Amiga games
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The Amiga was an important platform for computer games in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was the first home computer to gain major 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 a IBM PC.
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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, the ST became the default platform because developers found it easier develop software for. This was due in part to the ST's minimalist hardware design.
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, which was influenced significantly 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 A500s 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 released on the Amiga to test the waters due to cheaper development costs.
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 graphics format IFF, and Electronic Arts' Deluxe Paint was included as standard with many Amigas thus giving them early access allowing them to gain a major foothold.
Important Amiga games
Early games
- Mind Walker -- Commodore -- (1986)
- Arctic Fox -- Electronic Arts -- (1986)
- Marble Madness -- Electronic Arts -- (1986, arcade conversion)
- Archon -- Electronic Arts -- (1986)
- Defender of the Crown -- Cinemaware -- (1986)
- Faery Tale Adventure -- Microillusions -- (1986)
- The Pawn -- Magnetic Scrolls -- (1987)
- Maniac Mansion -- Lucasfilm -- (1987)
- 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 -- Anco
- Shadow of the Beast -- Psygnosis
- Speedball -- Melbourne House
- North & South -- Infogrames
- Lotus 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 -- Team 17
- Super Cars -- Gremlin
- The Chaos Engine -- Renegade
- Battle Squadron -- Imageworks
- Worms -- Ocean
- Pinball Dreams -- 21st Century Entertainment
- Moonstone -- Mindscape
- Zak McKracken -- Lucasarts
- Stunt Car Racer -- Microillusions
- Rick Dangerous -- Firebird
- Another World -- Delphine Software
Historically significant games
- Starglider 2 -- Argonaut Software -- (1988)
- Shadow of the Beast -- Psygnosis -- (1989)
- Dungeon Master -- FTL Games -- (1989)
- Elite -- Firebird -- (1989)
- Populous -- Electronic Arts -- (1989)
- SimCity -- Infogrames -- (1990)
- Lemmings -- Psygnosis -- (1991)
- Monkey Island -- Lucas Arts -- (1991)
- Civilization -- Microprose -- (1992)
- Syndicate -- Electronic Arts -- (1993)
- Hired Guns -- Psygnosis -- (1993)
- Dune 2 -- Virgin -- (1993)
- Mortal Kombat -- Virgin -- (1994, arcade conversion)
- UFO -- Microprose -- (1994)
- Theme Park -- Electronic Arts -- (1994)
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
- New Zealand Story -- Ocean -- (1989)
- F/A-18 Interceptor -- Electronic Arts
Flight of Fantasy : A500 : April 1990 - September 1990
- Rainbow Islands -- Ocean
- Escape From the Planet of the Robot Monsters -- Domark
- F-29 Retaliator -- Ocean
Screen Gems : A500 : September 1990 - July 1992
- Back to the Future Part II -- Imageworks
- Days of Thunder -- Mindscape
- Night Breed -- Ocean
- Shadow of the Beast 2 -- Psygnosis
Cartoon Classics : A500 : July 1992 - September 1992
- The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants -- Ocean, 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
Amiga game developers
Many famous game developers first established themselves on the Amiga, although some such as David Braben has already established reputations from the 8-bit computer games. Famous Amiga game developers include:
- Jez San (Starglider)
- Dave Jones (Lemmings)
- David Braben (Elite series, Virus)
- Sid Meier (Civilization, Railroad Tycoon, Pirates)
- Jeff Minter (Llamatron, Grid Runner, Revenge of the Mutant Camels)
- Peter Molyneux (Populous)
- Will Wright (SimCity)
Screenshots
| Missing image Amiga_Defender_of_the_Crown_land.png Screenshot of Defender of the Crown | Missing image Amiga_Marble_Madness.png Screenshot of Marble Madness | Missing image Amiga_Starglider_2.png Screenshot of Starglider 2 | Missing image Amiga_Populous.png Screenshot of Populous |
| Defender of the Crown | Marble Madness | Starglider 2 | Populous |
| Mindscape/Cinemaware (1986) | Electronic Arts (1986) | Rainbird/Argonaut (1988) | EA/Bullfrog (1989) |
| Missing image Amiga_Shadow_of_the_Beast.png Screenshot of Shadow of the Beast | Missing image Amiga_Lemmings.png Screenshot of Lemmings | Missing image Amiga_Lotus_Esprit_Turbo_Challenge.png Screenshot of Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge | Missing image Amiga_Turrican.png Screenshot of Turrican |
| Shadow of the Beast | Lemmings | Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge | Turrican |
| Psygnosis/Reflections (1989) | Psygnosis/DMA (1990) | Gremlin/Magnetic Fields (1990) | Rainbow Arts/Factor 5 (1990) |
See also
External links
- Amiga Games Database (http://www.angusm.demon.co.uk/AGDB/AGDB.html)
- EAGER (http://eager.back2roots.org) Amiga game database containing links to all legal downloads, review info, game music, etc.
- ExoticA! (http://exotica.fix.no) Amiga game music archive (listen to LHA-file with a Deliplayer program for Windows)
- Lemon Amiga (http://www.lemonamiga.com) An interactive Amiga game database containing reviews, comments and ratings.
- The Hall Of Light (HOL) database of Amiga games (http://hol.abime.net)
- The English Amiga Board (EAB) (http://eab.abime.net)
- C.A.P.S. - The Classic Amiga Preservation Society (http://www.caps-project.org)
- Amiga Links List (http://amiga1200.deviantart.com/) A 'Best of' List of Amiga Gaming Links