Play On Retro are planning to release six Amstrad CPC games on physical cassettes, in a campaign that they have cleverly titled ‘Core Pack Collection’. Each game will cost €9.99 to purchase, and if you want to buy all six games, you will only pay for five and get the sixth game free! The games you can buy are:
Each game will come in a high quality PVC box that is slightly larger than the standard jewel case that is normally associated with physical cassette releases. To order the games, go to Play On Retro’s itch.io page, then click on the Google Forms link to fill in the order form. The deadline for ordering the games is the 13th of October 2023.
Octopus Deluxe
Screenshot of Octopus Deluxe
Back in July, Team Galaxy and CPC-POWER released Octopus – a conversion of the Nintendo Game & Watch handheld game of the same name – for the GX4000 and Plus machines. Now they have released a deluxe version for the normal Amstrad CPC range of machines, which features beautiful, highly colourful graphics and animated screens drawn by renowned CPC pixel artist Titan, several tunes (including in-game music), and the ability to record high scores to disc.
Screenshot of Ghost Trick
Cyrille Gouret, also known as Ayor61, has released Ghost Trick – a simple arcade game for the GX4000 and Plus machines. It’s a conversion of a mini-game found in the 1999 game SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium, which was later released for the Nintendo Switch in 2021. You control Arthur, the hero of Ghosts’n Goblins, and you jump to and fro across four platforms trying to collect bags of money and treasure chests while trying to avoid enemies that move up and down between the platforms. You can download Ghost Trick from Game Jolt.
Mario Bros 2023
Screenshot of Mario Bros 2023
Jean-Marie Barone has released a reworked version of Mario Bros. The original 1987 release from Ocean was rather poor, receiving a rating of 3 out of 10 on this site, but Jean-Marie has improved it significantly, with new Mode 0 graphics by OneVision and music by SuTeKH. You can visit the CPCWiki forum for more information, where you will also find a link to download the game – and you ought to do this as soon as possible, before Nintendo finds out about it!
Back in January, Anthony Flack uploaded a video to YouTube where he revealed to the Amstrad CPC community that he is working on a remake of the classic arcade game Bomb Jack. Now he’s posted a new update which shows the first five levels being played. There’s no sound or music yet, but I remain astounded at how beautiful the backgrounds for each level look! You can watch the new video below.
Octopus
Screenshot of Octopus
Team Galaxy and CPC-POWER have just released a new game for the GX4000 and Plus machines called Octopus, and it’s an unofficial conversion of Nintendo’s Game & Watch handheld game of the same name from 1981. You’re a diver whose aim is to salvage treasure from a sunken ship and bring it back to the surface, but a large octopus is guarding the treasure and you must avoid its tentacles, otherwise it will ensnare you! You can download Octopus from CPC-POWER.
Screenshot of Jax the Dog
Someone has pointed out to me that I forgot to mention another game called Jax the Dog, which was released just before I returned from my holiday. It has been developed by CapaSoft (Sergi Caparrós) using Multi-Platform Arcade Game Designer and it’s his first game for the Amstrad CPC. Jax has to find his way home by collecting all the bones on each screen and avoiding other dogs and creatures. You can download Jax the Dog from CapaSoft’s site.
