Most impressive Amiga games and demos?

[TroyWilkins]

I know this is going to be rather subjective, as what impresses one person may make another person yawn. But I'd like people to put forth their opinion for the most impressive games and demos on the Amiga, and why.

Some background as to why I ask.

First of all, I was never a huge game player back in the day on the Amiga. I played the occasional game, but was more of a casual gamer, and most of the time my Amiga was used for other things, playing with programming languages, playing around in DPaint/Imagine/PPaint/Photogenics/OctaMED or any number of other apps - not that I ever created anything worth sharing, but I had fun. Also, I was in no way, shape or form involved with the demo scene, and to this day know very little about it, the people behind it, etc.

Secondly, as most of us know, it often takes time for talented programmers to really get to grips with what can be done on a machine - look at the early stuff for the C64, and compare it to the stuff that was done much later, or for a more recent example, early Playstation 2 games vs what was made towards the end of that platforms life.

So what I'm trying to do is create a video, showcasing the progression from the very early Amiga games, to when programmers really made the OCS machines really show what they could do. I then want to do much the same thing for AGA machines.

As this is intended for an audience who may not be familiar with the Amiga, and may not be too interested in technical details, this rules out things like demos where the whole point is to display as many sprites/BOBs/texture mapped objects, unless it's done in a visually compelling manner that would entertain non-technical people at the same time.

I don't mind needing to do some of the work myself, so all you have to do if you want to help, is name a game or demo, but if you can name the year and what machine it's for (OCS/ECS/AGA), that would be very much appreciated.

What sort of thing am I after? Well, so far I've got:

• The Amiga dealer demos - including the Boing ball demo (1985? OCS),
• Marble Madness (1986 Game OCS),
• Defender of the Crown (1987 Game OCS),
• Test Drive (1987 Game OCS),
• Shadow of the Beast (1989 Game OCS),
• Lemmings (1991 Game OCS),
• Agony (1992 Game OCS),
• Spaceballs - State of the Art (1992 Demo OCS),
• Spaceballs - 9 Fingers (1993 Demo OCS),

I know I'm missing lots, so your help would be very much appreciated.

Thank you.

[vulture]

Some similar threads, but I understand what you're asking is quite different:

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=85963
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=79433
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=81864
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=31773

Just good reads to get some ideas though.

[heavy]

Pac-Mania (1988, OCS)
Pang (1989, OCS)
Battle Squadron (1989, OCS)
Unreal (1990, OCS)
HeroQuest (1990, OCS)
Snow Bros (1990, OCS)
Toki (1991, OCS)
Rodland (1991, OCS)
Premiere (1992, OCS)
Jim Power (1992, OCS)
Magic Pockets (1992, OCS)
Pinball Dreams (1992, OCS)
Push Over (1992, OCS)
FlashBack (1992, OCS)
Yo! Jo! (1993, OCS)
Disposable Hero (1993, OCS)
Lionheart (1993, OCS)
Universe (1994, OCS)
Ruff'n Tumble (1994, OCS-ECS)
Cannon Fodder (1994, OCS)

Phenomena Enigma (1991, Demo OCS)
Razor 1911 Voyage (1991, Demo OCS)
Silents-Crionics Hardwired (1991, Demo OCS)
Alcatraz Odyssey (1991, Demo OCS)
Sanity World Of Commodore 92 (1992, Demo OCS)
Andromeda D.O.S (1992, Demo OCS)
Sanity Arte (1993, Demo OCS)
Sanity Interference (1993, Demo OCS)
Silicon Aspartame (1993, Demo OCS-ECS-AGA)
TEK Rampage (1994, Demo OCS)
VD/Fairlight LOVE (1994, Demo AGA)
Andromeda Nexus 7 (1994, Demo AGA)
for the most known... too many! (lost vikings, treasure traps, ...)

[s2325]

As a kid I was impressed by pseudo 3D levels in Batman The Movie and Borobodur Planet of Doom.

[wizard]

Sword of Sodan (1988, OCS) was one of the first Amiga games I saw back in the days and was blown away by the graphics

[Bastich]

Marble Madness was an amazing conversion and was also a very early release

[NorthWay]

Pinball Dreams/Fantasies/Illusions opened up a new type of gameplay for me, different from what the 8-bits had done.

[desiv]

Always thought Banshee was one of the most impressive looking shooters (to me anyway).

desiv

[Superman]

Turrican 2

[lordofchaos]

Elfmania (1994 OCS, ECS) - Truly amazing what was achieved with this game, it's a visual and technical tour de force, gameplay wise it's nothing special.

[jizmo]

If super fast vectors and bitmap zoomers are your thing, Shining's Vector Exterminator (1991) is certainly one of the most technically impressive demos that for some reason very rarely comes up when people list their favorite Amiga demos.

It lost the first place at the Anarchy Easter Party 1991 to the equally amazing Phenomena's Enigma - another all time favorite of mine!