Amiga Addict magazine - New Jungle Scene Hits The Amiga - Issue 03 March 2021 by Simulant

BRITAIN'S BEST-SELLING (ACTIVE!) MAGAZINE FOR AMIGA USERS

ISSUE No. 3 MARCH 2021 £4.99 / $6.50 / €5.50

- Interviews - Readers' Letters - Demoscene - Hardware & Tutorials

New jungle scene hits the Amiga!

Outrageous! Amiga at Wembley, Unamiga hardware reviewed, Chuck Rock II, Amiga pinball special, Dave Needle Part 2 & AA's new Gold Standard feat. Harlequin.

AMIGA IRELAND Live Show Report

Aphrodite of Urban Shakedown is back we talk to Pete Cannon, DJ h0ﬀman, DJ Nest & Amiga Junglism PLUS Other Amiga stars!

Also CLASSIC MAG FEATURE

YOUR MONTHLY SOURCE OF AMIGA NEWS, INTERVIEWS & SOFTWARE FUN FOR 68K | PPC | OS4 | MORPHOS & MORE! March 2021

AMIGA ADDICT

March 2021

MEET THE ADDICTS We give the acronym "AA" a whole new addictive meaning...

On that note, what better way to welcome our newest addict than by throwing an AA Towers office bash - as we celebrate the Amiga jungle music scene! We would have asked Ravi to DJ, but instead our Deputy Editor has lined up a whole host of talented dance music artists and big names. So let's throw some shapes, as we are joined by DJ Aphrodite, Pete Cannon, DJ h0ffman, DJ Nest and Amiga Junglism - what a lineup! I think we can all say, "Junglist massive!" (See Lost In The Jungle, page 26.) If jungle isn't your bag, don't feel left out. AA loves every style of music, and the Amiga does a great job across all genres. Ian shows us how much the Amiga can rock too, and gives his thoughts on a fantastic album (see Amiga Rocks, page 11). Actually, this issue has reminded me once again of the creative prowess and multimedia capabilities that the Amiga offers. Whether in games, music, art or even other forms of creative production - another prime example would be in broadcasting (see The Amiga Show, page 24). Many of you addicts may live in much more pleasant climates than soggy old Britain, but over here we do enjoy a spot of gaming during the winter months (along with a nice cup of tea of course!). In preparation for this issue, AA staff have really toiled between playing games and actually working on the magazine. I do wonder how we actually managed to make it to print... it's been fun! Who knows, maybe the Amiga would have beaten the PC in the business market if the games had been less exciting? (See The Legacy of Commodore, page 10.) At last here we are, and it is now nice to see this issue come to fruition with so many pages filled with the games we have been... ahem, "testing". We're jam-packed with high calibre titles and have articles on the legendary Amiga pinball games (see Dreams & Fantasies, page 37) - as well Flink on the CD32 (see CD32 Corner, page 44), Chuck Rock II (page 40) and Harlequin (see Gold Standard, page 32) - plus even more as ever in AA's Onscreen section. Never let those console fanboys make you feel inferior! Lastly, some more great news for Issue 3! The Unamiga hardware from Edu Arana finally arrived before publication, so although we are one issue later than planned, we now have a review ready (see page 50), along with a lovely insight into the project direct from Edu, as he recalls how his FPGA Amiga dream materialised. The Unamiga is a great Amiga computer in its own right, and a lovely bit of kit for anyone returning to (or getting started in) the Amiga computing scene. Thanks to everyone reading and contributing. We hope you all enjoy! - Jonah Naylor (Editor) First record/CD you bought yourself? "My first vinyl record was an Iron Maiden E.P. - it had The Phantom of the Opera on there (y' know, that kickass song from the 80s Daley Thompson Lucozade adverts). Later I got more into punk..." All-time favourite band and why? "Dire Straits - Mark Knopfler is why. Even if he did dress like a tennis player at Wimbledon!" Favourite music from an Amiga game? "I do like Thrash Pig from Jaguar XJ220, that rocks! Even the opening title screen music from Jaguar is brilliant - what a bassline."

Jonah

(wears sweatbands) editor@amiga-addict.com

First record/CD you bought yourself? "The ﬁrst single I bought was Ice Ice Baby - I can't believe I'm admitting this in a magazine!" All-time favourite band and why? "The Prodigy - The Prodigy is a band that I have never tired of, the ﬁrst two albums especially are pretty much perfection. R.I.P. Keith." Favourite music from an Amiga game? "The toughest question so far! There are so many great tunes and so many that provide instant happy memories! I'll go for the Space Crusade title music as it ticks both boxes."

Ravi

(thinks it's ironic) ravi@amiga-addict.com

(slices like a ninja) james@amiga-addict.com

First record/CD you bought yourself? "My ﬁrst CD was NOW 23. It featured some great songs, The Shamen - Ebeneezer Goode, INXS Baby Don't Cry and erm Doctor Spin - Tetris." All-time favourite band and why? "The Prodigy - loved them since the start and easily the best live band I have seen." Favourite music from an Amiga game? "There are so many to choose from! However I am going for Super Cars 2 opening music by Barry Leitch. Some great rock guitar, builds up nicely and gets you in the mood to race!"

Ian

(moons at Jackson) ian@amiga-addict.com

(an Amiga starter) paul@amiga-addict.com

First record/CD you bought yourself? "I don't have a great memory for things like this, but as an indie kid, I think it was the excellent Diﬀerent Class by Pulp. I did have quite a few tapes before that, like the Mr Blobby single!" All-time favourite band and why? "Man, I love so much music. Prog rock band Porcupine Tree is high on the list, but I love bands like The Bluetones and Pink Floyd too." Favourite music from an Amiga game? "It's a toss up between Fury of the Furries and Settlers, but the latter has more memories..."

First record/CD you bought yourself? "To be honest I don’t remember but my Dad seems to think it was Madonna on CD. I can deﬁnitely beat Ian on the embarrassment factor though as my ﬁrst cassette was The Spice Girls, and I knew every single word." All-time favourite band and why? "Queen were just an amazing British band. Somebody to Love is my favourite song!" Favourite music from an Amiga game? "The title composition from Agony by Tim Wright is beautiful, nice to hear some piano on Amiga."

Paul

James

First record/CD you bought yourself? "Alanis Morissette I can't remember which one. I don’t know why I bought it, I wasn't really a fan!" All-time favourite band and why? "Human League, I've seen them live many times. Their early stuﬀ is truly dark and amazing. They introduced me to John Foxx from Ultravox who sometimes supports them at gigs. He did the Gods and Speedball soundtracks for the Amiga." Favourite music from an Amiga game? "Music from Savage - sample mad, really 80s, orchestral stabs, screaming - proper banging!"

Hannah

(our Queen!) hannah@amiga-addict.com

March 2021

AMIGA ADDICT

REGULARS

It is a time to rejoice here at AA Towers. Well, we have a great time every issue... but this month is especially brilliant, as we are honoured to welcome a brand new member to our editorial team; we warmly greet Paul Monaghan. Cue the cheers! It's exciting to have him onboard, and I'd like to thank Paul for helping to make Amiga Addict a better magazine. I'm sure a lot of readers will already know what a great ﬁt Paul is for AA - if you haven't already heard any of his Maximum Power Up podcast interviews, then please have a listen - he is somewhat of a classic magazine savant! Paul has actually already contributed in Issue 2 - and, of course his article topic was about Amiga magazines! This month he has penned a great feature on Games-X (see X Marks The Spot, page 21). I know he has a lot planned in terms of interviews with many big names from the Amiga game, software and hardware industries. Keep an eye on Paul... he's a dark horse, and there's lots more Amiga goodness on its way from him in our coming issues!

AMIGA ADDICT

March 2021

PAGE 26 ISSUE 3 - MARCH 2021

AMIGA FOCUS

lks with talented artists from the music in dustry about the popular Amiga jungle scen e movement. Wizard Ian goes slam-tilt to look at what makes Amiga pinball games so special!

DREAMS & FANTASIES PAGE 50

ON SCREEN Transarctica........................................................31 Gold Standard: Harlequin.................................32 Six Of The Best...................................................34 Dreams & Fantasies...........................................37 Chuck Rock II......................................................40 Deluxe Galaga....................................................42 Magic Pockets....................................................43 CD32 Corner.......................................................44

TESTBENCH StarShip Next Generation.................................7 Amiga Rocks by FastLoaders...........................11 AOZ Studio..........................................................48 Unamiga A500 Header 1.5...............................50

is this FPGA It's ﬁnally arrived! But ? We put it iga Am e computer a tru er to ﬁnd out... through its paces in ord

PURE GOLD!

Our passion is Am iga - so it goes without saying th at we are beyond thrilled to introdu ce Matthew Smith's new regu lar Gold Standard feature, showcasin g the very ﬁnest games our platfo rm can oﬀer!

PAGE 8

World of Amiga Let's Go To The Show........................................14 Amiga Family In The New World Memories of Dave Needle (Part 2).................17 Lost In The Jungle.............................................26

PAGE 32

AMIGA INSIGHT

UNAMIGA

Amiga Ireland 2021 Report..............................8 The Legacy of Commodore (Part 1)...............10 X Marks The Spot: Games-X & The Challenges It Faced...............21 The Amiga Show................................................24

LOST IN THE JU NGLE Ravi Abbott ta

PAGE 37

Editorial & Meet The Addicts............................3 Amiga News.........................................................6 Back In The Day...................................................7 Keyboard Warriors............................................12 Across The Pond................................................13 AA Binders, Back Issues & Subscriptions.......49 What?! Amiga Pie!..............................................53 Demoscene.........................................................54

CONTENTS

REGULARS

PAGE 21 A publication that struggled is now fondly remembered.

AMIGA IRELAND AA brings you the exclusive live event report from Ireland!

*Amigas were used, but not harmed, in the creation of this magazine.

WWW.AMIGA-ADDICT.COM • MAGAZINE@AMIGA-ADDICT.COM • TWITTER.COM/AMIGAMAGAZINE • Editor & Art Director Jonah Naylor • Deputy Editor & Researcher Ravi Abbott • Games Editor & Art Assistant James Walker • Community Editor, Staff Writer & Proof Reader Ian Griffiths • Features Editor & Staff Writer Paul Monaghan • Advertising Manager & Proof Reader Hannah Clark Amiga Addict is an independent publication. The publishing company - Simulant Systems Ltd - has no connection with Commodore, or any subsequent trademark/ branding rights holders such as Cloanto/Amiga Corporation. The views expressed in this magazine are those of the individual writers' opinions only, and are not the opinions held by Amiga Addict magazine publication or its publishers.

We take great care to ensure that what we publish is accurate, but cannot be liable for any mistakes or misprints. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without our explicit permission.

March 2021

AMIGA ADDICT

PUBLISHED BY

REGULARS

Email your news & press releases to magazine@amiga-addict.com

Amiga 1000 Parciero Expansion The Parciero has been developed by David Dunklee for the A1000. It provides SD card storage, as well as 8MB Fast RAM and a real-time clock. David describes the casing as "about the size of a harmonica that’s been run over by a steam roller". To pre-order contact David via email: Amiga.Parceiro@outlook.com

Snoop Doggy Dogg Loves Amiga? A comment was posted in response to an online New York Times article back in January by a user named Snoop Dogg! "I have been screaming to anyone who will listen for years about how incredible Amiga Computers were", he wrote. "I have my entire career thanks to those early years on my trusty 2000." Who'd have thought; Snoop an Amiga addict too? www.amiga-addict.com/snoop PiStorm - A Stake To The Heart? A new 68K CPU replacement has appeared for the Amiga 500, 1000 and 2000. Documentation is limited thus far, but the project GitHub ﬁles seem to allow the creation of a Raspberry Pi PCB adaptor board. This means a low-cost accelerated CPU (or even GPU!) can be made to sit in the Amiga's original DIP processor socket. Can you smell garlic? www.amiga-addict.com/pistorm

All You Can Eat OK let's add some holy water to the buﬀet - or Buﬀee! A new ARM Cortex-A8 based accelerator is nearing production.

The Buffee, a name inspired by a wellknown TV Vampire slayer, fits 64-DIP socketed CPU Amigas (just like the PiStorm). No FPGA is used, and the 68030 accelerator deploys pure CPU power to boost your Amiga to around 500MHz PowerPC speed (the Vampire currently hits approximately 90MHz). Updates on progress can be found at: www.buffee.ca MorphOS Email Client Improvements Iris 0.104 has been released for MorphOS. Several bugs have been fixed and this update makes it possible to map email archives and folders of other clients into Iris. The latest version can be downloaded at: www.iris-morphos.com Slayers of High Toro Fans of turn-based strategy games like The Settlers or Colonization are in for a treat next month. Brad Pearce is set to release his new "map dominance game" entitled Slayers of High Toro. The advanced in-game AI was developed on super computers, with the resulting enemy play moves then recompiled for the Amiga. The whole game fits on a single floppy disk and runs on all Amiga computers with at least 1MB of RAM. Visit: www.amiga-addict.com/slayers To Infinity & Beyond! Marten W. aka goldmomo has released a cool new Asteroids clone with infinite gameplay named Space Pilot of Death. Download: www.amiga-addict.com/spod

AMIGA ADDICT

New Platform Game - Creeping Me Out An Amiga action platformer called Creeping Me Out: Hex Night is in the works - it is aimed to run on upgraded OCS Amigas. With a similar feel to The Addams Family or Castlevania, this looks very engaging indeed. Developed by Mixel's Lab and using the Scorpion Engine. See gameplay teaser video at: www.amiga-addict.com/creeping

A Fond Farewell... Scott MacDonald of Retrobench.com is shutting up shop at the end of March. The shop will remain open until then, with product support continued. Scott will still be at SWAG events oﬀering his usual recapping services, but sadly the shop that has oﬀered a lot to the UK community will be no more. We wish Scott all the best in his future endeavours. Twitch & YouTube on Amiga OS4 The All In One Streams (aiostreams) script pack by George Sokianosis is now at version 1.7. The pack allows OS4 users to watch online videos from the CLI or supported browsers. Download from: www.amiga-addict.com/aiostreams

RetroHax mouSTer Project AA has to mention this - even if it does have the dreaded 'ST' letters in the project name! The mouSTer is a new USB to 9-pin mouse adaptor that supports multiple retro computers. Unlike many others, this one doesn't require PS/2 mice. See: www.amiga-addict.com/mouster

No Foul Play - Duckstroma Another absolute quacker of a game is being ported for the Amiga. Duckstroma, (written by UltraNarwhal using Multi Platform Arcade Game Designer) already has releases on ZX Spectrum, MSX and NES platforms. We look forward to testing this soon on Amiga. More info at: www.amiga-addict.com/duck

Super Sprint DRS Renamed & New Beta Following on from last issue's Super Sprint DRS preview, Graeme Cowie's game has now been renamed to Turbo Sprint. He is now also oﬀering a free

Amiga Metal Gear To Be Released! h0ﬀman recently announced his work on a Metal Gear port for the Amiga 500 (James - "Let me at it!"). The game has been in development since November 2020 and runs at full frame rate, which the MSX version never managed. It will use both original and updated English language translations, plus enhanced SFX. See h0ﬀman's progress at: www.amiga-addict.com/mgs

time-limited play testing beta at: www.amiga-addict.com/turbosprint

March 2021

Fullscreen Shell A useful new freeware tool called GoShell has been released. The tool allows fullscreen Amiga shell sessions with conﬁgurable display options. See: www.amiga-addict.com/goshell

STARSHIP

These are the voyages of the starship Amiga. Its mission to boldly go… oh damn who broke the warp engines! That's how it goes right?

GENERATION

After getting a bit of feedback from crew members I realised that I have missed out a whole OS, AROS! Little did I

shipped with dev boards or prototypes. AmiCygnix enables you to use an X Window based Linux desktop within an Amiga OS4 environment. This adds extra functionality and the ability to use Linux programs that we have not seen on the default OS4 environment. These include:

"Without freedom of choice, there is no creativity." - Captain James T. Kirk

Gimp – Very powerful Photoshop-style graphics program

Last captain’s log, we talked about the new OS4 update from Hyperion. If you are using it, then please make sure you install the new hotﬁx www.hyperionentertainment.com. Not only that, but there is a way to add a whole new layer and experience to Amiga OS4, and that is AmiCygnix, which has just released version 1.6! Using PowerPC, many people dual-boot Linux and often it is the operating system We use AmiCygnix at Amiga Addict and love it!

AbiWord – Modern open source word processor

Audacious – Powerful audio editing and recording tool Pidgin – Multi-platform messenger supporting Discord, Telegram, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Signal and many more It's fantastic to see this X Window environment continue to be updated and expand the choice of applications. The more you look into it, the more Amiga NG has to oﬀer. Unlike Worf, I have been trying to get rid of him all week. Threw him overboard the other day but he just seems to keep Klinging-on.

"It's a cold time of year. But you kids today don't know the meaning of the word cold! When I was a lad, I had to walk six miles in the snow to school... every morning... uphill!" Did you ever hear such stories from your parents growing up? Well, now it's our chance to exaggerate a little at last.

BACK iN THE DAY '8 7

1987 had a very cold start here in Britain, with a relentless wave of heavy snow ﬂurries across the UK and Ireland that left towns, railways and streets blocked. We were snowed in. Isolated and trapped. The schools were shut. The heating in our homes wouldn't turn up enough! And yet, as far as I remember, it was brilliant! We all got to stay at home and play our 8-bit home micro computers. If only the "big freeze of 87" (as it was called back then) had shut down the nation just one year later... lots of lucky children would have just received their brand new Amiga 500s for Christmas, following its release the previous year! Oh well, we had our Sinclair Spectrums, Amstrad CPCs, Acorns Electrons, Commodore 64s and even Dragons in the meantime at least.

Amiga News

Software & Games

At The Box Oﬃce

Children's Television

1987 - Commodore releases the high-end Amiga 2000 and their best-selling Amiga model ever, the Amiga 500 (estimated all-time sales of six million units sold worldwide)! Amiga popularity increases, resulting in more Amiga magazines too. Jay Miner conﬁrms in Amiga User that Commodore is also working on an Enhanced Chip Set (ECS) with improved Agnus and Denise chips for a "future Amiga-family" of computers.

Amiga software development increases. Aegis Sonix, WordPerfect and MaxiPlan 500 are all released. However, with the A500 now putting Amigas in the home market, gaming starts to take precedence. There's much more focus on strategy and adventure genre titles - such as Infocom's Bureaucracy, Cinemaware's Defender of the Crown, or games from Sierra On-Line and Mindscape for example.

Another belting cinema year, despite Three Men and a Baby being the highest grossing movie!! Robin Williams picks up multiple awards for the highly acclaimed Good Morning, Vietnam. And other notable releases include Beverly Hills Cop II, Lethal Weapon and The Untouchables. Also, let's not forget Fatal Attraction, with six Oscar nominations. (Ed. - "This one certainly had my dad worried about strange women!")

The Japanese-American animated children's show ThunderCats ﬁnally debuts on terrestrial TV here in Britain. Arriving two years after its initial release in the US actually works to its advantage. The direct competition of He-Man, The Real Ghostbusters and Transformers have already been aired! Lion-0, Panthro, Mumm-Ra and company can now take the limelight in the number one kids' cartoon slot!

March 2021

AMIGA ADDICT

TESTBENCH

We have stopped the starship to empty the chemical toilets, refuel and get some snacks. While we are sitting in the service station let's have a chat as we ﬁnish our Wimpy burgers.

know that it had PowerPC support, its not been updated for a while, but deﬁnitely worth checking out! The Sam440ep and the Genesi Eﬁka seem to be supported and you can even run the fantastic Icaros Desktop, native or hosted! This certainly expands the choice for NG Amiga and means you might be even able to triple boot!

AMIGA FOCUS

No getting drunk at the bar this year! Amiga Addict's non-roving reporter Ian Griffiths attends Amiga Ireland 2021... on Zoom! What will he make of the first Amiga event he has attended sober? In the past couple of years, I’ve made a habit of dedicating part of my January to one of the biggest Amiga events outside of mainland Europe - Amiga Ireland. Normally hosted in the picturesque town of Athlone on the banks of the River Shannon, it’s the only international Amiga event I’ve ever been to, and it’s certainly given me the appetite for more. Mid-January on a normal year, I would generally find myself standing in an airport departure lounge watching the planes take off, while I waited to be packed onto a tiny Aer Lingus flight. Unfortunately, when I looked into the sky this January, there weren’t any planes taking off at all, instead replaced by COVID Invaders raining down disappointment lasers on our unsuspecting heads. But not to worry - technology to the rescue! The guys at Amiga Ireland announced that they would be holding a reduced-size online event this year

It’s full of talks, workshops and socialising (or craic as the locals would say), with a good hearty pint of Guinness or two, poured by those who know how to do it best. Moving online then, the pint of the black stuﬀ would clearly have to go by the wayside (that canned stuﬀ just isn’t the same!), but I was hoping we’d still be able to recreate something of the feel of the in-person event.

pandemic. Over half of the packages have now been sent out to customers.

Amiga Ireland 2021 ran for one day on the 16th January. Access to the event (run entirely on Zoom) was a modest €10, with the proceeds going to the running of next year’s - hopefully more traditional - event. Things started up around 11 with a cheery greeting from our venerable host, before moving on to a chat with A-Eon co-founder and allround nice guy Trevor Dickinson, calling in from his home in New Zealand. Trevor and David Pleasance are regulars at the Irish event, so it was no surprise to see them in attendance this time around.

John Girvin of Nivrig Games was back, after his success last year with Dodgy Rocks (see the review in Issue 1). This time he chatted with Iarla about his next endeavour, Turbo Tomato - a frantic arena battle game where the titular vegetable must ﬁght through a series of levels to save his garden from being destroyed by the evil Toxodyne Corporation! It’s based on an AMOS game John’s brother started to make back in 1993, with the vegetable comic strip characters he drew in school. At the time, John started rewriting it in assembly, and he’s recently picked the

Trevor also provided an update on Enhancer Software update v2, which was intended to be out for Christmas. With the update to OS4 by Hyperion, they decided to wait until that had settled, so they could conﬁrm there weren’t any conﬂicts.

The big surprise of the event came from Ralph Egas, CEO of Abstraction Games. For those that don’t know them, Abstraction Games are Dutch company who mainly port games for new platforms, with Ark: Survival Evolved and Mass Effect in their repertoire. They are also responsible for the port of The Chaos Engine you may have seen on PC. Ralph shocked everyone by showcasing a new controller for the Amiga - one that would plug into the standard DB9 port, but has two analogue sticks and eight buttons without system modification. The controller works by multiplexing two states at each half-frame, and uses the ‘fire’ pin as both input and output. This is all in hardware - using a single file library to read the controller - making it simple for any game to take advantage of the new device. Ralph demonstrated a modified version of The Chaos Engine (ideally suited to twin stick) and C64 Commando, much to the delight of attendees. The controller you see here is just a prototype - a final version would involve someone with industrial design experience to make something more flashy. Let’s be clear - this is a real advance for Amiga gaming, and I hope developers build it into new games rather than just retrofitting old ones. There’s a lot of possibilities, and Ralph (@ralphegas) is looking for community support to move the project forward. instead. And there was much rejoicing. This was the first chance I would have to see an event - one that I would normally attend in person - transform into a purely digital equivalent. For those of you not familiar, Amiga Ireland is a weekend built around the podcast of the same name, both of which are hosted by the amiable Iarla O’Riada.

Look at all those happy smiling faces!

AMIGA ADDICT

A-Eon always has a number of irons in the ﬁre, so Trevor was happy to update us. They have been working hard on the Power PC A1222 Plus board, but COVID has caused them a few issues with manufacturers (now resolved). Prototypes are now in production. Early adopter packages were also delayed due to disruption of the supply of mice for the packs as it came from China, mid-

Turbo Tomato - new game from John Girvin.

March 2021

Don’t worry about the design for now, just look at those sticks!

concept back up to ﬂesh out as a complete game. It’s a one or two player co-op game, with drop-in gameplay, and it looks a lot of fun, as tomatoes hurl bombs at the errant fruit and vegetables corrupted by Toxodyne. It’s expected to come out in spring of this year, with a boxed edition of both this and Dodgy Rocks being made available by Bitmap Soft under their PhoenixWare label (the

Anthony Jarvis’ winning Tron tribute 3D render.

Iarla always has a big grin for everyone!

It’s traditional for Amiga Ireland to have quite a number of tutorial talks, where subject matter experts share their wealth of knowledge, usually in the realm of Amiga creativity software and coding.

without some stories from David Pleasance. As you might know, he’s currently working on his new book From Vultures to Vampires with Trevor Dickinson and a bunch of names from back in the day. Both David and Trevor emphasised that the amount of content they’ve gathered far outstripped the

Some real bangers in the MOD competition.

competition was even slicker this year because the team were able to take advantage of Zoom’s polling functionality to gather everyone’s votes, a far cry from the bits of paper we used in previous years! You can download all the entries at www.amigausers.ie/ creative-competition-2021/

The last big session of the day saw Rob Cranley demonstrating his new Solas board for the A1200 clockport. Solas is Irish Gaelic for light, and appropriately, the Solas board allows you to connect LEDs inside your classic Amiga case and have them shine out bright and proud through the vents. Just the board and the LEDs are required to get started. The board allows full configuration of the LEDs through Workbench, from static colours to detailed animations that make your Amiga look like anything from Kitt or a Cylon to your favourite 80s nightspot. You can even use it to run external LEDs if you want, although you’ll need to be careful with power requirements, because all the power is being drawn from your poor beleaguered Amiga. The configuration doesn’t end there either - you can tie LED activity to events like floppy or hard drive access, and even use it as a MOD EQ using the RF modulator output to really get the party started! It might as well be a nightclub inside Rob’s A1200…

This year was no different - Rob Cranley gave a talk on the basics of creating a Workbench application (rather than just a game) in Blitz Basic, while Muadib gave a presentation on the use of Lightwave 3D for rendering. Both have given talks at Amiga Ireland before, and so it was no surprise that the tutorials were detailed and educational. If you want to watch them yourself, the Amiga Ireland crew have uploaded them to YouTube. One of the highlights for a lot of people was the talk with Jacob Gorm Hansen (aka Paleface), formerly of Melon Dezign. He talked about how he got started in the scene, as well as his time with the Rebels demogroup, before moving to Crystal and forming Melon. Melon Dezign later went on to make the excellent platformer Naughty Ones - he had some interesting stories about how the game came about, and how the scrolling effect between screens was mandated by the publisher and is actually quite buggy! Really fascinating talk, especially when he talked about his involvement with the original demoparty, ‘The Party 1991’, which Crystal was involved in organising and Melon produced the invite for. Fascinating stuff. It wouldn’t be an Amiga event, of course,

While the boards aren’t available for purchase at present, there’s more detail on Rob’s site at www.robthenerd.com/projects/solas bounds of the book, and they are now looking at making it two volumes, to make the most of the stories they’ve got. Both volumes are expected to be out this year, with the ﬁrst volume planned to go to print in March. David has also secured a formal publishing deal, so you will be seeing this and his previous book on shelves in actual bookshops! David also talked about the Commodore days, including some of the plans they’d originally had if they’d been successful in buying out Amiga instead of ESCOM. ‘Amiga Inﬁnity’ was a tower case that would have provided an upgrade path for classic Amigas and would have been compatible with everything from the A1000 through to the A1200. And of course there was mention of the Hombre next gen AAA chipset that has been discussed ad nauseam by now! The creative competition is always a blast at Amiga Ireland and this year was no exception. There were a wealth of entries in the MOD, pixel art and 3D scene categories, and some quality work all round - I particularly liked the winner of the 3D scene competition, Anthony Jarvis’ tribute to the Recognizer ship from Tron. Really stunning work (see more from Anthony on page 24). The

March 2021

Overall, it was a packed schedule. The new technology even provided the opportunity to disappear into themed breakout rooms (clearly meant to emulate standing around the bar/A500/ broken motherboard talking crap), which was a nice feature. And I haven’t even mentioned the ‘after hours’ action - just like the ‘real’ event, a lot of people hung around long into the night just to chat and share a few drinks. Around 60 people attended all told, including big names like Amiga Bill, Pixel Vixen, Banjo Guy Ollie and the presenters already mentioned, and there was a good atmosphere throughout. Iarla and his team deserve a ton of credit for pulling this event off without a hitch. This wasn’t just a quick stream or Skype call thrown together at the last minute - it was well planned and quite the slick operation, save for a few minor sound issues. Not only did the event provide a release for us regulars hankering after our Amiga event fix, but it also had the unintended effect of giving some more distant Amigans the opportunity to attend the event for the first time. So much so, that the organisers are considering how they can make the online component a permanent feature at future events. A success indeed!

AMIGA ADDICT

AMIGA FOCUS

latter has been released since the show). www.phoenixware.co.uk for details.

Heavy Metal: AmigaLove's winning pixel art.

The Legacy of Commodore (Part 1) 1995 was a very interesting year for Amiga - Commodore had gone bankrupt and the Amiga was in limbo. Eventually this led to a bidding war between major computer companies, with Commodore subsidiaries making a lot of noise about the plans they had for the future. Before we examine these plans, let's take a realistic look at the tech world in 1995 and ask... could anybody have saved Amiga?

some point though (even when shouting this from the rooftops), I, and other Amigans, knew in our heart of hearts it was over.

Big changes were afoot in 1995 - the world was about to really embrace the internet, with Windows 95 being the biggest operating system launch in history. This led to mass uptake of PCs and more people showing interest in computing than ever before. Internet Explorer came as standard and eventually got Microsoft into a lot of trouble. On the gaming side Sony entered the market releasing the PlayStation in North America. This was such a powerful machine - with full-motion video, CD soundtracks, stunning productions and titles - which left a lot of the rivals in the dust. Many ex-Amiga producers like Psygnosis, Team17, Ocean and Reﬂections jumped onboard. The video world was exploding too, with the early launch of DVD and quality of movies and playback for the consumer improving hugely.

The parties bidding for Commodore were Commodore UK, Commodore BV (Netherlands), Dell and Escom. Escom eventually won going against Dell. Sadly, Commodore UK did not even make it to the bidding process. They made a lot of noise about their plan, which led to theories on how Escom & Petro Tyschtschenko of Commodore Germany stole the bid from them. I think that's got to be taken with a pinch of salt, as we all know business is war and often brutal. Rather than pitting two sides against each other and playing hypotheticals, I would rather look at the legacy of what remains.

Then there was Amiga... still shipping with ﬂoppy drives, and only just introducing hard drives as standard they were way behind! By this time, many developers had left the platform, whether it was due to rushed eﬀorts like the CD32, rampant piracy or just not seeing a future path. The Amiga scene and community was still very passionate, and there was still a strong customer base, with tons of magazines on the shelves and late successes like the Worms franchise helping the machine survive those extra few years. Of course, many people argued the Amiga would survive and that the technology was superior. At

Many legends have been written about Commodore and who would have taken over afterwards - what they would have done and how they would have saved the platform. In all honesty, I think even Steve Jobs would have struggled by then.

The narrative is this: if Commodore UK's plan had been implemented, they would have saved Amiga. From what we know about their plan from interviews and conversations, I have come to the conclusion while researching for this article, that actually some of the strategy was quite good, and if it had been implemented well, then it certainly may have helped save the Amiga! Commodore UK had planned to rebrand and slap a Commodore logo on everything. It was still a strong brand and this could have brought valuable revenue into the company. Just as today we see ex-giants like Polaroid slapped onto batteries, electronic devices and anything they can get their hands on. The demand simply for Amiga t-shirts went on for many years, with the famous Amiga Inc t-shirt debacle being one of the biggest pieces of drama, created

from Amiga Inc's inability to even print a garment without many years of delay! They also had a realistic view of the technology, aiming to eke as much as they could out of the classic 68K line that was still dominating the Amiga at the time, whilst also focusing on the R&D. As David Pleasance (former MD of Commodore UK) told me in an interview with The Retro Hour Podcast, "the truth of the matter is that inevitably the Amiga line would have to go, would have to change". So what did they actually implement? Commodore UK had designed a modular tower, with a path for classic owners to towerise and upgrade. "We had a tower case designed that would allow us... the idea was that everything that we manufactured would be transferable. So if you bought an Amiga 500 and you bought it in a tower case, and you wanted to upgrade to a 1200, you'd go back to your dealer... and they would take out the PCB and put a 1200 PCB in. You can add all your peripherals, and so you had a path with which to grow and develop your Amiga", David Pleasance recalled. This was to be known as the Amiga Inﬁnity range. David and Colin had the plan to separate the new towers from the beige standard PC towers by making a big deal about the hardware. ‘Powered by Amiga’ was the tagline. This ended up becoming a rallying call for the community, leading to campaigns such as ‘Made on Amiga’ for websites. Today, the ‘Powered by Amiga’ logo and slogan is still used throughout Amiga Land. Amazingly, this modular tower system eventually had a full commercial release as the Amiga 1200 Inﬁnitiv Tower from Micronik. In part two of this article, we are going to take an in-depth look at this tower and the future path it created for the classic market, leading to adoption of items like the Mediator PCI cards. Also how the marketing campaign outlasted many others to this day!

Images courtesy of 8bitplus.co.uk & oldschoolgameblog.com

AMIGA FOCUS

- Ravi attempts to determine if Amiga ever stood a chance of changing its fate post Commodore

LEFT & MIDDLE: The Micronik A1200 Inﬁnitiv modular tower system. RIGHT: The Micronik "powered by Amiga" keyboard.

AMIGA ADDICT

March 2021

Amiga Rocks by FastLoaders

• Released October 2020 • Price: £24.99 (plus delivery) • Available at: c64audio.com/fastloaders

- Ian prepares his devil horns & stage dives into the mosh pit this kind of thing has been done, although usually these remixes are chiptune based, or something more traditional like an orchestral interpretation or dance remix. With that in mind, how does it sound?

Amiga Rocks is an album from Norwegian progressive metal outﬁt FastLoaders, who have previously found success with albums covering classic C64 tunes, such as their complete trilogy of The Last Ninja soundtracks (Ed. - "See 'FastLoaders Lineup & Discography' box on the next page for more about the band!"). And you have no reason to question their credentials, seeing as they have performed with Commodore legends Chris Huelsbeck and Ben Daglish live on stage!

The album opens strongly with the mournfully wailing guitar that delivers David Whittaker’s seminal main theme to Shadow of the Beast. I honestly believe this must be how David intended this to sound from the oﬀ, because the metal sound seems all too appropriate for the Swords and Sorcery world that Shadow of the Beast inhabits. It’s a great track to start with, as it demonstrates the skills of each band member to the full, from Jarle Olsen’s soaring lead guitar, to the chugging rhythm and Bjarte Helland’s often packed drum ﬁlls. Truly a rendition to raise hairs on the back of the neck of any Amiga user, and a statement of intent for the rest of the album.

In November 2019, Fastloaders successfully completed a Kickstarter funding push (which I was a backer of), to produce a triple album of Amiga game music, remade in their own particular area of expertise - rock and metal. A year later (and ahead of schedule!), a packet dropped on my doormat with something a little special inside... Obviously, this is far from the ﬁrst time

Proving that you don’t need to be familiar with the games to enjoy a great tune, one of my favourite tracks on CD1 was a version of the Allister Brimblecomposed title track for Team 17’s Overdrive. While it was deﬁnitely an above average game, it’s not one that

holds any real nostalgia for me - but this track is charged with energy, and at the same time has a really uplifting feel for its whole four-minute span. CD2 pulls no punches either, starting as it does with a 20-minute four-track Turrican II medley, with stone cold classics “The Final Fight” and “The Desert Rocks” leading the way. The latter is the ﬁrst time we hear synth take over the lead from the guitars (unsurprising, given the source material), and while it is a surprise the ﬁrst time you hear it, I think it still manages to maintain a clear metal feel, without straying too far from the intent of the album. That said, it was a little distracting to have a synth lead when the lead guitar had led the way through disc one. Another surprise was the 9-minute epic dedicated to Elvira II: The Jaws of Cerberus - hardly a celebrated Amiga soundtrack - but here there’s a moody dark sound that plays a lot into the prog metal that Fastloaders are good at, at times employing organs in a Deep Purple style, at others chugging away with Sabbath motifs. It’s quite the journey. At CD3, you’re in the home straight, but never fear - this isn’t the bum disc with the songs no-one cares about on it. If anything, it’s bringing the collection to a rousing conclusion. I mean, R-Type anyone? Lotus 2 and 3? Even tracks like Chuck Rock and LED Storm (sounding like something halfway between Marillion and Joe Satriani) rock the damn house. Plus there’s a few “bonus tracks” tucked on the end - chosen by the

RECOM MENDE D

The double density 3.5" ﬂoppy disk artwork within the CD digipak. Touches like this show the band's adoration for Amiga.

March 2021

AMIGA ADDICT

TESTBENCH

The Amiga has always been well known for its musical prowess, but what happens when you take a traditional band and apply them to a sound more normally associated with our Matriarch of Melody, Paula?

TESTBENCH

Kickstarter’s more generous backers and they’re no slouches either. The final track is from relatively poor platformer A Prehistoric Tale, yet it features some of the most intoxicating guitar solos of the whole album. There’s always a concern that fan albums such as this can lack production quality, but there’s nothing to worry about here. It’s all been professionally produced and mastered, and while I’ll never claim to be a musical expert, I feel like it’s got a full sound that any listener would be happy with. It’s certainly got all the bass a metal fan would expect, so if you were worried about it sounding like an AM radio, fear not! At a little over two hours of shredding excellence, there’s some argument to say this could easily have fitted onto two discs with room to spare (and maybe saved some pressing costs and postage in the process?), but I do see the appeal of that tri-fold digipak, and of grouping tracks with CD1 being the “Shadow of the Beast Disc”, CD2 the “Turrican II Disc” and CD3 mopping up the rest. There’s undoubtedly a warm feeling in the pit of your stomach as you unfold the packaging on your desk and gaze at the three discs (styled as floppies) laid out in front of you with a wry smile and an unconscious nod of the head.

Are there any tracks I would have liked to hear get the Fastloaders treatment? For sure - I mean, this is the Amiga we’re talking about here! Personally, I’d like to hear some of the original Turrican soundtrack get the FastLoaders treatment. What about the wealth of content in the Olof Gustafsson’s superb Pinball Dreams and Fantasies soundtracks? Or another Huelsbeck classic, Apidya? Maybe there’s room for an Amiga Rocks 2 in the future? Overall, Amiga Rocks is a great album. While I wish there was a little less synth here and there, it’s understandable that something that started oﬀ nearer to a chiptune might not be 100% suited to being completely converted to traditional rock instrumentation. There’s a few tracks out of the 33 that don’t thrill me like the rest. And ultimately, if rock and metal are not your bag, there’s not going to be a lot here for you. If, however, like me, your brain is wired to spark at every chugging guitar riﬀ, and your heart soar at every superlative solo this could just be the album for you. The fact I had to stop writing this article at times just to throw my head back in the middle of solo, probably says more than anything else. A real success of a concept. I hope there’s more to come.

Send your reader comments & letters via email or Discord: magazine@amiga-addict.com www.amiga-addict.com/discord

Keyboard Warriors REGULARS

(Basically just send anything in - we'll probably print it!) A Worthwhile Mag? First of all - what an excellent magazine you've produced - the ﬁrst issue was just amazing, the stories from Dave Haynie etc wow... even after reading all the Commodore and Amiga books, I found there is still something new in your articles. For me a magazine is worthwhile when there is some reason to store it - so I can look back at interesting articles again in the future. I think you are very close to that. Any plans for: - A series of programming courses? - Interview series about developers that were active building old successful software for Amiga, what they're doing now? - Some other ongoing tutorials or guides? Please do also continue to review new productivity software (like PageStream in Issue 1) - I would like to see for example what's new in A-EON's ImageFX. Looking forward seeing the issue 2! - Tapio Koivuniemi, Finland What a lovely letter Tapio! We do love interviews, as there are often interesting social histories to uncover that haven't been covered elsewhere. We're pleased you feel AA may be worth keeping for future reference. This magazine was not planned as a

AMIGA ADDICT

March 2021

FastLoaders Lineup & Discography

Top: FastLoaders with Rob Hubbard & Tore Christer Storlid. Bottom: The band ripping it up!

The FastLoaders consist of Jarle H. Olsen, Bjarte K. Helland and Kjetil Nossum. They describe themselves as a "tight C64/Remix progressive metal band" and hail from Bergen, Norway. The band released their ﬁrst triple CD album, Ninja Musicology (2016) paying tribute to The Last Ninja game series. Their second CD album Progressive 64 (2017) followed, an album of Commodore 64 tunes. They've since released Rock Hubbard (2018) digitally too - a collection of Rob Hubbard tunes performed in a powerful rock style.

collectible - our intention was to simply try to put out something interesting for Amiga users to read while on the toilet. However, a number of readers have asked us for a better way to store their magazines. Like the Genie from the Amiga version of Disney's Aladdin, your wish is our command! We are now offering premium quality Amiga Addict magazine binders (see page 49). As for your ideas on future content... well we say YES!! We would love to cover everything you mention. AA staff writers will do what we can each issue. As a community-driven magazine we are steered by your contributions - if any readers would like to help create such content, we're happy to publish it. Dead and Buried If this were truly reflective of the scene back in the day, your mag would be scanned, copied, cracked and shared and you'd be out of business! #justsaying - FlashJunky (via Email) Hopefully readers will choose to support us. Without sales of the magazine then we won't be able to continue. The problem with trying to copy protect anything these days, is that it doesn't work. Where there's a will there's a way! Amiga Memories Loved the first issue especially “Don’t Copy That Floppy” and “How the Amiga Helped Kill the Arcade”. Would love to read more about everyday users experiences in the 80s/90s. Also how about covering some incredibly rare but awesome hardware such as the Commodore A4000T and the Progressive Peripherals A500 040 accelerator? - Paul Shaw, Melbourne, Australia We'll definitely keep including nostalgic memories in AA - and thanks for some unique suggestions - we'll add them to our list.

Across The Pond by Doug Compton

I have been an avid (or is that rabid?) Amiga fan since 1988, when I bought my first Amiga 500 machine. I had been watching the Amiga carefully since its release in 1985, as I was already a VIC-20 and C64 user, so in my mind, the Amiga was the next logical step. The $1500 price tag for the A1000 was a bit steep for my 16-year-old self, so I bided my time, following rumours of newer, less expensive machines that would soon be available. I would read every article I could find about the Amiga in my Commodore computer magazines, such as Compute’s Gazette and the official Commodore Magazine. In 1987, the rumours panned out, and the reasonably priced Amiga 500 was released. I had a choice to make - my senior high school history teacher took a group of kids on a trip around Europe every year, and my parents already told me I could go... or I could use the money to get a new Amiga 500, a 1084S monitor and a second floppy drive! It didn’t take much thought to choose the Amiga, and to this day I do not regret the choice. In early 1988, my brand new Amiga arrived, and I was in heaven. I seem to recall staying up most of the night watching the built-in "Lines and dots" demos, playing with the incredible "Say" command to make my Amiga talk, and marvelling at the multitasking and screen switching capabilities I’d never experienced on my 8-bits, or on the PCs, Apples and Commodores at school. Growing up with the C64, I was used to single tasking and text-based interfaces, so seeing the lovely blue and orange of the Workbench 1.2 GUI was incredible. I immediately subscribed to several Amiga magazines from the USA, namely Amiga World and Amazing Computing. Both had been around since the early days of the Amiga, and had grown to a fantastic 100+ pages of Amiga coverage every month. I also soon discovered a thriving user group community for the Amiga, and had my pick of two or three different groups to join.

Now here is where the story takes an American turn - these magazines had a diﬀerent approach to the Amiga than some European magazines (Deputy Ed. "We need to send Doug a copy of Amiga Shopper"). Instead of being cover to cover video games, suggestive pictures and wacky drawings, these contained articles on productivity and creativity software, tutorials on the operating system and hardware reviews. There was, of course, usually a small section - maybe two or three pages - dedicated to Amiga games. The magazines never denied for a minute that the Amiga was a great game machine, and would usually dedicate one magazine a year to games coverage. Their take was that the Amiga was an incredible productivity and creativity

came out in the mid 80s. They rode that wonderful Amiga wave from about 90 94, where the Amiga was very popular in Europe and rightly feel that this was the most important time for the Amiga. But the truth is that the Amiga was actually quite popular - and quite easy to ﬁnd - in America, and for various reasons that we will explore in future columns, the people using Amigas then are not people who are part of the Amiga community today, so their voices are not heard. In the next few months, we will be exploring the dozens and dozens of USAbased Amiga hardware and software companies that produced for the Amiga, the hundreds of user groups, and the multitude of resources for the Amiga in the USA. This is by no means meant to take away from the importance of the European market, but instead to educate everyone about the impact of the Amiga in a diﬀerent part of the world. As a side note, all of these articles will be created on real Amiga hardware, and any photos or artwork will be processed on my Amigas too. Thanks for joining me for the beginning of this journey, but until next time, this is Doug from 10 Minute Amiga Retro Cast, signing out.

Obliterator by Psygnosis, 1988.

machine... that also played great games. This is the path that myself and many of my Amiga-owning friends took. I had a Digi-View Gold digitizer, Photon Paint, Professional Page, ProWrite and many other creative programs that consumed so much of my computing time. Of course, there was room for games too. I think my first game was Psygnosis’ Barbarian (which had gorgeous graphics and sounds effects, but horrible gameplay), with Return to Atlantis, Zoom, Obliterator, Shadow of the Beast and Dungeon Master soon after. Looking back, I would guess that my Amiga use was about 70% creative and 30% gaming until I purchased my Amiga 3000 in 1992, when I moved to an 80/20 split. Our modern Amiga community is filled with people who grew up in the 90s and were quite young when the Amiga first

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(Ed. - "It's a pleasure to hear from you Doug! We look forward to your next recollections of Amiga ownership in the USA. AA readers please also check out Doug's weekly 10MARC video series on YouTube - it's essential Amiga viewing!")

Digi-View in Amiga World magazine, 1987.

AMIGA ADDICT

REGULARS

Hi, I'm Doug Compton (10MARC), host of the weekly YouTube series 10 Minute Amiga Retro Cast. Welcome to the ﬁrst of many columns for the new Amiga Addict magazine, all about the inﬂuence of the Amiga in North America, and the United States in particular.

www.youtube.com/10minuteamigaretrocast www.10marc.com

World of Amiga let's go to the show

AMIGA INSIGHT

Back in a time when we were allowed to go out and interact with other human beings, without fear of our microscopic overlords coming to say “Hello”, we held exhibitions and events, trade shows and parties - all based around the coming together of users of the various computers of the time. You’re already guessing that these were probably not the best places to meet girls... but they did give you the opportunity to play the latest games and potentially see new hardware, all in the comfort of a room full of partitions and trestle tables. Of course, the ecosystem of the computer show would subsequently grow - much like our current viral house guest exponentially. These days (although not this year obvs), we have behemoth events such as E3 or CES in the West, and crazy exhibitions like the Tokyo Game Show further aﬁeld. Back in the day, though, we were a little more restricted. We did have one big show in the UK, which was held twice a year, called ECTS (European Computer Trade Show). In the early 90s, it housed itself in London’s Business Design Centre, but this was a mish-mash of publishers, manufacturers, and chancers all plying their trade to a wider audience. It probably makes sense then, in a roundabout way, that some of the manufacturers of hardware at the time wanted to get in on the event action themselves, holding events catering purely to

by Paul McNally

how cool we all were. We were all for it as an editorial team. We were very much all about the jollies and expenses-led hotel stays, so we leapt at the chance. Now being based in Macclesfield, which is more than a stone’s throw away from Wembley, meant we had to travel down with a ton of stock (as you can imagine, magazines filled with coverdisks are not a light option to lug about). December and show weekend came around - the prospect of two days on the floor of Wembley Exhibition Centre with the crème de la crème of the Commodore fraternity - we could hardly wait (to get into the hotel bar). So with a hired van full of thousands of magazines, we headed off with Editor and full-time lunatic Paul Roundell at the wheel. We arrived in the vicinity of Wembley in the late afternoon on the Friday, needing to set up the stand before the next day’s 9am kick-off. I have vague recollections of getting stuck in some stupid one-way system, and not actually being able to find the way into the trade entrance for a good hour. It obviously set us back somewhat, but once we got through the hallowed doors, we could see what we were faced with. Now, this I am classing as my only professional appearance at Wembley, and walking out onto the hallowed concrete floor should be a memory I’ll treasure forever and a day.

"The operator, obviously agreeing it would be funny, started spinning the gyroscope containing the Editor of Amiga Action faster and faster..." those interested in their specific wares. Cue the arrival of bespoke shows for specific machines such as the beloved Acorn Electron, and, of course, the Commodore Amiga. Today, we’re going to be talking about World of Amiga, held at Wembley Exhibition Centre in December 1994. These new shows were consumer shows, meaning the average Joe could buy themselves a ticket and walk around the halls, potentially seeing new games on show from developers. More realistically, it was an opportunity for retailers to sell to a captive audience. This is in marked contrast to shows like ECTS (and indeed E3 in its early days), which were trade-only and less focused on sell, sell, sell. Before the days when everybody was a journalist with their own YouTube channel or vlog, getting a ticket for a trade show was nigh on impossible if you didn’t work within the industry itself. Therefore when a consumer show such as World of Amiga came along, it was a great opportunity for retailers, and indeed us, hiding away in the publishing game, to go out and meet our public. To be honest, I can’t remember who organised World of Amiga. I have a feeling it was Commodore itself, in the guise of David Pleasance, but I could be wrong there. At the time, rumours were circulating that the end was nigh for the computing giant - the liquidators were involved and the whole thing was a right mess. Indeed, if you look on the Wikipedia page for World of Amiga, there is no mention of the 1994 event. I remember it being suggested that Amiga Action take a stand at World of Amiga '94 and get people interested in buying the mag, meeting the staff, and subscribing when they realised

AMIGA ADDICT

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Except it was a bit underwhelming. There wasn’t much actually on show and it was all small retailers hawking games and joysticks and the like. To be fair, that is kind of what we intended to do ourselves, but we had had a brainwave a couple of days before heading down, as we had received in the oﬃce a pre-release version of Sensible World of Soccer from Jon Hare and the guys at Sensible Software. The game wasn’t on sale for a while yet, and we were pretty much the only company showing anything new, so it seemed like a good opportunity to be able to draw a crowd to our table full of magazines and interact with the masses. It would become part of Amiga Action legend that, once we realised it wasn’t very obvious that you could come along to our stand and play what was destined to be one of the Amiga’s greatest ever titles in advance of its release - we needed a sign of some sort. I wish I still had the picture of the sheet of A4 that Roundell knocked up with the legend “PLAY SWOS HERE” on, stuck to the front of the table with a bit of tape. It was the level of marketing that Sony would have been proud of a few years later. Even thinking about it now makes me want to get it tattooed on me. Anyway, it worked, to a point - it drew people to the stand as intended. But by the middle of Day 1, it was becoming pretty obvious that nobody was buying magazines from us. There weren’t that many people actually visiting the show either, and talking to guys on stands nearby revealed a level of disappointment in the visitor numbers.

As the hours ticked by, things were getting more and more boring. The same people were walking around doing laps, looking at the same things over and over again, and nothing much was happening. I remember we did a bit of a “Be back soon” A4 follow-up sign and went for a wander ourselves.

The operator, obviously agreeing it would be funny, started spinning the gyroscope containing the Editor of Amiga Action faster and faster and backward and forwards to what was clearly a dangerous level of both movement and time. It went on for far longer than it should have done, while we all wept with laughter at the side. Eventually, it was slowed down and Roundell literally staggered into a collapsed heap at our feet. His face was all puﬀed up and swollen where the G-forces had whipped his blood to places it shouldn’t go and he was pretty ill for the rest of the day. There was a point where we thought he might need an ambulance. Good times. Above: Amiga Action HQ - Paul McNally is wearing the chequered shirt. Below: Paul Roundell at the oﬃce, and later feeling sick at Wembley.

That night we headed into central London and ended up out really late. I remember standing in Trafalgar Square at some unearthly hour for ages and ages, trying to get a cab back to Wembley but nobody would take us. Eventually one agreed for £30 (I say cab, but it had no markings on), so we jumped in and luckily survived. The next day, World of Amiga with a hangover was even worse. We were very much aware that we still had stock of thousands of magazines that we were going to have to cart back to the van and up North again, unless we came up with a plan. And fast. As the day wore on towards the final hour, we heard an announcement over the tannoy that another company had reduced the price of its stock, and we watched in amazement as there was a mini stampede in that direction. We came up with the plan of giving copies of Amiga Action away to save bothering to take them back with us. We found the announcer guy and got him to shout out that you could get a free copy of the mag by visiting the stand. As soon as he had finished, the swarm of show-goers were literally sprinting over to where we were stationed, grabbing hold of anything they could get their hands on, in one of the most horrific examples of human greed I have ever witnessed. It was brilliant. Then there was another announcement and everybody veered off in that direction instead. And then it was over. The only Amiga exclusive show I ever attended. It just kind of petered out, and people started packing up early. I have a further vague recollection of just dumping some bundles of magazines in a corridor and heading for the van and the bright lights of Manchester. Even though at the time it was a bit of a disaster, at a really testing time for the Amiga, now - getting on for 30 years later I remember it fondly like it was a couple of years ago. I’d like to go to another please, if somebody could organise one. I can bring a copy of SWOS? Paul McNally is Managing Editor at BGFG, a portfolio of PC tech and hardware gaming website brands based in Manchester, and is the former editor of Amiga Action.

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AMIGA ADDICT

AMIGA INSIGHT

In a corner of the Exhibition Centre, a company had set up a couple of “rides” for punters, one of which was a gyroscopetype thing you got strapped into and then some swarthy guy spun you round and round for a few minutes. It should have been of no interest to adults, so obviously we persuaded Roundell to get in and have a go. We paid a couple of quid to the bloke to start spinning him, and then once he was underway asked him if he would up the tempo a bit for comedy.

AMIGA ADDICT

March 2021

Amiga family in the New World... Memories of Dave Needle (Part 2)

(See Amiga Addict Issue 2 for more about Dave’s connection to Jupiter).

AMIGA INSIGHT

by Adam P. Spring

The second part of this story begins in Montana. I start here because it is where my direct correspondence with Dave Needle began. It could be said transmissions between the Jovian Ambassador and I started in the remote wilderness of the Treasure State...

Islands like the United Kingdom often see their peripheral zones as being on their coastline, in places like Cornwall and Kent. I quickly discovered, when I moved to the United States, that its periphery is sort of in the middle - in flyover states like Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. There is a medieval-like feel to the communities in such places. You can be considered a token foreigner just for coming from the next town over, let alone being from another country. Montana was where I found solace and fresh ideas via my Amiga 1200. Amigan in the New World My friendship with Dave - along with my connection to the New World Amiga scene - was quickly established in the US. Dave and I talked on the phone regularly, hung out whenever I visited San Francisco, and recorded audio that would later feature in one of my Remotely Interested podcasts. My connection to the wider Amiga network would also impact my move from Montana to Atlanta. Bill Bosari - organiser of Amiga 30 in California - introduced me to the first person I knew in my new home city, Aaron Ruscetta. “We interviewed a number of founding developers in an effort to produce an Amiga documentary. This was over the course of 12 years of Amiga Atlanta. We had an active presence in the 1990 Amiga Dev Con in Atlanta, just as NewTek released the Video Toaster. Some of our members were instrumental in creating the interactive, Amiga-run presentation that won the Olympic bid for our city. Several members attended the (final) Ami Dev Con in Orlando as well. We had a tight crew of enthusiasts who regularly road tripped to the various Amiga showcase events. We hosted a 10th Anniversary Amiga celebration attended by dozens of Amiga notables and hosted by Stewart Cheifet.” - Aaron Ruscetta, Video Toaster power user and a former President of Amiga Atlanta

One artefact from time spent in “Big Sky Country” is the article I mentioned writing in part one. It was eventually published in the Annals of the History of Computing as "Retrospective Computing or Consumer Led Development.” There was a photo of Dave Needle in that article which I took after I recorded a video message from him to the Amiga community. That video is still on YouTube & the Amiga Museum website.

One of the original banners for Amiga Atlanta Inc (AAi) - ‘Hotlanta’ was a hotbed for Amiga-based video & 3D graphics production. Members of the AAi helped create the video packages that were part of the winning bid for the Olympic Games hosted in the city, work that was done on Amiga computers equipped with Video Toasters.

AAi meeting on the Georgia Institute of Technology campus in the early 1990s.

Amiga Atlanta Amiga Atlanta Inc (AAi) was founded as a company and user group in 1986. It had over 130 members at its high point, and was fully active until 1999. AAi grew out of a group of students at the Georgia Institute of Technology (GATech) who took an interest in the Amiga, with many of its meetings being hosted on campus even when members came into the AAi from outside of the GATech community. AAi used a lecture space in the Chemistry Building, unnoticed on campus, until

March 2021

Bob Castro operating the projector at an AAi meeting. His love of space led to the video about the Amigas that were used by NASA. This video subsequently got posted to YouTube by amigang.

AMIGA ADDICT

AMIGA INSIGHT

security was stepped up because of Atlanta winning the bid for the Olympic Games in 1994. Many notable people and happenings tethered to the Amiga story were linked to the AAi and Atlanta. These include Bob Castro, whose video of the Amiga 2000 used to process telemetry data at NASA is on YouTube. Joe Torre’s association with Amiga runs parallel to the development of the AAi as well. He was their resident hardware hacker, and the distributor of Fred Fish disks for the club. Torre would later go on to work for Gateway 2000 in South Dakota - as part of Amiga Inc. Other notable links include Melissa Jordan Grey and Todor Fay - co founders of Blue Ribbon Soundworks, who made and distributed Bars & Pipes out of Atlanta before it was acquired by Microsoft. That city - often referred to as Hotlanta because its warm summer months - would also play host to the Amiga Developers Conference in 1990. I feel it is important to include this snapshot of Amiga history with my memories of Dave, because it is part of his personal legacy to me in a way. One of the things I was happy to have been

Left to Right: Jason Compton, Dave Haynie, Lamar Morgan and Aaron Ruscetta.

Aaron Ruscetta informed me of Dave’s passing shortly after he died, as he had become friends with the woman Dave was seeing before he passed. This was a direct result of the drive he and I took across America with a van full of Amiga stuﬀ, part of our journey to the Amiga 30 event in California.

able to do for him was to connect him with parts of his past he had lost touch with. My introduction to Aaron Ruscetta and the Amiga presence in Atlanta was one such example. This introduction would come full circle for me later on , as Aaron was the one who reached out to let me know Dave had died.

mobility. The light switches around their house is one example. These had been installed in multiple locations at varying heights to perform numerous functions. We had many conversations about these alterations, as they were a gateway for Dave to talk about a long-term interest in home automation.

Car rides with Dave

Connections

Frank Sinatra Radio became the soundtrack for all of the car rides I took with Dave around the San Francisco Bay Area. Our topics of discussion ranged from voluntary civil work he had done for the City of Alameda; his time in New York working in telecommunications; to his work with the Navy and eventual move to California. The latter he described as not realising people could be happy in their day-to-day way of being until he visited California in the 1970s. That is, having spent his early life in the New York area.

It is at this point in the article that I would like to take time to discuss some of the people that gravitated to Dave. People that were in each other's orbit because of their association with the Jovian Ambassador. Dave might have been struggling with grief due to the loss of his wife when I knew him - but he was never alone.

The move to California unfortunately contributed to the end of his ﬁrst marriage, as his wife of the time did not want to leave New York. It was this move, however, that ultimately led Dave to meet his second wife, Margo, who was described as his soul mate in many of his obituaries. Margo would sadly become seriously ill, and Dave looked after her for nine years when she got sick - all the way up to her death. He even applied his engineering mind to their house, taking away some of the stresses caused by her degenerating

Margo and Dave Needle.

One example is when I met Gary Gin for the ﬁrst time. Gary had worked with Dave at 3DO. My introduction to him began with a story from Dave as Gary was driving to meet with us at Dave’s home in order to get a 3DO working, to display at the Computer History Museum for the Amiga 30 event. I learnt of the practical engineering tests Dave Needle would put together as part of a job interview process at companies like 3DO. Gary was the only one to pass on the day he was presented with one of these tests. The bond I saw with Gary was like several others I witnessed when I was around Dave. He had this natural ability to nurture talent. Given the interaction I witnessed between him and Gary – around the design of the 3DO and who was to blame for what – it made me consider the Needle tests further. I think those tests helped Dave to determine whether there was a like-minded person in the room or not. Tower of the Dragon

Gary Gin went on to ﬁnd fame in the Discovery Channel show BattleBots. He even became the T-shirt equivalent of a meme.

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I became aware of Tower of the Dragon at the celebration of Dave Needle’s life. This took place after his memorial service.

March 2021

Tracey McSheery is another person who stood out to me. Dave described him as “the reason I left Amiga”. His friendship with Tracey started over a phone conversation, when Tracey accidentally called the Amiga Corporation oﬃces

after they were acquired by Commodore. The full details of the conversation described to me are lost in the mists of time, but it was deﬁnitely the realisation point that he needed to move on.

I had gone to meet with a friend in the Autodesk marketing team, and from there to head over to their maker space. I took Dave with me, in case some of their equipment was of use to him. We walked into a room where I knew one of the people at a desk, and much to my surprise, Dave knew the person sitting next to him. It turned out the person Dave knew happened to work for another friend of mine – and that person was leading one of Autodesk’s products.

Dave Needle (pictured left) about to test a 3DO provided by Gary Gin. Left to right (pictured right): Dave Needle, Gary Gin, Stan Shepard and Kathy Shepard.

RJ Mical. The inﬂuence and impact Dave Needle had on people was wide-reaching and varied indeed! The family of Amiga Corporation

to Morse as their skill sets on the ground. Glenn Keller - who I became friends with after Needle had died - reaﬃrmed this on the engineering side of Amiga Corporation as well, when he told me about his job interview with Jay Miner.

There are many things I could say to feed into the romance often applied to the Amiga story, after becoming friends with Dave and some of its original creators. I could present them all as visionaries, who tread the line between art and science. I could reinforce the idea that they were ahead of their time - at least a decade ahead of Microsoft and Apple. This, however, is only a small part of what made these people special as a group.

Glenn outlined the ﬁrst time he met with Miner. It was in a car park, with Jay showing up in a Cadillac. Far from the conventions seen today in companies like Google or Apple - who like the image of the counterculture engineer - what Dave and Glenn described to me separately was actual counterculture untamed... social alchemy as opposed to social engineering.

I have never laughed so hard on the streets of San Francisco - before or since.

It was clear from seeing most of them interact at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View that they were a family. It was the ties that bound them together that made the original Amiga developers an exceptional force. Everything they had achieved together was sincere because they knew each other beyond their skill sets. Dave and I discussed this on one of our car trips.

Dave was the personiﬁcation of this counterculture engineer in a way. He did not receive his engineering qualiﬁcations from an Ivy League university, or one of those American engineering institutions with a self-sustaining alumni base. His talents were ingrained. He was a one-ofa-kind thinker - operating in an industry still in its wild west, when most of his gunslinging had already been done.

It was not until I went to Dave’s memorial service that I discovered Tracey had written a fantasy adventure story. It was called Tower of the Dragon and two of its main characters were based on Dave and

Dave Morse - the business side of Amiga Corporation - was described as the social alchemist that brought everyone together. The personalities of the people developing the product was as important

Lasting legacy

Our introduction was strangely awkward. As I went to shake hands with him, I asked how he knew Dave. Nothing. Stone faced. Even when I told him I was good friends with his boss... nothing. I chatted with Dave about this when we got outside. He looked up at me and said: “Yeah, the last time I spoke to him was when I had to ﬁre him. When we both worked over at Tracey’s. That was a bit awkward.”

Tower of the Dragon is based around the main character of Lyric and the importance of friendship as a magic within itself. Tracey McSheery based two of the characters in his story – RJ and Daav – on RJ Mical and Dave Needle. The Tower of the Dragon website is: www.towerofthedragon.com

Dave’s legacy can still be felt today on many levels. I touched upon it somewhat in part one via my discussion of the

Left to right: RJ Mical, Glenn Keller & Chris Collins. It would not become clear to me until a few years after Dave had died that one of his parting gifts to me was some of the people he left behind. My friendship with Glenn Keller, for example, came about because I stayed at Caryn and RJ Mical’s house around the time of Dave’s memorial service. Chris Collins and I were able to get a printing press going in the Mical household that same trip as well - to create the photo boards seen at the memorial service (see part one in Amiga Addict issue 2).

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AMIGA INSIGHT

It turned out Tracey had common lines of interest with me, in augmented reality and 3D imaging as well. The funniest crossover moment in my work-related activities occurred when I took Dave with me to a meeting at a company called Autodesk. This was at their 1 Market Street location - oﬀ the Embarcadero BART stop in San Francisco.

AMIGA INSIGHT

products he helped to develop. As a public figure, he was a pioneer in high fidelity and multimedia-based computing for a general user. He broke new ground, at a time when the next steps up from an Amiga cost tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Even the Game Boy - the green screen hulk of the Silver Age of video games felt like a great games library playing out in 8-bits of Kansas-like grey. Whereas, the Handy Game was on the other side of the hurricane to Oz - essentially a mobile 16-bit colour console. It had more in common with the SNES and Mega Drive than other handheld systems of the time. Dave’s other public facing legacy that is usually overlooked is the influence he and RJ Mical had on the San Francisco Bay Area technology scene. They were, in many respects, the most high-profile bearers of the torch passed onto them by Jay Miner, their engineering mentor at Amiga Corporation, who was also an artist when it came to hardware design. Needle and Mical were connectors who saw the bigger picture. They did not compromise on what could actually be achieved by computers used at a general consumer level. Together, they helped shape a company like 3DO into an incubator or stepping stone for the next generation of raw talent - much in the same way Jay Miner and Dave Morse had at Amiga Corporation. This part of Dave Needle’s (and RJ Mical’s) legacy may actually be of greater influence than the products they developed together. Last words The last conversation I had with David Lewis Needle took place a week or so before he died. We talked about his health, ironically, and a presentation he had intended to give at the Vintage Computer Festival Southeast (VCF SE) in Atlanta. I had a feeling something wasn’t right as soon as that call ended. The

Adam P. Spring PhD has been deeply involved with high end 3D imaging since 2006. Most projects he can openly share, publications and podcasts are at his websites: remotely-interested.com laserarchaeology.com

AMIGA ADDICT

Dave showed me the hidden level on Gates of Zendocon when I stayed with him. This handy game for the Lynx aﬀorded its players the luxury of shooting at the heads of Dave Needle, RJ Mical and the game’s programmer, Peter M. Engelbrite. It stands the test of time as a playful reminder of the relationships forged by the people who came out of Amiga Corporation. This includes the relationships they would continue between each other, and create with new people after moving on to new projects. Peter is a good example from the Epyx Inc period of Dave’s career.

feeling stayed with me right up until I received the call that informed me of his death. His influence on me remains to this day. Dave was first and foremost my friend. The moments I cherish most are memories like paying for our lunch at a diner in Alameda and being told: “I appreciate you don’t want anything from me.” It is the glimpses behind the mask he would wear, even around friends, that still resonate most. That is not to say I did not feel the juxtaposition that came with his public figure: between the Dave Needle I considered a hardware wizard, and the person I now called a friend. It is something that was clear when I stayed at his house. For example, I kept forgetting about the Amiga, Atari Lynx and 3DO connections when I stayed with him. I would suddenly remember them because of the artefacts from his career placed around his home. These included patents on his office wall, arcade machines in his “home gym” and unassuming, yet historically relevant, comments he would make from time to time. The image of Dave Needle pointing to a corner of a room in his house, and off-the-cuff telling me that was where the early 3DO prototype was developed. My unashamed inner-child, pig in muck, moment. There is only one way I can really end this article and give Dave the full recognition he deserves. It requires adding to what RJ Mical said around the time of the memorial service for the Jovian Ambassador: “Long live Dave Needle. Whatever your memories linked to him may be...”

March 2021

The panel I organised around the Viva Amiga documentary replaced the presentation Dave Needle was going to give at VCF SE.

Artefacts and career highlights seen at the home of Caryn and RJ Mical. They gave me the same feeling I had experienced at Dave Needle’s home. The patent that stood out on his oﬃce wall, because he had hung it vertically. It was his nod to what it symbolised to the ambidextrous Handy Game (Atari Lynx).

X Marks The Spot: Games-X & The Challenges It Faced - AA's Paul Monaghan examines why this much-loved magazine was sadly destined to fail...

AMIGA INSIGHT

Dubbed "Smash Hits for gamers", the biggest stars always graced the cover.

n my last article, I brieﬂy discussed a few key Amiga magazines that I used to buy. The likes of Amiga Format and Power were often cited as the must-read magazines by Amiga owners back in the 90s. However, one thing that doesn't get mentioned as often are the number of multiformat magazines that covered the machine too. Magazines such as CVG, Zero and The Games Machine. There were also magazines focused on the Commodore 64 - such as Commodore User and Zzap64 - that adapted their coverage to include the Amiga as its popularity grew, which didn't always go down well with their C64-owning readers... but more on that another day. The magazine I want to look back at today, however, only lasted a year. 48 issues to be precise! The magazine in question is Games-X, published by Europress and launched in 1991, and it has always been a personal favourite of mine. When Games-X launched in April 1991, it made the brave decision to be a weekly title. Hugh Gollner, who launched GX, was always looking at ways to take on rival companies EMAP and Future Publishing, in what was a very competitive business. Games magazines had nearly always been monthly releases - Popular Computing Weekly being an exception, although that had recently folded in 1990, after eight years on the shelves. At this time, the games market had a lot of choice for consumers. The 8-bit home computers were still hanging on, the ST and Amiga were leading the way for home computers (although within a year, the ST would almost be done), and the console market was about to make a HUGE impact with the Sega vs Nintendo war. Late last year for Maximum Power Up podcast, I spoke to John Davison, now Vice President for IGN. John started his full-time games journalism career on Games-X as a staﬀ writer. He told me how Hugh was always trying to be the best, and his aim for Games-X was to be "like Smash Hits, but for games". As an 11-year-old, I never picked up on that

comparison, and it is only looking back now, all these years later, that I can see how correct that statement is. I mean, it even had a pull-out poster! Despite my personal love for the magazine, not everyone feels the same, as I have discovered during various interviews. So let us dive into the history of Games-X. As mentioned previously, I was an Atari ST owner (please stop throwing rotten fruit!), and the main mag I bought was ST Action, published by Europress. One month, the preview issue of Games-X was given away for free with my copy of the magazine (Amiga Action had the same giveaway), and I was immediately struck by how amazing it seemed! A weekly title, with 48 pages of news, reviews, tips, player guides and more. It covered all formats, so every page was packed with new information. Issue 1 of the magazine launched on the 26th April 1991, for the bargain price of just 60p. The cover would feature one main image of the big story that issue, yet there would be several boxouts showing so much more. This cover style would continue until the end, although I feel it sometimes looked too "busy".

espite the magazine being multi-format, there was a LOT of Amiga coverage. From Issue 1, the likes of Gremlin, US Gold and Ocean would often help out with exclusive content. Over half the issues had an Amiga game as their main selling point - RoboCod, Oh No! More Lemmings, Zool, Last Ninja 3 and many more. A month was a long time to wait for your next magazine ﬁx. A weekly title gave games companies a perfect opportunity to promote their upcoming products faster and, in some cases, more regularly. Daily Teletext games section Digitiser would arrive at the start of 1993, but even then it wasn't the same as a print magazine that you could hold in your hands (hopefully the same feeling you have now with this issue of AA!).

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As mentioned earlier, there were a number of machines for gamers to own at the time, and this really helped the mag in regards to reviews for each issue. One section of the mag would be a much bigger challenge though. Games magazines usually had around a month to ring around companies to compile their news sections, but being a weekly publication, Games-X found the task was a lot harder. Every issue featured three to ﬁve pages of news stories, and it could have become a big problem if it weren’t for Hugh Gollner staying as launch editor for the early issues of the magazine, and surrounding himself with a very talented team of staﬀ to help the mag grow. The role of compiling the news was split into two positions - a Northern News Editor and a Southern one. Nick Clarkson was given the Northern position - he had previously worked for Hugh on ST Action as editor, before moving to GX.

spoke to Nick for Maximum Power Up podcast and he discussed the problems he faced straight away on the magazine. Despite two staﬀ members compiling news, it was still very diﬃcult to achieve in a pre-internet world. The role would involve ringing around games companies and other contacts in the hope they would have something to publish in next week’s magazine, or the week after. Sometimes circumstances made Nick's role even harder, as he explained: "Jason Spiller was Southern News Editor and had to send his news up to me on a disk (Games-X

One unique feature that Games-X had was the Official Gallup games charts. It may not sound like much, but to me it was an excellent guide to how games were doing. Seeing not just the multi-format chart, but also formats like Amiga, ST and C64 helped show that the staff were serious about covering as much as possible. Back in the 80s and 90s, charts for film, games and music were so much more important. Publishers could shout about "Five weeks at number one". Just as an example, RoboCop on the Spectrum spent almost two years in the Speccy Top Ten! Although the magazine was multiformat, the Amiga and, towards the end of the mag, consoles were the main focus. Within a few months, any 8-bit content had vanished and been replaced with more Amiga and ST content, with the inclusion of a new Public Domain section. Throughout the 48 issues, Amiga owners were spoilt for choice with amazing titles out almost weekly. Companies like Gremlin backed the computer to the hilt. Some of my personal favourite games were on the Amiga - Supercars 2, Harlequin, Hero Quest, Hunter and many more. These titles were given some great coverage, which was helped by having strong relationships

The biggest weekly releases and more each week.

was based in Macclesﬁeld). On occasion, the disk was blank! This then meant I had to use the news I had planned for next week, this week".

hilst Nick stayed on the magazine for its whole run, the same can't be said for the original Southern News Editor, Gary Whitta. Years before Gary would be known for writing screenplays for the likes of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and The Book Of Eli, he spent several weeks on Games-X. Gary had started his career over at EMAP for Commodore User, before moving onto the original version of The One. However, after several years at EMAP, he wanted a change… but it didn't go the way he hoped with Europress: "This job offer from Europress came up for a lot of money... well, it seemed like a lot of money back then, AND I could do it from home! They wanted regional news editors - it was a struggle to fill it with news". Gary only stayed until Issue 5, before he returned to EMAP and got a role on ACE and then The One Amiga. His final words on Games-X to me were, "They had a really awful working practice - anytime they would call me, if I didn't answer straight away they would ask me why I wasn't working, when I had just nipped out for milk!" I think it is safe to say, things turned out OK for Gary after leaving Europress! From Issue 6 until the final issue, Jason Spiller took over Gary's News Editor role.

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with the PR people, who ensured they got some fantastic exclusives. Nick recalls: "It was supported by PR from companies. Ian Richardson from Gremlin would often pop over. He would get pressure oﬀ his bosses for game coverage and ask ‘Can we get it out by next week? Throw us a bone and we can get on with it.’"

eing in the North West certainly helped the magazine, as it was easy to go and visit numerous companies for magazine content. Being on a constant, strict deadline, it can't have been easy to ﬁll 48 pages each week (and a few issues had up to 64 for the same cover price!). As well as being News Editor, Nick Clarkson would also visit several software houses during the week. I asked Nick how he managed such a hectic schedule: "Well, they gave me a car and a mobile phone. You would have to plan your week, build up time by working in the evenings." These trips certainly paid oﬀ, however, as some places such as Ocean were

s well as this, Games-X looked at "Games For The Girls", and "The Great Cash Divide" which covered how the cost of games is divided up. These types of articles wouldn't continue for long however, especially as the main cover feature. The likes of Rodland, Video Kid and Project X would take centre stage going forward - no doubt to make the magazine stand out more on the shelves, as well as pushing that exclusive content, thanks to the

dream of appearing in a games magazine would have to wait quite a few years longer! There was one standout thing Games-X did that I will never forget. As many of us will know, cover disks were a massive part of the monthly magazines. However, for three issues, even Games-X got in on the action! Each disk contained demos for the ST and Amiga, with Amiga owners getting Little Beau (later released and reskinned as Kid Gloves 2), Blood Money, Prehistorik and Beast Busters. Like all demo disks, I played them loads, and even if you hated them... it could become a blank disk for something more exciting. The price for those three issues did increase to 99p though. And you wonder why the magazine didn't last long! As a young reader of the magazine, I had no idea how hard it was to put Games-X together. John Davison reminisced: "Doing it every week as my ﬁrst full-time gig kinda set me up in a lot of ways. So I was a staﬀ writer, but we were doing a bit of everything. We were doing reviews, previews and strategy guides, but we were also trying to work out how to take screenshots."

ven though Hugh Gollner had some talented staff on his team to make this slightly easier, it was still time consuming. John reflected: "It was a lesson from the beginning in deadlines and ingenuity…. it set me up with an attitude how you approach this stuff for the next thirty years"

Stuck on a game? GX had you covered! (Until the next weekly part)

weekly frequency. There were regular features each issue too, Tip X (cheats), X-It (the standard letters page) and Dr.X - their own games guru (sadly no Mean Yob). Back then, magazines would get sackfuls of mail asking for help, or just looking to be insulted! Strange times indeed. One such feature was Street Talk, a weekly trip to a local games shop or entertainment chain somewhere in the country. Here they would grab a few words with the manager and various customers about what was popular at the time and what they were playing. It was a great chance to get the readership involved, and possibly see your picture in the magazine the following week. Ex-Ocean graphics artist Mark R.Jones was interviewed when they visited Northampton! The Amiga was at its height at this time, so would always get a mention as their machine of choice and what they were out shopping for. One smaller chain (that no one seems to remember apart from me, as it was based in the North) was Software Superstore. Various stores of theirs were visited - sadly not my local one in Bolton though, so my

As I mentioned at the start of this article, Games-X only lasted 48 issues. As console ownership grew and home computers started to struggle to stand out, the games industry was starting to change, especially with the battle of Sega vs Nintendo starting to kick oﬀ. In Issue 46, there was a full page advert telling readers to "Watch this space!", as exciting things were coming. The message continued the following week, telling us to "Expect the unexpected on 26th May". As a 12year-old, I wondered what it could be. A redesign? Cover disks? More pages? Issue 48 revealed the answer. The front page stated "It's goodbye for now, but we'll meet again", and inside, a full page told us to "Prepare yourself for something completely diﬀerent on 26th May". I was devastated.

o that was that. Hugh Gollner's attempt at a weekly magazine had ended. Looking back all these years later, it was a very ambitious project. When Issue 1 launched, it was only 60p. By the end, that price was still only 75p! So what happened on the 26th May? What was the "unexpected"? Well, it was a console magazine for the Nintendo Game Boy - GB Action. Northern News Editor Nick Clarkson moved over to the magazine as editor, but only stayed a few months before leaving the role to start his career in games PR (something he still does to this day for Merge Games). GB Action lasted for several years, with various publishers, but that is a story for elsewhere and not in an Amiga magazine.

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AMIGA INSIGHT

very close to the oﬃce. From a single trip Nick "could get two pages for a review, two pages for an interview and make a good contact. For a day's work, I could get four pages of content." One of the articles featured in the magazine was a developer's diary of the making of Utopia. This featured in several issues, before an exclusive preview and review. As previously mentioned, Gremlin received a lot of great coverage. Other features took a look at the likes of Sensible Software and DMA Design (see Issue 2 of AA for our own take on the House of Lemming). This gave the readers a brief history of the software house and covered whatever they had in the works. Again, this ﬁtted into the Smash Hits style to make it accessible to all ages.

The Amiga Show by Anthony Jarvis

AMIGA FOCUS

- Lights... Camera... Amiga!

In the studio, Anthony is helping to keep genuine Amiga-based broadcasting alive. The Amiga still produces exceptional quality video today.

Newtek’s Video Toaster is one of those devices which for me - the definitive add-on for the Amiga. Not just for being utterly ground-breaking, but it was the Amiga experience for many people. It was designed around - and extended the reach of - what the Amiga could do; pushing it even further into the very demanding world of broadcast video. Combining a suite of interconnected applications with a focus on live video presentation, there really was nothing else like it. It’s one of the Amiga’s greatest ever applications. When I first heard about the Toaster, I could not believe what I was seeing. How was this possible? I pawed Amiga Format over and over, absorbing those images. I was desperate to work in TV, but to have a studio at home? The idea was inconceivable. Unfortunately, the Toaster was firmly rooted in the US, and more specifically, was an NTSC beast. With my financial resources and living in a PAL territory, it just wasn’t going to happen.

and because of my background in TV, thought I could put together a show using old analogue video gear. This coincided with an increase of interest in the Amiga again, and so the Toaster sprang immediately to mind! There then followed a number of years where I slowly got ideas together on what I might do, but eventually I decided to focus solely on the Amiga. I wanted to track its history from launch onwards. I also wanted to set the programme in that era... it needed to sound and feel like 1985, not by being kitsch or mocking the period, but by being a show that absolutely could have been screened back then. Maybe some daytime show you might ﬂick onto, that happened to be about the Amiga.

Time passed.

The ﬁrst hurdle was getting the gear together. That took a few years, partly because my approach changed and I realised I wanted to do the whole thing on the Amiga, which complicated matters somewhat. I didn’t really have all the bits I needed until about a month before the ﬁrst show’s upload! It was a gradual process.

About 8 years ago, I began to think about doing a retro gaming show on YouTube,

Taking the ﬁrst episode from idea to reality took, on and oﬀ, about 10 months;

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producing all the graphics and writing the music. This involved learning LightWave and Music-X from scratch! Although I work in editing and VFX, 3D animation and modelling are not my focus. Add to that, I have not composed any music since I was at school, 30 years ago! I knew I could get it to look OK, but sounding OK was more daunting. I wanted to achieve that mid-80s daytime feel, and I hope I got close. I’ve given The Amiga Show a magazine feel and broken it into speciﬁc items. This makes putting the show together much easier, as I can ﬁnish individual items separately before “bolting” them together. I think it’s better for the viewer too, instead of having to trudge through a 30 minute stream of consciousness. It’s going to be fun coming up with the features, and I hope I can think of interesting ways of integrating them with the rest of the show. I’m going to cover productivity software and hardware, whilst trying to keep to the appropriate time period for each show. I’ll be covering Deluxe Paint soon, and hope to remake the show’s logo in pixel art for that episode. Similarly with games, I really want to give old classic games their moment and not just brush

COMMU NI ARTICL TY E SUBMI SSION

AMIGA FOCUS

Anthony has professional-grade industry standard PVMs for a high quality display. LightWave 3D also provides powerful animation editing.

past them. This is a deliberate decision it’s a huge part of the Amiga story and easily forgotten. So how does it all work? This is the technical bit... Well, to start with you need to build yourself an edit suite. To do this, I have a Video Toaster Flyer card which sits in my Amiga 2000, and eﬀectively turns the Toaster into a multi-VTR (Video Tape Recorder) edit suite. It’s an amazing technology, way ahead of its time in many respects. Pushing towards broadcast quality, an MPEG board this is not. It’s actually closer to having a professional VTR in your Amiga. This is where my tape editing background came in handy. Everything needs to be cabled together, including feeding the audio (for which you’ll need a mixer) to and from the Flyer. It also has to be perfectly synchronised - this is an analogue NTSC device after all. The recorded media is eﬀectively an encoded waveform and not sampled in the usual sense (it’s probably closer to the LaserDisc format). The media goes onto SCSI drives, or in my case, CF cards via high speed adapters.

that you string together to make a sequence. Each “crouton” is a piece of video, audio, or an eﬀect. These can be a little hard to see on the A2000, but AGA brings them to life. Unfortunately not something I have though, at least for the time being! The scope of the system is vast. Using Arexx, you can integrate other applications such as ImageFX or Art Department Professional with the Toaster. Very cool. But the beauty of the system is once you’ve sequenced the whole 25-30 minute programme together correctly, it plays back the whole thing in real-time, with mixed audio, and no further rendering. There are few systems capable of that, even today. I record the Flyer’s output onto a capture device on my Mac. This then has to get processed, because the output is interlaced and I wanted to retain that slick video look. This involves

deinterlacing the video, but importantly, keeping both “ﬁelds” as new frames. As YouTube supports video at 59.94 fps, it all matches up. Audio stays in sync and gives it that silky broadcast feel the Toaster is famous for. It’s been a bit of a lengthy process, not just from a technical point of view, but because I was very worried about presenting something to the outside world; there was a lot I had to get over personally. I was helped by a number of people - not least my wife Anna - all of whom were enormously encouraging. So massive thanks to them! The feedback has also been overwhelming. I had no idea it was going to be so well received and I am massively grateful to those who watched it, enjoyed it, and have written such positive things about it. I’m so glad it’s found an audience. Thanks for watching...

The video you want to capture is played in real-time from any video source, whether it’s a video camera, VTR desk, a movie ﬁle from a computer or gameplay footage from the Amiga - as long as it’s timed and converted to NTSC. 3D animations rendered in LightWave can be recorded straight to the Flyer however, or you can import IFFs or Anims to create a Flyer clip. The same is true for captions or images you’ve created in ToasterPaint (TV Paint), which is a great application in its own right. Aside from the switcher part of the Toaster (cutting and keying between inputs), the interface is a series of events

Check out all of those transitions, fades and eﬀects!

March 2021

AMIGA ADDICT

AMIGA INSIGHT

Oh, that's a nice magazine you're on the front cover of DJ Aphrodite! Deja vu?

Lost In The Jungle - by Ravi Abbott

We ask why the Amiga was the machine of choice for jungle music, and why are we seeing a resurgence of musicians using it in 2021... Something is stirring in Amiga Land - the jungle lion has awoken! Back in the 90s, many producers launched themselves into the music charts using the Amiga, going up against studios with thousands of pounds worth of equipment. We chat with the legends from back in the day, and dip our toes into the re-emerging Amiga jungle scene. But ﬁrst we need to explain... what is jungle? Jungle music is a very UK-focused sound that was prominent in the underground music scene of the 90s, and eventually burst from the undergrowth and smashed itself into the charts. However, as events got increasingly violent and unsafe, jungle fell out of fashion commercially. Its roots are established in the rave, acid house and hardcore scene, and can generally be recognised by the rapid beats, use of samples and deep basslines. As raves became more popular, the demand for faster, harder beats grew and grew, until they became a necessity in new releases. With these scenes being Associated with heavy drug use, the beats per minute would be ramped up to match the heart-rate of the many ravers under the inﬂuence. The Amiga covered a lot of these genres in this space, from toytown techno to happy hardcore, with producers creating remixes, music disks and demo tunes. In the UK, we have a culture of sampling breakbeats to create dance music, as seen with the hip-hop of the early 80s. Hip-

AMIGA ADDICT

hop's go-to breakbeat was taken from "Apache” by the Incredible Bongo Band (1973) and created the foundation of that sound. Jungle took a similar route, with its breakbeat coming from the American soul group The Winstons, and their track “Amen, Brother” (1969). Instantly recognisable nowadays as ‘The Amen Break’, this breakbeat is the core component of hardcore/jungle, and other genres that branched them, such as drum and bass and breakcore, can still be instantly recognised in today’s releases.

these tunes at raves and on pirate radio, eventually they would hit the mainstream UK charts. The two most famous Amiga producers back in the day were DJ Zinc and Aphrodite. DJ Zinc famously released "Super Sharp Shooter", a danceﬂoor ﬁller made on Amiga that sampled LL Cool J’s “It Gets No Rougher”, and featured plenty of timestretching and killer basslines. DJ Aphrodite, from the collective Urban Shakedown, hit 23 in the UK charts with the tune "Some Justice", made using two Amigas synced by pressing the spacebar

The relevance of Amiga in this music scene is pretty amazing. Being a fairly cheap piece of musical equipment compared to industry standards, it really helped this underground scene ﬂourish. Many producers found it the ideal platform for making their tunes using breakbeat samples and small loops tracker software was very popular and lots of small cheap samplers were available commercially. This bedroom production scene resulted in many chart hits and launched the careers of a number of famous DJs and producers. Meanwhile, in a similar vein, Ataris were also being used by some home producers and had a whole scene of their own (which we will totally ignore for the purposes of this article!). Many of the world's best jungle producers picked up their Amigas and started making chart-topping jungle tunes in the 90s. Jungle pioneers such as Bizzy B, Paradox, Aphrodite and Mickey Finn used Amigas to remix current tunes in the charts, taking advantage of the ability to drive the bass tones to levels previously unheard of and getting those bass bins shaking. Previewing a lot of

March 2021

Classic Amiga magazine music advert.

at the same time. It became a huge rave/ jungle crossover tune. Both of these DJs had huge success - even pushing themselves to dominate the later drum and bass genre.

Welcome DJ Aphrodite, we’re honoured to be speaking with you. Your classic work on the Amiga really stands out and we love your modern stuﬀ as well. So let's get to know your journey with your Miggy. Do you enjoy the limitations of using an Amiga for music production? Not at the time! [laughs] The limitations forced you to work harder to get the track sounding better - it's a blessing in disguise.

Did you use any other applications on your Amiga? Mainly stuﬀ like the paint programs, DPaint etc. A bit of word processing, and even a spreadsheet now and again, but pretty much everything I did revolved around the music folder. OctaMED was even bundled free on coverdisks.

Why do you think people are still making jungle with the Amiga?

Thanks so much Aphrodite! We hope to see more tunes coming out with that Amiga sound, if you don't get too distracted by After Burner! Amiga Jungle is back in Bizzness!

Because of what people like me managed to do, I suppose. People still come up to me and say: "The best records you made were the ones done on Amiga". It has its own kind of sound and style there are techniques and sounds you can do on the Amiga that are easy to do on OctaMED, but using something like Audio Logic or Cubase, it becomes a laborious task. Do you have any unreleased Amiga tracks, or are you working on new ones? Nothing that's brand new, I don't sit down and play with samples and stuﬀ like I used to. I tend to work with Audio Logic these days. It's still the same process as before: I take a sample, tweak it and then put it in a sequencer. Just this time it's Audio Logic rather than OctaMED for sequencing.

Here at Amiga Addict, we like to cover not just the classics, but the new aspects of a scene too. Commercially, jungle has really slowed down in recent years, but as usual, the love of the music - the passion and enjoyment behind it - thrives in the underground. A huge resurgence of attention (and artists) have really helped this little modern Amiga jungle scene flourish. Whether it's a mix of wonder, confusion or just nostalgia for the old sound, it seems to really be gaining momentum outside just the computing community. Recently albums have been released on vinyl, directly mastered from the Amiga. For these jungle producers, many years learning their craft, perfecting techniques and figuring out new tricks have given them a real opportunity to create something special. We chat to the top Amiga jungle producers of the moment to get their views on the variety of different sounds and skills required.

How did you sample on the Amiga? I used an Akai. I sampled in the same way every producer would... I would listen to a record ‘til I found a clear break, chop it down, clean it up and then use it. What do you think of Amiga culture and the magazines? The funny thing about magazines like Amiga Format was we would all read it, go through the pages and, of course, use all the free programs on the cover disks! The Amiga magazine world seemed more centred around gaming than music though. I would buy two magazines back in the day, an Amiga one and a professional sound one. Did you use your Amiga for other stuﬀ or was it strictly a music production machine? Oh yes, I got addicted to Worms, same as everybody else. After Burner I really

March 2021

As Busta Rhymes put it: “Boom! From the Cannon!” Pete Cannon has been absolutely smashing it recently... with so many Amiga-based records, you can really ﬁll your boots. Fresh from his interview with industry music technology magazine Sound-On-Sound, we chat to Pete about why he still uses Amiga and the interest he's getting worldwide. Why do you still use the Amiga to produce music, when so much modern equipment is available? Ha ha, I get asked this a lot. I mean, I've been producing music for 25 years, and the Amiga is where it all started for me. Back in the mid 90s - when I was 11 - I got an Amiga for Christmas, and a copy of OctaMED 4 followed shortly after from a friend. There were samples and mods that came with it, and you could make your own versions of the tracks by

AMIGA ADDICT

AMIGA INSIGHT

We are honoured to chat with the legendary Amiga producer Aphrodite (who you can see on this issue’s front cover). Rising to fame in those early days of the hardcore/jungle scene, he created some amazing, ground-breaking and chart-topping tunes alongside Mickey Finn. The Amiga community picked up on this, and he was featured on the front cover of Amiga Format with a full feature interview. They even released a very nice sample pack - exclusive to the Amiga - via Amiga Format that is still used today, and massively inﬂuenced the Amiga jungle scene. Recently, Aphrodite appeared on the BBC Four documentary “On Bass…”, proudly sporting his Amiga in his studio setup. To this day, he's still not put down his Amiga, and is still using it as one of his essential production tools. We ask why.

enjoyed too. There are probably a few, but I don't remember. I remember Attack of the Mutant Camels, but I think that was way before the Amiga.

AMIGA INSIGHT

Pete Cannon certainly isn't lacking in audio equipment - but the Amiga is the machine that he owes his music career to.

rearranging the samples. I managed to pick up a second-hand sampling cart and then it was on! At the time I was collecting a lot of records because of my dad - he's a musician and an avid record collector himself. The passion for collecting sounds on vinyl then began to grow properly when I was 13. We'd go to the second-hand shops and boot sales, pick records up, then I'd sample them into glorious 8-bit mono [laughs]. It all became an obsession very early on, and the Amiga was the heart of it all - the tool to express myself as a teenager. I was making tunes all weekend, then going to school and showing them to the classmates who were into rave and jungle. I remember one track where the deputy headmaster left a message on my mum and dad's answer machine. I'd got into some trouble, for no reason really, and was pissed oﬀ, so I sampled his voice oﬀ the tape and made a gabba track dissing him, ha ha. I was 14. I've still got

Pete Cannon's 8-bit Only E.P. vinyl release.

AMIGA ADDICT

the disk and it loads up! I was learning the tracker and starting to understand music arrangements. OctaMED was incredible for this. While limited in some ways, the tracker lends itself to intricate cutting up of samples. At the time, some of the 8-bit sounds were harsh as I had the Stereo Master, but I kept going with it and learnt how to craft full songs. At 16, I went to music college, and at 17 got a PC with Cubase 3.6. The Amiga was put away. Now, fast forward 15 years and after using Ableton, Cubase, Logic and Pro Tools for that long, I wanted something different. That's when I was intrigued and got the Amiga back out of Mum's shed... AND IT STILL WORKED. Now with the Internet, I found out much more about various sample cards, MIDI boxes etc. That's when I wanted to connect a sampler to it and so it all began again. I hooked it up to a 950, started chopping up records again and it encouraged me to sample. Now, this is the main reason for getting it out - it felt a huge challenge and after producing music for cinema and film, I wanted something different. That was making full, releasable jungle and rave music with the Amiga. The limitations push you to make bolder moves, especially with arrangements. There's no sidechained white noise, risers, six million sounds and everything maxed out. You're pushed to sample new sounds, and - I always say this - overcoming musical obstacles helps to put you in a state of flow quicker. The

March 2021

whole system pushes you to create. The limitations and the nostalgia got me so much, I felt like a teenager again making tunes. I'm having so much fun! I love it and now with the DSS8+ sample cart, bigger hard drive, outboard FX and expansion cards, I can get a kind of decent sound out of it. God bless that Paula sound chip. Which tips and tricks have you picked up over time? Hexadecimal in OctaMED is your friend. I'm more a muso than a coder, but typing in commands in the OctaMED lanes adds different FX to your samples. Check out the OctaMED manual - there is a PDF of it online showing the commands you type in for delay, portamento and even a manual time-stretch. What is the process of going from Amiga to vinyl? So, once I have my track ready, I may do it a few ways. One is to do a live performance off the mixing desk straight to a two-track in Ableton, which then acts as a glorified tape recorder. With the performance, I'll take tracks out, mute parts, throw parts in, then that's it. I like the idea of a one-take - you never really do it exactly the same. I can have an eight bar loop with eight parts going and manage to turn it into a track. There's a couple of tracks on “Kniteforce” that came out like that. They only exist as loops, but the track is a performance off the mixing desk. Other times I'll stem

everything out to give it a proper mix in Ableton. I say proper [smiles]. Then maybe, straight out the Amiga to twotrack. It then goes to get mastered with Simon from the original exchange. He's one of the best cutters for jungle and hardcore, doing all the original “Moving Shadow” stuﬀ back in the day. He then sends the cut to the pressing plant and then they send me the records.

the Polyend Tracker have come about, which I love. It's a tracker, like OctaMED in a portable box with the option to load samples directly into it from SD. I think people are interested in new ways to be creative, even if it means pulling out the old Amiga. Those limitations and that nostalgia make it a great machine for creating with. Don't hassle the Hoﬀ!

Which bits of external hardware are essential to your setup?

How has the general music world reacted to this recent resurgence with Amiga sound? I mean, I can only talk about what I've done really, but there's been an amazing response. Andy C tweeted me 23 handin-the-air emojis oﬀ the back of one of my videos, I mean, that's pretty boss, ha ha. Aphex Twin played my track “Feel It” from my label N4 to 5000 people in Mexico - that was made on an Amiga. That blew me away, but I think he loves the old Amiga stuﬀ too. Remember that Pacman tune he made? Boss. I do have a lot of people messaging me about how to set up the Amiga, and that I've inspired them to make music again or try a new approach. Even products like

Why was PT-1210 needed and how did it develop? The development was sort of an accident. Akira and I are both users of EAB (English Amiga Board) and he posted a question about changing the tempo of a ProTracker mod, while also repitching the samples. Being a DJ myself, I twigged as to what the goal was - to make mods playable in a DJ format. At the time, there was DJ-type software available for other retro systems, like gwEM’s STj for the Atari ST, or LSDJ for the Gameboy, but nothing for the Amiga. The idea piqued my interest, so I decided to code up a little proof of concept with pitch and nudge controls... and it just worked. We then worked on the base feature set, making sure all your common DJ controls were catered to, as well as some unique features you can only have due to it being on the Amiga hardware. Akira then designed the fantastic UI and here we are today. We’re currently working with d0peﬁsh to take it to the

Do you think the quality of Amiga music and associated techniques has improved over the years? There has been a bit of an uplift in the last five to ten years of slightly more modern and diverse styles of music being produced with ProTracker, which is really great - especially for my crate of PT-1210 tunes. Musicians such as Mygg, AceMan, Esau, Juice and Subi always look to bring something fresh, or even something retro with a bit of a modern twist. In terms of techniques, there has also been a bit of a push to get every last inch of functionally out of the nearly 30-year-old format. We’ve seen fake side-chain compression, filter sweeps and, of course, pattern animations, which are always fun to watch. What's the most interesting Amiga audio trick you have tried or have the potential to do in the future? My favourite is the fake side-chain compression. It is essentially just volume control to emulate the effect, but used right it gives a tune some real punch. I’d say we are at a bit of an impasse now, where all the tricks and bugs available in the format have been exploited. So it’s more about the content really... but I’m sure someone will prove me wrong soon. Do the limitations of Amiga help fuel creativity? Without a doubt. Making music on a modern platform, such as PC, leaves you open to an almost infinite range of possibilities, even on the cheapest hardware. When you can only play four samples at the same time, it makes you squeeze as much out of the four channels as sonically possible. I love that almost “boxed-in” feeling - where you have to get creative to get the sound you want so much so that some of my favourite projects are ones where we have selfimposed limits such as the 64k demo production. That is the total size for everything, code, graphics and music. It’s really limiting, so you end up using or coding tools to push the sound further within that tiny space. Stirring up a hornet’s Nest!

h0ﬀman - The Cave Sessions, double 12" vinyl records produced in conjunction with RMC.

March 2021

Being a truly international scene, we have DJ Nest hailing from Greece. Releasing remixes and tunes on the “Amen Theory” label based in Manchester, he's a real bass bin wobbler. Creating tunes on both ProTracker and DigiBooster Pro, he has a very sample-heavy set of tunes, all with a heavy Amen Break driving the tracks.

AMIGA ADDICT

AMIGA INSIGHT

You need a mixing desk and FX to give the Amiga life. EQ and bus compression help to lift it. The old Akai samplers linked to the Amiga via MIDI are amazing. The 950 for its 12-bit sound and ﬁlter, synonymous with that early jungle sound. I love the 303, it’s instant gratiﬁcation... that and the Korg Wavestation. Proper 90s pads and I use the FX from it on a bus channel for the Amiga. Again, lifting the sound. Tell you what though, and I know it's obvious but, good sleep, a bit of exercise and some healthy food are well useful to keep your main bit of hardware ticking over!

DJ h0ﬀman has a real passion for retro technology and loves to dive deep into coding. This hex master has produced some truly tiny banging mods. With a focus on coding and eﬃciency, he really loves to push the Amiga to its limits. A regular at demo events, he's often sharing his knowledge of mod making with other producers, as recently released his latest absolutely banging album: “The Cave Sessions”.

next stage with a huge round of bug ﬁxes, features and stability ﬁxes.

Amiga links

What are the essential samples you use to create a jungle sound?

With all this talent on board and wider culture taking notice, I think the only way is up with the Amiga jungle scene. If you would like to explore the scene, get some sample packs or even grab your copy of Amiga music on vinyl, check out these links:

AMIGA INSIGHT

Amiga sample packs (including the ‘Urban Shakedown Pack’): www.8bitmix.com/resources/ DJ Aphrodite on BBC Four: www.amiga-addict.com/aphrodite DJ h0ffman ‘Cave Sessions’: www.amiga-addict.com/vinyl Pete Cannon Sound-on-Sound interview: www.amiga-addict.com/petecannon Pete Cannon Bandcamp: www.n4records.bandcamp.com DJ Nest SoundCloud: www.soundcloud.com/dj_nest_gr Amiga Junglism SoundCloud: www.soundcloud.com/amigajunglism How do you pick a tune you want to remix? My first inspiration always starts from the vocals. I have to think of the idea of a new jungle track starting from the vocal segments. They have to bond in the track patterns. You remix something, and you have to start from the vocals stuck in your head, like the crazy pastor I used on my latest track. Amiga also has the unique timestretch effect and you can reproduce this classic effect with good results in ProTracker and OctaMED. Speed is the key.

You always start from the bass and the drum machines. I prefer deep 808 sub bass with hard kick mixed. Amen loops are also essential for the classic jungle sound. There are unlimited variations of Amen drum loops out there, and you can also create your own with proper choppage and sound effects. The Amiga Paula 8-bit chipset gives a unique metallic sound when drum loops are mixed properly. Where is the best place to get new Amiga mods? I use the www.modules.pl page for fresh modules, as my tracks are also hosted there. It has a very easy search engine where you can even select your favourite genre of music - the main creator (AceMan PL) has added jungle, drum ‘n’ bass, breakbeat, and other specific choices. Their page also hosts the Mod.FM online radio station. You have to check it out! Another fine web archive is the Amiga Music Preservation (AMP) site. It has a huge library of Amiga modules and artists from the early days, and also the latest tracks from all your favourite artists. What type of sound system do you use to test your remixes? When I write music, I use my monitor headphones from my sound console. I want to be as close as I can to the final result, but this is not always as expected with headgear. My main stereo sound system has 2 amps - a digital one and a classic Technics analogue stereo amp. I use both of them individually and I have the ability to switch them onto a fine pair of Roister handmade speakers. On my

DJ Nest doesn't even smoke, a roll-up just fell into his mouth!

AMIGA ADDICT

digital amp, I use 2.1 with a massive 15 inch subwoofer (as a reference for my basslines) and on my analogue Technics amp, I can feel the pure bass produced by my speakers only on the ﬁnal mix. All Junglists! Coming from the demoscene, we have Amiga Junglism. A member of the legendary ‘Up Rough’ demoscene crew, he's been tracking since 1989 and sampling since 1991, with some serious knowledge and even more serious beats. With a mix of old skool breaks, hardcore and jungle, his tunes are not to be messed with! What makes MED and OctaMED so special? Being able to link up external samplers, like any of the Akai S series. When combined they can be deadly! Personally, I like the GUI too, it’s something I just grew up with. Which sampler and sample packs do you use ? My ﬁrst sampler was the Stereo Master cartridge, but I’ve used a few over the years. These days I tend to just convert sample packs new and old. I’d be lying if I said I never delved into the Zero G ones. Have you tried using any MIDI for Amiga? I’ve attempted MIDI In with OctaMED a few times using the S5000, but I always end up reverting back to the classic four channels of crunchy audio. Maybe one day I’ll try again with it. What would your dream Amiga audio feature be? Is this a trick question? I already have it PT-1210 of course!

We love to see Amigas still working hard as the tools for musical creativity.

March 2021

Transarctica

• Publisher: Silmarils • Amiga platforms: OCS / ECS • Release year: 1993

- Our good amigo John Shawler play-tests an entirely unique locomotive adventure game

ONSCREEN

The snow is thick, so let's hope we don't get any leaves on the line too!

In the game review community, we tend to throw words like “ambitious” and “genre-busting” around quite easily, but it’s rare that a game actually manages to truly break the mould. Transarctica, a 1993 release by French developer Silmarils, combines a train-driving simulation, Elite-like trading mechanics, and an adventure game into one. Set in a postapocalyptic future, after a plan to detonate nukes at the Poles to slow down global warming goes wrong, humanity ekes out its existence by trading natural resources and travelling about on massive steam-powered locomotives. The train network is controlled by the Viking Union, a nefarious military-industrial complex (is there any other kind of military-industrial complex?) and your job is to overthrow them with your newlystolen locomotive, the Transarctica. The game is broken up into several sections. The overworld map spans hundreds of screens, laid out with dozens of cities, mines, and other locations. Piloting your locomotive from location to location is done via realistic train controls. In addition to driving your train, you also control the rate that coal is shovelled into the hopper, the steam pressure, and your speed and direction. One interesting aspect of this game is that your currency can also be used as fuel - coal rules the day in the world of Transarctica. If your train ever runs out of fuel, it’s game over, so you may be reduced to burning through your money, quite literally! It’s worth noting that there are two types of coal one type can be used as currency and one can’t - make sure you’re shovelling the right kind into the hopper unless you’re really in trouble. Although the train simulation screens are shown in the ﬁrst person, actual travel is shown in a simpliﬁed manner on the overworld map. When you arrive at a city, you’ll need to start making money by trading for goods. You can also buy new cars for your train, talk to locals to gain information and glean secrets, and buy soldiers for protection, spies to gather intel, and slaves to shovel your coal. Once you’ve developed a route that allows you to trade enough goods to amass a fortune in black gold, it’s time to equip your train with cars that can haul livestock, mine, and house your army. You will need protection on the tracks, as members of the Viking Union patrol the rails, and if you encounter an enemy train, a battle will ensue. During battles, the two trains run parallel with each other at a slow rate of

Better get shovelling some coal, that oﬃcer doesn't look too happy...

speed. Each side can send soldiers to bomb out cars on the other train, as well as ﬁre cannons at the opposing side. The battles only end when one train or the other loses all its munitions and soldiers - so each encounter can easily spell doom for the unprepared. The map of the game world is loosely based on Europe and includes real cities. It helps to have basic knowledge of regional stereotypes to succeed. The best place to pick up spies is Moscow; you can stock up on soldiers in Berlin. To beat the game, you’ll need to obtain certain items in cities to overcome physical obstacles in your path and uncover hidden areas. Bring a notebook to this one, you’ll need it. Overall, Transarctica rewards the player who invests time into its myriad play mechanics and systems, as well as those players who fully investigate the story. John Shawler is the host of the Amigos: Everything Amiga Podcast and This Week in Retro. He can be contacted at john@amigospodcast.com

GRAPHICS 87% Great care has been taken to draw the train interiors and individual car types. Unfortunately, each city looks the same.

SOUND 97% Perhaps the best sound design on the Amiga. A perfect mix of train sounds, a dramatic score, and environmental eﬀects.

GRAB FACTOR 50% You have to grab yourself on this one. The game is complex, and the manual could do a better job of getting the player started. Even the most well-prepared player will have to experiment with countless deaths, as they work out a proﬁtable trading route to begin the story part of the game.

PLAYABILITY 65% Controlling small gauges with the mouse is often imprecise. The player has to click and drag small gauges and frequently over - or under - shoots the desired level. Combat sequences are poorly executed and extremely unrealistic. Luckily, the developers seemed to know this and give you the option to skip manual control of them entirely.

VERDICT March March 2021 2021

75%

AMIGA AMIGA ADDICT ADDICT

gold

standard

The ﬁrst in a new series of features in which Matthew Smith, producer of Amiga Power: The Album With Attitude, shines a spotlight on the very ﬁnest Amiga games in their genres. This month: why Harlequin is the best Amiga platformer of all time.

ONSCREEN

Game Harlequin

Released 1992

Authors The Warp Factory: Andrew Findlay (programming and design); Ed Campbell (graphics and design); Barry Leitch (music); Pete Cook (production)

During its years as a mainstream gaming format, the Amiga played host to no shortage of platformers. This was particularly true as the 1990s rolled around, and the 16-bit console wars got underway. Sonic The Hedgehog on the Mega Drive and Super Mario World on the SNES made vast sums of money for Sega and Nintendo respectively, not least because those games helped to make their titular characters into hugely lucrative household names. This led to a slew of copycat releases on every console and computer of the era, as games companies the world over vied to create the next big money-spinning mascot platformer. Numerous games of this ilk appeared on the Amiga, including Superfrog, Zool, Putty, Robocod, Oscar, Soccer Kid, Brian The Lion, Kid Chaos, Tearaway Thomas

(remember him?) and many more besides. Some of them were quite good. Heck, some of them were really very good indeed. But let’s be honest here... none of them managed to match the success of Mario or Sonic on a creative level. They just didn’t have the verve and originality to stand out as something extra-special. Except for one. A particularly outstanding one. One that is, in fact, the ﬁnest platformer ever to grace the Amiga. Blimey, eh? Begin The Harlequinade! Released fairly quietly in early 92, Harlequin might not be as famous as any Sonic or Mario game, but it’s right up there with the greatest of them in terms of sheer quality. It looks completely gorgeous, as you can see; it also sounds

Publisher Gremlin

superb, thanks to the evocative musical contributions of Barry Leitch. It’s exceptionally user-friendly - disc accessing is kept to a minimum, and you can save your position at any time with the tap of a button. The eponymous hero of the piece controls excellently; even with the dreaded up-to-jump, you can always manoeuvre the wee pyjama-clad japester with tremendous precision. And, most importantly of all, Harlequin is more than a match for its console-based peers in three crucial areas which, in concert, ensure that the game is exceptionally satisfying and fun to play. Those areas are Character, Atmosphere and Design. Yes, Harlequin has the CAD factor. Lordy! It's the Lost Temple of Hur-Ho-Hi! While he may not have the instant cute appeal of the diminutive dungareed

Heavens above! Paradise has been invaded by dastardly denizens from “downstairs”. Time for Harlequin to take out the trash!

Another great touch - if you play with sound eﬀects on, the keys of this giant pipe organ actually play the right notes as you run across them.

It jolly well is, too. Flick that switch, fella!

Glub.

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Piscine transformation is just one of Harlequin’s numerous skills; he can also

The warped and wacky world of Chimerica in all its glory. Well, all the above ground bits, anyway…

Glub glub.

swing from ropes, slide down slopes, shoot heart-shaped projectiles (which, in one of the game’s numerous lovely touches, appear inside bubbles when he’s in fish mode), float with an umbrella and go bouncing all over the shop on a space hopper - always undismayable, with a chipper demeanour. It’s the “Lightbulb Moments”, however, which give him a truly memorable personality. As you run around the levels, a cartoon lightbulb will occasionally appear flashing above Harlequin’s head; if you stand him still for a second when this happens, a message will descend from the top of the screen allowing you to read his thoughts. Often these messages provide hints as to what to do next, sometimes they’re just amusing asides, but they’re always delivered in a charmingly good-natured fashion, making frequent use of oldschool comic book exclamations such as “Crikey!” “Gadzooks!” and “Lordy!”. It’s impossible not to warm to the little guy. Ooer…this place gives me the creeps! Chimerica itself also brims with personality, and much of this is down to the inspired use of colour by artist Ed Campbell. Not only does each level have its own individual setting, but its own atmosphere-enhancing colour palette. From the bright and breezy primary hues of Cutesy Land and the warmly reassuring sunset reds and oranges of The Wacky Jugglers (a circus-themed level) to the dank, slimy greens and blues of Sewercide and the ominous dark purples of A Dark And Gloomy Place (a level set inside a mausoleum), every part of the game’s world has a distinctive look and atmosphere all of its own, adding to the epic feel of Harlequin’s adventure. Mmm…a plug for a TV, perhaps? Variety is once again the watchword when it comes to the structural design of the levels, and this is where Harlequin really outstrips its competition. Rather too many Amiga platformers favour levels of the large and sprawling variety, which take an age to traverse but don’t give you anything terribly interesting to do along the way – I’m looking at you in particular, Robocod and Superfrog! In Harlequin, there’s never a dull moment – at every turn you’re faced with strange enemies to do battle with, twisted obstacles to overcome and perplexing puzzles to solve, and the non-linear nature of the game means you’re not restricted to a single route to the end. Numerous levels are cunningly connected in various ways, and you’ll frequently need to revisit locations to seek out new pathways that have opened up since you last passed through. This latter aspect of the game is inextricably linked with the puzzle system, which is nothing short of genius. Your mission in Harlequin is to retrieve

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the four pieces of Chimerica’s broken heart, and in order to get anywhere, you need to stay on the lookout for switches. There are usually several of these scattered throughout every level, and they’re always in the “off” position when you find them; by touching them you turn them “on”, and they can have all manner of effects, from unlocking doors or activating moving platforms, to creating entirely new routes to previously inaccessible locations. This adds a great deal of depth to the proceedings, and the truly brilliant thing is this: flipping the switches is always beneficial. You don’t have to worry about them activating traps or blocking things off – they only ever do something helpful. The puzzles, therefore, revolve around figuring out what the switches actually do – and it isn’t always immediately obvious, as they can affect things in other parts of the level, or even in other levels altogether. As such, you also need to stay on the lookout for clues, and these can take many forms, including unusual objects in the background, posters on walls changing to say something different, musings from Harlequin himself during Lightbulb Moments, and alterations to the map of Chimerica that pops up between levels. Let us take, as an example, the lone switch located inside the temple in the desert world. It’s on a wall next to a giant electric plug. Standing in front of it reveals a Lightbulb Moment, in which Harlequin surmises that it’s a plug for a television. After hitting the switch and leaving the level, you’ll notice that the map of Chimerica has altered, and waves are emitting from a satellite dish on the side of a building marked “TV”. On subsequent levels you’ll find references to a TV sale taking place, and when you finally make your way to TVee Wonderland, you’ll find posters on the walls advertising the new Virtual Television. Ultimately, it turns out that the switch in the temple activated the VTV, allowing you to jump into its screen as a means to access several other levels. Phew. The upshot of all this is that, so long as you’re finding and flicking switches, you’re always making progress (as denoted by the “percentage completed” counter on the map screen) – and the further you get into the game, the more compelling and rewarding it becomes. Right on! Long live “The King”! So, that’s Harlequin: a masterclass in presentation, structure and entertainment, starring the mascot the Amiga never had, and every bit as terrific as the very best 16-bit outings for Sega and Nintendo’s platform superstars. If you’ve never played it, you really should give it a go; you’ll have just the dreamiest time.

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Italian plumber, or the radical 90s “attitude” of the speedy spiny blue critter, Harlequin as a character is an immensely likeable fellow, and the surreal dream world he inhabits – Chimerica – is just as appealing a place to explore as the Mushroom Kingdom or the myriad zones in which Sonic gambols. Each level of the game is completely unique, with its own distinctive scenery and baddies, so you’re constantly seeing new things and being surprised. The settings are delightfully imaginative. Forget your generic forests, castles, caves and icy mountains – you’ll find none of those here. Instead, you get to visit Heaven and Hell, go flying through the sky on a magic kite, clamber up a clock tower and explore its inner workings, invade another platform game entirely (a Mario spoof entitled “Cutesy Bros”), get sucked through straws in a giant glass of fizzy pop, navigate a sinister television superstore where every TV set is broken, and go adventuring in all manner of other weird and wonderful places. Even the more familiar locations have a neat twist to them – The Dream Mile (a desert level), for instance, is prone to ferocious sandstorms and has a lost temple at its centre, while Sewercide (a sewer level) requires you to dive into its depths in the form of a diamond-chequered angel fish.

Six of the Best - Mike Powell (North-West Amiga Group)

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Each month, we’ll be catching up with a notable ﬁgure in the world of Amiga and retro gaming, and asking them to whittle down their list of favourite games to a shortlist of just six. This month, we’re talking to Mike Powell, founder of the North-West Amiga Group (NWAG) - one of the UK’s most popular communities for Amiga fans.

by Stufm popularity and we have a sizable and active community online now. We started meetups last year - but since COVID hit, that’s all been on hold. However, once this is over, we are deﬁnitely aiming to start our face-to-face meetups again. Excellent news! OK, let’s get onto the list…

Hi Mike, can you tell us a bit about your history with the Amiga? Hi, I began using Amigas in the mid-90s, but it wasn’t until 1999 when I got my own. I traded £6 plus a bunch of PlayStation games with a friend for his A600. Since then, I’ve owned probably about 15 Amigas.

Here’s the list of my six all-time favourite Amiga games. It Came From The Desert Gripping from the start with its atmospheric title sequence, this game immerses you into another world of 1950s America with stunning visuals and audio. Even better if played in the dark. A cinematic jewel in the Amiga’s crown.

You’ve owned 15 Amigas?! Yes, from memory I’ve had 3x A500s, 2x A500+s, an AmigaOne, CDTV, 3x A1200s, 3x A600s and probably a couple more that I can’t remember. I’ve not kept them all, but I wish I had. My favourite machine is probably the A1200 due to its versatility, but I also have a soft spot for the A500. Incidentally, our website is hosted on an A1200. Can you tell us how NWAG came to be? I started NWAG in 2015. Over the years, it’s grown in

Worms: The Director's Cut Proof that even later in the Amiga’s life as a mainstream platform, there was still some gold. Not bad at all in single player but comes into its own in multiplayer mode... and who can forget the exploding sheep? Absolutely bananas. Road Rash Super Hang-On with a twist - a jolly good fun racer, with the added bonus of being able to physically assault your rivals, race for money and modify and upgrade your motorbike. Glorious fun.

Cinemaware's adventure horror romp is still an eerie experience.

WTDC oﬀered 14 new weapons, more maps & enhanced graphics.

The Amiga port of EA's Mega Drive vehicular combat game.

Teletext in the Ultimate Soccer Manager oﬃce? What a luxury!

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COMMU NI ARTICL TY E SUBMI SSION

The AA Jag has taken a real beating on its front end... time to ﬁx.

Ultimate Soccer Manager The Sensible Soccer games are great, don't get me wrong. Football has never really been my bag, which is what makes USM so special. It is fun to play, even if you aren't that into football. The match rigging and the risk of being arrested if caught adds to the fun!

Jaguar XJ220 The Lotus Trilogy is great, no doubt about it. But! ...this has some of the funkiest and best Amiga music in my opinion. The ability to make modiﬁcations/repairs to your car in between races, along with a track editor are cool touches too.

James Pond II: Codename RoboCod Sadly the version I have will not run happily on my own Amiga A1200 - but what a great game. I remember playing this as a young kid and getting mesmerised by all the magical level designs, as well as inexplicably craving a certain brand of chocolate biscuit... If anyone wants to donate me an A1200 compatible version, I would be eternally grateful!

Thanks Mike for your fantastic Amiga game choices this month - I'll be back again in Amiga Addict issue 4 with another guest and more top Amiga games. In the meantime, please check out the NWAG community on Facebook. You can also ﬁnd more information about their Amiga meetups online at: www.bambi-amiga.co.uk/spudmiga/nwag/index.html

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James Pond II controls beautifully - the best Amiga platformer?

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- A Story of Amiga Pinball by Ian Griﬃths

inball’s first foray on the machine was a modest affair. Released in 1987 while the machine was still young, Pinball Wizard by Kingsoft was a fairly simple game, combining a single fantasy themed table with a reasonable physics simulation to produce something more than a little playable. But having just one table limited replayability, and as a result, the game didn't set the world on fire. There were a few other notable pinball games in the platform’s early years. Tyne Soft’s First Person Pinball had a gimmick where a 3D picture-in-picture view showed the perspective from behind the ball itself - a clever idea, which in reality added little to a game where you will be concentrating on the table view 99% of the time. Coupled with some extremely rudimentary ball physics, this was not a sparkling interpretation of pinball’s legacy. Timescanner and Quiksilver Pinball, in 1990, at least managed to provide tables that spanned multiple screens. But they didn’t solve the ball physics issue, feeling overly floaty and making it hard for the player to predict what the ball would do something vital for a competent representation of pinball. It seemed like despite the Amiga’s power, no-one was getting it right. Until...

n 1989, ﬁve members of the popular demo group The Silents - Ulf Mandorﬀ, Olof Gustafsson, Markus

Nyström, Fredrik Liljegren and Andreas Axelsson - formed a games company called Digital Illusions. They’d been working on demos for some time, and were looking for a new challenge, a challenge that a game could provide. A pinball title seemed like it would make a good ‘first game’ - they would be able to knock it out quickly, it would have a limited scope and they all liked pinball before they started anyway. Little did they know that, in the seven years that followed, they would create a trilogy that would become legendary to Amiga users the world over. The team’s first game would be Pinball Dreams, released in 1992 for the Amiga, DOS and the NES. There are a number of things that make Dreams and the games that followed it special. The first, and the most important in my opinion, is the full physical modelling of the table. Ulf Mandorff studied technical engineering, and he was able to apply his knowledge to create a ball physics engine that not only considers the ball’s speed and position, but also its spin and other factors that influence the movement of a small metal ball in a large box. All the materials of the table are modelled too, to affect the ball differently when it interacts with them. There’s a reason why each of the three Digital Illusions pinball games had the word ‘simulator’ emblazoned on the box. The physics engine also bleeds through into the game mechanics too. I learned through my games of Pinball Dreams about the importance of ball control (oo-er!), catching the ball on the flipper and directing it where you want it to go. Long before I employed the same techniques on a real table, Digital Illusions was tutoring me as I tapped the left and right Amiga keys with fervour. The way that the display is handled is also important. Each table is two screens high, so scrolling around that playfield is an important part of the

LEFT: First Person Pinball featured the unique 3D ball view. RIGHT: Pinball Wizard was one of the earlier and more basic attempts at Amiga pinball.

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efore there were home consoles and computers, before there were arcade coin-ops, the early gaming scene had few choices for their interactive entertainment. But what they did have was pinball. Marvels of engineering with appealing visuals, sound and gameplay, pinball was unique. The pinheads flocked in their droves, immersing themselves in the audiovisual cacophony, each looking for the thrill that the next table would bring. The 70s were a golden era for silver ball spectacle, with each new release bringing more features and more innovations. Fast forward to the late 70s, and suddenly there was a challenge to pinball's crown. The first arcade cabinets came on the scene, dazzling players with their graphics and gameplay. It was inevitable that many people would jump ship, as people moved to the next big thing. But pinball lived on in the eyes of enthusiasts. Physical pinball continued to evolve and saw a revival with the video game crash. Meanwhile, those who had moved on to pinball’s upstart cousin had a healthy nostalgia for the old days of flippers and tilted planes. It was inevitable that people would try to recreate the magic. Atari had already started the ball rolling (pun intended) in 1974 with the extremely simplistic PinPong, but it wasn’t until 1977 with the home pong console Video Pinball, and a subsequent arcade version that anything recognisable as real pinball was created. In 1980, Atari programmer Bob Smith was tasked with porting Video Pinball to their popular home system the Atari 2600. Suddenly people could play pinball in their home. The 16-bit era rolled around, with all its advances in graphics and processing power, and video game recreations of

pinball really came into their own. The Amiga was a perfect partner for the vibrant and noisy world of the pinball table, oﬀering, as it did, an exciting combination of dedicated sound and graphics chips. Match that with a thriving demo scene that excelled in pushing the machine to its limits, and you’ve got a recipe for something very special indeed.

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sobering for owners of the former (for a change). Personally, I prefer the simplicity of Dreams, but then that could be because, as for a number of UK Amiga users, I got my copy in the Zool Software Pack that Silica Systems offered with all their Amiga bundles at that time. It had exclusive box art, and, for me, it was a game that was there birth-to-death in my Amiga collection, like a faithful friend. But for many people, Fantasies is the real height of the Bright & colourful tables were featured in Digital Illusions' PInball Dreams, Pinball Fantasies & Pinball Illusions. Dreams trilogy. gameplay. On a real world table, the and hence they worked together as well A few years passed before Digital player gets to steal a quick glance as they would at any demo party. Illusions’ final silver ball outing. 1995’s around the table as they play to identify Pinball Illusions is the only AGA-only title the trajectory of the ball. How the n the 90s, you didn’t get too far in the in the trilogy, and it really plays up to the viewport moves with the player is crucial games industry without a publisher in higher graphical power. Tables look crisp, in accounting for the lack of this. Digital tow. And so it was that the boys the scrolling is smooth, and it even Illusions solved this by having an engine started touting their new baby around at provides you with the option to flick into that scrolls at different speeds trade shows. It wasn’t that easy however hi-res mode, fitting the majority of the depending how close to the edge of the - most people told them that a pinball table on the screen, albeit in screen the ball gets, constantly on the game just wouldn’t sell. It wasn’t until a SuperTinyVision. move rather than reacting when the ball year later, with a more complete product This is the first of the three games reaches the screen boundary. This also in their hands, that they were able to get to feature multiball - using the hi-res lends the games a tangible feeling of fledgling publisher 21st Century feature to give you a chance to track all motion. You weren’t just standing at a Entertainment (recently founded by your metal children. And there are some machine watching a ball move. The Andrew Hewson, from the ashes of his 8simple sub-modes to play out, which is a whole game was moving with you. bit and early-years Amiga publisher, first for the series. Otherwise the engine It should be noted that the tables in Hewson Associates) to see the potential remains largely the same, save for all three of the Dreams trilogy were in their little game. tweaking of the physics engine to add purposefully designed to be as close to Pinball Dreams went on to do weight to the ball. Illusions is often real world tables as they could be. In fact, extremely well. It was a best-in-class considered to be the worst of the three the team got a few of their design ideas game at the time, and 21st Century knew games, despite having the most from the real thing. Previous pinball they had a hit on their hands. Eager to gimmicks, largely because this game, efforts had sometimes taken advantage cash in on their success, they pushed despite coming on the most disks, has of the virtual stage to make their Digital Illusions for a sequel. With the the least tables - only three (a fourth is playfields act in fantastical ways, or at base engine already built, tweaking the included on other ports). the very least, lean a little further formula and constructing new tables on the ‘video game’ side of video would be no problem. Whereas the nd so the epic Dreams trilogy game pinball. Digital Illusions Pinball Dreams took three years to put concludes. Digital Illusions moved preferred to have tables that, together, the sequel Pinball Fantasies on from the Amiga after this, with a little effort, could possibly was built and shipped in just six months, bound for bigger and better things - they be built in real life (and wouldn’t appearing on the shelves - somewhat would make a load of racing games that be a sight to see!). miraculously - in the same year as its before happening upon a little game Each table was strongly predecessor. called Battlefield 1942… and the rest themed, with Andreas largely Fantasies is a more polished product was history. coming up with the designs, and than Dreams in a lot of ways. Tables are 21st Century Entertainment weren’t Markus being responsible for the now three screens high instead of two, quite done with pinball games however. vibrant cartoony aesthetic. The allowing room for a mid-table flipper for They handed the reins over to Liquid theme of each table was additional shenanigans, and space for Dezign to produce what some consider rounded off by music composed cross-playfield ramps. The 80s style LED to be the very best Amiga pinball game by Olof, who was also segment display of the first game has Slam Tilt. But that’s a story for another responsible for meticulously been replaced with a full Dot Matrix time. Let’s fire that story into the ball sampling sounds from real tables Display (DMD), allowing for all kinds of lock and hope we get that multiball for the sound effects. Olof was fancy animations. What most people will going another time... also the pinhead on the team, remember though, is the dedicated AGA and came up with a lot of release that came out a year later, (Ed. - "Clearly there's a lot more to say the ideas for making the making everything smoother and more about all these great pinball games. Not scoring authentic. These colourful. A side by side comparison of to worry readers - we’ll be revisiting were experienced sceners, the OCS and AGA versions is quite them all for full reviews in the future!")

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Chuck Rock II: Son of Chuck

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- James Walker (AA's resident hard man of gaming) completes yet another "rock" solid classic. Chuck Rock 2: Son of Chuck is a game I have owned since new. It was a firm favourite as a child, but despite playing it many times, I had never actually completed it. It was with this in mind that I decided to right that wrong and finally see the end screen of a game I have owned for over 25 years! I really wish I hadn’t done the maths on that one... As you can guess from the title, this is the sequel to 1991’s Chuck Rock. In that first game, you played as the titular Chuck, who was on a quest to rescue his kidnapped wife from (to quote the intro) “local weirdo” Gary Gritter (presumably based on disgraced real world international weirdo Garry Glitter). The second game picks up some years later, by which point Chuck is a father and the owner of a very successful car business! It’s not long before a kidnapping occurs once again - this time the victim being none other than Chuck himself. It’s down to you, Chuck’s infant son Chuck Junior, to rescue him. With a child as the main star of this game, it’s probably for the best that Gary Gritter doesn’t make a return from the first game. This time, it is Brick Jagger, the owner of a rival car company, who must be thwarted. This being Chuck Rock 2, you might be expecting there to be twice as much chucking of rocks - but you’d be wrong. Chuck Junior instead relies on his sturdy club to whack the rocks

and enemies about, and that’s an improvement in my opinion, as it makes things less annoying than trying to time the awkward belly attack of the first game. In fact, the controls in this game are great, with none of the heavy momentum that some other platformers can suffer with. The only complaint I can imagine some people might (wrongly) have is that it uses the traditional “up for jump” mechanic. But I have never had a problem with that and I actually think that works really well, especially on a joystick. A big plus compared to the original game on the sound side of things is that we now have sound effects and music, which is always nice. I really like the music too - but while there are some catchy tunes, it’s not got anything to rival the rocking title music from the original Chuck Rock. The platforming is great fun and not too demanding. There are a few secret paths and areas to find, leading to extra points and lives, and often require you to resist smashing every block as soon as you see it - they could be useful for jumping up to otherwise out of reach platforms. It’s nothing out of the ordinary for any platforming game worth its salt, but nice that they are included.

Watch out, he's well armed! (I'll get my coat...)

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• Developer: Core Design • Amiga platforms: OCS / ECS / CD32 • Release year: 1993

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The game is bursting with charm and character - all the enemies and creatures are imaginative and well drawn in a lovely cartoony style. There is some really nice attention to detail, such as Junior’s club resting up against walls when you get close to them. Nice touches such as the feathers floating down after you kill the puffed up birds in the early levels, or the flamethrower guys lighting up orange with every jet of fire from their weapon, add to the visual flair. The game looks fantastic all round, the only improvement I would have liked to have seen would have been the inclusion of some AGA bells and whistles (like more layers of parallax and more colours) for those systems that were capable. As a fairly old school game, there are no luxuries like full health at the start of each level - you start each one with whatever you carried over from the last. In addition, once you see the Game Over screen, there are no continues... so it’s back to the start of the game for you! Playing on normal difficulty, you can breeze through the first lot of levels without too much trouble, but it does start to get very tricky towards the end of the game. In large part, this is due to the abundance of health-restoring milk bottles in the first few worlds, supplies of which dry up somewhat later on.

When I was playing this as a kid, I don’t think I ever got past Nigel the Nest Bird, who requires fairly precise timing in his second form! Now obviously a good workman never blames his tools, but I’m going to give my past self a bit of slack here... back then I was playing with a very mushy worn out joystick (which may or may not have been smacked across the room a few times in frustration). Now I have grown-up money and can aﬀord a decent micro-switched joystick made with (and if you’re like me, you will hear this next bit in the voice of Neil from RMC) genuine Sanwa arcade parts, I didn’t struggle nearly so much. One thing I did still struggle with (and one of the other reasons I didn’t get past Nigel previously) was that I had usually lost most of my lives on the “Trouble in the Tree” levels, which see you going up a huge tree on one level and then back down on the next.

Sam the Sea Monster.

The flying pink squirrels are a bit of a nightmare, plus trying to swing on ropes and avoid strawberries/radishes being thrown at you (still not sure what they are supposed to be!) can be something of a challenge too. That said, the level design and boss fights are great on the whole. The bosses tend to be impressively large, colourful characters that stick in your mind for long after you’ve put the joystick down. The final sewer and factory levels are a bit of a chore, but other than that it’s a real joy to play. Once you do eventually get past the factory, it’s time for the ultimate showdown with Brick Jagger. Brick himself is actually pretty easy to kill without taking damage, but first you have to get past his robot, which is much more of a challenge. Its weak spot is its head, but if you collide with any other part of it you will take damage. I’m sure there is a way to avoid this, but I never did manage to work out a system to take him out without taking a good chunk of damage myself.

A chip oﬀ the old block!

Once you’ve rescued your prehistoric parent, you’re greeted with a little outro sequence and a nice showcase of the full cast of the game. A great way to finish things off as you slump back in your seat after another fun adventure! So I’ve finally managed to beat this game that has been part of my collection for all these years. Part of the joy of being involved in this magazine is the excuse it's given me to fire up my Amiga and just sit and play a single game for a really good chunk of time and properly appreciate it. It's all too easy to play two minutes of 20 different games and not really give any of them a chance or enjoy them. So I would recommend firing up Chuck Rock 2 and playing it until you have at least got to Nest Egg Nigel. Give him a wallop over the head from me!

GRAPHICS 89% The style is wonderful, some large, imaginative enemies and bosses. Would have been nice to see some AGA boosts.

SOUND 85% Simultaneous SFX and music should be the norm, but frequently isn't! Really nice tunes from the legendary Martin Iveson.

GRAB FACTOR 88% This game gets tough towards the end, and the lack of any continues makes it a pretty steep challenge, but it eases the player in gently.

PLAYABILITY 86% The controls are spot on and it’s lots of fun - there are some frustrating sections in the very late levels.

88%

They should have thought twice before going clubbing with Chuck Jnr.

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Nest Egg Nigel we meet again.

Deluxe Galaga

• Developer: Edgar M. Vigdal • Amiga platforms: ECS / AGA • Release year: 1995

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- Stuart Fernandez-Mahoney takes on the galaxy in this PD port of an arcade classic The Amiga public domain scene, back in the day, had much in common with the lower rungs of today’s app store markets independent developers putting out their own games for little to no revenue, either just for creative kicks or to try and score a hit and get themselves noticed. As in today’s markets though, with little in the way of resources, time and sometimes expertise on the developer’s side, the scene was swamped with low-quality oﬀerings... only able to use up a few minutes of your attention and not draw too many complaints, due to the low cost. The challenge for the punter was to sift through the rubbish and uncover that hidden gem, the game which gave you all the thrills and playability of a premium commercial release, but for a less-than-budget price. Amongst the dross, there were a few out there if you looked hard enough. Deluxe Galaga was one, and one of the very best. Coded by Norwegian developer Edgar M. Vigdal in 1993, Deluxe Galaga wasn’t intended to be just an Amiga port of the legendary arcade shooter - it also looked to enhance the game experience in several ways. It’s a brave move, tampering with the classics, but Mr Vigdal pulled it oﬀ in style.

Graphically, the game doesn’t push any boundaries, but the palette is bright and colourful and the sprites are well-crafted and sympathetic to the arcade original. What’s most impressive to me is the consistency of the art style throughout the game. It’s no mean feat for a team of one to produce something that not only plays well, but also looks so polished and professionally made. The in-game sound effects are okay, and the optional soundtrack is a memorable piece of Amiga music. Where Deluxe Galaga really shines though, is in the gameplay. The core concept of the arcade original is there, namely shooting down rows of enemies and dodging their fire, as well as occasionally having to dodge (and recruit!) kamikaze aliens too. Stacked on top of these old-school mechanics are several layers of additional features and secrets courtesy of Mr Vigdal. Exploding enemies can provide all manner of collectables: extra firepower, shields, tractor beams, ranking markers and points multipliers. Weapon upgrades can be bought using the cash collected from defeated aliens, as can extra lives, armour and even ‘game secrets’ - revealing a gameplay hint or even describing how to activate one of the game's many Easter eggs. While the original kamikaze bonus levels are here, newly designed bonus stages can provide a well-earned break from the button-bashing as you pilot your way through a meteor storm or play a memory card game to try and win more collectables. Random events are scattered throughout the game also, warp malfunctions and hardcore enemy ships making an appearance. There are myriad secret tips and strategies to be revealed, leading to untold riches and ship upgrades. All this is woven expertly into the core game, and the end result is one of the most well-crafted, addictive, and glorious shoot ‘em ups from the whole 16-bit era. The fact it was created from scratch by a single developer just adds to its appeal, as you shake your head in disbelief at the depth of gameplay on offer. ECS/OCS and AGA versions of the game were created, as was a PC and later iOS version named Warblade. Sadly, Edgar M. Vigdal passed away in 2015. That Deluxe Galaga still plays as well as ever - nearly 30 years after it was created - is testament to his vision and his expertise. His contribution to the Amiga gaming scene will always be cherished.

AA Second Opinion - What Paul Thinks... "Ah, the golden age of gaming makes some of us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Galaga isn't a game I would normally rush to play, so even an updated version wouldn't usually peak my interest.

Reluctantly giving Deluxe Galaga a try - I'm happy I did. The game follows the same premise of the classic original but adds enough new extras to keep your interest. Several power-ups, bonus mini games and a shop selling upgrades, will make you want to keep playing as you try for a new high score. Finally I just have to add the music is brilliant!"

Deluxe Galaga has varied gameplay & some lovely mini games such as the meteor storm.

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VERDICT

82%

Magic Pockets

• Developed by The Bitmap Brothers • Amiga platforms: OCS / ECS • Release year: 1991

- Duncan Styles of everythingamiga.com had his bike & helmet nicked! What now?

Before we get into the game proper, we are treated to a short intro where BK gets ready for his adventure to a remixed version of “Doin’ The Do” by Betty Boo. Enjoy it - cos it’s the only music you will hear for the rest of the game, except for a couple of very short reprises during the game over or end of level screens. This is not a fast-paced game. BK shuffles along, making cautious progress and performing limited height jumps, which gives you time to assess your surroundings and path ahead. Enemies, for the most part, are also fairly slow moving. It’s only when you find a pushbike from time to time and saddle up, that you will get to zip along and take out bad guys... and possibly even pop a wheelie. Your basic attack method is a curious one - BK can produce whirlwinds, clouds, ice cubes and snowballs from his deep pockets. These attacks vary in strength, depending upon the length of time you hold down the fire button, and the stronger the attack, the fewer are required to do the job. Using a fullstrength attack can trap your foe, and if you can touch the trapped enemy before they are destroyed, you are rewarded with an item. Falling into them gives multiple items. In later levels, your pocket weapons will also aid in your progress through a level by creating temporary platforms, or causing plants to grow to gain access to higher ground. Another method of attack is the invulnerable spin, which throws BK in the air. A spin can be initiated by simply falling into a large whirlwind, or by standing in one and pulling down on the joystick. It’s a great way to get to hard-to-reach platforms or to kill airborne enemies.

Great intro music and title screen.

BK pulls a wheelie, nice to get the bike back.

Various other upgrades can be picked up, including gasoline (which enables you to throw fire), or a bag of nails (which produces a number of traps on the floor). You will also find masks that make you invulnerable, and insta-kill helmets which dispatch any enemy on contact.

game makes the most of the limited palette, and while the ﬁrst world can seem a bit bland, things pick up in world two. Enemies all move smoothly and are well drawn and animated, with each level containing a unique set of opponents. The only slowdown is found on the level complete screen where your collected items are shown - its not a real concern.

Upon ﬁrst or second play, the various pick-ups available can seem a bit random, but there is a set of rules being applied behind the scenes. Collect 5000 points and the next enemy killed using the burst technique will give you a power-up. Collect a gold star and a special item appears - the type of the special item is determined by the number of silver stars you have collected previously. Aside from the previously mentioned push-bike, there are also other methods for getting around. Bubble gum machines allow you to ﬂoat around, though you will lose any armour and become vulnerable. On level three, a diving helmet allows you underwater, and a space hopper will kill anything on level four, though it isn’t any faster than walking. The only info shown on-screen is your remaining lives, your score and the power build up gauge. While there is no on screen timer, you will be unsubtly encouraged to hurry up by a bubble that will start to chase you if you take too long. If the bubble traps you then you lose a life and your power ups, but you can destroy it with lots of small attacks for huge points. Graphically, this game has the Bitmap Brothers style stamped all over it. The

Sound is sparse, but it’s good where it is used. The in-game effects are all high quality and very clear - at times, all you hear is the tap of BK’s feet as he walks and jumps, or the odd sampled reactions to injury or positive events. In-game music would have been a welcome addition, but the effects with the occasional musical sting work well. Nothing here will annoy the player as they make their way through the game. My advice is to take your time to explore this game, as you’ll soon start to discover how your abilities can be used and realise that this is actually a well-thought-out platformer. There are multiple routes to find through some levels and upon repeated play you may even find secret areas you previously missed. Frustrating at times, perhaps, but this is a fun game and there are enough secrets and variations to keep things interesting.

GRAPHICS 80% A very polished production, yet the style may not be to everyone's taste.

SOUND 77% Great music and interesting audio although no in-game music option.

GRAB FACTOR 85% New game mechanics with each world. Keeps its secrets well hidden.

PLAYABILITY 85% Avoidable, soft time limit, but it does have some poor/tricky level design.

81%

VERDICT Shades on - whether in a cavern or jungle!

Great variety in the gameplay environment.

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The Bitmap Kid (BK) was able to keep all his toys in his infinitely sized pockets... that is, until the creatures that also live in there decided to steal them! BK must embark on an adventure to retrieve his toys through five worlds - his pockets may be massive, but this game fits on a single disk...

32 M ad C sK O ris R te N ns en E R

(The Misadventures of)

Publisher...........Psygnosis Year.................................1994 Music........Matthias Steinwachs Programming......Erwin Kloibhofer Graphics & Design........Henk Nieborg

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Flink

Flink is somewhat of an oddity on the CD32, as it is a game that was released on the platform exclusively and did not appear on other Amigas. It wasn't completely exclusive to Amiga though, since it was also released on the Sega Mega Drive and even on the Sega CD in the U.S. But it only appeared on a single Amiga: the good old CD32. And even as an Amiga owner, this is a game that may have passed you by, unless you were one of the lucky few who had Commodore’s little black CD-based console back in the day. Flink was developed by many of the same people that worked on another Amiga classic - Lionheart by German developer Thalion. Lionheart was a very beautiful action platformer, with graphics so gorgeous that they should have been impossible on the old Amiga 500. This level of graphical detail and animation is brought on over to Flink too, but now in even more detail on the AGA chipset. This game is a feast for the eyes, lovingly animated and drawn by Henk Nieborg. Before we get into details about the game itself, let’s have a look at the background story - your reason for running, jumping, climbing and ﬁghting your way through all those beautiful platforming levels. This story was, as with so many other games back in the day, told in the manual alone: The peaceful people of Imagica lived a happy life, casting helpful spells and enjoying the uncommonly pleasant weather. But their peace was destroyed when Wicked Wainwright, an evil wizard,

captured the four wise rulers of Imagica to take control of the island. He transported the wise rulers’ spirits into four hidden crystals, and scattered them throughout the island. Meanwhile, Wainwright’s volcano headquarters belched a dark cloud of smoke across the land, bringing even more unhappiness to the people. Flink, an apprentice wizard, must travel the length and breadth of Imagica, clearing away the dark clouds, collecting magical ingredients and casting spells, in his quest to ﬁnd the four crystals. Once the crystals are reunited, they open the gateway to the wizard's lair, where Flink must face Wicked Wainwright in a showdown to recapture Imagica Island for the forces of good. So now the stage has been set, and we are ready to embark on this epic platforming adventure. As soon as you start Flink, you will notice the incredible attention to detail in the graphics and animation. The backgrounds are lush and alive, and the sprites are huge and full of life. With these huge sprites and beautiful backgrounds, it reminds me somehow of the 1995 Ubisoft PS1 classic Rayman, only this game came before Rayman so it could not have been inspired by it. Who knows, maybe Rayman was inspired by Flink?

Jumping up falling leaves is one of the interesting takes on platforming.

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Many staples of the platforming genre are present here; jumping from platform to platform, climbing ropes, moving platforms, jumping on enemies, auto scrolling levels, picking up items to throw at foes, climbing up and down moving ropes to avoid obstacles and so on. What Flink does, that makes these platforming tropes feel fresh and enjoyable, is to integrate them deeply into the game’s environment. In the forest areas, platforms are leaves and branches and the like, while moving platforms can be stuff like falling leaves that you need to jump between. All wonderfully drawn and animated, making this game a joy to play. You access levels from a map screen, and can go back to any level you have already completed to replay it. This may come in handy later on, if you need to go looking for spell ingredients and hidden 1-ups. The last level in each area is a boss fight, and if you think the sprites are big in the regular levels, just wait until you get to feast your eyes on the bosses! These are huge, screen filling behemoths. And the boss fights are quite pleasurable; not too easy and not too hard, but always leaving the player with a sense of accomplishment once they’ve beaten them. There is one thing that some people find annoying about Flink, so we might as well get that out in the open. Flink has this inertia based movement - he starts off slow and picks up speed as he is running along. While I can definitely understand that this might annoy some people, stick with it as you will very soon get used to the way Flink moves. One thing to be aware of though: make sure you play the game in the standard 60Hz mode (you can switch between 50 and 60Hz modes by clicking a button). On the 50Hz mode, I find he moves far too slowly, but on 60Hz he is just fine. Apart from the platforming (which is really good), what makes Flink stand out is the spell system. This gives the game a puzzle element, and you will need to

These guys reminded me I really need to play Space Harrier again soon.

Henk Nieborg Interview - Mads Kristensen talks with the legendary designer & pixel artist of Flink

So Henk, let’s start at the beginning tell us a little about yourself and how you got started in the video game industry. Since I was a kid, I've always been very interested in video games. There was a certain attraction to it which still hasn't worn oﬀ today. I'm talking about the 70s and 80s, playing arcade games and the Atari 2600 console as a teen. So you can

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We are honoured that Henk Nieborg himself, the designer and graphics artist behind Flink, has agreed to answer a few questions about the development of the game. Henk has been working within the industry over the past 30 years and is the man behind awesome early titles such as Lionheart, Flink, and The Adventures of Lomax. But it most deﬁnitely doesn’t stop there. He has also had a hand in modern classics such as Shantae 2: Risky’s Revenge, Mighty Switch Force, Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse, and most recently - Xeno Crisis, as well as a plethora of other games during his many years in the business.

Left: The early years - Henk at his Amiga 500. Right: The desk where Henk worked on Flink.

say I've experienced the rise of videogames from the beginning. When I got my Commodore 64 around 1983/84, I discovered a little program called Koala Painter and started experimenting with it, trying to draw/ copy existing title screens of games I liked. I used my black & white TV (no cash for a colour TV) and Suzo arcade joystick to push the pixels. My friends thought it was better than most originals, so I started creating more stuﬀ like sprite animations, trying to match or surpass

what I saw in the games. In the Netherlands, you only had one software company, but the cool ones were in the UK. So reaching out and showing your work was a bit harder back then. Much later, when I had my Commodore Amiga 500 and was brave enough to start pixeling on it (pixel density was much higher and scared me away a bit at ﬁrst), I converted one of my C64 images which was the inspiration to do my ﬁrst game Ghost Battle in 1989.

LEFT: As an apprentice wizard potions take some trial and error. RIGHT: This boss isn't just a one trick pony, he guards magic crystals AND walks on stilts.

consider which spells to use where in order to progress in the game. The spells are Spirit Bomb, Demon, Magic Shield, Platform, Dust Devil, Lightning, Spirit World, Shrink, and Quick Grow. Some are used to reach otherwise unreachable areas, some to despatch enemies, and others are used in ways I will not write about here, as the joy of playing a game like Flink is the feeling of accomplishment when you ﬁgure out how to use a spell to solve a puzzle and progress. Flink will ﬁnd magical ingredients in most levels, and in some levels, scrolls with spell recipes can be found as well. Since Flink is only an apprentice wizard, he doesn’t know how to read the scrolls correctly, so he will not always know which order the three ingredients need to go into the cauldron. Each spell requires three ingredients ; get it all right and you receive a spell to use, but get it

wrong and you will have wasted your ingredients and, as a little bonus, something funny will happen. I won't spoil all of these for you, but take Quick Grow, for example - done right you get a spell that will make some plants grow instantly, which can be handy for getting to some hard-to-reach spots. If you mix it wrong, on the other hand, a few tiny Lemmings will crawl out of the cauldron and kick you. As this was a Psygnosis game, using the green haired little critters was a nice little nod to the fans. There is no save system in Flink - you only get a maximum of 5 continues, and once all of those have been spent, it is back to level one for you. You can play it in practice mode if you like, which gives you unlimited continues, but in that case you will not be able to enter the ﬁnal ﬁght against Wainwright. These days, I’d recommend playing it using save states.

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Flink - or The Misadventures of Flink as the title screen calls it - is a game that I would recommend picking up and playing today. It is a feast for the eyes, the platforming is good, the spell system brings a nice puzzle element to the table, and the boss ﬁghts are something to behold. So if you can get used to the inertia-based movement system, there is a real gem to be discovered here.

Critical Reception

Amiga Dream.............92% The One.....................87% CU Amiga...................87% Amiga Action.............86% Amiga CD32 Gamer...82% Amiga Power.............79% Amiga Format............71%

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Horns on their hats won't stop Flink stomping these guys.

That's when I met Austrian Erwin Kloibhofer (programmer of Ghost Battle, Lionheart, Flink, and Lomax), who was visiting the Netherlands close to my home at that time. We got introduced, and this is where it started, as we soon realised we could make a game together in our free time - which I had a lot of back then. Your career within video games started at Interactive Design and later Thalion, where you worked with Erwin Kloibhofer and Matthias Steinwachs who you developed Flink with. What was it like working within the industry in those days? What would a typical work week be like? Interactive Design was mainly the two of us. The company name was made up at the very beginning and was only used in Charly (sokoban puzzle game) and Ghost Battle. We pretty much forgot about the name soon after. As I mentioned earlier, I met Erwin in the Netherlands. Musician Matthias Steinwachs I met a lot later, when we joined forces with Thalion. After we left Thalion to work independently for Psygnosis to do Flink, we also asked Matthias to compose the music and design the sound effects. What it was like working within the industry? Well, We started off as bedroom coders/artists. Later, at Thalion in Germany, we really had to work official hours during the day and had a real monthly salary, mostly pushing long hours as we loved what we were doing. Getting paid for stuff you love doing was quite a dream come true for me personally. Me and Erwin had an interconnecting small room/office at Thalion without any windows - I brought my own Amiga, had a desk and just started pixeling. Erik Simon, the producer/ pixel artist at Thalion, really recognized our talent and inspired us a lot by

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The gorgeous Imagica world map allows you to revisit completed levels.

pushing us in a positive way to get the most out of us. Imagine living, sleeping and working in the office for half a year! I can still hear Erik bashing on the door, trying to wake me up in the office as we were playing games till late again. We thought it was great, but found a house later on which Erwin, Jurie (programmer of Ambermoon) and I shared. I had a great time at Thalion with all the talented people around, we shared a lot of good times together. With Lionheart, you raised the bar for what could be done on an Amiga 500 within the limitations imposed by OCS/ ECS. Flink, on the other hand, was made for the CD32 with the AGA chipset. How did you approach this change in graphical fidelity? I am assuming that it made the process of creating the game a lot slower, as you really took full advantage of the graphical abilities of the system? Thanks! I'm still proud of Lionheart. Raised the bar you say? I know we were doing something really challenging, but for me it was just normal really - trying to get the most out of the machine. Must've been our mentality as a team. Erik really wanted to explore and use most of the features that the Amiga 500 had to offer. The only thing I struggled with back then was the half-brite colour mode - the spider caves were drawn in this mode. With 32 colours it would have been just as nice I think. It just didn't make sense to me to forcefully use all the colours available. It's also the only section in Lionheart that uses this mode as it took too much time.

about its development you would like to share with the readers? Still at Thalion, we were invited by Psygnosis to talk about a possible collaboration. We weren't happy with the situation from a management point of view at Thalion and started writing to several software companies. I remember we wrote a rough concept for Flink during the train journey to the airport, inspired by a Capcom game I'd seen in the arcades (Three Wonders/Roosters). Psygnosis liked the idea, and instead of an Amiga game, we were oﬀered to do a Sega Mega Drive game instead. We were over the moon, of course. I think we took approximately 9 months to fully develop Flink, mainly for the Sega Mega Drive, although It might have been shorter. We resigned at Thalion, Erwin went back to Austria and I moved back to the Netherlands to develop Flink. So we actually developed Flink many miles apart from each other.

I learned a lot during my time at Thalion. I just wanted to create the best I could and it never really crossed my mind that I couldn't do it. It must've been something Erik spotted in the two of us.

The development of Flink went very smoothly. The Amiga CD32 conversion was done later - in 2 weeks - by Erwin, because he just wanted to see if it was feasible. In those times we didn't have fast internet connections. Actually, no Internet at all - just a modem and a phone line sending the latest version of the game or artwork back and forth. It was an improvement over Ghost Battle, where we were sending each other our latest stuﬀ on disk by normal mail. I found out the hard way that it's also very expensive to send data by phone/ modem. My mum received a monthly bill for 1700 guilders (about £550 at the time), which I couldn't pay of course, although I sorted it soon after The monthly milestone fee we received during development was very low, as we didn't have the guts to ask for loads of money in advance from Psygnosis.

How long did it take to produce Flink and do you have any funny stories

Erwin made a fantastic game editor for Flink, which made it possible for me to

March 2021

Are there any particular games that served as an inspiration for Flink? (Personally, I think Flink may have served as an inspiration for Rayman, as you can read in the review) I mentioned it already, but Flink was mostly inspired by Capcom's arcade game Three Wonders/Roosters. Mickey Mouse Castle Of Illusion on the Sega Mega Drive and Mickey's Magical Adventure on the Super Famicom/SNES also were inspirations. It shows a bit, for example in using the enemies as projectiles. What would you say that you are most proud of in Flink? The whole package really. It's a neat little game and also my first game design gig. According to many people through the years, it still is as good as it was back then. It’s always good to create something timeless and liked by many. Although it's quite obscure to begin with, as there weren't many copies produced. That's also what I love about real traditional pixel art in general - when done right it doesn't get old. The animations in Flink are superb, from the running, jumping and rope climbing and to little things like the way Flink’s arms are flailing when he’s almost falling off an edge. The spell system also has some nice little Easter eggs in it when you fail to mix a spell -

being a huge Lemmings fan myself, seeing the little Lemmings jump out of the cauldron when you fail to build the Quick Grow spell made me chuckle. Are there any particular frames of animation that you remember most fondly from the game? Oh! Thank you! I had a lot of fun with most of the main character animations. I had never done this many diverse animations before for any game. They are not perfect, but I also wasn't a trained animator. I did it all by observation and memorising movement and translating it to screen. I had good practice with Lionheart though, but being able to use 16 colours per sprite made things a lot more interesting. I think I completed about two 14 frame animations/moves per day - Flink was a labour of love. Most of my own projects are by the way, having complete creative freedom can turn out great. With hindsight, what, if anything, would you change in The Misadventures of Flink if you were to re-release it today? I’d redesign it to be slightly faster paced, and probably remove the spell mixing entirely and add it in a different way to improve the game's flow. After Sonic The Hedgehog, all platform games were slow back then. I remember during development of Flink we visited Psygnosis' office and were shown a demo of Mickey Mania by Travelers Tales. I remember our producer Greg Duddle saying: “You are very impressed right?”. I was! I had to pick my jaw up from the floor. I also started fantasising that if Flink would have been Mickey Mouse from the start, which could have been a possibility, things would have looked totally different. Flink was released for the Amiga CD32 and the Sega Mega Drive and Mega CD. Which version of the game is your personal favourite?

Flink could deﬁnitely get a circus job if this wizarding lark doesn't work out.

We made the Amiga CD32 version because Erwin already ported it as a fun project. There were no plans for any other version than the Sega version which we fully developed ourselves. I prefer the Mega Drive version as this was the initial version and ran in 60FPS as it was supposed to be. By converting it to the Amiga CD32, we had to make some compromises to have it run properly. Unfortunately we had to lock it to 30 FPS, which makes it look even slower. Also the overlay HUD sprites are cut-oﬀ as the Amiga didn't have enough hardware sprites to display all of the objects. I personally didn't care much about the Amiga CD32 version because of those reasons, sorry! (Ed. - "I'm coming over a bit teary-eyed Henk...") Especially after seeing Lionheart on a base machine running in 50 FPS mostly. Still, I heard many Amiga CD32 users were happy with it. But the Amiga CD32 version is a conversion, the Sega Mega Drive version is the original. Thank you so much for taking the time to answer these questions. Now my ﬁnal question is this: is there anything I didn’t ask you that I really should have? Yeah, Just quickly, I wanted to mention my latest project called Battle Axe which is due to be released 1st quarter of 2021. It's a top-view hack 'n slash game inspired by Gauntlet and Golden Axe with a modern take. I've really put my heart and soul into this one, as it's completely designed by myself again, and the whole game is developed by the same team as Xeno Crisis. The last project that came from my mind was Lomax for PS1. Battle Axe is coming out on the PS4/5, Xbox One/X/Series X, PC on Steam and GOG, Mac and Linux (and a few more unannounced retro platforms). If you want to know more please visit my Twitter account (@pixelhenk) or go to www.battleaxegame.com Thanks for having me and take care!

We have Erwin to thank for Flink on CD32 in addition to the Mega Drive.

March 2021

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jump instantly into the game and test the levels I designed. Everybody at Psygnosis loved the game, but unfortunately the Mega Drive market was falling hard on its face, and many projects were being cancelled. I think we were lucky that our game was done and about to be released, or the same would have happened to Flink I guess. We didn't make any money on it, only our low advance money and a tiny bit more. But back then I couldn't care less - we delivered a real Sega Mega Drive game in the end.

TESTBENCH

AA's Ian dusts off his coding hat after many, many years... numerous in fact... to pick up where AMOS left off (we won't mention how long it's been, in case he feels old!) 33 years after the original release of his game creation programming language on the ST, François Lionet is back with a new product for a new generation. It’s about time. AMOS and its variants left an indelible mark on the Amiga, forming the basis of quality games like Flight of the Amazon Queen, Base Jumpers and Jetstrike, as well as hundreds of public domain titles like the legendary Scorched Tanks. But more than that - it formed the first steps into coding for many people, a pursuit that led some to a lifelong hobby... or even a career. There hadn’t been a new version of AMOS since AMOS Professional in 1993, but in late 2018, François announced AMOS 2 to much excitement in the community. This has since evolved into AOZ Studio, which will soon see its first release. So what is AOZ Studio exactly? “AOZ Studio is a tool. A good tool to make impressive things,” François told me when we spoke recently. “A tool I would and will use. Good tools do not have to be complicated to be deep there is a common misunderstanding that a powerful tool must be complicated and difficult to learn, with a complex interface and a lot of options.” “I do not consider AOZ Studio to be a ‘learning tool’, but more as a tool to learn by making - and most of all by having fun while making.” François hasn’t been resting on his laurels since the final release of AMOS. In the following year he founded Clickteam, which went on to create a series of PC products in the same tradition of ‘learning by making’, including Klik & Play, The Games Factory and, most recently Clickteam Fusion, which is used in modern games like Five Nights at Freddy’s, The Escapists and Not A Hero. Before that, however, there was Jamagic. “I always wanted to rewrite a language. In 1999, I embarked on Jamagic. Jamagic was to be the new version of AMOS by Clickteam, a 2D/3D game engine with a language inspired from Javascript, which was beginning to get some attention as a modern way of programming at the time. The 2D part was fantastic, the 3D part was terrible... it was not usable, and I still wonder why we published it.” In some ways, Jamagic is the missing link between the Amiga products and this new one. AOZ is an all-in-one platform and BASIC language that allows anyone

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to simply create games and applications. You write your programs in AOZ BASIC, and AOZ’s transpiler converts your code into Javascript that can be run anywhere. Currently available on Windows and Mac (and Linux soon), it really does appear to be the evolution of the idea that François started with STOS and AMOS. “My goal is to make the AOZ language a modern and eﬃcient way of programming anything on any computers. Games, of course, but computers are much more than games. I would love AOZ to become the replacement of Flash in the heart of creative people, at the same time simple to learn, simple to use and powerful.”

although admittedly it probably wasn’t the best test of the product. My teenage coding didn’t really work all that well before the import... best not to look too hard at the code in that particular screenshot! Of course there’s some minor tweaks and changes to make to bring your code up to date, and assets like sound samples and graphics may need to be converted, but ﬁles like IFFs and the AMOS Bob Bank format are still

For anyone wondering if they can take their AMOS BASIC skills and apply them in AOZ, the answer is a resounding “yes”. There might be a little more to learn to do specific ‘new’ things, but a lot of the old AMOS magic is still there: “The syntax of the language is based on the original and expanded syntax of AMOS. A ‘flat’ version of BASIC that makes it accessible to anyone. But I soon realised that in the modern age, you could not go too far with flat programming, so I implemented objectorientation in AOZ, which will open the gates of modern programming. With AOZ, you will be able to make real websites using modern technologies like React, access databases, create servers - I have a lot of ideas on how to make client/ server programming finally accessible.” Now I know what you’re thinking: “I’m an Amiga user, what does this language on these other platforms really mean to me?”. Well, all those AMOS programs you wrote in the 90s? They can now be brought back to life on other platforms: “You will be able, in the near future, to run all your original AMOS creations in your browser! AOZ can import .AMOS right out of the Amiga… sprites, sounds and images are extracted and exported as PNG or WAV and the source code is saved as ASCII. You will have to do a couple of modifications as Amiga specific instructions will not work, but AOZ contains a renderer that emulates the display of a CRT monitor and your Amiga application will look the same. You will even be able to play tracker files as AOZ contains instructions to play this format.” You can just take your .AMOS file and load it right into AOZ. I did it myself,

March 2021

Ian's AMOS code - not too shabby at all!

supported, and as François says above, you can even play mods. Given you can get your .AMOS files to run on a modern PC or Mac, it’s not a huge leap to wondering if it would be possible to flow the other way, and use those machines as a development environment for the Amiga: “Unfortunately, not yet, but I would love to. This will only come when I have the time to work on the transpiler, and make it export other languages than Javascript. Then I will be able to export direct to the Amiga, ensuring the display with existing libraries. I am also considering interfacing Python from AOZ, in the form of a Python Websocket server running on the user’s machine while your AOZ application runs, offering new commands to AOZ, like artificial intelligence, piloting LEDs etc. I am convinced that AOZ can also be a revolution in the world of makers.” So down to the important question - if you wanted to pick up AOZ, how much would it set you back? It turns out it is free for the ad-supported version, although there is a subscription model to allow you to distribute any program you’ve made. It’s worth noting that the source code for everything except the

transpiler itself is open source and available on the internet, which is a great community-focused gesture that will help encourage those who are apt to build extensions and adaptations of the base platform.

“Holidays!! First, I want to get some rest… I have been working like a madman for two years. Turning your dreams into reality is a tiring experience!

We do not ask for royalties on the runtime, we only ask that you leave the splash screen…”

We are only at the ﬁrst version. There are many improvements possible, especially on the side of “accessories” - all the applications that allow you to draw sprites and make sounds. Then we will work on 3D support. We are already using AOZ internally to create e-learning applications for a major account, so we know that AOZ is also an amazing tool for 3D. A 3D renderer will also improve the quality and speed of all the 2D applications. You will be able to create your own shaders with a restricted version of the language etc. We also plan a more “professional” version of AOZ this year, under Visual Studio Code with the transpiler as an extension integrated in the interface, and an online version of the IDE, to be programmed in AOZ itself as a demonstration. So many ideas… that is the problem!” If nothing else, it’s worth grabbing AOZ Studio just to experiment with, if you have hardware that will support it, but I am sure some of you will do even more impressive things with the product. The full AOZ Studio will be available from the company’s website in the coming months.

Flippin' brilliant example programs are included that can be ran in a browser, or within the IDE itself.

Binders & Back Issues AA readers asked for a swanky magazine storage solution... We suggested a bin bag, which didn't quite cut it!

Amiga Addict binders are now in stock!

(Ed. - "Cheers Ian, it is great to see you've not lost your love for AMOS! AA readers can ﬁnd out more at www.aoz.studio")

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AMIGA ADDICT

TESTBENCH

“You will have all the options for one month. After a month, some little “frustrating” things will appear of course! But you will still be able to use the product and eventually publish the game you have been working on.

AOZ Studio is an impressive development, and has a lot of scope for the future whilst not forgetting its solid roots. The team have created an easy to use tool which takes seconds to get up and running - and it even comes with all the AMOS Professional documentation and a bunch of demo games and tutorials for you to work from. It’s hard not to be swept up in François’ grand aims for the project. What’s next for the man and his creation?

Unamiga A500 Header 1.5

TESTBENCH

- Jonah relegates his classic Amiga for the day, in favour of FPGA During the past few months, every time the door bell rang, I rushed to check for any parcels with Spanish postmarks. And let’s just say, due to Christmas and the Brexit postal delays, I have been constantly disappointed. That was until today, when at last, I saw a stamp from “Madrid”. This could mean only one thing - my eagerly anticipated Unamiga AA review unit had ﬁnally arrived from Edu Arana! Today, I’ll be looking at the ‘A500 Header 1.5’ model, which hopefully should quickly get me set up with a very capable Amiga. This Unamiga variant is nothing new – further updated models have since been released – but I’m a late adopter to Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) hardware emulation, so this is very exciting for me! On carefully opening the package, I ﬁnd a fully populated printed circuit board complete with ports on the back - tucked inside. In short, a computer motherboard (or mainboard). There are all the usual warnings to “Avoid electrostatic discharge” printed inside too... and as usual, I completely ignore them all. I grab the circuit board to take a good look! Already having done some online research before the Unamiga arrived, I do at least know what to expect.

AMIGA ADDICT

However in all honesty, when I ﬁrst heard about this device, its name confused me. Now this may just be me, but I wasn’t sure exactly what an Unamiga was! In what context was it a “header”? Is the Unamiga an upgrade that would have to be installed into an existing Amiga’s case and plugged in alongside original Commodore circuitry; some sort of coprocessor perhaps? Or can it be used as an entirely standalone Amiga computer, regardless of whether it is ﬁtted within an A500 shell? The answers to all of my naive questions are right there on the product website, but to an Amiga user (or casual retro gamer) who is just starting out, this may seem a little daunting.

RECOM MENDE D

noises. And the Unamiga can ﬁt straight into a replica case, such as Stephen Jones’ Checkmate 1500 Plus!

Let me clear one thing up though: the Unamiga A500 Header 1.5 is, in fact, a complete all-in-one Amiga computer. Don’t let the name, or the complex looking PCB put you oﬀ ordering one. The Unamiga can be easily used, even if you have never actually owned an Amiga previously. It’s straightforward to get started, allowing a ﬁrst time user the ability to quickly load Amiga software or enjoy some classic gaming.

Packs A Punch I admit my criticism over the name and unclear marketing is probably a little unfair. I say this because the particular model I am reviewing was developed so that broken Amiga 500s could be repaired and enhanced, or empty Amiga cases even repurposed. It was never intended to be a plug-and-play device for the uninitiated. So if you do own an Amiga 500 (broken or otherwise!), you can certainly swap out its mainboard with this uprated FPGA hardware, and gain more features, peripheral ports and a better performing Amiga than your original one ever was. There’s even a built-in buzzer for the ﬂoppy disk drive

March 2021

Let’s move on to what the Unamiga can actually do - and this will also depend on which model you choose. Recently Edu has released the new Unamiga Reloaded, with better specs and an included enclosure. Regardless of the Unamiga form factor chosen though, the main concept remains the same. First things ﬁrst - I plug in a 5V micro USB cable, choosing this over the standard barrel plug connector that is also present. A quick scan at the back of the board, and it’s nice to see everything labelled up such as the monitor, mouse,

• Developed by Eduardo Arana & community team (see next page)

Available from www.arananet.net • Prices from £135.00

TESTBENCH

Left: Tiny Launcher is a good choice of WHDLoad menu system for any Amiga user! Right: Fitted to an original case - the rear ports align perfectly.

keyboard and joystick ports. It’s also useful to see that the design offers both PS/2 mouse and keyboard inputs, as well as the classic Amiga 9-pin ports for your retro mouse or joystick too. It’s a simple matter of changing a jumper on the board to switch to the preferred inputs. The dual stereo audio output has a choice between a 3.5mm headphone jack, or standard hi-fi RCA connectors, so this Amiga is easier than most to hook up to a TV, monitor or speakers. For this test, I’ve opted to use a mix of modern and retro peripherals to cover all the bases. Turning the unit on, it is pleasing to see the Unamiga pre-configured to boot straight into Tiny Launcher menu - this is a WHDload frotend which is available from Aminet and written by Michael Gibs. The menu offers me ‘Games’, ‘Demos’, ‘Music’ and a few other options I can flick between with the keyboard or joystick. This is very impressive so far... Any ideas as to which menu option I select first? That’s right - the ‘Games’ screen (of course), which is preloaded with some games to test with. I decide to eject the SD card and copy over even more Amiga software from my PC for a more extensive trial, and then launch into Batman, Alien Breed and Cannon Fodder for a quick look. Can I tell that I’m not using a “real” Amiga? I most definitely can. I’m sorry to say that it feels better! Maybe I’ve just been lucky, but everything I try plays brilliantly smooth, more responsive and faster to load than a standard classic machine. The sound is great, the display sharp. Games are loaded automatically from the menu using WHDload, and there is also a menu for mounting ADF disk images (as well as other useful settings).

I soon discover that if I hit ESC key on the Tiny Launcher menu, it exits me straight out into Workbench. Talk about convenience. But before I try any productivity software in Workbench, I can’t resist ﬁrst going back and playing a little Kid Chaos and a few others I’ve not played in years – just in the name of testing of course…

convenience? This thing loads up quicker than KITT can do nought to 60 and can have you playing Sensible Soccer in under three minutes! Perhaps you’re looking for a low cost way in, and want to become an Amiga user for the ﬁrst time? Well the Unamiga is ideal if you’re starting out - you’ll have everything you need to be an instant Amigan.

AGA Goodness

Now I’ll never say anything is perfect in an AA review. And the Unamiga is no diﬀerent – but at the price of just £135 with no hidden extras or upgrades needed, I don’t see how this can be beaten. There are other FPGA multi-core compatible oﬀerings, such as the MiSTer, but they’re really going to cost you. For a dedicated plug-and-play Amiga computer setup, I’m not sure you’ll actually notice any advantages of paying a higher price for something else either. My advice is to buy an Unamiga – whether you need one or not! The Unamiga is one of the best all-round-value Amiga solutions available (when it is in stock!). So get ready to place an order on the next batch. You won’t regret it.

The Unamiga uses the Minimig AGA core for its default hardware-level emulation, though other cores are supported via an additional multi-core SD card slot, such as the Spectrum Next, Commodore 64, MSX, Amstrad and the SNES. To get these working you will need to purchase a low cost STM32 Blue Pill board and add this to the Unamiga’s PCB. But forget buying extras. Forget the multi-cores, and other computers. Consoles, pah! 8-bit micros… c’mon! Go and wash your mouth out with some soap! I’m an Amiga user - so I hit F10 from the menu and set my core settings to A1200 68020 chipset with pride. This gives 2mb chip RAM and a whopping 20mb fast RAM. Those other machines can eat my dirt! Loading up some AGA games, including Skidmarks, conﬁrms how great the compatibility is too. While not perfect on all AGA titles yet, the option to easily switch between having an A500 or an A1200 like this is very useful. Can’t See For the Mist? OK, you want to go beyond a standard classic Amiga computer, and bring things up-to-date a little? There are input and output options here in abundance. Maybe you’d like to own an FPGA Amiga in addition to your classic hardware for

March 2021

THE GOOD The Unamiga (like other FPGA options) provides the most cycle accurate Amiga hardware recreation available - giving a true Amiga experience when using classic software and games. AGA support is included, as well as dual HDF/ ADF disk image mounts. Edu provides great support to customers.

THE BAD A few minor hardware issues. We would like to see more stock available.

96%

VERDICT

AMIGA ADDICT

Edu "Unamiga" Arana Interview

AMIGA INSIGHT

- Let's ﬁnd out what makes the Unamiga creator's clock-cycles pulsate...

Edu ceratinly takes a mean selﬁe!

What is your history with Amiga, and why are you so fond of the Amiga still today? I started with the Commodore brand back in the day with the amazing C64. My father bought the first C64 with a datasette, and later on he bought a C128 with a 1571 drive. I did some hardware development with it. Then, after some years, I bought my first Amiga 500 and I started digging into the hardware to see what the chances were to upgrade it. Because of this, I ended up buying some other models (A2000, A3000 and A4000) - later I also bought an A600 and finally an A1200. All of them without any upgrade. So for learning about hardware design was a necessity, because none of them had anything upgraded. I started developing Amiga hardware, such as CF adapters, RAM expansion etc. Why did you create the Unamiga? Let me tell a little bit of the story behind the Unamiga. The first Unamiga was developed by Mr. Jepalza. He took a cheap FPGA (cyclone based) header and start developing and adapting the Minimig core to that FPGA, so the main credits goes to him. Later, he published some initial designs and a Telegram group was opened. Each of us started contributing to the project, and the project started to evolve pretty soon. Antonio Villena worked on some little headers to output PS/2 connectors, audio, and joy ports based on the first FPGA. Hark0 designed the Unamiga Logo. I contributed with some design tips, designed an acrylic case and also building the development system based on Linux to compile the Minimig core

AMIGA ADDICT

menu. NeuroRulez retouched the Minimig core menu for the FPGA, and later on, Fer Mosquera and others started to port some cores to that FPGA. That's pretty much the beginning of the Unamiga project.

cheaper than others and oﬀers (in some cases) even more video and audio quality than other solutions. Also it now includes a bigger FPGA, so now the Unamiga Reloaded can work with the Minimig RTG core.

As for me, because I am always repairing retro stuﬀ, I've found that there are some models like the A500 Plus where usually the motherboard dies because of the battery. So I thought, “wait a second, I got a dead motherboard with all the traces corroded - I will not dump all that because I got a case, a keyboard, etc.” And I said to myself: “I can take advantage of this - why don't I make a replacement board with some FPGA solution?” And voila! That's how the Unamiga A500 was born! The Unamiga A500 header starts with version 1.3, and now, the latest version is 1.5. The Unamiga A500 version that I've designed is always evolving. Always trying to improve the design or add new features.

Can you tell us more about the Unamiga ITX?

Are you proud of this hardware and do you use the Unamiga much yourself day-to-day? I'm very proud of all the versions of the Unamiga A500 headers because they are made with all the care and love for the Amiga platform. But another important thing about the Unamiga A500 project is the people involved in it, especially on the core part (Benitoss, NeuroRulez, Rampa069, Kyppp among others). I do all the hardware related work on the project but the cores are also the most important thing. Last but not least is the user feedback - without them the project wouldn’t have got as far as it has right now.

The Unamiga ITX version is an ITX form factor version of the A500 header. I've designed it with Stephen Jones, the man behind the Checkmate 1500 Plus cases. The main differences are, of course, the form factor, the ATX connector, and the soft latch circuitry. Also it will include another feature, but the main features of the Unamiga A500 family will be on that board. Do you offer any other unique Amiga hardware? Yes, I have lots of solutions made for the Amiga platform - actually almost for any model, as well as specially made hardware for the Vampire Accelerators too. Have you any other big Amiga projects planned for the future? Of course! I'm working with my friend mfides on new hardware and evolving my design to make them more compatible with modern devices (USB support, etc). What is your favourite Amiga game and piece of software? For those who know me, I’ve got only one favourite, the Flashback game. I'm a big fan of that game. Another one that I usually play is Agony.

Are there any bugs or problems with the hardware/ﬁrmware or general Amiga compatibility, or does everything work as you planned? Due to the nature of the project, it's not 100% bug-free or even 100% accurate there will always be some incompatibility because of the recreation of the core. But we as a team, always try to ﬁx things - not at the speed we want, but we do it. What does the new Unamiga Reloaded Standalone offer? And why did you choose to offer this new model? All the things that we have on the Unamiga A500 1.5 are, or will be, on the standalone version. We made this version for those that don't have an A500 case, but want to use a solution that is

March 2021

Another batch of Arananet products.

What?! Amiga Pie? - Can we forgive Simon Butler's admission..? It may take time, but we will try!

REGULARS

The Psygnosis logo by Roger Dean added initial charm to any game!

Barbarian II omitted a lot of Garvan Corbett's graphical work.

This article may sever my ties to this stalwart publication, bringing the angry villagers to my door, replete with pitchforks and ﬂaming torches.

having met him in Psygnosis’ oﬃces and seen the animations that sadly never made the cut, I can only say that Barbarian II would have raised the pixel bar much higher had he been given free reign. Nevertheless, I still could not ﬁnd it in myself to buy into the brouhaha surrounding this seemingly unstoppable development powerhouse.

The problem is that... I never liked games by Psygnosis very much. That’s not to say I disliked them per se, I just never bought into the whole “Emperor’s New Clothes” phenomenon that surrounded them. I know there are those who may level a “sour grapes” slur my way, with me being a pixel pusher and them renowned for their graphics (among other things). I will address this before too long, but I can promise you - that is most certainly not the case. That point raised in the previous sentence, “renowned for their graphics”, was probably at the core of my reluctance to warm to them as game developers. I always felt (and still do) that they were a glowing example of “style over substance”. You cannot take away their panache and their skills with presentation - from that iconic Roger Dean logo, to their packaging and the whole “rock-star” vibe they exuded (or at least, readily accepted from the ever-gushing media). They stood out at a time when games were becoming somewhat run-of-the mill, establishing themselves as the developer for the Amiga, or at least the one bold enough to make that claim. I remember being at Ocean with people clamouring around a machine in one oﬃce or another, gushing eﬀusively over an intro, which - for reasons beyond this pixel-monkey’s brain required a whole disk of its own. Minutes of my life used up that I would never get back, for a sword-swish or some random facial expressions after a laser gun blast.

I think the only time I truly appreciated something bearing their name was when Lemmings appeared. Again, I can only assume the pixel pusher in me saw the amazingly evocative animations in those tiny sprites and was hooked from the getgo. While strategic thinking has never been my forte, I could not avoid playing it time and again. My get out of jail free card here is that Lemmings was only published by Psygnosis, with the true creativity coming from DMA Design. Never one to shy from controversy, I stand by my aversion to the vast majority of the Psygnosis titles. Their product was a turning point in the development landscape, that is a given. Their approach to presentation, to marketing and to style is an unavoidable fact. One that echoed through their transition into Sony Liverpool and the eventual release of, for me, the equally vapid and amazingly visual Wipeout. At the end of the day, it’s whatever ﬂoats your boat. My antipathy toward Psygnosis’ gaming output is simply a Marmite moment - some like it, others don’t. I’m sure there are games and/or developers I favour that would give others the heebie-jeebies. I hope that nothing I have said here will preclude me from citing my favourites at some future juncture.

Simon Butler

Fingers crossed.

I just didn’t get the level of adulation showered on titles that, as a gamer, were no better than anything else I had seen to date from companies who didn’t need razzle-dazzle and jiggery-pokery to get the attention of the masses. I could never comprehend the level of adoration poured on Shadow of the Beast - a title that I consider to be nothing more than a gloriﬁed graphics demo. It’s an opinion I continue to hold to this very day. That’s not to say I disliked everything in their catalogue. While I struggled terribly with the control mechanics in Barbarian, I could not fail to be smitten with the pixels from the incredibly talented and extremely aﬀable Garvan Corbett. He delivered once again in the slightly lacklustre sequel, but

...speaking of Wipeout - amazingly XL/2097 ﬁnally made it to the Amiga back in 1999, published under license by Blittersoft.

March 2021

AMIGA ADDICT

Demoscene

REGULARS

- Matt Wilsher (of Retro Asylum podcast) hits the metal and gives us a wave... Let’s get to the meat and two veg of demo production - the mighty coder. He or she would often be the most aloof, the most in the shadows, and the least vocal out of a demo group. No coincidence then that they would also be the ones producing 68k assembly code with such dedication that sleep really wouldn’t be possible. There goes social etiquette and network building! The Amiga, as we all should know class, uses a Motorola 68000 type CPU at its heart. Hi-Toro (as they were initially known) developed the OS, associated libraries and tools for the Amiga, expecting developers to use them based on the standards they set out. Like the APIs which are so common today, they provided an easy way to access system functions without too much fuss. So demo coders made good use of these hooks into the Amiga’s inner workings, right? Nah. Not a chance mate. Throw that out the window and hit the metal. ‘Hit the metal’ is a well-known phrase referring to when coders code as close to the CPU, and with as little interference from ‘the system’, as possible. Interference such as those libraries I mentioned earlier. Demo coders (and likewise game coders), removed any layers that might get in the way of their code and slow it down, and manipulated the hardware as directly as they could, wherever they could. All that graphical manipulation: dot tunnels, mad moving patterns, thousands of sprites bouncing all around the screen, 3D texture-mapped shapes, images stretching and shrinking, Doomstyle sequences and so on comes from pure coding. These aren’t animations created in DPaint or Lightwave, no sir these are generated real-time and then put directly onto the bitmapped screen. This takes some serious talent and ability, not to mention dedication to the craft. OK, I’ll come clean... it’s not completely true that it’s all real-time. Through clever trickery, what you’re seeing on screen may be pre-calculated, and then those pre-calculated results manipulated to get the end result. Or if you look very closely, you may see repeating patterns, or an illusion of more going on in front of you than is really happening. This doesn’t make the coder any less talented - you haven’t been cheated out of your ﬂoppy disk. It is simply frugal use of the available processor grunt, and that, in itself, is clever programming. By coding

AMIGA ADDICT

Relic by Nerve Axis is more like watching a movie scene than an Amiga demo - outstanding.

essentially straight to the processor (in very simple terms, it’s not quite like that), you have access to do anything possible within the instruction set, along with everything the Amiga’s co-processors could do too. Limitations only came from the coders imagination, their skills with the instruction set, and their ability to optimise their code to as few instructions as possible. Add in a good head for maths and you’re ready to make the Amiga sing. As I said in the first article, demos are often willy-waving exercises. “We’re the best”. Essentially showing off. Coders that genuinely made the difference were the likes of Chaos of Sanity, Psycho of Budbrain, Deftronic of Crionics & The Silents and Dan of Lemon to name just four... and this whole article could easily list so many more. The likes of these pioneered effects or took them to another level. I mentioned Arte by Sanity in the first article (Ed. - "See Issue 1") as a prime example of achieving the great heights of “Wow”. That texture-mapped tunnel you fly through - on an A500 - was simply jaw-dropping in 1993. You may wonder where the coder got their inspiration for all these effects which became so ubiquitous in demos. Again, it goes back to the desire to push the Amiga to the very limits of what was possible. When a 3D vector cube with 6 faces isn’t enough, make it a glenz vector which is transparent, so you can see through the cube to the other faces. Texture mapping, easily achieved on later PC graphics cards, was much harder on the Amiga’s bitmapped screen format in the early 90s. So pop some textures on the objects, make said objects either multifaced or even rounded, have 3D objects that are no longer static and are twisted, stretched and moved around with gusto not thought possible. This

March 2021

example of progression is the inspiration. This is what made the Amiga sing. And on top of that, it was to impress your fellow coders or compete with fellow coders in the sometimes brutal rivalry which abounded in the scene. At the time the A1200 landed, demos never really ever used any sort of upgrade, bar maybe the standard 512K Fast RAM the vast majority of us had. It was about pushing stock hardware as far as possible. Once accelerators started arriving however, demos began taking advantage of the extra horsepower. While the scene at large embraced this, for a smaller bunch of us at least, the magic was lost to some degree. We wanted to see what stock Amigas could achieve, not a beast of a system that would cost the earth in upgrades. You only need to look at what a 1MHz C64 can do these days in demo land to see how, with the right techniques, it’s possible to coax miracles out of stock hardware. Thankfully, in more recent years, there has been a revival in unexpanded OCS and AGA Amiga demos. The mighty coder then. Could there really be a demo without them? Wouldn’t be much of a demonstration, would it?! Therefore they are, I would argue, the most important cog in the wheel of demo production. Right class, its homework time again. Let’s show oﬀ one of the pioneering demos from the late 90s, and despite what I just said, this uses acceleration. However, it’s a really classy demo by my once-groupmates Nerve Axis called Relic. Also take a look at an early 90s demo showing oﬀ ‘pushing the earlier techniques that little bit further’ Enigma by Phenomena. Sublime music on this one too.

PRESENTS NEXT MONTH

'Snack Attack!' We get busy with the ﬁzzy and raid the local newsagents - taking a look at the snacks featured in Amiga games!

Issue 4 - On sale late-March 2021 PLUS !

• Holding Out For A Hero • Pintz and Amiga hosts interview • CD32 Corner: Banshee & Jacob Andersen interview • Gold Standard: Shadow Fighter • Across The Pond • The Creative Revolution • Amiga Audio Oddities • As well as our regular columns including gaming articles, Demoscene, Simon Butler, Back In The Day '88, Amiga News, Keyboard Warriors & Six of the Best!

March 2021

AMIGA ADDICT

March 2021