Games that required an accelerator (68030, 68040, 68060)

[Radertified]

Obviously an accelerator is great for speeding up games, such as TFX, but most of those games can be run on a 68020. Very badly in some cases, but they still run.

Do any games exist on the Amiga that absolutely required either a 68030, 68040 or 68060?

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EDIT:

TL;DR - When a game says it requires 68030 or above, it's generally referring to speed rather than instructions. A regular Amiga 1200 with 68020 and some RAM can run every game that I tested, most of which are playable enough. Obviously an accelerator and more & faster RAM will improve performance significantly. There may be games that actually require a 68030 or above, but I didn't encounter any.

I tested with a regular A1200 config: 68020 @ 14Mhz + AGA + 2mb chip + Kickstart 3.0 - No FPU - No MMU.

Notes are given if needed (eg. extra RAM given, of which the minimum was 1mb Fast). If you're able to get something working on a lower spec machine, fantastic, but these were just quick tests by me. Games may or may not benefit from an accelerator, faster RAM, etc, or may be buggy without them. None of this has been tested. I tested if the game runs and if it can be played for a minute or so. I'm not being scientific about this


RUNS means it loaded into the game.
PLAYABLE means it either runs perfectly, or a little slow but well enough that you could play it without too much hassle (eg. it might be a little jerky).


The following RUN and are PLAYABLE:

• The Strangers
• Phoenix Fighters
• Uropa2
• Land Of Genesis
• Ultimate XTreme Racing
• Robinson's Requiem
• Eat The Whistle - Takes a while to load though.
• Sixth Sense Investigations - Needs 1mb Fast RAM? Claims it doesn't but it kept dying with an out of memory error unless I gave it RAM.
• Virtual Grand Prix - Needs 4mb Fast RAM.
• Flyin' High - Needs 4mb Fast RAM. 320x256 was slow though.
• Nemac IV - Needs 1mb Fast RAM. Didn't test higher resolutions. Didn't test Nemac IV Director's Cut.
• Genetic Species - Needs 8mb Fast RAM. Turned off floors and ceilings with the default resolution for it to be playable. Didn't tester other resolutions but lower will be faster. Higher unknown.
• Virtual Ball Fighters - Needs 8mb Fast RAM.
• OnEscapee - Needs 4mb Fast RAM.
• Codename: Hell Squad - Needs 1mb Fast RAM.
• Gloom Deluxe - Go to 2x pixel size and it's even playable full-screen with floors and ceilings enabled.
• Gloom 3: Zombie Edition and Zombie Massacre - Needs 1mb Fast RAM. Go to 2x pixel size and it's even playable full-screen with floors and ceilings enabled.
• Myst - Needs 4mb Fast RAM.
• TFX - Needs 1mb Fast RAM and FPU - Runs surprisingly well on a 68020.
• Bubble Heroes - Needs 8mb Fast RAM.
• The Shadow Of The Third Moon - Needs 4mb Fast RAM.
• Wasted Dreams - Needs 1mb Fast RAM.
• Wendetta 2175 - Needs 1mb Fast RAM.
• Moonbases - Needs 1mb Fast RAM.
• Turbo Racer 3D - Needs 4mb Fast RAM. Low res is playable. High res is too slow.
• Space Station 3000 - Needs 8mb Fast RAM.
• Starfighter D'Yammen's Reign - Needs 2mb Fast RAM.
• T-Zero - Needs 4mb Fast RAM.
• Foundation Director's Cut - Needs 1mb Fast RAM, but has glitchy sound. Definitely works with 4mb.
• Citadel / Cytadela - Even at full screen it's playable.
• Alien Breed 3D II: The Killing Grounds
• Breathless - Not really playable on 1x1 pixel size, but 2x2 is fine at most resolutions.
• Wing Commander
• Star Trek - 25th Anniversary

The following RUN and are SLOW but not too slow to be considered unplayable:

• Tales From Heaven - Needs 4mb Fast RAM. Turned off background and set detail to low and although it was slow, I could see myself playing this if all I had was a 68020.
• Joyride - Needs 8mb Fast RAM - You could play it if you wanted to on a 68020. It's not *that* bad, but not great either.

The following RUN but are too SLOW to be considered playable:

• Simon The Sorcerer II - Needs 8mb Fast RAM - Way too slow for an adventure game. You'll be playing it for years at this speed.
• Sim City 2000 - Needs 2mb Fast RAM - If you're determined enough, sure, you could play it at this slow speed but you'd hate it.
• Napalm - Needs 16mb Fast RAM - Tested with low res, 256 colors. If you're determined enough, sure, you could play it at this slow speed but you'd hate it.
• Exodus: The Last War - Needs 16bm Fast RAM - If you're determined enough, sure, you could play it at this slow speed but you'd hate it.
• Payback - Needs 16mb Fast RAM - Very jerky! Even the intro plays slowly. Takes FOREVER to load on this config.
• Quake (Clickboom) - Needs 8mb Fast RAM and FPU - Don't even bother, even at lowest resolution unless you're ok with what feels like 1fps.
• The Feeble Files - Needs 32mb Fast RAM and RTG card - Don't even bother. The intro animations were so slow that I didn't even wait to see what in-game was like.
• Nightlong - Needs 16mb Fast RAM and RTG card - Don't even bother. Way too slow for an adventure game. You'll be playing it for years at this speed.
• Earth 2140 - Needs 16mb Fast RAM, FPU and RTG card - If you're determined enough, sure, you could play it at this slow speed but you'd hate it.

Didn't test because they need PPC:

• SiN
• WipeOut 2097
• Quake II
• Heretic II
• Shogo: Mobile Armor Division

Didn't test because they were not commercially released (eg. source ports):

• Blake Stone
• Wolfenstein 3D (and Spear of Destiny)
• Duke Nukem 3D
• Rise of the Triad
• Abuse
• Doom 1 and 2
• Strife

Didn't test because I didn't feel like it, or I don't have it: :P

• Hexen + Heretic
• Desert Racing of BarDos
• Descent: Freespace
• Trapped
• Trapped II

[DamienD]

Off the top of my head:

... Descent: Freespace - The Great War
... Earth 2140
... Earth 2140: Mission Pack - Final Conflict
... Exodus: The Last War
... Napalm: The Crimson Crisis
... Nightlong: Union City Conspiracy
... Payback
... The Feeble Files
... The Shadow Of The Third Moon
... T-zer0
... Virtual Ball Fighters
... Virtual GP

[Radertified]

That's an impressive head!

I'm sure Napalm and Payback just needed a 68020, but yeah, that's a good list. Quite a few that I'd forgotten about. Thanks DamienD!

[Nobby_UK]

What about:
DooM 1+2
Hexen + Heretic
Duke Nukem
Quake
Rise of the Triad ?
Abuse ?
Nemac IV ?
Alien Breed 3D II: The Killing Grounds ?

[Radertified]

Originally Posted by Nobby_UK

What about:
DooM 1+2
Hexen + Heretic
Duke Nukem
Quake
Rise of the Triad ?
Abuse ?
Nemac IV ?
Alien Breed 3D II: The Killing Grounds ?

Nemac IV I'm sure didn't require anything above a 68020. It might've even run on a 68000? That's my recollection of it anyway.

Same with AB3DII. I keep thinking my unaccelerated A1200 ran it, extremely slowly. But that was 20+ years ago so maybe my memory is hazy.

I'm not sure about the rest but yeah, they might qualify since they're all source ports that would've been built and optimized for faster CPU's.

[Solo Kazuki]

Actually most of mentioned games are working on 68020, but it's more like watching race of snails than playing game. So it's more like "games that should be played on..."

Napalm and Payback needs 68020, but in practice they also needs 16MB of FastRAM which cannot be addressed on standard 68EC020 from A1200 (so it needs accelerator with at least full CPU version).

And I'll add to this list:
Blake Stone
Descent
Desert Racing of BarDos
Flyin' High
Foundation series
Genetic Species
Quake II
Robinson's Requiem
Sim City 2000
Strife
Tales from Heaven
Trapped
Trapped II
Turbo Racer 3D
Wing Commander
Wolfenstein 3D (and Spear of Destiny)

Edit: There are also lots of ports made by Arti...

[roondar]

IIRC the 68030 is an "upgraded" 68020, using the same instruction set. It's faster because of some architectural changes (data cache, burst mode, (some) instructions use less cycles), but is otherwise identical* to program for.

Technically it is possible to write code that will work on a 68020 but will fail on a 68030 (due to the date cache). But I don't think the reverse is actually true*. If a program doesn't let you run it on a 68020 but it does run on a 68030, it checks if you actually have a 68030 - the code itself shouldn't be an issue.

*) Excluding the whole MMU business, which I do believe changed between chips. That said, MMU use is pretty rare on the Amiga so it's generally not a problem.

[Seiya]

Any of these games working with 68EC020, but of corse to play at decent speed require more power.

[Hewitson]

Originally Posted by Seiya

Any of these games working with 68EC020, but of corse to play at decent speed require more power.

As mentioned above, some of these games require more Fast RAM than that CPU is capable of addressing.

[Nobby_UK]

Abuse can apparently run on an 020:

[Nobby_UK]

If we are taking Quake 2 = PPC (an accelerator of sorts):

SiN
Heretic II
Shogo: Mobile Armor Division

[Solo Kazuki]

Originally Posted by Nobby_UK

If we are taking Quake 2 = PPC

Nope.

Of Course there are PPC ports, but i was talking about 68k version.

[Daedalus]

Yeah, a lot of those were compiled for 68020, but that doesn't mean they're in any way playable on a 68020, just that they don't use '040- or '060-specific code.

I'm pretty sure Wing Commander didn't require an accelerator of any sort - it was a CD32 release after all.

Looking at the boxes of the games I have here:

- Payback's minimum requirements are an '020 and 16MB of RAM, which as already pointed out, is more RAM than an A1200 can address, so an accelerator is required in that case. Given it took an '060 to become playable, I shudder to think of what it ran like on an '020.

- WipeOut 2097 requires a PPC, so that's an accelerator requirement.

- Sim City 2000 only requires an '020 and 4MB of fast RAM, so that could in theory be played on an A1200 with just a RAM expansion.

- Foundation lists an '030 as a minimum requirement, though I suspect you could probably run it on an '020 if you really wanted to as they're so similar.

- Descent: Freespace has an '060, 64MB RAM and 3D hardware listed as minimum requirements, which puts it at about the heaviest commercial 68k game I know. Still, it was playable on that spec, which is an impressive achievement really.

- Earth2140 strangely doesn't list the requirements on the box, but the readme on the disc lists an 060, 24MB RAM and a Zorro-III graphics card at a minimum.

[Solo Kazuki]

Originally Posted by Daedalus

I'm pretty sure Wing Commander didn't require an accelerator of any sort - it was a CD32 release after all.

But to play fully fluent You need better processor. Especially without Akiko (it's one of rare games which use Akiko).

Originally Posted by Daedalus

Sim City 2000 only requires an '020 and 4MB of fast RAM, so that could in theory be played on an A1200 with just a RAM expansion.

But, again, You need better processor. Playing on plain A1200 with just fastram is not too comfortable.


Edit:
Some more games which are (what i mentioned earlier) should be played on better processor than 68000/68EC020.

Citadel / Cytadela
Gloom / Gloom Deluxe
Joyride
Ultimate XTreme Racing

[Daedalus]

Fair enough. In that case there are many, many other games that should be added that only become properly playable when accelerated. Frontier, Birds of Prey, Gunship 2000, all those fall into that category. Playable is subjective, but the OP seems interested in games that absolutely require a higher CPU.

[Juz400]

Tried Simcity 2000 on my TF330, christ? did they convert it in amiga Basic?
I was expecting good things but it was almost unplayable.

Originally Posted by Daedalus

Fair enough. In that case there are many, many other games that should be added that only become properly playable when accelerated. Frontier, Birds of Prey, Gunship 2000, all those fall into that category. Playable is subjective, but the OP seems interested in games that absolutely require a higher CPU.

an oldie but a goldie to add is Indy 500 from 1990, is quite playable on a basic A500 but absolutley Shines with an 030, even has an option to crank graphics slightly for faster machines.

[lilwshu]

When it came out I played SimCity 2000 on my standard 1200 with 2MB fast RAM, on a 14" CRT TV via RF (nice interlaced graphics), for hours at a time. I remember it being slow but playable (also cheap because hardly anyone had a machine capable of running it at all and shops were desperate to shift it).

25 years later, I have poor eyesight and a lack of patience.

i also played Frontier Elite II for many many hours on a standard A500+ ,yes its a bit slow but perfectly playable.

F1GP "should" have taken advantage of any extra speed available,but it didnt

Probably most Chess games take advantage of any speed increases, but even on the fastest setups they still take an age to make moves on higher difficulty levels.

[zipper]

F1GP did greatly benefit of http://aminet.net/game/edit/F1GP-Ed.lha - 20 fps on 060 was pretty fluid (and I was happy to help testing it on my A500T - 060).

[Fastdruid]

Originally Posted by roondar

*) Excluding the whole MMU business, which I do believe changed between chips. That said, MMU use is pretty rare on the Amiga so it's generally not a problem.

The 020 didn't have an MMU, it was external (the 020 could have up to 8 co-processors of which the 68851 MMU was one).

The 030 had an MMU but the "EC" versions didn't (eg the 68EC030 fitted to the A4000/030). 3rd party accelerators may or may not have an MMU depending on which chip is used.

Anything with Zorro III needed an MMU.