Hard 'n' Heavy

Remember Great Giana Sisters, the world's most famous Super Mario Bros. clone? Of course you do - the internet won't let you forget.

But what about the sequel? This is Hard 'n' Heavy for the Amiga, converted, apparently, by a man without a name. We're off to a good start.

Edd the Duck!

Blog Squirrel, appealing to the masses.

Look, it's Edd the Duck!, a twenty-two year old Amiga game based on an old Children's BBC mascot. It's what the public wants. Maybe.

Kid Chaos

Sound the alarm, it's another Sonic the Hedgehog clone.

Kid Chaos for the Commodore Amiga (and CD32!), developed by Magnetic Fields and published by Ocean Software in 1994. That's one stunning title screen there - appeal to the kids of the 90s with a reject from The Beano. Give that man a medal.

Spitting Image

Such is the life of Squirrel that this is the second fighting game involving Mrs. Thatcher to cross my path... but the first not to display all its text in Korean.

Erm yes, look, another comedy sketch show turned video game for the Amiga. This one's a fighting game, made in the days before we knew how to make fighting games. What such productive lives we lived in the late 1980s.

Monty Python's Flying Circus

This is what the kids want - a platform/shoot-'em-up game based on a then-twenty year old comedy sketch show. Monty Python's Flying Circus for the Amiga, released in 1990 by the future creators of Tomb Raider.

My brain hurts.

ATF II

Look what I found on my shelf. ATF II - a two decade old "arcade" flight simulator for the IBM PC which I've never bothered to play. How does this masterpiece fare in 2012? I can't say, because I couldn't get it to run.

But that's okay, we can still experience the redundancy through this Amiga copy! What a glorious day for the world!

Jim Power in Mutant Planet

Say, do you value your eyes? According to 1992's Jim Power in Mutant Planet for the Commodore Amiga, it's a pair of organs you could do without. It's yet another game in the collection of early 90s titles which the world has tossed aside for the wrong reasons, so I think it's time to embrace it once again.

Gloom

The Amiga's nice and all, but can it run Doom!?

No. But it can run Gloom, a 1995 Amiga game desperate to prove its worth against DOS-based IBM PC compatibles. It fails, but it's still a remarkable piece of technology for a system not designed for the third dimension.

Space Harrier

1985 saw Sega make one of the most cutting edge and legendary pieces of software to date - Space Harrier. It's a game I've grown up with in one form or another, and though the modern gaming media have different views, I still believe this is one of the greatest arcade games of all time.

And predictably it was ported to everything, including computers so bad that the fantasy zone was reduced to mere rectangles. This port, for the Amiga, was hailed as one of the better options upon its release in 1989.

I wonder how it stacks up today!

Superfrog

If for any reason you're still in denial that Sonic the Hedgehog was a inspirational platformer, maybe this one can change your mind. Superfrog for the Amiga (and DOS-based PCs), developed by Team 17 in the pre-Worms days of 1992. It's supposedly an Amiga classic, but as with many "Amiga classics" they're only remembered by Amiga fans, unlike your Marios and Zeldas which every gamer can recognise to some degree. So, is having a frog running around a level as good as a hedgehog... or a rabbit... or a duck..?

McDonald Land

Where a pound is still a pound.

In the early 1990s, the fast food chain McDonalds felt the overwhelming need to produce video games. This was their first, cleverly titled "McDonald Land". In the US, it's known by the name of M.C. Kids and only saw success on the NES, but elsewhere it was released for far more powerful computers that people don't seem to remember.

Alfred Chicken

More birds. What could be better?

Here's a game that keeps showing up, Alfred Chicken, a 1993 game developed by Twilight Games. One of the many titles trying to take advantage of the mascot wars catalysed by Sonic the Hedgehog. Because who needs blue hedgehogs when you can have red chickens?

Krusty's (Super) Fun House

I still think it's a stupid idea to make a game titled "The Simpsons Game". Not because it's a terrible idea, but there's also twenty-one other Simpsons games. Did we forget about those? Granted, the first batch, published by Acclaim, have mostly been forgotten due to poor marketing or the fact they weren't built to last, but when EA got the license they were plugging things left right and centre. A bit of imagination wouldn't have gone a miss!

Oh well. Here's a one that neither sucked nor was hyped to death. Krusty's Fun House, currently the only title in the "series" where Krusty the Clown takes centre stage. Barely relates to the TV show these days but still a nice platform puzzler. But I smell a rat.

Doctor Who (Amiga)

Thought I might as well hunt them all down... I mean there's not too many and they're all extremely obscure.

Simply titled Doctor Who, this is another Amiga game that came out in 1992. If you decided to hunt down Dalek Attack after last post, you may notice that this looks a bit better already. Well that's because it is. No need to force a Doctor Who theme out of the Amiga's sound chip - the developers Accursed Toys just ripped it straight from the early 80s era of the programme. Makes sense.

Dalek Attack

"A Doctor Who video game (that isn't associated with Top Trumps). I haven't seen that before!" say the current video game press in regards to the recently announced "Doctor Who: The Adventure Games" for Windows PCs and Macs. How soon they forget that there's been Doctor Who games released every few years since 1983!

And somehow I can hardly blame them.

Here's the fourth attempt. 1992's "Dalek Attack" - an attempt to cash in on the 16-bit craze. The BBC tasked Alternative Software with creating a platformer, with the intent to release for the British audience hiding behind their Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS or ZX Spectrum computers, with the latter being only released due to popular demand. You know you've got problems when you're releasing a game for a decade old computer rather than the popular video game consoles of the time.

Quik the Thunder Rabbit

Yet more speedy hares to add to the collection

The latest addition? "Quik the Thunder Rabbit". A game featuring a small blue running creature that attacks enemies by rolling into them... sound familiar? Developed by a company known as Stywox and released in 1994 by Titus, Quik the Thunder Rabbit was one of many Sonic alternatives for the Amiga, DOS computers and the short-lived CD32 console. Its creators have dropped off the face of the earth and these days the game is considered abandonware. But it's a Sonic clone... you can't not take a look.

Aaargh!

WinUAE is a horrible emulator.

Time for some games with stupid names. First is the appropriately titled "Aaargh!", from the land before fracture meshes and havok physics. Developed in 1988 by Binary Design, players take control of a giant monster and destroy everything for no particular reason. It's like Rampage all over again!... no really. But there is a twist this time around - we're not confined to the hustle and bustle of city life, we get to go across an entire island smashing human colonies and each other.