Games
This page covers important facts concerning the Amstrad CPC/Plus 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.
Contents
All-time top games
Article moved here
Software Houses
- A&F Software
- Activision
- Advanced Software Promotions
- Alligata Software
- Alternative Software
- Americana
- AMSOFT
- Anco Software
- Anirog
- Argus Press Software
- Ariolasoft
- Artic Computing
- Atlantis Software
- Beau Jolly
- Blaby Computer Games
- Blue Ribbon
- Bubble Bus Software
- Bug-Byte
- Byte Back
- Cascade Games
- CDS Software
- Cobra Soft
- Codemasters
- CP Software
- CRL
- Cronosoft
- Cult
- Database Software
- Data Media
- Delta Software
- Design Design
- Digital Integration
- Dinamic
- DMV
- Domark
- Dro Soft
- Durell
- Edisoft
- Electric Dreams
- Electronic Arts
- Elite Systems
- Epyx
- Firebird
- ERE Informatique
- Grandslam
- Gremlin Graphics
- Hewson
- Hi-Tec Software
- Iber Software
- Image Works
- Imagine
- Incentive
- Indescomp
- Infocom
- Infogrames
- Interceptor Software
- Kixx
- Konami
- Krisalis
- Kuma Computers
- Loriciels
- Lankhor
- Leisure Genius
- Level 9
- Magic Bytes
- Magnetic Scrolls
- Martech
- Mastertronic
- MBC
- Melbourne House
- Microids
- Microprose
- Microstyle
- Mikro-Gen
- Micro Power Ltd.
- Mindscape
- Mirrorsoft
- New Age Software
- Ocean
- Opera Soft
- Palace Software
- Players
- PSS
- Psygnosis
- Radical Software
- Rainbird
- Rainbow Arts
- Romik
- Silmarils
- Silverbird
- Software Projects
- System 3
- The Edge
- The Power House
- Titus Software
- Topo Soft
- Tynesoft
- Ubi Soft
- Ultimate Play The Game
- US Gold
- Virgin Games
- Vortex Software
- Weeske
- WoW Software
- Zeppelin Games
- Zigurat
Copy Protection
Loaders
Games Which use hardware tricks (on old generation cpcs)
Useful if you want to dissect games to work out how they did it.
Please move to somewhere more appropiate
Page Flipping
Most good CPC games use the page-flipping technique in order to display sprites and/or scroll the playing area smoothly. In particular, 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 is repeated for each following frame.
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 arise 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 !
Hardware Scrolling
Hardware scrolling is performed by changing the CRTC registers 12 and 13 (start address).
The scrolling is normally 1 CRTC char (4 mode 0 pixels, 8 mode 1 pixels or 16 mode 2 pixels) in the horizontal and 1 char line (scroll amount dependant on R9 - Max raster but normally 8 scanlines) vertically.
Horizontal scrolling can be made smoother by using R3 (Hsync Width) and makes the scrolling effectively half a CRTC char (2 mode 0 pixels, 4 mode 1 pixels, 8 mode 2 pixels). This effect works well on Amstrad monitors but produces a black and white image on a MP-2 modulator because of the adjusted HSYNC timing.
Vertical scrolling can be made smoother by using R5 (Vertical Adjust) in combination with Rupture/Splitting to make perfect 1 scanline vertical scrolling. This works on all monitors.
This following is a list of games using hardware scrolling:
Title | Year | Vertical | Horizontal | R3 | R5 | Confirmed |
3D Stunt Rider | 1985 | No | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Action Force | 1988 | No | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Amazing Shrinking Man (The) | 1986 | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Anarchy | 1988 | No | Yes | No | No | |
Axys | 1991 | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
BMX Kidz | 1988 | No | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Bob Morane Science Fiction | 1987 | Yes | Yes | No | No | |
Boulder Dash | 1984 | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Builderland | 1991 | No | Yes | No | No | |
Canadair | 1987 | No | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Cyborgs | 1991 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Doctor Who and the Mines of Terror | 1986 | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Energy Warrior | 1987 | No | Yes | No | No | Yes |
FlySpy | 1986 | Yes | Yes | No | No | |
Fusion 2 | 1988 | No | Yes | No | No | |
Gothic | 1988 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |
Ghosts 'n' Goblins | 1986 | No | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Ghouls 'n' Ghosts | 1989 | No | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Into The Eagle's Nest | 1987 | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Jinks | 1988 | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
Killer Cobra | 1987 | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
Led Storm | 1988 | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Legend of Kage | 1986 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
Leviathan | 1987 | Diagonal | scroll! | No | No | Yes |
Le 5eme Axe | 1985 | Yes | Yes | No | No | |
Mission Genocide | 1987 | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Monty Python's Flying Circus | 1990 | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Octoplex | 1989 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes(?) | Yes |
Out of This World | 1987 | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
Paraplane | 1992 | Yes | Yes | No | No | |
Plate-Forme | 1988 | No | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Prehistorik 2 | 1992 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Prohibition | 1987 | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Realm! | 1987 | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Return of the Jedi (The) | 1989 | Diagonal | scroll! | No | No | Yes |
Rick Dangerous 2 | 1990 | No | Yes | No | No | |
Rig Attack | 1985 | No | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Roland on the Ropes | 1984 | Yes | Yes | No | No | |
Sentinel (The) | 1987 | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Skate Ball | 1989 | No | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Skateboard Kidz | 1988 | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Skate Rock | 1987 | No | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Skate Wars | 1990 | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Sly Spy Secret Agent | 1990 | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Star Avenger | 1984 | No | Yes | No | No | |
Street Machine | 1986 | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Striker in the Crypts of Trogan | 1992 | Yes | Yes | No | No | |
Super Cauldron | 1992 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Titan | 1988 | Yes | Yes | No | No | |
Tornado Low Level | 1985 | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Ultima Ratio | 1987 | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Vector Ball | 1988 | Diagonal | scroll! | No | No | Yes |
Warhawk | 1987 | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Xeno | 1986 | No | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Rupture (or splitscreen)
A CRTC programming technique used to split the screen into more than one block vertically. This allows each block to reference different ram, or to hardware scroll one block while another is static. This list is not exhaustive.
Title | Year | Confirmed | |
Action Force | 1988 | Yes | |
Axys | 1991 | Yes | |
Dynamic Duo | |||
Energy Warrior | 1987 | Yes | |
Enlightenment: Druid 2 | |||
Grell and Falla | |||
Mission Genocide | 1987 | Yes | |
Octoplex | 1989 | Yes | |
Prehistorik 2 | 1992 | Yes | |
Skate Ball | 1989 | Yes | |
Skatewars | 1989 | ||
Skateboard Kidz | 1988 | Yes | |
Snowstrike | |||
Sol Negro(opera) | |||
Storm Warrior | 1989 | Yes | |
Super Cauldron | 1992 | Yes | |
Turrican | 1990 | Yes | |
Twin World (Ubi Soft) | 1990 | Yes | |
Ultima Ratio | 1987 | Yes | |
Usagi Yojimbo | 1988 | Yes | |
Warhawk | 1987 | Yes | |
Wonder Boy | 1987 | Yes | |
Xyphoes Fantasy |
Firmware
The following games are known to use firmware functions. This probably explains why they are poor. If the programmer had used the hardware directly they would have lots more cycles free which they could have used to make the game better.
This list is not exhaustive.
- Xevious