A 1984 pinball game from HAL Laboratory has made the jump from MSX to Amstrad CPC hardware with the release of Rollerball CPC.
The new homebrew project brings the original game’s multi-screen pinball table to the CPC while retaining its underlying gameplay rules, scoring and ball behaviour. Rather than rebuilding the game as a conventional remake, the project runs the original game program on the CPC and replaces the machine-specific display and audio systems.
The Amstrad version uses the CPC’s 256×192 display, with Mode 1 dithering used to reproduce the game’s colour presentation. The table scrolls between sections and a double-buffered display is used to keep the action clean. Sound and music have also been adapted for the CPC’s audio hardware.
Rollerball CPC requires an Amstrad CPC 6128, or a CPC 464/664 fitted with a 128K memory expansion. Both keyboard and joystick controls are supported.
The project is available as a free download, although the developer openly notes that AI assistance was used during development across code, graphics, sound and text.
RVG take: It is an unusual conversion and a neat piece of retro-platform crossover — especially for CPC owners who never had the chance to play HAL Laboratory’s original MSX release.
Source: Rollerball CPC on itch.io
Also checked: Indie Retro News and other CPC coverage.