Games galore #8: Lala Prologue, Hydra Castle Labyrinth, Aztec Challenge CD32, Tiny Invaders & Tiny Galaga, Amigo the Fox

COVID-19 is still spreading, but that doesn't stop Amiga game development, new games keep popping up. Here's another snapshot of what's going on: 8-bit ports, arcade ports, and platformers all over the place! 

 

Lala Prologue 

 

In April this year arcade platformer "Lala Prologue" was announced. Inspired by "Lala The Magical" (by The Mojon Twins) for NES and other 8-bit platforms, created for the C64 / VIC40 / Plus4, "Lala Prologue" is now making it's way to OCS plus 512KB memory equipped Amigas.

A spooky theme throughout, in this game you'll evade enemies, negotiate moving platforms, avoid traps, and collect power-ups and keys to make sure Lala safely progresses through her adventure at the Great Witch Academy.

"Lala Prologue" looks good in 8 bits, and it surely looks at least as good in 16 bits - it's still work-in-progress, so far we know that it uses a 32 color playfield with two layers, and some bitmap tricks to get more detail on screen. There will certainly be updates, little changes in appearance, and so on, as it's still work in progress, but this is going to be another fun release for the Amiga!

Here's a work-in-progress video (2020-04-04):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOju2pX8iGE

Additional sources:
http://amiga-news.de/de/news/AN-2020-04-00013-DE.html
http://www.indieretronews.com/2020/04/lala-prologue-charming-platformer-is.html
https://readretro.com/lala-prologue-coming-to-amiga-500/
https://majikeyric.itch.io/lala-prologue (c64, plus/4, VIC20 versions)

Hydra Castle Labyrinth

"Hydra Castle Labyrinth" is a Metroidvania style game, ported to Amiga 68k by Artur "Arczi" Jarosik. 

Basically another platformer, but this version supports CD32-gamepads, which itself makes it something special. Of course you can use a joystick, too. A (very) fast Amiga - namely: Vampire board - is recommended to play the game.

"Hydra Castle Labyrinth" has already been available for many platforms - including MS-DOS, SEGA Dreamcast, AmigaOS 4 - and is a welcome addition to the range of 68k titles.

"Hydra Castle Labyrinth" 68k running on AROS m68k (2020-04-05):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRtcwMtM9ZA

Read more about Hydra Castle Labyrinth on ARTIGAMES' blog website:
https://artishq.wordpress.com/2020/04/10/hydra-castle-labirynth/

Click here to download "Hydra Castle Labyrinth":
http://netsurf.baderman.net/hydracastlelabirynth.lha

Support Arczi via his Patreon page:
https://www.patreon.com/ArtiGamesAmiSoft

Additional sources:
http://amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2020-04-00017-EN.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metroidvania
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metroid_(video_game)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castlevania_(1986_video_game)

Aztec Challenge (Amiga CD32)

It's still a rare, and always exciting sight when a new Amiga CD32 game pops up. This one is new, yet old, and we get only one level, but beware, it's friggin' "Aztec Challenge" from the Commodore 64 and Atari 800!

A massive update to the original, "Aztec Challenge" certainly never looked better - this one plays butter smooth, has nice sprite animations, even cinematic 3D rendered cutscenes, and an impressive soundtrack. Yeah, of course, 16 bits can do more than 8 bits, but the attention to detail and overall love for the source material and the target platform is obvious.

Literally everyone who watches the video below and likes "Aztec Challenge" even in the slightest bit will be craving for the full game on CD32 - very, very nice work!

"Aztec Challenge EP01" for Amiga CD32 (2020-05-17):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWgRdyssDRM

You can download "Aztec Challenge EP01" for Amiga CD32 from AmiNet:
http://aminet.net/package/game/actio/AztecChallenge_E01_CD32

Additional sources:
https://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=102240
http://www.indieretronews.com/2020/05/aztec-challenge-cd32-1982-challenging.html

Tiny Invaders & Tiny Galaga

Two arcade action super-classics ports by coder "Abyss" have been released for the Amiga, in pocket size: "Tiny Invaders" is a remake of 1978 Taito/Atari classic "Space Invaders", and "Tiny Galaga" is a remake of 1981 Namco classic "Galaga".

Well, they're not pixel precise ports, but lovely little interpretations of the original games. Obviously they're not feature-packed, but both games play smoothly, look great, and they're so tiny you can put both together on a single floppy disk, or easily send them over a (null)modem line.

If you need a quick round of arcade action these are perfect for you!

Tiny Invaders (by Abyss) (2020-04-27):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrNXGgJ7uJA

Tiny Galaga (by Abyss) (2020-05-25):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQQkWxQsj8I

You can download both games from Abyss' website:
aYS_TinyInvaders.zip / aYS_TinyGalaga.zip

(Note: there are two games titled "tinyinvaders" on AmiNet, none of which are related to this "Tiny Invaders" by Abyss)

Additional sources:
https://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=85458
https://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=85720
http://www.indieretronews.com/2020/04/tiny-invaders-small-space-invaders.html
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=101924

Amigo the Fox

Around June yet another platformer was announced, that goes by the name of "Amiga the Fox". Jump, run, collect coins - just by looking at a screenshot it almost spells out "Mario!", and that's a good thing. This is clearly inspired my some other well known game, and is perfectly tailored to fans of the genre, probably esp. the younger ones.

Erik "earok" Hogan is creating the game using his "Scorpion" game engine, which means it's framerate is 50Hz, and it runs on OCS equipped Amiga 500s and upwards. For "Amigo the Fox" some extra processing power is recommended.

 Amigo the Fox WIP alpha 2 (2020-06-21):

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7_0sMdKfUY

Additional sources:
https://twitter.com/earok
http://www.amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2020-06-00056-EN.html

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...again, we have some Bonus gaming news:

Boss Machine new preview video

Since we last reported about "Boss Machine" a couple of testing/preview videos have been uploaded to Daniel Stephens YouTube channel. The game looked great from day zero, but it's really starting to take breathtaking shape, see for yourself:

Boss Machine : New Scroll Delta (2020-05-05)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjsPLE06qys

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Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for "Games galore #9"!

Check out "Games galore" main page with all articles - click here!

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