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Introduction and FAQ
Text only version List of games reviewed List of advertisements AMTIX! reviews list Links to other CPC sites Acknowledgements
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18th January 2021Classic Replay has uploaded a video to YouTube showcasing 40 of the best 'modern' Amstrad CPC games to be released for the machine in the last 15 years or so. If you're not familiar with the CPC, or you haven't played CPC games for many years and want to rediscover what this excellent machine has to offer, you can watch the video below or on YouTube and see if you agree or disagree with his rankings. Amstrad CPC Top 40 New Games on YouTube 14th January 2021
Screenshot of Chaos Rising Part 2 Chaos Rising Part 2EgoTrip has released a new game called Chaos Rising Part 2. It's intended to be a continuation of the first Chaos Rising game and not a sequel. Amy has awoken on an island that has been overrun by machines, and its inhabitants want her to destroy the five Chaos Chips that control the machines. You can download Chaos Rising Part 2 from the CPCWiki forum. New reviewsRobert Small has reviewed two games: I have reviewed Trans-Atlantic Balloon Challenge. 2nd January 2021Happy New Year everyone! 2020 was a terrible year with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but it was a great year for CPC releases, which helped me to pass the time stuck at home and get through it all – and I also wrote over 50 reviews of CPC games during 2020, which is the most I have done for many years. Thanks must also go to the other contributors – Robert Small, Shaun Neary, neepheid and Missas – who also provided reviews during 2020. 
Screenshot of Atic Atac Atic AtacJohn Ward released Atic Atac just before the end of 2020. It's an unofficial conversion of Ultimate Play the Game's classic ZX Spectrum game from 1983. You are locked inside a castle and must explore it to find the key to open the door that will let you escape. You can choose one of three characters – a wizard, a knight or a serf – and each of which has their own set of secret passages that only they can use. It plays just like the Spectrum version, but the graphics are much more colourful and beautiful thanks to the work of Steven Day. You can download Atic Atac from John's GitHub page. New reviewsRobert Small has reviewed two games: 25th December 2020Merry Christmas to all CPC fans! There are two more new CPC releases to announce, although one of them is a preview and not a full release. 
Screenshot of Wonder Boy Remake Wonder Boy RemakeBenjamin Yoris has been working all year on a remake of the Activision game Wonder Boy. It's fair to say that the original CPC version of the game is mediocre at best, and it was rated only 4 out of 10 on this site. The remake features much better and more colourful graphics, better music and smooth scrolling. Benjamin has released a playable preview version of the first stage, which you can download from the CPCWiki forum. 
Screenshot of Ninja Carnage Ninja CarnageA group called Resistance has released a new game called Ninja Carnage. You are a ninja and your aim is to kill a female rival called Nure-onna who is hiding in a temple. It plays similarly to a point-and-click adventure, but instead of exploring and trying to solve puzzles, you move in a linear manner throughout the game and you have to use a process of trial and error to work out which areas of each panel you need to click in the correct sequence. If you make a mistake, you have to restart the current panel. The graphics are beautiful and the music is excellent, and it's a style of game that hasn't been seen on the CPC before, to the best of my knowledge. An early version of Ninja Carnage finished in second place in a contest that was organised earlier this year, and you can now download it from Resistance's site. It has been translated into six languages – English, French, German, Greek, Italian and Spanish – but be aware that it contains very strong language throughout and is certainly not suitable for people who are easily offended. New reviewsI have reviewed two games: 22nd December 2020Alcon 2020The coin-op game Slap Fight was converted to the Amstrad CPC and other 8-bit machines in 1987, but Spanish CPC user Abalore thought that, as with Bubble Bobble and R-Type, it could be done better on the CPC. Now, after four years of work, it has been released just in time for Christmas! You can see how fantastic it plays and looks in the YouTube video below: Video of Alcon 2020 on YouTube Alcon 2020 can be downloaded from Abalore's site. One thing to bear in mind is that if you want to play it on an emulator, you will need an emulator that emulates either the GX4000 console or the X-MEM memory expansion device. WinAPE and CPCEC are two emulators that emulate the GX4000 console, and Retro Virtual Machine can emulate the X-MEM device. I advise you to download the cartridge version (the CPR file), as it's much easier to use than the X-MEM version, which has to be installed on the X-MEM first, which can take a while. Personally, I'm against the idea of developing Amstrad CPC games that require additional hardware expansion devices, as it goes against the spirit of the CPC's "golden era" of the 1980s and early 1990s when games had to run on an unexpanded machine – but that's just my opinion, and Alcon 2020 is a marvellous game. New reviewsShaun Neary is back, and as he's a big fan of Slap Fight, he wasted little time in writing a review of Alcon 2020. I have reviewed three games, including two more from the 2020 #CPCRetroDev Game Creation Contest: 13th December 2020Robert Small has reviewed Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer. Chuck Yeager was a famous American test pilot who passed away at the age of 97 a few days ago. I have reviewed four games, including one from the 2020 #CPCRetroDev Game Creation Contest: Please note that Buccaneers is currently only available for downloading as a one-level playable demo. The full version is only available by purchasing a physical copy from Matranet, and if you like fancy, shiny packaging, then it is worth purchasing! If you want to see the game in action, Xyphoe played (and completed) Buccaneers on one of his live streams on YouTube, which you can watch here. 6th December 2020Robert Small has reviewed two games:
I have reviewed two games: 1st December 2020
Screenshot of SonicGX SonicGX updateIn November 2019, it was announced that Sonic the Hedgehog was being converted to the GX4000 console and Plus machines, under the name of SonicGX. It was expected that it would be released by the end of 2020, but the programmer, NoRecess, has posted a news update to say that it won't be ready until at least 2022. So far, levels 1 and 2 have been completed, and NoRecess has been busy improving and optimising the graphics and adding new music, courtesy of Targhan, but nine screenshots have also been posted, and it's looking rather nice indeed. 16th November 2020I have reviewed six games from the 2020 #CPCRetroDev Game Creation Contest: 14th November 2020#CPCRetroDev 2020The results of the 2020 #CPCRetroDev Game Creation Contest have been announced, and they are as follows: PRO category
UA category (for games developed by students of the University of Alicante)
Special mentions
The Abduction of Oscar Z swept the board with 557 points – exactly 200 points ahead of its nearest challenger, Sorcerers. All 49 games can be downloaded from the CPCRetroDev 2020 site. As always, congratulations to all the winners! I will endeavour to play some of these games this weekend and hopefully write some reviews over the next few days. 11th November 2020
#CPCRetroDev 2020The deadline for submitting entries to the 2020 edition of the #CPCRetroDev Game Creation Contest closed last week, and a record 49 games are vying to win a share of €2,315 in prize money! I'm guessing that the COVID-19 lockdown has prompted more people to try to program a game for the competition while they're stuck indoors. The awards ceremony is scheduled to be held this Friday 13th November at 18:00 UTC on the University of Alicante's YouTube channel. In the meantime, you can watch gameplay videos of all 49 games on YouTube. 4th November 2020I have reviewed Sgt. Helmet Training Day 2020 – a new game from The Mojon Twins that was released a few days ago. Robert Small has reviewed two games: 24th October 2020
Screenshot of The Further Adventures of Fred Updated version of the Sean McManus Software CollectionThose of you who bought the magazines Amstrad Action and Amstrad Computer User in the early 1990s and typed in the listings that were published in them every month may well recall the name of Sean McManus, whose programs regularly featured in these magazines. He also wrote a machine code game called The Further Adventures of Fred, and it was due to be published on the covertape for issue 118 of Amstrad Action – but unfortunately the magazine ceased publication after 117 issues, although Sean still released the game into the public domain. Sean has now tweaked The Further Adventures of Fred so that it's a bit easier. The first level was particularly unfair as it put you in immediate danger of losing a life, so it's been modified slightly and swapped around with a later level. Several of his listings have also been updated to include built-in instructions, better presentation, or changes to the keyboard controls. Sean's collection of his CPC work was originally released in 1997, and you can download the updated 2020 version from his web site. Even after 30 years, he still remembers how to program in Locomotive BASIC! New reviewsI have reviewed five games: Robert Small has reviewed two games: 14th October 2020Corsair TrainerBitplane Technomantes has released a one-level preview of their new game Corsair Trainer. It's an entrant in the Assembly Online 2020 game development competition and it's a space shoot-'em-up with very smooth 50Hz vertical scrolling. You may remember the name Bitplane Technomantes from a few years back when they released the technically amazing and highly playable Dragon Attack in the 2016 #CPCRetroDev Game Creation Contest. The programmer, Axelay, is the man responsible for several other great Amstrad CPC games, and Corsair Trainer also features the very distinctive and beautiful artwork of rexbeng. You can download Corsair Trainer from the Assembly Online 2020 site. Be warned that even on the lowest difficulty setting, it's very tough to reach the end of the first level! I hope that Axelay will make the final version a bit easier. Video of Corsair Trainer on YouTube 27th September 2020
Screenshot of Buccaneers BuccaneersMatranet is planning to release a beat-'em-up called Buccaneers. I know very little about the background to this release, but it's based on an arcade game from 1989 by a Spanish company called Duintronic. It seems that a ZX Spectrum version was being developed but was never released. However, the original development team of Juan Carlos Sánchez Álvarez and Manolo Matamoros have released a playable demo for the Amstrad CPC, featuring music by McKlain. Your comrades have been captured by Caribbean pirates and you must rescue them. The demo enables you to play the first of eight levels for two minutes. It's a side-scrolling beat-'em-up with beautiful Mode 1 graphics and a very jolly soundtrack. You can download the playable demo from Matranet, although it requires 128KB of RAM. The boxed version can be ordered from Matranet at a cost of €32 excluding shipping, and it will even include a 50ml bottle of honey rum from Andalusia! 
Screenshot of GB Tetris Emulator (Plus version) New version of GB Tetris Emulator40Crisis has released version 1.1a of GB Tetris Emulator. New features include a marquee surrounding the playing area to provide an even more authentic Game Boy emulation experience (as you can see in the screenshot on the right) and some changes to the keyboard controls, and if you're playing the game on a standard CPC, you now have 27 colour schemes to choose from. The new version can be downloaded from the CPCWiki forum. 26th September 2020
Screenshot of Brick Rick Brick RickJuan José Martínez has just released Brick Rick – a platform game that plays very similarly to one of his previous releases, Magica (which has been reviewed on this site and was rated 8 out of 10). Rick is working on a building site that is being invaded by aliens, and he has to get rid of them by hurling bricks at them and stunning them. There are 50 levels and each level has a time limit of 60 seconds. You can download Brick Rick from Juan's site, and as with Juan's previous Amstrad CPC games, you can order a physical copy from poly.play, which is expected to ship in early November 2020. New reviewsI have reviewed five games: 20th September 2020
Screenshot of Tetris (Crazy Piri) Another conversion of TetrisAlmost as soon as 40Crisis released his Game Boy Tetris emulator for the CPC, Crazy Piri released their own conversion of Tetris! Unlike 40Crisis' version, it's not an emulator, but it is clearly strongly influenced by the Game Boy version and uses the same graphics, although it includes a different set of tunes and sound effects. You can download it from Crazy Piri's site. New reviewsMissas has returned with a review of CPC Soccer. Robert Small has reviewed two games: 19th September 2020
Screenshot of GB Tetris Emulator (Plus version) GB Tetris EmulatorThere are plenty of versions of Tetris available for the Amstrad CPC. The official release by Mirrorsoft was mediocre at best, but many other unofficial versions were released into the public domain or published as listings in magazines. But did you ever think that you could play the Game Boy version of Tetris on your CPC? Well now you can! 40Crisis has released GB Tetris Emulator, which emulates the Game Boy version reasonably accurately. There are some minor issues with the sound – although the famous Korobeiniki theme tune that everyone outside Russia associates with Tetris is faithfully reproduced – and the missile launching sequence if you achieve a particularly high score, but it still plays just like the Tetris that so many Game Boy owners loved. GB Tetris Emulator will only work if you have 128KB of RAM, and if you own a Plus machine, you can emulate the Game Boy palette, as you can see in the screenshot on the right. You can download the emulator from the CPCWiki forum, but for obvious reasons, with Nintendo being very litigious when it comes to emulation, it doesn't include the ROM files for the game itself; you'll have to hunt for those yourself and then insert them into the included disc image file using a tool such as ManageDSK. 13th September 2020CPC SoccerCPC Soccer Community Edition has been released. You can download it at itch.io. Don't forget that you can also buy a physical copy of CPC Soccer International Edition from Bitmap Soft. New reviewsI have reviewed two games: 22nd August 2020CPC SoccerBitmap Soft has just released a new game called CPC Soccer. It's been programmed by Israel Roman Alvarez, and it's basically an Amstrad CPC conversion of Sensible Soccer – a very fast-pased game that is widely considered to be one of the best football games of the 16-bit era. Retro Video Gamer has written a review (which also includes lots of screenshots), and Xyphoe played it on one of his YouTube streams last night, which you can watch below: Xyphoe's preview of CPC Soccer on YouTube CPC Soccer plays much faster and more smoothly than any other football game I can think of on the CPC, and it looks very exciting. You can order a copy from Bitmap Soft for £10.00 excluding shipping, and Israel plans to release a free digital version in the future. New reviewsRobert Small has reviewed two games: 9th August 2020Robert Small has reviewed two games: I have reviewed six games: At this point, I would like to plug Yellow Belly's YouTube channel. Yellow Belly has been streaming most Sunday evenings starting from 19:30 or 20:00 BST, and in each stream, he plays a few relatively little known Amstrad CPC games beginning with a particular letter of the alphabet, hoping to find one or more "hidden gems". Last Sunday, he played Oriental Games and I admitted I had never played it before, so he suggested that I review it – so that's what I've done! If you're into Amstrad CPC gaming then I suggest you join him on Sunday evenings and watch his streams. 24th July 2020Retrobytes Productions released Space Moves towards the end of last week, and you can now download the game from the NVG archive. It is a great game, although the first part (which is very similar to Army Moves) is very difficult. Hopefully a review of the game will be uploaded this weekend. If you find the game too difficult, I've written a type-in listing that you can use to make the game a bit easier (well, a lot easier, actually). E-mail: nich <AT> durge <DOT> org |
