Amiga

Trackers: The Sound of 16-Bit

Posted on by Stian

Trackers: The Sound of 16-Bit – a wonderfully nostalgic (for me) dive into the history of music trackers by Stuart Brown.

While I never made any music myself with trackers on the Amiga, I used them a lot for listening to music in MOD files. I loved to toggle playback on the different channels and “live remix” the tracks while playing, and it was a lot of fun to experiment with the different samples.

One of my favourite MOD tracks ever is “Variations” by Jogeir Liljedahl – a great example of the music capabilities of the Amiga. Another brilliant track is the classic “Stardust Memories” by Jester.

Internet Archive – Amiga Software Collection

Posted on by Stian

The awesome people at Internet Archive have released a huge collection featuring thousands of emulated games, demos and applications from the Commodore Amiga home computer, running in the browser through the magic of emulation.

I’d still recommend a good emulator, like FS-UAE or WinUAE, to actually run these games without a lot of stuttering sound and hangs, as the in-browser emulation is not exactly optimal, but at least it works to showcase the vast number of great software that ran on the Amiga.

Amiga Juggler demo

Amiga Juggler demo

Link: Software Library: Amiga : Free Texts : Download & Streaming : Internet Archive

Another World

Posted on by Stian
Another World screenshot

Another World screenshot

If you, like I did, grew up playing video games on the Amiga back in the early 90s, you probably came across Another World, a classic game with what at the time was revolutionary character animation and an original story that drew you in from the beginning. It is also one of the most frustrating games I have ever played, with parts so insanely difficult to complete they leave you swearing over the keyboard after failing for what feels like hundred times. But that only makes the feeling when you finally complete a part even better.

Recently the game has been released in an updated version for playing without needing an emulator, with high-resolution graphics and improved sound for those of us wanting to (re)experience one of the best video games ever. You can download the short demo at the Official Site, and the registration fee for the full game is only seven Euros – really cheap for this much retro-gaming enjoyment!

Also, don’t miss the excellent write-up at Binary Bonsai entitled How I learned everything I need to know about games from Another World.

Come Together

Posted on by Stian

Here’s a great animation from the French designer team Melon Dezign; this time they’ve taken on The Beatles’ “Come Together” in a wonderfully psychedelic flash version. Warning; a huge download, it clocks in at a little over 8MB … but still highly recommended if you wait it out!

These guys have been making demos and animations for a long time, I remember them from the Commodore Amiga demo scene in the 90s, where they made some excellent stuff. They’ve also made a similar animation for another Beatles song; I Feel Fine, from a couple of years back.