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Amiga Game Reviews

Amiga Game Reviews



This is an index to Amiga game reviews and other Amiga articles published by Lilura1, author of Computer Game History. The Amiga games are listed in alphabetical order and review scores for playability, graphics and audio are appended.

Enjoy! And remember: Amiga forever.

Amiga Game Playability Graphics Audio
Agony Amiga 1992 Art and Magic Yves Grolet 65 98 98
Aladdin Amiga 1994 Jaguar Software 70 80 80
Alien Breed Amiga 1991 Team 17 Original Version 88 85 96
Another World Amiga 1991 Éric Chahi 70 98 93
Apidya Amiga 1991 Kaiko AUDIOS 90 90 99
Arkanoid Amiga 1988 Discovery Software International 98 90 87
Arkanoid 2 Amiga 1988 Imagine Software Peter Johnson 96 85 85
Battle Squadron Amiga Martin Pederson 1989 98 95 95
BC Kid Amiga 1992 Factor 5 Nils Meier 85 90 87
Bio Challenge Amiga Delphine Software 1989 86 92 96
Black Crypt Amiga 1992 Raven Software 60 80 76
Blasteroids Amiga 1990 Teque Software 90 86 80
Blood Money Amiga 1989 DMA Design 70 85 80
Bloodwych Amiga 1989 Anthony Taglione 62 55 55
Bubble Bobble Amiga 1988 Software Creations 90 60 64
Captain Blood Amiga ERE Informatique 1988 75 90 95
Captive Amiga 1990 Tony Crowther 95 90 70
Carrier Command Amiga 1988 Realtime Games Software 90 95 65
Chaos Engine Amiga 1993 Bitmap Brothers 87 89 97
Chaos Strikes Back Amiga 1990 FTL 95 85 83
Chessmaster 2000 Amiga Software Toolworks 1986 99 85 80
Defender of the Crown Amiga 1986 Cinemaware 50 98 65
Deliverance Amiga 1992 Devinart 65 85 83
Deluxe Galaga Amiga 1995 Edgar M. Vigdal 97 80 75
Dungeon Master Amiga 1988 FTL 90 85 87
Exile Amiga 1991 Audiogenic Software 94 86 80
F-19 Stealth Fighter 1990 Amiga Microprose 96 93 82
F-117A Stealth Fighter 2.0 Amiga 1993 Microprose 95 90 82
F29 Retaliator 1989 Amiga Digital Image Design 75 95 72
F/A-18 Interceptor Amiga 1988 Intellisoft 80 85 65
Faery Tale Adventure Amiga 1987 David Joiner 65 75 55
Falcon Amiga 1988 Sphere Inc 90 95 75
Flashback Amiga 1992 Delphine Software 90 85 65
Flood Amiga 1990 Bullfrog Productions 85 88 90
Formula One Grand Prix Amiga 1992 Microprose 96 95 92
Frontier Elite 2 Amiga 1993 David Braben 98 99 98
Ghosts 'n Goblins Amiga 1990 Elite Systems 75 80 75
Ghouls 'n Ghosts Amiga 1989 Software Creations 55 65 60
Giganoid Amiga Starvision Swiss Computer Arts Lars Bendrup 1988 87 74 72
Gods Amiga 1991 Bitmap Brothers 95 94 95
Golden Axe Amiga 1990 Dementia 75 80 88
Great Giana Sisters Amiga Time Warp Productions 1988 92 84 82
Greg Norman's Ultimate Golf Amiga 1990 Gremlin Graphics 70 75 70
Gunship 2000 Amiga 1993 MicroProse 95 95 78
Guild of Thieves Amiga 1987 Magnetic Scrolls 60 55 --
Hard n Heavy Amiga reLINE 1989 90 85 85
Hybris Amiga 1988 Discovery Software International 96 92 85
International Karate Plus IK+ 1988 Amiga Archer Maclean 90 95 96
James Pond Amiga 1990 Vectordean Chris Sorrell 85 92 91
James Pond 2: Codename: RoboCod Amiga Vectordean 1991 84 93 85
James Pond 3: Operation Starfish Amiga AGA Vectordean 1994 55 60 70
Jinks Amiga 1988 Rainbow Arts Uwe Jonsson 88 80 80
Joe and Mac: Caveman Ninja Amiga 1992 Elite Systems 65 70 60
Kampfgruppe Amiga 1988 SSI Gary Grigsby 98 55 50
Kick Off Amiga 1989 Dino Dini Anco 95 80 75
Kid Chaos Amiga Magnetic Fields Shaun Southern 1994 85 96 87
King's Quest Amiga Sierra On-Line 1986 50 30 30
King's Quest 4 Amiga Sierra On-Line 1990 50 30 40
King's Quest 5 Amiga Sierra On-Line 1991 50 40 50
King's Quest 6 Amiga Sierra On-Line 1994 50 40 50
Leader Board Amiga Sculptured Software 1986 93 75 55
Legend of Faerghail Amiga 1990 Olaf Barthel 55 65 65
Lemmings Amiga 1991 DMA Design David Jones 95 87 90
Liberation Captive 2 Amiga Tony Crowther 1993-94 55 93 75
LINKS Golf Amiga Access Software 1992 95 85 82
Lion King Amiga 1995 Virgin Interactive 55 70 70
Lionheart Amiga Thalion Software 1993 88 98 80
Llamatron 2112 Amiga 1991 LlamaSoft 98 80 90
Lords of Chaos Amiga 1991 Mythos Games 90 55 50
Lotus Games Amiga Magnetic Fields 1990-92 95 97 94
M1 Tank Platoon Amiga 1990 MPS Labs 98 97 75
Midwinter Amiga 1990 Maelstrom Mike Singleton 96 95 90
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge Amiga 1992 LucasArts 65 85 88
Moonstone Amiga 1991 Rob Anderson Original Version 70 95 89
Mortal Kombat Amiga Probe Software 1993 89 92 87
Mr. Nutz Amiga Neon 1994 55 70 70
Nebulus Tower Toppler Amiga John Phillips 1988 86 90 75
New Zealand Story Amiga 1989 Choice Colin Gordon 80 75 75
Operation Wolf Amiga 1988 Ocean France 65 64 60
Overkill Amiga 1993 Vision Software 93 80 80
Pac-Mania Amiga Teque 1988 90 80 80
Pang Amiga Ocean France 1990 90 85 85
Paradroid 90 Amiga 1990 Graftgold Andrew Braybrook 90 80 86
Parasol Stars Amiga 1992 Ocean Software Mick West 98 95 89
Pawn Amiga Magnetic Scrolls 1986 60 50 --
Perihelion: The Prophecy Amiga 1993 Morbid Visions 65 86 85
Populous Amiga 1989 Bullfrog Peter Molyneux 90 83 86
PowerMonger Amiga 1990 Bullfrog Peter Molyneux 95 95 98
Prince of Persia Amiga Brøderbund Dan Gorlin 1990 75 86 80
Project X Amiga 1992 Team 17 Andreas Tadic 85 96 95
R-Type Amiga 1989 Factor 5 85 80 87
Rainbow Islands Amiga 1990 Graftgold 98 97 89
Rise of the Robots Amiga 1994 Mirage Instinct 55 80 75
RoboCop 3 Amiga 1991 Digital Image Design 65 94 95
Rock 'n Roll Amiga Rainbow Arts 1989 87 80 85
Secret of Monkey Island Amiga 1991 LucasFilm 70 93 98
Seek and Destroy Amiga 1993 Vision Software 88 88 72
Sensible Soccer Amiga 1992 Sensible Software 95 80 80
Shadow Fighter Amiga 1994 NAPS Team 90 86 82
Shadow of the Beast Amiga 1989 Reflections 50 99 99
Sid Meier's Civilization Amiga 1992 Microprose 99 55 65
Sid Meier's Colonization Amiga 1995 Microprose 99 65 75
Speedball Amiga 1988 Bitmap Brothers 96 90 92
Speedball 2 Amiga 1990 Bitmap Brothers 98 95 94
Stardust Amiga 1993-94 Bloodhouse 90 95 95
Street Fighter 2 Amiga 1992 Creative Materials 65 70 65
Stunt Car Racer Amiga 1989 MicroStyle 97 96 81
Superfrog Amiga Team 17 1993 81 84 82
SWIV Amiga 1991 Random Access 90 95 90
Sword of Sodan Amiga 1988 Discovery Software 60 93 77
Settlers Amiga 1993 Blue Byte 77 97 98
TFX Amiga 1997 Digital Image Design Charles Wallace 80 82 85
Turrican Amiga 1990 Manfred Trenz 97 99 99
Unreal Amiga 1990 Ordilogic Systems 65 97 88
Uridium 2 Amiga 1993 Graftgold Andrew Braybrook 95 95 84
Venus the Flytrap Amiga Gremlin Graphics 1990 78 90 90
Virus Amiga 1988 David Braben 96 97 70
Worms Amiga 1995 Team 17 90 85 80
X-COM UFO Defense Amiga 1994 Mythos Games 99 78 73
Xenon Amiga 1988 Bitmap Brothers 85 85 88
Xenon 2 Megablast Amiga 1989 The Assembly Line 75 87 93
Yo! Joe! Amiga Scipio 1993 86 93 82
Zeewolf Amiga 1994 Binary Asylum 90 80 75
Zool Amiga Gremlin Graphics 1992 80 82 80
Amiga Game Playability Graphics Audio

An [--] appended means the Amiga game lacks audio or graphics (a silent game / text-only game).

Amiga Overview


Manufactured by Commodore International from the mid-80s to the mid-90s, the original Amigas were powered by Motorola 68000 microprocessors (MPUs) clocked at 7.15909 MHz (NTSC/USA) or 7.09379 MHz (PAL/UK, Europe). Released in 1985, the Amiga 1000 was the first Amiga.

Known as Lorraine, the Amiga chipset was designed by Jay Miner of Hi-Toro in 1984. Jay Miner is The Father of the Amiga. The origin of the Amiga's chipset lies in Jay Miner's Atari 8-bits, not the Commodore 64.

Jay Miner is a legend of LSI and VLSI design; a Hero to computer-gamers.

Famously, the Amiga's M68k is supported by custom chips known as Agnus, Paula and Denise. Put simply for our purposes, Agnus includes the copper coprocessor, the bit blitter (a 3-input bimmer) and the DMA that reduces M68K overhead when playing sound; Glenn Keller's Paula includes the four FM-synthesized audio channels and control inputs (mouse/joystick); and Denise includes the color DACs and 16px-wide hardware sprites.


A typical Amiga playfield is hardware-scrolled and features hardware sprites and/or bobs (blitter objects) -- over 100 simultaneous on-screen objects can be smoothy shifted about by top-level coders, complete with precise collision detection and on-impact sound effects (cf. History of Shoot 'em ups).

Suffice it to say that it is the custom chips that separated Amiga games from IBM PC and Atari ST slop.

The Amiga 500 of 1987 was the most popular Amiga by far. It had 512K of RAM as standard but most Amigans upgraded to 1 megs of RAM by 1987 and many Amiga games run better or have more features with the upgrade.


Most Amiga games run in 16-color 320x200/256 (NTSC/PAL) low-res non-interlaced, but some run in 32-color full PAL overscan mode or 64-color extra half-brite mode.

Amiga gamers typically used 1084S 14" color CRT monitors.

On-screen colors range from 32 drawn from 4096 up to hundreds drawn from 4096. Here is the original version of Deluxe Paint of 1985 by Dan Silva of Electronic Arts. Amiga graphicians used Deluxe Paint to create the graphics in many Amiga and IBM PC MS-DOS games:


The original Amigas were affordable to middle-class families yet they were on the cutting-edge of operating system, software and hardware development upon their release. The Amiga 1000 was so far ahead of the competition that Commodore's marketing department barely knew how to describe its capacities to prospective customers; there was no formal language that described the technology; the Amiga ushered in the age of multimedia computing.

Those who owned an Amiga in 1985 were living in the future by seven years pretty much across the board. Examples:

  • Preemptive multi-tasking GUI OS bolstered by a command-line Shell CLI (and later ARexx)
  • Multimedia & Genlocking
  • Audio-visuals
  • Hardware mouse cursor
  • Plug n play & ease-of-use

As for Amiga upgrades, consider that in 1990 you could purchase for your bigbox Amiga 2000 a 68040 clocked at 25 MHz with MMU and coprocessor that came in at up to 25 MIPS and 8 MFLOPS, which was at least twice as fast as an i80486 clocked at 25MHz. And in 1992 you could purchase for your Amiga 500 a 68040 clocked at 28 MHz that was 40 times faster than a stock A500. RAM was 32-bit and ranged from 4 megs on the A500 to 32 megs on the A2000.

In order to cope with not having an Amiga, some PC gamers used to (and still do) characterize the Amiga as a mere computer-game machine; non-serious in application. But as you can see, even an Amiga 500 could be turned into a graphics workstation power-house.

In 1992 you wanted to add Fast RAM to your A1200 immediately. 2 megs of Chip RAM was not enough. And no, I'm not talking about plug-in PCMCIA cards, I'm talking about the trapdoor. As well, people added M68030 accelerators as soon as they hit the market.

***

Welcome to my write-up on the best games for the Amiga, and the best game developers for the Amiga. To get up and running with Amiga emulation in 2024, please refer to WinUAE Amiga.


The Amiga is a Western microcomputer manufactured by Commodore. In the tradition of 16 bit gaming the Amiga was most famous for its shoot 'em ups and platformers that pushed its custom chipset to the limit and allowed it to contend with the Genesis and SNES consoles even towards the end of its lifetime. It was its copper and its blitter, its parallax hardware screen-scrolling and its sampled sounds that enabled it to stand the test of time in the highly competitive arena of 16 bit gaming.

Over 150 Amiga games ran at 50 FPS, too.

By custom chipset, we are referring to computer chips that are designed at the transistor-level for a specific purpose that is unique to the microcomputer.

Best Amiga Games


Overall, due to its combination of great gameplay and king-tier audio-visuals, the best game on the Amiga is Factor 5's Turrican of 1990-91. More than three decades subsequent to its release, Turrican on the Amiga is still the best Turrican game. The Turrican games played to the Amiga's strengths by tapping its custom chipset, and that's what counts.




Defining an Amiga Game


But what constitutes an Amiga game, and what constitutes an Amiga developer?


Strictly speaking, I venture to state that an Amiga game is a computer game whose code targets the Amiga's chipset; and developers whose code targets the Amiga's chipset are Amiga developers.

The Amiga must be first and foremost in the mind. Ideally, the advantages of Amiga hardware are tapped into on a custom chipset level, not just the M68K which the Amiga shared with several other platforms (though at differing clock-rates). 

Sadly, this was not done as often as one would have liked: it always disappointed me that so many Amiga games were ports of Atari ST and IBM PC MS-DOS slop: inferior 2D gaming platforms in the Amiga's heyday, to be sure, since they lacked custom chipsets. For example, where were the hardware sprites, where was the second playfield, where was the multi-directional hardware scrolling?

Dear oh dear, what do we have here? Why, it's X-COM UFO Defense of 1994, one of the greatest games of all-time, running on a piddly little A500 from 1987...


Bitmap Brothers Amiga Games



The Bitmap Brothers mostly buffed Atari ST ports, so how can their games properly be called Amiga games?


If a few colors are added or the music and sound is better (sampled as opposed to chip-tunes), is it an actual Amiga game or a glorified ST version on the Amiga?


Don't get me wrong, I like the Bitmap Brothers' games even though they don't run at full frames. Also, the non-AGA pixel art of Mark Coleman and Dan Malone is masterwork. But I don't consider the Bitmaps focused Amiga developers.


The original Lotus games on the Amiga featured slightly better sprite-scaling than the ST versions; 90% of players would not notice.


Next, the reader is going to have to convince me that LucasFilm's The Secret of Monkey Island -- which some Amigans hold in high or even highest regard -- is an Amiga game.


  • The Amiga version of SoMI came out eight months after the original EGA version.
  • SoMI is built on the cross-platform SCUMM engine which has its origins on the Commodore 64.
  • Also, remember the smooth scrolling in SoMI? Yeah, neither do I. What I remember is jerky scrolling. Like ST and MS-DOS slop of that era.

TMFX music aside, where is the Amiga in this game?

SoMI is not an Amiga game, it is an MS-DOS game on the Amiga. The MS-DOS version is also better than the Amiga version.

Delphine's Flashback of 1992 didn't belong properly to any platform at any time (its genesis on the Sega Genesis); even Éric Chahi's Another World was developed with the ST in mind.



For those who don't know, both of these games were cinematic platformers with rotoscoped, vector-based visuals, though Flashback's gameplay is far superior to AW's.

Mike Singleton's Midwinter is an MS-DOS and Atari ST game:




Certainly it is 68k assembly-coded, and is an apex masterpiece that should never be forgotten.

David Braben's Frontier Elite 2 also does not strictly fit my criteria, but I can't ignore its existence anymore than Archer Maclean's game:



Best Amiga Game Developers


Ranked in no particular order.

Reflections



Reflections are most notable for developing Shadow of the Beast of 1989.

ICONIC.


Sensible Software



Sensible Software are famous for developing:

  • Cannon Fodder (1993)
  • Mega-Lo-Mania (1991)
  • Sensible Soccer (1992)
  • Sensible World of Soccer (SWOS, 1994)

CUTE GRAFIX BUT SERIOUS BUSINESS.


How can the inclusion of Sensible Soccer be argued against? Sensible Soccer runs at 50 FPS and is the one of the best English football computer-game franchises, along with Kick Off and Goal. A competitive genre market, that alone demands respect.

When you throw in Cannon Fodder and Mega-Lo-Mania on top of that, you've got something special.

Dino Dini's football games were also king-tier:



Graftgold, Andrew Braybrook



On the Amiga, Graftgold are most notable for developing Paradroid 90 of 1990 and Uridium 2 of 1993.


Andrew Braybrook is a legend of C64 and Amiga coding. Even his ports are masterpieces and all of his games have a high degree of playability; they're not just technically impressive.

Refer to Rainbow Islands of 1990 for a prime example of porting prowess.

Bloodhouse



Bloodhouse most famously coded Stardust (1993) and Super Stardust AGA (1994).

ASTEROIDS & TUNNELS.

King-tier Asteroids clones with light-sourced, rotating asteroids and high-speed tunnel segments reminiscent of Space Harrier. Pure gaming and extremely difficult to play without a quality input device.

DMA Design



DMA Design coded Menace (1988), Blood Money (1989), Lemmings (1991), Walker (1989) and Hired Guns (1993).


Factor 5



Factor 5 developed the Amiga Turrican Games and BC Kid.

  • Turrican (1990)
  • Turrican II (1991)
  • Turrican III (1993)
  • BC Kid (1992)

BIG-ASS ROTATING GUN.

50 FPS, arcade-quality run-n-gun games bolstered by a perfectly-polished platform game means that Factor 5 rank highly. Turrican was designed by Manfred Trenz, and the composer was Chris Huelsbeck. These guys knew how to tap into Amiga Alienware.

Kaiko / A.U.D.I.O.S.



Kaiko / A.U.D.I.O.S. developed Apidya of 1992.

ALMOST PERFECT.

One of the best horizontally-scrolling shoot 'em ups on the Amiga. The music is absolutely awesome and the graphics aren't too shabby either. Even current gen gamers would find Apidya playable.

Team 17



QUANTITY & QUALITY.

Team 17 games were polished, targeted the Amiga's chipset and ran at full frames (or at least appeared to). Team 17 had the quantity of output with the quality, but in my opinion the original Alien Breed is their best game.

  • Full Contact (1991)
  • Alien Breed (1991)
  • Project-X (1992)
  • Alien Breed II: The Horror (1993)
  • Superfrog (1993)
  • Body Blows (1993)
  • Arcade Pool (1993)
  • Body Blows Galactic (1993)
  • Alien Breed: Tower Assault (1994)
  • Ultimate Body Blows (1994)
  • Worms (1995)
  • Alien Breed 3D (1995)
  • Alien Breed 3D II: The Killing Grounds (1996)
  • Worms: The Director's Cut (1997)

Ordilogic Systems




JAW-DROPPER IN 1990.


Aptly-named since its production values were indeed unreal. The game is part-platformer, part-railshooter. It has Amiga written ALL OVER IT.

Art & Magic



Art & Magic developed Agony in 1992.

OWL.


Art & Magic are aptly-named as well. Games with haunting visuals and instrumentals on this level are rare. Agony is stamped with an Amiga seal, too. One could never mistake Agony for a lowly ST or artless MS-DOS game. It is impossible.

Martin Pederson



Martin Pederson coded Hybris & Battle Squadron (1988-89).

PREDATOR CLOAKING.

Difficult but highly-playable vertically-scrolling SHMUPs. The best on the Amiga. 


Hybris runs at 50 FPS; Battle Squadron at only 25 FPS but the scrolling is still smooth. I could never choose which of these two is best.

Cinemaware



Cinemaware developed trail-blazing games such as Defender of the Crown, TV Sports: Football and Wings.

  • Defender of the Crown (1986)
  • S.D.I. (1986)
  • The King of Chicago (1987)
  • Sinbad and the Throne of the Falcon (1987)
  • Three Stooges (1987)
  • Rocket Ranger (1988)
  • Lords of the Rising Sun (1988)
  • It Came from the Desert (1989)
  • Antheads: It Came from the Desert 2 (1990)
  • The Kristal (1989)
  • TV Sports: Football (1988)
  • TV Sports: Baseball (1989)
  • TV Sports: Basketball (1990)
  • TV Sports: Boxing (1991)
  • Wings (1990)

NINETEEN EIGHTY SIX.

Defender of the Crown was released by Cinemaware in 1986. Defender of the Crown was designed by by Kellyn Beeck.

When Crown came out there was nothing like it. If Crown and Wings were your introduction to Amiga gaming, you were truly blessed. While none of Cinemaware's games are my cup of tea these days, it would be foolish to ignore their historical significance.


Thalion



Thalion are most famous for developing Lionheart of 1993.

PRIME PIXEL ART.

Random Access



Random Access / The Sales Curve Ltd. coded Silkworm (1989) and SWIV (1991).


Silkworm scrolls horizontally and SWIV vertically, but both shoot 'em ups are raw and gritty, both run at full frames, and both are underrated by the mainstream.

Digital Image Design




***

In my humble opinion, those are the games and developers that really mattered on the Amiga; those are the games with Amiga soul. Even if its gameplay isn't great, Shadow of the Beast, especially, brought a degree of production value and artistry to M68K games that didn't exist beforehand.

I don't see how Amigans would disagree fundamentally with that list, but let me know what you think in the comments section. This list was made from memory; there are bound to be notable omissions.


First-generation Amiga Games



From 1985-86 the Amiga was getting ports of MS-DOS and 8 bit computer games. None of these differentiated the Amiga by much. For example, increasing the palette range, employing digitized speech or taking advantage of increased diskette capacity to fully load game-data into 256K of RAM was simply not enough. Indeed, and this is undeniably true, at this point you were glad to still have access to your Commodore 64. In respect to games, no one was going to shelve their C64 at this point (or even in 1988, for that matter).

We are talking about 1985-86, which is before the Amiga 500 of 1987 and its 512K RAM (which most gamers expanded to 1 meg in 1987).

For example, by March of 1986 there were 30 games available for the Amiga in the U.S. Sounds like a lot right? I mean, come on. It's 1986, man. But consider that more than half of them were Zork-style Infocom games. There were 7 games by Electronic Arts, 4 by Mindscape and 3 by Activision. These games barely begun to exploit the Amiga's custom chipset capacities. There were much better games than those available on the Atari ST in 1985 and the Atari 8-bits in 1981.

On the other hand, in 1986 the Amiga clearly differentiated itself via paint, animation and music programs such as Deluxe Paint, Aegis Animator and Deluxe Music Construction Set as well as NewTek's DigiView and DigiPaint. And of course, the Amiga's multi-tasking GUI-based operating system was lightyears ahead of the home-computer competition.


The PawnChessmaster 2000 and Defender of the Crown of 1986 were the first games on the Amiga that began to differentiate Amiga graphics and presentation from MS-DOS, Atari ST and 8 bit games.

Those three games were the first to employ slick user interfaces that actually wowed people without fail. However, two of those three were still ports rather than real Amiga games. And DotC barely even featured gameplay.


And by reason of genre those three games did not employ hardware scrolling and other fancy chipset features that could have elevated the Amiga far beyond PC DOS and 8 bit games.

Marble Madness Amiga 1986



Marble Madness of 1986 was the first good arcade conversion on the Amiga. Having its origin in a coinop, it also featured actual gameplay. The Amiga version of Marble Madness was programmed by Larry Reed. Marble Madness features a scrolling isometric playfield, sloping terrain and kinetics. However, Marble Madness was also good on other computers. It wasn't an Amiga-exclusive, it wasn't a true Amiga game.

Amiga Arkanoid of 1988 is the first coinop port for the Amiga that is better than any other version, including the original coinop.


But it was not until 1989, that is, until four years had past (Amigans were already noting with concern the slowness of Amiga releases in 1986-87), that the Amiga's chipset started getting pushed hard consistently. Consider that Shadow of the Beast, Hybris and Battle Squadron came out in 1988-89. These were the first REAL Amiga games.

After 1989 there was a steady-stream of Amiga games that pushed its hardware for several more years. And while that period could have lasted longer, you were glad to have had an Amiga.

MS-DOS Games Versus Amiga Games



In the early 90s the IBM PC caught up with the Amiga in terms of 2D capability via VGA. And it caught up to the Amiga's soundchip via sound cards. And the IBM PC had more raw processing power, more RAM and more HDD pedigree than Amigas. Moreover, it had the market. Thus was the Amiga Doomed as a computer game machine by the mid-90s, but as early as 1991 it was evident that Amigas could not contend in 3D computer games; only in 2D computer games did the Amiga contend. It is, however, quite a feat that 2D computer games on the Amiga rode 1985-tech for one decade. Bow down to the original Alienware.

The IBM PC MS-DOS port of Joe and Mac furnishes one example of how VGA had caught up to Amiga graphics by 1992.

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