Amiga book: 1985 and 1986 (help required)

[andrew_rollings]

Okay, so I'm going through the list of games from 85 and 86 and not making much headway... The problem is that I didn't get my Amiga until the end of 86, and so I'm not so familiar with the games from those two years...

I'm assuming that some people on this site were probably luckier than me, and can help me come up with a list of definitive games from those two years that I can cover in the book...

Thanks in advance

Andrew

[jotd]

Originally Posted by andrew_rollings

Okay, so I'm going through the list of games from 85 and 86 and not making much headway... The problem is that I didn't get my Amiga until the end of 86, and so I'm not so familiar with the games from those two years...

I'm assuming that some people on this site were probably luckier than me, and can help me come up with a list of definitive games from those two years that I can cover in the book...

Thanks in advance

Andrew

Try here:

http://hol.abime.net/hol_search.php?Y_released=1985
http://hol.abime.net/hol_search.php?Y_released=1986

[Retro-Nerd]

1986: Defender of the crown.

The first game, which shows the whole graphic power of the Amiga

[NLS]

DotC is definitely a game I would put in such a book and definitely was impressive back then I remember, but it hardly shows the whole graphic power of the Amiga

[Retro-Nerd]

Originally Posted by NLS

DotC is definitely a game I would put in such a book and definitely was impressive back then I remember, but it hardly shows the whole graphic power of the Amiga

Don't be so pedantic. It goes graphically to the limit, for a 1986 game. Of course they improved the graphics later on, normal evolution.

[Belgarath]

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=12821

[Graham Humphrey]

I'd say Marble Madness should go in - one of the Amiga's first arcade conversions (I assume) and a rather good one at that.

[NLS]

Originally Posted by Retro-Nerd

Don't be so pedantic. It goes graphically to the limit, for a 1986 game. Of course they improved the graphics later on, normal evolution.

So you are saying DotC is the best OCS graphics game?

[DamienD]

Originally Posted by NLS

So you are saying DotC is the best OCS graphics game?

...for the time period i.e. 1986 it definitely was

[Retro-Nerd]

Originally Posted by DamienD

...for the time period i.e. 1986 it definitely was

Thanks a bunch, Damien. It was pretty easy to catch, heh?

Wasn't Mind Walker the first released game, bundled with the A1000?

[Calgor]

My picks (the top 3 are MUST includes IMHO):

1. Defender Of The Crown

2. Marble Madness:
As per comments, very good arcade conversion on Amiga

3. Arctic Fox:
http://hol.abime.net/3302 (HOL says 1985, but I thought it was 1986, I have the original)
Amiga original, noted as early FPS game, ported to many other systems. Oh, and you can take the view of one of the guided missiles you launch from your tank all the way till it hits the enemy! And the whole view in the window tilts when you go over rocks. Quite unique for the time.
PC version: http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/...rctic_fox.html
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_...mputer_game%29

4. Archon (stereo sound when you fire from one end of screen to the other!) I doubt any of the other conversions were as good.

5. Mind Walker:
Is talked about a lot (I haven't played it), but read reviews and it appears very original.
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_Walker

You could use a combination of HOL and Wikipedia to obtain extra information about the games, Wikipedia has a few references too. You can order HOL by the Year Released.

[NLS]

Mind walker (and Sinbad and many Cinemaware programs even maybe DotC) were made by late David Williams?

http://www.dadgum.com/giantlist/archive/williams.html

[andrew_rollings]

The final 85/86 list is now:

Archon
Mind Walker
Colossal Adventure
Defender of the Crown
Deja Vu: A Nightmare Comes True
Leader Board
Marble Madness
MindShadow
The Pawn
Silent Service
Skyfox
Trivial Pursuit: Amiga Genus Edition
The Zork Trilogy.


Any there that people feel are unworthy? Any missing?

Andrew

[killergorilla]

Well I feel arctic fox should be in that list, and personally I don't see why triv pursuit is in there

[Calgor]

Arctic Fox should definitely be. It is an Amiga original game, ported to many other systems (look at the conversions list on wiki and hol). I went through the whole list on HOL to come up with just 5 games (biased by what I have played).

I owned an amiga 1000 in 1987, and I had at the time (yes it offers a different perspective back then), 5 of the 13 games on your list. Those 5 on your list that you selected are: Archon, DotC, Marble Madness, Silent Service, Skyfox. All played heaps. I don't see how you can leave out Arctic Fox while including some of those others. It is certainly more of a landmark game than many selected for reasons described by me above and more on the wiki page.

You do realise the only amiga original game you have in your list is Mind Walker? [Edit: hmm and of course dotc]. That would be very sad for a best amiga games list, not to mention the quality of the game on its own merits.

Not sure why Zork or Trivial Pursuit are included as I imagine they are not really "enhanced" by the amiga's capabilities, especially for that time period. There seem to be a fair few text adventures in the list of 13 amiga games. Maybe I personally did not see them as special compared with the other types of games available on the amiga.

[Belgarath]

Not an amiga original, but surely Bard's Tale should be on that list as well?

[Graham Humphrey]

Originally Posted by Calgor

You do realise the only amiga original game you have in your list is Mind Walker? [Edit: hmm and of course dotc]. That would be very sad for a best amiga games list, not to mention the quality of the game on its own merits.

To be fair though, how many original and good Amiga games were released in that time period? Not many I'll bet.

[Calgor]

@Graham

Yes true, there were hardly any amigas sold back then, I could only make 3 in my list, although I meant the comment mainly at the exclusion of Arctic Fox which utilised the capabilities of the Amiga unlike most other games.

[Calgor]

Chessmaster 2000 for the male and female voices of the chessmasters? Classic, especially back in those days.

Do any of the text adventures use speech to read out the text? I imagine they must. I remember enjoying the text adventure "Haunted Mansion" from the SPOC disk (released I think 1986, missing from HOL). It used speech to read the text that was being displayed. Although it did not have pictures like some of these, and perhaps the story may not be as intriguing.

[paranoid]

The Zorks didn't use speech, at least Zork 3 didn't and I'd imagine if any did, that would. I also think it's an odd choice for an Amiga book since it's the same as it ever was on all platforms, even the 64. Good game? Probably, but good Amiga game? Eh..not really. And it was popular, sure, that's considering it was on practically everything. I'd even wonder just how much it sold on the Amiga since someone would have had to miss it on everything else. Doesn't make for good screenshots either.

Leaderboard Golf isn't quite as good as I remember it.. Used to play it a lot on the 64, but the Amiga version is odd.. Too fast/hard maybe.

The others on the list are either very good picks or I'm not familiar with them. The Pawn is a good choice, too; as I remember it, it was groundbreaking for its graphics (even on other systems) for an adventure.