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The fall of the great Angarth Empire has thrown High Toro into provincial warfare; as regional barons struggle to reunite fractious kingdoms.  Rulers rush to reunite the land under a single banner, fighting over the prosperous ports of the east floodlands, exploring the highlands and deserts, and hunting for the hidden temple of the Angrath Lords.  As a hopeful king you must use your villagers to explore the lands, control other kingdoms and overcome the many battles ahead.

Slayers of High Toro is a game of intense turn-based strategy.  Your objective is to conquer enemy kingdoms, by collecting taxes on your land and raising an army for conquest.  On each turn you move your units on a hexagonal map, buy units and forts, explore territory, and defend your kingdoms from attack.

Slayers brings advanced 21st century AI and quick-to-learn, hard-to-master gameplay to the Amiga.  With 9 procedurally generated game modes, hundreds of thousands of maps, as well as single and mutiplayer deathmatch.

More here https://www.bitmapsoft.co.uk/product/slayers-of-high-toro/

Story

Year 2125. New Kyoto

As he does every day after school, Takeshi goes home to help his sister Sakura take care of their grandfather’s garden â€" but today will be very different. As he approaches the garden, Takeshi finds a note nailed to a tree with a knife.

“Sakura is in our power. If you want to see your sister, safe and sound, come to the base of The Red Hand before the sun sets.”

Clenching his fist and letting out a curse, Takeshi hurries quickly across to his grandfather’s hangar.

Takeshi’s grandfather, Akiyama Azama, is a renowned aerospace engineer who, until his retirement, has been involved with some of the most advanced air carrier and space cruiser projects and has two of these advanced ships sitting in his personal hangar. Takeshi knows that in order to get his sister back he is going to need the advanced capabilities of his grandfather’s ships.

More here https://www.bitmapsoft.co.uk/product/red-sunset/

ABOUT

EARTH, 2562 A.D.

After centuries of war and suffering, peace slowly began to return to the world. Just as civilization had started to recover, however, another crisis fell upon it â€" an extra-terrestrial armada pillaged the earth, taking with them virtually all of the known supplies of gold. Society was plunged into chaos â€" financial markets experienced a recession of unparalleled proportions, electronics production ceased altogether, and people with dental fillings dared not wander out in public.

An international task force was created with the aim of recovering the gold. Scraping together what they could with the minuscule amount that had not been plundered, a shuttle was constructed that would serve justice upon the invaders. It contained a few spherical exploration pods, which would navigate the planetary surface by means of bouncing upon it.

You are responsible for piloting the pods and returning all of the gold to Earth. If this mission fails, humanity will be doomed to return to the Stone Age.

You are our only hope!

More info https://www.bitmapsoft.co.uk/product/cosmic-payback/

About

Skeeter the fisherman has found a large stash of dynamite in his Uncle Cletus’s shed and has decided to use it for his new hobby of “blast fishing”, which involves using explosives to stun the fish in the lake for easy collection.

The local fish are not happy with Skeeters destructive new hobby and so Jacques le Shark, a rarely seen fish with the ability to blow giant bubbles has come out of retirement to deal with the problem…

Completing a level will reward you with a code that can be entered on the title screen to start at the next level the next time you play.

Playing Freaky Fish

Capture the dynamite by blowing a bubble at it or swimming into the dynamite whilst holding a bubble. Release the bubble to send it to the surface, aiming at the boat if possible, but make sure to be careful of the other fish.

Don’t hold on to the dynamite for long as the fuses can be unstable, particularly near the surface.

If all the other fish in the lake are stunned by dynamite, the game will end.

More here
Tape Version - https://www.bitmapsoft.co.uk/product/freaky-fish-c64-tape/
Cart Version - https://www.bitmapsoft.co.uk/product/freaky-fish-c64-cartridge-deluxe-edition/

Story

In his lifelong search for a powerful ancient alien device, after many decades of research and exploring the galaxy, Doc Cosmos eventually came into possession of a map pointing to a planet just a few light-years from Earth. After deciphering the alien language on the map, it seemed to indicate that the powerful time travel device was contained in an outpost that the alien race had deserted many years ago.

If Doc could get his hands on this device his life’s work would be complete, not only that he’d be the only person in the known galaxy with the ability to time travel, something that would undoubtedly bring him all the wealth he could desire. He could retire at long last!

We join Doc Cosmos on his search for the alien time travel device as he arrives at the abandoned alien outpost on the planet. But watch out scans have indicated that the outpost has been overrun with dangerous alien wildlife.


https://www.bitmapsoft.co.uk/product/doc-cosmos-gbc/

Phoenix Ware is proud to present Monster Catcher, a previously digital-only release for your C64! Monster Catcher is a fast action, single player game! If you like Rodland, Bubble Bobble, and a little bit of Smash TV then you’ll love Monster Catcher!

Monsters have invaded, and the bunnies are in trouble! Grab your magic wand and use your capture spell to save the day! But careful you don’t trap a bunny by mistake!

** Monster Catcher Features **

Randomly generated levels
40 levels plus an end game boss
4 different areas
9 different enemies with lots of varied behaviours
4 different power ups: lightning bolt, magic boost, shield, and extra life.

more here https://www.phoenixware.co.uk/product/monster-catcher/

About

The premise is simple â€" remove all the BlockZ from the screen! How? It’s as simple as 1, 2, 3!

1) Move the BlockZ around the screen… but beware… they can only move in the direction(s) shown on the BlockZ!
2) If the BlockZ come to rest touching one or more other BlockZ then they will all disappear!
3) Remove all BlockZ to complete the level!

Puzzle your way through 50 brain-busting levels! Don’t worry â€" you’ve got 5 chances to restart if you mess it up!

Also â€" because we’re nice guys â€" you can also resume the game from the highest level reached in your current session. However â€" your score will start at zero (Ok, we’re not that nice!)

48k version includes SFX only
128k version includes SFX and jaunty tunes.

more here https://www.phoenixware.co.uk/product/blockz/

Part I (Side A): All aboard the Space Train!

In the Wild West frontier of the future, Space Trains race across the stars, piloted by powerful next-gen Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) with a whopping 48k of memory each. I know!

Tech this advanced always goes wrong (right?). Following a hook-up with incompatible peripherals at a remote space (train) station, the A.I.s have become corrupted and sent several Space Trains on a crash course with populated planets! It’s up to Maurice, The Space Cowboy, to reach the rogue A.I. in each train’s engine room before the outposts become a crater the size of Nebraska…

Each train is now the last train… unless you succeed!

Part II (Side B): The return of the Space Cowboy

Tranz-Central is saved! But small splinters of code have infected four more trains, heading towards brand new targets. New and old enemies are on board to stop anyone interfering. But the Space Cowboy has returned, leaping from train to train, striving to put right what might go wrong. Hoping each time that the next train will be the train home…

More here https://www.bitmapsoft.co.uk/product/last-train-to-tranz-central/

Far, Far Away…
There exists a weird and wonderful world of right-angles and crazy geometry. In this land populated by square trees, square clouds and square people, Mr Cube has fallen in love. However, our hero’s love interest is on the opposite side of the world â€" and between them lies a land full of hazards, obstacles and dangerous critters! Not only that, but Mr Cube is flat broke and he needs to raise enough cash during his quest to ensure that he can pay for safe passage home for both himself and his sweetie! Oh, did I forget to mention that time is incredibly tight? Mr Cube will have to run and jump as quickly as he can if he’s to make it before his energy runs out. He’ll need all his stamina for the ceremony of geometrical pairing!

Steady your nerves, prepare your reflexes.

More here
Tape Version - https://www.bitmapsoft.co.uk/product/tiny-quest-tape/
Disk Version - https://www.bitmapsoft.co.uk/product/tiny-quest-disk/

The object of the game is to make lines of three or more matching vegetables. To do so, you can swap the position of any two vegetables on the play screen by pressing fire then pushing in a direction. Pressing fire again “unlocks” the cursor. When there are no valid moves left then the board is shuffled â€" until you run out of shuffles, then it’s game over!

Match three vegetables and they are removed from the board, with new shapes dropping down to replace them. Occasionally an immovable block will be dropped. These can only be removed by strategically dropping them until a line of three or more immovable blocks is made. Match four shapes in a row to destroy a full row or line and match five to destroy all matching shapes and get an extra shuffle.

More here https://www.phoenixware.co.uk/product/vegetables-deluxe/

It’s a tough life being flushed away! Guide young Turdesley in his adventures down the pipe, dodging and shooting all manner of strange nasties with his trusty condo-cannon.

Travel through the worlds ‘Pipe Central’, ‘Skull City’ and ‘The Kingdom of Mighty Two’

Destroy Mighty Two and head to the sea for a well earned holiday.

More here https://www.phoenixware.co.uk/product/down-the-pipe/

You have just discovered the secret path to all the treasures on the rainbow.
Follow the edge of the rainbow and pick up all the gold you can carry.
But beware!! The path to the fortune is trapped with mines.

More here https://www.phoenixware.co.uk/product/rainbow-edge-run-dx/

Dodge, dodge, dodge, dodge, and … uh … dodge!

Crazy high-speed endless arcade thing-dodging in an 8-bit style. You’ll just have to have one more try!

Dodge the rocks and other projectiles coming your way for as long as possible. Dodge, dash, kick and smash your way out of tight spots to survive just one more wave. Discover and master advanced moves to rack up your bonus and climb the leaderboards, before testing yourself against the next difficulty level. Are you ready for NIGHTMARE? We don’t think you are.

Dodgy Rocks. How dodgy can you get?

Supports keyboard and joystick control.
Requires 1Mb Chip RAM.

More here https://www.phoenixware.co.uk/product/dodgy-rocks/

Welcome to RVG's Game of the Year 2020, another year comes to an end and what a year it's been, but let's forget all that and have some fun and nominate the best C64 and best ZX Spectrum games of 2020.

As mentioned above we have decided to move away from just the C64 GOTY award and run two votes at the same time and bring the ZX Spectrum into the fold.

So there are 10 finalists for each system, these have been curated by RVG, RGN, Planeta Sinclair, Reset64, Hayesmaker64, and many more of our friends to bring you the final list.

I have to say it was hard to get the list down to just 10 but we had to select what we felt was the best 10 games and now it's your chance to choose the winner for each system - Let's do this.

The Vote will be open from Thursday 31st December 2020 to Sunday 10th January 2021

Vote Here https://www.retrovideogamer.co.uk/rvgs-game-of-the-year-2020-c64-zx-spectrum/

A new book celebrating the wonderful world of the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron, certainly one I am interested in.

elebrate the visual games history of the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron with this case bound book, contained within a beautiful slip case.

"From the moment you gaze at Ste Pickford’s excellent cover and read Iain Lee’s intro you know a lot of love has been poured into this book. Its real strength comes once you get to the extensive game section ... the entire book is rammed with developers who supported the machine in its halcyon days, from Tim Dobson (Monsters) to Mat Newman (Fortress) and Ian Bell (Free Fall). Every notable game is covered, including a great piece on Elite from both Ian Bell and David Braben." Retrogamer Magazine, November 2020

“This book is called ‘Acorn â€" A World in Pixels’, and that is an ideal description: the Acorn software world is a creation of discovery using pixels. What a fascinating journey it has been with so much inspired creativity and enthusiasm! My abiding memories of the 1980s Acorn world are of wonderful, innovative years. I hope readers find that this book gives them a real sense of the excitement and magic of those times!” Richard Hanson â€" Superior Software

More here https://www.idesine.com/products/acorn-a-world-in-pixels

A new book about the Amiga demoscene was recently launched.

In 1990 Seen and Paleface decide to create Melon dezign, they tell us their debut until the release of their first game. Discover the underside of State of the Art a production of the Spaceballs group. An interview with Mark Knight alias TDK on his personal and professional carrer, but also Audiomonster from Melon dezign. A big thank you to Zebig who helped us with sketches of their Arkham Asylum demo. Another demo "Booo" from Melon dezign where Heatbeat tells us about the creation and origin of the music.

Desert Dream by Kefrens, but also an interview with Stripe the gremlin the coder of Talent. 1993 a very prolific year in terms of demos with Fairlight and 242, the Lemon. group of course with Dan and Facet, Arte from Sanity where Ra and Moby will explain their work on this French/German demo, as well as the details of the making of 9 Fingers from Spaceballs.

View more here https://www.editions64k.fr/shop-detail.html

Its that simple, which game on any system, released in 2020 is your favourite and why?

Piracy divides opinion, read this article https://www.retrovideogamer.co.uk/dirty-deeds-piracy-on-the-psx/ and tell us your thoughts and opinions on the subject?

Legend has it that long ago an ancient, but advanced tribe worshipped the fabled and great golden idol Myclops. The tribe were prosperous and rich, but one day, inexplicably, all trace of them vanished leaving their technology, riches and most importantly- the fabled idol behind. To this very day, deep underground, it is said that Myclops slumbers awaiting an intrepid explorer to navigate the caverns and bask in the great golden idol’s glow.

Ancient technology, possibly left behind by the tribe, is said to protect the fabled and great golden idol from prospectors. Other hidden and grave dangers include perilous boulders, toxic bones, poisonous deadly fungus and of course the three monster guardians â€" Harry, Barry and Larry. The guardians roam the caverns protecting the riches and guard the great golden idol Myclops. However, centuries of living underground has nulled their senses. They cannot see and cannot hear although they’ll sometimes smell you coming! They wander aimlessly through the cavern tunnels. Sometimes a quick side-step is all that is needed to evade their toxic touch!

Can you navigate Digger McDigFace through the caverns and reach the long-lost fabled and great golden idol and emerge victorious?

https://www.bitmapsoft.co.uk/product/shpeed-zx-spectrum-next/

Showdown is a 1 or 2-player action shooter for the Commodore 64, released in 2020. The game is inspired by a host of older titles with the same theme, going all the way back to Gun Fight from 1975.

You play a cowboy out to win a fierce gun duel. The first one to outwit and knock down the opponent 5 times is the winner of the duel.

Giddy-up and get ready to fight!

https://www.bitmapsoft.co.uk/product/showdown/