Highlights
- Lemmings is an Amiga classic, available on multiple platforms.
- Worms is an artillery strategy game that started on the Amiga and expanded to consoles.
- Shadow of the Beast is a visually impressive platform game with multiple sequels.
If people weren't pulled in by Nintendo's NES console back in 1985, then they might've found themselves gravitating towards a new machine. One that was capable of 16-bit graphics way before the Genesis' blast processing came along. Originally made by Jay Miner, RJ Mical, and Dale Luck, their Amiga tech found a home at Commodore, becoming their follow-up to the Commodore 64.
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While its first year or so in business was slow, its newer models quickly made it the microcomputer to get. The computer and Commodore went under in the mid-1990s as consoles quickly became the way to go, but the Commodore Amiga produced some of the best and most influential games ever made during its lifetime.
Updated January 4, 2024 by David Heath: Commodore may have gone out of business in 1994, but the legacy of their hardware lives on. Their Amiga computers inspired official magazines that ran up to the 2000s, and fanzines that are still running in print and digital media today.
Then there are the games. They range from cult classics to enduring entries that are still played today. The original ten weren't the only ones either, as this list has gained a few more top games from a wide range of genres that started life on the Amiga computers. From the Amiga 500 to the 1200, here are more of the best Amiga games ever made.
1 Lemmings
One Of The Best Puzzle Games Ever Made
- Developer: DMA Design.
- Platforms: Amiga, Atari ST, SNES, Genesis, 3DO, Philips CD-I, PC, Mac, Linux, Game Boy, Game Gear, and more.
- Release: February 1991.
- Genre: Puzzle strategy game.
Case in point: Lemmings. This humble puzzle game was about getting these little, blue-shirted creatures from one door to another by giving them skills to get around the terrain. They can build bridges, dig tunnels, block the way toward hazards, or explode on the spot if the player chooses. Some levels require making the little guys pop to complete, or players could doom them all if they messed up and needed to restart.
The game was everywhere back in the early 1990s, appearing on the SNES, Genesis, and even the 3DO and Philips CD-I! But the original game was made for the Amiga 500 by Russell Jay and future Grand Theft Auto creators Mike Dailly and David Jones for DMA Design (now Rockstar North). The Lemmings have disappeared, but they are still remembered in DMA’s old home city of Dundee, Scotland via a statue.
2 Worms
The Most Iconic Annelid-Based Artillery Game
- Developer: Team 17.
- Platforms: Amiga, Genesis, SNES, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, PC, Mac, Atari Jaguar, and more.
- Release: November 1995.
- Genre: Artillery strategy game.
Lemmings was popular enough to get different sequels and spin-offs, including an expansion pack called Oh No! More Lemmings! Newcastle-based Team 17 would ape that when they expanded their own animal-based carnage game with Oh Yes, More Worms. The original Worms was one of the last big games for the Amiga before it reached multiple consoles and computers.
It was a team-based tactical game where players picked their crews of worms, then traveled the levels and blasted their opponents with all sorts of weaponry, from the mundane (Uzis, shotguns) to the insane (banana bombs, the "dragonball"). The sequels would expand the gameplay further with more traversal options and heavy artillery, but the original Amiga game still holds up well today. Especially with that expansion pack.
3 Shadow Of The Beast
The Machine's Big System-Seller
- Developer: Reflections.
- Platforms: Amiga, Atari ST, Genesis, Master System, PC Engine CD, Atari Lynx, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, and more.
- Release: 1989.
- Genre: Platform game.
If finding out Lemmings was made by the GTA devs was a surprise, players might also find it hard to imagine Reflections, the studio behind the Driver series, creating a platform game that looks like a Roger Dean painting. Let alone three, as Shadow of the Beast received two sequels, and a PS4 remake in 2016. The original Amiga game is pretty stiff and simple by modern standards, with SotB3 holding up the best by offering fairer gameplay and difficulty.
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However, the original game made the most impact. Its colorful graphics, parallax scrolling, and moody music were a country mile ahead of its 8-bit rivals. The game also put early Genesis games like Altered Beast on the back burner in comparison with its atmosphere. Then, while it got ported to other machines, these often paled in comparison to the Amiga original. If players want SotB1 at its best, they have to try the Amiga version.
4 It Came From the Desert!
Truly Cinematic Gameplay
- Developer: Cinemaware.
- Platforms: Amiga, PC, TurboGrafx-16.
- Release: 1989.
- Genre: Action-adventure point & click.
With the Amiga essentially being a little PC, it shone its brightest with mouse-friendly genres like RTS games, management sims, and point-and-click games. The latter genre had some of its best entries reach the machine too, like Beneath a Steel Sky, Simon the Sorcerer, and the Monkey Island games. But Cinemaware’s It Came From the Desert! stood out from the crowd.
The game felt like an interactive movie, mixing point-and-click gameplay and puzzles with tense shooting sequences against the monster ants terrorizing the town. It was to 1950s-style B-movies what Hideo Kojima's Snatcher was to cyberpunk films. The Amiga original remains the best version of the game too, as the PC port was cut down, and the TurboGrafx-16 release gave it embarrassing live-action cutscenes.
5 Simon The Sorcerer
Fantasy With A Sense Of Humor
- Developer: Adventure Soft.
- Platforms: Amiga, Amiga CD32, PC, Acorn Computers, iOS, Android.
- Release: September 1993.
- Genre: Point & click adventure.
There's no shortage of point-and-click games on the Amiga machines. LucasArts' classics like Maniac Mansion and The Secret of Monkey Island series are available for the machine, alongside the Leisure Suit Larry games and Sierra's infamously tricky takes on the genre. But what could players do if they liked the humor in the King's Quest games, but wanted something more fair and fun than its moon logic puzzles?
Before Terry Pratchett's Discworld got adapted into a PC game, Adventure Soft created Simon the Sorcerer. Using SCUMM Engine-esque commands and controls, players had to help a 12-year-old boy called Simon save the wizard Calypso and his world from his evil rival Sordid. The game offers some of the best graphics the Amiga could offer, alongside a sense of Pratchett-esque humor that was delivered with aplomb by actor Chris Barrie in the CD version.
6 Shadow Fighter
A Diamond In The Rough
- Developer: NAPS Team.
- Platforms: Amiga, Amiga CD32.
- Release: 1994.
- Genre: Fighting game.
While the Amiga was great for some genres, it flunked at others. The machine was released right when most games still required just one action button. It stuck to this scheme even when the SNES and Genesis ruled the home roost with their multiple buttons. Keyboard controls weren't any more complex as these were the early days of PC gaming when they gave players the option between keyboard OR mouse rather than both at the same time.
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As such, there aren’t many great fighting games on the system, with Dangerous Streets and Rise of the Robots being the machine's nadir. However, the NAPS Team managed to produce Shadow Fighter. Its 17-character roster had a neat 90s anime look and a decent range of moves per character, despite the Amiga's limitations. It's arguably a step above the Amiga's official ports of Mortal Kombat 2 and Super Street Fighter 2 as well, making it the machine's clear winner.
7 Cannon Fodder
War Has Never Been So Much Fun!
- Developer: Sensible Software.
- Platforms: Amiga. Atari ST, SNES, Genesis, 3DO, Atari Jaguar, PC, Game Boy Color, and more.
- Release: December 1993.
- Genre: Shoot 'em up.
Other games preferred to stick with human soldiers but were just as irreverent if not more so than Worms. Sensible Software’s Cannon Fodder caused a stir with its blunt, punkish attitude towards the military in their hard-as-nails strategy shooter. Aside from the crude acrostic hidden in its ending, its theme song is a reggae tune with some ironically dark lyrics (“Go to your brother, kill him with your gun. Leave him lying in his uniform dying in the sun!”).
Players controlled their squad (ranging between 1–6 soldiers) to complete missions. They had to choose how many of their squad members went out, how to use their limited supplies, get around traps & terrain, etc. Otherwise, the player would end up turning each trooper into another white cross in the cemetery beside the recruitment office. As entertaining and challenging as the game is, it seems Sensible Software didn’t find war particularly sensible.
8 Sensible World Of Soccer
The Ultimate Soccer Game
Instead, Sensible Software much preferred a good game of soccer. Their take on the sport in Sensible Soccer was a leap in the genre, making it faster and fairer than prior footie games. It even crossed over with Cannon Fodder where soldiers booted a bomb at each other in its Unsensible Soccer bonus disc. Then the sequel, Sensible World of Soccer, came along and knocked it into the back of the net.
On the face of it, it just combined the old game with a management sim. But instead of sticking to one league or another, it had every soccer team from every country on Earth. If they were good enough, players could put the Dallas Burn, Amazulu, or Skonto Riga on par with Manchester United, Juventus, or Real Madrid. It was enough for Stamford University in 2007 to name it one of the most important games ever made, next to Super Mario Bros and Tetris.
9 Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe
Smash-Mouth Future Sports
- Developer: The Bitmap Brothers.
- Platforms: Amiga, Atari ST, Genesis, Sega Master System, Commodore 64, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, and more.
- Release: 1990.
- Genre: Sports Action.
Real sports aren’t always someone’s cup of tea, but future sports are another matter. There have been all sorts of sports games based on either futurizing a current sport or making one up from scratch, usually making it darker in the process too. The original Speedball was no different, and it was pretty good. Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe was just better.
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Combining handball and hockey with brutality, it involved two teams of nine players trying to score more goals than the other. They could also earn points by attacking the other team. But their opponents would try to do the same to them too, so they had to be careful, or they'd run out of substitute players. The game also offered plenty of modes, from multiplayer where friends could beat each other up, to league where one player fought to the top of the table.
10 Lotus Turbo Challenge 2
Hi-Octane Racing Fun
- Developer: Magnetic Fields.
- Platforms: Amiga, Atari ST, Genesis, Acorn Archimedes, Amiga CD32.
- Release: 1991.
- Genre: Racing game.
The Amiga's arcade conversions weren't always so great, as its fighting game library shows. Its racing game ports could also vary in quality, like its grim port of Sega's Outrun. However, its original racing games tended to hold up much better, like Lotus Turbo Challenge 2. It ditched the difficulty levels and refueling elements of its predecessor, Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge, in favor of course-based time trials.
As such, it ended up being a better Outrun-esque game than the official port, with a few fun additions. If players managed to slide under the trailer on the freeway level, the game would play a "Yeehaw!" sample. The game even supported multiplayer crossplay, as up to four players could hook up two Amigas, two Atari STs, or an Amiga and an Atari ST together via the serial port and race against each other. Aside from being fast, it was also way ahead of its time.
11 Theme Park
Rollercoaster Tycoon With An Edge
- Developer: Bullfrog Productions.
- Platforms: Amiga, PC, Mac, Genesis, SNES, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, 3DO, Atari Jaguar, and more.
- Release: June 1994.
- Genre: Construction and management sim.
Considering how the last 20+ years of Peter Molyneux’s career in gaming have been, it’s hard to imagine why he was put on a pedestal. The simple answer is that he spent a good chunk of that career running Bullfrog Productions, the studio famous for taking old concepts and putting new and interesting spins on them. For example, Theme Park followed Rollercoaster Tycoon’s premise of running a theme park, then twisted it.
Players could be as honest as possible, making fair deals with other managers before all the cookies were eaten. Or they could crank up the salt on the fries and the ice in the drinks to maximize profits from hungry (then thirsty) patrons. This cheeky approach to the genre would reappear in its medical spin-off Theme Hospital and inspired their anti-heroic fantasy series Dungeon Keeper.
12 Syndicate
One Of The Darkest RTS Games Ever Made
- Developer: Bullfrog Productions.
- Platforms: Amiga, PC, Mac, SNES, Genesis, Sega CD, Atari Jaguar, 3DO, and more.
- Release: June 1993.
- Genre: Real-time strategy game.
Theme Park and a few other notable Bullfrog games had Molyneux’s touch all over them. But there were others where he left the designers to their own devices. For example, the original Syndicate was the brainchild of Sean Cooper, a student on an employment scheme at the time. His idea became a cyberpunk RTS set in a dystopian future where corporations run nations.
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It’s up to the player to use their squad of agents to complete missions, beat their rivals, and suppress revolts. They had to pick the right agent for the right job based on their stats, then play however they liked. They could achieve their objectives with sly, covert play, or break out the heavy hardware for maximum destruction. Compared to other games at the time, and even now, Syndicate can get quite chilling with its dark themes.
13 Turrican 2: The Final Fight
The Pinnacle Of Search-Action Shooters
- Developer: Factor 5.
- Platforms: Amiga, Atari ST, PC, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC (as Turrican 2). Genesis, Game Boy (as Universal Soldier).
- Release: 1991.
- Genre: Run & Gun shooter.
This is an odd one as this game was also ported to the Genesis and Game Boy as a tie-in for the Jean-Claude Van Damme flick Universal Soldier. Then, while the Amiga release was the prime version, its design was still tweaked, with only the Commodore 64 port sticking to creator Manfred Trenz's original design. Nonetheless, Turrican 2: The Final Fight was a must-play game for the Amiga.
It combined the run & gun fun of Contra with Metroid’s exploration, as players can travel in all directions to get around its eleven labyrinthine levels. It had a wide variety of weapons that could be charged up to produce new attacks, along with a stunning soundtrack that players could listen to on the pause menu. The first three Turrican games and Super Turrican can be played on the PS4 and Nintendo Switch via the Turrican Flashback collection.
14 Guardian
Outdoing Star Fox At Its Own Game
- Developer: Acid Software.
- Platforms: Amiga 1200, Amiga CD32.
- Release: 1994.
- Genre: 3D Shooter.
The term "Amiga" refers to a wide range of computers, as Commodore made a variety of models with different tweaks. The Amiga CD32 was basically the guts of an Amiga 1200 stuck in a console to make it more directly competitive against the Genesis. Commodore even took out advertising space on a billboard outside Sega's UK HQ just to promote the CD32 with a sign saying "It'll take Sega Ages to Beat This!"
Put short, it only took them a few months for Commodore to go out of business and spell the end for all Amiga hardware. But it went out with a bang in Guardian, a shooter that beat both the Genesis and SNES by offering Star Fox-style action at a silky smooth frame rate. The only thing it lacks is a story, as it's an arcade-style shooter a la Defender. But it was the last hurrah for both the last Amiga microcomputer and its only console.