Amiga games

The Commodore Amiga was an important platform for computer games in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Of all the 32-bit home computers, it was the one to gain the greatest success as a games machine due to its graphic and sound subsystems, which were widely considered to be far ahead of their time. A game made for the Amiga platform generally had much better sound and graphics than the same game running on an IBM PC, and it was also a more powerful machine than its nearest rival, the Atari ST.

The Amiga 500 running Leander (1991)

History

From the Amiga's introduction in late 1985, through to the early 1990s, Amiga games were developed in parallel with the Atari ST as both machines utilized the Motorola 68000 CPU. The Atari ST was, by default the industry's primary focus for 16-bit games development because it initially had a larger user base than the Amiga. Additionally, developers found it easier to develop for, and it was easier to port from ST to Amiga than the other way. This was due in part to the ST's minimalist hardware design and lack of Amiga's custom chips.

A major proportion of games developed from 1985 to 1988 were written specifically for ST, then converted to the Amiga. As a result, many Amiga games of this period were, in most cases, identical to the ST version. The only differences were apparent in audio effects and in-game music. This was an unfortunate development for the Amiga, because only its audio subsystem was demonstrating the Amiga's custom chipset, while its graphical subsystems remained untapped.

Amiga games popularized tracker-based music, particularly the MOD file format, which has enjoyed continuing popularity in the Demoscene community. Demoscene music was influenced by the Amiga and its plethora of games with upbeat, electronic music soundtracks. Music was considered a big part of the game experience in most Amiga games.

The ST continued to be the dominant machine until the introduction of the Amiga 500 in early 1987. Although the A500's chipset was more or less identical to its predecessor, the Amiga 1000, it was cheaper, making it the first "mass-market" Amiga. With the success of the A500, the games industry gradually shifted its focus to the Amiga. By 1988, an increasing number of games were developed specifically for the Amiga. At its zenith in the early 1990s, the Amiga continued to be the platform of choice of many games development companies. At that time virtually every game destined for the PC was first developed and released on the Amiga.

The Amiga gaming scene was responsible for the rapid growth of small gaming companies including Electronic Arts who were contracted by Commodore International to produce the Amiga's standard file format IFF in 1985. Electronic Arts' Deluxe Paint was included as standard with many Amigas thus giving them early access to productivity software. Other game development companies that were spawned by the Amiga platform include Psygnosis (later purchased by Sony as the in-house development team for the PlayStation), and a sub-set of Psygnosis called DMA Design (which later became Rockstar Games -- the developer of the Grand Theft Auto series).

Important Amiga games

Early games

• Mind Walker — Commodore — (1986, Amiga original)
• Arctic Fox — Electronic Arts — (1986)
• Marble Madness — Electronic Arts — (1986, Arcade conversion)
• Archon — Electronic Arts — (1986)
• Defender of the Crown — Cinemaware — (1986, Amiga original)
• Faery Tale Adventure — Microillusions — (1986, Amiga original)
• The Pawn — Magnetic Scrolls — (1987)
• Maniac Mansion — Lucasfilm — (1987, PC conversion)
• Silent Service — Microprose — (1987)
• Starglider — Rainbird — (1987)
• Arkanoid — Discovery — (1987, Arcade conversion)

Popular games

• Datastorm — Visionary Design Technologies
• Zool — Gremlin
• Prince of Persia — Broderbund
• Utopia — Gremlin
• Cannon Fodder — Sensible Software
• Mega Lo Mania — Sensible Software — (1991)
• Sensible Soccer — Sensible Software
• Kick Off 2 — Anco
• Shadow of the Beast — Psygnosis
• Speedball — Melbourne House
• North and South — Infogrames
• Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge — Gremlin
• It Came From The Desert — Cinemaware
• Xenon — Melbourne House
• James Pond — Microillusions
• Bubble Bobble — Firebird (arcade conversion)
• New Zealand Story — Ocean — (1989, arcade conversion)
• The Settlers — Broderbund
• Turrican — Rainbow Arts
• Wings — Cinemaware
• Superfrog — Team17
• Pang — Ocean — (1990, arcade conversion)
• Super Cars — Gremlin
• The Chaos Engine — Renegade
• Battle Squadron — Imageworks
• Worms — Ocean
• Pinball Dreams — 21st Century Entertainment
• Moonstone — Mindscape
• Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders — Lucasarts
• Stunt Car Racer — Microillusions
• Rick Dangerous — Firebird
• Another World — Delphine Software
• Player Manager — Anco
• Conflict: Middle East Political Simulator — Virgin Interactive

Historically significant games

• Starglider 2 — Argonaut Software — (1988)
• Shadow of the Beast — Psygnosis — (1989, Amiga original)
• Dungeon Master — FTL Games — (1989)
• Captain Blood - ERE Informatique - {1989)
• Elite — Firebird — (1989, Apple II conversion)
• Populous — Electronic Arts — (1989, Amiga original)
• Kick Off — Anco — (1989)
• SimCity — Infogrames — (1990, Amiga original)
• Lemmings — Psygnosis — (1991, Amiga original)
• The Secret of Monkey Island — Lucas Arts — (1991, PC conversion)
• Civilization — Microprose — (1992, PC conversion)
• Syndicate — Electronic Arts — (1993, PC conversion)
• Hired Guns — Psygnosis — (1993, Amiga original)
• Dune 2 — Virgin — (1993, PC conversion)
• Wing Commander — Electronic Arts — (1993, PC conversion)
• Mortal Kombat — Virgin — (1994, arcade conversion)
• UFO — Microprose — (1994, PC conversion)
• Theme Park — Electronic Arts — (1994, PC conversion)

Games that have been distributed with the Amiga

Commodore released a series of savvy bundles, packing-in serious applications such as Deluxe Paint along with high-profile entertainment titles. Notable releases included :

Batman Pack : A500 : October 1989 - September 1990

• Batman the Movie — Ocean Software
• New Zealand Story — Ocean Software — (1989)
• F/A-18 Interceptor — Electronic Arts

Flight of Fantasy : A500 : April 1990 - September 1990

• Rainbow Islands — Ocean Software
• Escape From the Planet of the Robot Monsters — Domark
• F-29 Retaliator — Ocean Software

Screen Gems : A500 : September 1990 - July 1992

• Back to the Future Part II — Imageworks
• Days of Thunder — Mindscape
• Night Breed — Ocean Software
• Shadow of the Beast 2 — Psygnosis

Cartoon Classics : A500 : July 1992 - September 1992

• The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants — Ocean Software, port of Acclaim's NES title
• Captain Planet — Mindscape
• Lemmings — Psygnosis

Other games that have been distributed in official Amiga bundles include :

• Shadow of the Beast — Psygnosis — (1989)
• Zany Golf — Electronic Arts — (1988)
• Ports of Call — Aegis
• Whizz
• Pinball Mania
• Oscar

Amiga game developers

Many famous game developers first established themselves on the Amiga, although some such as David Braben had already established reputations from the 8-bit formats. Famous Amiga game developers include:

• David Braben (Elite series, Virus)
• Dino Dini (Kick Off, Player Manager)
• Dave Jones of DMA Design (Lemmings)
• Sid Meier (Civilization, Railroad Tycoon, Pirates)
• Jeff Minter (Llamatron, Grid Runner, Revenge of the Mutant Camels)
• Peter Molyneux (Populous)
• Jez San (Starglider)
• Will Wright (SimCity)

See also

• Amiga
• List of Amiga games
• List of arcade games ports to Amiga

External links

• Amiga Games Database
• List of websites where Amiga games can be downloaded legally and free of charge
• EAGER Amiga game database containing links to all legal downloads, review info, game music, etc.
• ExoticA! Amiga game music archive (listen to LHA-file with a Deliplayer program for Windows)
• Lemon Amiga An interactive Amiga game database containing reviews, comments and ratings.
• AmigaMemo.com - The Amiga Game Museum
• Liste Des Jeux Amiga The biggest list of Amiga games available on internet.
• The Hall Of Light (HOL) database of Amiga games
• All Amiga games at UVL
• The English Amiga Board (EAB)
• S.P.S. - The Software Preservation Society Technical effort for the preservation of commercial games.
• Amiga Links List A 'Best of' List of Amiga Gaming Links
• Recorded Amiga Games - Game sequences recorded as movies, walkthroughs for some games.
• Amigamusic.com - Amiga music mp3 site, A growing archive of Amiga game music recorded to Mp3