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Shadow of the Beast Amiga Original Version 1989 Reflections Martin Edmondson Paul Howarth


The Original Shadow of the Beast



Reflections released the original version of Shadow of the Beast for the Amiga in 1989. Shadow of the Beast was advertised as "A whole new dimension in computer games." However, it was only revolutionary in terms of audiovisuals; its gameplay was stock-standard.

Shadow of the Beast is a 12-level beat 'em up that features puzzles. In Shadow of the Beast the player assumes the role of Aarbron, the Beast Messenger, as he goes up against Maletoth's horde of beasts, demons and undead. Once human, Aarbron was enslaved and transformed into a beast by the priests of the Beast Lord, Maletoth. Aarbron's goal is to avenge the death of his father at the hands of the priests, slay Maletoth and ultimately free himself from the curse of the shadow of the beast.

Aarbron's attacks include punching, kicking, throwing fireballs and firing lasers. The warrior can run, crouch, jump and climb up and down ladders. Flight is possible via jetpack, and potions can be collected that restore the warrior's energy.

Shadow of the Beast was designed and programmed by Martin Edmondson and Paul Howarth; its graphics were drawn by Martin Edmondson; its audio composed by David Whittaker; cover by Roger Dean.

Shadow of the Beast was developed by Reflections in nine months. Shadow of the Beast was developed on an Amiga 2000.

Shadow of the Beast preview/demo:


Shadow of the Beast was distributed on 2x 3.5" 880kB diskettes. It was not hard disk drive-installable.

Shadow of the Beast Features


  • 50 frames per second arcade-quality 13-level parallax hardware screen-scrolling
  • 288x184 to 288x200 active drawspace
  • 350 screens of graphics
  • 128 on-screen colors
  • 132 unique monsters
  • 850K of audio sampled at 20 kHz (Korg M1 Synthesizer of 1988)
  • Six tracks of music (Korg M1)
  • 2 megs of graphics data
  • 3.5 megs total data size
  • Hardware sprites
  • Max sprite size: 220x150 px
  • 2912x1474 playfield dimensions


Shadow of the Beast 2 Amiga 1990


Reflections released Shadow of the Beast 2 on the Amiga in 1990. Shadow of the Beast 2 was designed by Paul Howarth and Martin Edmondson, programmed by Phil Betts, drawn and animated by Jim Bowers, and composed by Tim Wright and Lee Wright. Shadow of the Beast 2 features more in the way of environmental interactivity than the original Beast. As well, the monsters act more intelligently. Shadow of the Beast 2 is the most difficult Beast game.


In Shadow of the Beast 2 the player reprises the role of Aarbron, now in human form. Aarbron's quest is to journey to Kara-Moon in order to rescue his sister from the clutches of the Beast Mage, Zelek, who is in Maletoth's employ.

  • Multi-directional hardware parallax scrolling
  • Hardware sprites
  • 50 frames per second
  • 3.5 megs total data
  • 2 megs of graphics data
  • 1 meg of audio data
  • 20 kHz music sample rate

Shadow of the Beast 2 was developed by Reflections in 12 months. Shadow of the Beast 2 was programmed in assembly language via PDS/2-Konix Development System of 1989 by P.D. Systems Ltd. Shadows of the Beast 2 was drawn and animated on an Amiga 2000 68030 clocked at 25 MHz.

Shadow of the Beast 2 was distributed on 2x 3.5" 880kB diskettes. It was not installable to hard disk drive.

Shadow of the Beast 3 Amiga 1992



Reflections released Shadow of the Beast 3 on the Amiga in 1992. Shadow of the Beast 3 was programmed by Paul Howarth and Cormac Batstone, its graphics were drawn by Jeff Bramfitt and Martin Edmondson, and its incredible music and sound were composed by Tim Wright and Lee Wright.

In Shadow of the Beast the player assumes the role of Aarbron as he seeks to destroy Maletoth once and for all.

Shadow of the Beast 3 features more complex puzzles than its prequels, but its puzzles are easier to solve than the ones in Beast 2.

The third installment's scrolling backdrops were assembled from 1,600 different 32x32 tile-blocks. The active drawspace is 288x192.

Shadow of the Beast 3 was distributed on 3x 3.5" 880kB diskettes. It was not installable to hard disk drive.

Shadow of the Beast Atari ST 1990



Mark McCubbin of Eldritch the Cat ported Shadow of the Beast to the Atari ST in 1990. Due to the ST's limited hardware specs ST Shadow of the Beast displays fewer colors, plays weaker sound and lacks smooth screen-scrolling. However, ST owners could not ask for a better port of the Amiga-original.

cf. Chronological list of similar computer games:


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