Vintage is the New Old and Retro Video Gamer are running a poll called the Amstrad CPC Gamers’ Choice Award, to decide the best Amstrad CPC game released in 2018. Thirteen games have been nominated, and you can vote for your favourite three games. The vote closes at 23:59 GMT on Monday 25th March 2019.
Scramble
Screenshot of Scramble
PuzCPC has converted Konami’s 1981 coin-op game Scramble to the CPC. For those who don’t know, Scramble is a horizontally scrolling shoot-’em-up in which you fly along a landscape shooting aliens and frantically bombing ground targets, missile launchers and fuel tanks in an attempt to stay alive for as long as possible. PuzCPC has spent ten months programming it and it is amazing just how faithfully it has been reproduced on the CPC!
You can download Scramble from the CPCWiki forum. The reception from CPCWiki forum members has been overwhelmingly positive, and if you haven’t tried it already, I’m sure you’ll love it too.
Novabug, in collaboration with Indie Retro News, has uploaded a YouTube video which contains an exclusive first look at the full version of Pinball Dreams, with footage from all four tables. It looks amazing!
Pinball Dreams video on YouTube
Batman Group has tweeted that the Amstrad CPC version of Pinball Dreams was finished in November 2018 and they are negotiating with Rebellion, who hold the intellectual property rights to the game. Keep your fingers crossed that an agreement will be reached and we’ll see a full official version of Pinball Dreams for the CPC soon!
Pinball Dreams teaser video on YouTube A preview version of Pinball Dreams with one table (Beat Box) was released in late 2016, and if you’ve yet to try it, you can download it from NVG.
Repoker de Ases4MHz are planning to release a unique product for the CPC – a compilation of five of their games on a single cartridge that plugs into the back of your CPC! The good news for CPC464 owners is that all of the games are now compatible with machines with 64KB of RAM; some of the games originally required 128KB of RAM.
The cartridge is limited to 150 units, and if you place an order by 28th of February, it will cost you €39.95 (excluding shipping). After this date, it will cost €45.00. 4MHz has stated that everyone who places an order before 28th of February will have their names included in the main menu and the instruction manual.
Here’s a list of the five games that will be included in the compilation, with links to their reviews on this site:
Screenshot of Phantomas 2.0
Jordi Sureda and Santi Ontañón released Phantomas 2.0 on the 1st of February. It’s a remake of Dinamic’s 1986 release Phantomas 2, which British readers will know better as the Code Masters release Vampire. Phantomas 2 is regarded as a classic in its native Spain, but the Amstrad CPC version looked rather ugly and Spectrum-like.
Phantomas 2.0 features improved graphics using the CPC’s high-colour, low-resolution Mode 0, and several tunes are also included. The control method has also been altered; the original game enabled you to jump in two different ways using two different keys, but to simplify the gameplay, only one key is now used to control the extent of your jumps.
You can download Phantomas 2.0 from Santi Ontañón’s GitHub page, and physical cassette copies are also available from Matra for €8.75 (excluding shipping).
New reviews
I have reviewed the first three games in a series of six by the French publisher Chip that star secret agent Karl Adrix, also known as KA:
Screenshot of Red SunsetESP Soft has released a playable demo of their forthcoming game Red Sunset as a Christmas gift for Amstrad CPC fans. It’s a vertically scrolling shoot-’em-up in the style of 1942 or Flying Shark, with the action viewed from an overhead perspective. You can download Red Sunset now from ESP Soft’s site. Merry Christmas!
Hibernated 1: This Place Is Death
Box artwork of Hibernated 1: This Place Is Death
The highly acclaimed text adventure Hibernated 1: This Place Is Death can now be pre-ordered from poly.play. The CPC version can be purchased on cassette or disc, and if you buy the cassette version, you’ll also receive the ZX Spectrum version on the other side of the cassette. The package will also include goodies such as a poster, patch and stickers, and you’ll also get a bonus game called Eight Feet Under (and the author, Stefan Vogt, has tweeted images of the beautiful title screens, drawn by Railslave).
Hibernated 1: This Place Is Death costs €20 for the cassette and 3½″ disc versions, and €25 for the 3″ disc version (excluding shipping). Sadly it isn’t expected to be available until mid-January 2019. If it had been released during December it would have made an excellent Christmas present.
I’ve changed the links to the NVG archive site so that they now use HTTP instead of the older FTP. This should make it quicker to download the ZIP files when you click on a game’s title.
