Screenshot of Reginald and the She Vampires
If you’ve played Mr Weems and the She Vampires, I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s an ugly and mediocre game. I certainly think so (I rated it 4 out of 10 on this site), and after ChinnyVision slated it in a YouTube video earlier this year, Dave Moore decided to remake it, and it has now been released as Reginald and the She Vampires.
The background story is that the She Vampires have kidnapped Mr Weems, and his nephew Reginald must rescue him and destroy the Vampire Queen before he too becomes one of the Undead! The level designs are almost exactly the same as those in the original game, but the gameplay is much improved. Movement is much faster, you can’t accidentally shoot keys or bottles of blood, and you can walk over coffins to reach other areas of the screen – although this makes the game too easy, in my opinion. You also have the choice of playing as either Reginald or his female counterpart Regina.
Screenshot of Rollerball 464
RetroGamebloke has released a game called Rollerball 464, which is a conversion of his ZX Spectrum game Rollerball. It’s been developed using Multi-Platform Arcade Game Designer, and you control the cleaning robot Robo_1, which is shaped like a sphere. The aim is simple – clear the screens of cobwebs and avoid contact with enemies and other robots! You can download Rollerball 464 from itch.io.
I have reviewed three games, all of them text adventures:
I’ve chosen to review Zork I because Microsoft (who now own the intellectual property rights to Infocom’s range of text adventures) have officially made the Zork trilogy open source.
Impetus+
Screenshot of Impetus+
Inufuto has released a new version of one of his games, Impetus. The original version was graphically quite austere, but Impetus+ features much more colourful and appealing graphics, although the scrolling is rather jerky. The influence of shoot-’em-ups such as Xevious and Slap Fight is much clearer now!
Impetus+ can be downloaded from Inufuto’s site as a CDT cassette image, or if you’re looking for a disc image, you can download it from CPCRulez. Despite the ‘Plus’ in its name, the new version works on all CPC machines and doesn’t use the extra facilities of the Plus machines.
ChinnyVision – an hour of Amstrad CPC game reviews
If you visit this site regularly, you’ll have seen that many of the reviews link to YouTube videos by ChinnyVision. He may not be as active as he used to be, but he released an excellent hour-long video earlier this month in which he reviews nearly 40 classic Amstrad CPC games. If you’ve got the time to spare, this is well worth watching, and if you’re new to the CPC and unfamiliar with its range of games, this is a great way to help you decide which games you should try out first.
Chinnyvision - An Hour Of Amstrad CPC Game Reviews
Pitfall II
Screenshot of Pitfall II
Iván Ávila, also known as 21bloques, has released another game. Pitfall II is an adaptation of the Sega coin-op game of the same name, which in turn is based on the (perhaps better known) Atari 2600 console game released in 1984. You control Pitfall Harry, and you must dodge enemies, leap and swing across lakes, and explore underground caverns and rivers. You’ll even come across an active volcano spewing rocks which you must avoid! Pitfall II features colourful graphics and a wonderful rendition of the music from the coin-op game, and you can download it from itch.io.
I was away for several days last week, and during that time, four games were released! Therefore, a lot of you may already know about some or all of these releases, especially the first one...
Sonic GX
By far the biggest of these was Sonic GX, which after seven years of development was finally released on the 1st of November. Yes, Sonic the Hedgehog has come to the Amstrad, and I got the opportunity while I was away to play it on a 464 Plus, and it is fantastic! Although the graphics and music are based on the Sega Game Gear and Master System versions, Sonic GX shouldn’t really be considered as a port or conversion, but a tribute to Sonic’s legacy. There are four zones (Green Hill, Bridge, Jungle and Sky City), each with two acts, and while the level designs have been tweaked, they are still instantly recognisable if you’ve played the original Sonic the Hedgehog.
If you haven’t done so already, Sonic GX can be downloaded from NoRecess’ site. It’s without a doubt the best game I’ve seen for the GX4000 and Plus machines (move over, Pang!) and it exploits its graphical capabilities to the maximum. It’s become a cliché now, but how well could the GX4000 have done if games like Sonic GX were available back in 1990 or 1991?
Rebel Wars
Mananuk has released Rebel Wars for the Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum. You are a soldier from the Orion Kane star alliance, and you have been selected to carry out a series of missions. Each mission (which is chosen randomly for you) involves boarding one of four enemy Scipio spaceships, exploring it, shooting aliens and finding the necessary objects to complete your mission. Rebel Wars is available in English and Spanish and can be downloaded from itch.io.
Dia de los Muertos
Vitop69 has released his first Amstrad CPC game, which is based around, and named after, the Mexican festival of Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) that is celebrated at the beginning of November. You are Pedro, and you must reach your family’s tomb – but time is short, and you must collect as many candles as you can to try to gain as much time as possible. Vitop69 wrote Dia de los Muertos in tribute to his father who passed away in 2023, and you can download it from itch.io.
Cover of Bug's Quest 2: Cash for a Cure
Yellow Belly has been working on a sequel to Bug’s Quest for Tapes, which is due to receive its premiere on Novabug’s livestream next Saturday evening on the 1st November 2025. It’s called Bug’s Quest 2: Cash for a Cure, and like the previous game, it’s a platformer in which Bug must collect as many coins as he can to raise funds for cancer research, while avoiding hazards and enemies like pumpkins, clowns, bats, Ewoks (a reference to Xyphoe, another well-known Amstrad CPC livestreamer), and even Bridge-It cassettes!
There are three difficulty levels – beginner, expert and master. The beginner level gives you five lives, but even then, it’s not easy, with nearly pixel-perfect jumps being required to dodge some hazards. The master and expert levels feature a different set of screens. The expert level gives you three lives, while in the master level, you’ve only got one single, solitary life!
A very limited number of physical copies of Bug’s Quest 2 will be produced and auctioned on another Novabug livestream in due course, and in keeping with the game’s theme, all proceeds will go to Macmillan Cancer Support.
Title screen
The beginner difficulty level
The first screen of the expert difficulty level
The master difficulty level
Screenshots of Bug’s Quest 2: Cash for a Cure
Amstrad Eterno X
Screenshot of Amstrad Eterno X
By an astonishing coincidence, another game has just been released which also aims to raise funds for cancer research! The tenth Amstrad Eterno event was held on the 25th October 2025 in Barcelona, and CapaSoft has released a game called Amstrad Eterno X to celebrate this milestone. It’s also a platform game, like Bug’s Quest 2, and the aim is to collect posters of the previous nine editions of Amstrad Eterno and return them to the organisers, who were planning to exhibit them at a prestigious museum before they went missing.
