Sometimes you remember a game from the past being excellent but once you played it years later it kind of disappoints you. ThunderCats, at least for me, is the opposite. I never played it much when I was young. I usually played it a short while when I watched the cartoon on the television. But all together it was not that much. The weird thing is that with ThunderCats I started to love it more when time passed by. I can play it for a whole afternoon and not get bored one second of it.
ThunderCats title screen
ThunderCats - Jumping water
ThunderCats - Running away?
(Pictures are taken from Hall Of Light)
I like the title music a lot. That kind of tune that sticks in your mind. Something else that also sticks is the sound when you use the sword. Currently I am playing it on my A1SE with RunInUAE without a joystick but with the keyboard. Soon I will be playing it on my A500/A1200 with a real joystick which is going to make it even more fun.
Playing ThunderCats August 2001 (1)
Playing ThunderCats August 2001 (2)
Thursday afternoon around 3:00pm and enjoying a nice cold beer outside when the temperature is just a bit above the 35 degrees. This is a time when fast drinking is advised since this heat will make that cold beer a warm beer in just a matter of minutes so to speak. Good thing there is a bit of a breeze otherwise this heat is just killing you. Now would be a good time to compile my top 10 list of old school Amiga games. If you read my blog before you know I could never make a permanent top 10 list. It is more of a feeling at that moment when making such a list. Chances are I would make a few changes within a week anyway. Mostly I would be adding “forgotten” games or move a game somewhat up or down the list. If I would have to make the list right now it would look like the one below.
1 – Kick Off 2
2 – Shadow of the Beast
3 – License to Kill
4 – Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Adventure Game)
5 – Run the Gauntlet
6 – Hybris
7 – Thundercats
8 – Ikari Warriors
9 – Dogs of War
10 – Pirates
Remember this is just a snapshot of my findings at this very moment. A lot of games I surely must have forgotten which will come to me at a later stage which will influence my top 10 list. Like I said before my top 10 list (or more) is never permanent.
Kick Off 2 is number one because I played this game the most. No game got played more on my Amiga’s. I did play the first version for a bit but when version 2 came out I jumped on it and never looked back. I never really played modern soccer games but I can tell you that none of them could give me the feeling that Kick Off 2 did. Anyone remember when the game just got stuck and nothing happened anymore no matter how long you waited? If you did a substitute the game would come back to life again.
Shadow of the Beast is just one of those games you showed everyone to impress them with the capabilities of the Amiga. The music, the graphics…. The first one is still the best one of all three versions. Remember you had to press and hold the left mouse button and joystick button (cracked version) after the intro for the trainer?
From all 3 versions of James Bond games released on the Amiga License to Kill was by far the best one. What I liked about it is that it followed the movie story a bit. That came in handy when I did not know what you do after I shot the harpoon into the back of the airplane. I was stuck behind it thinking I had to do this for a while to get to the next level. After watching the movie I saw he got into the airplane. After figuring out how to get closer to the airplane I indeed got into the airplane and to the next level. This is a game I really wanted to finish and did. Not many games gave me that urge of wanting to finish it as badly as this one.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Adventure Game) is one of those games you give up on a thousand times and also try it again a thousand times. A friend of mine had the PC version and together we tried to figure out the clues and get further in the game. After giving up once again you watched the movie (I remember always around Christmas) and you gave it another try. The best adventure game on the Amiga, period.
Run the Gauntlet was a game I played a lot mainly because I was also watching the event on television. Soon they also had a Dutch version of Run the Gauntlet which made we want to play the game even more. I have some really fond memories of playing this game.
Hybris was a stunning looking game for a 1987’s game. This one I also played a lot and was really addictive. It is hard to explain having Thundercats up there but for some reason this game grew on me. I played it not so long ago to see if I was not mistaken and I started to even love it more. When I played it first it did not do much to me but this is one of those games you just start to love more and more over time. I am also really fond of Ikari Warriors. My fondest memories are the two player mode. Dogs of War is also one of those games that is in everyone’s top 10 list. To end the list I have Pirates. A game I seem to play a lot during the winter season. I have some really fond memories of snow outside and having hot coco in front of the Amiga playing Pirates.
I am really a sentimental geezer. 🙂
Coder's Blog 