Confirming games existence

[Imran]

I got bored so started going through the games on dubious existance to try and dig up their histor,y I'm actually going from Twistin'ghosts list in his stick MIA post in the rare games board.

I've duplicated the list below and will mark it as I find evidence one way or the other. I'll also post seperated messages for all the major juicy bits unless anyone has any objections.

Almagica (1996/DSP) Unreleased; Unfinished

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=19773

Alvin and the Chipmunks (1993/Alternative Software) Unreleased; Complete

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=19774

Biff (1992/Beyond Belief) budget

Originally a CPC game. Apparently announced for the Amiga in Amiga Force, Issue 5 May 1993 (can anyone confirm ?)

Blues Brothers 2: Jukebox Adventures (1993/Titus) see this thread

This guy might know he worked on the game: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/rimasson/contre/cv.htm

Bod The Alien (1992/Digital Magic)

Apparently a C64 release, was it converted ?

Boo the Ghost (19xx/Microprose?) beta

Apparently featured in Amiga Action issue 68

Brain Killers (1998/Titan Computer/Virtual Madness) cancelled, demo on Aminet
Castles 2: Siege And Conquest (1994/Interplay) floppy version
Catch 23 (1987/Martech)

Haven't found any evidence that this was ever converted to the Amiga from the Speccy original.

Contraption Zack (1992/Mindscape) floppy version

Ap. circa 93 this was listed in future release catalogues.

Creatures 2 (1993/Kompart)

Another game to be found on to-be-released lists, no evidence of demo/reviews/etc though. On listing giving the company as Thalamus with a release date of Dec 92

Creepers (1994/Psygnosis) unreleased

A port of the PC game, looks like one of the limboed games of Psygnosis.

Crimetown Depths (1989/Mirrorsoft/E-Motion Software) unreleased, demo exists

The above link pretty much covers it all, the graphic artists current website is at http://digilander.libero.it/bolido/ but I can't read italian so I can't work out if her has anything else on it.

Cyberspace (1993-94/Empire/Oxford Digital) previewed in CU Amiga April 1993, Amiga Computing #63, and Amiga Power #23
Cyberswatch (19xx/?)

Drawn a complete blank on this one, no information whatsoever.

Daemonsgate (1992/Gremlin) reviewed in CU Amiga

Ap. development was stopped by Imagitec due to the poor performance of the game on the PC

Decathlon (198x/Activision?)

Originally a c64 game, can't find any evidence of an amiga version

Deluxe MULE (1990/Infernal Byte Systems) unreleased

The linked webpage no longer exists so here's the quote from it "This conversion was planned for a late 1990 release. Infernal Byte Systems, with their producer Julian Eggebrecht (which most people know as a member of the famous Amiga programming team Factor 5 he co-founded later) started with the conversion, but it was stopped again because of some trouble with the license (which was in the hands of Electronic Arts).

Though the Amiga game Traders (see clones page) looks rather similar to Deluxe M.U.L.E., it has absolutely nothing to do with it. Traders was released by the Swiss programming team called Linel, who are entirely different people than the members of Infernal Byte Systems.

In the German games magazine Power Play, issue 8/1990, an article appeared about this game. As soon as I've got some time, I will translate it and put the whole article online here. For now, you'll have to be satisfied with some screenshots of Deluxe M.U.L.E.: "

Dick Special - The Search For Spook (1987/Rainbird/Solid Software)

Sandy White (http://www.sandywhite.co.uk/) the developer of the game has said in 2001 that she (he?) has a working demo of the game. Quote from her website "After that was published I started working on a game called 'Dick Special' for the Commodore Amiga... It was never finished, though I still have a working demo.... It was whilst writing DS that I got fed up with the games business..."

Dreadnought (19xx/Mastertronic) NOT Dreadnoughts

Seen a single online reference to this game being produced by Melbourne House (wh o were later bought by Mastertronic

G2 (1995/Psygnosis) unreleased

Demo on on Amiga Format 63B. Angus Manwaring asked Psygnosis about this and got the response that Psygnosis no longer had a copy of the game/code. It seems this game was pretty close to completition but was never released. According to a usenet post by reviewer Peter Olafson G2 was pretty close to complete.

Gadget Twins (1991/Gametek) unreleased

Seen on a future releases list as being made by Mirage with release date of NOV-92

Gauntlet (1986/US Gold)

I've seen several claim that Tengen advertised Gauntlet for the amiga in amiga world. But no-one has any firm evidence of it existing. I've also seen a claim that the development company of Guantlet was involved in Garrision so they purposefully killed gauntlet for the amiga to prevent competition.

Gravity Attack (198x/Scott ?)

All the reference I can find to this game point towards a file called gravattack.lha (on aminet), could someone with a decent uae/amiag setup grab this file and check if it is this game ?

Greased Lightnin' (19xx/Big Apple)

Can't find any evidence of this. I haven't seen any amiga games from The Big Apple Entertainment Company so this looks dubious.

Hard Core (1994/Psygnosis) Digital Illusions, never released/finished?

From an interview with Andreas Axelsson (founder of DI) at http://www.bfnation.net/features/dice/ "Shortly after the release of the platform game Benefactor, Psygnosis, the publisher withdrew Hardcore. A real setback. We were very sorry to have to give up a job that was 99% complete, Andreas comments on the shoot´em-up game that never was."

Harrier Strike Mission II (19xx/Big Apple)
Hatris (1991/Spectrum Holobyte)

Can't find any evidence for this game on the Amiga, the first claim for it being available on the amiga seem to surface around 2002, which makes it seem dubious.

Honeymooners, The (1988/First Row)

According to INFO, September 1988, Issue 22 First Row announced Jackie Gleason's The Honeymooners for the amiga at the consumers electronics show. Originally a c64 game.

Island of Dr. Brain (199?/?) on the Amiga?

No evidence this was on the amiga

It's A Frog's Life (199?/Arcana) unreleased

Mark Jones (an amiga games artist) who worked on the game lists the game as unreleased on his personal webpage at
http://users.adelphia.net/~mjonesgraphics/profile.html

Japanese, British & German Forces (19xx/SSI)

Haven't found any evidence for this one. At a guess I'd reckon this was another name for Typhoon of steal...but wihtout anything to go on I'm stuck.

Jones In The Fast Lane (1991/Sierra)

Apparently mentioned in Amiga Format Games Special magazine

Jonny Quest (198x/MicroIllusions) unreleased

Can't find anything other than is given in HOL

[NOB]

Nice idea!
Here are three more dubious games:Kangarudy, Tau Ceti and Overflow(Kingsoft).
I am interested in. Please add them to your list.

[FromWithin]

And add on Indigo from Psygnosis. I'd love to know what happened to it. It was a good platform game. I initially recommended that we take it on because the version we were presented with was on the ST, which didn't really have anything like it. The Amiga version was twice the frame rate, but was identical apart from that and the audio. I rewrote some of the music for it, Greg Duddle was the producer, but apart from that, I don't know.

[Imran]

Splitting the list into 2 due to the limit on message size:

Lasertrain (19xx/Big Apple)

Another c64 game by big apple

Limbo of the Lost (199x/Rasputin) CD32/AGA, unreleased

(pre?)reviewed in the Jul 95 issue of Amgia Computing and issue 72 of Amiga Action. Demo to be found on CD32 GAMER April 1995 issue.

Metal Gear (1989/Ultra) unreleased

An interesting one this, a number of people claim it existed but no-one seems to claim to have played it. Apparently an advert for the amiga version appeared in an issue of Amiga World.

Mighty Max (1994/Ocean} unreleased

Mentioned in the Oct 1994 issue of CU Amiga.

Mission Bavarya (19xx/?)

Can't find any evidence of this at all

Night Raider (1988/Gremlin)

[STRIKE]Not entirely sure what this is doing on an MIA list...this game is on The Best Of Gremlin compilation CD[/STRIKE]

Nobby The Aardvark (1992/Thalamus) unreleased

On a future releases list for Oct 1992. a c64 conversion

Oops! (19xx/The Big Apple)

Usenet post about it:
Date: Wed, 9 Jun 93 14:34:28 bst
Message-Id: <9306091334.AA27065@hpc.lut.ac.uk>
From: Merlin <N.U.Fitzsimons@loughborough.ac.uk> (MERLIN)

A few years ago, I used a homebrew (well, I did it at the
office...) FORTH on the Atari ST to produce a conversion of a C64
game called OOPS - a kind of real-time logic puzzle based around
symmetrical grids, designed by a guy called Jason Kendall from
Salisbury, England. This received very good reviews in the C64
version. Unfortunately, shortly after we delivered the 16 bit
versions (PC, ST and Amiga - only the ST in FORTH, the rest in
Assembler), the publisher, The Big Apple Entertainment Co Ltd (who
despite their name were based in London) was closed down by its
parent company, so the ST version was never released.

Red Sunset (19xx/Mirrorsoft)

Can't find any evidence for this one

Rush 'N Attack (US)/Green Beret (1986/Konami) both/either
Schatz Im Silbersee, Der (1994/Linel/Software 2000) German

I don't know enough german to be able to search for this one, is it the same as the CD32 game Treasure Silver lake ?

Scooby Doo (198x/MicroIllusions) unreleased, NOT Scooby & Scrappy Doo

Can't find any evidence this isn't the same as S&SD

Search For The Titanic (1989/Capstone)

Apparently mentioned in Commodore Magazine, April 1989 and Compute's Gazette, June 1990.

Skate Or Die (1988/Electronic Arts)
Skitchin' (1995/Electronic Arts/Ocean) unreleased

Previewed in Amiga Action 63 and CU Amiga Oct 94

Snow Brothers (1992/Ocean) unreleased

I've seen a claim that this was reviewed in C+VG soemtime in 85/86 ??? Seems unlikely

Son Of Zeus (1991/Aeon Design/Electronic Zoo) demo on Amiga Action Coverdisk 28
Son Shu Si (1991/Loriciel/Futura/Expose) unreleased

reviewed in Amiga Joker, April 1992

Superhero (1993/Psygnosis) unreleased

Previewed in The One Jan 93, CU Amiga Jan 93 and Amiga Computing Issue 58. Apparently Anthony Ball claimed in '99 to have a master copy of the completed game.

Tai-Pan (1989/Ocean)

Looks like this one was at least announced according to http://www.enkil.demon.co.uk/Pages/aminos3.html

Thud Ridge (19xx/Big Apple)

no evidence this was ported from c64

Tiny Mites (19xx/Automagick Industries)

Zilch

Vendetta (1990/System 3)

Can't find any evidence this was ported from the speccy.

Vision (19xx/Rainbow Arts) not the Ad Games version

I think we decided it wa sthe adgames version

Xyphoes Fantasy (1991/Silmarils)

Amstrad game no evidence of it being ported

[CodyJarrett]

Originally Posted by Imran

Night Raider (1988/Gremlin)

Not entirely sure what this is doing on an MIA list...this game is on The Best Of Gremlin compilation CD

It's not actually on the CD although advertised as such.

[Imran]

Ok here's my summary of my research I've put the games into categories the higher up the category the more likely I believe the game existed in some state for the amiga:

Full version reviews exist:

• Night Raider
• Son Shu Si

Demos exist:

• Almagica
• Crimetown Depths
• G2
• Limbo of the lost
• Son of Zeus

Existence confirmed by company/developers:

• Alvin and the chipmunks
• Creepers
• Daemonsgate
• Deluxe MULE
• Dick Special
• Hard Core
• It's a Frog's Life
• Oops!

Previews exist:

• Boo the Ghost
• Cyberspace
• Mighty Max
• Mission Bavarya
• Skitchin'
• Superhero

Game announced:

• Biff
• Contraption Zack
• Creatures 2
• Gadget Twins
• Honeymooners
• Jones in The fast lane
• Jonny Quest
• Nobby The Aardvark
• Schatz Im Silbersee
• Search for the Titanic
• Taipan

Other non-authoritative period references:

• Blues Brothers 2
• Dreadnought
• Gauntlet
• Gravity Attack
• Metal Gear

No evidence at all found:

• Cyberswatch
• Japanese, British and German Forces
• Red Sunset
• Scooby Doo
• Tiny Mites

Games existed on other platform but no evidence for an amiga version:

• Bod The Alien
• Catch 23
• Decathlon
• Greased Lightnin'
• Harrier Strike Mission 2
• Hatris
• Island of Dr. Brain
• Lasertrain
• Green Beret
• Skate or Die
• Snow Brothers
• Thud ridge
• Vendetta
• Xyphoes Fantasy

[Duke]

There is a playable demo of Schatz im Silbersee and Scooby Doo was released on C64 (and maybe others).

[BippyM]

This is a fantastic thread and idea!!

a suggestion

Instead of creating a new thread for each game (and filling the eab with scattered posts/threads) why not just post info in here (edit the post that the game is mentioned in).

[FromWithin]

I mentioned the game Indigo before. I've found the website of the one-man power-house creator (Stéphane Belin) and sent him a mail.

A bit more searching, and look what I found:

[demoniac]

In a Commodore (software?) catalog, they showed a screenshot of Rastan and said it was to come out. I have never seen it.

Also, whatever happened to Phantasie II? Did a license deal fall thru as parts 1 & 3 were on the Amiga.

[Imran]

Rastan for the amiga was announced by taito at teh summer ces in June 1988 but when someone phoned taito and asked them in 1990 taito said they didn't have any plans for an amiga release.

[7-Zark-7]

Just a small little bit of nitpicking Vendetta (System 3),would've been a conversion of the C64 game (which was the original 8 bit version) not the Speccy.
Could be mistaken ,but pretty sure FromWithin has mentioned from his Psygnosis day's about Amiga "Creepers" not progressing very far on the grounds of horrendous PC-portitus making it terminal.
I think in a mention of Creatures 1 (Thalamus) in The One, made mention of WJS Designs (which handle the dire Amiga conversion of the C64 game), as also going to be responsible for Creatures 2 on th Amiga as well-thankfully it doesn't seem like they ever got the chance!

You might want to try looking up a long piece I wrote for Compute's Amiga Resource (the July '93 issue, I think) which covered dozens of unreleased Amiga games--including Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and The Ball Game by R.J. Mical.

You might be able to find a copy on eBay.

Contraption Zack was released for the Amiga. And Creatures 2 did surface; I have it somewhere.(The subtitle is Torture Trouble.) I think it's the Amiga version, too, but can't be sure.

Peter

[Codetapper]

Creatures 2 was definitely not released on any computer except the C64.

[NOB]

Found a complete-solution in AJ 4/94.Belongs this to the demoversion?
Can anyone confirm or deny this?

[demoniac]

I have seen an entry for Sleeping Gods Still Lie at http://eager.back2roots.org/DATA/S/SLEGLD.HTML . I have never seen this for the Amiga. Maybe it was released on the ST. Perhaps the game title is different?

[andreas]

Originally Posted by Peteroo

Contraption Zack was released for the Amiga

No doubt about it
But was the floppy version too?
The first post in this thread refers to the floppy version, that is the version playable from disk. The commonly available version MUST be installed to HD, i. e. with no HD, you cannot play the game.

[demoniac]

Originally Posted by demoniac

I have seen an entry for Sleeping Gods Still Lie at http://eager.back2roots.org/DATA/S/SLEGLD.HTML . I have never seen this for the Amiga. Maybe it was released on the ST. Perhaps the game title is different?

Just a follow-up to my post, http://amiga.emucamp.com/scripts/rea...us.pl?number=s also shows it as a data disk:

Sleeping Gods Lie - Datadisk by Empire released in 1991. Further Information: Disk(s), Language En
Code by ; Graphics by ; Music and Sound by
Configuration: WinECS

I know LSD Docs 25 also has a doc of it.

[Codetapper]

Originally Posted by demoniac

I have seen an entry for Sleeping Gods Still Lie at http://eager.back2roots.org/DATA/S/SLEGLD.HTML . I have never seen this for the Amiga. Maybe it was released on the ST. Perhaps the game title is different?

I'd just like to point out to everyone that EAGER is full of mistakes, games that don't exist, cheats that don't work etc. The HOL team prefers to find out real information from magazines and authors rather than rip from dodgy websites. So just because EAGER might have an entry for a title doesn't really mean anything.

[NOB]

Searched through my mags.The only sign of Kangarudy i have found was
this C64 advert(on golden Disk64) .I think this was never released on Amiga or ST.