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Most Technically Advanced Amiga Games


Most Technically Advanced Amiga Games



Many technically advanced games appeared on the Amiga over its life-cycle. The most technically advanced games to appear on the Amiga are David Braben's Frontier: Elite 2 of 1993 and Julian Gollop's X-COM UFO Defense of 1994.

Amiga games can be technically advanced in terms of design and/or in terms of taking advantage of the custom chipset capacities of the Amiga.

For example, being that it is, in fact, a port of the IBM PC MS-DOS original, Amiga X-COM does not take much advantage of the custom chipset capacities of the Amiga, yet X-COM is an exceedingly complex computer game in terms of game mechanics. In fact, it terms of game mechanics there is no deeper or more complex game on the Amiga (or IBM PC MS-DOS for that matter) than X-COM.

On the other hand, Shadow of the Beast of 1989 is a relatively simplistic Amiga game in terms of design and mechanics, yet it pushed the Amiga's audiovisual capacities more than most games that came out in the early 1990s. If SotB was released in 1993 its code could have been 10 times more efficient than it was, and Reflections could have pushed the Amiga even more, like Thalion did in Lionheart of 1993. Because, as I've said before, it took several years for coders to understand how to push Amiga Alienware to the limit.

Thus, it is important to take into account the year of Amiga game releases. And that is why I have appended the year of release to each game listed below, and given pre-Beast 1985-88 Amiga games their own section.

Most Technically Advanced Amiga Games from 1985 to 1988



This is an alphabetical list of the most technically advanced Amiga games that came out before Shadow of the Beast of 1989. Pre-Lemmings, Beast was the Killer App on the Amiga. And therefore, post-Beast, many Amiga coders attempted to emulate or evolve its stunning audiovisuals with varying degrees of success. Thus, as a rule, there is a big difference in audiovisual quality between pre- and post-Beast Amiga games.


In terms of game-mechanics, Kampfgruppe obliterates its peers; it is deeper and more complex than most other Amiga games, regardless of year of release. Hybris, on the other hand, pushes the Amiga chipset more than its peers. In terms of arcade-action, Arkanoid comes closest to perfection.

Most Technically Advanced Arcade-action Amiga Games



This is an alphabetical list of the most technically advanced arcade-action Amiga games that came out post-1988. Arcade-action games include shoot 'em ups, beat 'em ups and platform games.


On an absolute level Lionheart takes more advantage of the Amiga's custom chipset capacities than its peers. The Atari ST could never replicate Lionheart, yet the Atari ST version of Turrican 2 is passable even though the Amiga version's audiovisuals are superior. However, in terms of game-mechanics Lionheart, Unreal, Beast and Agony are not as good as the likes of Gods, Rainbow Islands and Speedball 2, which the Atari ST handled well.

Most Technically Advanced non-Arcade-action Amiga Games



This is a chronological list of the most technically advanced non-arcade-action Amiga games. Non-action Amiga games include adventure games, flight simulators, cRPGs, TBS and RTS.


David Braben's Frontier: Elite 2 dominates the field overall, but Julian Gollop's X-COM: UFO Defense is more technically advanced in terms of game mechanics.

F1GP comes in third, M1 fourth and Dune 2 fifth.

Factors to consider an assessment of how technically advanced an Amiga game is:

  • Complexity of game-mechanics (depth and complexity of gameplay)
  • User Interface
  • Precision of controls via joystick, kb/m
  • Custom chipset employment
  • RAM required (512K, 1 meg or 2 megs)
  • CPU required (stock 68K or 680x0)
  • Screen-scrolling and sprite-shifting
  • Copper and bit-blitter employment
  • Paula audio employment
  • Sprites/Bobs: No. on-screen and size
  • No. of on-screen colors (16, 32, 64 or more)
  • Accuracy of collision detection
  • OCS/ECS or AGA
  • Tailorability of settings and modding ability (bundled editors/toolsets)
  • No. of diskettes
  • Data compression
  • Load-times and disk-swapping
  • Hard disk drive installability

Note that complexity of game-mechanics outstrips custom chipset exploitation. Afterall, gameplay is god, not graphics or sound. Smooth scrolling and sprite-shifting often does improve gameplay, but usually only in arcade-action games. And the depth and complexity of the likes of X-COM far outstrips any arcade-action game that has ever been made.

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