My Computing History - Part 3

For the next part of my computing history, we take a look at what I think was probably the most influential machine in my life - this was the machine that turned my interest and mild obsession with computers in to my full on primary interest ........... so let's dive deeper

When did you get this machine and what was the reason for choosing it?

I acquired this machine as a Christmas present in 1991, that was a really good Christmas, and I was overjoyed with this lovely bit of kit.

I'd seen the "Cartoon Classics Pack" advert on TV (you know, the one with "Sunshine On A Rainy Day" as the music on it) and I was already really in to The Simpsons and Captain Planet, both of which had games in this pack.

The final reason was it had a Commodore badge on it, having already had experience with Commodore, there was some brand loyalty here.

Here's that advert for you to see.

What software was included in the box?

This pack came with the following software in the box:

• Amiga Workbench 2.04 (the GUI Operating System of the Amiga, in it's latest version)

• Deluxe Paint III (the defacto standard, and the probably the best at the time, art package for the Amiga)

• Bart Vs The Space Mutants

• Captain Planet & The Planeteers

• Lemmings

So let's take a look at the software:

The included games:

Let's take a look at the games, in the order I played them on Day 1

Bart Vs The Space Mutants

This was the first game I fired up, it had a cool intro too with sampled speech and awesome graphics, it was a typical platform affair with some puzzle ish elements, giving you the task of taking out the aliens (using the x-ray specs to work out who is alien and who isn't) and spraying purple items red (for some reason) ...... it was pretty cool at the time, but I don't think it's aged well, it's nice though, and even has The Simpsons theme present too

Captain Planet & The Planeteers

Another platformer with puzzle elements, based on another cartoon series of the 80s/90s - but this is quite a bizarre one in my opinion.

To start off with, it's very colourful, making good use of the Copper on the Amiga, allowing some really cool gradients on screen - the challenges vary depending on which character you choose, but as much as you have things to achieve, there's some proper nasties who'll do their best to stop you achieving your goal, and they can be rather annoying too.

Difficulty wise, it's a challenge, but not as hard as Bart vs The Space Mutants and 9 year old me was able to at least complete the first level without too much ordeal, but the difficulty curve does ramp up later on.

Graphically it's alright, sound wise, the music is decent in places and has become a bit of an ear worm over the years, but gameplay wise, I'm rather mixed on it nowadays - I was very critical of this game a few years ago saying that it's aged badly, but, I don't think it's all that bad actually, and still playable now, it's just a product of it's time because it's based on a short lived but semi-popular cartoon of the time.

Lemmings

At the time, this was pretty much an unknown to me, little did I know, this would become one of my all time favourite games to ever exist, and one I continue to come back to time and time again.

All you need to do is guide these little critters from one point to the other, and get them to safety in the exit, simple right? Hahaha, not so much - you only have a limited number of skills, the entire level is full of traps and big drops, and to top it off, the Lemmings themselves just can't help but find ever more inventive ways of ending themselves. It really is the challenge, but it's one of those games that starts off easy and eases you in, the game itself is somewhat tutorial for the first few levels, but without you realising it.

This is still a stand out classic that many still hold in high regards to this day, spawning many sequels (which I don't think are as good) over the years, but this is where it started, both in the franchise, and for me

A look at the other software included

As well as the included games, the package also came with Deluxe Paint III and Amiga Workbench 2.04, so let's take a quick look at them

Deluxe Paint III

This was THE art package to own back in the day (well, for Amiga folks) - it had the versatility to offer lots of advanced features that the seasoned professional graphics artist of the time would want, but also was simple enough to use to attract a new wave of people who want yo get in to art and animation on their Amiga.

Deluxe Paint III introduced Animation and Perspective - Animation speaks for itself, you can make animations frame by frame they look good - the "Perspective" tools allow you to rotate a brush about it's X, Y or Z axis, allowing for some elaborate pseudo-3D effects.

Some other games that I really liked on the Amiga

Other games I like on the Amiga, mostly games that I had at the time, or acquired later

Body Blow Galactic

The Amiga didn't do too well with fighting games, Street Fighter II had an amazingly rubbish port and there was many attempts to re-create the success of SF2 but look and feel more like a decent fighting game. Despite what some may say, I think Body Blows Galactic is a decent game and I enjoyed this one quite a lot. It's quite hard, but it uses the single-button joystick well, in a similar fashion to what IK Plus did in some ways.

Formula 1 World Championship Edition

This was a brilliant racing game, an an official F1 license - playable single player or two-player, and me and my brother played this a lot.

The game had all the F1 circuits available at the time, the drivers, the teams, and most importantly, the sense of speed. Despite the limited specs of the Amiga, it pulled this off very well, even in 2-player mode. You can choose manual or automatic gears, wing height, tyre types and you have to refuel and pit-stop along the way. Keep an eye on them tyres (as seen on the screen in the screenshot below).

I only had the coverdisk demo at the time, which only had 2 or 3 circuits on it, but it was still a game we played a lot.

Lethal Xcess

So this is a more recent discovery for me, I did not have this back in the day, nor did I know if it's existence at the time, however, this was an inclusion on the Amiga Forever emulation package, and I quite quickly became a fan

Lethal Xcess is actually the sequel to Wings Of Death (it even says "Wings Of Death II" during the intro) but it holds up as a standalone game anyway, not requiring you to have played the first game (which I also love)

The music on this game is superb, it's such a bop, and definitely ear-worm worthy. Graphically it's fairly good, but the important bit is the game play, which is also pretty decent.

I will admit, I find this game hard, but the controls are decent, and the game has a "one more go" factor about it. There's plenty of power-ups along the way to help you, but there's also some items that are more "power downs" or even "don't pick this up unless you wanna lose a life" - so yeah, this game has a mean streak to it as well. 

Either way, I still enjoy this one, even if it is balls-to-the-wall difficult

Lotus Turbo Challenge 2

What can I say here? Probably THE BEST arcade racer on the Amiga, hands down, by far, and that's a hill I'm willing to die on (I don't think many will disagree here tbh).

From that intro music to the fluid and quick gameplay, also having the ability to have up to 4 players if you have 2 Amigas (or an Amiga and an ST) bringing such a lot of replayability to the Lotus franchise.

At the time, I wanted Out Run for my Amiga, but once discussing this with a friend who talked me out of Out Run, I got my hands on Lotus 2, and never looked back.

Yeah, we have Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge (which was good), and there was Lotus Turbo Challenge 3 and even Jaguar XJ-220, but those just didn't hit the same for me, Lotus 2 is where it's at.

Mean Arenas

So what do you get if you cross Gauntlet with a futuristic dystopian game show? ............ Mean Arenas

I originally had the CU Amiga coverdisk demo (had about 4 levels on it iirc) and it was such a fun game from the off - right from the funny commentators pre game, in game and even at the end (with their "It's such a shame he's dead", "well at least he tried hard") to the intense game play.

The premise is simple, collect all the coins, that's it, progress to the next level, rinse and repeat - however, there's lots of enemies, locked doors, keys, weapons, timed bonus rounds and all sorts to stop you reaching your goal, but there's no better feeling than the "Marvellous" you hear when you've cleared a level of all coins.

This is up there as one game I keep coming back to time and time again

Mortal Kombat

I borrowed this off a mate back in the day, I was a huge Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat fan at the time, I'd already seen the awful SF2 port, but, when I played MK on the Amiga, I discovered what I can only think is the best Amiga arcade fighting game port on the platform.

Amazingly I discovered by accident that it actually supports 2-button controllers which helps (so separate punch/kick buttons) - it controls well, all the moves are there, the blood & gore is there, the fatalities are there, it's all here.

The music & sound is very good, the graphics are decent enough - yeah, this one plays well and I do like to revisit this from time to time, despite there being better versions on other systems.

To top it off, SF2 was 4-disks and a disk-swapping nightmare, but MK was squeezed on to 2-disks and you left disk 2 in the drive for most of the game (apart from the odd swap to disk 1 for the bonus stages) - this was well optimised for the Amiga, and quite a surprise considering it was ported by Probe 😲

Pac-Mania

This is what you get when Pac-Man goes 3D.

Now, controversial opinion coming: I like this better than the original Pac-Man, even in the arcade. Right from the 3D visuals to the jump that was added. I feel that Pac-Mania is the more playable game, even if it's not as nostalgic for many people.

So how does the Amiga version fair? VERY well, this has to be arcade perfect, and that's not a term I use lightly. Everything is present, the music, the gameplay, the cut-scenes, it's all here and it all works flawlessly.

Parasol Stars

Now this is also a "desert island disk" for me - I originally had the coverdisk demo courtesy of CU Amiga, and never got the full game until more recent times, however, this is a fun enjoyable game with plenty of fun platforming action.

The music is a total ear-worm here, the graphics are smooth as silk (check the scrolling between levels) and the game itself is such a fun game. It was never an arcade game and was only ever released on Amiga, Atari ST, NES and PC-Engine, but it's superb on all platforms.

The only criticism I have, is that there's quite some slow down on levels that get busy with lots of enemies, it's still playable though and doesn't detract from the enjoyment.

Controversially, I think this is a better game than Bubble Bobble and Rainbow Islands, and I think it's a crime this was never in the arcades.

Prince Of Persia

This is a stone cold classic, beginning life on the Apple II and being ported to almost everything with a CPU in it.

The rotascoped graphical style here makes one really fluid and enjoyable game. Instead of having lives, you have a 1 hour time limit to complete the game. This works well, and takes the pressure off, until you realise you've spent 45 minutes trying to get past Level 3 (am I right?)

The levels are fiendishly difficult with traps, steep drops, platforms that fall, and the guards who are just looking for an excuse to whack you with their swords ............. and that's before we get to the saw like traps that will just cut you in half.

Amazingly, this game is quite gory, when you die, you do get to see blood, so it has that element to it for anyone who wants that kind of thing.

It's a difficult game that I've played on many systems - I have completed it before, but it was tight, and I only had about 5 minutes left, so yeah, every minute counts.

This still stands up for me, and the Amiga version is a superb port.

Project X

This might strike some as an odd choice, especially when we have Agony and Apidya out there, but those were games I didn't have (well, I had a demo of Apidya)

Project X was probably my favourite horizontal shooter of the time, it has a lot of style, provides quite a bit of a challenge and has some nice sampled speech. Graphically it looks decent, and the background sounds are very atmospheric.

Also, Project X (well, the "Special Edition") is somewhat easier than Agony and Apidya (especially Apidya, which I find really difficult)

So, for me, it's Project X that I turn to first for my shoot-'em-up fix.

Qwak

To me, this is totally underrated gem of a game, it's superb, and I think everyone should play it at least once

I originally had the CU Amiga coverdisk demo of this, which had 4 levels, which me and my bro played quite a lot at one point. The action is frantic and fast, and quite varied - some levels are just standard pick up all the keys, some levels have respawning baddies, some levels have all sorts of bonuses "raining" from the top and some levels even have the last key start flying around the screen to avoid you .......... yeah, this is a decent platformer.

However, it's not just a simple "collect the keys, go in the exit" - there's puzzles and switches along the way you have to deal with, this is a bit of a thinking-person's platformer in places, and it's still a favourite of mine.

Super Methane Bros

"Mum! Can I buy Bubble Bobble?", "We have Bubble Bobble at home"

Arriving later on in the Amiga's commercial life span, we have Super Methane Bros, and I can't help but think this is a Bubble Bobble rip-off in a lot of ways, however, instead of blowing bubbles, you trap the enemies in your cloud of dust, hoover them up then smash them against the wall .............. sounds more complex that it is, but this is quite a nice challenge but still has that one more go factor to it.

I only had the coverdisk from The One Amiga at the time, but still played this quite a bit. Yeah, it's a nice game, not my favourite, but one I return to every now and again.

Oh, and like Bubble Bobble, this also has a right ear-worm of a tune.

Virocop

Arriving later in the commercial lifespan of the Amiga, we have another hidden gem of a game. You take control of a robot cop called D.A.V.E (don't ask me what it stands for, I can't remember, and can't be bothered Googling it) but this is a simple blasterfon of a game, and I'm here for it.

I had the coverdisk of this as provided by The One Amiga yet again, but even that had 2 levels so was nice to play through.

Virocop had both an OCS/ECS version and an AGA version ........... many years later (in the late 2000s), I converted the AGA version to the CD32, however, I'm not sure if that ISO is still around nowadays (and I don't have it any more)

What about the PD scene? Anything good there?

I also had a few PD games, well, "Shareware" stuff, but they were pretty good and the following two stand out to me (and games that me and my bro played a lot)

Sneech

It's snake on steroids - you can buy items to use (bombs and stuff) and you can have up to 8 players (4 human, 4 CPU) and even have mini leagues where you battle it out. You can choose your colour as well. In game, there's a lot of pickups that enhance your snake too, giving more speed, longer length or even outright killing you off. The arena in the game also sometimes changes adding obstacles mid game.

There's some bizarre graphics between matches, but it's still a fun game.

This game was written in AMOS, which I love as a programming language/environment on the Amiga.

I originally got this game from an Amiga User International coverdisk. The game is Shareware, and the version on the coverdisk was the unregistered version, however, the fully registered version is easily downloadable online now.

Knights

A top down adventure that you control and set the parameters yourself - be it setting which weapons are available, how many enemies are present, the actual mission parameters (what you need to do to complete it) and even the colour of your Knight.

It's a two-player only game, so you need someone with you, but this is a decent one-vs-one game and so much fun - all the options give this game a lot of replayability. Me and my bro played this a lot.

Yet again, this game came to me courtesy of an Amiga User International coverdisk - it's Freeware and as such, not a demo and a full game from the off. If you take a look on Aminet, the source code for this (also in AMOS) is downloadable if you fancy taking a look and maybe improving it.

This became one of my favourite games at the time, and still a proper nostalgia trip even now.

What else did you do with your Amiga?

I managed to get my hands on AMOS Professional from an Amiga Format coverdisk, so I got in to some coding, but never really finished anything unfortunately.

However, I also had a printer, ProText for word processing (and TransWrite Jr), FlexiDMP for printing images, OctaMED for some music, Deluxe Paint III, SpectraColor, Aegis Images for art, Deluxe Paint III and Aegis Animator for animation and I also got in to learning lots of AmigaDOS scripting too.

The Amiga is what taught me computing, I made my own compilation disks with menus and power-packered software to squeeze every last byte out of that floppy disk.

The Amiga was what made me love computing to becoming obsessed with computing. The Amiga was far ahead of it's time in 1985 when the A1000 was released, and still held it's own in 1991 when the A500+ was released.

What's next?

Next time round we'll be taking a look at the SNES - yeah, I know, a console and not a computer, but it had a CPU in it, and it played some awesome games, we had one (well, it was my brother's) so I'll wax lyrical about Nintendo's 16-bit powerhouse in Part 4