In an effort to keep the momentum going from last week’s Amiga-based post, I thought I’d take the opportunity to share a few software-based memories of the Amiga years, just to give a personal view of what the Amiga was capable of – and what it did in my hands, for what that’s worth…

10. Oscar

OK, Amiga fans may be thinking this is a controversial choice; and while there are certainly better games available, I’m not claiming this to be the best Amiga games. Oscar, however, was the first game I loaded onto my brand new A1200 back in about 1993, and after years of Spectrum gaming, the intro alone probably had my jaw to the floor at the time…

9. Kick Off 2

I don’t normally play football games, but when I do, they’re made by Sensible Software. So why, I hear you ask, am I mentioning Kick Off 2 instead of Sensible Soccer? Well, mainly because bunking off games on a Wednesday afternoon in the sixth form to play Kick Off 2 on a mate’s A500 was undoubtedly a factor in me getting an Amiga later on. Sure, there were other games, but there was something about the camaraderie of being soundly thrashed by your mates that made this one stick.



8. Super Skidmarks

I had a surprisingly small number of racing games on the Amiga, considering how much I got into the genre in the Playstation years. This one appealed because you got the option to race Minis around a variety of tracks. Also cows. With trailers.

7. AMOS Professional

It wasn’t all gaming; I’d done some BASIC programming on the Spectrum, and while more complex languages and machine code were beyond my limited grasp, when AMOS came along it gave me the chance to make the Amiga do my bidding with an Amiga specific brand of BASIC.

6. Theme Park

There was a time (1994) when management simulation type games were not everywhere. Rollercoaster Tycoon was still five years away, and the likes of FarmVille conquering Facebook was as much a pipe dream as… well, Facebook. And so this seemed so unusual and… fun, that I read a single glowing review and then rushed straight out and bought it.

5. Lemmings

Surprisingly it was on the Spectrum that I first got to grips with Lemmings, and while the gameplay was every bit as frustratingly addictive on that platform as any other, the full colour and awesome music of the Amiga version were a whole new world.

4. Banshee

I think Banshee is something of an overlooked Amiga game, possibly because it’s basically a 1942 clone; but it is a really nice looking 1942 clone, with ever-changing landscapes and weather conditions (the mist! the rain!). Also aliens. I love this game.

3. Cannon Fodder

Slightly tasteless and gratuitous violence, or anti-war satire? Either way, I don’t think war has been this much fun before or since.

2. Wordworth

Hey, I’m a writer, this was bound to happen! Wordworth 2 came bundled with my A1200, but I don’t think I used it to full effect until I got a hard drive and an updated version of the software, by which time I was putting together club magazines and ‘101 Things To Do With A ZX81′ on it. Great days…

1. Worms

It had to be. Worms is probably the Amiga’s most successful export, created by PD distributors turned software house Team 17, and still going on consoles, tablets and PCs… I had the original and The Director’s Cut back in the day.

So that’s the way I remember the Amiga years… how about you? What are your Amiga gaming or productivity faves – and what might I have missed first time round? Feel free to share whatever memories you like…