Amiga Version of Sqrxz 2 Now Available for Download

The waiting is over, and for us game-starved Amiga owners Christmas has come early!

Sqrxz 2, the sequel to the original hair-pulling, joystick hurling platformer is now available to download from the Sqrxz web site. In fact, the Sqrxz team have been so kind to us Amigans that they've gone to the trouble to release versions for several classic Amiga platforms/set-ups: CDTV CD32, Floppy Disk and HD Install.

Here's the Retroguru press release;

"We divided 50 floppy disks of Sqrxz 2 amongst the visitors and 17 floppy disks of Sqrxz 1, which makes a total of 67 floppy disks.

Our Retroguru table with an Amiga 500 (provided by Mark!) allowed everyone to test the game live. Most people failed within the first three screens, but this was to be expected. Interestingly a very young girl managed to play past the half of the first level, which was hardly achieved by any other player.

Next possibility to catch a real floppy disk with the game is tUM 2012.

Feedback and donations are welcome anytime :)

Please kindly understand that it’s not possible for us to send out the game on floppy disk via snail mail. It just eats too much money and time."

To download the game, point your web browser over to:
http://www.sqrxz.de/sqrxz2-about/sqrxz2-download/

Amiganitzu - Reaches Version 9.5

I've covered the progress of Amiganitzu a number of times here on this blog over the past few months, and it now looks like development is almost complete.

Now up to version 9.5, the game has come on leaps and bounds since the early YouTube clips were posted up. This latest release even adds a choice of copper bar backgrounds, which can be turned off if you find them a bit too much.

English Amiga Board member, Spud, commented that the game was "Copperbar-crazy", with author, CarasGhant responding with "Yeah I went a bit overboard, hence the off option".


(Amiganitzu version 9.5)
All being well, the full game should see a release before Christmas. Watch this space, as I'll have a review just as soon as I get my hands on it.

Sqrxz 2 - Two Seconds Until Death

Due to be unveiled tomorrow, (8th Dec) at the 4th Retro Market in Vienna, is the Amiga 500 port of retro-styled platformer "Sqrxz 2 - Two Seconds Until Death".

Those who played part one will know just how unforgiving, but at the same time, playable the first title was. Part two will no doubt continue the hair-pulling tradition, so brace yourself for one steep learning curve/cliff!

The press release from http://retroboerse.de/ (which I've amended slightly so the English translation reads better) is as follows;

"The Retro Market Vienna presents to you, in cooperation with game developer Retro Guru, [the premiere of] a brand new classic Amiga game.

Sqrxz 2 - Two seconds until death [will be demonstrated live] on an Amiga 500 and [will made be available] in limited quantity [...] as free disk version to visitors. [...] Virtual disk images for all [will] follow immediately after the event".

(Sqrxz 2 Trailer - Note, this is not the Amiga version)
I'll be posting a review of the game just as soon as I get my hands on it. In the meantime, you can find more information about "Sqrxz 2 - Two Seconds Until Death" by pointing your web browser at: http://retroboerse.de/wien.htm (German language)

Sqrxz 1 - Amiga OCS v1.2 is out!

There's two bits of exciting news to bring you in today's post. The first is that a gamepad supported version of rock-hard platformer, Sqrxz, has now been released, and is available to download from the sqrxz web site.

The second snippet is that all being well, Sqrxz 2 should finally land on the Amiga next week!

Not a bad early Christmas present, eh?


Here's Retroguru;

"We are happy to announce Sqrxz Amiga OCS v1.2 – please go ahead and find it in our download section!

As many people mentioned the wish to play with a gamepad, Frank Wille spend a lot of efforts to make this possible. Furthermore we now offer a CDTV/CD32 image of the game.

Look forward for the release of Sqrxz 2 Amiga OCS v1.0 next week!"

For more information and to download version 1.2, point your web browser over to: http://www.sqrxz.de

My thanks go to the Commodore is Awesome team for the heads-up on this.

Classic Christmas Game and Demos

With the big day getting ever closer I thought I'd use today's post to have a look at some of the Christmas themed games and demos the Amiga has played host to over the years.

I've no doubt that I've missed a number of titles out, so please get in touch if you know of any. If I get a good enough response I may look into producing a follow-up article.

Don't be shy, drop me a message!


ATR: All Terrain Racing Christmas Edition

What better way to start today's article than the special coverdisk demo of ATR: All Terrain Racing, which was released on both Amiga Action #67 Disk 1 and Amiga Format #67 Disk 2


(I couldn't find YouTube footage of the Xmas version)
Holiday Lemmings 1993

This was first released in 1991 as gift to fans who attended events, with an additional 4-level demo being released in 1992. Finally, this saw a full commercial release in 1993.

According to the Hall of Light entry, the box reads CHRISTMAS LEMMINGS, whereas the in-game screen reads HOLIDAY LEMMINGS 1993.

Going back to the mention the demo given away to fans, I remember picking my copy up from the Psygnosis stand at the first ever Future Entertainment Show, which was held at the soon to be demolished Earl's Court.

I also remember that if you were mad enough you could have your face and hair painted to make you look like a Lemming. Those who were dafter still you could slip on a velcro costume, jump on a trampoline and hurl themselves at a sticky wall. Madness!


(Holiday Lemmings 1993)
Holiday Lemmings 1994

If, by Christmas 1994 you'd still not had your fill of all things Lemmings, then you were probably one of those who bought (or copied!) Holiday Lemmings 94.

This version is really more of the same. Lots more levels, and it also includes all 32 levels from "Holiday Lemmings 93".


(Holiday Lemmings 1994) Robocod

Released in time for the Christmas 1991 shopping season, Robocod was Vectordean's follow-up to extremely polished and often overlooked James Pond.

Swapping water for a full bionic suit, Pond could now leave his underwater home and explore the world outside without fear of gasping for air.

Given a very respectable 87% in the November 1991 issue of Amiga Power, with the reviewer declaring "One of the best games we've ever seen", it came as no surprise to see this subsequently being ported to almost ever computer and console platform known to man.

It's still a fun game today, but the lack of save option means it's pretty much impossible to complete unless you have a massive amount of time to put aside or can leave your Amiga on indefinitely.

If you do enjoy the Amiga version you may want to track down the Playstation conversion, as this features regular save points and CD music. Personally, I prefer the music on the Amiga version, but that's just me.


I'd recommend tracking down any of the above titles and playing them on your Amiga. They may be old, but they're still lots of fun, and with Christmas just around the corner, surely your trust Miggy deserves a bit of seasonal cheer, too.

My thanks go to the team behind the excellent Amiga Hall of Light for providing numerous nuggets of info featured in today's post, and to Lemon Amiga for the thumbnail image.

New Game in Development - Amiga X-Wars

Over the weekend I've been reading about another new Amiga title that's currently in the works.

This one goes by the name X-Wars, and is based on the Star Wars universe.

Here's Amiten, the developer;

"Infiltrate a Jedi Empire. Land to steal the plans of The Empire against the rebellious troops".

Reading through Amiten's posts on the English Amiga board it looks as if the game will feature two distinct styles of gameplay.

The first part is a side scrolling, platform based shooter, which sees your character infiltrating a base manned by The Empire. Once this mission is complete you leave the planet, and it's here a space battle/shoot-em-up takes place.

Amiten continues;

"The idea is to have an addictive game with Star Wars characters, of which I am a fan, and of course, for our incredible Amigas!"

I wouldn't expect development on this title to rocket along, as Amiten confirms that it's only him working on it. Not only that, but he also has three other games currently in development!

Technical info:

- The game runs in lowres, EHB, 64 colour mode
- It's hoped that the game will run on any 68000 based Amiga with 1 meg chip RAM
- The game will most likely come on 3 or 4 disks

Amiten recommends that you run the game on a higher specification Amiga setup for a better experience.

"[A] 68060 will be [the] dream but not necessary. I think [a] 68030 will be fine! A harddisk [would be] much better [and] fastRam for music and SFX will be GREAT!

At the end [I will] develop [an] optimised WinUae Version with more bonus music or graphics animation, getting the high end possibilities [provided by] emulators, to experience a big Star Wars type game."

These all sound like pretty ambitious plans, but the game is already beginning to take shape. Take a look at the YouTube clip below, to see the game in its current state.


I'll bring you more news as and when I get it. In the meantime, you can follow a thread dedicated to the development of this game over on the English Amiga Board.

Get Festive With Your Amiga & Cornelius Saves Christmas

I hope you don't mind, but it's another blast from the not-so-distant past for today's blog post. Now, before you start grumbling, I'll explain.

First, it's the start of December, and I think a bit of festive fun with your trusty Amiga wouldn't go amiss, and second, here's a lovely little game that I feel hasn't received the attention it really deserves.

Going under the odd name "Cornelius Saves Christmas", this is a platform game created in Backbone, which was originally released for the First Annual Festival Amiga Game Making Competition, back in 2009.

Cornelius is a child, young enough to still be excited about Christmas and not blame his parents for giving him such a goofy name.

One day, on his way home from school, he overheard the owner of his town’s only big store saying that he wouldn’t be selling any Christmas trees or toys this Christmas.

Now, although Cornelius couldn’t understand everything the old man said, he did pick up that that an evil wizard named A. C. Countant, had forced the store manager to make the sorry decision.

Wasting no time, Cornelius decided to fight against the enchanted toys that were under the spell of the wizard and free all the trapped Christmas trees.

Cornelius Saves Christmas is similar to many platform games we used to play on the Amiga back in the day. Your task is to help Cornelius save Christmas by guiding him through 30 levels.

There are three worlds of 10 levels each, with different graphics for each world. Simply use the joystick to move him around and press fire to shoot at the enchanted toys. To complete a level and move on to the next stage, you'll need to destroy all the toys and make your way to the Christmas tree. You have 7 lives to complete the game.

As with most Backbone created titles the game has to be run from hard drive, and an Amiga 1200 with a bit of FastRam is recommended as the minimum spec, although it will work on less powerful machines.

Cornelius Saves Christmas is a fun and polished looking platform game, and shows what can be done using Backbone if the right person is behind the keyboard. If you want to see the game in action before you decide to download it, you can find a longplay of it below.


Finally, if the above has whet your appetite, you can download Cornelius Saves Christmas from the following location:

http://www.atropos-studios.com/External/CSC.lha

Have fun!