AMIGA alive

AMIGA alive

Friday, March 27, 2026

AMIGA alive - the demo

Going back to the oldskool: first demo by Amiga alive.

It was about time to create a demo. It runs on MC68000, Kickstart 1.2, 512KB RAM.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oettY1Dj10

 

Saturday, February 21, 2026

Spot the mistake... #6

This looks oddly familiar. But it still doesn't boot AmigaOS. Sigh. ;-)


Psst, there's a really an actual mistake (aside from the mouse/OS mismatch) in the picture. Can you spot it?

* * *

Friday, February 20, 2026

Pete Cannon and OctaMED 4

British electronic music producer Pete Cannon and his Amiga/AtariST driven studio.

The video is a bit old, but if you haven't seen it, like Amiga, OctaMED, and old electronic music gear, it's a must-watch. Pete Cannon creates jungle/house/hip-hop music, and is an avid OctaMED user. This report shows some of his synths and samplers, oldskool production techniques, and is also a nice, pretty extensive demonstration of OctaMED (he uses version 4). We also get to see some vintage AtariST Cubase, hear some groovy jungle music (OctaMED playthrough), and of course listen to Pete talking about his experience. 

It's always nice to see Amiga computers still getting some proper creative and professional use, and Pete seems to be a very nice guy - very enjoyable and inspiring watch.

 

If you wanna get the true retro experience with OctaMED on your Amiga, you can download version 4 here:

https://aminet.net/package/mus/edit/OctaMEDv4

The most advanced version to date is "SoundStudio":

https://aminet.net/package/mus/edit/OctamedSS1.03c
https://aminet.net/package/docs/help/OctamedSSManual (updated manual)

Additional sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Cannon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OctaMED


Friday, February 13, 2026

APTR is dead - long live APTR!

When browsing through AmigaOS developer documentation and C code, there's always a funny, interesting, sometimes enlightening little find.

It's just nice to see how it all ties together, and the changes made from one operating system (API) release to the next. Learning about the infrastructure of software, esp. over multiple versions, exposes some of the thinking process of the operating system developers. 

Sometimes, it also reveals long forgotten secrets. If you're a C coder using AmigaOS, chances are you've been using a datatype known as "APTR" somewhere in your code. It is used extensively throughout AmigaOS 1.3 Native Developer Kit (NDK) C include-files, and even more extensively throughout later NDK releases. 

And it turns out it's wrong!

From NDK 1.3 Includes exec/types.h:

typedef STRPTR      *APTR;      /* absolute memory pointer */

/* sigh.  APTR was misdefined, but compatibility rules.  Heres what it
 * should have been
 */
typedef ULONG       CPTR;       /* absolute memory pointer */

Yes, even the pros make a little mistake from time to time. Obviously, they kept compatibility, meaning they (and everybody else) kept using APTR, when it should be CPTR. 

Interestingly, in NDK 1.3 there is - a little - use of CPTR (in resources/filesysres.h, libraries/romboot_base.h, and libraries/expansion.h), but it has been half-removed (from libraries/romboot_base.h and libraries/expansion.h) and half-reintroduced (in dos/dosextens.h) with later NDK versions.

Chances are you've also been using datatypes SHORT and USHORT in your C code. Guess what: It's wrong, too! Here's another little snippet from NDK 1.3 exec/types.h that may clarify this further, long standing issue:

typedef short       WORD;       /* signed 16-bit quantity */
typedef unsigned short  UWORD;      /* unsigned 16-bit quantity */

...

/* For compatability only: (don't use in new code) */
typedef short       SHORT;      /* signed 16-bit quantity (WORD) */
typedef unsigned short  USHORT;     /* unsigned 16-bit quantity (UWORD) */

SHORT and USHORT are just backwards-compatable [sic] aliases for WORD and UWORD. 

Given the very non-volatile situation of AmigaOS development, both APTR and (U)SHORT won't give you a headache. APTR is used throughout the operating system, and will most likely never be replaced. CPTR is used only in less than a handful of cases - you'll probably never need it (and it has been moved to the "compatibility only" [sic] section of NDK 3.9 exec/types.h). (U)SHORT is deprecated since NDK 1.3, and hasn't been removed in later releases, so it's probably cemented into today's global AmigaOS code base, and will never be removed from the NDK.

So - lessons learned:

- use APTR, it's (not) correct

- (don't) use SHORT and USHORT

;-)

* * *

BONUS: 

Here's yet another nice, ancient compatibility [sic] snippet, from NDK 1.3 Includes libraries/dos.h, moved to dos/dos.h in NDK 3.9:

/* Relative position to Seek() */
#define OFFSET_BEGINNING    -1      /* relative to Begining Of File */

...

#define OFFSET_BEGINING     OFFSET_BEGINNING  /* ancient compatibility */

Thank you - one less typing error to worry about. :-)

Monday, January 26, 2026

The 20th century was clearly more fun

Yet another find for the "connoisseur". 

It appears that in the 1990s, not only C coders, but also video hardware geeks had a good sense of humour, and since they were both German, they naturally shared the same field of activity in that regard.

We have no reports if the "dirty" text file in question actually enhances the performance of the VLab Motion video capture card. It is very likely, though, that - where allowed - it did enhance the performance of the video editor.

;-)

A text file that improves video editing?

 

P.S.: Regardless, it's still the best video capture card for the Amiga, and as a consequence, it's a perfect manual. You can find it here: https://amiga.resource.cx/exp/vlabmotion

Thursday, January 22, 2026

Amiga C code for adults

Someone made a delicate little mistake when sending his C code to the publisher in 1990... 

Ah, good old German humour. Thankfully, no reference to the "adult" function in question could be found throughout the book, so it doesn't result in "premature failure" when bedroom-coding your "Amiga".

The dual-Blitt() function may cause some trouble, though, not just because it's dual, but also because no reference to BlittLine() could be found either. 

;-)

This C code is for grown-ups only.

P.S.: Pssst, it's still a great book, you can find it here:
https://archive.org/details/grafik-in-c-auf-dem-amiga/


Thursday, January 15, 2026

Amiga, and the power of Linux audio

A modern Linux audio system is incredibly powerful. It makes it super easy to route audio output from an Amiga emulator into any audio application.

Sadly, AmigaOS doesn't have such a powerful audio system. Linux has come a long way in terms of audio systems, from OSS to ALSA and JACK, to what is probably the current state of the art, named pipewire. Pipewire unifies the software interfaces of ALSA and JACK - which means that now applications using any of the two systems can seamlessly be connected. Which makes it possible to just route the audio from an Amiga emulator - e.g. fs-uae - into your preferred Linux audio software. An application like QJackCtl provides a nice GUI to visually manage the connections.

An emulated Amiga provides some speech synthesis to Linux.

In this case, the emulated Amiga was used to provide some of his (her) characteristic "say" speech synthesis to an audio production created with ardour DAW.

But one can imagine many more use cases for such a setup:

- directly record Amiga music into your Linux DAW or video editing application

- real-time enhance emulated Amiga's audio via Linux: adjust stereo separation, add compression, add EQ, ...

- analyze Amiga audio output without analog interference

- experiment with multiple emulators / instances

Some of this can obviously be done with e.g. an emulator's record-to-WAV or record-to-video functions, but it's still a nice option to just be able to use Amiga's audio in real-time, without any conversion, in any audio application, and of course without the need for any additional hardware.

[ If you're interested in the result: The Amiga's voice can be heard in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBf42SgbA7s ]


Saturday, December 27, 2025

AWeb 3.6 - umh, yeah... alive!

Oops, it appears there might have been a slight mistake in the latest news about AWeb. But don't worry, it's still alive.

Original AWeb logo

The link (URL) that was published a couple of days ago, leading to amigazen's AWeb page (.../aweb.html), now shows a notice, that says the following (shortened copy):

"
Thank for your interest and excitement about a new release of AWeb. [...]

If you have come here via a link [...]:

  • [...]
  • The new release of AWeb is in very early stages of development and likewise this website is still under construction, it is not yet intended for general public consumption
  • While all amigazen project work is done in the open here at amigazen.com and at https://github.com/amigazen/AWeb3/ in the interests of openness and transparency, no formal announcements will be made unless there are stable public releases to share via Aminet and other channels
  • If you want to follow the project and even contribute, you are invited to do so at github
  • There is an alpha release to be found at github. If you use the alpha release, please treat it as such, and raise any issues not already listed in the included release notes known issues, as issues at github where they can be tracked
  • [...] the right link [to project amigazen's AWeb page] is here. [ http://amigazen.com/aweb/ ]
  • [...]

"

Sorry for spreading confusion - here's the full set of URLs, with correct project amigazen link:

Amigazen project's AWeb GitHub page (download / development):

https://github.com/amigazen/AWeb3/

Amigazen project's AWeb page (preliminary / tentative / alpha / ...):

http://amigazen.com/aweb/

Last archive.org snapshot of original AWeb website at https://www.yvonrozijn.nl/aweb/

https://web.archive.org/web/20231203183912/https://www.yvonrozijn.nl/aweb/

Last archive.org snapshot of AWeb APL (open-source) website at http://aweb.sunsite.dk

https://web.archive.org/web/20091006041931/http://aweb.sunsite.dk/

 

Your favorite christmas present

Finally, an m68k-based smartphone running AmigaOS! ;-)
Merry Chrismas everyone!

(created with PersonalPaint)


Monday, November 17, 2025

AWeb - alive!

UPDATE 2025-12-27: A mistake slipped in here. The information below is still valid, but please take note of this update: https://amigaalive.blogspot.com/2025/12/aweb-36-umh-yeah-alive.html

Great news for Amiga internet users: AWeb web browser is back!

Original AWeb logo

Well, it was never really gone, at least the sourcecode has survived over the last two decades or so, thanks to original author Yvon Rozijn releasing it when abandoning the project in 2002. There were some open-source developments here and there - but now it looks as if project "amigazen" has seriously resurrected AWeb.

A new release, version 3.6a2, will be available shortly. Here's an excerpt of the latest ChangeLog:

  • migrated from ClassAct to ReAction, and Picasso96 to CyberGraphics
  • SSL rewritten to use AmiSSL v5.2
  • HTTP Module rewritten 
  • improved handling of socket connections
  • better usability (color, cookies, search engine)
  • uses AmigaOS scalable fonts
  • improved character set support

Go to project amigazen's AWeb page for more details and download:

https://amigazen.com/aweb.html

Last archive.org snapshot of original AWeb website at https://www.yvonrozijn.nl/aweb/

https://web.archive.org/web/20231203183912/https://www.yvonrozijn.nl/aweb/

Last archive.org snapshot of AWeb APL (open-source) website at http://aweb.sunsite.dk

https://web.archive.org/web/20091006041931/http://aweb.sunsite.dk/ 




Sunday, June 22, 2025

Spot the mistake... #4

It doesn't boot. What am I doing wrong? ;-)

* * *

Capital Punishment, Myst, Quake, Napalm - an in-depth history of ClickBOOM

Aleksandar Petrovic, producer for legendary Amiga games company ClickBOOM, has published an extensive video, in which he shares his experience.

It began with a Sinclair ZX81! And from there went on to become the most daring and most respected Amiga game company ever. ClickBOOM was active on the Amiga from about 1995 to 2002. "Capital Punishment", "Myst", "Quake", "Napalm - The Crimson Crisis", "T-Zer0", "Nightlong - Union City Conspiracy" all are legendary Amiga game titles that broke new ground, each in its own right.

Aleksandar was actively, and highly intensively at times, involved in coding some of ClickBOOM's games, but had, and has, even more to say about directing the company, publishing developers' games, obtaining rights, and why things happened the way they did. Did you ever wonder how much of "Napalm 2 - Euroburn" actually exists? What happened to Bitmap Brothers' "Z" on the Amiga? And how was Jackie Chan (almost) involved with ClickBOOM?

It's a more than 2hrs long video, packed with nice anecdotes and very interesting details, and Aleksandar Petrovic's voice and talk is just very pleasant to listen to. If you're in a hurry, or looking for something in particular, an extensive video description with timestamps helps you navigate.

Watch "Step-by-step how [not] to make a 90's computer video game hit: complete history of clickBOOM Amiga" on Aleksandar Petrovic's YouTube channel (2025-06-16):


Friday, June 6, 2025

Kaleidoscopico - lftkryo's Raspberry Pi Pico 2 demo

Amiga is a state of mind. Or, if it isn't, lftkryo, of "The Commodorion" fame, has just accidentally created something very Amiga.

Admittedly, this isn't strictly about Amiga computing. Linus Åkesson, aka "lft", or "lftkryo", as he is known on YouTube, creates a lot of interesting stuff using retro tech. Among other skills (e.g. music), he's also an accomplished assembler coder, mostly using the Commodore 64's 6502 CPU, but also several other old or odd nerd machines. 

After releasing the stunning, "impossible" C64 demo titled "NINE" a couple of months ago, his latest creation runs on the Raspberry Pi Pico 2, which is a very stripped down, minimalist version of a Raspberry Pi, with a dual-core CPU running at 150MHz.

It's a very nice demo, obviously some serious programming skills went into creating an entire system with VGA video output and sound - and, in a way, it almost spells out "Amiga". The screen resolution is somewhere between Amiga's "HiRes" and "HiRes laced" modes, the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 has 520KB of RAM, which pretty much matches an Amiga 500's basic configuration, the font is very Topaz, the color palette looks very familiar from 80s/90s Amiga demos, the demo effects are classic, with glenz vectors and "copper" (?) bars, it has a (kind of) Boing Ball, and he even uses an Amiga magazine coverdisk for illustration in the video.

So there is certainly some sort of connection, at least in spirit, somewhere. But seeing the demo makes you wonder: This kind of stuff can be created with a 5$ microcontroller (and some added resistors and capacitors)? This is pretty impressive. What else can it do? This demo experience is so close to watching an actual Amiga OCS demo from the early days, it would be really interesting to see what can be squeezed into, and out of, the Pico 2's little amount of RAM and 4MB flash memory, that makes is behave even more like an Amiga.

Anyway. Until someone starts porting Kickstart 1.3 to Raspberry Pi Pico 2, the most Amiga thing on this platform is lftkryo's nice demo. It reached 2nd place in the Wild compo at Revision 2025. Enjoy!

Watch lftkryo's "Kaleidoscopico" demo (2025-04-21):

Check out lftkryo's YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/@lftkryo

Visit his website at: https://www.linusakesson.net
 

Wednesday, June 4, 2025

Film restoration with the Amiga in 1993

An interesting article about high quality film processing on the Amiga can be found in German magazine "Kickstart", issue 1/1993. 

"Kickstart" was a printed magazine by Maxon, the same company that created Cinema4D, ArtEffect, and many other great and well known things Amiga. The magazine focused on serious Amiga usage: hardware, software development, graphics, video production, office applications, etc.

Issue 1/1993 of "Kickstart" has an interesting article on page 94, written by Enrico Corsano, about a custom Amiga 3000 setup that processes film frames at a very high resolution. This is a direct translation of the article, in an attempt to keep the tone of the original German text intact.

"

"At this optical bank, the interface between film and Amiga is located."

REPORT: The Amiga on high-school duty

Film restoration with the Amiga

By Enrico Corsano

Ever more users recognize that the Amiga is a serious tool for working. That's why it's ever more often used for very special tasks. For about half a year now, an Amiga 3000 is used at the Hochschule für Gestaltung [high-school for design] in Offenbach.

The HfG is an art high-school with a long tradition. It was founded in the previous century as a school for craftsmen. Over time, the assignment changed. The focus shifted from craftsmanship to education in art and science, in the classic fields of graphics, painting, sculpting, and stage design. At the end of the 70s, the field of AV-media was added, which has strongly evolved since. This field is divided into film/television and electronic picture. But for years it is planned to merge both divisions and thereby benefit from new opportunities.

A laboratory for new media

In a special media laboratory, for which the school has received a scientific research assignment, electronic media shall be linked with classic film. A special task is the restoration of old film. Oftentimes, only singular copies of historically important films still exist, that also are in very bad condition. There are scratches or stains in the pictures. The film stock is brittle and requires conservation. With a normal copy operation, there is a high risk of destroying the original. Therefore it's necessary to proceed with great care.

The Amiga retouching films

The media laboratory is equipped with special film-capturing and -playback devices, that can transport film frame-by-frame, very gently. At this so-called optical bank, simple copies, but also special effects can be created. And this is also where the electronics come into play. An extremely high-resolution video camera captures a single frame of a film. It's connected to an Amiga 3000. A special software was developed by Bernd Emese from Darmstadt, that makes it possible to systematically restore the individual frames of the film. To do this, it has special functions, that, for example, are able to detect and remove scratches and stains automatically. 

But many more functions are available. Of course, brightness and contrast can be intensified or eased. Currently, color isn't available yet. Another interesting capability is the correction of the picture position [Bildstand]. There are also simple drawing functions. And it's capable of masking, which is particularly important for film application. 

"The program provides a resolution of 2000 x 1500 pixels. For viewing on screen, the image can be scolled."

Automatic film processing

Key is the possibility to automatize different processes. A second of film is made of 25 frames. Ten seconds are made of 250 frames, and a minute of 1500. Manually loading and editing every single frame would consume huge amounts of time. But the software is created in such a way that it can automatically capture and edit the images. The user defines if scratches or stains shall be removed, or brightness correction shall be applied. The software then autonomously loads one image after the other and processes it. To get a reasonable quality, of course a high resolution has to be used. The software can handle images with a resolution of about 2000 x 1500 pixels. Such an image, of course, uses a lot of memory. Despite the Amiga 3000 being equipped with 18MB of RAM, there's space for only 10 images.

High resolution pictures in the Amiga

This isn't a big drawback, though. Because in this application, the goal is to output the processed image files back to film stock. This is done with a high-resolution Agfa image setter [Filmbelichter], that is capable of blowing up the image to 4000 x 4000 pixels. This results in excellent image quality. The image setter is automatically controlled by the software. Once processing of an image has finished, it's output on the image setter, and there's space for a new one in the Amiga. So the Amiga is quite busy. The limitations of processing power are indeed easily reached with this application.

Also when it comes to displaying graphics, the new capabilities of the A4000 would look better. Currently, an image is displayed in HiRes, in 16 shades of grey. Since the resolution of the image is higher than that of the Amiga graphics chips, either the complete image can be displayed in downscaled form, or in original size, while only a section is visible on screen. By scrolling, the hidden parts can be reached quickly. This way, it's possible to work well on the Amiga. This is where the speed advantage of the internal graphics chips over an external graphics card becomes apparent.

Unique software on the Amiga

The software developers deserve special praise, having done some pioneering work. The software has many other unique features, in addition to those already mentioned. For example, the film speed can be corrected. Many old silent films were shot at a speed that is too slow for today's standards. The program can then calculate intermediate frames to achieve the desired speed. Also, when correcting other errors, the possibility of comparing images and calculating a new, better one is often used. 

Another focus of the HfG's media laboratory is the creation of computer graphics and animations and their transfer to film. For this purpose though, PCs are available, running a PictureMaker system and 3D Studio. The latter of which, incidentally, Dan Silva, developer of DPaint, contributed to. The PC programs and the associated special hardware aren't exactly up to date. PictureMaker isn't even in production anymore. Nevertheless, also by today's standards, it's a highly powerful program, with its soft- and hardware allowing the creation of 24-bit images and, above all, very complex animations  in a very easy way. The performance, however, isn't adequate to today's demands anymore. 3D Studio is a relatively new development that is superior to the 20 times more expensive PictureMaker in many respects. The structure of 3D Studio is similar to the software familiar from the Amiga, in many respects. Since there is currently also talk of purchasing 3D software for the Amiga, perhaps an opportunity for a comparison will arise soon. We, in any case, are very excited about it.

"

Original article, "Kickstart" issue 1/1993, p. 94 and 95

Source: https://archive.org/details/amiga-kickstart-93-01/

Translation: R. Eberle, 2025.


Wednesday, May 28, 2025

Games Galore #44: Rastan, Night/Shift, Guardian - The Legend Of The Flaming Sword, Spheroid, Doomed Castle, R.A.N.A.

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):

If you like to know more about the game, you can check out the forum thread at the English Amiga Board:
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

* * *

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for "Games galore #45"!


* * *

Support Amiga game development! Buy a game!

Saturday, May 24, 2025

Mirari: PowerPC alive in 2025?

It looks like a new, affordable PowerPC mainboard for AmigaOS4 and MorphOS (and Linux) is in development, nearing public release.

The beginning of project "Mirari" dates back to around May 2024. The first tangible news appeared a couple of weeks ago, at the end of April 2025, when "Mirari" specifications were announced on the "Hardware" channel of the Amigans Discord server, which got mentioned on long-running Amiga news website amiga-news.de.

https://www.amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2025-04-00129-EN.html

It says that at that point in time, five out of five ordered prototype boards were already working, running Linux, and undergoing "burn-in" testing.

"Mirari" is a MiniATX form-factor mainboard...

...for T10x2 (e5500 cores) and T2081 (e6500 cores) PowerPC processors, at up to 1.8GHz

...with DDR3 SO-DIMM RAM slot

...PCI-express slots (x1, x4, x16), SATA, NVMe, USB 2.0 and 3.2, Gigabit-Ethernet

...192kHz/24bit analog audio, S/PDIF digital audio

...9-pin RS232 port

...and MicroSDCard slot (for booting)

...among a couple of other things. That sounds very good so far, and indeed, on their website (see below) we can find more details, including not only 3D-renderings of the board, but also a round of actual photographs from the development and testing stage of "Mirari".

A couple of days ago, Retro-computing enthusiast and YouTuber TJ Ferreira published a video, in which he takes a look at the information available on Mirari's website. It's a nice watch with some additional commentary about the facts & features - or, if you prefer a little more first-hand expericence, click here for "Mirari" website:

https://mirari.vitasys.nl

Watch TJ Ferreira check out "Mirari" PowerPC mainboard website (2025-05-20):


https://mirari.vitasys.nl

https://www.amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2025-04-00129-EN.html



Friday, May 16, 2025

Gemdalus - new game by RETREAM

Simone "RETREAM" Bevilacqua, who has released a nice round of great games, has just announced his latest creation.

"Gemdalus", very much like all other RETREAM games, looks stylish and polished, and has a nice soundtrack. The gameplay can be described as a blend of Pac-Man and Snake, with hints of Bomb-Jack and some remote Tetris-clone thrown it. In other words, it's a fast paced, easily accessible arcade style game, with an element of strategy. 

"Gemdalus" runs on AGA Amigas, and supports CD32's NVRAM. The game is still under development, with no release date yet.

Watch the first video of "Gemdalus" on RETREAM's YouTube channel (2025-05-15):

Check out the game's itch.io page for more information: