K&A Plus 03 EN PDF

2 Komoda & Amiga plus #3
Christmas time...
P
eople are nowadays too often running out of time, they tend
to constantly swing into high gear. Some relationships, either
with family or friends, are thus dropped due to lack of time or
the distance separating us from our closest people. Fortunately,
Christmas is fast approaching and we might finally get an occa-
sion to slow down, unwind and spend some more time within the
family.
Its also a primary gifting period and we, the editorial crew of
Editorial
K&A plus, have something new for you: the third issue of our
magazine in a totally refreshed visual design! In order to properly
prepare ourselves for the Christmas break we also wrote some arti-
cles related to this special time of the year.
We also made sure to get some more editorial pieces devoted to

Amiga, as some of you pointed out that we focus too much on
8-bit machines. Well do our best to keep that diversity in the future
as well, so that a single issue of our magazine offers articles related
to most of the Commodore computers.

I could now go over the contents of #3, like people usually do in
the editorial intros, however, I feel that you should discover the
articles all by yourself. Get some positive retro feeling, take yourself
back in time to the greatest periods of your childhood, and use the
Christmas break opportunity to sit down with friends or family mem-
bers and fire up your retro hardware! You can again enjoy some of
the greatest titles from the old days.
I wish you all to stay in the positive sublime mood.
Merry Christmas to everyone!
Komek& editorial staff

EDITORIAL
autumn / winter 2015

Komoda & Amiga plus #3 3
CONTENTS autumn/winter 2015
COMMODORE
SPIS

Plus/4 VIC20 C16 C64 C128
TRECI
Darkness 7 Pulse 19
Official Father Christmas Game 11 Scrap Yard Scrapes 20
Piracy 12 Demonsdome 21
Gilligans Gold 13 A.R.C.O.S 22
Jam It! 14 Exploring and expanding
Best party games 16 an untested C128 54
Destruct 18 Magnetic Tape 63
AMIGA

M68k AOS 4.x Aros MOS
Psycho Santa 10 Jaguar XJ220 46
Kick Off 2: World Cup 2015 23 Skunks 48
Kick Off 2: Gianni Torchio 26 Star Wars 50
GameDev Story: Dino Dini 28 Alladyn 52
Soccer Kid 34 Random WB Patt 60
In the light of the gradients 36 Tools menu 62
Le Fetiche Maya 44
VARIA
Editorial 2 Talking Heads: Commodore
Fresh News 4 Christmas? 64
Resurrection: Karateka 38 Johnny presents 68
Interview: Jordan Mechner 41
COVERDISK
Komoda & Amiga plus Design and DTP: Tomxx, Mr. Mat
Commodore computersusers magazine Drawings: Johnny
Cover design and concept art: Ruben Messeguer
Editor-in-chief: Komek Proofreading: Agat, Komek, Minimoog, noctropolis, Tomxx, Mr. Mat
Editors: Ramos, noctropolis, Bobikowoz, Tomxx, Minimoog, Mr. Mat, Don Translations: Slayerpl, Bobikowoz, Tomxx, Karo, Petrichor, Grka, Micha
Rafito, c00k, JargoV, GeoAnas, Neurocide, Atreus, Petrichor. Sroka, Tomasz Kubisztal
Cooperation: MA, Pawe Krl, Karo, Uka, Agat, Tomasz Kubisztal, Micha
WWW: http://ka-plus.pl E-Mail: kaplus.zine@gmail.com Sroka, Grka, Hery.
Fresh
News
C64
a nearby object / character
C64
by pressing fire).Another BLAP N BASH
TIME OF SILENCE / advantage is the ability to TND, 2015
ZEIT DER STILLE save the game at any mo-
Claus, 2015 ment.Were embodied in the
person of Tom, one of the sur-
vivors, who lives together with
a group of kindred people in
the village of Friedheim, but
still cannot shake off the loss
of his beloved Sarah.At the
beginning, walking around Have you noticed that for
the village is even idyllic, but some time now there is al-
Time Of Silence is an ad- ways a game of the Break-
be assured that soon the at-
venture game throwing us out gender being presented
mosphere will change by 180
in a post-apocalyptic world here?I think this is quite good
degrees, and the final chap-
which is the result of a mys- because everyone loves Ar-
ters of the plot will be really
terious plague that decimat- kanoid-styled arcade games.
impactful.Unfortunately the
ed humanity.Interestingly, In BLAP n Bash the player
game is very short (and sim-
the associated disease, in takes the role of an alien who
ple, but this is just fine) and
addition to naturally highly is kidnapped and imprisoned
thats a disadvantage. The
fatal effect is also linked with in space.Your task is to clear
games author has already
hallucinations and supernat- the bricks in each intergalac-
announced that he is working
ural abilities.The intro makes tic zone, with the traditional
on the sequel.The game was
a good impression with a very action: paddle, ball and
released in two languages -
interesting gameplay and ex- break.Good luck!
English and German - hence
pressive graphics, presented
the double title at the top.
in a perspective view from the Komek
top.The game has a great, noctropolis
simple and convenient in-
terface (menu interacts with
REVIEW

the game is quite difficult, but games fans.There is a new

C16/Plus4
this should not have a ma- game, or rather a conversion,
DORK DAVE AND THE DIRTY jor impact on its attractive- under the title Athanor The
TRICK ness.Some people may wince Awakening, original created
Misfit, 2015 because it is a SEUCK game, for Oric and Amstrad com-
but for me it doesnt matter puters.The game is currently
at all. (as of this writing) in preview
stage, so the final release will
Komek take a bit longer.The author
has also announced an up-
VIC20 rising conversion for VIC20
users.To download the game
POPEYE file, please visit:http://csdb.
Oh, that Mika!Once again Beamrider, 2015
dk/release/?id=142447.
he brings us a fun little new
game.This time it is something Komek
for platform games fans.Lots
of jumping, breaking bricks and C64
avoiding various obstacles
These are the main compo- SPRINT 1
Norbert Kehrer, 2015
nents of Dork Dave and the
Dirty Trick.If you like playing
Oh, wow, this took me by
games like Super Mario Bros
surprise!Popeye from old
and rescuing stupid princesses
arcades has been ported
all wrapped with good graph-
to VIC20.This is a really cool
ics, this game is definitely for
conversion for what a VIC is
you.Check it out!
being capable of.Beside that,
Komek is good to again meet Pop-
eye, Olivia and Bluto, even if A mega minimalistic version
you are not a huge fan.Such of Formula 1 racing game?It
C64
arcade games always offer must be certainly one of the
U-91306 EIDOTHEA - THE great playability.I think there few remaining parts of the
DAUGHTER OF PROTHEUS is no need to have some spe- old game called Sprint.Yes,
Errazking, 2015 cial urge to play this game. thats right.In this case we
are dealing with the conver-
Komek sion of the original arcade,
originating in 1978, created
C64 by Atari.Really cool thing, but
at the beginning of the game
ATHANOR I have been toiling to eventu-
ally move my car smoothly.So
now you finally know what
A microscopic submarine is were Rally Cross or Car-
placed straight into the blood- nage games based on.
stream of an ill patient.Its aim
is to remove the tumor that Komek
is located somewhere inside
SafarGames, 2015
the brain area.Sailing with
the lifeblood on your way to
your target you will face lots
I have some good news for
of obstacles, just right from
text and graphics adventure
the beginning.In my opinion
REVIEW

of frosty feeling as well.Good

VIC20 Amiga
news for hockey fans and...
MINE SWEEP MINI DYLAN THE SPACEMAN monsters.Mutant League

Shaun Bebbington, 2015 AND THE SMELLY ALIENS Hockey from EA was originally
FROM MARS released on the Sega Mega
Camden Town NW11, 2015 drive platform in 1994 and
was unfortunately canceled
on Amiga following Commo-
dores demise.It miraculously
came back to life this year,
thanks to the efforts of Gala-
had from Scoopex group, who
Sapper clones were already had just successfully passed
released in hundreds (if not the port to Amiga platforms.
by thousands) on a variety of If you use to spend a lot of
If you fancy playing games
platforms. Despite the great time playing with Dizzy egg-
like Speedball and like icy
number of appearances this head character, and you are
climate, then Mutant League
kind of game is always pret- looking by any chance for
Hockey is a perfect game for
ty enjoyable.I enjoy playing a title which would potentially
you!The game is available for
the very first Windows version refresh these nice moments,
both Amiga 1200 and Amiga
then you have to take a look
whenever I have the opportu- CD32. Petrichor
nity to do it. Now its VIC20s at the game Dylan the
turn to have its own conver- Spaceman and the Smelly

C64
sion written in BASIC. Although Aliens from Mars. Currently
it hasnt much impressive there is only a playable demo DUDE (AZIK)

audiovisual effects, it offers available, but it seems that it Slavia, 2015
a pretty good gameplay.Of will be a decent and pleas-
course, we dont need any ant game at some point.Just
rules of play or a further de- as in Dizzy games, in Dylan
scription. I will only mention The Spaceman you move
that the player has to admin- from one screen to another,
ister the coordinates of the collecting items and helping
selected fields by keyboard the characters you meet to
strokes (eg. By typing B2, solve their problems, making
preceded by pressing F1, their lives easier, and ulti- In the spate of new complex
we put in place a flag; F7, mately save the planet Earth games there is a place for a
on the other hand, checks from invaders from Mars.Yes, simple one, witten in BASIC by
all the fields across the entire I know ... Invaders from Mars Slavia scene group Dude
board).We even have three again. Petrichor Amiga, CD32 (azik). The player is obliged
levels of difficulty, but they to complete five levels by
differ only in the number of controlling the Dude main

MUTANT LEAGUE HOCKEY
available flags to be placed Electronic Arts /Scoopex, 2015
character in game. Before
(20, 15, 10), because the di- reaching the end of each lev-
mensions of the board and el make sure to collect keys
the amount of mines is always scattered all over the screen
the same (10x10, 10). they are the main source of

points. But be careful! There
noctropolis are lots of fatal enemies! The
last level of game is our Christ-
mas gift for you you can find
Winter is all around the corner Dude on our cover-disk.
and ithis game brings up a bit
Minimoog
REVIEW

Darkness
COMMODORE
Review: noctropolis; translated by: Karo
In the first K&A+ issue there has been a review of a wonderful game produced by
cooperating studios - Psytronic Software and RGCD, called The Vice Squad (cre-
ated by Achim Volkers and Sascha Ziedler). Apparently they liked the cooperation
because thanks to the same people and studios, only half year later they decided
to launch their new product, so intriguingly called Darkness...
Iinto darkness i must go fied screams coming from far so-so , the music in the actual
to find my beloved taken from me away... The plot as you can see game is really quite good - it
the jungle deep the rivers flow is really interesting, intriguing connects catchy and murky
what lies ahead i cannot see
and and makes you want to melodies. I can say that the
into darkness i must go explore the world created by longer I was listening to it during
this jungle has a thousand eyes the game. the game, the more i liked it -
without a gun or a deadly bow and if a looped song listened to
i wander under angry skies
for a long time not only doesnt
adventurer stan STUNNING AUDIOVISUALS bore you but you like it more
06.11.37 and more, it is definitely a pos-
While we can say that in the itive thing. And that is why my
case of 8-bit computers the
INTO DARKNESS...
graphics are usually not the
most important thing in the
T
he poem cited at the be- game, here you notice it right
ginning of the preview, away and its only natural to
that looks somewhat like start from it. Simply speaking, its
a diary entry of some traveler just amazing. A great effect has
called Stan, is a part of the been achieved by proper mix-
original game intro. It ends the ing of colours what creates an
wonderfully produced (though illusion of a bigger colour pal-
minimalistic) intro in which we lete. Backgrounds are detailed
can see the ship piloted by Stan and fauna and flora met on the
crash in an African jungle after way are also very impressive.
a malfunction. The whole prob- The graphics are dazzling and
lem is that without any
the second FREEWARE: doubt they
passenger of deserve
the ship was Although Darkness has been issued
the highest
in 2014 as a typically commercial
his fiancee note. Vis-
product, since the half of this year its
Megan and officially available for free download, ually, the
while Stan is e.g. at this link: http://psytronik.net/ game is just
unharmed downloads/darkness_download.php.
fabulous.
after the
crash, when As fas as
he comes music is
to senses he cannot see her concerned, while the melody
anywhere but hears only terri- in the intro and menu is rather
REVIEW

evaluation of overall music will are well made and they go well health points. Cutting down
COMMODORE
mostly concern the main theme with the soundtrack. And if for bushes and breaking pots al-
during the game. Apart from some reason you would like to lows us to find one of three po-
the soundtrack we can also focus only on the sound effects, wer-ups: blue is moving faster,
hear the sound effects - quite there is such option - you can white is resistance to damage
basic because they focus most- turn off the music pressing F1 and violet is a new weapon
ly on the sounds of weapons but I personally dont recom- (we start with only a stone in our
and defeated enemies but they mend this. hand as a basic distance we-
apon, the next are a dagger,
a shuriken and wolf fangs).
MEGAN, WHERE ARE YOU?
WILD WILD AFRICA...

Let us focus on the game it-
self now. As I already said, it
is about saving our beloved On our way we will meet
Megan. To do this we will be a whole wide range of fauna
forced to travel through vast typical for Africa and that is
areas because we have exactly very good because it adds to
100 screens to explore (10x10 the general mood of the game.
maps). So that it doesnt get too There are animals like: snakes,
boring, the creators made more spiders, parrots, porcupines,
than just a jungle maps (that hyenas, wolves, hogs, gorillas or
are by the way very diverse even (beautifully animated and
and full of native peoples tra- being one of the games high-
ces, rivers, etc.) but later on we lights) mighty elephants ( there
find ourselves in other, slightly are the only ones you cannot
different places like a cave or kill but they also wont attack
a temple. While exploring we us on purpose) and apart from
will find and open green chests the animals there are also some
containing colourful keys (ope- not necessarily friendly natives.
ning new chests and areas), The difficult thing is that the ani-
green masks (necessary to en- mals and natives appear again
ter the temples), violet masks every time we enter the same
(needed at the very end of the area, in random places and at-
game) and bonuses like extra tack us straight away. But fortu-
nately the game gives us some
time to prepare, showing us
their spawn places for a while.
This leads to a funny (and not
a really realistic) situation - we
will sometimes enter an area 2-3
A Game in a game
An interesting bonus has been

added to the game - a mini
game called Darkipede. Yes,
the connection to Centipe-
de is not accidental because
its almost the same with the
difference that the graphics
and enemies are from Dark-
ness.
REVIEW

times to get more favourable
COMMODORE
spawn places, far away from us The map of the surroundings
so that we can get rid of ene-
I was wondering if I should prepare for you an additional
mies easier and without a threat
map, making it easy to go around the jungle but I dont
to our health - especially be- think its necessary because a simplified map already
cause different enemies have exists. Triad have added it to their crack of the game.
different speeds and endur-
ances. Nevertheless, its not
a thing that annoys, its rather
interesting, really. Yet, we have
to watch out - we only have
one life and each encounter
with an enemy is lowering our
health points (by the way , after
losing all health points we can
see a quite funny death anima-
tion). Sometimes its even better
to quickly run through a given
location than to get in a fight.
HAPPY ENDING
Its easy to predict that the

game ends when our loved
one is saved by us. But how that
happens, I will naturally not tell.
To find out you have to spend
some time with the game and
its really worth it because
Darkness is simply a wonderful
title and definitely high quality.
It was actually, just like The Vice
Squad, issued in really nice , col-
lectors packs. And now, when
you can play it for free without
any problems - you just have to
do it. The fun is immense and
what is interesting, after train-
ing a bit and taking a good
approach to the enemies, the
game is not so difficult. It defi-
nitely has great mood, its in-
volving and just really good.
DARKNESS
Publisher: Psytronik Softwa-
re / RGCD
Year of publication: 2014
Platform: C64
10 8 9
REVIEW

Psycho Santa
AMIGA
Review: c00k; translated by: MA
Christmas, Christmas... as a polish kids group Fasolki sang long time ago. With
it many more symbols, both physical and economical of upcoming holiday time.
One of them is definitely an amusing fatty in a red uniform with additional white
themes and a white beard. There have been many theories, sume said that he
is not as nice is he is presented, and if he is its just because he has to be. Tho-
se theories were used by the creators of such movies as Santas Slay or Rare
Export. A similar theme was used be Bullfrog company when they released a ga-
mes called Psycho Santa.
I
t was released on a cover disc ditional content. There is a le- and try to catch presents that
that was a part of The One gend going on that somebody are placed on a Christmas tree.
magazine in 1993. As soon as actually did that. On the cover The biggest difficulty is that you
we launch the game we are of the magazine we see a San- have to press a fire button at
informed that for 5,5 pound we ta Clause with a semiautomatic the right moment in order to get
can become a registered user gun, who asks us if we were na- the gift. Generally it is a boring
and get a new copy with ad- ughty or nice. Our first thought experience and I doubt that
it will be fun. the 5,5 pound version was any
different.
And it is fun. The whole
game is about making I have no idea where you can
the residents happy, but find the psycho element in
not in a psycho sense that game. So why is it that
but more traditionally by I decided to review this game?
throwing the presents I was supposed to write some-
around. To get those thing about Christmas and since
presents we must first it is little known title I thought it
fly over the town and would be a bit interesting. Mo-
kill the ghost with many reover it was published by Bull-
snowballs. The ghost frog, who were the creators of
is not defenseless as it my beloved Syndicate. I present
sends flying snowmen it as something that happened
who throw carrots at us. quite often, you just got a nice
When we send enough title and even better cover for
presents to a house, it the game. The game is a bit
gets marked as a happy positive as it can be funny in its
one. At the beginning own way.
of each round we are
told about the number PSYCHO SANTA
of houses that we must
make happy. When Publisher: The One Amiga
we do it we are able
Platform: Amiga
to take part in a bonus
level where you have to
7 6 2
jump using a pogo stick
RECENZJA
REVIEW

The Official Father

Christmas Game
COMMODORE
Review: Komek; translated by: Petrichor
Christmas is this time of the year we usually spend with out families. In addition to
telling each other best wishes and eating delicious food, we also have a tradition
of gifting. A moment in which we open our presents is extraordinary and is always
accompanied by strong emotions, where we ask ourselves a question: What can it
be?
A
t Christmas we also The first stage of the game is to trying to slow him down in com-
have more free time, put Santas sleigh into a working pleting the task. Big red guy also
which we can spend order and to do so he has to needs to remember that his mis-
on playing video games with find all the sleigh parts that are sion is very time sensitive and he
our family. There are many titles scattered around his house. is fighting time, which is shown
related to the time of Christmas Small yet very active elves will at the bottom of the screen as
and as the Christmas Day is just interfere in carrying out this task. vanishing moon
around the corner, I would like As soon as the sleigh are in a and a rising sun.
to recommend a very nice and working order Santa will have to
small game called The Offi- pick six of the fifteen available At the end of
cial Father Christmas Game. gifts, and they are as follows: the day, the
Although it has been already football, computer, doll, teddy game provides
26 years since its release, the bear, cricketing bat, toybox, a lot of good fun
game can still be good fun tank toy, TV, tennis racket, lo- with catchy festi-
especially for those who have comotive toy, stereo set, racing ve graphics and
never played it before. bolid, book, roller-skates and music (Jingle-
dollhouse. Once the gifts are bells, We wish
As you can guess from the title, chosen, they will start falling you a Merry-
we take a role of Santa Claus. A from the top of the screen and Christmas).
task that Santa has to perform Santa must quickly catch tho- Also, it is
is not really unique (what would se that have been chosen at worth noting
you expect from Santa?). Our the beginning (correct gits are that the re-
distinguished in yellow colour). venue from
Okay! sleigh are loaded and the game
harnessed by reindeers. The sales has
remaining task is to distribute been used to
all the gifts to their respective support inter-
houses that have been marked national non
with a moving arrow. Santas -profit organisation Save The
route begins in America. Next Children to help children and
continents are: Europe, Africa, their families around the world.
Antarctica. The last point of THE OFFICIAL FATHER
main goal is to deliver gifts to the route is the Northern Eu- CHRISTMAS GAME
the children around the world. rope Finland to be specific. Publisher: Alternative So-
You may all say: Hmph, so Everything would be fine, if not ftware
what! He does that every year. for the fact that when Santa is Year of publication: 1989
Thats right, but you all should Platform: C64
trying to deliver all the gifts, he
know that the task is not as sim-
ple as it may sound.
also has to deal with clouds, 6 7 7
birds and airplanes, that are
REVIEW

Piracy
COMMODORE
Review: Bobikowoz; translated by: Slayerpl
Anyone who didnt have a bootleg cassette with a set of games, should first
cast the stone. These were times, dear children, that the copyright didnt exist
and everything was public goods. For the glory of the nation! But I will not write
about the political system but about a bootleg game.
Pirates are not only the players them. It can be clearly see There are not many rules, the
who use the releases received that it is time for the boarding. level is always the same, but
in the shady circumstances, This time the vile pirates will the game is playable and can
swindles and thieves from not have such an easy task make us spend some time with
a moral point of view, but, ahead of them because they it. One condition two players
above all, sea rovers. This type encountered a crew of valiant and not singleplayer with com-
of rovers, as known, are also sailors. The captains have to puter opponents. This is the
morally ambiguous. The de- adequately control the attack charm of this type of games,
scribed game, according to to take over the enemys ves- where two people compete,
my knowledge, is completely sel. You will certainly notice the game, in a nice compa-
honest and can be played during the gameplay that the ny, becomes more attractive.
also by people who despise of most important persons on the Because someone has to lose,
every sort of immorality. deck of both ships are react- and then play a rematch.
ing energetically to the events Because if you dont win a re-
The whole game consists of that transpire above the water. match, you have to buy a beer
one screen where we can see They jump, make threats and for your friend.
on both sides two 17th century shout, which is worth of mimick-
ships, there are ropes between ing by our computers screen. Time to explain, how this game
appeared in the Christmas
The rules of combat are quite edition of our magazine. 20
simple. You have to clear the years after its release on C64,
enemy vessel on all decks or its boardgame version was
kill the crew on the other side released. Every year I write in
of the rope. The captains can my letter to Santa Claus that
give two orders to their crews: I would like to add it to my
to enter the ropes on a given collection, but I think I wasnt
level or to move in a particular polite enough. Maybe next
direction. During the fighting year? And if not I know the
commotion, on the sea, you rules, I will print the boardgame
cannot hear everything, so at my workplace and I will be
all the members of the crew, happy as a small kid from the
which are on the ropes, have bootleg version of a board-
to move simultaneously in the game, that previously was
same direction. Give orders a computer game.
to your subordinates carefully,
PIRACY
because the ropes are here
and there old and treacherous, Publisher: Ace Games
and when the captain orders
Platform: C64
something, the sailors have to
fulfil the order with blind obe-
6 2 6
dience.
REVIEW

Gilligans Gold
COMMODORE
Review: Minimoog ; translated by: Karo
Gold. Lots of gold. Mountains of gold. Wealth and fame. Those were probably
the things which Columbus, Cortez or Pizarro have promised for their crews
when they were embarking on overseas travels because lets not lie to our-
selves, their aim was not really discovering new worlds. Unfortunately upon
arriving to America they havent found much of gold, nevertheless, the myth of
Wild West gold prospectors has been engraved in the cultures of not only Uni-
ted States but also the rest of the world.
G
illigans Gold takes ears slightly at times but in
place exactly in those spite of that the melody is
golden Wild West joyful and suits the game well.
times. We play as a gold pro- The graphics are simple for the
spector who browses mines to same reason but they are also
look for gold (already packed clear.
into sacks!). Unfortunately our
adventures are not easy, for Its worth mentioning that
we are constantly chased Gillgans Gold is a converted
by two bandits and meeting version of a French game
them end witha brief mo- Bagman for automats, cre-
ment of suspenseour death! ated in 1982. It was originally
Its easy to lose one of 5 ava- produced by Valadon Auto-
ilable lives. Agile moving from mation. Apart from Commo-
one ladder to another, mano- dore 64l the game was also
euvring your wheelbarrow and converted to ZX Spectrum and
avoiding enemies is not easy Amstad CPC.
but feasible.
I always go back to Gilligans
The game has three levels, Gold with pleasure because
each of which has three diffe- its really enjoyable. Intuitive
rent screens we can go into. gameplay and clear graphics
Obstacles, ladders, pickaxes, make a good combination,
sacks of gold are randomly creating fun and exciting
arranged in various schemes, entertainment. A lot of games GILLIGANS GOLD
all accompanied by cheerful get boring and lengthy easily Publisher: Ocean Software
music. The game comes from but Gillgans Gold is a 10.
Platform: C64
the first half of the 80s so the And besides who doesnt like
sounds might be a bit under westerns?
9 5 5
processed so they irritate the
REVIEW
Review

Jam It!
COMMODORE
Review: JargoV; translated by: Bobikowoz
When I was younger I was thinking how would it be to become a professional

NBA player. Unfortunately neither my skill nor my height was high enough to
make this kind of career easy. The plan was abandoned as fast as it came to
my mind.
S
port games give oppor- for this problem in a game The game lets us play as one
tunity to find out what called Jam It!, the first of the red team players cal-
it would be like to be production from a one-man led Jammers or Slammers
a player, but the ones deve- studio Throwback Games. wearing blue uniforms. The
loped for new hardware are A standard arcade game game is played as a standard
not satisfying enough for me. about basketball perfectly fits 3x3. Only one half of the court
The main disadvantages of in what I like. Simple, not too is used, both teams throw to
these games are complicated complicated, nice, and what the same basket, and after
controls and the core game- is most important, amazingly a successful defence, the ball
play... I have found a solution fun. must go through the half-court
REVIEW

line before the defence beco- of the game this effect

mes the attacking team. The is automatically turned
rules are simple, as the other on. This section of the
aspects of Jam It!. review can be sum-
marized with just two
Let me start with the fun co- words: Well Done!
ming from the game, as it is,
in my opinion, the most impor- Title screen music is just
tant part of every game. The ok. It is nothing special,
Throwback Games produc- just a typical tune ,
tion has a lot of it. The game that can be annoying
can keep me occupied for after some time. On
quite a long time, especially the other hand, title
in a two player cooperation screen is not a place
match with a friend. The to stare at for infinite
game allows also a four player time. Melody in menu
mode, where a lot of good shows a completely
vibes is guaranteed! All of it is different quality. Since
a part of a simple but a really the first time I heard it
good working gameplay me- is got stuck in my head
chanics. The author described and during writing this
it in these words: review it was playing in
the back for the whole
In Jam It, just one button with time. I feel enchanted
your control stick is enough to by its tranquil pace
make extreme dunks, jump with a characteristic
-shots, blocks, passes, post-up bass line and percus-
plays and steals! sion nicely integrated
into it. I would not
The best thing is, that it really
complain about other
works. With just one joystick
sounds and FX, as they game. Especially the core
button it is possible to throw,
just fit right into the game and mechanics which draws from
pass, steal, block and jump.
are as real as the legendary classic arcade productions
You do not need to learn
SID allows to. and fun coming from game-
complicated keyboard bin-
play are the biggest advanta-
dings, it is all that simple one Graphics are good, every- ges. Both sound and graphics
button is used to every single thing is clear, well planned are properly done. I am willing
action. During the game our and nothing blurs into another to recommend this game, as
players are depleting their object. I find it important to it ensures a great deal of fun,
stamina. As the stamina level easily distinguish every core especially with a friend, when
is getting lower, the players element, like the ball and the both players are trying to give
abilities are also slightly limited, player. Design is pleasing to the best of them. It is worth
but during the half-time bre- the eye. The teams are colo- to mention, that the game is
ak energy is being restored. ured in a way that prevents inexpensive, with a price tag
Do not be afraid of the 3x3 from eye fatigue after staring set at 2,99$ on the day I wrote
rules, as the game suggests at players trying to check is he this article.
when you need to drag the a friend or an enemy. Main JAM IT!
ball to the other half of the screen with logo surprised me
court by changing your team Publisher: Throwback Games
in a good way with a really Year of publication: 2015
colour. A really nice feature neat design. It proudly repre- Platform: C64
is slow-motion effect, known sents Jam It!
also as bullet-time. When 8 7 9
the clock shows last seconds All in all, is a really good the
REVIEW

COMMODORE
Best party games on C64

Editorial: c00k
New Years Eve is coming, week after carnival and thus social pressure for incre-
ased partying. For a good party is needed just a lot of vodka, drinks and possibly
chips. Other people are a bit more demanding and try to embellish such a me-
eting, for example, using various electronic forms of entertainment. Seeing that the
C64 is generally equipped with controllers on the cables connected to two ports,
it becomes a very good tool for such games. In addition, you can take it with you
and connect to almost every TV.
G
ood game for the it as the statistical errors :) There
BUBBLE BOBBLE
event must involve as are some exceptions. We can
many people as possi- choose a game for one person,
ble. In our case there are tech- but we must have a very deta- Cult game which we can play
nical limitations, because to iled point system which helps even on modern PC. As I wrote,
paraphrase a classic: Two shall us in the choice of the winner. and what people in schools
be the number thou shalt count, Each of these games has to be and some large companies
and the number of the counting short enough to rest and dont do not understand, it is better
shall be two. Of course there is get bored waiting for our turn. In to cooperate than compete.
hardware, and software to bre- most cases, I will describe ga- Two iconic dragons that are
ak this restriction, but we treat mes in which we will compete jumping on platforms spitting
but as we can see in real life its monster bubbles. The monster
better to cooperate so Ill put is trapped in a soap bubble,
such titles on my list. which you need to cut to com-

plete the task. When you play
in two players mode you can
never finish the game because
TRON
you can only join the game if
your partner is not dead. The
The game is based on the
best way is to give joystick to
blockbuster from 1982, which
another person after losing all
has gotten not a very success-
the lives.
ful sequel quite recently. Its a
copy of game that the cha-
racters were playing. Actually
they were active attenders of INTERNATIONAL KARATE+
this game. Two racers ride on
limited field and leave material The next edition of the classic
trace. The trace is made from a game, which went through
material that is hard as a brick several parts, known in the
wall. The loser is the player who eighties on the arcades and
collides with the wall around the promoted by the movie Blood-
trace or field of play. Because sport with splits champion Je-
the screen is divided into two an-Claude Van Damme. Here
we can increase difficulty by we can both cooperate and
swapping places before screen compete, because players are
:) three including one run by the

computer. The biggest plus is
EDITORIAL

the graphics as well as the fact
COMMODORE
MICROPROSE SOCCER

that all players have the same
powers (no powers :) the same
I didnt want to
resources and power of pun-
put here any
ches and equally long energy
football game Each of these games has to be
bar. The game is so fast that you
because I dont short enough to rest and dont get
can easily play a tournament
like football and I bored waiting for our turn.
system.
think it generates
an unhealthy
MICRO HEXAGON
emotions but I
know that many of our readers
are strongly interested in it, and I
Because of my hobby I should
dont want to have problems
promote martial arts games,
with our magazine
but this is my favourite position
team :) What can I say,
on the list. Game released just
its the best football
two years ago, taken from mul-
game Ive ever played
tifunctional communications
on C64. Graphics is at a
tool called smartphones :) The
very high level, thereby
game is brilliant in its simplicity.
we can see both bad
You can see the already mo-
weather conditions and
dern approach to game deve-
the volatility of the ball
lopment. In fact banality. The
when it is closer to the
hexagonal field divided into six
camera :) If we can

equal triangles and a small dot
find big a group of fans
large enough (I would
Good game have a problem :), we
for the event can play pretty cool
must involve as tournament.
many people
as possible. In most
cases, I will
describe
located on one of them. Joy-
games in
stick movement causes that the
which we
dot skips to another field. From
will com-
the side of the screen obstacles
pete but as
glide that we must avoid when
we can see
changing field. So it was not
in real life
easy to do and our brain does a
its better to
trick, the image is spinning. Over
cooperate.
time, various sides :) But this is
not the only punch into the bra-
in. Music and flashing colors do
the job. That means the game
is attractive for those who for
some reason are not able to
play, and are just watching :)
Our points is the time which we
spend on battlefield shown with
accuracy to hundreds parts of
second.
EDITORIAL

Destruct
COMMODORE
Review: Minimoog ; translated by: Karo
Outer space, weird creatures, astronauts doesnt it sound like one of those che-
esy, star game, that can be counted in millions? It does. Yet, in my opinion, De-
struct deserves some attention in this huge group. Especially because I own the
original cassette, the only unpirated game in my collection.
F
lying in the outer space is really diffi-
and shooting your enemies cult, hence
is usually called a sho- the low po-
otem up game but the prepo- ints for the
sition up doesnt really mean gameplay.
shooting up, in spite of the fact
that you do actually shoot in The creator
this direction. Anyhow, De- of the game
struct is basically a shootem is Clark John
up, the only difference is that Denham.
you shoot to the right. I was I have to
thinking about it for some time admit, his
and even though I previously game has
stated that up doesnt have good music
a connection with the direction and it needs
of shooting, I am willing to cate- are more or less identified flying to be pra-
gorize Destruct with my new objects. But our job is not easy, ised - main menu has a really
invention shootem right. as the enemies are aplenty and nice tune. Special effects are
And thats essentially the only in addition, they speed towards also very neat, they increase
innovative part of the game. our astronaut so the game the games mysteriousness, al-
can be called though hearing the same vibra-
a demanding ting buzz while the level loads
one. Apart from after your death can really be
that we need to annoying The graphics are
constantly con- rather mediocre but clear.
trol the altitude

I recommend Destruct as an
of the astronaut,
experiment. Its an interesting
who is gradually
but simple and predictable. Ne-
falling down if not
vertheless, only for experienced
made by us to
gamers.
keep his height.
Any contact with
the ground ends DESTRUCT
with yes, you Publisher: The Power
guessed death. House
The whole game
Platform: C64
made me angry
As I said before, out astronaut
flied to the right, and our task
instead of entertained and wal-
king though even the first level 3 6 3
is to shoot at our enemies who
REVIEW

Pulse
COMMODORE
Review: Komek; translated by: Slayerpl
It is obvious that new games for VIC are released quite rarely. Unlike, in the situation
of C64, where a couple of new releases very often appear in the span of a month.
I decided to visit Richard Lagendijks website to find an interesting game for Vic.
I looked through its content and found a short information about a game called
Pulse. My attention was turned to the screenshot which showed that it is a classic,
awesome Shootem Up. Was it really so?
W
e cannot deny that most important thing is the un- example, shoot down a fleet of
Pulse is based on forgettable atmosphere which incoming ships and this type of
the huge arcade you will experience when play- bonus will appear on the screen
game hit Gradius from ing Pulse. in the shape of a small rectan-
1985. This comparison works in gle. What do we gain from
Pulses advantage. Fans of When we look at the technical it? For example, the missiles
the classic space shootem ups aspects, I will admit that the launched from our vessel have
will definitely agree. fluent scrolling makes an impres-
sion and we notice it immedi-
As every game, Pulse also has ately. Moreover, the graphics is
an introduction, a short none- neat and made nicely. Sound
theless, but still.... Your planet is effects sound dynamically and
in great danger because it was they match the plot of the
attacked by the hostiles army game.
from the 20th dimension. The
Drone was hastily created with The first thing that I liked in the
a remote control software. You game, was the difficulty level.
are the sole pilot with an ap- The author thought about the
propriate equipment who can fact that at the beginning the
a bigger impact or they go in
defeat the enemy. Everyone difficulty should be moderate. It
different directions and not only
counts on you! allows us to adjust to the action
forward. Unfortunately, when
and to train because later the
we lose our ship, we also lose
However we know that the game will be more difficult. As
our power -ups. When we col-
most important thing is playabil- it is in the games of this type,
lide with an enemy and we lose
ity which in this game is pretty we encounter a wave of ene-
one of our lives, use a couple
big. Of course, graphics and my ships, machines, robots etc.
of seconds of invincibility to get
sound and other things have The launched here and there
through a wave of enemy ships.
a huge impact on this but the missiles are also a threat to us.
Luckily, we
can find the PULSE
so called
Publisher: Sven Michael
pow- Klose
er-ups Year of publication: 2014
during the Platform: VIC20
gameplay .
And how to 9 7 9
get those?
You can, for
REVIEW

Scrap Yard Scrapes

COMMODORE
Review: Komek; translated by: MA
There are a few ways to encourage an experienced player to deal with a minimal-
istic game. One of them is to compare it to a well-known and appreciated title.
Scrap Yard Scrapes is a very simple game, but it has a bit in common with such
titles as Bomberland and Boulder Dash. Do you see it? Its enough that I men-
tion those two magical titles and I am pretty sure that you are now more curious to
learn about it.
S
crap Yard Scrapes is You will shortly find out that should take notice of the
a quite fresh game as it it is a huge labyrinth and time counter. If it reaches
was published this year. your task is to get to the exit zero you will see an ag-
It was written by Steve Mc- located on the opposite side gressive dog that will run
Crea who also made a port of the screen. On your way towards you. If you are not
of Doom for VIC20. Gener- you will find piles of trash fast enough you are in a big
ally speaking it is an arcade that can be moved like to trouble!
similar to many other titles stones in Boulder Dash.
While playing Scrap Yard
but, in my opinion, it is worth Sometimes that action is im-
Scrapes I was irritated by
playing it. possible so your only choice
the fact that I was forced
is to blow it up. In this case it
The action takes place in to you the keyboard, and
is similar to Bomberland. It
a big scrapyard and your to be more specific I had
would be all ok if it wasnt for
task is to find a way out of it. to use Z, X, O, Kand
the fact that the number of
The task is not an easy one. P keys, which is something
the bombs in your disposal is
Im not fond of. Generally
limited. Luck-
the games is a quite good,
ily with each
minimalistic experience. The
finished level
idea of a game taking place
you get two
in a scrapyard is something
additional
I hadnt experienced before
bombs. You
playing it so I can only invite
are not able
you to play it.
to detonate
a bomb if
your charac-
ter faces the SCRAP YARD SCRAPES
wall. More- Publisher: Kweepa
over, you Year of publication: 2015
Platform: VIC20
shouldnt
stay within
the radius 5 3 6
of an ex-
plosion as it
will kill you.
During the
game you
REVIEW

Demonsdom
COMMODORE
Review: Komek, translated by: Slayerpl
Labyrinth games are games where the plot usually takes place in some spooky
castles, dungeons, pyramids or other buildings. I will admit that I love this type of
games. In the past I envied Atari players, because, at the beginning of the 90ties
Polish companies released quite a lot of them. You could purchase one of them in
almost every shop with computer games. However not everybody liked this. I read
in one of the computer magazines, that some people were fed up with labyrinth
games. These were fortunately only the opinions of the minority in the players
community and these games were sold with a considerable profit.
A
s you probably know, You are in a gigantic, morose every chamber is a new chal-
Demonsdom is a stan- castle of Demon. Your task con- lenge because they differ in the
dard labyrinth game. sists of defeating him and esca- construction and the placement
Its construction and graphics ping from this horrible building. of the obstacles.
remind us of Atari releases cre- Unfortunately, it is not so simple
ated by the Polish coders in the and the game is quite difficult. I mentioned earlier that the
nineties. The game appeared Ghosts, apparitions and other game is quite difficult. At the
during this period in 1991, and creatures await you in every beginning this is true. Moreover,

I found out about it recently, chamber. When you enter the when I saw that we only have 3
while browsing Plus/4 World next one, you have to wander lives, I was doub-
ting if playing the
website. without touching any of the cre- Generally,
game was feasible.
You would probably like to
atures and sometimes it is very
The game is ho-
every cham-
difficult. Remember also that
know, what the game is about? wever so playable
ber is a new
you cannot touch the walls and
Relax! Ill explain it. that I stopped thin- challenge
the elements protruding from
the walls, but, relax, king about this and because they
the longer you play, I concentrated on differ in the
the more skilled you the task ahead of construction
are. Sometimes theme. Graphically, and the pla-
re will be a situation Demonsdom is cement of the
when you encounter OK, but , as far as obstacles.
a closed entry to the colors are concer-
next chamber. You ned, monotonous.
have to find the key, The music fits the gameplay,
which will open the especially the spooky beginning.
entrance. However As far as playability is concer-
the key is guarded ned, it depends on the personal
by the Demons taste, but I think that the game
guard, who is pro- is highly playable, even for the
tecting the key. And players who are not the fans of
what do we do ? Do this genre. If you do not play it,
not panic, you need you will not find out !!!!!!!
to find a flask of holy
DEMONSDOM
water which will
cause that the gu- Publisher: CSM
ard will vanish. Next
Platform: Plus 4
you just have to go
around two ghosts,
take the key and
run away. Generally, 6 7 7
REVIEW

COMMODORE
Review:Komek
Review: Komek, translated by: GeoAnas & Tomxx
All the games of BreakOutgenre are nothing but classic arcades. Their rules are
trivial because all of them rely on a paddle that bounces a ball in order to break
various forms of bricks. I first came across such a game back in 1988 and it was
the cult game called Breakout.
I
was on holidays with my par- face meeting with
ents and sister in Midzyzdroje this kind of game,
at the Baltic Sea in Poland. and Im bringing
I recall standing in a large up this story only
queue (as it used to happen because ARCOS,
in Poland in the 80s) just to the game Im
buy my favorite chocolate ice reviewing today,
cream. I could not stand still belongs to the
and soon got terribly bored. same species.
I decided to go for a quick stroll
but suddenly my eyes hit a sign What is it all
shouting: Gaming Room. about? Your mis-
sion is to kill all the
is the speed of ship and ball
Yeah, great! But... first I had to aliens (monsters) and keep as
movement. Its very slow on C16
go back and ask for the permis- many fellow astronauts as you
and the C64 version is much
sion to enter into the Temple. can. You can also use ship-
smoother.
- Mom, Mom! There is a lounge range and a special bullet
with games, exactly like the called the Energy Ball, which Few words about the game
one in our neighbourhood! Can destroys everything on its path. quality. As for the graphics:
I stay there a little bit? In addition, your ship is armed both versions (C16 and C64)
with a laser gun. Use it wisely, look quite similar; nothing fancy
as the number of missiles is very but not too borring either. Music
limited. Fortunately, it is not so exists only in the C64 version.
bad, because at the end of On C16 my ears didnt really
each level you get extra ammo, register a single quietest sound.
which, on the other hand, de- Playability? Yes, quite good.
pends on how many astronauts
you manage to keep after Just to explain the score card:
each level. I took into account only the C16
version for my assession of the
I think there is no need to de- game, so the score doesnt ap-
scribe on how the monsters or ply to C64 one.
astronauts look like, because
you spot the difference instant- A.R.C.O.S.
Permission granted and I quickly ly. However, remember that Publisher: Kabuto
rushed into the lounge just to Energy Balls and laser missiles Factory
check the games. I first discov- also destroy astronauts, so use it Year of publication: 2013
Platform: C16, C64
ered Arkanoid (Taito, 1986) smart in order to keep your bud-
machine which stood at the dies alive. The only annoying
entrance. It was my first face-to- thing affecting the gameplay 6 0 6
REVIEW

AMIGA
XV World Cup: Kick Off 2
Editorial: Tomxx, currently rated as 27th KO2 player in the world ;)
In terms of pure playability and in-game realism Kick Off 2 is considered to be

one of the best football simulators ever published, whether for 16-bit computers, or
on any other system. 25 years have already passed since the game launch and
the thesis of its uniqueness is best confirmed by the fact that the KO series is still
supported by a devoted community. In October, KO Revival for PS4 was announ-
ced and in November the 15th World Cup was played, making KO2 a true pioneer
of global e-sports.
T
he spirit of the game is the standards of pro-players (graphics, sound, tactics and
based on its dynamics, holding the terminology of production). It was the first
but the key factor is the e-sports. I will not bore you time in KO history where two
ability to control the ball, here with KO2 nuances, as you of the game creators jointly
which is extremely well de- can read more about this in participated in the World
veloped for a joystick with two interviews presented on Cup. The events kicked off
a single fire button. It is just the following pages. in a sublime and somewhat
this aspect of the game that humorous way: with flags and
one can master, and just The fifteenth World Cup tour- national anthems ripped from
like in real football you can nament was played in Ire-
master the skills of dribbling, land at the former chocolate
trapping and passing the ball. factory located in the heart of
Quality, accuracy and effec- Dublin. The two-day event was
tiveness in the game depend attended by 38 players from
solely on player skill and on, 11 countries, and the impor-
unlike in most modern games, tance of the tournament was
in-game characters stats. In underlined by the presence
a nutshell, you can play KO2 of the two game developers:
at the amateur level, but you Dino Dini (designer and pro-
might also improve to reach grammer) and Steve Screech
EDITORIAL

2015 World Cup stats
C64s Olympic Games, players atmosphere and equally great Amount of games played: 384
AMIGA
Amount of goals scored: 2659

were presenting themselves, stout immediately resulted in
Average goals per game: 6.92
sharing greetings and posing a very positive atmosphere, New players in tournament: 11
for group photos. Applause, good humor and lots of loud Total free beer drunk: 72 litres!
short speeches and the ball cheers after the goals were
kicked off on 12 Amiga sets scored. connected through a 25-year
(1200s and 500s) connected -old computer game!
to traditional TVs or monitors. Football playtime is one thing,
Simultaneously the crew star- but there is something more The second day of the tour-
ted to drink an amazing Irish important to point out: during nament started with the last
stout which was gifted by one this tournament I saw a group games of the group stages
of the local breweries. of 30-40 year old geeks that and then the World Cup ente-
seemed to be incredibly inte- red its final stage. As always,
Players were drawn into 4 gro- grated with each other. I met there were a few surprises,
ups and everyone had to face people gathered around a re- some favorites were knocked
his opponent once. The top tro game they have played out before the semifinals,
players from the group stage since their while others, in turn, presen-
advanced to the next round ted themselves above initial
to play for the Champion expectations. The Shirt of
Cup, those rated in the middle Shame winner emerged after
continued playing for the a series of penalty kicks. The
Silver Cup, and the last ones Silver Cup was won by Lee
fought to avoid a Shirt of from England (it was his debut
Shame, which initially gave its in the World Cup event) and
name to the WC 2015 anthem the matches for the world
song performed by Dino Dini championship, starting with
himself. The official World Cup the semi-finals, were shown on
game version is called KO- childhood times that still the big screen. At this stage
2CV (KO2 Competitive Ver- gives them tons of fun! Just to the best players in the world
sion, the file accessible from: play some football on classic showed their true skills, there
http://2015.kickoff2worldcup. Amiga sets, they flew in from were lots of goals and the
com) and on top of the cu- various countries in Europe games usually ended with
stomized graphics for the 2015 and beyond (one of the par- high scores, like 7-5 or 6-9. Two
tournament, it also includes ticipants lives in Seattle, USA). finals were played between
some special settings for Over the years they have for- Andy G. from England and
competitive gameplay. Great med a hermetic crew (most of current champion Gianni T
them have known each other representing Italy. Two games
for years), but on the other ended in an unexpected, yet
Kick Off 2 World Cup history
hand they are extremely frien- fully deserved victory by Andy
2015 Dublin, Ireland. Winner: Andy G dly and open to newcomers. the world champion title
2014 Copenhagen, Denmark. Winner: Gianni T went to England and Andy
Although I was new there
2013 Voitsberg, Austria. Winner: Alkis P
2012 Milan, Italy. Winner: Dagh N I instantly got introduced and couldnt stop wiping away the
2011 Birmingham, UK. Winner: Gianni T enjoyed the friendly and funny tears of emotion.
2010 Duesseldorf, Germany. Winner: Dagh N atmosphere! This tournament
2009 Voitsberg, Austria. Winner: Gianni T
was indeed unique, as there In one year we all meet again!
2008 Athens, Greece. Winner: Gianni T
2007 Rome, Italy. Winner: Spyros P were altogether 11 players at- The discussion on where to
2006 Rickmansworth, UK. Winner: Spyros P tending the WC games for the play the next years World
2005 Cologne, Germany. Winner: Gianluca T first time. Such an influx of fre- Cup has already been kicked
2004 Milan, Italy. Winner: Gianluca T
sh blood is desirable in each off in the community forums
2003 Groningen, Netherlands. Winner: Gianluca T
2002 Athens, Greece.Winner: Rikki F community, and especially (http://ko-gathering.com/
2001 Dartford, UK. Winner: Alkis P welcomed within the groups forum).
EDITORIAL

AMIGA
EDITORIAL

Gianni T. Kick Off 2

AMIGA
community star
Interview by: Tomxx
Gianni T., namely Gianni Torchio, is Milan-based 4-time Kick Off 2

World Cup champion, one of the major figure of KO Association
community group, attendant of 8 out of last 10 World Cups. In the
interview held during 2015 tournament in Dublin, Ireland, we talk
about his early career, long-lasting passion, friendship and the
future of KO2 community.
Hi Gianni, as the current Kick have Olivier who reached nes Day, I took all the money
Off 2 world champion, how do the big screen games for the I saved for years and bought
you feel this year on your road first time ever, and Andy, who both, the Amiga 500 and the
to defending the title? kicked out Fabio in quarter KO2 game. It was the best
finals. I know Im the player game Ive ever seen, purely
So far I reached the semi-final they prefer to avoid on the love at first sight ;) Our KO
stage and Im excited to aga- road to the final, but all of the group started to grow and
in play for the title. The atmos- players at this stage are strong we ended up with a team of
phere over here is very positi- and games are going to be 6 close friends, including my
ve and the quality of football intense! cousin and my brother someti-
is high. Although some great me later.
names from the KO scene are How did your adventure with
missing in Dublin (for instance KO actually start? Do you practice on real retro
last year we had 4 previous hardware?
champions playing for the title It all started 24 years ago, in
and this year its just me who 1991. I started to play KO2 I own 5 Amigas and practi-
previously won the cup), we on an extended A500. I was ce at least twice a month.
have many players over-per- introduced to this game by I obviously play more often
forming this year. For instance, my friend on February 13th. before the events and world
in the semifinals we already The day after, at the Valenti- cup tournaments. But I dont
call it a practice. To me
personally its just a pleasure,
its a social fun time where we
gather together, play, drink
I took all the

money I saved
for years and
bought both,
the Amiga 500
and the KO2
game. It was
the best game
Ive ever seen,
purely love at
first sight ;)
INTERVIEW

and chat. Identically like go- What do you think of the

KO-gathering group?
AMIGA
ing out to the pub.
World
Cup 2015 top 8 players, from left:
Do you consider KO2 the best Its like my family. We
Jacob, Thor, Fabio, Gianni, Sandro, Andy,
football game ever created? know each other for Oliver, Chris
many years and actu-
So far, yes! There are defini- ally grew up together
tely football games with great playing this game. I met
ideas, like PES or FIFA, but their most of them in real life
problem is the game play and and it is where some gre-
more specifically, the way you at friendships have been
handle the ball, which is far started. Our meeting
behind the KO standards. Sure, over here is only partially
they have licenses, awesome due to the tournament;
graphics and the stadiums another important
appear to live. However, if aspect is that of personal
you score great goal you relationships that were KO-gathering
community at 2015 World Cup
dont feel its your own effort. maintaining. in Dublin. Gianni fourth from right.
Instead, you say this goal was
scored by Messi because of What is your hope for the
his in-game skills. In KO, on the future of KO-gathering?
other hand, everything is only
up to you. The main objec- I dont think we will
tive is to master ball control, significantly grow, but
exactly like in the real football. the goal is fulfilled for
KO has the most powerful ball many years: to reach
control system within all sports membership stability
games and so far its unrival- and keep this game
led. alive. World Cup events

usually host 40-50 play- 2015
World Cup game: Gianni vs Helmut,
Fabio spectating.
The main objective is to master

ball control, exactly like in the
real football. KO has the most
powerful ball control system
within all sports games and so
far its unrivalled.
What about Sensible Soccer, ers, and we tend to see

KO2s main competitor on an uptick of players from
Amiga? the countries where the World
Cup 2014 (Copenhagen) top 3
events are being hosted players. Another victory of Gianni.
Sensible has got better in. We are all constantly
graphics and their designers in touch using our own
did a really good job on that. forums but also through
But the gameplay is far behind social platforms, like in
the KO level. For instance, you Facebook groups or
can steal the ball when run- WhatsApp.
ning from behind, or you cant
trap the ball, so there is barely
any challenge with that.
INTERVIEW

Dino Dini
AMIGA
GameDev Story:
Interview by: Tomxx
Dino Dini, British computer game developer, programming lectu-

rer and original creator of the Kick Off series of football games.
In the long interview for K&A plus Dino talks about early game
development, rough relationship with the publisher, current rela-
tions with KO-gathering community and plans for the upcoming
Kick Off Revival game for PS4.
Hi Dino, I cant start my inter- funding to allow me to do my grammed the game all by my-
view in any other way but ask- game my way, where I can self, I did have a publisher who
ing about new and shiny Kick call all the artistic shots and provided support in certain ar-
Off Revival project. How did it not be forced into certain eas. They connected me with
happen that you again decid- solutions, like 3D realism or Steve Screech who provided
ed to refresh the franchise? commentary - 10 years ago the pitch and sprite graphics,
you couldnt do this. tested the game, advised on
I have been continuing game football and helped to devise
development ever since the What is your mission behind and tune the tactic files. He
original Kick Off, but with time Revival? had the role of a producer
passing it became very diffi- for KO, in the same way Mike
cult to do independent game I want to keep the spirit of the Merren helped me on GOAL!
development, because of the original game. The primary Its like with books - you dont
state of the industry. I was an mission is to make this game do everything in isolation,
indie gamedev before it be- with modern hardware and you have an editor to give
came a thing. That all stopped modern controllers, that has you feedback. So even back
when the first PlayStation the spirit of the original game then I wasnt all by myself and
came out. A good business and takes it further. today this surrounding group is
model for indie game devel- even larger. Ive got someone
opment no longer existed. Whats your progress so far? to deal with the platform-spe-
I didnt want to make a game cific stuff, someone else for
in my spare time and then let The ETA of the new game is special effects, art, animation,
it disappear with no marketing 2016. For the last 18 months testing, optimization, market-
and no support from the pub- Ive been working part time on ing, etc. Ive got all of them
lisher. A few years ago I tried it, but now its my full time job. to help me so I can focus
with a game called Buggy The final product will also use on game programming and
Wars that was released in some of my early prototypes, game design.
pre-alpha, but I shelved this like ball interception and free
project because there were kick snippets. Whos your publisher and
not enough people interested whats the role of Sony on this
in playing it. What does your development project?
crew look like today? Are you
Then about two years ago, a solo-development team? Sony is backing up this project
Sony started communicat- financially but its being pub-
ing with me, and eventually Its similar to the old KO - al- lished by The Digital Lounge
gave me the opportunity and though I designed and pro- - the French company run by
INTERVIEW

Abrial Da Costa, whos the remembered. This is an artists friendly way. We moved on
AMIGA
guy behind the relaunch of ultimate test, isnt it? So yes, since then, but the community
Another World. So its bigger I can say it looks like I created is its own thing and although
and more professional com- something that stood the test I dont aspire to be the com-
pared to the original KO. of time and Im proud of that munity ruler I still want to be
and Im happy of this achieve- the owner of the game. I view
How did your development ment. it as a protections of my moral
environment change over the rights. Strictly, people should
years? Do you keep in touch with ask for permission from me to
folks from KO-Gathering? What modify my work. If people are
Previously it was just bedroom are your relations with the KO playing with something that
programming and in gener- community? I havent designed then obvi-
al bedroom business. It was ously we start to get an issue
a 68k assembler vs Unity3d Sure, but I dont have a day- with creative ownership. Its
nowadays. But honestly the to-day interaction with the like people modifying a book
environment hasnt changed group, as Im a bit busy and to their own taste or editing
that much; there are obviously also try to keep a little bit of a film, eg. Star Wars Episode
different languages giving you a distance, because I dont IV, would that be right? Its an
the convenience to make the find it too healthy to be right interesting question.

game better, but in the end in there all the time. But I start-
the whole process is very simi- ed to attend the events a few
lar. I sometimes even question years ago. The first one was I view what I do as
how much more productive in Milan and the community an art form and my
I actually am nowadays, be- treated me very nicely, they games are perfor-
cause I managed to make the gave me a lifetime achieve- mances which are
original KO1 all in assembler in ment award. This is a very presented to the
15 months and only 3 months precious thing to me and gaming audience
to do KO2 on top of KO1 means a lot. Nowadays Id thought a techno-
source code. I did rewrite the like to get more involved into logical medium.
entire code for GOAL! though. community, but the problem
is to figure out how do to it so
Now, lyrics in your KO2 World that it all works. Id like to be What kind of modifications are
Cup anthem say: 25 years involved into the development you referring to?
theyve played my game. of the official competition
What do you actually feel see- version for Amiga. The current Most importantly, there were
ing all these people playing tournament versions arent be- already many fixes made to
KO and gathering all together ing developed by the source many different versions of
year after year? code, they are created by just KO: starting from the original,
hacking the executable. through World Cup, Final Whis-
I feel proud! If there is some- tle, to Return to Europe. There
thing I want to achieve with Isnt it a perfect opportunity for are a whole bunch of data
any of the art is to stand the you to get back to the com- disks that extended and fixed
test of time. I view what I do munity by offering your help the game. There was also an
as an art form and my games and KO2s source code? oracle crack that was much
are performances which are more popular than the official
presented to the gaming Yeah, it could! But first I need versions, which is probably
audience thought a techno- the community to really want the most played version of my
logical medium. To me writing it. The community can be game (with possibly unknown
a game is like writing a book a bit fickle. When I got back modifications). It turned out
or song. The ultimate goal to EU in 2002 and I introduced that there was a bug that
is to create something that myself to the KO association I fixed, which may have ap-
has a value so that it can be I was not received in a very peared in early versions of the
INTERVIEW

game. And this is not what a piece of code that was control the ball differently in
AMIGA
I intended as a designer! In used for Player Manager to the penalty box. Some players
a sense there was a version make the players more likely who got used to this feature
branch and a bug just be- to score in the penalty area really wanted to keep it in and
came a feature. It gets worse.. by allowing them to control those who didnt use it consid-
people play hacked versions the ball better in the box. And ered it as cheating.
of my game and I dont even I was okay to do this for AI, but
know whether their bug com- absolutely not okay to do that The competitive version ac-
plaints are related to the ver- for a player! It goes com- tually has the PBD toggle
sion they have been playing, pletely against my philosophy: feature.
or if the bugs are in the crack. a player and a ball a separate
entities and you dont mess Yes, Steve C made it as an
What bug was it? with them. It turned out that, option to be turned on/off
by mistake, it was active also individually for players to try
It was called Penalty Box for joystick players and result- resolving this situation.
Dribbling. It seems it was ed in players being able to
How do you design games?
How do you approach the
unknown before you hit pro-
gramming phase of the game
creation process?
When someone asks me to

design a game based on
sport, the first thing I do is to
fully understand the concept
of what I based my game on.
And then I look for the most
important design rules for my
game, as the game I simu-
late already has its own set
of design rules. So the natural
thing is to go to the actual
rules of football, which have
been chosen as they made
The history of Kick Off 2 iconic image
this game so exciting. I call it
Did you ever wonder on which football characters have been depicted going to the source. Unfortu-
on the Kick Off 2 box cover and game loading screen? The image is nately, some people making
quite iconic but most importantly the characters are real and the art-
games go to the previous
work was inspired by 2 photographs taken in 80s.
version of the same genre.
The first image on the left presents Mexican super star Hugo Sanchez E.g. by making a racing game
and the picture was taken during 1986 World Cup played in his home
they tend to see the previous
country (the original one below). The second one is Andy Grey playing
for English club Crystal Palace back in 1987. racing games, and I think this
is wrong. Instead they should
Artwork was created by the 3rd party agency start by learning about the
cooperating with ANCO back then and nei-
sport, and trying to understand
ther Dino Dini nor Steve Screech had anything
to do with this work. Its quite important, as whats boring and whats
rumours say, that these images were just cop- exciting. Even the Formula 1
ied from football magazines. Back in eightees regulators adapt to make their
the media law was quite liberal and copy-
rights werent strictly obeyed, so both players
sport more exciting and game
presented in the artwork never got a single designer has to do the same:
penny of their contribution to Kick Off 2. decide which rules add and
INTERVIEW

which diminish the excitement. then also when you do that,

Games in the Kick Off series (1989 - 2016)
AMIGA
You have to decide on what you can end up in trouble
you keep and what you throw if bad things happen in the
Kick Off (1989)
away. In KO I didnt want to game. E.g. When working on Kick Off Extra Time (Data disk) (1989)
have an off-side rule, because Player Manager I wanted to Franco Baresi World Cup Kick Off (1990)
I didnt think it was necessary, make random things happen- Player Manager (1990)
Kick Off 2 World Cup 90 (1990)
but I did want the ball not ing to simulate real life. Like
Kick Off 2 (1990)
to stick because I felt it very injuries, affairs or players bad Kick Off 2 1MB (1990)
important. attitude to get him involved Kick Off 2: Giants of Europe (Data disk) (1990)
into bar fights. Isnt that inter- Kick Off 2: The Final Whistle (Expansion disk) (1991)
Kick Off 2: Return To Europe (Expansion disk) (1991)
The fact that the ball doesnt esting? This is part of life and Kick Off 2: Winning Tactics (Data disk) (1991)
stick to the foot is the main it would make for great game Kick Off 2: Super League (Expansion disk) (1991)
stamp of KO. Was it your initial play. But clearly, if the great- Kick Off 2: Maths Disk (Expansion disk) (1991)
Super Kick-Off (1991)
concept or was it developed est star in your game is arrest-
Kick Off 3 (1994)
during the design phase? ed by police on drugs charges Kick Off 97 (1997)
you can get into real trouble. Kick Off 98 (1997)
Right at the beginning the first My philosophy here is that the Kick Off World (1998)
Kick Off 2002 (2002)
thing I built was the pitch and game comes first. If you get
Kick Off Revival (2016) - in development
a ball. And I made the ball yourself involved in the licens-
an entity by itself equipped es that make sense only from
with physics. I never wanted business and marketing point part of the deal by allowing
the ball to stick as it would be of view, it wont help your the game to be successful.
like carrying the ball around, game play. So I was quite happy to carry
and its not football. The most on that way and I wasnt as
important parts of the game Did KO make you rich back greedy to expect anything
are the ball and the players then? else. Until, one day, I went to
feet, and making it sticky is just Japan to help producing KO
breaking the reality and de- No, I didnt have a publisher on SNES and I was presented
stroying the spirit of the game. that was behaving in an eth- with a video clip of another
Its an identifying feature of ical way towards me. So no, football game submitted to
the sport, so carrying can work I never got any major financial them by ... my publisher. It was
fine in basketball or rugby, but reward. Sensible Soccer, so Anco was
not in football. This is also what talking to Sensible Software,
makes football a difficult sport. What was wrong between you which made me upset. My
and Anco? publisher that I was loyal to
Have you ever considered for all these years dealing with
acquiring players and teams I worked with Anco without the clone of my game? What
licenses or was it still too ex- a proper contract and with- about loyalty?, I asked and
pensive back then? out any proper agreement. got an answer: I dont owe
It all started off as a low risk you any loyalty. That was
There is a whole heap of issues project, so we had an agree- pushing me too far and at that
around this. One of them is ment, but it wasnt anything point I said Okay, then I dont
that you have to pay a license professional. And to be own you any loyalty either.
to use real player names, but honest, Anco had done their And so I was self-funding the
development of KO3 (Goal!)

and jumped ship to Virgin
My philosophy here is that the game Games.
comes first. If you get yourself in-
volved in the licenses that make sense Anco kept the Kick Off fran-
only from business and marketing chise, right?
point of view, it wont help your game
play. Yeah, I couldnt take that off
INTERVIEW

them, because there was no

Kick
Off 2 sprite sheet as seen on Amiga.
AMIGA
paperwork. It was a mess.

And so I got detached from
my creation and its a painful
lesson for me. They then con-
tinued to create new games
under the same brand. Whats
worse, some version of them
were based on my own source
code not authorized by me.
The lesson is always make sure
that a proper agreement is in
place!
Was it the case with PC version

of KO as well? Do you still recall any funny because the finite-state ma-
bugs from the KO2 develop- chine I was using was not up
The PC version of KO has ment works? to the task of creating these
nothing to do with me. Anco complex interactions of logic
has done it, probably using my There were a few of them. over time in the robust way. So
source code. The point is that There was a bug that would I had to come out with some-
they kept doing KO games make a white player to thing better.
without me and it actually appear on the pitch. These
caused me damage, as peo- sprites were unused and Can you tell us more about the
ple see a KO game and they were meant to appear only war between football games
think: Oh, this is from Dino in case of an error. This mys- back in early 90s?

Dini. tical white player that would
My relationship with the
audience has been very
There was that war that happened between difficult for all these periods.
Kick Off and Sensible Soccer. In fact both of In mainland Europe there is
these games owed their existence to me, be- very little bad feeling towards
cause Sensible Soccer was a Kick Off clone! me, but in the UK it has been
a bit different. There was that
rarely appear got interpreted war that happened between
as a ball boy. Another one Kick Off and Sensible Soccer.
Promotional
Dino Dinis Kick Off Revival t-shirt. was the situation when ball In fact both of these games
would end up on top of the owed their existence to me,
net and everybody was there because Sensible Soccer was
looking at each other, be- a Kick Off clone! Sensible Soft-
cause the goalkeeper didnt ware actually acknowledged
know how to get the ball. Or this in interviews that their
the one with the strange and game was created on my KO
annoying bug with the corner concept, that they played KO
kick in practice mode. Some- and wanted to do their own
times, if the ball goes out with football. I did not clone their
the keepers deflection but Microprose Soccer, I did not
crossing the center of the goal even play It, and if there any
line the corner was called on similarities they are coinciden-
the other side of the pitch. This tal. Its difficult, as people just
is actually why I decided to take someones product in or-
rewrite everything for Goal!, der to release their own, and
INTERVIEW

eventually they release almost one reason on why I rewrote So can we expect this feature
AMIGA
identical one, with few basic the game completely for in Revival?
changes. I could have lived GOAL!, which would have
with it, but then there was been Kick Off 3. The main Yes, the intention is to allow
this war started off by Amiga feature with GOAL! was that you to control the speed of
Power magazine which later I wanted a player to control your player, so that you can
took over the media. I came running speed. And it was choose between speed and
off really bad, as I had been something I was missing from low ball control or better con-
silent in the media until Amiga previous KOs, but that required trol but with a slower run. This is
Power published a fake letter a complete rewrite of the true with the real sport. How-
supposedly from me, which game as it was such a funda- ever, because of this can now
harmed my reputation, and mental change. So the inertia be done by pushing the stick
caused me a lot of pain. (speeding up and down) was by different amounts, there is
put in so that one can control no need for inertia.
Was there anything not imple- players speed. Nowadays
mented in the original KO that we have analog sticks and Thank you and good luck with
you wanted to see in game? its possible to control it much your new game!

easier.
There were some features but
I kept adding new content in
the following versions of this Nowadays Id like to get more involved
game. At some point of KO2 into community, but the problem is to
(around Expansion disks) there figure out how do to it so that it all
wasnt actually much more to works.
put in, and that was actually
Dino
Dini in front of Kick Off Revival banner. Dublin, 2015.
INTERVIEW

Soccer Kid
AMIGA
Review: Don Rafito, translated by: Slayerpl
It is 1994. Before the World cup in USA a game appears that refers directly to the
upcoming tournament. But instead of being a competition for games such as Kick
Off or later SWOS, we encounter a game which tells a story that the world cup
may not happen.
Y
ou can see that you of these games. The favorite the aliens are involved Not
are getting older when one is definitely Lotus 3 and this time around. The brave
you look at your chil- RuffNTumble. But when person is a young football fan,
dren. As an older guy around I see new hobbies of my son, who has a ball and is incredi-
forty years old I am fully aware his friends, football, Champi- bly agile and tries to defy the
of that. But Im also aware of ons League football cards, hordes of opponents, find all
another saying: what youth is I decided to show not Fifa the pieces of the trophy and
used to, age remembers. So 14 but Soccer Kid. And it save the human kind and the
when my older son succeeded, because my child football championships.
started to be inherited my inclination to
interested in amiga platform games.
other things
than fairy- WORLD CUP IN DANGER TALENTED KID
tales and
Thanks to the enormous agil-
wanted to And it all may happen be-
ity the ball in our hands
use a joystick, cause of. aliens, that
oh wait, In our legs is a real
I wanted to show liked FIFA trophy so much
rocket. The little kid juggles it
him where his that they decided to steal it.
and dribbles to aim and give
roots are. Thankfully, our invaders are
a deciding blow against his
I presented not the sharpest tools in the alien foes. Besides that, the
to him games shed. When they try to steal inflated balloon called ball is
which I play the trophy, they destroy it and useful when reaching upper
often and which, cause that it shatters into 5 ledges. But as it is often the
at the same time, pieces. Falling fragments land case with the balloons, their
he liked. Every on different continents. It has encounters with sharp objects
year there its consequences. If we dont usually end bad and there are
are more find a brave person who will a lot of sharp objects in the
gather the fragments and game. There is a saying: The
ball is round and there are two
get the trophy back to
goals.. When the ball is
the organizers, the World
pierced, or the ball goes away
Cup will not take place.
from us, it can happen that
In this moment the
we do not have enough balls
brave person appears,
left. And what we are left with
a real tough guy with is the kids agility.
a gun that is the
usual approach when
REVIEW

game is really nice looking.
AMIGA
Sound is similar in quality to the
graphics and it complements
the game. Nice to listen to, for
an adult and also for a young
player.. the modules and
samples mix good with the
action on the screen. And the
typical sounds for football, e.g.
referees whistle, underline the
close connection of the game
with football.
KRISALIS, who as a publisher

was not a company special-
izing in platform games and
their most famous title that
I can think about is Sabre
Team, is not similar to the
Soccer Kid. They surprised
us with this release just like
our national football players
with their performances in the
qualification game against
Germans. So I consider Soc-
cer Kid as a successful game
for the more sophisticated
users. The game can be a little
bit too difficult for the young
players. As we know, children
and also less patient adults
can sometimes lose their pa-
tience. But the practice leads
to the progress. And stubborn-
ness of a maniac creates.
a computer maniac. It is
better to start from the be-
ginning.. But wait what was
first: a chicken or an egg? Oh
wait, wrong magazine!
SOCCER KID
A SOLID PLATFORM GAME erally speaking, it is hard to
Publisher: Krisalis
find the shortcomings of this Year of publication: 1991
Good animation of everything game. I looked up other Platform: Amiga 68k
moving, fluent scrolling, nice platforms (PC,PSX,NES) on
graphics, visible characters which the game was released 9 2 8
and surrounding, we have and it looks almost the same
all the features of a good on each platform. As far as
Amiga platform game. Gen- graphics is concerned, the
REVIEW

In the light of the gradients -

AMIGA
`
the most beautiful skies in Amiga
Editorial: Petrichor
Gradient - to quote Wikipedia. The solution used in computer graphics to com-

plete a specific area tonal smooth transition between at least two colors.
I
woke up today in the friend. How many beautiful of the Beast 2, an excellent
morning, at about 6am, sunrises and sunsets I had seen side-scrolling platform-adven-
in some sort of insomnia with her? The most beautiful ture. After a brilliant intro, we
state or something like that, one was stored on two floppy are finally in the game and
Brewed myself a delicious disks. what draws our attention? In
cup of morning coffee and the foreground we see the
with its first sips I started to While enjoying my morning main character finding his
stare through my window coffee I started to wonder why way through the dark land
at the beautiful view of the these simple graphic effects of Karamoon, fighting and
rising morning sun fighting the called gradients, that are resisting dangerous enemies
darkness of night. One simple nothing more but smooth tran- and solving simple puzzles. But
atmospheric phenomenon sitions between at least two what attracts the attention
filled with a parade of colors colors, play such an important of an inquisitive player, is a
combined with all-encom- role in video games? For me, beautiful gradient sunset full
passing silence of the morning the answer seems to be quite of sinister outlines of moun-
worked for me in some mag- simple: these effects make the tains and mysterious shapes in
ical way and brought back world of the video game we the far distance that show a
many memories of the time play more alive and true. Take full picture of this dark world.

that I spent with my dear for example a game Shadow When I played this game for
the very first time, I kept asking
myself - what lies beyond the
How many beautiful sunrises and horizon and what adventures
sunsets I had seen with her? The still await me? I felt like being
most beautiful one was stored on a part of this land and that my
two floppy disks. journey had a purpose.
EDITORIAL

of the beautiful colors of the sistent and living world that
AMIGA
Would you like to see another rising sun in the distance you we - the gamers can identify
example? Sure! Lets take a would only see limited cold with. Thats why the sunrise I
look at a game called Agony blue color imitating the sky? It was looking at this morning
an amazing scrolling shoot- would not be the same. had brought such vivid and
er with graphic artistry which strong memories and prompt-

delights us even today. The I think the above examples ed me
burning glow gradient in one give you a broader picture to write
of the last stages of the game and illustrate the importance this text. The above
is so well made that you could of gradient and how it chang- I hope examples give
feel the fire consuming this es the perception of the that after you a broader
beautiful land. Again, in the games we play. reading picture and
foreground we have the main this article illustrate the
character and right behind To create a good gradient and then importance
him we can see the burning often requires a lot of work looking at of gradient
trenches of the trees and,in and optimal Amiga resources a spectac- and how it
the distance, a fiery glow of management. Sometimes it ular sunset changes the
the burning sun. may seem that using gradients youll perception of
is just a simple trick, where one mutter the games we
I could give you hundreds of simply needs to select two under your play.
other examples and although matching colors and make nose, Ha!
the gradient works best with a smooth transition between In what game have I seen this
2D games, it is not limiting itself them. But to get a great result, sunset?.
to the over-mentioned. Just which for example can be
imagine that Lotus III Ultimate seen in such a masterpiece
Challenge, one of the most like Jim Power, you have to
popular racing games on Ami- use a a few extra tricks like
ga, doesnt have the gradient sprites techniques to manage
effect. Youre riding one of the the effect.
curvy roads in the Alps, you
pass other cars, taking anoth- The masters of using graphical
er corner and go down the hill capabilities and pushing Ami-
towards ... a simple, flat and ga to the limits were, without
one-coloured background, a doubt, guys from Psygnosis.
instead of the colorful setting Through various treatments
sun and the mountains. Would and graphic tricks (raster lines,
the fun be the same? I am halfbrite graphic mode, etc.)
sure, it would not! they were able to create a
graphical masterpiece, such
Or would you feel the same as Agony game, which I
atmosphere in the game mentioned earlier. I can say
Dune, when upon visiting without a doubt that the best
Fremens on the desert instead gradients Ive ever seen were
in their games.
Top 10 of Amiga sky gradients

Using all these graphic
1. Shadow of The Beast (seria), Psygnosis tricks in the back-
2. Agony, Psygnosis grounds combined
3. Gods, Renegade
with what the game
4. Unreal, Ubi Soft
5. Lamborghini American Challenge, Titus itself offers when it
6. Dune, Virgin comes to the game-
7. Soccer kid, Krisalis
play, creates a con-
8. Lionheart, Thalion
9. Lotus III: The Ultimate Challenge Gremlin
EDITORIAL
10. Elf, Ocean

Resurrection: Karateka
Review: Bobikowoz; translated by: Slayerpl
Jordan Mechner is famous in the world of electronics because of two rele-

ases: Karateka and Prince of Persia. The second title is a world known brand
which exceeds the game industry. Beside computers and game consoles
Prince of Persia appeared in the cinemas, comics and also in the special
edition of LEGO. The elder brother of the Prince, pundit of the Japanese
martial art, is not that famous. He was not however completely forgotten.
After almost 30 years after the debut on the Apple II Mechner prepared an
updated version.
SAVE THE GIRL the princess from the dungeon BEAUTIFUL JAPAN
and cause that the vile warlord
T
he story told in Karateka is pays for his sins. The way to the
The change in the graphics is
not so original. The village, palace is not easy, the palace
obvious. The years go by and
where you have lived, was is placed on the mountainous
the technology also progresses
burnt down and your fiance island and terrain obstacles are
and the author didnt want to
Mariko was abducted by the not going to stop you. When
use the popular in indie circles
local warlord Akuma. As the you reach the coast, Akuma
pixels. New Karateka is not one
sole survivor, you have to do knows about your presence. His
of the high budget productions
something. You have to free men, one by one, follow your
so it doesnt astound us with
footsteps. Be careful and con-
a huge number of effects put
centrate on every target. Those
on every polygon. However
are the principles in which
we cannot deny the game its
Karateka believes.
beauty. A little bit overdrawn,
unproportioned characters,
The gameplay begins when the
together with cellshading, give
warrior ends the climb on the
the comic style to the game.
treacherous cliff close to the
This form does not age too
palace. From this moment on,
quickly. Everything, just like in
his every step will be a test of
the original is clear and neat.
skill of fighting against the Aku-
ma warriors. Here the differenc-
30 years ago it was difficult to
es the classic game from the
talk about special graphics
middle of the 80ties and their
effects, minimalistic interface
updated 2013 version begin to
consisting of two energy bars
appear.
is not interrupting. Sporadical-
ly, the time elapsed and the
amount of points appear. The
Screenshots
Allthepictures,whichaenotfromC64,weredownloadedfromkarateka.
com. These from C64 are my own screencaps.
REVIEW

graphics of Karateka can be

IS IT A GAME OR A MOVIE?
considered nice looking. The
seen, far, far away apex is the To cause that the game would
metaphor of the objective of not be the series of senseless
our warrior. The whole time it is fights, Mechner uses between
in the range of our sight and it the fights short cut scenes, in
does not let us forget about it. which angry Akuma appears
Even though it is far away, it is and sends the armed guards
not moving, it does not change in our direction. In the 80ties
with the elapse of the time. of the last century we could
Minimalistic graphics could say that we were a part of
enchant us on the day of the interactive, film adventure. In
premiere, even though when the new version we can see
we look at it from todays per- the animated scenes between
spective it can be too mono- the fights. To keep the games
tone and static, especially premise not even a word is said
when we enter the dungeons. during the game. The authors
When the far away mountain decided to use the animations
disappears, the screen is filled based on the games engine,
with black which is limited only because of that new Karateka
by the doors, which hide prob- is unique in comparison with
ably next dangers. The dark- other small productions. In the
ness which is omnipresent In majority of small games plot
the underground, tries to take cut scenes are limited to single
away our confidence, destroy pictures, with a small amount of
our concentration and hide the animation. placement of the punch.
road to the objective. What is left from this sort of
Only two games, but five gameplay? Not a lot. Char-
different endings are to be acteristic triangles symbolizing
The characters with the full
discovered, counting of course the level of health is the only
range of their moves can give
only the ones you can see after element which didnt undergo
an impression of a foto-real-
defeating Akuma. The game the modification. Modern Ka-
ism. Nowadays, to make the
industry in many games gives rateka is focused on blocking
computer characters move in
us ability to end the game the punches and requires from
the way similar to reality, the
in a couple of ways. In the the player the focus-
motion capture technology is
beginning of 80ties the end of ing on the rhythm of
used, which scans the move- Anecdote
the game with something more the opponent. Before
ments of the actors. Jordan
than a screen with congratu- the opponent attacks, Version for Apple II
Mechner also used this technol-
lations was a rarity. The game we hear in the back- was on a one side of
ogy to capture the reality but
which had a two endings, was ground the series of a diskette, but trying
in a different way. Rotoscopy to load the game
a novelty. sounds which indicate
is a solution which uses man- from the other side
how long the attack- was also possible.
ual drawing of film captures. HIGH FIST, LOWKICK ing sequence of the Switching the sides
The effect that he achieved, of diskettes caused
opponent will be. If
satisfied him to such an extent The gameplay has undergone also turning the world
we succeed in block- of the game upside
that he used this technology in certain changes during the
ing the attack, then
his next production Prince of years. 8bit Karateka gave the
we can perform the
Persia. full control into the hands of
counterattack.
the player. Using the keyboard,
you could deliver six different
types of blows and precisely In both releases the player and
choosing the range and the Akumas guards automatically
REVIEW

NOSTALGIA VS. MODERNITY
From the contemporary point of

view, the predecessor seemed
to be monotonous. Small variety
of opponents and the environ-
ment causes that the schematic
fights can seem boring. You be-
come more bored when after
the exchange of punches au-
tomatic regeneration of health
appears. The fights are not
that dynamic. This old release
requires from the player not only
the agility, but a big dose of
regenerate their powers.

Just like in the shooters
from last years, you need
to avoid the blows of the
opponents for some time
to regain your health
levels. In the 80s it was an
another argument to say other novelty. There is a trio of
patience. The aforementioned
that Karateka was one of the karatekas who try to help the
problems were eliminated in the
pioneer games. player with freeing the princess.
new version. Instead of pa-
When one of them dies, anoth-
tience, the concentration and
er one appears in his place.
timing is being tested.
In the remake the health re- The switch of the karateka
generation lost its importance additionally causes lowering After many years not only the
and the valiant warriors find on of difficulty. Every next fighter refreshed reedition appeared
their way healing plants. Plural controlled by the player can hit but also a variation on the
in the world warriors is not an harder and has higher level of theme of the original. Both
error. Not only the fiance tries health. games can be finished by an
to liberate the princess an- experienced player In less than
half an hour,
which causes
that if we have
a moment of
time, we can try
to play a clas-
sic game and
also check if the
modern style
didnt destroy the
premise of the
original, born in
the centre of the
feudal Japan.
REVIEW

Jordan Mechner
Interview by: Bobikowoz & Tomxx
Developer, producer, screen-writer and writer - man of many tal-

ents, jack of all trades. Designer and creator of the famous Prince
of Persia video game franchise; the movie based on his IP is the
highest-grossing film based on a video game. Exclusively for K&A
plus Jordan speaks about resurrected Karateka, technology lim-
itations, Hollywood perception, friendships in gamedev and fa-
mous floppy disk reverse side joke ;)
Hi Jordan! Your early game for me, in no special order: Su- did the copy protection, and
development days are strong- per Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, taught me a lot about Apple
ly related to the Apple II com- Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, II programming. So did Robert
puter. Do you sometimes get Grim Fandango, Journey, Lim- Cook, who did the ports to
back to retro-gaming on your bo, GTA V, Beyond Good & Commodore 64 and Atari 400.
first platform? Evil, Rayman Legends, Chop-
lifter, Asteroids! After playing both versions
The last time I plugged in my I feel that the original Karate-
old Apple II, a few years ago, Characters in your early ka was presented in realistic
I was happy to see my kids products are animated with graphics matching those days
(age 8 and 10) delighted by rotoscoping - the technolo- hardware abilities; however
games like Choplifter and gy that wasnt widely used the remake is more of a comic
Serpentine. Theres a tac- in game development back book style design. Why did
tile charm about the 1980s then. How did you come up you go for such a change?
keyboard and joystick that with such a unique idea?
even kids who grew up in the The story and game play were
modern touchscreen era can I did it because I wasnt so simple, I thought it would fit
appreciate. a very good animator, and well with a more stylized look.
my first attempts to animate
The games you have devel- the figures in Karateka looked Did you have any ideas that
oped are often described as completely unconvincing. So werent implemented in the
unique and well executed and I cheated. original Karateka (because of
thus are considered to be the the technology limitations, for
classics of the industry. What Did you use any vendors while example) but were eventually
games do you personally call creating the first Karateka or used in the remake?
classics? Are these the games were all aspects, including
you played as a kid or some- graphics and sound, complet- The greatest technology
thing else that impacted you ed by yourself? limitation on the Apple II was
later on? the sound and music. When
My dad composed the mu- my dad played the score
So much of the impact de- sic. My moms karate sensei on a Steinway grand piano,
pends on what age you are modeled the fighting. Broder- it sounded thrilling. In my
when a game comes out, and bunds in-house artist Gene imagination, I heard a whole
which ones you put time into Portwood drew the castle orchestra, like the soundtrack
playing! A few that stand out graphic. Roland Gustafsson to a Kurosawa film. Unfortu-
INTERVIEW

nately, the Apples built-in writers who followed me had ro about ten years ago in an
speaker could only play one more of an impact. elevator in GDC, when he
note at a time, so it was a bit told me hed written me a fan
of a let-down for my dad. I love games and I love mov- letter about Karateka when
For the remake, Christopher ies, but I cant pick one over he was 17 (and I was 19).
Tin took the original themes the other. I keep going back
as a starting point and com- and forth between them. Can you share any cool
posed an amazing original stories related to Karatekas
score. You should have seen How was your relationship with development processes?
the smile on my dads face your publisher back in the
when he heard it. 80/90s? Do you keep in touch As a joke, Roland Gustafsson
with the ex-members of Bro- and I inverted the lookup
How do you recall your input derbund? Are there any other table so the entire game
on The Sands of Time movie? friendships you started at your would play upside down. We
Is Hollywood your dream des- early days of game dev that walked into Dougs office,
tination? youve keep alive till now? showed him, and suggested
that we put it on the reverse
I wrote the first screenplay for Doug Carlston, who founded side of the floppy disk, so that
the Prince of Persia movie, Broderbund, is still a close people who accidentally put
and Im proud and awed that friend. So is Robert Cook the disk in upside down would
it brought so many talented (Gumball, D/Generation). As get a surprise. I never thought
people together for such a programmer in those pre-in- hed say yes, because it add-
a lavish production--but in ternet days, I didnt get out ed something like 25 cents to
terms of shaping the final much to meet game devel- the cost of goods, and pub-
product, the director and opers outside of Broderbund, lishers are in business to make
so most of my friendships with money. But he did.
Jordan
Mechner at his Apple in 80s.
Photo courtesy of: MyGaming (http:// other game developers hap-
mygaming.co.za) pened later. I met John Rome- You have already succeeded
in multiple creative fields. Do
you feel its time
to rest or do you
still believe that
your greatest
achievement is
still to happen?
The greatest
achievement is
always the one
thats ahead.
And the resting
and enjoying
need to happen
all along the
way.
Thanks and good

luck with your
further projects.
INTERVIEW

The Strong - US National Museum of Play
The Strong is an interactive, collections-based educational

institution in Rochester, New York, USA, devoted to the study and
exploration of play. The Strong collects and preserves artifacts,
documents, and other materials that illuminate the meaning and
importance of play. The hundreds of thousands of objects in The
Strongs collections comprise the worlds most comprehensive
assemblage of toys, games, dolls, electronic games, and other
items related to play.
The International Center for the History of Electronic Games

collects, studies, and interprets video games, other electronic
games, and related materials and the ways in which electron-
ic games are changing how people play, learn, and connect
with each other, including across boundaries of geography and
culture.
Jordan Mechner also has his own special place at The Strong as
part of the 2014 Collection. The image on the right side presents
the animation reference footage for Prince of Persia. Photogra-
phy below shows developers materials, sketches, drafts, music
notes and multiple of Mechners releases on various platforms:
from Apple II to Xbox. Lets keep fingers crossed, so that the
collection of The Last Express, Karateka and Prince of Persia gets
larger in the upcoming years.
Both images are courtesy of The Strong, Rochester, New York.
INTERVIEW

Le Fetiche Maya
AMIGA
Review: Petrichor
The world of computer games knows several prominent archaeologists, starting

from lovely Lara Croft, a recalling troublemaker Nathan Drake and ending with a
brave and funny Rick Dangerous. Among all these adventurers and scientists, there
is also Michael Fairbanks, hero of the game Le Fetiche Maya, published by the
French studio Silmarils. Lets look at his persona a little closer
L
e Fetiche Maya is an the shoes of the above-mentio- the hidden treasure of the lost
adventure game with very ned Michael, who is the game Mayan civilization. Unfortunately
simplified arcade elements. protagonist and a protegee for Michael, his arch-enemy
The games story-line is not very of Professor Edward Halifaxis, a Olrik Karloff is also on the track
clear from the beginning and, famous archaeologist who has to find the hidden treasure.

unfortunately, the further we go been killed under mysterious cir-
into the game the less impor- cumstances somewhere in the
tant it becomes. We step into Jucatan jungle. The professor
has been Michael takes
looking for
on the task
a mysterious
of continuing
the work of his
artifact that,
mentor, but on
according
top of that to
to the local
also discover
beliefs, le- the truth that
ads to the stands behind
hidden tre- the death of
asure of the his teacher...
Maya. Mi-
chael takes
on the task
of continuing
The gameplay in Le Fetiche
the work of
Maya is composed of two ele-
his mentor,
ments - the adventure part and
but on top
the arcade part. The adventure
of that to
part focuses on the exploration
also disco-
of ancient ruins in search of clu-
ver the truth
es related to the treasure, dialo-
that stands
gues with the local population,
behind the
on solving strange and obscure
death of
puzzles, and on avoiding dan-
his teacher
gers in the form of traps and
and which
wild animals. The second part of
connects
the game is a very simple arca-
directly to
de mini-game, where we have
REVIEW

to drive Michaels SUV and Its really difficult for me to re-
AMIGA
take him from point A to point view this game. On one hand,
B while avoiding various traps the continuous irritation caused
like boulders and gaps or by by the way the main character
selecting the appropriate turns moves and acts has put me off
at different crossroads, while from playing Le Fetishe Maya,
ensuring that we have enough on the
fuel and oil to get to the desti- other hand
nation point. exploring
places such
The Repeatability of the game
as Chichen
-play and very awkward control
Itza or Uxmal
system of the main hero combi-
gave me a
ned with poor animation (It has
lot of fun, so
always been the weakest point
I wanted to
of Silmarils games) makes it very

push further
If you are interested in

the fallen civilizations
and logic puzzles, but
do not pay much at-
tention to the actual
gameplay, you should
give this game a try,
even just to climb the
famous pyramid Cucul-
can.
to push story
annoying and not entirely satis- -line forward
factory. In the game there are even though
often moments where a player I still wasnt
dies just because they put their sure what
feet in the wrong place becau- this game is
se of the poor animation. On all about.
the plus side are well prepa-
red, although still quite similar
locations which, despite their
The game is very specific and
LE FETICHE MAYA
simplicity reflect the mystical
aiming at those who will appre-
character of destinations we Publisher: Silmarils
ciate the games atmosphere. Year of publication: 1989
are visiting on our adventure. Platform: Amiga
If you are interested in the fallen
They definitely give this game
civilizations and logic puzzles,
a charm. Unfortunately, there
is no music to gives the game
but do not pay much attention
5 2 6
to the actual gameplay, you
proper atmosphere, we are only
should give this game a try,
accompanied by simple sound
even just to climb the famo-
effects.
us pyramid Cuculcan. Other
gamers can rather skip this title.
REVIEW

Jaguar XJ220
AMIGA
Review: Don Rafito; translated by: Slayerpl
It all depends on which side of the fence you are standing. When I put that
popular saying into an image search engine, a variety of weird things appeared.
A huge chunk of them was utterly sexist and chauvinistic (not exclusively male).
So, having acquired a point of reference, I started my comparison. But is it even
possible to have a proper comparison without innuendos and allusions?
N
ot according to a cer- persuade them to buy some- my The Best of list, so Ill try
tain commercial for thing. Is it me, or have we to review it as objectively as
some car insurance really sunk to such depths? possible.
price advisor, which teaches How far is going to get in the
you that all men are: a) drivers future, e.g. at the time of our The game greets us with an op-
who pay for car insurance, retirement? Oh, I forgot, most tion to select one of four avail-
b) thinking with their crotch, of us, i.e. people of my gen- able languages: German, Eng-
c) such simpletons that only eration, thanks to ZUS, Fiskus lish, Italian and French. After
a half-naked actress (who and NFZ (polish social security that we are transported behind
sometimes has to take some institutions) wont survive long the wheel of the titular Jaguar
common cold medicine) can enough to retire. So no worries. XJ220, the fastest serially-pro-
duced car of the early nineties.
Im far from doing irrational Other brands like Ferrari, Por-
comparisons, since I try to sche, Lamborghini or Bugatti
approach everything in life still appear in the game, but
in equally objective manner. their cars are driven exclusively
However, each time someone by your opponents. The game
says Jaguar XJ220, I want to offers a career mode that can
reply with Lotus. Thats prob- be played alone or in local
ably what most Amiga racing multiplayer. Thirty-two available
games fans would have done tracks faithfully represent the
in 1992 and would still do to- atmosphere of their real-life
day. counterparts with effects such
as rain, snow or fog that ac-
Back in the day, it was said companies the player while
that Jaguar wasthe main racing in England, Switzerland,
competitor of Lotus.Each of Japan or Egypt.
these games had, and still has,
a slew of fans and opponents. I swore not to make direct
It can be witnessed nowadays comparisons, so Ill avoid cre-
just by lookingat the comment ating the better/worse type
sections under various articles of review. Known from the rival
about the games, where fans game, the track editor makes
argue about superiority of their an appearance, but allows
beloved title. the player for a better control.
Instead of an auto-generat-
In spite of my fondness for Lo- ed track restricted only by
tus, Jaguar XJ220 still has a few sliders, the player can
a relatively high position on manipulate a large number
REVIEW

of parameters, from the competing titles, but also
AMIGA
decorative bushes and the Running the game under WinUAE coming back to it whenever
number of turns to the place- they please. So, pedal to the
ment of the whole scenery. I used to have some problems with metal.
Jaguar. Every time I started the
Another feature absent in
game through Whload on Emu-
the competing game is the Ami (configured as an expanded
economy system. By finish- A1200 with a fast 040 and a graphics
card) it would run so fast that the
JAGUAR XJ220
ing races on a high enough
place, the player is awarded game would end before I even had Publisher: Core
a chance to control the car. I tried Year of publication: 1992
cash, which can be used to changing the Whload settings by Platform: Amiga mk68
repair the Jaguar after each editing the parameters through the
race.This money is also used tooltype icon to no avail. As my
to pay for the flights, if the high school maths teacher used to
say: the best solution is always the
8 7 8
player chooses to continue
hardest. It turns out that all I had to
their career abroad. The far- do was to turn off JIT in the WinUae
ther the players destination options, even when AmigaOS was
is, the more cash is the flight loaded. But it had to be turned off
just before I ran the game.
going to require.The game
can be controlled by a joy-
stick or a mouse instead of dynamism. The songs dont live
a keyboard (e.g. for the sec- up to their full potential. Some
ond player. This is also a new claim that this soundtrack is
feature, which is unavailable nothing short of a master-
in Lotus). The game also in- piece, but Im going to
troduced the ability to save expose myself to their wrath
players progress after each by saying that I dont find
race. Save files are stored on it captivating.It is pleasant
floppy disks, even if the game is to listen to, but it doesnt
launched from Whdload. sweep me off my feet.
It is said that Jaguar surpass- In my final comparison Id

es its opponent in the graph- like to say that Jaguar
ics department. I think thats XJ220 is a game dedicated
because of all the well done for more advanced players.
details, which are sharp and Its more realistic and sports
consist of a large number of a better physics engine,
frames that help the game feel which translates into higher
smooth. Some digitized graph- difficulty level than in Lo-
ics add to the attractiveness of tus. The aforementioned
the game. The colour scheme, ability to control the game
on the other hand, is in my with a mouse is quite unique
opinion too grey. The back- when it comes to racing
grounds are bleak and not games, but serves its func-
diverse enough, which detracts tion perfectly.
from my final grade.
Regardless, Jaguar is
The humming of an engine, considered to be one of
melodic soundtrack and an the best racing games
option to choose a song and for Amiga and every fan
sound effects before the race with a dose of self-respect
are all made well enough, but should not only have it in
in my opinion lack the overall- their collection alongside
REVIEW

Skunks
AMIGA
Review: Don Rafito; translated by: Slayerpl
You shouldnt start an article with a question, but I will ask something. What has in
common a black and white small animal, which, when endangered, is famous for
its disgusting way of defending against the predator (secreting a horribly stinking
substance) with a car racing?
C
ompletely nothing, authors of the game knew a trailer. Why is it important?
except for the name how this name is perceived Because the author writes
of the presented in Polish language, maybe in his manual that there are
game. The aforemen- they would thought about elements of physics and the
tioned Skunks is a pretty changing it. Soo.... I will pro- way the car moves on the
and a smart mammal but pose a new saying: What road. Next question is about
its name, especially used in are you doing? Oh, Im play- the choice of the circuit.
a Polish everyday language, ing Skunks!, lets get into There are eleven circuits and
is not so nice. It sounds bad: details. every one of them has a dif-
You skunk , or You stink ferent scenery, amount of
The presented car racing
like a skunk, etc. If the turns and the colours. Either
game, immediately after way, the circuits are varied.
launching, is similar for me to Then we sit behind the wheel
the known from Amiga and and.... drive.
old PCs 4D Driving Sport.
It refers to it very often and Steering the vehicle is pretty
it is too bad that the au- simple (it is also included in
thors didnt name the game the manual). The pointers
similarly (I understand that plus the chosen keys. For ex-
adding a number 2 to 4D ample: left pointer (and keys
Driving Sport would require O and Y) make the car turn
complicated procedures, left, right pointer ( and the
when we take into the con- keys P and U) cause our car
sideration that the title is not to turn right. We accelerate
commercial). But we have by using the up pointer (and
Skunks. We can say it dif- the keys Q and T), and we
ferent: the game is in English, use brakes with the down
so maybe we should pro- pointer (and analogically
nounce it <skk>? Maybe it keys A and F). We push the
is better ?? key R to use reverse gear
when we went the wrong
After we unpack the ar- way and we want to get
chive anywhere and launch back on the circuit. The key
the game, we are asked C is used to change the way
which vehicle we choose. of viewing the race, the keys
There are 7 vehicles avail- M and N rotate the point of
able, among other sedan, view. ESC makes us leave
4x4 jeep or the truck with
REVIEW

the race and we can look they add a couple of nice C&A Fan 9). Even though
AMIGA
at the replay of our perfor- samples and a dynamic the sound leaves a lot to be
mance ( here we can use module? Oh well, we can desired, I think the game
also keys C,N and M, with only launch our Mplayer with is worth launching, playing
which you can change the our favourite mp3, that way and dreaming how fine
cameras). we will not hear the constant would it be if they issued the
hum. game as 4D Driving Sport 2
With its appearance and
the gameplay the game vis- Skunks is a typical SDL
ibly refers to the aforemen- game port, which has al-
tioned classic, for example ready debuted on Linux.
with the possibility of open- It says in the manual that
ing our own performance as the game supports also
a film. I will say even more, joysticks but it is not com-
it is better. Com-
pletely 3D vector
graphics, in a full
24bit colour palette.
Pretty gradients,
visible objects and
scenery. The game
may lack the in-
troduction, GUI or
something, known
from the predeces-
sor.
Skunks:
Some biological data about the skunk. I couldnt keep myself from
adding this. A skunk is a mammal from the family of Mustelidae. Its
stinking substance is a secretion, which is used by the skunk to attack
the eyes of the attacker, when endangered. Earlier this animal was
hunted because of its quite beautiful fur and to make perfumes from
its perfume glands (yeah, the same where this horrible secretion is
created). Fortunately, nowadays, besides the skunks in the wilderness,
the skunk is bred as a fur bearing animal. We dont know whether to
smile or cry. When you yell at your dog, who does not listen to you, AKA Skunks (there appears
he can bite you, but skunk? You make your decision yourself. sometimes by the name
of the first games second
title AKA Stunks, so may-
Unfortunately, as far as the pletely true. Maybe this is be Skunks is a deliberate
sound is concerned, it really true for Linux, but in Aros we typo?).
is as bad as skunk secre- have to configure our joy-
tion. Besides the simple hum stick to work (thats why we
known from the old PCs SKUNKS
mentioned earlier the addi-
I didnt hear anything. Of tional, besides the pointers, Publisher: Matei
course, we can understand Petrescu
steering keys). If someone
when the car accelerates, Year of publication: 2015
does not know how to do
brakes or hits an obstacle, Platform: Aros
it, read my article about it
but it is all. For godsake,
Aros supports AHI. Couldnt
Receptanasukces, czylimo-
9 2 8
jeboje z joyem w Arosie, in
REVIEW

Star Wars
AMIGA
Review: Don Rafito; translated by: Grka
When Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope was released in 1977, George Lucas had
no idea of how powerful machinery he initiated. Up till now, there are only few sa-
gas which apart from movies have got such a huge media franchise as books, co-
mic books, stories, gadgets and... games. O ne of them is for sure a juvenile wizard
whom my older son adores ( Star Wars comes on the second place). Although
Im not fond of Harry Potter, I value it a lot mainly for its soundtrack. Why is that?
Do you know that the well-known Ta daam, ta da da daam as composed by
John Williams? Indeed, the same composer wrote music both for Star Wars and
Harry Potter. I remember listening to these soundtracks while playing Napalm.
A
lright! Lets leave Har- did invent. Im writing this in show ( as he is only 7) and
ry Potter and Amiga September 2015. When you me to decide if Warner Bros
RTS alone and move read it, it will be after the managed to pull it off after
to our Jedi. When I found premiere of the recent Star obtaining the copyright. I do
out that Lukas sold his cop- Wars: The Force Awakens hope the money wont be
yright to Warner Bros, I was which is released on 12th wasted. My curiosity is even
wondering what the experts December. more fueled by the fact
of Micky Mouse and Donald that Harrison Ford performs
Duck would invent. And they When I found out about again in it. As hes an almost
continuation of the famous retired- actor, it worked
saga, my reaction was quite out for him in the last part
skeptical. I was wondering of Indiana Jones and the
what kind of hybrid it might
be: combination of Micky
Mouse and Darth Wad-
er. I wasnt the only one
that had doubts. The web
was flooded with a huge
number of extremely funny
demotivatos for example
Micky Mouse with the Jedi
sword, Donald Duck in Jedi
Order suits, or as a Yoda Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,
with huge round ears.not so I think that comeback did
to mention Princess Leia as him well. Besides, the direc-
Hannah Montana, no com- tor was a remarkable Steven
ment When the trailer was Spielberg and George Lucas
released, one of the most had a hand in it too. Mainly
anticipated premiere of thanks to LucasArts, which
the year, I had the urge to deals with creating videog-
watch it for myself. So had ames based on movie sagas
my son. Were going to the ( mainly for Star Wars).
cinema in December for
The title Im heading at had
sure. My son is going in or-
not much in common with
der to watch a spectacular
REVIEW

Lucas . However it refers And thats on and on again and easy (well not so easy
AMIGA
inseparably to the famous until we reset the score. at higher levels), it switch-
saga. Although the game es off a constant thinking
was released 11 years after I mentioned the graphics and makes us react straight
the first part of the saga had earlier. On C64 its a wow, away it is unrivalled in its
been released, it let the fans on Amiga- superb! Black category. As it comes to the
of it and computers games background imitating the
contribute to the whole ma- space, among which there
chinery I mentioned at the are vectorial 3D shapes re-
beginning of the article. producing Empire ships. Big
plus for the effect of the hos-
Star Wars was one of the tile units falling apart after
first games based on the theyre being shot. Although
movie Star Wars, which the shapes look as if they
started a new era of media were just their outlines, they
business connected with are still pretty clear, even
creating software based on though the player is not
blockbuster movies. bombarded by the great
amount of colours. It reminds
I played Star Wars for the me the geometry from the
first time on C64. One of primary school. The anima-
the few games that over- tion is quite decent too,
whelmed me with its 3D even on C64.
possible on Commodore.
On Amiga there wasnt such The comparison of C64 sam-
oohs and aahs but I was ples with Amiga would be
satisfied with the better as if we compared black-
qualities samples coming to and-white artistic photo of
choice of a version, Ill leave
my ears. a beautiful woman with the
you with the dilemma. I have
vivid mountain landscape.
Coming to the point. Its to admit though that when
Both are a feast to our eyes
a typical shooting FPP. I want to play this game,
and a pure delight. It is the
Were standing at the helm every time I grab it on C64.
same with the soundtrack.
of X-Wings Rebellion and we Maybe its due to the senti-
Within its category, both
re heading towards Stars of ment.
Amiga and C64 are kept at
Death. So that it wouldnt a high level. The samples on
be so smooth, we encounter Amiga are a bit better due
hostile units of the Empire. to the better equipment itself
Our task is to shoot the hos- but there are less of them.
tile objects and to avoid However, they are well per-
being shot by our opponents formed and they harmo-
at the same time. If we are nize with the action on the
hit by a missile, we dont die screen giving the impression
straight away. Our shields of a real battle in space.
get weakened until they fall
apart. A few such cockups Star Wars is a typical ac- STAR WARS
and well see the well-known tion based on reflexes. The Publisher: Vektor Grafix
inscription game over. At Commodore version is con- (C64), Brderbund USA,
trolled by a joystick, on Ami- Domark - Rest of the
last we see our target, we
World (Amiga)
aim precisely at the reactor ga by the use of a mouse. Year of publication: 1988
of Death Star and boom! In both cases your hand is in Platform: C64,
We start our mission from action. After all ,every fan of Amiga-m68k
the very beginning but on Star Wars or games based
a higher level of difficulty. on movie series should try this 9 8 9
game. As the game is nice
REVIEW

AMIGA
Review: Don Rafito, translated by: Petrichor
Weve heard about games based on various movies on many occasions already,
so there is no need to dwell on this subject, however there are these special kind
of games, that even though are really good, have never made it into top lists.
T
hat was precisely the case game. And why have I decided The game is strictly connected
with Aladdin, a game to look into this title in the first with the movie plot. Thus, we
based on the Disneys place? Some of the games that have the games main prota-
movie with the same title. The get hooked on, are the pieces gonist Aladdin, his main rival,
studio had tried to get some already tested by my older son. the Vizier Jaffars, the beautiful
extra funds and released a Instead of feeding his mind with Princess Jasmine (who our hero
series of cartoons abo- falls in love with) and
ut the adventures of of course in Genie of
Alladin, but if I think of th magical lamp. Oh,
the quotes and funny and lets not forget the
moments...oh, well, clever monkey Abu.
perhaps there was Our hero is definitely
something wrong with not one of the Turkish
the Polish dubbing. dignitaries, hes just a
wanted petty thief in a
Anyway, the game city of Agrabah. So in
was been released addition to evil Jaffars
when players prefer- minions we have to
red different types of struggle against law
games (and the pos- enforcers. Well, both
sibility of getting them have a lot in common,
into their Amigas). And as Jaffar is one of the
what about Aladdin? main advisers, of very
Just another arcade naive and blind Sul-
game. Kinda cool and tan (who of course is
thats it. Bit of a shame, expecting a betrayal
because its actually a from his vizier). Aladdin
pretty well made video must not only fight for
modern, aggressive and bloody his survival, but also protect his
games, I encourage him to try beloved Jasmine and future
good old Amiga titles. Alad- father in law. In addition to the
din fell to his liking, and I am monkeys agility, our main cha-
not surprised because the title racter can fight with apples and
is quite good. With its fairy-tale a sword (he throws them into
like and positive approach, the enemies, or inflicts painful blows
game influences the young with the sword). And so he goes
one and I believe it should be through various levels - and
at least in the top 20 of Amiga during one of his adventures
platform games of all times. he visits Cave of Wonders whe-
re he finds the magical lamp
and gains an ally, the Genie,
REVIEW

he also finds himself in Sultans The title brings the traditional your children and yourself in
AMIGA
Dungeons and finally ends at arcade games movement from front of an Amiga screen (even
the Jaffars Palace, where he left to right or from right to left one from the emulator), inste-
eventually has to fight the final to the next level. Developers ad of spending the whole day
battle. There is also an element used everything that Paulas in front of a TV and watching
of gambling here. After each can provide. As the sound ef- Home alone, but
stage, the player run a draw, in fects are also well made. Each
which he can win e.g. An extra sample, every sound, or each before all that retro gaming,
life or diamonds (quite a valu- theme music; Everything is well take a walk. Its definitely a
able resource that can be ex- balanced, pleasant to the ear must!
changed for a lot of useful items and in sync with the action on
). Alright, thats enough blab- the screen. Some sounds are
bering about the gameplay as also quite humorous, which
I might have already revealed increases the attractiveness of
too much. the game.
Lets talk abot the technical side Aladdin is one of the iconic
of this title. Graphics and ani- titles, which in the Amiga glory
mation in the game are really days was converted to other
impressive. The game is inten- platforms (usually it was a PC
ded for Amiga with AGA chip- and some consoles, in this case
set. I will not lie, AGA shows all the Sega Genesis). Currently the
the potential here when it co- game, like many other great ALADDIN
mes to arcade type of games. Amiga titles can be launched
Publisher: Disney
Graphic is full of details and from a web browser. But it is not Software
character animation contains a always the same. So, instead Year of publication: 1994
lot of frames. And the backgro- of lying belly-up after Christmas Platform: Amiga 1200
unds are clear and varied. The cooking experiments (I mean,
scrolling is also quite smooth. happy feasting of course), get 9 9 8
REVIEW

Exploring and expanding

an untested C128
COMMODORE
Tutorial: GeoAnas
A few months ago, I became a happy owner of a Commodore 128. It was the
flat model, the one without an internal floppy drive. Its price was very tempting.
I bought it immediately for only 30 EUR. What was the catch? It was untested. The
seller of course did not give anything to help the poor buyer (in that case, me (!)
to find out what its real condition was. No power supply, no AV cablesabsolutely
nothing.
A
n experienced Ebay Commodore 128. I couldnt intact. I immediately thought
buyer is always afford it in such a steep price that this was a good sign and
suspicious of this kind they usually reach. I have so how lucky I was with my smart
of auctions that could be many, fond memories of it, purchase. I rudely tested the
a big flop. Untested usually lots of sweet memories from keyboard springs by simply
means broken. Sometimes this my childhood. A very good pressing the keysquite soft
could result to purchase just friend owned one back in the but responsive, everything in
an empty case without any days and I still remember how order! It was the perfect time
electronics inside! Frankly, many endless hours we were for cleaning and tidying up.
I decided to take my risk. spending, playing games and I had first to dismantle the
Image
1 I was so desperate to own one watching old school demos. computer.
It was always turned on 64
mode! There are several screws to un-
screw. I had to be very atten-
Commodore 128 is actually tive during the process, paying
a 3 in 1 micro; A fully a diligent attention to the one
compatible and ready to screw that holds the ground-
play C64, a more professional ing harness of the keyboard.
128 and thanks to Z80 CPU, (Image 1).
a computer capable to
run CP/M OS with a ton of Within some minutes, I was
applications ready-made for standing in front of a huge
this system. metal cage serving both as
interference shield and a giant
Image
2
STEP 1. Cleaning the com- heat sink. There are several
puter Recaping the board metal clips on direct touch
with many chips (like SID). The
When I received the pack- design or better the concept
age I was fairly surprised to of shielding and heat dissipa-
notice that the machine was tion is way more professional
in a fantastic condition. Some here than to his little brothers;
yellowish on its cover and keys C64.
was the only proof of passing
of time. As a matter of fact, The keyboard is sturdy and
it had never being opened heavy. There is a huge metal
since the guarantee silver plate underneath it, with little
sticker at the bottom was black plastic beehive like
TUTORIAL

cells, containing the springs as to why the C128 had been to use it together with a REU
COMMODORE
and rubber contact pieces of put on hold, the middle man- memory unit. That would draw
each button (Image 2). ger nimbly spoke expounding additional power from the
the virtues of getting right computer so they had to offer
As an observer of such a quali- on the job immediately and a more powerful psu, able to
ty construction, I couldnt help someone else, _his_ boss cope with all future expan-
to think to myself: They just perhaps, had made such an sions.
dont build computers today, ill suited decision. The bottom
like they used to. line was we lived in the PCB The European power supplies
layout area for the next sev- were a bit fainter, with outputs
After some good metal twist- eral days. I slept there on an of AC 9V-1A and DC 5V-2.5A
ing, I managed to remove air mattress or was otherwise (Image 5).
the frame. That revealed Image
3
available 24 hours a day to
a huge motherboard, fully answer any layout questions.
populated with all chips in The computer room was so
place, all in perfect order, cold that the Egg Mcmuffins
ready to power on and run! we bought the first day were
still good 3 days later
After a good cleaning and re-
caping of a motherboard but Another Easter Egg pops up
before proceed any further, after typing in following com-
I would like to dwell on solving mand: SYS 32800,123,45,6.
some puzzles, explaining some If you still get booted to the
mysterious signs, left on the monitor prompt, try first en-
board by the designing team tering BANK 15 before the
of engineers. SYS command. It displays the
Image
4
engineers involved into C128
There is an inscription at the desigining process (Image 4).
bottom of the pcb, to some
early revisions of the mother- STEP 2. Assembling a DIY
boards (as in mine), writing: power supply to feed the
beast
RIP: HERD / FISH / GUAY /
PAR (Image 3). The C128 I purchased was
lacking for a power supply.
What do these initials real- I had two options: either to
ly mean? Lets ask Bill Herd buy one in a very dear price,
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ or to build one from scratch.
Bil_Herd) to explain: The US power packs give an
output of AC 9V-1A and DC Image
5
The syntax refers to an inside 5V-4.3A.
joke where we supposedly
gave our lives in an effort to In USA, Commodore 128 was
get the FCC production board marketed as a system for
done in time, after being professional applications and
informed just the week before business use. The concept of
by a middle manager that all a stronger power pack was
the work on the C128 must perhaps based on the possi-
stop as this project has gone bility to use more peripherals
on far too long. After the head attached to it. The designer
of Engineering got back from engineers might think that
his business trip and inquired potential buyers were going
TUTORIAL

At a first sight I thought it was down. Amigas power supply I pressed a random button
COMMODORE
a direct replacement....Same outputs DC 5V and 12V, while on the keyboard without any
size, same box shape, even the one of 128 outputs DC 5V responseand anotherand
the same square metal plug. and AC 9V! another. After all, there were
So why to assemble a new still some more problems to
power supply and not grasp So, lets build one! I found solve. I had to find out the rea-
and use the Amigas, that was many schematics on the net son of this misbehavior.
lying on my desk instead? to help me with my plans. Unfortunately this is a glitch
I decided to use two kinds of that occurs very often to 64s,
That could be a lethal mistake transformers for my new unit. since the 6526 CIA chips that
leading up to a fried mother- For the DC 5V current, control I/O processes are very
board and a nervous break- I placed one switched type sensitive. Its been rumored
Image
6 trafo, with a maximum power that even a slight touch to the
limit of 5A. joy port with statically charged
fingers could kill them.
For the AC 9V, I purchased According to Ray Carlsens
a toroidal trafo with 2 sepa- troubleshooting manual:
rate AC outputs up to 1,67A Swap U4 with U1 to check.
each one. Toroidal trafos are Check also buffer IC U30. The
well known for their excellent chip at U30 is one of 7406 fam-
efficiency so for me it was sim- ily series, namely the HD7406P
ply a one way decision. You (Images 8 and 9).
can google to find out their
benefits. Fortunately I was able to load
the diagnostics from my Easy
You will be surprised for their Flash cartridge. However, de-
Image
7
quality features! I also had spite all my work, swapping
a dead power supply for my the CIA chips unfortunately
C64s. I was planning many wasnt fruitful. I had nothing
years ago to make a heavy more than a still unresponsive
duty psu to replace the old keyboard and a persistent
ones, but I always postponed indicative message, of a bad
it. I grasped now the opportu- chip U1 (CIA) (Image 10).
nity and killed two birds with
one stone. Adding a second- The only available replace-
ary output using the output ment I could find was a pair
lead from the dead one was of 6526B (with a 3 MHz clock).
a piece of cake (Images 6 My board was an initial pro-
and 7). duction version, so it had two
Image
8 plain 6526 (1 MHz), installed
STEP 3. Repairing unrespon- on. That didnt prevent me
sive keyboard strokes (Re- to try. I went ahead and
placement of 6526 CIAs) swapped the busted chips
with the faster replacements
Plugging the power in and I had handy. I replaced the
turning the switch on, brought HD7406 as well and soldered
life to the 128 circuitsSuc- a new socket. 7406 sat com-
cess!, I shouted very loud! It fortably on it and Presto,
was a pleasure to watch the my problems have vanished!
jolly, green welcome screen Further tests showed that both
of the computer! It was finally of the CIA chips were busted.
aliveor not?
TUTORIAL

I was anxious and in a rush Text mode: Fully program-
COMMODORE
Demos to watch
to get my computer working mable, typically 8025 or
again and had already des- 80x50, 16 RGBI colors (not 3 high-resolution demos listed
soldered the 7406 chip. That the same palette as the below are ranked as true master-
impetuosity left me with no VIC-II). pieces. Make sure to play them
on your C128:
option, but to replace this one Graphics modes: Fully
as well. For more info about programmable, typi- VDC Mode Mania V1.1
CIA chips revisions take a look cal modes are 320x200, [2015, Akronyme Analogiker]
Risen from Oblivion VDC V2
at the following link: 640200, 640400 (mono-
[2006, Crest and Oxyron]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ chrome, interlaced). Risen from Oblivion [2001,
MOS_Technology_CIA Crest and Oxyron]
Final touch was a very me- If you have a flat model C128,
ticulous keyboard cleaning, please do yourself a favor and Image
9
springs lubrication etc, etcin upgrade the internal VRAM,

a key by key approach. This from the factory installed 16K
is only for the undaunted users to a whole bunch of 64K ram.

though ;) Your computer will appreci-
Your computer will appreciate such

a gesture and you will able to en-
joy its graphics capabilities and
extra video modes to the max!
ate such a gesture and you

STEP 4. Upgrades will able to enjoy its graphics
Image
10
capabilities and extra video
I. Upgrading the VRAM modes to the max! All you
need is to dessolder both 4416
With all malfunctions fixed, ram chips inside the metal
it was time for an internal armored box at positions U23
research. Time to make some and U25 (Image 11).
upgrades! Commodore 128
has two video chips and is Those rams are soldered
able to display many video straight to the board. You
modes: have to be careful because
your working space is narrow.
1. MOS 8564/8566 VIC-II E This mod job requires some
(NTSC/PAL) for 40-column soldering skills and patience
composite video (for a TV-set not to destroy any tracks. The Image
11
use): end result will justify your hard
work!
Text mode: 4025, 16
colors. Once dessoldered, please
Graphics modes: 160200, check for track continuity and
320200. then install two (preferably
8 hardware sprites. socketed) 4464 ram chips
(Image 12).
2. MOS 8563 VDC (or the 8568
chip in C128DCR) for 80-col- According to Ray Carlsen one
umn digital RGBI component can test the results by typing
video: in the following line in a 80
TUTORIAL

column display mode: chase a special RGBI cable categories/Commodore/Firm-

COMMODORE
(or adapter) to enjoy some ware/JiffyDOS/.

POKE DEC (D600), 28: POKE hires graphics and demos that
DEC (D601), 63: SYS DEC require this amount of up- For those who are eager to
(FF62): SCNCLR graded VRAM. You also need make their own adapter, here
a CGA standard compatible is a quick guide how to make
If the screen responses with monitor. Monochrome display one. This is also available at:
a READY message and looks is also possible on composite http://www.geneb.org/jiffy-
normal, you have 64K of VRAM video monitors; usable with dos. This procedure is only for
installed! If you had only 16K, TV sets only when the set flat models. Others like C128D
the screen will fill up with zeros. has SCART and/or baseband need a different approach.
Now it is time to build or pur- video-in sockets in addition to You will need:
Image
12 the antenna connector. Color
is possible through SCART, only Two (2) 27C256 or 27256
monochrome through base- EPROMs
band video-in. Two (2) 1/4 watt carbon
resistors, 4.7K
I built my own adapter based One switch and some wire
on schematics I nicked from
the blog website of Sinclair Jim There are two Kernal proms on
(aka ZX-Jim) (, 2015) a stock C128, located at U32
http://zxjim.blogspot. and U35 (marked with a yellow
gr/2011/12/commodore-128- circle) (Image 14).
scart-4080-color-all-in-1.html:
You first have to download or
For those who want the best find the suitable JIFFYDOS im-
Image
13
picture in all modes, I suggest ages for both C128 and C64C.
the following connection, Then you will need the original
which replaces the AV40 with Kernal images for C128 and
s-video40 signal (Image 13). C64C. You can find these, eas-
ily at: http://www.zimmers.net/
Jim was a real pro, a great anonftp/pub/cbm/firmware/
teacher giving us all his help computers/c64. You have to
without asking anything for program two 27256 EPROMs.
exchange. Well miss him for
sure. First EPROM will contain both
the JiffyDOS 128 code and the
II. JIFFYDOS Installation original Commodore 128 Ker-
nal ROM (P / N 318020-05).
Image
14 JIFFYDOS is a great alterna- The other one will be used for
tive Kernal for all Commodore 64 mode. It will consist of
computers. Its power is the the JiffyDOS 64 Kernal and the
time enhancement of disk original C-64 BASIC plus C-64
load and save functions. Kernal. Both the original C64
JIFFYDOS is still a commercial BASIC interpreter and Kernal
product, meaning that you are included in the file named
have to pay a small fee to 64c.251913-01.bin that can
use it to your machine. You be downloaded from http://
can order it either in eprom or ftp.zimmers.net/anonftp/pub/
download the ROM overlay cbm/c64 server.
image at Retro Innovations:
http://store.go4retro.com/ After EPROM programming,
TUTORIAL

bend the resistors in a U shape some new commands. Its
COMMODORE
and solder them to pins 27 a cheaper alternative of Jiffy- Unfortunately
and 28 of each EPROM chip. DOS. C128 didnt
Solder a piece of wire to pin make to earn
27 and then carefully clip it Turbo Assembler 128 As the the commer-
just a little bit, to prevent the name suggests an assembler cial success
chip from touching the socket for C128. it deserved,
on the board. Solder a second doomed to
piece of wire on (ground) pin Servant This is THE absolute- a rather quick
14 of each EPROM. (Image ly -all in one- mega utility for and sudden
15). Take a switch and solder your C128. File manager, disk death.
the middle (common) pin to utilities and many more.
Image
15
the ground wire. Solder the
other free pole of the switch You can find all these rom
to the wire you have soldered images, ready to download
the EPROMs pin 27. Follow and program your own EPROM
these steps for the other at Tips and Tricks for Commo-
EPROM as well. dore 128 computers web site:
http://commodore128.mirko-
One last step is to find jumper soft.sk/enhancements.html.
6 (J6) on the motherboard
and bridge the edges with Servant is my cup of tea...
some solder. With J6 closed, Which is yours? ;)
the computer is ready to use
a 27256 EPROM. By default J6 My untested Commodore
is open because C128 is fac- 128 is ready as never before
Image
16
tory configured to use 27128 and has just passed a bunch
chips. of diagnostics written espe-
cially for it! Although I success-
III. Filling the gap at U36 fully managed to restore and
upgrade my 128 (Image 17),
The U36 in a stock Commo- my last thoughts are somehow
dore 128 is vacant. This allows bitter and sad.
the placement of an extra
EPROM as an add-on. User has Unfortunately C128 didnt
to select between those: make to earn the commercial
success it deserved, doomed
BASIC 8 Advanced and to a rather quick and sudden
enhanced BASIC for program- death. I only hope to see,
ming VDC, without loading in near future, many quality Image
17
diskettes. Just turn on the productions coming out from
computer and hold CONTROL many talented members and
key. This is how it works! groups of CSDb, specially
tailored for it, capable of
GEOS 128 2.0 Desktop Do unleashing the power, well
you use GEOS? Are you tired hidden into its circuits.
of handling all of GEOS DESK-
TOP diskettes? Not anymore.
Free some disks and use this
instead.
KeyDOS Disk speeder with

TUTORIAL

Random WB Patt
AMIGA
Tutorial: Don Rafito; translated by: SlayerPL
T
his article almost didnt people that acquired these skills So we begin the work. After
appear. But it was created during their education. Howe- the download and the unpac-
and an interesting and ver, because of their current king in a random place of
extremely important fact was professional private situations, the archive with the program,
revealed. Before I talk about they do not use the learned we copy from the archive to
this subject I have to thank two foreign language, letting this system catalogues two thin-
persons who caused that this ability to fade away. And when gs; to the C: executable file
text was written properly. The they encounter a program RandomWBPatt and to LIBS:
first person is Norbert, one of the manual, which is, because of catalogue we copy the library
users of PPA.pl forum. He, as the the aforementioned standards with a name extra.library.
first person approached us with written in English, they read this In the catalogue SYS:Prefs/Pre-
the help. The second person and think that they understand sets/ we have to create two
is the author of the aforemen- everything. And, in general, text files with the names : Rn-
tioned text (Roland Heyder). I this is true. So why doesnt the dPattFiles-WB and RndPattFi-
send greetings to both persons. program work? It appears that les-WIN. The fist one is a list of
Thanks to their hints, I managed there is a problem with small de- pictures with full paths to the
to launch the program called tails, which during the analysis catalogue with the graphic art
Random WB Patt successful- of the foreign language manual for the desktop and the second
ly. I also managed to provide are not so visible. And whats one is for the windows.
my input to the configuration, next? Internet forums
guaranteeing that an example It is not the first time that the We can create them in two
of the installation of the afore- programmers prove that Amiga, ways: we can open random
mentioned program will work thanks to its open and flexible text editor and wrote manually
100 percent sure, at least on the build, can be really close in everything without making ty-
classics with the 3.9 system. quality to other platforms. This pos because, if we make errors,
Unused organs disappear, as happens because of the deve- the picture wont appear or we
one of the medical facts says. loped software, which is not the can use the system command
This adage can be used in integral part of the system and LIST. Here we also should not
relation to all the other parts of it needs to be installed from make typos, because the list
human life, for example.. the the outside, but, thanks to that, may not open, or it will open
knowledge of foreign langu- the ability of the platform are with a lot of unnecessary, often
ages. English, as we all know, is broadened as far as the build erroneous entries. So we open
the international language of and functionality is concerned. CLI/SHELL and we write:
the programmers, IT persons, And no one is surprised. Thanks
players and everyone that has to the described Random WB List >SYS:Prefs/Presets/
a contact with a global cyber Patt the automatic change RndPattFiles-WB sys:gra-
village more than one hour a of wallpapers on the WB and fika/obrazkiWB ALL FILES
day. And it does not only inclu- in the windows is possible in LFORMAT %f%n
de liking of the pictures of your AmigaOS a couple of years
girlfriend on FB. So lets agree earlier than by the dominating and:
that everyone knows this langu- competition where this option,
age to some extent; so many as system option, became ava- List >SYS:Prefs/Presets/
words from the English came ilable four year after the appe- RndPattFiles-WIN sys:gra-
into everyday Polish vocabula- arance of the first version of the fika/obrazkiWIN ALL FILES
ry. In this group there are also reviewed application. LFORMAT %f%n
TUTORIAL

AMIGA
when, sys/grafika/
obrazkiWB and obraz-
kiWIN is an example path
where are our graphic arts
are. In my situation the
entries were like this:
List >SYS:Prefs/Pre-
sets/RndPattFiles-WB
sys:prefs/presets/
wallpapers ALL FILES
LFORMAT %f%n
List >SYS:Prefs/Pre-
sets/RndPattFiles-WIN
sys:prefs/presets/pat-
terns ALL FILES LFOR-
MAT %f%n
The command needs to

be written Just as the au- nothing happened at all. not needed. And I agree with
thor advises, you need to take And In this situation a person this, even though during some
into consideration small and big begins to doubt its abilities to moments I regretted that this
letters. If we do not do this, the read a foreign language ma- option is not available. No-
command LIST wont find us nual. But as it happens, some- netheless, Random WB Patt
the catalogues with the pictu- times the coincidence rules the became the integral part of my
res. The typos are of course not world, so I coincidentally laun- version of AOS 3.9 and it works
acceptable. ched the program from the afo- properly. Additionally it is great
When we successfully manage rementioned above CLI/Shell in that the effort and the help of
to go through these obstacles, the already launched system. It Norbert and the author made
two text files will be created. worked. So I was not left with progress. Configure, launch
Now we have to count the another possibility than to make and use the program!
number of the graphic arts a short AmigaDos script, insert it The aforementioned parame-
which a given list has, for instan- in: SYS:WBStartup, attach it to ters, for example TIME, written
ce by using a file manager and the command IconX, instead after the command allows us to
write this amount on the begin- of editing the mentioned User- change the wallpapers in the
ning of the command text. startup. Done. given time intervals. Additio-
nally, in this system, we need to
Generally, after adding in When we look at the adventu- have adequate datatypes for
w User-startup a line C: res with the configuration of the our graphic arts and the con-
C:RandomWBPatt, or C:Run>- aforementioned program, we figurated settings in the system
NIL:C:RandomWBPatt and can say that the author did not WBPattern. The application
after launching computer provide us with the GUI to the will take this into consideration,
once again and the program, program which after choosing during the changing of the
we can be satisfied because the paths and the parameters wallpapers on the WBPattern
the wallpaper is automatically does everything by itself. But pattern and in the windows.
changed. In my situation, it did the author notices that after
not happen. After relaunching Random WB Patt
one time configuration, we
the computer a yellow screen do not have to change some- Author: Roland Heyder
appeared with an information thing in the settings, besides Year of publication: 2002-2015
>>>RandomWBPatt/Unexpec- additional adding to the list of Platform: Amiga-mk68
ted Runtime Error<<<, or Distribution: Aminet.net
subsequent pictures. So GUI is
TUTORIAL

Tools Menu
AMIGA
Review: Don Rafito; translated by: Karo
Some time ago I read a really interesting article on one webpage. It was about
some gadgets, solutions that were used in sci-fi movies by the heroes and that now
have become reality. My attention was drawn by a couple of things: a tablet a TV,
a computer reacting to gestures or a hoverboard (Back to the Future). The last
thing was the most interesting for me.
A
nd that is only because show mentioned special trains After opening the settings
I recently watched that dont touch their tracks window, we are can search
an episode of a show (no friction = great speed). for programs that we want to
called Sonda, created by This technology was an abso- include in the list, through the
the sadly deceased Kurek and lute novelty back in the times choice window (e.g. through
Kaminski. The episode was when that show was created. PatchASL or system) but we can
about fast Japanese vehicles. Just as the aforementioned also do it through the graphic
It sems like an ordinary thing hoverboard, which now actu- interface. Its enough to find
- everybody knows that Japa- ally exists, thanks to very strong the file, click its icon and drag it
nese trains are famous for being electromagnets and supercon- into the configuration window.
the fastest on Earth. But the ductives. Just like the trains, the The drag&drop function makes
hoverboard goes on a this program simply brilliant in its
special track, not touch- field. Moreover, the settings are
ing it. saved in tooltypes of icon, not in
files that you would have to look
A similar analogy can for in system catalogues.
be made in relation to
the mentioned program Simple, easy and nice. Its
and the way it works, enough to put in only the exe-
taking into considera- cutable file with the icon to WB-
tion 8-bit computers or Startup. And then you can do
the first Amiga systems. whatever you want to.
Tools Menu is simply a Thanks to this app it has been

commodity applica- proved once again that there
tion that adds a list of are still many possibilities of ex-
indicated programs to panding Amiga systems. And if
the right menu on Work- you are using similar programs
bench. that are not so easy in use and
you have a classic Amiga sys-
There are loads and tem (2.x or higher), change it for
loads of programs that Tools Menu. You wont regret...
can broaden the list of
system tools in the men- TOOLS MENU
tioned menu. But the Publisher: Kim Fastrup
configuration method Larsen
here is totally ingenious, Year of publication: 2015
just like in sci-fi movies.
Platform: Amiga-m68k,
OS.2.x
REVIEW

COMMODORE
Happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday to you!
Magnetic Tape
Editorial: Komek; translated by: Tomasz Kubisztal
Any die-hard Commodore 64 fan should probably own a couple of programs stored
on magnetic tapes (Commodore Datasettes). This wonderful device is capable of
storing data which can be accessed after even tens of years provided that it is
being used and kept in a right way. In this article I will describe how should we care
for our beloved tapes so they will serve us as long as possible.
I
must admit that for a while age is between 15 and 20 that the hardware used to
Ive been making a few C. Because of this, its best play the tapes is free from
mistakes regarding storage to exclude rooms which are any pollution as well. They not
and use of tapes even though intensively heated by sunlight only shorten the longevity of
I was sure I followed the rules. during the day. During the the tape, but also pose a risk
Luckily, I realized it and elimi- wintertime we should make of it getting stuck inside the
nated harmful factors before sure that the tapes are not recorder. Oh, and one more
it was too late. How can we stored near heating devices. thing: keep fingers away!
provide our tapes with opti-
mal conditions? Next factor that should be I have presented a couple of
taken into account is air hu- most important factors which
Probably everybody is familiar midity. It shouldnt exceed have negative influence on
with concept of electromag- range of 30-40% RH. Lets longevity of magnetic tapes.
netic field. Being exposed to keep in mind not to use any If, after reading this article,
it has a negative influence on humid basement rooms or youll realize that youre stor-
our bodies. The same goes for those used for drying laundry ing your datasettes in a wrong
magnetic tapes, which lose as storage space. way please, react as soon
their capabilities due to such as possible and eliminate
exposure. The main source of When it comes to dust it harmful factors.
electromagnetic field in our should be avoided as well.
homes arefunctioning elec- When were done using the I hope and wish you that your
tronics and home appliances. datasettes lets remember to tapes will serve you as long as
Tapes shouldnt be stored rewind the tape to its very possible, dear readers.
in near proximity of: TV and beginning. After that, it
radio set, computer, washing should return to its box. This
machine, fridge, microwave way were minimizing the
or similar appliances. threat of dust or any oth-
er pollution affecting the
The next factor on the list tapes.
is sunlightits influence on
magnetic devices should be Rewinding the tapes from
completely eliminated and beginningto an end is
its best to store them in dark an important element of
rooms. proper exploitation and

has positive effect on the
Temperature also plays an stored data. It is advised to
important role in terms of perform it once in a while
tapes longevity. Most optimal (once a year should be
temperature for their stor- enough). Lets make sure
EDITORIAL

TALKING
HEADS
Commodore Christmas?
Tomxx: From all the gifts I have ever re- mas memories? Perhaps you have also
ceived, I think about two of them with a received your first computer as a Christmas
special sentiment. I received both of them gift?
around Christmas, these gifts were really a
fulfilment of my dreams. Something about noctropolis: I didnt receive my computer
which I dreamed and waited for many as a Christmas gift because I bought my
years and something which I wont leave beloved C64 as a kid from the Holy Com-
after a couple of hours of playing. These munion money. Back then, when I had this
presents were perfect and they made a computer, a great surprise for Christmas
mark on my adult life. were cassettes with C64 games a compi-
lation of different games. Honestly, a word
The first was a PIKO train set with addition- surprise is an exaggeration because in
al tracks, cars, bridges and stations. The most cases I expected it when I saw a gift
second which I received in the beginning wrapped up with a specific shape I knew
of 1990 - was a Commodore 64c with a what was happening and every time I was
1541 disk drive. My own computer changed so happy ;) I received this type of gifts from
everything: it created a hierarchy of my my older brother, who was often playing
hobbies, it influenced me to study com- C64 games with me. I remember one gift
puters, it changed my way of thinking into fondly: it was a compilation of many games
zero-one model. But, above all, it created a with a game called Hobbit in Polish (among
passion in me which exists even today, many others, but bought by my broth-
however today it is characterized er because of this game). After
by the adjective retro. Even reading a review and read-
today I remember with sen- ing a manual of this game
timent the Christmas when My own computer in one of Bajtek issues,
I finished together with changed everything: I was very surprised
my dad all 100 levels it created a hierarchy of with information about
of Bubble Bobble. With my hobbies, it influenced the possibility of text
immortality turned on, me to study computers, communication with
with a Christmas atmos- a computer in such
it changed my way of
phere, with snow outside a complex way and
thinking into zero-one
my house. These mo- in Polish of course,
ments you remember very
model. I needed to see it for
long and soon I am going to
- Tomxx myself. My brother had
repeat it with my son. to try really hard to buy this
game (he said about this later),
And do you have some special Christ- but my later happiness was priceless,
EDITORIAL

and there is a sentiment even now. Even

though the game proved to be too dif-
ficult for me, this type of interaction was
something special, a long remembered
Christmas gift.
Komek: As far as I am concerned, a situ-

ation with a computer Christmas gift was
similar to the one of Noctropolis cassettes
with a compilation of games. Im not 100
percent sure but I think that these were the
cassettes from Robex in Pabianice. I really
loved their cassettes, because, thanks to
them, I had an opportunity to enjoy great
titles such as The Great Giana Sisters or
Hardn Heavy. I remember it very fondly.
Minimoog: In my case, the situation with games I have is not the most important factor
computer Christmas gifts is quite different. and genuine games started to become a
I received PC games. I bought my C64 in part of my collection (with my favourite The
June, during summer and not during Christ- Curse).
mas during which I watched tv and ate a
lot, and the computer was not used even I will mention another tradition, in some sense
though one time my grandfather played christmas tradition connected with C64. Back
Arkanoid! I was probably a lit- then I used black and white TV and a
tle bit naughty because my Unitra cassette player to play. The
requests to Santa Claus The car- lack of colour wasnt such a
for C64 diskettes and huge problem, but once in
tridge amazed
cassettes werent ful- a while I had the opportu-
me with the speech
filled, Im not saying nity to use the C64 in the
however that my
synthesis feature. After living room where I could
other gifts werent
some time I knew all the connect C64 to a color TV
nice. commands of the system which also played sound
and I didnt need to look without the help of an
Bobikowoz: I also it up in the manual additional cassette player.
will share one of my which got lost some- In most cases this situation
Christmas gift memo- where. happened during the free
ries connected with C64. - Atreus days, when I didnt have to go
One Christmas I found, as to school, thats why the associa-
one of the gifts I received, a tion with Christmas.
mysterious tape which I didnt have
in my big collection. Colorful cover with a Atreus: I received my C64 during Christmas of,
drawing instead of a list of games suggest- I think, 1990. It was Night Moves compilation.
ed that maybe it is some music connected Additionally, there was a Black Box V8 car-
with C64, but upon further inspection it tridge from the Rom/Bit company in the box.
was Master Head, a C64 game. The first Unfortunately, I couldnt connect C64 on my-
genuine game in my collection. Frankly, if self and I was helped by my father. He also
Master Head wasnt my first genuine game figured out the way using the games from the
I wouldnt even remember it because I cassettes because the manual was only in
wasnt back then a huge fan of logical English and I started learning this language a
games. What is important is the fact that I couple years later. The only help was a Polish
realized that quantity and the number of manual from the Black Box, unfortunately not
EDITORIAL

too long. We played with my father every story was that they include titan parts and
game from the received set. I remember the joystick was very durable. I asked for this
that we couldnt play Trivia Pursuit because joystick as a Christmas gift and the joystick
of the language barrier. The better games really was durable. Unfortunately, the fire
for us were Sly Spy Secret Agent, Confuzion button was its Achilles heel what you could
and Splitting Personalities. It was really fun, find out after a couple of days.
we stopped playing around 2 am when I
fell asleep with my head against the table. Neurocide: Beginning with the 1991 Christ-
I remember that the biggest obstacle was mas I find my mother a really cunning
learning the steering with joystick and find- person. She made me think that I and my
ing out what is the objective of the game. brother would get fan ice hockey set for
After some time, it became less difficult. Christmas. She said: two sticks, eight pucks
The cartridge amazed me with the speech and ice-skates. I was seeing myself hold-
synthesis feature. After some time I knew all ing the Smolen stick the winter dream
the commands of the system and I didnt of every friend from the neighbourhoud.
need to look it up in the manual which got And then it happens just like with a puck
lost somewhere. After the purchase of the against the unprotected teeth. We
disk drive, when I was using C64 couldnt be happier when we
for a couple of years, I started saw the set mentioned earlier
drawing in Amica Paint. But it I remember by Atreus. NightMoves
is an another story :) when the company (plus Mindbenders) and
Quickjoy entered the everything was as it was
c00k: I got my own C64 market with their Topstar said: 8 games, 2 joy-
just like a lot of my peers model. In hindsight I dont sticks and in place of
for Holy Communion. A know how true was that ice-skates 8bit and his
computer is a comput- friend cassette player.
but the story was that they
er, but we needed to I played C64 with my
include titan parts and
upgrade it. The weakest cousin and a friend so
link, what we can see also
the joystick was very I was a little bit disap-
now, were controllers. These
durable. pointed that the games
included in the set werent - c00k loaded too long (of course,
of the highest sort. I remember genuine games), especially Sly
when the company Quickjoy entered Spy was painful because you died
the market with their Topstar model. In hind- too quick, and the loading took ages. There
sight I dont know how true was that but the was TrivialPursuit on the cassette of Split
Personalities and we played it even though
we knew no English. We were amazed by
Confuzion. Fortunately, after the Christmas
my dad bought cartridge PLUS and compi-
lation cassette with such hits as Panther, Ex-
press Raider or Ninja the Christmas break
was saved.
JargoV: In my case, just like in Minimoogs,

the story of Christmas computer gifts looks
quite different. It was 32bit, the first Play-
station but it does not change the fact
that there is a Christmas story connected
with my C64. I remember vividly when one
Christmas day we sat with my father by the
TV and we looked at the blue screen where
turbo loadedyes, we didnt have any car-
EDITORIAL

tridge, so we had to regulate the head by reason; only I was interested in this topic in
intuition ;) There was time after the turbo my household and no gift could be good.
for the colorful stripes when finally Out Run Before Christmas I got money from the Santa
appeared which we played for some time. Claus and I spent it the next year. During
I remember this view with accompanying the beginning of the 90ties I was spending it in
SID sounds. Several years later I reminded the market square and then, when the prices
myself these moments when I bought C64. of genuine software werent worth a couple
of average salaries, I saved up to have more
Don Rafito: I dont have some specific money and I invested it by upgrading the
memories connected with the Christmas, hardware. My Santa Claus could visit me, for
gifts and C64 or Amiga. The only docu- example, in the beginning of summer holidays
mented memory is connected with the :)
Christmas use of the application Notebook
on C64 implemented in Final Cartridge III. GeoAnas: Christmas was always my favorite
In this program I created a diary where I time of the year to fully enjoy my C64. I was
decided to write about my life ups and always looking for some extra pocket money
downs. Then I started using AmiTekstMini to buy special distinguished games that I was
on A500, and then A1200 and AmiTekstPro. checking all the previous months by reading
Currently I returned to the emulated ver- their reviews in mags and leaflets. I remem-
sion of A500 and AmiTekstMini. Yes, yes, be- ber myself playing endless hours my top hits,
ginning with that moment, I write my diary. Blackwyche, Fist II, Cauldron, Wizards
Who knows, maybe a nice biography will LairMy bias for graphic horror adventures is
come out of this one day ;) obvious! I was only making a rest for Christmas
dinner or when this smell of burning plastic
Mr. Mat: I remember that during the Christ- underneath my computer was so obvious :-D
mas I didnt receive presents connected
with computers because of one simple Translated by Slayerpl
Screen
from Commodore 64 Christmas Demo, 2011.
EDITORIAL

JOHNNY PRESENTS
Merry Christmas
and
Happy New Year!
A gift
Translation:
Someone knew, that as a child I really enjoyed Smurfs.

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2 Komoda & Amiga plus #3

We also made sure to get some more editorial pieces devoted to

I wish you all to stay in the positive sublime mood.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Komek& editorial staff

autumn / winter 2015

CONTENTS autumn/winter 2015

autumn / winter 2015

the game is quite difficult, but games fans.There is a new

autumn / winter 2015

of frosty feeling as well.Good

MINE SWEEP MINI DYLAN THE SPACEMAN monsters.Mutant League

turn to have its own conver- Spaceman and the Smelly

it hasnt much impressive there is only a playable demo DUDE (AZIK)

a pretty good gameplay.Of will be a decent and pleas-

course, we dont need any ant game at some point.Just

rules of play or a further de- as in Dizzy games, in Dylan

scription. I will only mention The Spaceman you move

that the player has to admin- from one screen to another,

ister the coordinates of the collecting items and helping

selected fields by keyboard the characters you meet to

strokes (eg. By typing B2, solve their problems, making

levels of difficulty, but they to complete five levels by

differ only in the number of controlling the Dude main

mensions of the board and el make sure to collect keys

the amount of mines is always scattered all over the screen

the same (10x10, 10). they are the main source of

autumn / winter 2015

autumn / winter 2015

WILD WILD AFRICA...

An interesting bonus has been

autumn / winter 2015

times to get more favourable

Its easy to predict that the

autumn / winter 2015

Review: c00k; translated by: MA

autumn / winter 2015

The Official Father

autumn / winter 2015

Review: Bobikowoz; translated by: Slayerpl

autumn / winter 2015

autumn / winter 2015

Review: JargoV; translated by: Bobikowoz

When I was younger I was thinking how would it be to become a professional

autumn / winter 2015

line before the defence beco- of the game this effect

autumn / winter 2015

Best party games on C64

better to cooperate so Ill put is trapped in a soap bubble,

such titles on my list. which you need to cut to com-

trace. The trace is made from a game, which went through

material that is hard as a brick several parts, known in the

trace or field of play. Because sport with splits champion Je-

the screen is divided into two an-Claude Van Damme. Here

we can increase difficulty by we can both cooperate and

swapping places before screen compete, because players are

:) three including one run by the

autumn / winter 2015

the graphics as well as the fact

autumn / winter 2015

Review: Minimoog ; translated by: Karo

can be called though hearing the same vibra-

a demanding ting buzz while the level loads