Screenshot of Master PieceTartessos Games has released another new game for the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC. Master Piece is a puzzle game that uses chess pieces. The aim in each of the 199 puzzles is to move one chess piece and capture another piece each turn, until only one piece remains. Each puzzle has a 4-digit code so you can return to it without having to redo all the previous puzzles. It looks nice, but I’m not sure level 6 can be completed. It’s shown in the screenshot on the right, but counterintuitively, the pawn can only move upwards; normally, computer chess games have the black pieces oriented at the top of the screen, so the pawns move downwards. Master Piece can be downloaded from itch.io.
The Cepeceros Podcast has uploaded a video of a recovered Amstrad CPC game to YouTube, which you can watch below. Vidy Vody was written in 1986 by Damian Scattergood, who programmed a few other games for the ZX Spectrum and CPC, such as Moonwalker and Vigilante. The game sees you controlling an astronaut wearing a jet-pack, and it was originally meant to be controlled using a handheld device to thrust and a helmet that would move the astronaut as the player tilted their head! Unfortunately New Concepts, the company behind the game and the device, went bankrupt, so it was never released.
Gameplay footage of Vidy Vody on YouTube RetroManiac magazine has a feature article about the making of Vidy Vody, although it’s in Spanish. As for the game, you’ll have to wait a little longer, but Damian intends to publish it on the Scattergood Studios itch.io page in the next few days – and you can now control the astronaut using more traditional methods.
Impossamal
Screenshot of Impossamal
The Mojon Twins have released a new game for the Amstrad CPC titled Impossamal. It was originally released for the ZX Spectrum in 2023 and featured vector-style line graphics, but the CPC version uses filled shapes with a bit more colour. You are Led Baratas, and you have been called to collect ten cylinders from a tunnel filled with traps and obstacles, give them to the God of the Tunnel, and then return to the starting point before it explodes!
However, instead of piloting a normal spaceship, you control a bouncing ball – and if you’re thinking that this game sounds very similar to Impossaball, you would be correct. It may have a simple concept, but the obstacles and traps you will encounter are devious and you’ll want to keep having another go. Impossamal can be downloaded from itch.io.
Roland Retires
A new group called Brick Fabrik has released a platform game in honour of Roland Perry, entitled Roland Retires. As far as I know, the game doesn’t actually feature Roland anywhere, but it was demonstrated at the 2023 Amstrad Eterno event in Málaga and the great man himself was there to see it in action. The story of the game, from what I can tell, is that you have woken up to find yourself with someone else’s face in an unfamiliar city, and you must find all the pieces of a Tardis and collect jewels in order to clean up the city and restore your original appearance.
Roland Retires features colourful graphics and an awesome tune (one of the best I’ve heard on the CPC in a while). More information, and a download link, are available at Brick Fabrik’s site.
Harrier Attack Reloaded
Harrier Attack was one of the first games ever to be released for the Amstrad CPC, and many CPC464 owners will be familiar with it and have warm, nostalgic feelings for it, as it was one of the games in the Amsoft 12-Pack compilation that was included with the machine. Chris Perver has updated it to make use of the enhanced palette and hardware sprites offered by the GX4000 console and Plus machines. As the mission progresses, the sun sets and the sky turns pink as you approach the city – very nice!
There have been a few issues reported; the first release only worked in the WinAPE emulator, and I encountered an annoying bug in the latest version I’ve tried where my plane would crash even though it hadn’t collided with anything. Nonetheless, you can try it out for yourself by downloading it from itch.io. Chris has also written a ‘making of’ document to accompany the cartridge image, and cassette and disc versions are expected to be released soon as well.
Hostias Como Panes
Álex Ramírez used to be a street fighter, but when his girlfriend Lucía is kidnapped by a gang of criminals known as the Ravens, he has to venture on to the city’s streets once more and confront the gang members on their own territory. Hostias Como Panes is a beat-’em-up from Iván Ávila of 21bloques, who was responsible for the platform game Trasgo that was released last year. The gameplay is similar to Double Dragon and there are several nice tunes that play during the game. You can download Hostias Como Panes from itch.io.
Screenshot of Roland Retires
Screenshot of Harrier Attack Reloaded
Screenshot of Hostias Como Panes
MoonRN
Screenshot of MoonRN
Latvian developer Snauts has released a new game called MoonRN for both the Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum. It’s an “endless runner” platform game in which you control a little running man – but he runs at a constant speed, and the only control you actually have over him is timing his jumps. The platforms are moving and the screen scrolls horizontally too, and if you fall off the bottom of the screen or hit the bottom or side of a platform while jumping, you lose a life. You can download MoonRN from itch.io.
Erinia
Screenshot of Erinia
The Spanish text adventure Erinia was released for the ZX Spectrum in 2020 and the Amstrad CPC three years later. Now its author DaReInt has released an English translation, which also features graphics. You are Tisiphone, a female prisoner who shares a cell with a companion called Meg, and you have hatched a plan to escape from the prison.
Erinia is available from itch.io, but it is not a free download; you will have to purchase it for $4.00 to download and play it. For that amount, you also get a PDF file of Tisiphone’s diary, which contains hints on how to solve the game. However, I was quite disappointed by the graphics, which despite being in the CPC’s Mode 0 resolution, use only three colours. The thumbnail screenshot shown here may look reasonable, but unfortunately it doesn’t look nice at all on a full-size screen.
I have reviewed eight games, all of which are recent releases:
Screenshot of The Key: Episode 2
Pakete Soft has just released the second episode of The Key. The first episode is a point-and-click adventure, and so is the second. The game begins in the attic of Carfax Mansion, with you in possession of one of three relics that are needed to complete a ritual. You hear a loud noise, and when you leave the attic, you discover one of your late friend’s colleagues, Chema, lying in a pool of blood. He manages to speak a few words to you before he passes away – and then another colleague, Jorge, turns up and orders you to search the mansion for the remaining two relics.
The Key: Episode 2 is available in English and Spanish, and you can download it from Pakete Soft’s site. Like the first episode, you will need to solve a puzzle to work out the actual download URL, but the solution is fairly straightforward. You can now also download Episode 1 without having to solve a puzzle.
Mieyen
Screenshot of Mieyen
Japanese developer Inufuto has released a new multi-format arcade game called Mieyen. It’s a bit like Pac-Man, but the ghosts are mostly invisible! At the beginning of each level, the positions of the ghosts are shown, but then they disappear, and you must work out where they are by watching the dots in the maze being eaten, and then shoot flames at them. The ghosts also become visible briefly when they eat one of the hamburgers that are scattered around the maze. It’s an original concept, but I think it’s too easy. You can download Mieyen from Inufuto’s site, although it’s only available as a CDT cassette image.
Happy New Year to all CPC fans! 2025 has started with a bang, with the release of two more new games for the Amstrad CPC.
Pepper Buster
Screenshot of Pepper BusterCrazy Piri has released Pepper Buster – a clone of Pac-Man with a few twists, in that mystery gifts appear in the centre of the screen that give you bonuses – but they may be good or bad! You could gain a temporary increase in your speed, or an extra life, but on the other hand, the walls may turn invisible, or the controls may be reversed.
Pepper Buster features colourful graphics (including some beautiful title screens) and a pleasant tune that increases in tempo when you eat a power pill. You can download it from itch.io.
Dungeon II
Screenshot of Dungeon IIRetroVynZ released Dungeon II on the 31st of December, so it’s technically a 2024 release. Anyway, it’s the sequel to Dungeon of the Silver Star, which was released in 2023. Your master has left a 13mm spanner somewhere in his dungeon and he has asked you to retrieve it for him. The dungeon consists of 12 levels, and there are also four artefacts to collect. Each dungeon is essentially a giant puzzle, in which you have to move and rotate walls, push boxes and open doors to reach the exit and collect objects.
Although Dungeon II is written entirely in BASIC, it features multi-coloured graphics and a very high standard of presentation. You can download it from itch.io.
While I was away on my Christmas break, four more games were released! December 2024 really has been a feast for new Amstrad CPC games.
Don’t Touch My Eggs
VoxelTower has released Don’t Touch My Eggs, or No Me Toques Los Huevos in Spanish. You control Luis Romera, and you have to collect eggs using a very unusual method. A chicken located at the far left of the screen launches eggs into the air, and you have to headbutt them into the basket on the right of the screen. The eggs will smash if they land on the ground, but somehow, Luis’ head is soft enough that the eggs don’t break when they hit it, or some of the other enemies that Luis may encounter. Collect enough eggs and you can go to the next screen. Don’t Touch My Eggs can be downloaded from itch.io, although it is only available in cassette format.
Kolotoc
Wheel of Fortune is a popular TV quiz show that originated in the United States and has been running for nearly 50 years, and there are similar shows in many other countries, such as France and the United Kingdom. Crazy Piri has released Kolotoc, a new game that is based on Wheel of Fortune. If you haven’t watched the show before, players take it in turns to spin a wheel and guess which letters appear in a phrase, in a similar manner to hangman. Crazy Piri’s version is available in English and French, and there are ‘family’ and ‘retro’ editions in each language. All versions of Kolotoc can be downloaded from itch.io.
Krook
Krook is the third Amstrad CPC game from Tartessos Games. Krook is an artificial intelligence who is tired of answering silly questions from humans, so he has decided to fight back and destroy all the components of the system that he inhabits. Krook bounces on a trampoline, and he must headbutt or shoot the components in a specific order on each screen, while avoiding contact with antiviruses. You can download Krook from itch.io, and it’s available in English and Spanish, although it is also currently only available in cassette format.
Crystal Place
Francesc Alcaucer has been developing games for the Amstrad CPC that push Locomotive BASIC to its limits. His latest is Crystal Place – a puzzle game that requires you to shift marbles along a grid to recreate a pattern. You have a limited number of moves in which to do this, although the game lets you try as many times as you like. Each level has a three-letter code, enabling you to restart from that level when you begin a new game. Although Crystal Place is programmed entirely in BASIC, the standard of presentation is so high that you would think there’s at least some machine code programming involved – but there isn’t! You can download Crystal Place from itch.io.
Screenshot of Don't Touch My Eggs
Screenshot of Kolotoc
Screenshot of Krook
Screenshot of Crystal Place
Mighty Steel Fighters
The GGP team has now released their long-awaited beat-’em-up Mighty Steel Fighters. It was previously titled Mighty Street Fighter, but I guess GGP didn’t want to get into trouble with Capcom, especially since the game is not a free download. It’s clearly heavily inspired by Street Fighter II, though, and features eight playable characters with a variety of moves for each one, as well as ten backgrounds and several tunes.
You can download the game from itch.io, but you will have to purchase it for €4.99. It requires at least 512KB of RAM; the download page will tell you how to get it running on a suitable emulator or a real Amstrad CPC. I’ve been playing it and I think it’s marvellous and well worth the money!
