RISC OS Games roundup
Matt Thompson
Despite the lack of new releases appearing for RISC OS machines, there are still many games still available which are well worth investing in which you may have missed or just never got round to buying them, there are some very good value for money compilations available and also official free downloads from the internet.
Where can I get them from ?
Go to www.acornarcade.com and head to the free games section, there are some very good games here all available for download free of charge, available here are Terramex, Phaethon, and they have recently acquired the whole of the Tom Cooper back catalogue so far we have had Ixion, Cycloids, and at the time of writing Darkwood has just been added, all have had the copy protection removed and should work on all RISC OS machines, including the Iyonix but you'll need !A310emu to get them running, and also need it on the RISC PC if you have RISC OS 4 as they don't get on, although its fine with RISC OS 3.7, this site is well worth a visit and a download or two, I look forward to seeing the full version of Dinosaur as I only ever got the PD version.
CJE Micros and The 4th Dimension
www.cjemicros.co.uk based in Worthing,provide a large selection of games, some second hand, in addition to the 4th Dimension range, there are many games to be found listed on the website, some at special offer prices.
The 4th Dimension, www.cjemicros.co.uk/4d, are responsible for many classic home grown RISC OS classic games, E-Type, Holed Out, Chocks Away, Pandora's Box and Nevryon to name but a few, although they are no longer producing any new games, just about all the range is still available and most have been updated to run on the newer machines, upgrades are available for about £5 per game.
Liquid Silicon
Liquid Silicon www.liquid-silicon.com are based in Kirkaldy in Scotland, and offer a large collection of RISC OS games, some of which are linked to online reviews, a large catalogue is available on request or view it online, and there is a special offers section.
APDL
APDL, www.apdl.co.uk, provide new and updated versions of many older items of software, not just games. Headlining the games sections comes that game that will never go away, yes Repton, now in another re-incarnation it now runs in the desktop and includes Repton 1,2,3 + all the Repton 3 sets of screens, plus the editor, and it also runs on the Iyonix, but only in the desktop at the moment, its good to see Repton carrying on but can we have some different screens to play and also some different tunes would be nice as well. Also in the APDL fold is Star Fighter 3000, again this now runs in the desktop, and is multi-tasking and Iyonix compatible too, upgrades available for earlier versions, also worth checking is Wizard's Apprentice originally published by The Datafile PD library (remember them?) this underrated game is rather quite good and well worth a look if you haven't already got a copy from RISCWorld Volume 1.
Rcomp Interactive
Rcomp Interactive, www.rcomp.co.uk, carried on where Krisalis Software left off with a number of game conversions, including Quake, Doom and The Chaos Engine, they also supply Spheres Of Chaos one of the all time RISC OS greats, a simple but very effective and addictive game, this is a new version of the original one released by Matt Black software. Also worthy of mention are 2 compilations, the TBA Software Classics collection which includes 6 TBA games including Cobalt Seed, Brutal Horse Power and Formula Two Thousand, and The Krisalis Collection Gold which includes many Krisalis games, the ones that aren't on the CD have patches so you can try get your old games up and running again, in addition to the Krisalis games, also included are both Zool & Premiership Manager, making this disc extremely worthwhile. RComp Interactive have also made two of their titles Descent 1&2 and Quake Iyonix compatible, again upgrades are available and hopefully there will be more to come.
Uffenkamp Computer Systeme
Uffenkamp Computer Systeme www.ucs.de are based in Germany, but will ship to the UK no problems, although it costs a bit, they have listed on their website quite a few of the now hard to find Eterna games, these games are very good, but are a bit of a nightmare to run due to the copy protection they have, Cartoon Line, Lost Temple, Fine Racer, Bubble Fair, Rockfall and Kerbang are all there plus many others, there are a lot of bargains on there as well, well worth a look.
The Data Store
The Data store www.the-datastore.co.uk are based in Kent and have games listed for sale on their website, I recently got a copy of Revolver by Psycore from them, I thought this game was long gone, but a Google search found it listed.
Ebay
Ebay www.ebay.co.uk the online auctions website has a section for Acorn related stuff for sale, and theres usually some games up for grabs on there, great if you win the auction, annoying if you don't !
Newsgroups
People often advertise their old games for sale in csa.acorn.misc, or csa.acorn.misc, a bargain or two can often be found.
Apologies to any other games suppliers/developers I have missed out, if I have missed you it's because I didn't know about you, so make yourself known!!
Which Ones To Get?
Everyone has their own idea's to the best games and the worst ones, but heres a quick selection of some of my favourites from over the years in no particular order.
Magic Pockets
Simon The Sorcerer
Darkwood
Screenshots taken from the games running on !A310Emu on an Iyonix.
I couldn't write an article on games without mentioning my all time classic game which is :
Jet Set Willy - the version available for RISC OS is by Darren Salt and is public domain and available from www.youmustbejoking.demon.co.uk.
It won't work
The problem is, as technology moves on, many of the older games no longer work, many of them have been updated to work with newer machines, and a large number of patches are available to help get those games running again the following sites are worth checking out http://home.wanadoo.nl/tvdb and www.youmustbejoking.demon.co.uk/progs/patches.html.
Users of RiscPCs might want to check out !StrongGuard www.armclub.org.uk which will assist in the running on games on a StrongARM Risc PC, a game compatibility database is available on the website.
Many of these games won't run on the Iyonix, but by using !A310emu a free program currently work in progress and is available from www.aemulor.com on the way, there should be more than enough ways to get the games up and running.
So there you have it, until the new games come along, theres plenty to keep the RISC OS game player entertained, and thats without even mentioning PD games and emulation of games from other machines.
Matt Thompson