What are the games that you (really!) still play today? What games aged well?

[eto]

So there are already plenty of "best Amstrad game" lists out there, however I got the feeling that the games on these lists are not necessarily the games we regularily choose to play today. Surely a masterpiece in the 80s, where I spent days to play it through, but not necessarily something I would show a friend for a quick game.

I recognized that I prefer many games today that I experienced as "nice" in the 80s and that I don't play those any more that I experienced as outstanding. (I would also love to understand why some games - despite often being technically not on top - aged better than others.) For me e.g. M.G.T. or Antiriad were amazing games but I would rarely choose them today. Or Elite - I spent WEEKS playing it but I would not start over with it. But then there are other games which I didn't play as much back then, but those are the ones I choose for a quick round on the CPC.

I'm pretty sure I don't know all games that are just fun and worth to have quick round so maybe you can share what are your preferred games TODAY when you start up your Amstrad?

Here a quick list of some of my favourites today:

• Fruity Frank
• Bruce Lee
• Chuckie Egg
• Astro Attack
• Satellite Warrior
• Kane
• Bomb Jack
• Mission Elevator
• Sorcery

(And from recent years: Just get 9, Brick Rick)

So this is not about nostalgia or what was great "then", not about what was a technical milestone or what you played for weeks in the past. I would love to know what games do you really still play today?

[Prodatron]

Classic games or new ones as well? Because for new ones its terrible how much time sometimes I spend for them on the Z80...

[Devlin]

Barbarian (Palace)
Eliminator (Hewson)
Monte Carlo Casino (Codemasters)
Ranarama


*bonus : Pinball Dreams

They're my most played games on my amstrad, in no particular order.

[roudoudou]

Target Renegade (in multiplayer)
Saboteur 2

[eto]

Classic games or new ones as well? Because for new ones its terrible how much time sometimes I spend for them on the Z80...

I would put them into different categories but generally speaking, as long as they motivate you to play them over and over again, I would love to read about it.

[norecess464]

The games that give me instant enjoyment NOWADAYS...

Old games:

• Stunt Car Racer
• Fruity Frank
• Titus Classiques Volume 1 (the Space Invaders clone + Pacman clone)
• Titus Classiques Volume 2 (the Snake game)
• Cyrus II
• Commando
• 3D Grand Prix
• Lightforce
• Trantor
• Batman 3 (The Movie)

Homebrew:

• Spots 94
• Pinball Dreams

Most of these games have one thing in common: I can start playing shortly after launching them. With time, I have become impatient. :-(

[abalore]

Quick list, surely incomplete, in lazy alphabetical order:

Abu Symbel Profanation
Army Moves
Batman
Battleships
Batty
Beyond the Ice Palace
Blue Angel 69
Boulder Dash
Bruce Lee
Classic Invaders
Commando
Deflektor
Destructo
Donkey Kong
Fruity Frank
Gauntlet
Ghouls'n'Ghosts
Gryzor
Green Beret
Kung-Fu Master
Match Point
Manic Miner
Ninja Scooter Simulator
Oh Mummy
Operation Wolf
Phantomas 2
Psycho Pigs UXB
R-Type
Rampage
Saboteur 2
Solomon's key
Street Machine
Teenage Queen
The Last Mission
Thrust
West Bank

[ervin]

Hi folks.

For me...

Head over heels
Sweevo's world
Fruity Frank (which seems to be one of the most-mentioned games so far - not surprising as it's an absolute masterpiece)
Jet set willy
Monty on the run
Rygar
Bruce lee
Ikari warriors
Gauntlet
Bomb jack
Gryzor

[Shaun M. Neary]

Ohhh this list could get lengthy!

Bruce Lee - One of the first non Amsoft games I got, got it in the They Sold A Million II (with Match Day, Knight Lore and Match Point). Played it to death for the remainder of summer of 87 apart from a few weeks when I had been hospitalised. I pined for this when I was stuck in the hospital though.

All the Dizzy adventure series - I started off on the third one, then worked my way backwards and then forwards. Spellbound Dizzy's vast map used to drive me insane but after some patience, I eventually finished it for the first time a few years ago. All of them have their quirks but all of them have a nice learning curve to them. Always worth coming back to.

Renegade - A classic example of always read the manual first! I loaded this up in 87 and spent an hour just walking around. I didn't realise that you had to use the keys as well as a joystick. It didn't take me long to start kicking serious ass at the game however once I learned the controls.

Mikie - This gets a lot of heat, but I really enjoyed this, despite the piss poor collision detection. I'd go so far as to say it's worthy of a remake but for me, there's still some charm in the original... apart from the ropey Beatles tune on the start screen!

Auf Wiedersehen Monty - I do be genuinely surprised that I don't see this game mentioned a lot in lists. The game is huge, and brilliant if you're a mapper. Although it's very easy to botch and leave yourself completely screwed at the end of it. I only managed to finish it for the first time around 2018/2019. I haven't played it since, and I probably should give it another run.

Chuckie Egg - Speaks for itself really. I used to think I was good at this game until I saw someone do multiple loops of the game on the BBC at Play Expo in Glasgow last year. I'll probably try to beat my previous score again in the next few weeks.

Target Renegade - The ever long delay with Double Dragon was a frustrating time for Amstrad users and this was such a perfect fill of the gap during that time. Especially playing two player mode. The music falling apart at the seams and going out of sync kinda spoils the experience a bit, but mute the sound and consider the problem fixed! I burned a lot of time in 89 playing this until I finally defeated the final boss.

Gryzor - I had heard so much about this game between 87-89 but never found it for sale anywhere nor did I know anyone who had it (Most of the people local to me had Spectrums or C64's and even Atari XE/XL machines), I finally got it as part of The In Crowd compilation and I'd make it through most of the game. The level where you have to jump up, up and up drove me insane for ages until I eventually figured out the timing. Then the final level would absolutely destroy me. It was only in 2018 when I finished it for the first time after discovering where the invulnerability power up towards the end was!

Manic Miner - One I never got around to finishing... I came close back in 2018 but that was due to a lot of practice and memorising. Now I'm utterly rubbish at it and am lucky I can make it half way through the game. I still enjoy trying though.

Wonder Boy - I was a big fan of this in the arcade, so knowing I could get to play it at home without chucking a load of coins into a box was this 11 year old kid's dream come true. Obviously it's not as accurate as the arcade version, but it's still a lot of fun to play if you can overlook some of the awful flickery sprites.

Batman: The Movie - I was and still am a big fan of the movie, even had a complete set of the trading cards in 89! I dread to think how much I spent on those things! The Batwing level on this game is still one of the most frustrating experiences I've ever endured on the CPC though.

Beyond The Ice Palace - This really is what Ghosts N Goblins should have been. Raff Cecco did an awesome job with this, but as usual with Raff's games, the difficulty level is insane. You get a lot of lives, and you need every single one of them! Especially for that second level. Finished it for the first time in 2019 and I don't think I've gone near it since, it took that much out of me!

APB - How I was able to tough this one out in 89, I have no idea as it was a real horrible multiload nightmare on tape. On disc however, it's quite fun to play, especially the sections where you have to beat the confession out of of the crims.

I could go on, but I think I'll stop here.

[dodogildo]

Commando and Ikari Warriors. 
The two titles I still play whenever I turn my real CPC on

[eto]

Ah... lots of great  games. Awesome.

[reidrac]

Now that I can play with the kids, it is mostly Gauntlet 1 & 2 coop.

But then they like for example Stormlord 2 (because the music? I don't know), and whatever I want to play really, I had Avenger on for a couple of weekends and they were really into it, helping me with a map.

The truth is that when I try to revisit one of the games I played back in the day, it tends to be a short session. But I think they enjoy trying new games

They also love Hyperdrive. They are too young for my other titles, but shoot'em ups are fine (specially with a cheat!).

[villain]

Power Tetris
Winter Games
Fruity Frank
Megablasters
Paperboy
Pinball Dreams

[Prodatron]

Fruity Frank
.
.
.
Solitaire (SymbOS)

[GUNHED]

Sadly programming leaves not time for playing. Playing games was nice as a kid, but creating software is way more satisfying. 

[lightforce6128]

When programming gets too frustrating (too few registers, unkown offset of one microsecond, out of memory, ...), I calm down with some games:

Old:
- Chuckie Egg
- Ghost 'n Goblins
- Ghouls 'n Ghosts
- Light Force

New:
- Corsair Trainer
- Relentless
- Super Edge Grinder

Although I had some time for training, I'm not really good in playing these games. When they are getting too frustrating, I go back to programming ...

[retro space]

I have to say I hardly use home computers for gaming, I try to play the best rendition of a game, and it is very unlikely that a home computer version offers that.
Two games I do play on the CPC, I even bought a CPC for them, is Rick Dangerous 1+2. I also like the aesthetics of some 4 colour games in high res. I think that is the area where the CPC fares really well.
My C64 for example gets no gaming use at all because all games I like to play are second/third-best ones on the C64.

[OneVision]

I spent most of my free time making pixels but from time to time :
- Fruity Frank (seems to be very famous !)
- Bubble Bobble 4CPC (amazing remake, can't praise it enough)
- with my kids Puzzle Bobble (yeah the conversion we made with Crazy Piri
- Pang GX 4000 (one of the most playable game ever on Amstrad IMHO)

[eto]

The list so far:

• 3D Grand Prix
• Abu Symbel Profanation
• APB
• Army Moves
• Astro Attack
• Auf Wiedersehen Monty
• Avenger
• Barbarian (Palace)
• Batman
• Batman 3 (The Movie)
• Battleships
• Batty
• Beyond the Ice Palace
• Blue Angel 69
• Bomb Jack
• Boulder Dash
• Bruce Lee
• Bubble Bobble 4CPC
• Chuckie Egg
• Classic Invaders
• Commando
• Corsair Trainer
• Cyrus II
• Deflektor
• Destructo
• Donkey Kong
• Eliminator (Hewson)
• Fruity Frank
• Gauntlet
• Gauntlet 2
• Ghost 'n Goblins
• Ghouls 'n Ghosts
• Green Beret
• Gryzor
• Harrier Attack
• Head over Heels
• Hyperdrive
• Ikari warriors
• Jet set Willy
• Kane
• Kung-Fu Master
• Light Force
• Manic Miner
• Match Point
• Megablasters
• Mission Elevator
• Monte Carlo Casino (Codemasters)
• Monty on the run
• Ninja Scooter Simulator
• Oh Mummy
• Operation Wolf
• Paperboy
• Phantomas 2
• Pinball Dreams
• Power Tetris
• Psycho Pigs UXB
• Puzzle Bobble
• R-Type
• Rampage
• Ranarama
• Relentless
• Renegade
• Rick Dangerous 1+2.
• Rygar
• Saboteur 2
• Satellite Warrior
• Solomon's key
• Sorcery
• Spots 94
• Stormlord 2
• Street Machine
• Stunt Car Racer
• Super Edge Grinder
• Sweevo's world
• Target Renegade (in multiplayer)
• Teenage Queen
• The Last Mission
• Thrust
• Titus Classiques Volume 1 (the Space Invaders clone + Pacman clone)
• Titus Classiques Volume 2 (the Snake game)
• Trantor
• West Bank
• Winter Games
• Wonder Boy

Lots of games I "forgot" but I remember that they have been great fun and lots of games I never played but will definitely try.

It probably makes sense to make a specific collection of those games as if they are buried in thousands of images, I won't "remember" to look for them.

Thanks so far - and please continue to share.

[eto]

Ohhh this list could get lengthy!

Great list and great stories :-) 

[Shaun M. Neary]

Ohhh this list could get lengthy!

Great list and great stories :-)

Part 2 coming up soon!

[Shaun M. Neary]

So after having a good think, I wanted to add stuff to the list that wasn't already on here.

Ghostbusters II - Some people may have found the difficulty of the first level a little frustrating but once you get into the groove of this, it's actually quite a lot of fun for a game that only has three levels. Never finished this one mind, I've made it to the final level (often by the skin of my teeth) but can't say the game doesn't offer a challenge, and it's really nice to look at too. On a frustrating note, my copy had a problem with the tape and the third level never loaded so it took me a long time to actually the final level as a result!

Continental Circus - This tends to get overlooked but it's really nicely done on the CPC, it's fast, it's in Mode 0, it's colourful, it's nice to look at. I loved this in the Arcade, my local one had the 3D glasses version so it was pretty ahead of it's time in 87/88. The middle stages are extremely tight time wise but if you can navigate your way through them, you'll breeze through the end stages. So it makes for a nice easy/tough/easy difficulty sandwich that a lot of games miss.

Astro Marine Corps (A.M.C) - Another nice gift from our Spanish friends at Dinamic, and it's the only Dinamic game I have ever managed to finish and that was only earlier on in the year! In true Dinamic fashion, you get two games for the price of one. This is one of my favourite shooter/platformer hybrids even when I couldn't finish it, it kept sucking me back in for one more game. I got this as part of Ubisoft's Ultimate collection box in 93 (Yes, I was still playing my CPC then) which in itself was an impressive collection of games aside from the tedious Skateball/Skatewars (although it's fun in 2 player mode but too easy in 1 player).

After The War - And speaking of games on the Ultimate Collection, this offering from Dinamic also appears on it. I first played this in 1990 and couldn't get over how they got away with those graphics with such large sprites that didn't move too sluggishly at all. I found the controls a little laggy and needed some getting used to, but I still played it until I finally finished part one (that third boss can literally make you lose all your energy in two seconds if not careful), Part two always wiped me out though!

Chase HQ - How did we get this far without mentioning this gem of a game? Even the 64k version was impressive. I crapped myself when I saw the Speccy loading screen preparing myself for disappointment (Amstrad Action were VERY late getting this reviewed, I had my copy two months prior!), but when it loaded, it looked beautiful, and the speed you hit when you hit one of your three nitros! The final two levels are a bit on the tough side, but perseverance pays off. I literally did a victory dance around the house when I finished this!

Death Wish 3 - Oooooh this one took a LOT of heat in the publications. It's probably one of the most violent games written for the 8bits in 87 at the time and still gruesome looking when playing today. I don't think I'd play this around children. But in 1990, I burned many an hour playing this. The navigation system took a little time to get used to but once you get used to the directions and picking up decent weapons and killing bosses, it becomes a lot of fun, if you can deal with the gore.

Mission Genocide - No pattern intended here, But if you think Mission Genocide sounds controversial, you should have heard what it was originally meant to be titled. Nevertheless, it's a really nice vertically scrolling shooter that will leave you hanging for one more game. It was also a really good title to shove in the face of C64 owners who'd do nothing but crow on about the range of shooters they had for their systems. It has speed, power ups, booby traps. Well worth a few goes.

Super Robin Hood - I'm surprised I left this out originally. Another classic from the Oliver Twins. This is a good mix of platformer and puzzle and will tease both your brain and your reflexes. I didn't get very far with this one when I first played it in 1990 when I got it on the Quattro Adventure pack (with Dizzy, Vampire and the awesome, but very difficult Ghost Hunters!) but I did get around to giving it a decent amount of time in 2018 and eventually finished it. I can't say the same for Ghost Hunters though!

Jack The Nipper - This game had me in stitches when I first played it in late 87. How much mischief could one little bastard get up to? The music will drive you up the wall, but the hilarity when you overflow the laundrette or break the prisoners out of jail, or blowing the air horn at the cat and making them jump to the ceiling! Hmm now that I think about it, this games was quite possibly a bad influence on me.

Power Drift - Mario Kart before Mario Kart was Mario Kart... Some of the craziest, twisted rollercoaster tracks I've ever seen in one game. It's not as fast as it's other counterparts that year but given the amount of sprites on the screen at the same time, it's to be expected. It's still perfectly playable. I got this for my 14th birthday at the start of 1990 and played it to death. Finished all the tracks but didn't come first in all of them so I didn't get to fly around in the Afterburner plane.

E-Motion - I didn't get to play this game until four years after it's release. I got bored of nightclubs in 1993 and dusted down my CPC after two years of gathering dust and started gaming again. I got this in a French compilation I got from a UK mail order company I found in Amstrad Action in 1994 (10 Jeux Spectaculaires) amongst a few other compilations and saved this one for something to do at Christmas and spent half of Christmas day at it! A really good puzzler that doesn't always get the credit it deserves.

X-Out - After the disappointment that was R-Type in 88, we were in dire need of a shooter. After months of delays, the CPC finally saw X-Out. It's minimalistic background can be overlooked given the sheer speed of the game, and the vast range of power ups. All that's left is to deal with the onslaught of enemies ready to attack you. I often feel that X-Out gets overlooked as Rainbow Arts literally released Turrican right after this, and that got more fondly remembered. But X-Out is an Amstrad classic in it's own right in my honest opinion.

[OneVision]

Ho, I also wanted to add The New Zealand Story. Though the game is not really a success technically, I find they managed to recreated the gameplay really well and it has nearly all levels and features.

As you may know, I'd love to remake this game, for CPC or PLUS !

[Shaun M. Neary]

Ho, I also wanted to add The New Zealand Story. Though the game is not really a success technically, I find they managed to recreated the gameplay really well and it has nearly all levels and features.

As you may know, I'd love to remake this game, for CPC or PLUS !

NZS on the CPC was such a missed opportunity. It just looked like a rushed mess but it was perfectly playable.
A few more months development and it would have been up there with Rainbow Islands.

[villain]

Forgot Super Cycle yesterday...