10 of my favorite AMIGA games....

[MaximumRD]

Top 10 AMIGA games. Well, certainly such lists are subjective and I am not saying all or any were exclusives, indeed some may have been better or more popular elsewhere but my fond memories of them originated on AMIGA so simply I will name 10 games that I highly enjoyed going back to those may years ago when I had original Amiga hardware. I will go with - 

 

1. Lemmings

2. Stunt car Racer

3. SkidMarks 

4. Turrican

5. The Chaos Engine

6. Battle Squadron

7. Zany Golf

8. Zenon II Megablast

9. The Secret of Monkey Island

10. Flashback

 

To be clear, this was literally the first things that sprang to mind off the top of my head and could likely change dramatically from moment to moment and I could literally think of dozens if not hundreds more and that is not even including various PD / Shareware / Demos and well if I am honest tons and tons of pirated titles I traded for back in the day. Was such a wonderful platform.

[Atari 5200 Guy]

I have never had an Amiga...at least one that worked.  I was once given an Amiga 2000 but it never worked.  It had belonged to my hometown's local TV channel which, quite honestly, was never that good.  The system was responsible for playing, over the air, their recorded content which included local newscasts.  But when I got it the system would not power up at all.  The power supply was simply fried.  It was blamed on a previous strong storm we had in the area.  I tried to locate another power supply but to no avail.  Internet was a luxury then and calling Commodore was of no help as they no longer had any parts for it.

 

If I was to try to get an Amiga I would have to go with the 500 model.  Something about that system is attractive to me and knowing that Minter designed the graphics processor in these systems then there is a bit of Atari legacy in those Amiga computers.  I wouldn't mind having one mainly for gaming reasons (are there any other reasons?) just to see what it can do and just how much fun it is.

[MaximumRD]

Oh there are other reason for sure though of course most do not compare with modern offerings but back in the day with my humble a500 and the RF modulator which had a composite out I played around with several video and titling programs making basic titles for my home VHS movies, art and animation with Deluxe Paint, listening to tunes with MOD players, viewing scene demos (mix of video and sound) for kicks. All nostalgic purposes for sure but the sound and graphics capabilities were amazing on that machine for the time. Great sounding and looking games kept me going for a long time before getting a 16 bit console like Snes or Genesis and found many of the titles that DID crossover onto Genesis still looked and sounded better on AMIGA though some of that was made for on consoles faster cartridge loading I admit. 

[Atari 5200 Guy]

Compared to its competitor, the Atari ST, the A500 just looks more like a fancy sports car where the ST looks more like a luxury car.  I love Atari computers and consoles but that Amiga 500 has not only good looks but sounds like it has the specs to go with it.  I believe that is the only Commodore computer where I like the design more.  The C64 was not a bad computer but the looks of it paled in comparison to other systems from the same era.  The 500 looks like someone seen a Farrari and said, "Let's add that style here, here, and here."  It works...it's a more attractive computer visually.  I can't say anything about performance because I've never seen one in person.  

[Atari 5200 Guy]

Oh...and I was looking at what games were on it...hehe...

 

Populous was one game I played heavily on my SNES back in the day.  So that would have to be a must on a 500 for me.  Also, I found Data East's Continuum which was the oddest game I had in my 386 gaming collection of the time.  I played it but I had no clue as to what I was suppose to do.  Even the instructions were not completely clear to me.  Flashback I had on PC and Genesis.  It was a fun game and good sequel to the Out Of This world game.

[MaximumRD]

It was a fun game and good sequel to the Out Of This world game.

 

 

Funny thing that, while many assumed Flashback was the sequel to OUT OF THIS WORLD (it was so more in spirit only) the TRUE sequel was a SegaCD / MegaCD exclusive called Heart of the Alien, literally the true sequel as you can see. Just forward this video to the 4 min 34 sec mark to avoid lots of babble before that. The SegaCD contained the original game and the sequel but the original creator had nothing to do with it and it was not as good.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlmxI2H6f5Q

[Atari 5200 Guy]

wow.  never heard of that one.  that's one that slipped by me unnoticed. 

[RickR]

I always wanted an Amiga, especially once I learned that it's the true successor to the Atari 2600/8-bit design.  But I've never seen one for sale here, and the various model numbers and such make it pretty intimidating given the cost. 

 

I do have an Atari ST.  It's good, but the games remind me so much of the Sega Genesis in look, sound, and feel.  That's not a bad thing, but it makes it feel kind of redundant. 

[dgrubb]

I was a big Amiga fan in the late 90s, right after Commodore imploded and PCs took over the world entirely. As this was prior to the retro-scene explosion old Amiga kit was perceived as worthless and very easy to find at car boot sales, junk shops and the like for next to nothing. Consequently, I was able to get my hands on a bunch of 500s, 500+s, a 600 and a 1200 (sadly, sold off when I moved to the US).

Stunning machines, even back then. True pre-emptive multitasking OS on a consumer mid-80s machine was practically unheard of, for instance.

 

My favourites, in no particular order:

 

Syndicate

Civilization

Worms

Zool

Ruff N' Tumble

Elite (and its sequel, Frontier)

Alien Breed

Secret of Monkey Island II

Beneath a Steel Sky

Historyline

[RickR]

Thank you for bumping this.  I have an Amiga now, but wasn't sure which games I should focus on. 

[dgrubb]

Thank you for bumping this.  I have an Amiga now, but wasn't sure which games I should focus on. 

 

Nice! What model did you pick up?

[RickR]

Amiga 500 with expanded memory and a floppy emulator. 

 

 

[Atarileaf]

The Amiga just screams "cool". I owned one very briefly in the late 90's, the A500 I believe. I found it in a thrift store but not the way you'd think. It was sitting in a shopping cart by the office door with the monitor. I asked if it was for sale and the woman said it was there to get it out of the way because the Amiga was their thrift stores office computer but they had just replaced it with a Windows PC so although they hadn't intended on selling it she actually said that sure, she'd sell it and I was floored when she said I could have it for $10. 

[Justin]

The Amiga just screams "cool". I owned one very briefly in the late 90's, the A500 I believe. I found it in a thrift store but not the way you'd think. It was sitting in a shopping cart by the office door with the monitor. I asked if it was for sale and the woman said it was there to get it out of the way because the Amiga was their thrift stores office computer but they had just replaced it with a Windows PC so although they hadn't intended on selling it she actually said that sure, she'd sell it and I was floored when she said I could have it for $10. 

 

 

That is a great story Atarileaf. I love the Amiga and wish I could get my hands on an A500 with a monitor for $10 

[Atarileaf]

That is a great story Atarileaf. I love the Amiga and wish I could get my hands on an A500 with a monitor for $10 

 

Unfortunately I traded it to another collector about a year after this since I couldn't find any software or games for it and I think this might have been before I was using ebay to find games. I don't think I started using ebay until 1999 or 2000 and this was a couple of years before that. It's too bad because I wish I still had it now

[RickR]

Add to the list:  King's Quest.  I've started that and got stuck playing it.  I'll get to the ones on your guys' list soon. 

I can't remember if King's Quest on PC used the mouse like the Amiga version does.  Wasn't it text commands only?  In any case, the Amiga version is great fun.

[Atarileaf]

I'd love to try Stunt Car Racer. One of my all time favorite DOS PC games is Stunt Driver by Spectrum Holobyte. I could never find a decently priced copy on ebay. I wonder if they make it for the Atari ST? Speaking of which, I'd love to see a top 10 list for the Atari ST. It's a system I own but don't know much about.

[TeddyGermany]

Hm, Amiga games! I have a bunch of good memories!

 

1. North & South

A strategy game about secession war, based on a french comic. Highly recommended.

 

2.Defender of the Crown

Conquer England in less than half an hour. I still love the graphics done by Jim Sachs.

 

3. Wings

Great game about WWI.

 

4. No greater glory

Again civil war. Great strategy game made by SSI.

 

5.The Chaos Engine

Gauntlet styled game by the Bitmap Brothers and brutally difficult.

 

6. Fightin ' Spirit

Ok, a Street Fighter II clone, but look at Street Fighter games in their Amiga Iteration! Sad story!

 

7. Lionheart

Brilliant plattformer with epic audiovisual presentation.

 

8. Lords of the rising sun

Defender of the Crown sequel, settled in medieval japan with a more elaborate gameplay.

 

9.Flight of the Amazon Queen

Very funny Point&Click-Adventure not done by LucasArts.

 

10. Populous

Very good RTS game.

 

I could name many further titles, especially the games of Cinemaware or others, which were also published on PC or consoles.

Edited May 13, 2018 by TeddyGermany

[dauber]

Might as well contribute my thoughts...in no particular order:
 

1. Pinball Dreams / Pinball Fantasies
   Grouped as one. Never played Pinball Illusions. I had a copy of Slam Tilt when I bought my Amiga 4000 used, but I could never get it to load properly. But Pinball Dreams was the first thing I ever experienced on an Amiga, a friend's A500.
2. wipEout2097
   I have a soft spot in my heart for racing games. I bought this as soon as I got a Cyberstorm PPC accelerator for my A4000. Sadly, that card went south very quickly, so I didn't get much play out of it until I got the AmigaOne. But man...such a smooth 3D space racer. Really dug it a LOT.
3. Walker
   I think it was the graphics that impressed me the most. Super-high-res and smooth gameplay.
4. Desert Strike
   I played it on the Sega Genesis when my brother had one, so I had to seek out an Amiga version. On one hand, I was disappointed that it didn't have the inertia options that were available on the Genesis version, but on the other hand, I loved that it had extra digitized voices. Never could win the game, though, even with a trainer installed. (The Leader always escaped.)
5. Klax
   You will never, EVER find a better version of Klax than on the Amiga. It's even better than the arcade version.
6. Archer Maclean's Pool
   Not the most popular title on the Amiga, but I loved it. I always enjoyed playing pool and ergo always liked pool video games. Good 3D views, and some amusing hidden animations.
7. Lemmings
   Because why not? Such a classic.
8. Scorched Tanks
   Shareware equivalent to Scorched Earth. Just the overall strategy in the game; really loved it.
9. Vroom
   I stumbled on this game accidentally. I feel it gets hugely ignored, mainly because of the Lotus series. There are other racing games on the Amiga that look a bit prettier, but this by far was the smoothest and most enjoyable, IMHO.
10. Deluxe Pac-Man
    Because I HAVE to include a Pac-Man game. 🙂 Been a big Pac-Man fan since 1981. I was a poor college student when I first started with the Amiga, and this was one of the few shareware titles I actually registered. The late Edgar Vigdal designed a really great Pac-Man clone. He also did a great Galaga clone called Deluxe Galaga that's eons better than the original Galaga. (It was also out on smart phones under the title "Warblade," but given that Edgar is no longer with us and ergo can't update the code, it might not run on said phones any more.)