Favourite Amiga 500 Games

The finest computer of all time.

The Amiga 500. The best computer of all time?.... YES. Having witnessed the intense 8bit rivalry between Spectrum and Commodore 64 users I took care to choose what I thought was the better machine between the Amiga 500 and the Atari ST in the 16bit era. I believe I made the right choice. The graphics and sound capabilities of the Amiga 500 seemed way ahead of it's time. The ST gave it a run for it's money but just never seemed quite as good.

All the beans on toast was worth it.

I blew half my college grant on it, possibly back in 1989, and lived on beans on toast for weeks, but it was worth it. The applications for it were very cool, great art and music programs. Amiga's were used in TV production, that's how powerful they were. But the major reason for an arcade junkie like me.  The games.

It was all about the games.

I got a solid 4 or 5 years out of it before moving on to PC's. Not a very long time compared with my ZX Spectrum years but still it was the best time in my videogames playing life and therefore a time I'll never ever forgot.

Workbench 1.3

So here are my favourite twenty Amiga games. Not in any order besides alphabetical. I'll let you decide which you think is the number one game. Hell, It might not even be in this list which just goes to show how many great games existed for the finest computer of all time.

Fluid character animation and great cut scenes.

Another World

The fluidity of the character animation reminded me of Prince of Persia. The background scenery was very other worldly. The intro animation and various cut scenes looked like something from a Hollywood movie. A very interesting and playable game all round.

A quicker pace than all the other turn-based games.

Battle Isle          

Sci-fi turn-based strategy on a hexagonal map. A nice variety of units. For a game of this type everything moved very quickly and this is what appealed to me the most. Previous turn-based games I'd played were just too slow for my liking. This proved they didn't need to be.

Cruelly underrated masterpiece.

Cybercon III

In my opinion this is the most underrated game on any computer or videogames console. Some complained about the pace of the game and the overly complicated controls and HUD. I stuck with it and reaped the benefits as I became deeply immersed in this games 3D world for weeks on end, and the complicated controls and HUD only served to give the game an even greater depth and provision for some interesting strategies.

Engrossing and addictive resource management.

Deuteros

A great space exploration videogame where you have to find resources and manage people to build bases on the planets in the solar system in an attempt to build an army strong enough to go to war and conquer the solar system and several other star systems until the war is won. Plenty of stats, sparse graphics and yet somehow engrossing and addictive.

With a highly sociable multiplayer option.

Dyna Blaster

Not bad as a single player game, came into it's own as a multiplayer game. Playing with your friends in the same room looking at the same screen. Not as far reaching as today's online multiplayer games but a lot more sociable in my opinion even if you were in joystick throwing range.

No interest in F1 until I'd played this game.

Formula 1 Grand Prix

What was seen on screen matched the various real F1 tracks around the world. A totally realistic simulation with outstanding graphics for its time. I learnt the layout of many F1 tracks due and starting watching a sport I was never interested in before thanks to this game.

Perfectly balanced and highly enjoyable.

Ivan 'Iron Man' Stewart's Super Off Road

The physics of the cars in this game were unreal. Each wheel of your vehicle had separate calculations regarding the terrain. The races were nail biting even against AI opponents. Very well balanced and highly enjoyable.

More like playing pinball but still good fun.

Kick Off 2

This was more like playing a football themed version of pinball. But once you got used to the speed and the ball control it was the best footy game for the Amiga until Sensi turned up.

3D isometric for RPG's was the best.

Legend

I prefer isometric 3D to first person views especially for role playing games. Dungeon Master, etc. just didn't do it for me. I like to see all my party of characters hacking and slashing multiple enemies. This game provided just that.

Top notch racer with cool two player split screen option.

Lotus Turbo Challenge 2

An excellent racing game for single player on full screen and even better when playing against a friend on split screen multiplayer. This time the tracks were courses rather than laps of a circuit and the fuel limit was removed. You had to beat a certain time and then a password was given. Great system for a top notch racer.

Battle through ancient history to present day and beyond.

Mega-Lo-Mania

Addictive real-time strategy game where the player took the role of a god leading their people into battle against other gods through the ages from ancient history all the way up to present day and  beyond. Different technology was available to the people based on which epoch the battle started. These technologies advanced as they were researched further and further. Once the battle was won it was time for the next epoch.

Same as Populous with better disaster effects.

 Populous 2

Sequel to the famous Populous game. This was more of the same, leveling out the land to create bigger castles and increase the population but the effects for the disasters were a lot more satisfying.

Compelling kawaii platform game.

Rodland

The best kawaii platform game in my opinion, much better than Rainbow Islands and New Zealand Story. A platform game where you cannot jump requires a lot of strategic thinking even if you do have the chance to create a magic ladder for a quick getaway. There's nothing funnier than a fairy bashing the hell out of a monster with it's wand. A strangely compelling game for this genre.

The best footy game of all time.

Sensible Soccer

Smart graphics that did the job, a zoomed out perspective so you could see more of the pitch and more of players on it and 'after touch' the one single invention that turned this football videogame into, in my opinion, the best of all time. The fact that you could swerve the ball led to defence splitting through balls, curling corners and bend it like Beckham style free kicks. What more could a boy want. Well actually Sensible World Of Soccer which was apparently even better but I didn't play that one.

One of the best future sport games on any format.

Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe

Sequel to Speedball and the best future sports game on the Amiga. Not that I can think of many others. Everything looked metallic, a style that the bitmap brothers would adopt for most of their games. The music was energetic, the in game fighting like something from the movie roller ball and who could ever forget those immortal words 'Ice cream, ice cream'.

Ahead of it's time open world space flight sim.

Starglider 2

I'd played this on the ZX Spectrum where you flew around a single planet but these was a completely different game. You could fly around a planet, venture into space and visit other planets in the solar system. I didn't really figure out exactly what I was supposed to do I was just happy to fly around, explore and blast things.

Best shoot'em up on the Amiga.

SWIV

Classic 2D vertical scrolling shoot'em up where one player could control a helicopter and a second player could control a jeep in a similar idea to sideways scrolling shoot'em up Silkworm. Power ups consisted solely of shields which good also be detonated like a smart bomb. Upgrades to firepower occurred after you defeated a boss. This game was so pure and so slick. My favourite shoot'em'up for the Amiga. Oh yeah, almost forget to mention the fantastic intro screen music too. One of the best.

Blade Runner style cyberpunk cyborgs.

Syndicate

The hype previous to this games release was unbelievable. Everyone talked about the AI, the Blade Runner style locations, the assassinations and the explosions. Bullfrog was at it's peak around this time. When it eventually came out it came close to living up to the hype but like most bullfrog games the levels were a bit samey and you could count the number of strategies you could use to win on one hand. Still it was fun blowing stuff up with your group of black ops cyborgs.

The first decent theme park simulation.

Theme Park

The first decent Theme Park simulation. I never played a game before where so many people threw up on screen. But that's what happen when you set the rides you'd built to run too fast and didn't provide enough toilets and cleaners. Sticking a whole host of snack joints at the ride entrance didn't help but it was all part of the fun. Cleaning up sick. Wonderful.

The most fun multiplayer war game ever.

Warlords

So this one is a bit of a cheat as I used to play it with some friends on a ...er... dare I say it... Atari ST (Boo!! - ed) but it was practically the same on the Amiga. Eight different races fight to control the land. These can be computer or human players. Cities can be taken and used to build more units and heroes. Each race had different units. The AI for the computer players was very good but the most fun ever was when you and your mates took turns to do their moves and fight each other. Yet again another multiplayer game where everyone was in the same room so there was a chance of real fighting occurring in said room as well as on screen. Wonderful times that I miss so much.

Other Popular Games

Just for the record here are some other famous games, possibly making it into your own list of favourites, which I either didn't play, couldn't get into, couldn't fit into my favourite twenty or had already played to death on my previous computer the ZX Spectrum. Any that are not here I've basically forgotten about after all we're talking 25 years ago.

The Secret of Monkey Island, Monkey Island 2 : LeChuck's Revenge, Lemmings, Cannon Fodder, Shadow of the Beast, Turrican 2, Rainbow Islands, The Chaos Engine, Alien Breed, Gods, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Bubble Bobble, Jimmy Whites Whirlwind Snooker, Zool, Carrier Command, Dungeon Master, Stunt Car Racer, Powermonger, R-Type, Elite, Hunter, Magic Pockets, Forgotten Worlds, Putty, Barbarian, Vroom, Flood, James Pond, Bloodwych, Civilization, The Bards Tale, Street Fighter 2, Eye of the Beholder, Pinball Dreams/Fantasies/Illusions.