Difference between revisions of "Games"

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== All-time top games ==
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This page covers important facts concerning the Amstrad CPC/Plus games.  Visit [[Current_Sources_Of_Software]] for sources of new games.
  
Article moved [[top_games|here]]
+
With a list of Software houses, and the various and notable technics used in well known games.
  
== Software Houses ==
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'''''For a more complete list of games or game related topics, check the "category:games" (and all its subcategories) at the bottom of this page.'''''
* [[Alligata Software]]
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* [[AMSOFT]]
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* [[Anco Software]]
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* [[Anirog]]
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* [[Ariola Soft]]
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* [[Beau Jolly]]
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* [[Bug Byte]]
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* [[Cobra Soft]]
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* [[Codemasters]]
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* [[CRL]]
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* [[Cronosoft]]
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* [[Digital Integration]]
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* [[Dinamic]]
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* [[DMV]]
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* [[Domark]]
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* [[Durell]]
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* [[Electric Dreams]]
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* [[Electronic Arts]]
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* [[Elite Systems]]
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* [[Epyx]]
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* [[Firebird]]
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* [[ERE Informatique]]
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* [[Grandslam]]
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* [[Gremlin Graphics]]
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* [[Hewson]]
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* [[Hi-Tec Software]]
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* [[Image Works]]
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* [[Imagine]]
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* [[Incentive]]
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* [[Infocom]]
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* [[Infogrames]]
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* [[Konami]]
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* [[Krisalis]]
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* [[Kuma Computers]]
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* [[Loriciel]]
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* [[Lankhor]]
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* [[Leisure Genius]]
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* [[Level 9]]
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* [[Magic Bytes]]
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* [[Magnetic Scrolls]]
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* [[Martec]]
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* [[Mastertronic]]
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* [[MBC]]
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* [[Melbourne House]]
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* [[Microids]]
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* [[Microprose]]
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* [[Microstyle]]
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* [[Mikro-Gen]]
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* [[Mindscape]]
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* [[Mirrorsoft]]
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* [[New Age Software]]
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* [[Ocean]]
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* [[Opera Soft]]
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* [[Palace Software]]
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* [[Players]]
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* [[PSS]]
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* [[Psygnosis]]
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* [[Radical Software]]
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* [[Rainbird (software house)|Rainbird]]
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* [[Rainbow Arts]]
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* [[Silmarils]]
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* [[System 3]]
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* [[The Edge]]
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* [[Titus Software]]
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* [[Topo Soft]]
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* [[Tynesoft]]
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* [[Ubi Soft]]
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* [[Ultimate Play The Game]]
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* [[US Gold]]
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* [[Virgin]]
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* [[Vortex Software]]
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* [[Weeske]]
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* [[WoW Software]]
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* [[Zeppelin Games]]
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* [[Zigurat]]
+
  
== Games Which use hardware tricks (on old generation cpcs) ==
+
==All games scores as reviewed by Amstrad Action==
 +
*[[Amstrad_Action_ratings | Amstrad Action Ratings]]
  
Useful if you want to dissect games to work out how they did it.
+
== All-time top games ==
  
Please move to somewhere more appropiate
+
Article moved [[Top games|here]]
  
 +
== Software Houses  ==
  
=== Page Flipping ===
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*[[A&F Software]]
 +
*[[Ace Software]]
 +
*[[Activision|Activision]]
 +
*[[Advanced Software Promotions]]
 +
*[[Alligata Software|Alligata Software]]
 +
*[[Alternative Software]]
 +
*[[Americana|Americana]]
 +
*[[AMSOFT|AMSOFT]]
 +
*[[Anco Software|Anco Software]]
 +
*[[Anirog|Anirog]]
 +
*[[Argus Press Software]]
 +
*[[Ariolasoft]]
 +
*[[Artic Computing]]
 +
*[[Atlantis Software]]
 +
*[[Beau Jolly|Beau Jolly]]
 +
*[[Blaby Computer Games]]
 +
*[[Blue Ribbon]]
 +
*[[(BES) Bourne Educational Software]]
 +
*[[Bubble Bus Software]]
 +
*[[Budgie]]
 +
*[[Bug-Byte]]
 +
*[[Byte Back]]
 +
*[[Cascade Games|Cascade Games]]
 +
*[[CDS Software]]
 +
*[[Cobra Soft|Cobra Soft]]
 +
*[[Codemasters|Codemasters]]
 +
*[[CP Software]]
 +
*[[CRL|CRL]]
 +
*[[Cronosoft|Cronosoft]]
 +
*[[Cult]]
 +
*[[Database Software|Database Software]]
 +
*[[Data Media]]
 +
*[[Delta Software]]
 +
*[[Design Design]]
 +
*[[Digital Integration|Digital Integration]]
 +
*[[Dinamic|Dinamic]]
 +
*[[DMV|DMV]]
 +
*[[Domark|Domark]]
 +
*[[Dro Soft]]
 +
*[[Durell|Durell]]
 +
*[[Edisoft]]
 +
*[[Electric Dreams|Electric Dreams]]
 +
*[[Electronic Arts|Electronic Arts]]
 +
*[[Elite Systems|Elite Systems]]
 +
*[[Epyx|Epyx]]
 +
*[[Firebird|Firebird]]
 +
*[[ERE Informatique|ERE Informatique]]
 +
*[[Grandslam|Grandslam]]
 +
*[[Gremlin Graphics|Gremlin Graphics]]
 +
*[[Hewson|Hewson]]
 +
*[[Hi-Tec Software|Hi-Tec Software]]
 +
*[[Iber Software]]
 +
*[[Image Works|Image Works]]
 +
*[[Josh|Josh]]
 +
*[[Ocean|Imagine]]
 +
*[[Incentive Software|Incentive]]
 +
*[[Indescomp]]
 +
*[[Infocom|Infocom]]
 +
*[[Infogrames|Infogrames]]
 +
*[[Interceptor Software]]
 +
*[[Kixx|Kixx]]
 +
*[[Konami|Konami]]
 +
*[[Krisalis|Krisalis]]
 +
*[[Kuma Computers|Kuma Computers]]
 +
*[[Loriciel|Loriciels]]
 +
*[[Lankhor|Lankhor]]
 +
*[[Leisure Genius|Leisure Genius]]
 +
*[[Level 9|Level 9]]
 +
*[[Magic Bytes|Magic Bytes]]
 +
*[[Magnetic Scrolls|Magnetic Scrolls]]
 +
*[[Martech]]
 +
*[[Mastertronic|Mastertronic]]
 +
*[[MBC|MBC]]
 +
*[[Melbourne House|Melbourne House]]
 +
*[[Microids|Microids]]
 +
*[[Microprose|Microprose]]
 +
*[[Microstyle|Microstyle]]
 +
*[[Mikro-Gen|Mikro-Gen]]
 +
*[[Micro Power Ltd.]]
 +
*[[Mindscape|Mindscape]]
 +
*[[Mirrorsoft|Mirrorsoft]]
 +
*[[New Age Software|New Age Software]]
 +
*[[Ocean|Ocean]]
 +
*[[Opera Soft|Opera Soft]]
 +
*[[Palace Software|Palace Software]]
 +
*[[Players|Players]]
 +
*[[PSS|PSS]]
 +
*[[Psygnosis|Psygnosis]]
 +
*[[Radical Software|Radical Software]]
 +
*[[Rainbird (software house)|Rainbird]]
 +
*[[Rainbow Arts|Rainbow Arts]]
 +
*[[Romik]]
 +
*[[Silmarils|Silmarils]]
 +
*[[Silverbird|Silverbird]]
 +
*[[Software Projects]]
 +
*[[System 3|System 3]]
 +
*[[The Edge|The Edge]]
 +
*[[The Power House]]
 +
*[[Titus Software|Titus Software]]
 +
*[[Topo Soft|Topo Soft]]
 +
*[[Tynesoft|Tynesoft]]
 +
*[[Ubi Soft|Ubi Soft]]
 +
*[[Ultimate Play The Game|Ultimate Play The Game]]
 +
*[[US Gold|US Gold]]
 +
*[[Virgin Games|Virgin Games]]
 +
*[[Vortex Software|Vortex Software]]
 +
*[[Weeske|Weeske]]
 +
*[[WoW Software|WoW Software]]
 +
*[[Zeppelin Games|Zeppelin Games]]
 +
*[[Zigurat|Zigurat]]
  
Most good CPC games use the page-flipping technique in order to display sprites and/or scroll the playing area smoothly. In especial, two memory areas (instead of one) are reserved for the screen ram. In each frame, one of the two screens is displayed in turn, by using the hardware (exactly by changing the screen-offset, Reg 12 and 13 of the [[CRTC]]). At the same time, the next frame is being drawn in the non-visible screen until the next frame fly back signal. Then, the same cycle continues on and on for (each) next frame.
+
== Copy Protection ==
  
The big advantage of this technique is that we can use a whole frame's machine-time for our code (with no animation problems that arrise when we alter screen ram at the same time the electron beam displays it on the monitor). On the other hand, page flipping eats up a lot of memory area (which is crucial especially for 64Kb machines). This explains why a lot of games have very small game-areas !
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* [[Lenslok]]
 +
* [[Loaders]]
  
=== Hardware Scrolling ===
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== Loaders ==
  
* R3 used to make an approximate byte lenght horizontal scroll (not really smooth)
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* [[Loaders]]
* R5 used to make smoother vertical scroll (1 line)
+
  
{|{{Prettytable|width: 700px; font-size: 2em;}}
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== Games that can be started by joystick ==
|''Title''||''Year''||''Vertical''||''Horizontal''||''R3''||''R5''||''Confirmed''
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|-
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|[[Action Force]]||1988||No||Yes||No||No||Yes
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|-
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|[[Anarchy]]||1988||No||Yes||No||No
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|-
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|[[Axys]]||1991||Yes||No||No||Yes||Yes
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|-
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|[[Bob Morane Science Fiction]]|||1987||Yes||Yes||No||No
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|-
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|[[Builderland]]||1991||No||Yes||No||No
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|-
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|[[FlySpy]]||1986||Yes||Yes||No||No
+
|-
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|[[Fusion 2]]||1988||No||Yes||No||No
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|-
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|[[Gothic]]||1988||Yes||Yes||No||No
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|-
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|[[Ghosts 'n' Goblins]]||1986||No||Yes||No||No
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|-
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|[[Jinks]]||1988||No||Yes||Yes||No||Yes
+
|-
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|[[Killer Cobra]]||1987||No||Yes||Yes||No||Yes
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|-
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|[[Led Storm]]||1988||Yes||No||No||Yes||Yes
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|-
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|[[Legend of Kage]]||1986||Yes||Yes||Yes||Yes
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|-
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|[[Leviathan]]||1987||Diagonal||scroll!||No||No||Yes
+
|-
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|[[Le 5eme Axe]]|||1985||Yes||Yes||No||No
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|-
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|[[Mission Genocide]]||1987||Yes||No||No||Yes||Yes
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|-
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|[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]||1990||Yes||Yes||No||No||Yes
+
|-
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|[[Octoplex]]||1989||Yes||Yes||No||Yes(?)||Yes
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|-
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|[[Out Of This World]]||1987||No||Yes||Yes||No||Yes
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|-
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|[[Paraplane]]|||1992||Yes||Yes||No||No
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|-
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|[[Prehistorik 2]]||1992||Yes||Yes||Yes||Yes||Yes
+
|-
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|[[Prohibition]]|||1987||Yes||Yes||No||No
+
|-
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|[[Rick Dangerous 2]]||1990||No||Yes||No||No
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|-
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|[[Roland On the Ropes]]||1984||Yes||Yes||No||No
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|-
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|[[Sentinel (The)]]|||1987||Yes||Yes||No||No||Yes
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|-
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|[[Skate Ball]]||1989||No||Yes||No||No||Yes
+
|-
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|[[Skate Rock]]||1987||No||Yes||No||No||Yes
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|-
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|[[Skate Wars]]||1990||No||Yes||No||Yes||Yes
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|-
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|[[Star Avenger]]||1984||No||Yes||No||No
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|-
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|[[Stryker In The Crypt Of Trogan]]|||1992||Yes||Yes||No||No
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|-
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|[[Super Cauldron]]||1992||Yes||Yes||Yes||Yes||Yes
+
|-
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|[[Titan]]||1988||Yes||Yes||No||No
+
|-
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|[[Ultima Ratio]]||1987||Yes||No||No||Yes||Yes
+
|-
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|[[Warhawk]]||1987||Yes||No||No||Yes||Yes
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|}
+
  
=== Rupture (or splitscreen) ===
+
This is a list of games that can be started from joystick. There are not as many as you would think.
  
A technique to split the screen into more than one block vertically.
+
* Anarchy
(independant videoram offset)
+
* Nebulus
Used to hardware scroll one part of the screen while another is static.
+
* Puzznic
 +
* Ranarama
 +
* Ping Pong
 +
* Donkey Kong
  
{|{{Prettytable|width: 700px; font-size: 2em;}}
+
== Programming methods used in games ==
|''Title''||''Year''||''Confirmed''
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|-
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|[[Action Force]]||1988||Yes
+
|-
+
|[[Axys]]||1991||Yes
+
|-
+
|[[Dynamic Duo]]||||
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|-
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|[[Enlightenment: Druid 2]]||||
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|-
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|[[Grell and Falla]]||||
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|-
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|[[Mission Genocide]]||1987||Yes
+
|-
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|[[Octoplex]]||1989||Yes
+
|-
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|[[Prehistorik 2]]||1992||Yes
+
|-
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|[[Skate Ball]]||1989||Yes
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|-
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|[[Skatewars]]||1989||
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|-
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|[[Snowstrike]]||||
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|-
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|[[Super Cauldron]]||1992||Yes
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|-
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|[[Turrican]]||1990||Yes
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|-
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|[[Ultima Ratio]]||1987||Yes
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|-
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|[[Usagi Yojimbo]]||||
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|-
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|[[Xyphoes Fantasy]]||||
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|-
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|[[Sol Negro(opera)]]||||
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|-
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|[[Warhawk]]||1987||Yes
+
|}
+
  
[[Category:Games|*]]
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* [[Programming methods used in games]]
 +
* [[Guidelines for Programming games]]
 +
 
 +
== Porting ==
 +
 
 +
The method of converting game/data from one system to another, often with results that are not as good as if the game had been made/designed for the CPC from the beginning.
 +
 
 +
*[[C64 Port]]
 +
*[[Speccy Port]]
 +
*[[Direct Disk to Cartridge Port]]
 +
 
 +
== Scene conversions ==
 +
 
 +
* [[Converted_GX4000_games| Games converted to Cartridge format]]
 +
* [[ROM_List#Game_ROMs | Games converted to ROM format]]
 +
 
 +
== External links ==
 +
 
 +
* A look at 464 CPC games by Novabug
 +
{{#ev:youtube|Vh9ZpaPbfsw|340}}
 +
 
 +
[[Category:Games| ]][[Category:Games Programming]][[Category:Stub]]

Latest revision as of 09:27, 20 December 2022

This page covers important facts concerning the Amstrad CPC/Plus games. Visit Current_Sources_Of_Software for sources of new games.

With a list of Software houses, and the various and notable technics used in well known games.

For a more complete list of games or game related topics, check the "category:games" (and all its subcategories) at the bottom of this page.

All games scores as reviewed by Amstrad Action

All-time top games

Article moved here

Software Houses

Copy Protection

Loaders

Games that can be started by joystick

This is a list of games that can be started from joystick. There are not as many as you would think.

  • Anarchy
  • Nebulus
  • Puzznic
  • Ranarama
  • Ping Pong
  • Donkey Kong

Programming methods used in games

Porting

The method of converting game/data from one system to another, often with results that are not as good as if the game had been made/designed for the CPC from the beginning.

Scene conversions

External links

  • A look at 464 CPC games by Novabug

{{#ev:youtube|Vh9ZpaPbfsw|340}}