45 Games That Defined the AMIGA 500

commodore's amiga range was host of some truly fantastic games but how many of these classics did you experience after dominating the 8-bit home computer markets with the commodore 64 commodore was keen to replicate the success going forward the amiga 1000 launched in 1985 but wasn't really considered a games machine mainly due to its high price point which kept it out of reach of many gamers the introduction of the budget-based amiga 500 in 1987 helped bring the amiga to the wider paying public which ensured developers quickly start flocking to the system in october of 1989 commodore international's david pleasants put together one of the most popular amiga bundles of all time the batman pack not only featured the titular game but also included the computer and the modulator the new zealand story interceptor and deluxe paint 2 all for the staggering low price of 3.99 the amiga 500 success soon soared and it became host to a whole array of fantastic games across a wide range of genres including sensible world of soccer the chaos engine worms and many many more companies like sensible software the bitmap brothers ocean software cinemaware and lucasarts would all thrive on the machine and it ended up becoming one of the best selling systems in the amiga range numerous systems would follow including the 500 plus 600 32-bit 1200 and even a console the cd-32 but none of them were ever able to truly match the success of the amiga 500 even today the amiga 500 is seen by many as the definitive gaming amiga although those with their upgraded 1200s would most likely disagree with that in mind i've decided to focus on those games that are playable on commodore's most popular computer oh and i've tried to keep it as balanced as possible to ensure as many different genres are represented as possible so don't be surprised if the odd classic is missing ik plus it may be a part of the classic commodore 64 game but archer mclean's international karate plus remains the best one-on-one fighter for commodore 16-bit system designed around a standard joystick it features a great array of moves amazingly fluid combat and you can drop everyone's trousers by pressing the d key unlike virtually all its spears ik plus adds a third fighter to the mix ensuring the belts are always tense and exciting as you're always kept busy by the challenging ai [Music] carry your command carrier command caused many jaws to drop upon its release in 1988 it not only delivered astonishing 3d visuals but had gameplay that was just as state of the art effectively two games in one thanks to its strategy and action modes carry command allowed you to commandeer a gigantic robotic aircraft carrier and complete a variety of challenging missions it's notable for an incredible slick icon driven ui and immense playing area shadow of the beast while shadow of the beast is one of the weakest games in this list it's nonetheless an incredibly important one being one of the first to truly push the power of commodore 16 bit micro a sensational hunting score combined with amazing parallax scrolling to create what was essentially a very cool tech demo batman the movie ocean's batman was another early system seller and was based on tim burton's hit movie in addition to featuring excellent audio and slick samples it's most memorable due to the stunning 3d batmobile and batwing sections that helped separate the amiga from its 8-bit peers the core platforming is fun too with batman being able to utilize a useful grappling hook [Music] stunt car racer jerf kramen loves racing games and he loves physics he combined these two passions to create the insanely fun stunt car racer a highly enjoyable racing game that takes place on crazy elevated tracks it's essentially a slightly more serious take on sega's excellent arcade racer power drift but still remains highly entertaining particularly when linked up to another amiga it remains great fun on your own too thanks to some challenging ai racers it came from the desert while defender of the crown was a fantastic calling card for cinemaware it was it came from the desert that cemented the company as one of the amiga's most exciting developers inspired by classic b movies of the 50s the aim was to protect the town of lizard breath from invading giant ants killer graphics a great script and some entertaining minigames made for a very potent adventure before it found success with gta dma design was making entertaining blasters like blood money inspired by numerous arcade games it's a truly competent blaster where you can play as a jet helicopter submarine or a spaceman blasting enemies collecting coins and buying power-ups graphically superb with an equally stunning soundtrack populous populists not only put bullfrog on the map but also introduce the world to the genius of peter molyneux free of the hype that would burden these later games populis helped popularize the god sim allowing you to build up an army of followers using a clever icon-driven interface [Music] lotus esprit turbo challenge it's succeeded by two equally good sequels but purists opt for gremlins first game it's a wonderful arcade racer spread across 32 challenging tracks and three difficulty levels while it's a brilliant single player experience the split screen mode is sublime allowing for plenty of satisfying competitive racing [Music] [Applause] [Music] speed ball 2 world deluxe many consider speed ball 2 to be one of the finest sports games of all time and i'd be hard pressed to argue with them this futuristic sports game has you trying to score as many points as possible in 180 seconds it's tournament mode is superb but it's the gripping two-player mode that has led to many a broken joystick check my full retrospective on the bitmap brothers [Applause] the secrets of monkey island guy brushed throughput's quest to become a mighty pirate resulted in one of lucasfilm's most beloved games and arguably one of the greatest point-and-click adventures ever made it enhances the scum engine is far funnier than manic mansion and is filled with delightful characters including one of the smarmiest salesmen you're ever likely to meet in a game it was succeeded by the far superior monkey island 2 but the large number of discs that the game required 11 to the originals 4 means i'm sticking with the original on the amiga supremacy an excellent game by coder david perry and easily the best space strategy game on the amiga there are four distinctive alien races to beat a cluster of planets to seize control of and a whole variety of ways to take them it's all tied together by an intuitive control system and daunting 90 page manual midwinter not content with cramming a gigantic game world into the humble spectrum with lords of midnight mike singleton 16-bit debut was even more ambitious setting in an apocalyptic future where snow covers the world midwinter is full of neat touches including managing 32 recruits all with background bios that affect how they interact with other characters a variety of ways to navigate the world and injuries to different body parts it's a little clunky to play nowadays but its scope is still dazzling pang with so many great amiga conversions i'm brutally cropping them back to include only the best one such example is the incredible port of the arcade classic bank or buster brothers depending on where you live it's virtually an arcade perfect port with the aim of the game being to burst balloons until the playing area is clear of course the bubbles constantly divides meaning things get hectic very quickly particularly when a second player gets involved f19 stealth fighter yes it's insanely complicated to get the grips with but once it all clicks f19 becomes the amiga's best flight sim graphically it's superb while the varied missions tense dogfights and excellent physics ensure the gameplay always remains riveting as with many sims of the time it shipped with useful keyboard overlays rainbow islands virtually every graft gold conversion of rainbow islands was superb but the amigas is one of the best it contains virtually every aspect of the rainbow flinging platformer has extremely authentic visuals and wonderfully tight controls it also does a brilliant job of converting the arcade game's clever scoring system and has a delightfully cheaper [Music] soundtrack captive it would be easy to dismiss captive as a futuristic dungeon master clone but that does it a disservice there are a large number of planets to discover and land on indoor and outdoor locations and dangerous monsters to fight but wings this excellent cinemaware game puts you in the shoes of a trainee biplane pilot during the world war one it not only features some intense dog fighting and a good array of mini games but also has a surprisingly poignant story it was ported to both the game boy advance in 2002 and had an enhanced update created by a [Music] kickstarter [Music] supercars too the amiga excelled when it came to top-down racers but this is easily my favorite it builds on the original with a great array of weapons and adds a much needed and brilliant split screen two-player mode graphically it's been enhanced too making it one of the slickest looking racers on the system [Music] jimmy white's whirlwind snooker a snooker game may sound boring but mclean certainly wasn't in addition to featuring stunning graphics clever coding tricks meant mclean's game was far faster than other examples it's funny too with a lovely sense of humor such as the balls that mock you if you take too long to set up a shot another world many gave up after their encounter with that first cat-like alien but those that persevered with chahi's game were treated to an incredibly cinematic experience the atmosphere throughout is superb as scientist lester knight forms an uneasy alliance with an alien and tries to escape the hostile planet is found himself on its difficulty and abstractness will delight and deny in equal measure formula one grand prix even if you're not an f1 fan it's hard not to be impressed by joff kremen's astonishing racer driving assists incredibly accurate tracks sensational real world physics and the ability to tweak numerous aspects of your car made kremen's game feel incredibly different to other racers of the time it looks sensational too thanks to an amazingly polished 3d engine moonstone a hard day's night this bloody masterpiece never gets enough love a combination of 10 bass and real-time combat with neat rpg mechanics mindscapes game has up to four players competing as rival knights to retrieve the fabled moonstone an excellent adventure enhanced by its over-the-top gore that makes every fight a vicious bloodbath lemmings lemmings don't participate in mass suicide as it was revealed that disney's award-winning documentary white wilderness was faked check my history video on lemmings to know more about that even so the notion stuck however and led to this widely clever puzzle game that had you trying to save as many lamings as possible while the tunes are delightful it's the clever level design that makes this game such a joy to play turrican 2 the final fight playing like a cross between metroid and psychonics oscar turrican 2 is one of the best running guns on the amiga delivering sensational visuals a stunning score and hectic gameplay the five worlds are eugene's scope while it features some truly gigantic bosses and a satisfying array of weapons it appeared on consoles greatly cut down as a movie tie-in for universal soldier again check my history video on turrican 2. eye of the beholder too the legend of dark moon westwood had already wowed amiga owners by improving on dungeon master with the original eye of the beholder here it made both games a decent memory greatly improved graphics densely populated engines and a huge array of terrifying monsters all combined to create a vastly superior sequel original eye of the beholder owners could carry their party across too ensuring fantastic continuity for those that loved the original great use of the dungeons and dragons rules too whiskey various whisper was an unconventional shoot-'em-up whiz-kid is a nutty take on the platform puzzle genre the player must clear each screen by using wizkid's disembodied heads to knock objects onto enemies can you believe it it's harder than it sounds but works thanks to its irrelevant sense of humor and excellent controls [Music] civilization sid meier's strategy game had you playing through time itself building vast empires across a series of important time periods in an attempt to win the great space race it's not the most accessible of games but it's arguably the amiga's best example of the genre [Music] pinball fantasies before it rose to dominus with battlefield dice made a trio of excellent pinball games the middle child pinball fantasies is easily the best thanks to great variety across its four tables exceptionally smooth scrolling and marvelous physics they're not as interactive as today's efforts but it remains an exceptionally well designed score chaser check my full retrospective if you missed it [Music] flashback mistaken as a sequel to another world flashback is very much its own game while conrad's adventure is just as cinematic it's more arcade based than another world with a bigger emphasis on platforming and a lovely tribute to the running man goon 2. although not the first rts it helped popularize the genre and laid the building blocks for the later command and conquer which was also by westwood initially you simply harvest the rakis for spice while fighting over the odd attack once the other houses arrive you then start using your spice-powered army to capture your opponents [Music] syndicates only a peter molyneux game would have a weapon where you can persuade enemies not to fight you as you can expect from a bluff rock production the gameplay is of an incredibly high standard and has your squad of cyborg agents pulling off complex missions in a stunning isometric environment [Music] canon water clouded by unfair controversy at the time sensible software's game remains a timeless classic players must navigate the maze-like stages taking down enemies with a fragile squad of soldiers the mouse-driven gameplay is exceptionally intuitive while it's listed with sensible software's warped sense of humor a sequel followed in 1994 and i like to pretend that the third game never happened the settlers this excellent strategy game has you building medieval settlements and fighting off an aggressive ai opponent as with simcity which just missed inclusion the key placement of buildings and road networks is crucial to the efficiency of your settlement the settler stands apart however thanks to its military element allowing you to capture more territory frontier elite 2. frontier was an incredibly ambitious sequel in addition to being the first game to feature procedurally generated star systems it offers unparalleled freedom too thanks to its open-ended and lack of pre-scripted missions a sequel followed in 1995 but was riddled with bugs the chaos engine this excellent top-down shooter was known in the us as soldiers of fortune spread across four gigantic worlds it's designed for two players with the computer controlling the ai in a single player game and has you seeking out keys while mowing down a never ending supply of enemies again check my documentary on the bitmap brothers rough and tumble imagine you could play a game where you completed stages by collecting different colored marbles now imagine that you had a range of exotic weaponry and could shoot metallic owls in the face with sad weapons well imagine no longer simply play this excellent run-in gun while marveling at its frenetic gameplay and excellent visuals king's quest 6 it comes on an eye watering 10 discs but this is still the best game in the series for many myself included converted by revolution software this was sierra's last amiga game and the first by james jensen it went out on a high thought thanks to a great sense of humor strong script and numerous endings to discover [Music] benefactor while it appears to be nothing more than a simple lemmings clone benefactor is anything but players control ban e factor a humble savior who must run around picking up keys and tripping switches so he can guide his merry men to safety it starts off easy but later levels soon became insanely difficult and require good dexterity and careful thinking to [Music] master [Music] beneath the steel sky before it found success with broken sword revolution software created this gem of a point-and-click adventure charles cecil teamed up with comic book artist dave gibbons to create his dystopian take on australia and made great use of dialogue trees to enhance sky's blick atmosphere that's really be warned though as it utilizes 15 discs [Music] theme park there are numerous simulation games on the amiga but few match theme park building the park can be a puzzle in itself as you manage cues choose key positions for rides and alter the salt level on your chips to ensure maximum returns once the park finally opens it becomes a frantic juggling act to stay on top mr nuts hopping mad along with super frog this is probably the best platformer on the amiga it plays very much like sonic and in fact it's rumored to have started off as a sonic port with super fast scrolling and plenty of items to collect it stands apart however due to its strange but oddly compelling adventure style intros at the beginning of each sage [Music] worms like angry birds worms took a well-established genre but married it to an insanely cute theme the end result not only propelled coder andy davidson into the limelight but gave team 17 its strongest franchise perfect controlling a group of warring weapon-trained analytes might not sound fun but it really is the ultimate amiga party game [Music] ufo enemy unknown this thoroughly absorbing strategy game from julian golob explains why he is one of the masters of the genre it certainly builds on all the mechanics he introduced in his earlier 8-bit gems and offers a staggering amount of depth to its combat it's far superior on later amiga systems but i couldn't bear to leave it out a true classic sensible world of soccer 95 96 european championship edition i've chosen the european championship update as it greatly improved the gameplay and added better menus it's otherwise sensible soccer but with greatly refined mechanics and useful additions like star ratings for players and stronger ai the career mode remains its highlight though allowing you to manage your team through 20 grueling seasons [Music] and here you have it 45 games from a huge library that really defined the amiga 500 and let me also state that many of these aren't by no means my favorite games on the system you'll find those simply by browsing my channel it's packed with gaming related memories from that era where you'll also discover a ton of different lists of personal favorites across a bunch of other distinct systems and genres from the google zx spectrum days up to the current jan so if you've enjoyed this video you know the drill thank you very much for watching and i'll catch you all in my next video cheers

Channel: it's a P/XEL thing

Views: 91,765

Rating: 4.9308691 out of 5

Keywords: pixel thing, pixelthing, retrogaming, retro gaming, it's a pixel thing, pxtng, p/xel, pixel, it's a p/xel thing, commodore amiga, amiga 500, commodore amiga 500, best amiga games, best amiga exclusive games, amiga, favorite amiga games, favourite amiga games, best commodore amiga games, commodore, amiga batman pack, amiga 500 batman pack, best amiga 500 games, best commodore amiga 500 games, best commodore amiga

Id: Mg8IYHJnyvY

Length: 29min 53sec (1793 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 11 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/MrFoxxxxxx]

Great compilation. I had an A600. Super frog was my favourite platformer, sensible soccer my favourite sports game, project X my favourite shoot ‘em up. Great machine to play games on.

[u/ManofGod1000]

I thought Rules of Engagement and Rules of Engagement 2 were fantastic games. Also, Birds of Prey was a lot of fun as well.

[u/rhunter99]

i had an A500 - my first and only love. i only played a handful of the games listed in the video but they were really meaningful (Populous being my all time favourite)