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Sunday 30 November 2014

New Chris Huelsbeck Kickstarter - The Piano Collection

Just launched on crowdfunding web site Kickstarter is Chris Huelsbeck's latest project - The Piano Collection and Limited Edition Scorebook Kickstarter.

The campaign's goal is to raise $10,000, and if reached by the deadline of January 11th a piano compilation and sheet music book of Chris' most popular compositions will go into production.

The project's already at a whopping $24,000 - racing past that $10,000 goal, and with 42 days left for the campaign to run, things are looking very promising indeed!

With a number of pledge tiers I recommend that you check out the Kickstarter video below before visiting the Kickstarter page and putting down your pennies.


I'll report back on further developments relating to this project just as they surface.

Saturday 29 November 2014

Remainder Software's "Maxwell House"

I last reported on Remainder Software's follow-up to Downfall in August of last year, where I blogged that control, jumping and collision detection had been implemented, but very little else.

Things went very quiet on the development front until late October this year when the following update appeared on their Facebook page;
"We have been somewhat quiet this year - Maxwell Mouse did stall somewhat due to our original graphics artist losing interest but over the last couple of months, I have recruited a new artist who is showing tremendous enthusiasm for the project. Plenty of work has been done behind the scenes and though I am not willing to put timescales on it, I will be posting some new screenshots as and when we are at a stage where they can be shown publicly... rest assured there's no technical or motivation issue from the coding side, it's purely been problematic recruiting people to help but there is light at the end of the tunnel"
A further Facebook update followed in early November, detailing a whole host of work in progress screenshots, including the one below...

Work in progress screenshot
Along with the images the Remainder team commented that;
"Pictures of our new game currently being developed. Please note that as these are development shots, they are very likely to change before final release. Stay tuned for updates..."
 With the graphics starting to look really good, a short update on the 7th November revealed that;
"Chris Clarke of amigapd has taken over graphics duties - this is his first experience of drawing graphics for a game and he is doing very well."
For those of you who aren't aware, Chris was responsible for the production and release of the excellent "The Ultimate Guide to Amiga PD Games", which you can find on Amazon in eReader and paperback formats. If you've not yet got a copy you really should get one!

The latest update came on the 17th November when a number of development shots were uploaded to the Remainder Facebook group. Detailing code, maps and sprite development, the images showed that things were certainly progressing.

Development of "Maxwell House" has, up until recently, been slow. Hopefully with Chris Clarke on board, and renewed interest in the project we won't have to wait long between future updates and the game's eventual release.

You can keep up with development on the game and view a selection of work in progress screenshots by visiting the Remainder Software Facebook page.

Sunday 19 October 2014

Commodore Amiga: a Visual Compendium

Currently active on crowdfunding web site Kickstarter, "Commodore Amiga: a Visual Compendium" is the follow-up project to "Commodore: a Visual Compendium", a book designed and created by Sam Dyer.

At the time of typing the Amiga book has 24 days left to run on Kickstarter, yet has already reached a whopping 213% of the initial target funding amount. Why the enthusiasm for this? It could simply be down to the affection held for the Amiga. It could be that following the success of Sam's first book people know he'll do an excellent job with this, or it could be that the amazing bonuses and stretch goals are enticing people to help finance the project. Most likely it's a combination of all three.

The lowest amount you can put down to get a physical copy of the book is £25. At this level you get the book, a PDF copy of the book and an exclusive hand written demo scene postcard to go with it. Not too shabby at all, but it's some of the higher tiered levels that have really proven popular, 

For £60 you get the book, a PDF version of the book, a handwritten demo scene postcard, your name in the book and, most importantly, a full boxed copy of the legendary Putty Squad. The £75 version gets you the same as above, but the box is also signed by the development team.

Unfortunately, all of the Putty Squad tiers have all gone, but there are still a load of other amazing lower and higher priced tiers. £50, for example, gets you the book, a PDF copy of the book, your name in the book, a Simon The Sorcerer poster signed by author Simon Woodroffe. Another £50 tier swaps the Simon poster for some Lemmings bead art, signed by Lemmings creator Michael Dailly.

There's a mass of lower and higher priced tiers still available, and you can find details of them over on the Kickstarter page.

Since the Kickstarter went live the first stretch goal was reached. Passing the £50,000 mark has meant that all backers will receive an engraved Amiga bookmark. If the £60,000 milestone can be reached all backers will receive a lovely Another World poster, and, if the big milestone of £75,000 is attained an exclusive Shadow of The Beast CD made specially for this Kickstarter, will be given away to all backers. Each of David Whittaker's legendary tracks will be remade by Tim Wright AKA Cold Storage.

With what promises to be a fantastic book, some fantastic backing tiers and amazing stretch goals you'd be mad to miss this one.

Check out the Kickstarter video below, and get yourself over to the Kickstarter page.






Sunday 12 October 2014

Installing a Gotek Drive in my A500

Over the past few months I've been reading much about Gotek drives, and that if flashed with a specific firmware, they can be used on classic Amiga systems.

My main Amiga's an A1200 tower, and while that's packed with games that can be run via WHDLOAD I have two issues - the first being that not all games will run on my current set-up, and the second ia that my A1200 tower is a desktop machine, meaning that if I fancy some gaming I've got to do it sat at my desk.

I also have an Amiga 500 hooked up to a CRT TV via RGB SCART. The picture quality is A1, and I also have a nice big beanbag in front of the TV. This, I felt, was a prime candidate for a Gotek drive conversion. Now, the one thing I wanted to make sure I avoided during the conversion was making any modifications to the Amiga 500's case. I'd seen photos of users who'd replaced the internal drive with a Gotex, and had expanded the original drive slot to make the Gotek's buttons and USB slot accessible. This was something I did not want to do.

After a quick search on Ebay I found a seller who was not only selling a beige (well, you've got to make sure the colour scheme matches, right?) Gotek drive, but it was flashed and ready to run on Amigas. Perfect! I also found a user selling floppy power and data extension cables, so I got one of those ordered, too.

The drive arrived the following day, and keen to get the device tested I opened up the Amiga 500, disconnected the power and data leads from the floppy drive and hooked them up to the Gotek. The seller had warned me that if I saw '---' displayed on the digital display of the Gotek it meant that the USB drive I was using wasn't compatible. A couple of sticks later and I found an old 2gig USB stick I'd got from Play.com that worked.

My Gotek drive temporarily installed using the original floppy drive cables
With a compatible USB stick found I then copied the SELECTOR.ADF file to the root directory, created a few sub-folders and copied a couple of ADF files over to those. I then powered the Amiga up and sat back.

A few seconds later I was greeted with the familiar blue Workbench screen, and then the Selector menu system loaded. From here it was simply a case of selecting the ADF image I wanted, the Selector program resetting and the game loading as if it were from floppy (this includes the same speed as if running from floppy!)

The following day the extension cables I ordered arrived in the post. It was now time to make a proper job of installing my Gotek drive in my Amiga 500.

Out went the old floppy power and data leads and in went the new ones. To keep the original floppy drive secure I was hoping to leave it in the A500 case, run the new cables on top of the drive and through the floppy disk slot on the side of the case. Unfortunately, while it seemed like a nice idea it was simply too tight a fit, and the top case of the Amiga wouldn't close properly. I popped the lid back off, removed the floppy drive and placed it carefully in the Screen Gems box the machine originally came in.

Next, I passed the floppy data and power cables through the floppy disk slot on the side of the A500 lid, placed the lid back on top, put the screws back in and hooked up the Gotex.

Ocean's "Beach Volley". Panned by Amiga Power, but I love it
As you can see from the above photo, having the Gotex sit outside the external case may not be as neat as situating it inside, but doing it this way I have an un-bastardised case, and it doesn't look much different from when I used to have DF1 sat on top of the machine.

I'm really pleased with my new Gotek setup. It's given my Amiga 500 a new lease of life, and at the same time it's meant I can play those classic Amiga titles without having to sit at my computer desk.

If you're interested in getting hold of a Gotek drive and wish to learn more I recommend you check out the below video from Kookytech. It covers everything you need to know about the device in an interesting and informative way.

Tuesday 16 September 2014

Pixelated Platformer "Boxx" Released

If you're a visitor to the English Amiga Board you'll have no doubt stumbled upon Cammy's excellent tutorial for the games creation system "Backbone". While the games created using the utility regularly receive stick for being resource hungry (running most Backbone authored titles on anything less than an 030 machine is pretty painful) it gives those with little or no programming ability a chance to create their own Amiga games.

Using Cammy's tutorial as a guide YouTube user Lemming880 has had a fantastic go at putting his own game together, and it looks rather stylish. Rather than go for flash graphics and effects, he's instead gone for pixelated and brightly coloured sprites and platforms.

Titled "Boxx", you can see the game in action below.



The game can be downloaded from the Aminet by going to http://aminet.net/package/game/jump/Boxx, and of you want to learn how to design and create your own games with Backbone you really need to read Cammy's tutorial over on the English Amiga Board.

My thanks go to the hardworking team over at Lemon Amiga for the heads-up on this one.

Tuesday 9 September 2014

The Unofficial CD32 Ports Project

Yet again it's been a number of weeks since the last blog update, and for that I apologise.  I am, however, pleased that my return to the bits and bytes of the Amiga Gamer blog is accompanied by some news that is bound to interest the CD32 users out there.

Clearly of the opinion that there were a stack of Amiga titles released over the years that, with a bit of work, could run on Commodore's 32-bit console, Amiga user earok set to work, alongside a number of others, on porting over a mass of classic Amiga titles.

I'm not sure how many weeks or months the conversion team have been working on porting these titles, but for the initial set of releases they're planning to unleash one game per day over the course of September, with a 160 games compilation landing on the 30th.

Not only do these releases feature full control pad mapping, but Cannon Fodder, for example, includes a CDXL version of the music video which originally required the expensive FMV add-on, while Flashback features a CDXL video of the intro from the 2013 re-release. All releases also come with full front and rear CD case artwork, which look absolutely gorgeous.

At the time of typing this article up, the releases so far are:

Sep 1st: Flashback
Sep 2nd: Tearaway Thomas
Sep 3rd: Cannon Fodder (+ CDXL Intro)
Sep 4th: Rick Dangerous Collection
Sep 5th: Super Cars Collection
Sep 6th: Kick Off Collection
Sep 7th: The Great Giana Sisters
Sep 8th: Lemmings CD32 Collection
Sep 9th: Dune II Sep
10th: Rally Championships

For up-to-date Unofficial CD32 Ports news follow the thread over on the English Amiga Board, and for download links visit The Unofficial CD32 Ports blog.

Tuesday 19 August 2014

The Ultimate Guide to Amiga PD Games - Physical Book Coming Soon!

Published in digital form to Amazon, and on the receiving end of some glowing feedback since it was released back in April, "The Ultimate Guide to Amiga PD Games" has been selling steadily over the past three or four months.

During this time a number of people have asked whether a physical release is in the pipeline. Well, it looks like it is. Here's Christian;
"I have submitted the text file to Amazon's Create Space (on demand printing service) so I should be receiving a physical book version to do a final proof read - then it should be available for purchase. 
In terms of the price - it is currently £20.99 - I wanted to try to keep it under £20 but I think it is due to the number of pictures and the size of the pictures - Also the book is large at around A4 rather than A5 size - I have also added an honorable mentions section following on from some feedback on games that readers thought should be included - this may go if it has a significant impact on reducing the price.
Will provide more updates over the coming weeks - thanks again to everyone who has bought a copy of the e-book version - I have uploaded a newer edition (1.1) which should be available as a free update and removes some known errors. 
Once this project is complete I hope to get back to working on some PD games for the Amiga - work commitments permitting"
Update! Since posting the above, things have moved on somewhat. Here's Christian with a short update;
"Proof Copy of physical book version of our "Ultimate Guide to AmigaPD games" has been ordered and should arrive later this week. 
Fingers crossed there are not too many changes to make"
I will, of course, post once the book goes on sale or can be pre-ordered. In the meantime you can keep up-to-date with the book developments by following AmigaPD on Facebook or Twitter.

Friday 15 August 2014

ST to Amiga Conversion of Slap Fight in the Works

Originally released into the arcades by Taito way back in 1986, and subsequently across numerous home computer formats by Imagine Software in 1987, Slap Fight failed to receive an Amiga conversion.

A cracking shoot-em-up with some really neat power-ups, it's a real shame that Commodore's machine was denied a conversion of the game.

Well, it's now possible that an ST to Amiga version may finally surface, as English Amiga Board member StingRay recently posted the following;
"I may create an Amiga port. So far it's fun (protection was pretty useless, though). See screenshot"
At present this is all the information regarding the project that's surfaced. Naturally, if anything else comes to light I'll update the blog.

In the meantime, check out the excellent Atari ST version below.



(Video courtesy of YouTube user alex76gr)

Thursday 31 July 2014

Tales of Gorluth - First Batch Sold Out

If you were planning to order a copy of the Zelda-like RPG, Tales of Gorluth, directly from the author, well, you're too late. Such was the demand for the CDROM only title that the author has sold all of his initial batch.

The good news is that Amiga Kit will be stocking the title, and it's now available to pre-order at the following link: http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1200.

Priced at a mere £11.80 (a slightly odd price, but there you go), the game boasts over 5 hours of gameplay, 64 colour graphics, more than 40 pieces of music and 3 separate quests. The CDROM contains both English and German versions of the game.

Demos of the game can be downloaded here (English), and here (German).

You can see the game in action below. Note, the music playing in the video is from the game.



My thanks go to the Lemon Amiga team for the heads-up on this.

Wednesday 30 July 2014

Blackjet Releases Goatlizard DX!

Way back in April of last year I covered the release of Moebius Goatlizard - a game that would make newsstand coverage when it was featured in Retro Gamer magazine. So impressed were the RG staff that they awarded Goatlizard with a legendary"Retro Gamer Sizzler" award.

Now, some 15 months on, Black Jet games have unleashed a tweaked, refined and ever so slightly enhanced version of the game, entitled Goatlizard DX.

Here's Blackjet's "Spud" with a brief lowdown of what's new;
"Hi all 
I've finished my slightly updated verison of Moebius Goatlizard. It adds some music and some extra nasties to the game, and fixes the two player game considerably. 
You can find it at http://blackjet.co.uk/amiga/Goatlizard-DX/ 
Please note, the game is broken on 010 processors. 
For best results I recommend an 020+ and a kickstart 2.0x equipped Amiga, but it can be played on a 1MB 68000 1.3 Amiga. 
Instructions are on the disk in the readme file, but also reproduced here: http://www.blackjet.co.uk/spud/goatdx/readme.txt 
Hopefully it is a worth a download 
Cheers!"
You can also find a discussion thread for the game over on the English Amiga Board. So, if you have any tips, tricks, or tactics for playing the game, or you're simply having problems getting the title to run on your setup, your'e advised to pay it a visit.

Tuesday 29 July 2014

Where Time Stood Still Amiga - Released!

Many Amiga users have been waiting to play Where Time Stood Still on their 16 bit machines ever since Denton Designs released it for the ZX Spectrum way back in 1988.

Well, as of this evening your wait is finally over, as Fairlight's Galahad has released the much publicised Atari ST conversion into "The Zone" over on the English Amiga board.

There are a few notes and rules that go with the release, but you'll see that they're all fair and extremely reasonable;

"
1). When using WinUAE, ALWAYS use Cycle Exact, its the most accurate method of emulating.
2). WHDLoad version is being worked on by Codetapper and will be available tomorrow.  
3). You are welcome to host this version anywhere you like.
4). It may NOT be cover mounted on a physical magazine, nor can it be sold. I didn't do this for zero money for someone else to make money off it! 
5). Trainer makers...... do NOT remove the intro this time Plenty of space on the disk, use it! 
6). Amiga options activate with a press of F8 on the title screen. 
7). Music/SFX option on the character select box (activated by SPACE BAR) do not do anything. So no bug reports on that ta! 
8). Enjoy the game, it took longer than I wanted, but I wanted to deliver the best version possible. Also thanks to Mr.Spiv and Asman for their invaluable ideas"
The game can be downloaded from The Zone, at this link: http://eab.abime.net/zone.php?, but you'll need to be a member before you can get access to this area of the site.

Credits, release notes and trivia regarding the conversion can be found in this thread, over on The English Amiga Board.

Now, go off and enjoy the game, and if you like it do post up to the English Amiga Board and let the team who converted and enhanced it know what you think. It really is an amazing effort on the part of a number of people, and a quick thank you goes a very long way.

Sunday 20 July 2014

The History of Psygnosis - Free e-Mag Download!

When Paul Driscoll (AKA The Drisk) was asked to help the Retro Asylum team out with research for the forthcoming Psygnosis themed episode of their podcast he seemed to get more than a little carried away.

What started off as a few bits of research here and the odd note there turned into something much larger than originally planned, with the final product landing in the form of a 140-page PDF e-zine. This document covered the days at Imagine Software, the much-publicised demise of the company, the early days of Psygnosis, the buyout by Sony, and the eventual closure of Sony Computer Entertainment Liverpool, as it had become known, in 2012.

Not only that, but the document lists every game released by Psygnosis plus a selection of what the author considers to be the best cover artwork produced by the company.

How much does this cost? Absolutely nothing. The kind team over at Retro Asylum are letting you download this for free! Madness, I tell you.

You can download the PDF directly from THIS link, and find out more about the Retro Asylum Podcast by going HERE.

Enjoy the read.

My thanks go to the French games site ROM Game, for the heads-up on this story.

Monday 14 July 2014

Where Time Stood Still - Release Date Any Time Now!

It's been a while since I updated the blog, and for that I must apologise. A house move, combined with being heavily involved in the organisation of a local beer festival has meant that my time at the computer has been limited.

Well, the move is complete and the beer festival has been and gone for another year, so this should mean I'll be able to devote more time to the blog once more.

Now, on with the Amiga news...

The ST to Amiga conversion of Ocean's isometric arcade adventure "Where Time Stood Still", has been under development for many months, but it seems that at long last the wait could be over.

Posting to the English Amiga Board on the 9th of July, WTSS coder Galahad, commented;
"So, this one is getting final BETA assembly, and will be sent for final BETA testing tomorrow. Once thats passed, game will be written to sector loading disk, and if it passes BETA testing, we 'should' be on for a weekend release of the game........ Patience rewarded chaps"
Unfortunately, things didn't quite go to plan, as in the early hours of this morning Galahad posted a quick update;
"Final BETA sent to the tester as he wasn't around......! Anytime soon folks"
All being well, this final round of testing should be short-lived, and following that us mortals will finally be able to get our hands on this much anticipated title.

In the meantime, check out this work in progress footage of the conversion, which was uploaded to YouTube towards the end of last month.


Tuesday 27 May 2014

880 Gamer Issue 3 Now Available

Issue 3 of the "completely random month" (their words, not mine!) downloadable Amiga magazine "880 Gamer" is now complete and ready for your reading pleasure.

Previously released in May and November 2013, the May 2014 issue spans 38 full-colour pages, and features 6 game and 4 demo reviews.

The magazine even comes with its own virtual demo disk, which this issue features the one and only Putty Squad.

Issue 3 can be downloaded from http://www.users.on.net/~stanners/ or you can browse through it page by page by visiting the following link over on the Amiga Magazine Rack: http://amr.abime.net/issue_2986

Feedback on this issue over on the English Amiga Board has been extremely positive, so hopefully we won't have to wait quite so long for issue 4 to surface.

Check it out and see what you think!


Monday 26 May 2014

Marco Gregorio's Adventures to Unusual Places

If you're a fan of platform games then you may want to check out the recently released "Marco Gregorio's Adventures to Unusual Places", which was released towards the end of April.

Put together using game creation package "Backbone", the game spans 5 levels and features music from the Sounds Terrific MOD compilation, with author credits detailed in the game.

The tiles and sprites were created by English Amiga Board member amiman99, with the help of his friend. Tiles used were from a modified set originally created by fellow EAB member Cammy.

The game has been tested on an Amiga 1200 with a 68030 processor at 50mhz.

Check out the game in action, below;


You can run the game directly from hard drive. To do this just decompress it to HD and click on the Marco icon.

Amiman99 reveals a few tips and quirks about the game;
"1. Because there is a small problem with Backbone when you die over "Danger Area" like water, you will respawn to the beginning of a level and restart. So, you need to finish the level without dying. 
2. I limited [the] fire/throw axe speed, so it's harder to kill enemies. You can't just blast through enemies.  
3. You need to collect all items before advancing to the next level.  
4. In the Mayan level not all gates open.  
5. I used the same fire button to Throw and Open Doors. I found out that assigning [a] keyboard press to open the Door was disrupting the flow of the game. So, you can't shoot next to the door, you need to move away some before shooting."
To download the game point your web browser over to https://www.copy.com/s/Yoa8sTgApTiu2meN/marco.lha

If you'd like to join in discussion about the game then you'll want to check out this thread on the English Amiga Board.

Monday 12 May 2014

Tales of Gorluth - Demo Version and Pre-Order

Featuring over 5 hours of gameplay, 64 colours on screen at once and over 40 pieces of music, this Zelda-like RPG surely pushes the Backbone game creation system to its absolute limits.

The game, which has taken over a year to develop, is now in the closing stages of completion, and with that opportunities to download a demo and pre-order the full release have now arisen.

Visit www.talesofgorluth.de for more information, download links for English and German demo versions, and for pre-order details.

The full version comes boxed in a jewel case with original artwork, and costs a mere 15 Euros including delivery costs.

System requirements: ECS Amiga, 68020 processor (68030 recommended), 2MB Chip RAM, 1MB Fast RAM, Hard Drive.


A number of Amiga users have encountered memory issues (the game requires a full 2MB of Chip Ram) or problems with patched versions of OS3.5/3.9 when trying to run the game. Thankfully, a set of instructions detailing how to solve these problems, should they arise, can be found here: http://www.amiga68k.de/?p=3615 (non German speakers will need Google Translate or similar).

Thursday 20 March 2014

ST Classic "Oids" Finally Released for the Amiga

Earlier today English Amiga Board forum member meynaf, announced that the much-loved Atari ST game "Oids" had finally come to the Amiga. The latest in a string of ST titles he'd converted over to Commodore's machine, this release came completely out of the blue.

Oids was originally released for the the ST by FTL Games way back in 1987. An Apple Macintosh version followed, but for whatever reason this failed to receive an Amiga conversion.

The game is similar to the Firebird classic "Thrust", where you have to navigate your craft across a number of landscapes, avoiding the scenery, artillery installations, and battling with gravity itself.

Although little has been revealed detailing just how the game was converted over to the Amiga, meynaf does explain that it wasn't easy;
...I've just made another game port from the Atari ST. 
It was hard to find my way; this one had TOS calls scattered everywhere and even GEM calls (trap #2), in addition to a very messy keyboard handling code, file i/o storing 16-bit handles where it should have not, and a fearsome protection scheme which i am not even sure to have fully removed. But here it is. 
As I never played that one on the ST (and have no PC to run an emulator), it would be good if someone with a great knowledge of the game could test this version, to see if everything behaves as it should. I'm not too confident with that one, many bugs are probably lurking in here, ready to explode in your face - so beware. Only thing i can say is that it seems to work for me". 


I've not had time to try this out yet, but initial feedback from other members of the English Amiga Board seems to indicate that you'll need a machine with a 68020 processor or greater.

If you'd like to download and try the game for yourself you can get to it directly by going to http://meynaf.free.fr/pr/oids.lzx

To follow the Oids thread on the English Amiga Board go to: http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=72992

So, what ST game does meynaf next plan to bring to the Amiga? Well, it looks like rather than another conversion he's working on something brand new;
"I don't think I'll make any more game ports, at least for some time. I now prefer writing my own game from scratch"
Watch this space!

Sunday 16 March 2014

Sketches for Original Core Design Logo Revealed

Posting on his Twitter feed earlier today, artist and videogame designer Simon Phipps revealed some of the early designs for the Core Design logo.

Core Design were responsible for bringing a stack of games to the Amiga including the Rick Dangerous series, Wolfchild, Heimdall's 1 and 2, the Chuck Rock games, and many, many more.

Here's what Simon had to say about the designs;
"Found this old page from a notepad - the original sketches I did for the Core Design logo from Jan '88. 
The one used was the one with Pacman-shaped 'C'. It stayed until Core became a publisher and was remade in the 'Baby Teeth' font."
Check out the designs below...


You can find more of Simon's art over on his Facebook Group, and don't forget to follow him on Twitter.

Wednesday 12 March 2014

Mega Man Amiga - Video & WIP Download Link

UPDATE: When this was originally posted I mistakingly credited English Amiga Board member s2325 as being the developer behind this work in progress title. I have since been informed that this is not the case, and that the developer behind this is German Amiga user Reentier.

A huge hit on Nintendo's NES console back in the late 80s and early 90s, Capcom's Mega Man series of titles were extremely polished, fast-paced and absolutely rock hard.

While Capcom seem to have all but given up on Mega Man in the past few years, it would seem that at least one Amiga user is keen on keeping the brand alive, and on our favourite retro platform, too!

Revealed in a brief blog post early yesterday morning, English Amiga Board member s2325 announced that he'd been working on converting a Mega Man game to the Amiga, using the Backbone game creation system.

Revealed in a brief blog post early yesterday morning, English Amiga Board member s2325 gave the heads-up on a work in progress effort of converting a Mega Man game to the Amiga, using the Backbone game creation system.

Although there's still much to do in putting the game together, the Woodman and Firename stages are already looking fantastic. Check out the YouTube footage below.



If the above isn't enough, s2325 has made linked to a demo version available to download, so you can try the work in progress out on your own Amiga or emulated Amiga set up. You'll find the archive at: http://www.workupload.com/file/tTsAvHhh

Naturally, if or when further news surfaces regarding the release of Mega Man Amiga I'll be announcing it on this very blog. In the meantime, please send any feedback to s2325 via his account on the English Amiga Board. In the meantime, please send any feedback to Reentier via this link on the German Amiga Community boards. You can also use the link to follow the development progress of the game.

Monday 10 March 2014

Lemon Amiga's Playguide & Review - "Putty Squad"

Originally due for release towards the latter half of 1994, and racking-up rave reviews in numerous magazines of the day, the Amiga version of Putty Squad failed to receive a commercial release, and had long been considered "Missing in Action". That was until late last year when, as a seasonal PR stunt and a spot of goodwill, System 3 finally made the disk images available for download.

Downloading the game shortly after it became publicly available, Dan over at Lemon Amiga has been spending the last couple of months brushing up on his platforming skills and recording a special edition of his Lemon Amiga Playguide and Review, featuring the long lost System 3 title.

This latest Lemon Amiga video weighs in at a hefty 49 minutes in length, and is essential viewing for those of you who, with the absence of an instruction manual, have absolutely no idea what you're meant to be doing. For the rest of you you'll find that this production provides you with a selection of of tips, tricks and tactics to make things that bit easier as you progress through the game.

Here's Dan;
"Ok, so I didn't play this one cold, I had a few weeks to play it. This was recorded after six or seven plays since launched 25.12.13. 
The game was a joy to voice over, and even the chores in the editing came out easy and almost fun. Yes even editing this, and the many hours that it took, were a joy, and reviewing this over and over to iron out the creases was something I looked forward to. 
The editing went in three major rounds of adding things. I had to change quite a few bits of narrations and add inserts to cover bits. Particularly the number of stars it takes to gain specific weapons (which were changed a few times) and lots of small things which amounted up to a lot of concentrated hours over the three week time-frame. But it was a joy, and it was worth it, so I hope it helps someone and introduces the game and how it works. 
Thanks Again System 3."
Check out the video below, and don't forget to leave Dan some feedback over on the YouTube page for this latest playguide.

Sunday 9 March 2014

It Had to Happen - Flappy Bird Lands on the Amiga

With the humble ZX81 receiving its very own version of the worldwide mobile gaming hit "Flappy Bird", I did wonder how long it would take until someone converted it to the Commodore Amiga. The answer? Not long.

I first received a heads-up that this was coming to our favourite gaming platform earlier in the week when Lemon Amiga posted up a YouTube link to a work in progress version via their Facebook group. What I didn't expect was that the finished version would be released so soon after.

Coded by Michael Gibs, this is a conversion of Nguyen Ha Dong's mobile title "Flappy Bird", which, although released in mid 2013 gained massive popularity earlier this year. By the end of January 2014 it was the most downloaded free game in Apple's iOS App Store, and was earning its developer a whopping $50,000 per day from in-app advertising! The completed Amiga version was uploaded to the Aminet on Thursday, and you'll be pleased to learn that it's free of any advertisements.

Below is the game in action, running on Michael's Open Pandora device;


The Flappy Bird Amiga release notes list the following features: 
  • 4/3 320x200 screen in 26 Colours. 
  • GFX as good as the mobile version. 
  • More pipes than the mobile version. 
  • 50/60 fps with a 12Mhz processor and Fast Ram. 
  • Music by SLL (https://soundcloud.com/sll)

There's no mention that this is AGA only, but Michael does state that you'll need a 12mhz system or better for this to work properly.

If you'd like to download Flappy Bird Amiga for yourself you can find the official web site here and the Flappy Bird section on the Aminet here.

My thanks go to Lemon Amiga for the initial heads-up and to the Amiga Impact Team for pointing me in the direction of the official Amiga Flappy Bird web site and Aminet link.



Enemy 2: Missing in Action - Update Released

Due to work commitments I've been unable to update the blog during the course of the last week, so although this originally surfaced back on the 2nd of March I've simply not had time to blog about it until now.

One of the latest Amiga related news articles from the fantastic Commodore is Awesome web site reports that an update to the late 2013 Amiga platform romp "Enemy 2: Missing in Action", has now been released.

Clearly the game has been too difficult for many ageing Amiga players, as the majority of tweaks relate to the increase of time limits on a number of stages, and additional ammunition on others. The game has also received a number of bug fixes.

To read the full changelog and to download the updated version you'll want to head off to this blog post over on the Commodore is Awesome web site.

My thanks go to the Commodore is Awesome staff for the heads-up on this one.

Monday 3 March 2014

Lemon Amiga's Project X Playguide and Review

Another week and yet another lovingly crafted Lemon Amiga Playguide and Review lands on YouTube. This latest in an ever-growing series of audio visual productions takes a look at Team 17's 1992 shoot-em-up, Project X.

Upon release Project X received a real mix of review scores, with Amiga Computing awarding it a whopping 93% in their June 1992 issue, and CU Amiga dishing out a lofty 92% in their April 1992 issue. 

Other magazines were less favourable, with Amiga Power and Amiga Joker both giving it an above average 78% in their May 1992 issues. Amiga Power reviewer Stuart Campbell commented at the time;
"The insane, unfair difficulty level makes for one of the most frustrating games we've seen in ages, and the bugs and control quirks push it to just the wrong side of intolerably annoying"
In fact, the game was so difficult that Team 17 released a modified "Special Edition" of the game in 1993.

Presentation-wise though, Stuart was much more complimentary, stating;
"It looks and sounds undeniably beautiful"
So, has time been kinder to Project X than some of the reviewers were back in the day? Check out the Lemon Amiga video below and make your own mind up.

Sunday 2 March 2014

EAB's Turrican3 Interviews Frank Sauer (Agony, Unreal)

While the presentation in Psygnosis' Agony was undeniably first rate, the game itself landed on the Amiga scene to a somewhat mixed reception, with magazine ratings ranging from a mere 60% (Amiga Format) to a whopping 93% (Generation 4).

The title screen music has to rank as some of the most beautiful the Amiga has ever produced, the level loading screens look absolutely gorgeous even now, and the in-game background graphics are simply stunning.

Unfortunately, the game itself simply doesn't match the presentation. Sprites are poorly animated, the in-game music is absolutely terrible, and the gameplay is extremely repetitive.

Here's Amiga Power's Stuart Campbell, who gave the game a respectable 78%, with the uppers being;
"Absolutely gorgeous graphics, absolutely lovely intro music, calming, addictive, rewarding gameplay, and you can trust it to do what you tell it to control-wise"
Downers;
"Only six levels, and you'll probably finish them all in two days at the outside (that said, we haven't done it yet!). Utterly, utterly hideous in-game music which you can't switch off"
The Bottom Line;
"Not the most demanding shoot-em-up ever, but relaxing and enjoyable enough to play that you'll stick with it even after you've finished it. As long as you turn the volume down"
If the game's not that good, why am I covering it in today's blog post? Well, thanks to the efforts of English Amiga Board member Turrican3, he's gone to the trouble of not only interviewing Agony developer Frank Sauer, but has kindly translated it from French into English for us.

Here's Turrican3;
"This is an interview that Frank Sauer accepted to do. I did the interview in French and I translated the text. I hope I didn't make a mistake.
I hope you will enjoy. If you don't know about Frank Sauer (shame on you ):
http://hol.abime.net/hol_search.php?N_ref_artist=502
http://francksauer.com/"
To read the interview you'll need to hop over to this thread over on the English Amiga Board.

Turrican3 also tells us that Frank is willing to answer your questions. All you need to do is post in the above thread and they'll get passed on.

Well, what are you waiting for?

Saturday 1 March 2014

A Dual Screen Amiga Set-up

Since purchasing and installing an Indivision AGA MK2 card into my Amiga tower some 18 months ago I've been extremely pleased with it. The image output on my monitor is crisp, I'm able to have a half decent workbench resolution (well, 800 by 600), and the fake scanlines that kick in when running games and demos look pretty realistic.

The only downside to all this is that playing Amiga games on a monitor simply isn't as good as having them up and running on a decent CRT hooked up with an RGB SCART lead. The two issues with running Amiga games on a monitor are that firstly the image doesn't look anywhere near as crisp as it does on a CRT, and secondly, the Indivision and cards like it are trying to take a 50hz signal and convert it into a 60hz one that the PC monitor is happy with. This conversion results in the Amiga's silky smooth scrolling being transformed into a slight chug-fest.

I've been using a Dell monitor with my Amiga for about 18 months. When using dedicated Workbench applications it really is superb, and I guess I'd just been making do with using my monitor for Amiga gaming, too. This changed following my recent viewing of an excellent YouTube video from KookyTech.net. I was nodding along to everything being said.

Here's the video in question;


With the video watched my mind was made up. It was time to give myself a dual screen Amiga setup. A few minutes later and I had the best of both worlds - a Dell monitor for Amiga apps, and a nice 21" Sanyo CRT TV, hooked up with an RGB SCART lead for gaming. The Amiga's connected to the monitor via the Indivision AGA card, and the CRT through the Amiga's monitor port.

Here's how my setup looks;


Don't get me wrong. I think the Indivision is a fantastic piece of kit. The output is easy on the eyes, and if you're using apps for long periods it's a joy to use. For gaming though, the CRT with a decent RGB input is king. It simply cannot be beaten. I think I'll be keeping my Amiga hooked up to two screens from now on.

Saturday 22 February 2014

Pinball Fantasies 20 Million Playguide & Review

The Lemon Amiga videos continue to land on YouTube, with a Pinball Fantasies 20 Minute Million Playguide and Review being the latest addition to their ever-growing online video library.

Developed by Digital Illusions, and released by 21st Century Entertainment in 1992, Pinball Fantasies is one of the best pinball simulations available for the Amiga platform. The presentation is first rate and the game features excellent ball physics, great graphics and fantastic sound effects.

Here's what Dan from Lemon Amiga has to say regarding his latest YouTube production;
"This game is yet another top class favourite among Amiga gamers and is fondly remembered. Despite my Pinball skills, I attempt to make 20Million on each of the four tables in the game. Hope you enjoy".
If you visit the YouTube page for the video Dan also explains how the video was put together and the efforts he want to in order to resolve a number of voice over issues.

You can find the video below.


Dan has put together a number of other Amiga videos over the past few weeks, but due to work commitments I've not had time to give them the coverage they deserve. Recent videos cover the classic platformer Gods and the strategy game Battle Chess. Both videos are up to the usual high standard you'd expect from Lemon Amiga, with the Battle Chess program bringing a smile to my face, not just for the fantastic animation, but for just how long it takes a stock Amiga 500 to decide on what move to make next.

Thursday 13 February 2014

JetHunt AGA - Coming 2014

Due to land on the Amiga scene at some point in 2013, it would seem that the JetHunt AGA has been delayed, and will now see the light of day this year instead.

Here's JetHunt programmer Coagulus, with an update;
"Sorry all, I didn't manage to get this out in 2013 [...] - had some display issues and some silly bugs which stalled me over Christmas."
He continues;
"It's still coming, and to prove it here's a new vid. Now some of the effects are flicker based and seem to pulsate on the vid but they are shown at least.

Still fits on a single floppy! Just. Although I could crunch the exe and get more I reckon.

Some of the sound effects are in and working, sadly the music and sound effects option is working but not properly so I may have to do music OR sound effects. I hope not, more coding needed...

And more still to do, like fix level 10 so I can continue, the map is messed up there at the moment.

Onwards...."
Coagulus finishes by saying;
"[I] am still determined to finish this. And also determined to get it looking as good as I can. The game has been "haunting" me as something I should finish since the 90s! Once done I shall be writing more games for the Miggy for sure."
If Coagulus posts any further updates I'll post them to the blog. In the meantime you can follow the official JetHunt AGA thread over on the English Amiga Board here.

Footage taken from one of the latest builds can be found below.

Wednesday 12 February 2014

Amiga Gamer Now on Twitter

Those of you with Twitter accounts can now follow Amiga Gamer on Twitter, as I've just set up an account to help promote the blog.

The majority of tweets will appear when a new article is posted up to the Amiga Gamer blog, but there may also be the odd relevant retweet or short snippet amongst the blog article link tweets.

Please follow the feed, and if you feel there's an Amiga related feed I should be following do let me know.

You can find the feed at: https://twitter.com/AmigaGamer

Tuesday 11 February 2014

Cinemaware's Ken Melville Passes Away

I'm a little late with this one, but on the 4th of February the Cinemaware Press Relations Facebook page announced the sad passing of Cinemaware's Ken Melville.

The press release from Cinemaware's Press Relations reads;
"It is with great sadness that we announce to the Cinemaware community and gaming press the passing away of Ken Melville. 
Ken was one of the most creative (and funny) guys we have ever collaborated with, and he was giving us great input during the Wings RE development process. Ken was one of the writers and composer of the original as well as the writer on It Came from the Desert. 
We will miss him and honor his memory during the development of Wing RE. He truly was one of gaming's heroes."
For further reading please visit this thread on the Cinemaware Press Relations Facebook page.

Perhaps it's time to fire-up It Came From The Desert in celebration of Ken's life.


Monday 10 February 2014

Obligement's Top Amiga Games of 2013

On Saturday the online French Amiga magazine "Obligement" released the results of what they consider to be the Top Amiga Games of 2013.

As the site covers the Amiga 68K, OS4.x, Morphos and Aros platforms they've split their award rankings into separate charts for each of the four platforms listed. With this blog (currently, at least) only dedicated to gaming on 68K Amiga's I wont' be covering those.

So, what charted in the classic Amiga rankings? Well, in third place came Anachronia's platform based shooter "Enemy 2: Missing in Action". In second place is polished platform romp "Solid Gold", by Night Owl Design, and in first place is the long awaited "Putty Squad".

It's of little surprise to find "Putty Squad" landing the number one position, what with it being a commercial title when it was completed (but not released) all those years ago. What is nice to see is the standard of the other two games listed.

I've yet to review "Solid Gold" in this blog as I want to give the game a bit more of my time before I post about it. One thing's for certain, it's a really polished title indeed. I also need to find time to download install and play "Enemy 2". I'm simply struggling to find the time at the moment!


Solid Gold Amiga

For the full lowdown of 2013 charts for the other Amiga related platforms point your web browser over to: http://obligement.free.fr/hitparade/award2013.php

Sunday 9 February 2014

MIA "Og! AGA" Now Found and Available For Download!

Og! AGA - Title screen
While the hunt for the full version of Scavenge continues I can, in today's blog post, reveal that another long lost Amiga title has not only been found, but is now available for download.

Written by Dave Parsons, Og! was the second game he programmed for the Amiga. Although quite clearly a Wonderboy rip-off, it's a colourful, playable and extremely polished title that I really recommend you download and play.

Following the release of Commodore's AGA graphics chipset Dave decided to revisit the world of Og! and release a special AGA enhanced edition for Amiga 1200 and 4000 platforms.

Here's Dave;
"Og!" (originally called "Trog") was the second game I wrote for the Amiga. It was a fairly short, sideways-scrolling game in the Wonderboy style. It used pixel-perfect collision detection routines and ran in 32-colour mode.
I revisited it later and made a much more colourful AGA version which had 64 colours, much smoother sky colours and screen fades, and a 1-bit parallax background layer.
Outside of the game itself, it's really not very polished, and has pretty awful music (that's the downside of doing everything yourself!)."
For many years the AGA version has been considered missing in action, with Dave posting the following on his web site;
"Unfortunately, my Amiga Hard Drive seems to have died, and I can't find a version on floppy disc. So for now, this version is officially lost."
 Thankfully, the situation changed a few weeks back, with Dave updating his web site and making Og! AGA available for download. At present we're not sure how this previously thought lost version has finally surfaced, but if we hear anything further we'll let you know.

From what we can see, the AGA version plays identically to the ECS/OCS version in that it's just as difficult to play through. For example, there's a double bouncing rock section near the start of level one which will have you pulling your hair out before you finally make it past after umpteen goes.

The AGA version features some lovely looking parallax scrolling which really adds to the look of the game. All colours in the game have gone from the previous vibrant style to an almost pastel-like look. It really looks lovely.

Og! AGA - Released at last!
If you'd like to download Og! AGA you can find it in the Trog section of the Confused Pelican Games web site, at www.confused-pelican.com/trog.html.

My thanks go to Christian Clarke over at AmigaPD.com for giving me the heads-up on this one, as I'm certain I'd have missed the release without him.

Monday 3 February 2014

The Ultimate Guide to Amiga PD Games - Front Cover

Work continues apace on the forthcoming e-book release, "The Ultimate Guide to Amiga PD Games".

Edited by Amiga PD web site maintainer Christian Clarke, with contributions from Graham Humphrey, Lifeschool and Robert Hazelby, this promises to be an exciting release for the Amiga community when it's made available for download in March or April of this year.

In Christian's latest book update he reveals the front cover artwork. Take a look below.


Commenting on the image used, Christian states;
"Darren Ithell has kindly agreed for us to use the graphics from his game, Dithell in Space for the cover of our up coming e-book (The Ultimate Guide to Amiga PD Games - The very best Shareware and Public Domain games for the Commodore Amiga)."
To keep up-to-date on the progress of the book I suggest you pay regular visits to this blog or the AmigaPD.com web site.

Saturday 1 February 2014

Lemon Amiga's Extra Special Review - IK+

This latest addition to the ever growing Lemon Amiga YouTube video library is the legendary beat-em-up International Karate+, from 1988.

What makes this review "Extra Special" is the amount of effort Dan over at Lemon Amiga has put into this production. Dan contacted me earlier in the week, telling me;
"This weekend is EXTRA special, because it features IK+; a review I've been working on for two months solid. It's one of my favourite playguides so far"
The amount of effort in this production really has to be seen to be believed. The video kicks off with a detailed lowdown of the 16 moves available to you, complete with close-ups and joystick movement diagrams, before then moving on to the game itself.

Throughout the 26 minute documentary we're treated to not only the usual tips and tricks you'd expect from a Lemon Amiga video, but also music track comparisons with the C64 version, easter eggs, snippets of trivia appearing on screen, and even screens within screens comparing IK+ to other titles.

The commentary throughout the production is also interesting and informative to listen to. There's no waffle, and it all sounds like it's coming from a carefully planned and tested script.

If you've yet to watch a Lemon Amiga video then make this your first. If you're a regular viewer then you'll certainly find this the most polished yet.

Check out the Lemon Amiga video below.


Happy viewing!

Wednesday 29 January 2014

The Ultimate Guide to Amiga PD Games - Update


Work on the E-book, The Ultimate Guide to Amiga PD Games continues, and all being well it should see the light of day later in 2014.

Below is a quick update from editor Christian Clarke, who also runs the excellent AmigaPD.com web site;
"Just a quick update on our E-book, work is continuing at pace, and we are now quickly approaching the proof reading stage and adding in contents and index sections.
Fingers crossed, the book should be released this year, hopefully in a few months time.  
Spent some time today (25th Jan) looking at formatting, as you can see from [the image to the left]. 
I have also started work on the front cover which I hope to share with you soon, just need to agree permission with the artist".
Naturally, updates detailing the progress of the E-book will be published on this blog as the release date gets ever closer.

Tuesday 28 January 2014

Downfall LHP Version Released

Downfall - Title Screen
On a recent visit to the Remainder Software Facebook page (well worth a look!) I was reminded that I'd completely forgotten to post up the announcement from mid December revealing that a modified version of Downfall had now been released.

Well, for those of you who missed it, here's the release announcement from the Lee Hurley Productions web site;

Downfall LHP Version is a modified version of Downfall created by Graham Humphrey of Remainder Software. The original version of Downfall and the source can be found here.

This version attempts to fix some bugs that are present in the original version
  • Fixed falling through ice and into girder platforms when the weight pickup is active 
  • Added keyboard control for player 1 in 1 player game and player 2 in 2 player game 
  • Modified the code to run on 512K CHIP + 512K other memory (From Floppy) 
  • Added joystick control for highscore entry (V1.1 Fixed less stupidly this time) 
  • Updated font with 2 characters used in joystick highscore entry 
  • More stuff mentioned in the guide on the disk 
Requirements 
  • 512K CHIP + 512K Other RAM (Floppy Version) 
  • Kickstart 1.2 or Later 
  • 1MB CHIP or higher for running from HDD (might need to boot with startup-sequence disabled, then loadwb,endshell for low memory environments, 
  • Downfall LHP Version requires about 800K CHIP memory to start from HDD)
To download the game point your web browser here.

Monday 27 January 2014

Lemon Amiga's Latest Play Guide - Risky Woods, 1992

Risky Woods - Title Screen
The latest in Lemon Amiga's play guides has just been uploaded to YouTube, and it's EA's 1992 side-scrolling platformer Risky Woods.

Magazine review scores for Risky Woods were mixed, but the majority of publications scored it well into the eighties.

Here's Lemon Amiga;
"Risky Woods is a cult classic with a large number of fans, to others it's a tricky and unfair game with enemies which must be shot before you even see them!
I put the game through its paces to see if C.U Amiga's 90% score was really worth it"
The review runs for just over 40 minutes and features commentary throughout. If you've never played the game before or if you have and you're after some tips, tricks and tactics, this is well worth some of your time.

Speaking about the recorded footage, Lemon Amiga commented;
"I could have completed the game and yet on the day I recorded this I failed. Some reviewers only show their very best runs but what you get with me is what happened on the day, with generally no retries or savestates to practice with. At least you can see my 1 Million score on the high score table."
Check out the video over on YouTube here.