not possible originally. This loader
also overcome incompatibility barriers so more games can be added to your library. Please note that it will not allow you run AGA games on non-AGA hardware.

If you decided which model you want to go with now is the time to get it. Online auction sites are an obvious place but if you can attend a retro
market, you might be better off as the price can be lower. Amiga Kit Store sometimes sells refurbished A1200s with a 1 year warranty.

LINKS:

* Amiga Forever: www.amigaforever.com/
* Amiga Kit: amigakit.com/
* WHDLoad: whdload.de/



*************************************
REVIEW: STAIRRUNNER
for the unexpanded Vic 20
By Commodore Free
*************************************

www.bitstormgames.com/revivalstudios/

STAIRRUNNER (2014)

Elevator Chaos, Remember Young Wizzy? This time around he tried practising
an elevation spell and as a result the elevators in his neighbourhood are
out of control! Help Wizzy reach the top of each building and undo the
damage being caused by his spell!

HOW TO PLAY

Use joystick left/right to navigate. Reach the top floor of each level!

GAME FEATURES

* Available on Tape and as Digital Download

* Runs on an unexpanded Commodore VIC-20

* Multi-coloured graphics

* Flicker free gameplay

Always difficult to code on an unexpanded Vic, the lack of memory can cause some many issues, the main one being lack of memory! Still, Retro Revival
has managed to port its Stairrunner game to the unexpanded VIC with great success. The game starts with a (quite) sparse title screen, and just the words "PRESS FIRE". Doing so takes you to the first level of the game, the elevators move up and down, (on the first level they are almost moving identically). You need to guide your guy across the screen where he will
move up a level or floor and then repeat until he has escaped out of the
door that always seems to be on the top-right of the screen.

Timing is of the essence, and when you start to move in a direction your
guy continues in that direction even when you release the joystick, so a
little jiggling is required on later levels. The levels get progressively harder and harder, the difficulty seems to be not only the speed of the elevators, but also because they split, so instead of them all moving
together, they start to move independently in speed i.e., some are faster hitting the top and moving down quicker than others. The main problem on
the VIC version is the strange colour schemes as seen in the screenshot.

RELEASE INFORMATION

The full game is available on Cassette Tape and as Digital Download.

Price: 9.95 euro (Cassette Tape) / 3.95 (Digital Download)

SCORES

Graphics: 6/10
psychedelic
Sound: 6/10
bleep
Gameplay: 7/10
Overall: 6.5/10

SUMMARY

I am going to be quite harsh (indeed my scoring has been) and upset Vic and Revival studios. The VIC version isn't the best of their Stairrunner
ports, The game itself is very smooth and with solid gameplay, I do wonder about the graphics, especially the colour scheme. It would (to my mind) be better just left black rather than the psychedelic colours. I can see the programmer is trying to inject colour, however I don't think it worked.


*************************************
REVIEW: RUSH
PET Game
By Commodore Free
*************************************

The chase is on A heist has gone wrong and now you are being chased!

You must escape the police by running and jumping from rooftop to rooftop, while grabbing leftover cash wherever you can. Carefully time your jumps
as falling will mean instant death.

HOW TO PLAY

Press left and right (o and p) to move and fire (w or i) to jump

GAME FEATURES

* Runs on all Commodore PET models (except 2001)

* Available on Tape and as Digital Download

* Multi layer Parallax scrolling

* Flicker free gameplay

* Sound support

Loading the game gives the rather snazzy Retro Revival Studio LOGO that
seems to unpeel to a RUSH logo and then just the options to START GAME, You
may be forgiven in thinking this is some sort of heavy metal tribute game
and well, you would be wrong!

You do your jumping by pressing the space key. I suppose most people will
have seen this game ported to a number of systems. The original is
available here adamatomic.com/canabalt

I wasn't, I must admit, expecting very much from the Pet version, although
I was quite surprised as the game is very smooth and incredibly addictive. Sadly a lot of the detail from the original game had to be removed but
that's understandable considering the platform we are on. The game doesn't lose any playability and is as still fast and frantic as the original was.
The original was recently ported to the Commodore 64 (though not by Revival Studios) and is just unbelievable rgcddev.itch.io/c64anabalt. When I first
saw the C64 version I thought it must be a windup and kept looking for the "real machine" running the game. I only believed it when I actually had
the files to load and run myself on my own system.

Still, I am running off-topic and am supposed to be reviewing the Pet
version.

So, within the limitations of the machine, we have Rush.

I like the way (if you hit a building) it pushes you back. Everything
seems to be well implemented, like gravity and jump space.

See here? The building pushes you back until you jump.

The program is very cut down and stylised, looking like a night-vision
action shot, and animation is as well as can be expected.

RELEASE INFORMATION

The full game is available on Cassette Tape and as Digital Download.

Visit Store:

bitstormgames.com/store/index.php?route=product/category&path=134_138

Price: 9.95 euro (Cassette Tape) / 3.95 (Digital Download)

If you buy the tape version, you will of course get the digital download
for free.

SCORES

Graphics: 8/10
good animation
Sound: 8/10
it does beep!
Gameplay: 8.5/10
addictive
Overall: 8.5/10

SUMMARY

I am not sure what to add. It's a solid game with a high score recorded at
the game's end.


*************************************
REVIEW: SCRAMBLE
By Commodore Free
*************************************

Released by: Tomk

arnold.c64.org/pub/games/s/scramble_port_joy.prg arnold.c64.org/pub/games/s/Scramble_port.prg

Loading the game gives no indication as to what you should expect for this, and... it's a fairly accurate conversion of the original arcade version of Scramble.

Here is a video of the original arcade version:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Vc-RIkpk40

Scramble, for the under-the-rock types of people who don't get out much,
was a scrolling, shooting game in which you took control of a spaceship and
had to survive six different levels of attack. If your craft hit scenery, bombs, blasters, rockets, or fuel silos you would die. Your ship had the ability to shoot forward and bomb. You needed to kill everything, and you needed to collect fuel by bombing or shooting it; otherwise you would run
out and die. Faster attacks and fuel use increased in further attack waves
(or levels). The game would eventually become impossible.

This doesn't seem to be a 100% clone of the game, but the attack waves,
rocket placement, and landscapes seem accurate. Comparing the two side by
side lasts only a few minutes because it's impossible to view two screens
at once.

You immediately notice that the scoring and level indicators on the C64
version are on the bottom, while the arcade version is on the top.

Small things (like fatter graphics) are on the C64 version; however, this doesn't detract from the smooth gameplay and otherwise accurate conversion.
If I hadn't found YouTube I would have sworn that the c64 version was very accurate. It does miss out on some of the sound jingles, and the shooting
and bombing sounds are not 100% accurate, although my old, aged brain did
tend to give this impression.

Game play remains the same, and (some claim) Scramble is a classic and (possibly) the first multi-level shooter. It is, in my opinion, a very influential game, and you can see its influence in Jeff Minter's games.
It's one game I remember playing fondly on other systems, although I can't
ever remember playing a c64 version, although various ports were attempted.

So scoring is with the accuracy of the original in mind, rather than as an original release:

SCORES

Graphics: 7/10
Sounds: 5/10
misses some jingles
Gameplay: 8/10
still very playable
Overall: 7/10

SUMMARY

You could add more, but it wouldn't help the game play. This is more a
classic port of the game than anything else, and for that reason it works incredibly well. Does it look dated? Well... don't we all!


*************************************
REVIEW: ROCKET SMASH
By Commodore Free
*************************************

Programmer: John C Lønningdal Graphics and Music: Saul Cross

Developed for the Commodore 64 home computer, ROCKET SMASH EX is an
extended version of Saul Cross and John Christian Lønningdal's ROCKET
SMASH, released in 2013 as an entry in RGCD's annual 16KB gamedev
competition.

Re-released for the RGCD 16k Competition, Rocket Smash is a very slick presentation.

As the music pumps out on the main title screen, it's more a retro tune
than the expected Techno "beat master", it's very 80`s style (not in a bad way), but it took me some time to really appreciate the tune and it does
"get under the skin" as it's "clicky dancey" nature will have you as
frustrated as the game will.

The game should be very familiar to most players. You must collect various bits of rocket and then fly with them over the "base" of the rocket there
they drop, and start to "build" up your rocket spaceship. You need to
collect the parts in order, so once the rocket is complete you then need to collect small containers of fuel and drop them on the rocket. They start
to fill up the rocket, and once full you have to then go inside the rocket, which will then take off to the next level. If that's too easy, then the
nasty items floating around will surely wipe the smug feelings of "pieces
of pie" from your face.

The graphics and sound controls are just about perfect, and scored on the
side of perfection as I find it difficult to justly any criticism about the program. With a great sense of floating and space this is a very well thought-out and implemented game. The bubbles on one of the levels are
just beautiful in their floaty-ness (assuming this is a real world) and the animation on them is faultless. Use a joystick to move around and the fire button shoots a lovely psycadellic ray gun - it's not missing anything,
nothing is overdone, and the menu screen lets you set game options like
music, sound effects and difficulty level. Everything is implemented well.
I think that's all that needs to be said. Rather than just download it,
make sure you buy a copy.

SCORES

Graphics: 10/10
Sounds: 10/10
sampled speech (nice)
Gameplay: 10/10
Overall: 10/10

SUMMARY

The only problem with the game I can see is that it's totally perfect!

www.rgcd.co.uk/2015/01/rocket-smash-ex-available-commodore-64.html#more

Copyright: RGCD 2013-15
Compatibility: PAL/NTSC C64/128/GS
Cost £25 on cartridge + PNP

The standard cartridge version is packaged in a cardboard carton, whereas
the deluxe version uses a modified plastic Universal Game Case.

The cover art features an illustration by Flemming Dupont and the deluxe version of the game comes complete with a printed manual, an A3 matte
poster, a vinyl ROCKET SMASH EX sticker, and six random mini-stickers (the standard version does not include the poster or the mini-stickers). The
64KB PCB is housed in a neon orange transparent cartridge shell,
illuminated from within by a white LED. The full game is also available
for FREE download from our itch.io page.

Pystronik Software www.psytronik.net/ will also be selling the game on premium/budget disk and tape when they reopen their Binary Zone Retro Store www.binaryzone.org/retrostore/.


*************************************
REVIEW: XAIN'D SLEENA
By Commodore Free
*************************************

[final version] Released by: Sputnik World

Released as a TAP file with loading screen or as just a PRG file without
the loading screen (of course, who wouldn't want the TAP file?).
Especially useful for the loading screen.

So LOADing the TAP file, we have the usual pixel revealed picture that
looks really well drawn. Some music plays as the picture is revealed and
the game loads in the background. I still think this is pretty cool, (yes
I am quite sad)

Anyway...

Once the game loads the screen refreshes and you are greeted with the
words:

Mission

Xain your responsibility is to defend all of the planets against the
empire's invasion. Extra life 3000 points

You have to use a joystick in port one. This isn't clear so take my word
for it!

After hitting Fire to play the game I am afraid it's a little downhill.
You see an animated ship moving towards a planet; it's like watching
something move but in 2 frames per second. You then see your ship move to
a planet and the game flashes GET READY!

Hitting Fire again starts the game. I'm not sure what happened, but there isn't any sound. I thought it was my computer at first so I loaded it on another machine. It's all a bit more downhill from here I am afraid. The gravity isn't right and the animations are functional at best. Try as I
could, I was just unable to get into the game. The lack of sound was quite weird (maybe this put me off), but if you like run and shoot games I think
you would enjoy this - it's a flip screen scroller. However, I became
really bored and this feeling came over me very quickly.

SCORES

Sounds: 4/10
loading music then nothing!
Graphics: 5/10
Gameplay: 5/10
Overall: 5/10

SUMMARY

The loading screen had me really excited, but sadly the game quest doesn't work. It says final version but I feel this still needs a lot of work, especially when compared to the original arcade version of the same game.

csdb.dk/getinternalfile.php/135814/Xain.tap csdb.dk/getinternalfile.php/135817/xain_(no-intro).prg

The game was released as an arcade version and sadly, this conversion does
it no justice at all. See the arcade version here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSDhdV_YBT0


*************************************
REVIEW: BRICK BUSTER!
By Commodore Free
*************************************

[paddle/joystick] Released by: Software of Sweden

The game is compatible with:

* PAL/NTSC
* Commodore 64
* Commodore 64 Games System (C64GS)
* Commodore SX-64
* Commodore 128
* WinVICE-2.4

BRICK BUSTER!

Released for Retro Gamer CD`s competition, this is a CRT (cartridge) file weighing in at the usual competition size of 16k.

The gameplay is tried and tested, and from the picture you know exactly
what this is, but just for the one person (still head scratching at this point). Well, you move a small "bat" at the bottom of the screen
represented by the white line. When you start the game a ball will bounce
from your "bat" and upwards to the brick. When a brick is hit it will
change colour, once hit again the blocks will again change until they cycle through to white. Hitting a white block will remove it, the ball bounces
off these blocks, onto the side and top of the screen, then with gravity it moves down where you must "bat" the ball back upwards. If you miss and the ball falls off the bottom of the screen you lose a life and the game
continues, but with one life less.

Bonus things: these fall randomly from the bricks

* (G) Glue On/Off. Balls gets stuck on paddle until you press Fire.

* (F) Fast On/Off. Balls moves faster.

* (R) Restore. No bonus things active.

* (S) Slow On/Off. Balls moves slower.

* (E) Extra ball.

* (1) Open door and release one more ball on screen.

* (2) Open door and release two more balls.

* (W) Wall On/Off. Wall that stop balls to fa

--- MBSE BBS v1.0.4 (GNU/Linux-i386)
* Origin: Dragon's Lair ---:- bbs.vk3heg.net -:--- (39:901/280)