Top 10 Link Games
Lotus Turbo Challenge: Two, three or four players can compete against one another. If only two choose to compete, the screen isn't split meaning that you can't take furtive, sneaky glances at the opponent's position.
Linking between an A1200 and an A500 or A600 is perfectly possible and definitely recommended.
Super Skidmarks 2: The most innovative use of the link so far. With two linked monitors placed together to form a panoramic view of the racing track, the full complement of eight cars can all be controlled by individual players. The best fun you'll have in a time period that's longer than a very long time. Alternatively, up to six players can race against each other using the split-screen option - three players to each Amiga. Tremendous.
Linking an A1200 with an A500 or A600 is actively encouraged, although you're limited to using Lo-Res and four cars, but hey even that's the bee's knees. Check it out.
Knights Of The Sky: Probably my favourite serial link game of all time. Although now it's probably more like equal first with the new Super Skidmarks 2.
The planes are slow enough to remain in the enemy's sights throughout the game, unlike with jet fighters where you can seemingly, and almost anonymously, take out an enemy from several hundred miles away.
Odds can be evened and ace flyers handicapped by giving them crap planes, and due to the ability to land on an airfield and re-arm and repair the plane, truly gargantuan ace-to-ace battles can take ages. Bandits at 12 O'clock Ginger.
A1200s and A500s can talk to each other, although the A1200 slows down to the A500s slower speed.
Falcon: Sadly not available for purchase any more, Falcon could be played between an Amiga, an ST, or a Macintosh. The PC wasn't included because PCs weren't good enough to handle the number of colours and the speed of the game.
Not as much fun as Knights Of The Sky on the link due to the lack of actual dogfighting taking place. It's all Electronic Counter Measures and Fire And Forget weaponry, but nevertheless, it's perhaps the ultimate combat arena to step into. At least 7,000 hardened veterans regularly play Falcon on subscriber-only multi-player game network FighterNet in America.
Stunt Car Racer: The first 16-bit linked race game I ever played. Caters for two players at a time only. But using the leagues and the league tables, you can have up to 16 human drivers striving for dominance. Wild, wacky and weird, A Stunt Car Racer session is worth organising a party around. Special prizes for the outright winner and small prizes for the holders of the best lap time. Top linking fun too. Best played between two A1200s for the increased running speed, Stunt Car Racer is one of the most versatile linkers.
A500s, A600s, Atari STs and Atari Falcons can all talk to each other. So, if you happen to have 50 pence and four fruit salads available, try and get hold of a second-hand ST. Unfortunately, this means that you'll need two copies of the game. But that's a small price to pay for such a rewarding experience.
Tornado: More complicated and realistic than Falcon, this is for the true die-hard flight sim pilots out there. Haven't played it much due to the mind boggling number of options that have to be attended to.
Gravity Force 2: Now there's no excuse for not at least trying out linked games to see what all the fuss is about. This was our Public Domain game of the month in AF70. A Thrust/Oids derivative, this is out-and-out combat with lots of top weapons to help you send your opponents to cyber hell. Glitches in the timing means that you have to use two like Amigas, that is two A1200s or two A500/600s.
Populous 2: The ultimate god game earned itself 95 per cent in AF30. There's something worryingly more gratifying in the sure knowledge that you're killing someone else's followers rather than those of a mere computers.
With the full range of options available, this is truly a game of individual style, character and intellectual might. Populous 2 is best played in different rooms so you can't see what your opponent's doing - such is the urge to take a crafty look at what they are up to. In Itsibachi in Japan, tower block dwellers have Populous installed in multi-link consoles so that whole floors can play against each other.
Powermonger: A very similar, but even more aggressive experience than Populous 2, Powermonger satiates a lust for death and destruction that can only legally be indulged through the medium of the Amiga.
Vroom: This excellent racing game isn't available any more (so keep your eyes peeled for a second-hand copy), but reincarnation does exist in the form of F1. For some inexplicable reason the link was taken out of F1. To compensate, a split-screen option was put in instead. Close to Skidmarks for thrills. Linking it would mean that four players could participate. How about it Domark?
