While I'll always have a very big space in my heart for my first gaming love - the C64 - it was its successor the Amiga that really delivered games that still stand up today. Think Speedball 2, Lemmings, Sensible Soccer and many many more. So the announcement of a fantastic looking Amiga emulator (iAmiga) for the iPhone (and soon iPad) is great news for both retro heads and younger gamers who may have missed out on the Amiga first time round.
The demo shown on the video is the best place to get a feel of what iAmiga promises but the hands on preview sounds promising.
After spending some serious time with the iAmiga system, I can tell you that, for an early build, it is truly impressive. While it's true that a few of the games that I tried glitched at some point, the vast majority ran perfectly and buttery smoothly on my iPhone 4. I'm talking about totally accurate sound, flawless graphics, glass smooth animation — just as if the games were being played on the standard config Amiga 500 that iAmiga emulates.
Classic Amiga 500 titles from Cinemaware - think Defender of the Crown - are already signed up to appear on the emulator. Hopefully better stuff - IK+, Turrican - will join for launch. The preview has more details:
As far as what we will be seeing in the way of iOS Amiga releases, Manomio has licensed various titles from Cinemaware, so Defender of the Crown, It Came from the Desert, Wings, and others are on the way. The studio is currently in licensing discussions with several other IP holders to secure additional titles for iOS release, including Factor 5 (Turrican I, II, III), The Bitmap Brothers (Xenon II: Megablast), Magnetic Fields (Supercars), Cope-Com (Battle Squadron), and Archer MacLean (IK+). Additionally, they are in talks with an unnamed major mobile publisher that's very interested in putting Amiga classics in the hands of today's gamers.
If the developers can nail the controls the iAmiga could be something special.
Obvious question for any fans here then - what Amiga games would you like to see appear on iAmiga? And which ones do you think would work best on the small screen?
