The Top 100 Public Domain Game Vote

[amigapd]

Hi all,


Graham Humphrey, Robert Hazelby and myself are working on an article of the 100 best pd games (including Licenceware / shareware / amiga magazine cover disks) and would like some help working out the order to rank them. Therefore we would really appreciate if you could contribute to our project by voting for your top 30 games from the list below: (we have asked for your top 30 to reduce the chances of 0 votes and games on same number of points)




Act of War
Aerial Racers
Agent Lux
Air Taxi
Alien Bash 2
Alien Fish Finger
Aquanaut
Asteroids
Atom Smasher
BabeAnoid
Beetle
Black Dawn 2
Bob's Magic Garden
Breed '96
Bull Run
Burton Bird
Colonial Conquest 2
Crazy Sue
Croak
Cyberman
Cybernetix
Defender
Deluxe Galaga
Deluxe Pacman
Depth Charge
Diamond Caves
Dithell In Space
Dogfight v1.1
Doody
Downfall
Drip
Dynamite Warriors
Elektrek
Elevation
Fatal Mission 2
Fayoh
Fayoh 2
Fleuch
Gravity Power
Hoi AGA Remix
Hydrozone
Infection
Insectoids From Outer Space
Jet Set Willy '97
Jump and Roll
Jump Em
Knights
Larn
Lethal Formula
Llamatron
Lord of Alcandria 2
Mad Bomber
Megaball
Mine Runner
Morton Strikes Back
Move Em
Mr Beanbag
Og!
Pacman '96
Peg It
Pengo
Pod
Poing
Pollymorf
Premier Picks
Qbic
Quasar Wars
Quicksilva
Relics of Deldroneye
Renegades
Return to Earth
Rocketz
Santa and Rudolph
Scorched Tanks
Sneech
Solidquad
Springtime
Stairwoids
Super Foul Egg
Super Obliteration
Tanks N Stuff
Tanx
Toobz
Top Hat Willy
Total Chaos
Total War
Touch 'n' Go
T-Racer
Tracker Hero
Trick or Treat
Truckin On
War
Wibble World Giddy
Willy's Weirdy Nightmare
Wired Chaos
WITNESS
Wizzy's Quest
Zaxxon
Zerg
Zombie Apocalypse

The following two games have been added to the list

Extreme Violence
Knockout 2

They will replace games which get 0 votes.






If there are games which you have not heard of before then visit this AmigaPd page which contains a slideshow of all the games and a folder to download containing all the disk images / LHA files.

Voting starts now and will close 23:59 UK time on July 31. No votes after this date will be counted. Edit - will extend the deadline so that more votes are received.

After this we will write up mini reviews for each game and count down to the number one game over a period of weeks.

If there is a public domain game which you think should have been included in the list then can you please write a short 100 - 150 word mini review of the game to support its inclusion in the list



Thanks in advance for all your help.

[mihcael]

1. Super Obliteration
2. Deluxe Galaga
3. Sneech
4. Poing
5. Downfall
6. Tanx
7. Pacman '96
8. Llamatron
9. Insectoids From Outer Space
10. Megaball
11. Deluxe Pacman
12. BabeAnoid
13. Dogfight v1.1
14. Cybernetix
15. Scorched Tanks
16. Alien Fish Finger
17. Total Chaos

Those are the ones i recall playing. In a reasonable order.

[amigapd]

Thanks mihcael -

The voting system we are using allocates points on a sliding scale from 1 to 30 so I am happy for individuals to include their votes for less than 30 games as I appreciate that PD games would have been played less than commercial games and not everyone will have played all the games listed.

Hopefully this will raise the awareness of these games and encourage more people to give them a play and hopefully enjoy them.

Look forward reading more of your votes.

[Gordon]

I havent played many PD games im afriad so I will just rank the ones I have played. (the top 4 I loved)

1. Atom Smasher
2. Scortched tanks
3. Mine runner
4. Babeanoid
5. Megaball
6. Deluxe Galaga
7. Deluxe pacman

[Predseda]

There is no Blaster, Knockout 2, Extreme violence and even Quick money. How comes?

[s2325]

1. Super Obliteration
2. Alien Bash 2
3. Crazy Sue
4. Hoi
5. Morton Strikes Back
6. BabeAnoid
7. Cybernetix
8. Drip
9. Wibble World Giddy

[amigapd]

Originally Posted by Predseda

There is no Blaster, Knockout 2, Extreme violence and even Quick money. How comes?

The 100 games were arrived at by Graham and myself producing our own top 100 individual lists - these lists had 36 games which we both agreed on but others which were unique to our own tastes. We then both submitted 32 games from our remaining 64 games to come up with a top 100.

There are games which obviously are not on the list and I could easily list 170+ pd games which are worthy of playing and there are some games that I and Graham have not played or may have forgotten about - the difficulty is limiting them into a top 100 and then ranking them.

If you feel that Blaster - Knockout 2, Extreme Violence and Quick Money are worthy of being in the top 100 PD games of all time then all we ask is you produce a short 150 word review of the games to be included in the article. Click here to see an example of the reviews we are writing. Then add your votes including those games.

From a personal point of view Renegades was my selection for an Extreme Violence 2 player death match type game and Deluxe Galaga as a Shooter game -

Knockout is a unique type of game and probably should be in the list but where it would rank is difficult to say as there are some other great multiplayer games on the list. I have to admit I have never played Quick Money but from what I ve read it is similar to Rocketz / Gravity Power in being a two player combat game but it lacked the variety of mazes that those two games had.

[spud]

Some great games in that list that I remember, and some great looking games I've never heard of. I shall have to play a few before I cast any votes.

[Jonathan Drain]

1. Knights
2. Sneech
3. Deluxe Galaga
4. Deluxe Pacman
5. (Zerberk)
6. (Parattack)
7. (Digital Ninja's Gory Xmas)
8. Scorched Tanks
9. Wibble World Giddy
10. Tanks N Stuff
11. Colonial Conquest 2
12. Breed '96
13. Defender
14. (XMas Time (The One Amiga coverdisk))
15. (Weapon Masters)
16. Wizzy Quest
17. Morton Strikes Back
18. (Peter's Quest)
19. (Dungeons of Avalon)
20. (Dungeons of Avalon 2)
21. (KickIt: A Day For The Laiban)
22. (Crystal Skull)

A few issues: I can't vote for 30, as I've only played these. Entries in brackets are games that aren't on the list, but which I'm too lazy to write 150 words on The correct name of "Wizzy Quest" is "Wizzy's Quest". Hoi was commercial, not freeware, but the sequel Hoi AGA was freeware.

[amigapd]

Thank you for your vote. I will amend the names for wizzy's quest and hoi later today. In terms of hoi my understanding was that is was to be commercial but they never got paid so they released an improved version hoi aga remix as freeware. It is this version we are referring to.

Remember the vote is running to July so there is plenty of time to try out some of the other games you may not have heard of. Part of the idea of the vote is to increase awareness of pd games. There really are some hidden gems worth trying.

[Predseda]

Here is my theoretical TOP 20 PD GAMES list. Some of them are not from the list in the first post, but I really like them. I will not support them with a short review, because I am not a good writer and not a native english speaker.

1. Alien Fish Finger v1.31
2. Deluxe Galaga v2.6
3. Burton Bird
4. Cybernetix
5. Black Dawn 2 (and others from Black Dawn saga)
6. Dogfight v 1.1
7. Megaball AGA v4
8. Babeanoid
9. Scorched tanks
10. Mr. Beanbag
11. Downfall AGA
12. (Epsilon 9) (Edmund W. Clay)
13. (Blaster) (J. R. Evans)
14. Wizzy's quest
15. Knockout 2
16. (Quick money) (Ben Campbell)
17. (Motorola Invaders 2) (Martin Rebas)
18. Extreme violence
19. (Atoms) (Tom Kuhn)
20. (Hydrocis) (Sebastian Winkel)

EDIT: I forgot MASTER BLASTER! It must be no.2 in my list, just after AFF!!

[Harry]

Here is my Top list, and I included several unmentioned games with intent. I want to try some promising looking games from your list later, and then enlarge my list.

1. (ACSYS Demo) - One level demo of a Turrican Clone
2. Deluxe Galaga AGA
3. (Transplant) - Shooter
4. (Dr. Mario) - Logic game with falling blocks
5. Diamond Caves
6. (Artillerus II) - Artillery game
7. Aquanaut
8. (Dungeons of Avalon 2) - RPG, i am not sure if it is a real coverdisk
9. Babeanoid
10. (Fourmaze) - Pacman with random labyrinth
11. Pod
12. Alien Bash 2
13. Cybernetix
14. Movem

[Graham Humphrey]

Originally Posted by Predseda

20. (Hydrocis) (Sebastian Winkel)

Never heard of this one. Could you let me know where to find it please? Just the name makes me curious

[amigapd]

Thank you Predseda and Harry

There are still lots of great games which have not had any votes yet including

Air Taxi
Fayoh
Hydrozone
Jet Set Willy '97
Jump and Roll
Super Foul Egg
Top Hat Willy
Trick or Treat
War
Wired Chaos
Zombie Apocalypse

as well as Gravity Power - which acording to Amiga Power was the secondest best amiga game - probably biased I know - but please visit the download page to obtain DMS / ADF or LHA files to play the games. You might be presently surprised.

Hydrocis seems to be on aminet - http://aminet.net/package/game/think/Hydrocis19

Look forward to reading more votes over the coming weeks.

[Harry]

I am not a fan of Thrust and Jet Set Willy style games. I also tried Jump and Roll and it simply has not that Trailblazer feeling, the inertia of the ball is missing.

[Graham Humphrey]

Originally Posted by amigapd

Hydrocis seems to be on aminet - http://aminet.net/package/game/think/Hydrocis19

Cheers, will check it out. It's great that even now there are so many games that are new to me that I can discover.

[Predseda]

I have once reviewed Hydrocis for our local Amiga magazine, it is very original game. Maybe I could try to translate it to English.

EDIT: no, it is not possible, I just checked it and I am not able to translate it from Czech to make it sense.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by Harry

8. (Dungeons of Avalon 2) - RPG, i am not sure if it is a real coverdisk

It is: http://amr.abime.net/issue_425

[amigapd]

In an attempt to increase voting - please feel free to include games that are not on the original list but indicate them in brackets as Harry and Predseda have.

At the close I will do an EAB top 100 vote. - games selected which were not in the original list will not have new review written but a link to existing reviews if available. This is because Graham - Robert and I would not be able to physically write 100 mini reviews immediately after the close of the vote and are currently working through the oringinal 100 for our seperate project.

The EAB vote will be used to help determine the places for the 100 games chosen by Graham and myself for our project and it may be that our original selection changes slightly as a result of the EAB votes so please download the games - play them and vote and also recommend any PD / Shareware gems we may have missed.

Look forward to seeing some more votes soon!

[lifeschool]

Here are my picks Sorry, AmigaPD, there were a few titles I just had to add..

1. The Adventures of Quik and Silva
Back in 1991, and according to Chris Hulsbeck - the music desiger on this production, The Adventures of Quik and Silva was bolted together in just two weeks by the Kaiko/A.U.D.I.O.S Team when they ran into financial touble trying to produce Apidya. They decided to rush out a Turrican/Great Giana Sisters clone to capitalise on a trend they knew would sell well, lebelled themselves 'New Bits on the Ram', and sold the game to Amiga Fun magazine to be released on a coverdisk later in 1991. Kaiko got 30,000 DM for the Amiga version and a further 20,000 DM for an Atari ST conversion, and with the money they were then able to complete and release Apidya early in 1992. The final product features many in-jokes and characters from famous games, including Sonic and Mario, Ninja Turtles, and even the wasps from Apidya. As a Turrican wannabe, the game is fast, smooth and highly playable; with a varied set of polished levels, and with great music and voice sound effects.

2. Alien Fish Finger
3. Deluxe Galaga
4. Mr. Beanbag AGA Demo
5. Drip
6. Alien Bash 2
7. Cybernetix
8. SpeedRacer FX
SpeedRacer FX is the sequel to Hydrozone - and as such is a similar 3D tunnel simulator designed and coded by David J. Cruickshank (of Alien Fish Finger fame). This time, the pilot of this other-worldly craft must fight to stay ahead of an opponent in a fast and fluid 3D tunnel environment. If anything, this game is much more responsive then it's predisesor, much faster, and much more competetive; thanks to a new split screen dual playfield mode - which is either controlled by the computer as a CPU player, or a human competitor using the keyboard or a second joystick. Unlike Hydrozone, the music in this sequel is top notch, and never gets boring. The polished menu screens add to the high adreneline atmosphere, and the game is just fun and highly addictive from the go.

9. Llamatron
10. Sneech
11. Scorched Tanks
12. Morton Strikes Back
13. BabeAnoid
14. Starwoids
15. Tanx
THE public domain title on the Amiga for the longest time, this little gem inspired many tank attack games and future war simulatons. Its simplicity belies the fact that it's quite tricky to fire a missile; taking account of the wind and terrain, angle of attack, and speed and velocity of your missile; to hopefully land it on top of an enemy tank who is trying to do the same back to you. Later games made use of more weapons and special effects, yet the 'Commence Firing!!' speech samples and well drawn backgrounds gave this game a very unique feel and strange military charm all of its own.

16. Revenge of the Mutant Camels
More humped animals firing missiles at even sillier, but less humped, enemies. Collectables include packs of Cigarettes (which enable flight) and Umberallas (which stop the rain). No, I am not making this up.

17. Missle Command
Another classic PD game on the Amiga. This was probably the very first PD game I ever saw. In fact I had to ask what P.D actually meant while playing this for the first time. I was told it meant 'Free'. A free game? Surely not! Compared to the c64 version, this mouse driven nuke-sim is super smooth, fast and responsive. The main attacks begin pretty granny friendly, but soon become mad scrambles; as wave after wave of nukes and little smart bombs are dropped towards your poor little cities. Matt Broderick it ain't.

18. Extreme Violence
19. Dr. Mario
Match two ends of the same pill to take your medicine. Match all the ends of all the pills to get totally stoned. Then the doctor will prescribe you some more; just like real life.

20. Hydrozone
21. Downfall
Graham Humphreys neo-classic take on a not-so-old Atari 2600 and Jaguar game. More a spiritual 'homage' than a 1:1 port, this version is just as responsive and just as challenging as it's inspiration title. Nothing from the Atari games is present in the Amiga version, which has been redesigned from the ground up, with new level designs, new music, and a series of Amiga themed collectables all adding to this games novelty and appeal. But don't be expecting this to be a pushover!, as this title remains very challenging and requires strategy as well as fast reflexes to progress.

22. Madhouse
Although this point n' clicker only has ten or so screens, the charm comes with the smart dialogue and the visual gags littered throughout. The graphics may be Dpaint, and the GRAC/GRAIL type environment is quite low-tech, but the solution will have even pixel-hunting freaks scratching their heads and wondering 'Why does that girl have such HUGE glasses??'

23. Damage
A man goes on the rampage with a tiny gun. He walks into a disco, and kills them all inside. He finds a bigger gun. He walks into a hotel, and kills them all inside. He finds a bigger gun. He walks into a police station, and kills them all inside. Get the idea? Sick and bloody. Sometimes the main character is slow to operate and control, especially when the violence begins to really ramp up, but generally the game is just sick, and, er, bloody.

24. Pod
25. Dr. Strange 2