An overlooked part of Ocean’s Amiga version of The Addams Family is about to receive a major restoration, with a new Backgrounds Edition in development for both OCS and AGA Amigas.
The project began after discussions on the English Amiga Board led developer DJ Mike to investigate why the Amiga release lacked the detailed backgrounds seen in versions on other systems.
That investigation uncovered something particularly interesting: the original Amiga code contained routines capable of drawing the backgrounds, but another part of the game subsequently prevented those graphics from appearing correctly.
The new project reverse-engineers the game and restores those missing visuals, turning what was originally a hardware-specific compromise into a much closer version of the intended presentation.
The Backgrounds Edition is planned for release during October 2026. It is another example of preservation work going beyond simply running an old game — in this case, uncovering functionality that was already hiding inside the original software.
RVG take: This is the kind of restoration story we want to cover at RVG: part homebrew, part preservation and part detective work.
Source: DJ Mike / English Amiga Board project information.
Also checked: Indie Retro News coverage.