-adventure platformer, Eye of Horus, drops us into the antiquated sandals of venerated ancient Egyptian hawk-headed deity, Horus. Explore the pyramids and transcendental myths surrounding his turbulent existence, flipping effortlessly between Horus' duel forms to re-live his notoriously epic struggle to avenge the death of his father Osiris, King of...
The Great Amiga Format Blitz Basic 2 Compo Mystery
Amiga Format magazine rolled out the bunting and party poppers in 1993 upon announcement of their Blitz Basic design a game competition, but who won and why was the revelation buried so thoroughly?
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When it's clear as MUD, in your neighbourhood. Who ya gonna call?
I explore the gaming life and times of multi-talented artist, coder and musician, Antony Crowther, quizzing him specifically on Captain Planet and the Planeteers. Because for no logical reason it fascinates me.
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Greeny McPeaceface
If every movie, TV show, breakfast cereal, soft drink and so on, ad infinitum, is fair game for pixel-powered home micro adaptation, why not charities? Greenpeace certainly thought it couldn't hurt their eco-conservation cause, hence the existence of the multi-genre, sub-game medley, Rainbow Warrior, named in commemoration of their sabotaged, catastrophically capsized ship. Each challenge was inspired...
Monday, 3 August 2020
Dino Dini, Deenie Dino and Dudley Duck - last-minute stocking filler anyone?
Noddalodda people know this; the outfit who manufactured 9-pin, D-sub connector QuickShot joysticks in the '80s and '90s also very briefly dabbled with remote-controlled novelty toys. You might have caught a fleeting glance at one of these in Argos or Tandy before they sunk without a trace... until now.
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Gremlins Not Included
A brief biography of Gremlin Graphics founder, Ian Stewart. This was to be the introduction to an interview with the gaming industry veteran that never happened.
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Galvatron, oh, Galvatron, I still hear your particle accelerator cannons crashin'...
In the game of the animated TV show, Challenge of the Gobots, inspired by the transforming toyline, we clamber into the cockpit of Leader-1, big cheese commander of the Guardians. To scupper Dr Braxis' scheme to destroy earth, having taken hostage of our chums for bartering chips, we must flip into F-15 fighter jet mode to tackle the threat by way of a Defender clone set on planet Moebius. Spaceships...
Chews flash!
Eye-gougingly garish platformer, Snapperazzi, published by Alternative Software and developed by 'Mental', certainly is, both. Should you and your grey matter momentarily part company, you'll agree to be recruited as a scuzzy snap-hound alien hailing from the Planet Dirk, employed by the cat litter tray liner Sun newspaper. As such your only objective is to deliver at any cost exclusive photos of...
Commodore - the director's (un)cut - David Pleasance to tell it like it is in revelatory new book
I take the opportunity to quiz former Commodore UK managing director on his upcoming 'inside story' book revolving around his stint steering the ill-fated computer technology company that delivered the Commodore 64 and Amiga.
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You are what you invent
Minding his own business, eating himself to death one night in front of the gogglebox, probably watching Gogglebox, Roy Fat's better half is kidnapped by the unsavoury Thindicate corporation. Rescuing her - preferably without handing over Roy's precious food duplicator invention - entails donning his Bananaman leotard disguise, sweeping through multiple divergently-themed platform stages, munching...
Sleepcoding with former CTA developer, John Scott
Sleepwalker programmer, John Scott, drops in to answer my questions concerning one of the Amiga's most impressive action-puzzle games. Not only satiating kid's craving for entertainment, Sleepwalker actually fed plenty of undernourished children in the UK and Africa via its affiliation with the Comic Relief charity appeal. Solidifying its seal of quality, Lenny Henry makes a vocal cameo appearance...
Extremely safe violence
Techno Cop is the kind of law enforcement officer who investigates criminal activity by blasting Death on Arrival gang members to smithereens with his .88 Magnum... and asking questions, never. To stay one step ahead of the delinquent punks he'll need to arrive at the scene of the crime before DoA even know which law they're about to violate. Fortuitous then that our high-tech crime-stopper comes...
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