Still browsing through 2023 game developments, some of which are still in the works, or have been released only recently: arcade classic remake, text adventure, platformers, a puzzler, and a frogger clone.
Rastan (demo)
Since 2023, loosely-regular demos of this remake of 1987 Taito arcade classic "Rastan" (aka "Rastan Saga") have been published, with the latest showing version 0.33. It runs on any Amiga with at least 1MB of RAM, and it looks really very good. Some of it is pretty close to the original, some has received a bit of an upgrade, and on the sonic side, it's a nice, fairly accurate remake of the original soundtrack.
Great stuff, another arcade classic that previously wasn't available for the Amiga!
Here's the latest video of "Rastan" for Amiga, on Per-Ola Eriksson's YouTube channel (2025-02-11)
Go to the game's website for more information and download:
https://basementape.itch.io/rastan-amiga-500
Additional sources:
http://amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2023-07-00092-EN.html (demo 0.32)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rastan_(video_game) (1987 arcade original)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Binxdx_Qzb4 (1987 arcade original longplay)
Night/Shift
Released in June 2023, "a cypherpunk adventure" it is, says the website, by Eclectic Imaginations. In "Night/Shift", your goal is to uncover the greatest conspiracy of the current time in the game's universe.
In case you didn't know: a "cypherpunk" is someone how fights for privacy and security in digital technology.
"Night/Shift" is an OS-friendly, mouse-driven, click-and-explore text adventure game, with dozens of locations, some nicely atmospheric audio, and a lot of hi-quality, hi-res HAM8 graphics. And, hey, it's free to download!
"Night/Shift" runs on AGA Amigas with 2MB ChipRAM and AmigaOS 3 or higher, and requires 23MB of free harddisk space.
Here's a video of "Night/Shift" on YouTube channel Manga 303 (2023-07-03):
Go to the game's website for more information and download:
https://www.nightshift.cx
Direct download link for your convenience: https://www.nightshift.cx/NightShift.lha
Additional sources:
http://amiga-news.de/de/news/AN-2023-06-00108-DE.html
Guardian - The Legend Of The Flaming Sword (demo)
We've reported about "Guardian - The Legend Of The Flaming Sword" before, so we'll just leave it with a quick note here. At the end of June 2023, new footage of this side-scrolling platformer was uploaded to YouTube, and it is currently still the latest demo material available, so we're assuming the game is still in development.
Here's the latest video of "Guardian - The Legend Of The Flaming Sword" on Yoz Montana's YouTube channel (2023-07-24):
Go to Yoz Montana's website for more information:
http://www.yozmontana.com
Additional sources:
http://amiga-news.de/de/news/AN-2023-06-00119-DE.html
https://eab.abime.net/showpost.php?p=1625190&postcount=793
Spheroid
We've reported about "Spheroid" before, too. Since then, more demos were shown, a 2023 christmas edition was available, and at the beginning of 2024, what appears to be the final version was released. It's (still) an (now even more) enjoyable arcade puzzle game, featuring a sphere and a lot of tiles, and some dramatic, pumpin' music. "Spheroid" runs spherical on any Amiga with at least 1MB of RAM.
Here's a video of "Spheroid" on YouTube channel MODERN RETRO GAMING NEWS (2025-01-01):
Go to the game's itch.io page, for more information and download:
https://andyvaisey.itch.io/spheroid
Doomed Castle (demo)
A game that popped up in July 2023 is "Doomed Castle" by M.A. Soft, and it has some serious similarities with classic "Castlevania", initially released for Nintendo Entertainment System (Famicom) in 1986.
It looks great, with detailed and highly colorful graphics, and has a very nice soundtrack, so if you like side-scrolling whip'n'punch platform games, make sure you check it out.
"Doomed Castle" runs on any Amiga with at least 512KB of ChipRAM and 512KB of FastRAM. Some CPU acceleration is recommended to avoid slowdowns.
Here's a video of "Doomed Castle" on Tony Galvez' YouTube channel (2023-07-03):
https://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=114941
To download "Doomed Castle" (zipped .adf), click this link:
https://mega.nz/file/Ml0BFabC#nL_aLfNF7_hM8Xrwli3daPK0Oi3ZLaztAfwmN940Fp8
Additional sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castlevania_(1986_video_game) (original Famicom/NES game)
R.A.N.A.
"R.A.N.A." is short for "Reckless Amphibian New Adventures". "Reckless" doesn't equal "indestructible", so this little amphibian has to be careful to make it to the other side of the road and the river. "Rana", without the points in between, also happens to be the Italian and Spanish word for "frog".
Does this ring a bell? Yes, it's a Frogger clone. The game was actually developed in 2021, but uploaded to aminet in July 2023. It seems it's not the easiest of Frogger games, and... is the reckless amphibian somehow explosive?
"R.A.N.A" runs on all Amigas, only requiring a joystick. If you like to know how "RANA" works under the hood, you can take a look at the assembler source code available at https://github.com/coppersoft/rana.
Here's a YouTube video of "RANA" on Amiga Retro Channel (2023-07-01):
You can download the game from aminet:
http://aminet.net/package/game/jump/rana
Additional sources:
http://amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2023-07-00012-EN.html
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