New Classic Amiga Software and A500 Build

It is to my great shame that I have only done one blog post about Amiga related things so far in 2025 and we are already half way through the year! 

In my defence I have had a lot to deal with this year, and recently a backlog of other non-Amiga posts I wrote ages ago to get out too.

I have certainly done plenty of Classic Amiga related things throughout 2025 so far (when time permitted), so let's take a look at what I have been up to!

2025 has seen a number of physical boxed game releases. Some of the games I have looked in 2024 already, but it turned out my wishes for more physical boxed games to be released didn't fall on deaf ears.
Dungeonette AGA was released by Mutation Software very late in 2024 and I didn't get my physical copy in the post until well into 2025. I did take a look at the demo release in my post in 2024 though.

I was a bit sad the physical box release was a Blu-ray box rather than a cardboard big box one. 

I paid a crazy amount of money in postage to get their previous release Cyber Punks 2 as a physical cardboard game box (sold via eBay), which I believe led to this release being done this way. Sorry to everyone else, but my wallet is grateful!
It came with the floppy disk labels, CD and USB stick with the floppy disk images in ADF format. I wrote out the floppy disks to real floppy disks using Kryoflux on my Mac Studio, and put the provided labels on the floppy disks.
I already discussed this game in my 2024 post about Amiga games, so I won't repeat myself!
 
We also saw another AGA physical game release in 2025 with Digilicious Nibbles's Sky Shapers - a very nice shoot em up.

This game came on CD, and I set to work installing it on my Amiga 4000T:

Sorry for the grainy iPhone installation photo...

With the game installed, I could play it - it has a nice intro animation to explain the story.

I always laugh a little at developers feeling the need to create an elaborate story for shoot-em ups. Basically, you shoot everything that moves, right?

 

Essentially a virus has mutated with flies and killed all the insects and animals on the planet. 

Human scientists came up with a vaccine to kill the virus, which is somehow attached to a laser on a bird called Tycho.
You are Tycho, and have to destroy the virus before they destroy all life.

I'll give the author 10/10 for an interesting story though. Definitely different. 

But errr...the goal is still like every other shoot-em up - shoot everything that moves.

The game good and challenging - if you like Shoot-em ups you will enjoy it.

It is a vertical scrolling shoot-em up, and the graphics are quite good :-)

There are power ups to collect along the way too - not forgetting the potent BFL - the how to play explains all, including what BFL stands for - no great surprises there:


It is certainly worth trying if you like shoot-em up's!
Very recently saw the physical game box release of Dr. Dangerous, a game I definitely enjoy playing in 2024 and said at the time there should be a physical box release. 
In 2025 we have it, with new music and other extra features (like music and difficulty levels) from the version released last year.

This is a great platform game for the Amiga that everyone who loves this type of game should have in their collection.

Personally I think this game is great, and I enjoy playing it a lot.

Navigating the levels, finding the required batteries in each level to be able to unlock the exit to the next level is very fun - and the very small amount of available ammunition means you have to think very carefully before shooting at anything.

If you don't have enough ammunition, it is not possible to get past certain points, so you need to keep thinking - do I need to shoot this enemy or just dodge it?

This mechanic adds a really interesting curve to the game, and I enjoyed it a lot.

The levels are fair, and you can get through them with a bit of thought and planning.

Oh, and I think the graphics are fantastically well done for a ECS game, playable on a 1MB memory Amiga 500. :-)

I also picked up the new release Yoomp game for the Amiga (physical box release from K&A - sadly now sold out).  I definitely enjoy this game too! 
I used to play a game called Tube made by Bullfrog for MS-DOS, which I got from a magazine cover disk back in the mid-1990's - it was a similar game to this.

A bouncing Amiga boing ball is the player in the case of Yoomp rather than the ship there was in Tube.

You can bounce all around the tunnel as long as there is a platform tile there to land on.

You need to move the ball left and right to keep it in the game world as various tiles appear in 360 tunnel that is coming towards you. There are jump tiles for longer gaps - don't miss them!

Unlike Tube you can't go backwards when you hit obstacles and you can't shoot anything, but apart from that it plays very similarly.

 
This release included the C64 version (as an option) alongside the Amiga version. I already had Yoomp on the C64 from the original RGCD release on cartridge so I just got the Amiga version.
I also picked up some other physical box game releases that I somehow managed to miss out on any earlier as I didn't know about them having a physical box release! Heretic II, Agente 357, Boxx 4, and Rogue Declan.

Boxx 4 is from Retroguru, and I have bought plenty of their games over the years for Amiga. I am glad they are still around.

Boxx 4 is a platform game - very much a typical version of one, but bright colours and good controls mean it is enjoyable to play for sure.

This game works well on a standard 1MB Amiga 500 system, and I use the included floppy disk to run it from - although I know there are other options to run on WHDLoad too.

Agente 357 is a kind of RPG style game - to be honest I wasn't impressed with it.

The graphics look nice enough...

...but the scrolling is so jerky and slow. I suppose it might work faster on a faster Amiga, but for the type of game it is, it really should run better.

I got frustrated with the jerky scrolling and difficult to navigate maps and gave up - perhaps I should have given it more time, but the jerky scrolling put me right off trying.

Rogue Declan on the other hand has no such issues:

Rogue Declan is a dungeon crawler - a bit like Dungeonette AGA I guess, but the maps are quite different, and the characters much smaller.

The tutorial at the start explains things well and leads you nicely into the game:

I wasn't very good at it though - I will certainly give it another go soon!

Also, I am pleased to say we still have a number of regular physical magazines for Amiga (and C64) in 2025 - Amiga Future, Amiga Addict, K & A Plus, and Zapp 64/Amiga:

I heard also about the return of Compute's Gazette magazine after 35 years with C64 coverage again. They apparently delayed the magazine relaunch until the C64 Ultimate news broke. 
I ordered a physical copy of the new Issue 1 and got the download PDF also while I am waiting for it to arrive.

From the "Commodore is back" plastered across the cover of this issue, I definitely have some views about the "new" Commodore 64 Ultimate...well, not the computer itself. 

Small diversion - forgive me.
 
Mainly my views centre around the You Tuber who has appointed himself CEO (and other staff members)  of a new company using branding he doesn't even own yet. 
From his YouTube announcement video, he is apparently trying to raise funds from selling Ultimate64 boards in a C64 bling case to people as a "cash up front" pre-order in order to help him (along with his "angel investors") to "buy" Commodore branding from the current owner to "protect it" - ie. to own it himself and then probably monetise the brand well into the future. 
Will this selling of the Commodore brand name to retro enthusiasts be perhaps in the form of Commodore branded breakfast cereal? Commodore key rings, pens, and USB sticks perhaps? Commodore stickers, Commodore branded toilet paper (with READY. printed on each sheet - actually that would be funny), Commodore branded TV's and screens,  Commodore PET branded Dog kennels, Commodore branded joystick controllers and keyboards, perhaps a Commodore official App for branded C64 emulation on mobile/tablets? 
Will he perhaps expect a commission for developers/publishers of C64 games/applications to put C64 or Commodore branding logos on their physical game boxes or in their games? Sigh, I hope I am wrong. 
If he is reading this, please don't do these monetisation ideas. Skimming money off the back of hard working people with tacky products and commission based branding off the back of Commodore nostalgia will not endear you to the community. You are sure not using my money to help buy a company you apparently can't afford to buy without outside financial help. Buy the Commodore branding rights yourself with your own money please. If you can't afford it, don't buy it. Like everyone else has to do in real life.
If he does manage somehow to buy and own the Commodore name, and he starts shipping the C64 ultimate system without a cash up front pre order - ie, from real actual stock that exists, I might be interested in it. 
Only interested in it because I was interested in Gideon's Ultimate64 board previously, and never bought one due to the very long wait time to get one. Given this new system announcement and the number of pre-orders so far, the wait would be even longer now I suppose.
Gideon designs and makes great stuff - I respect his work a lot. I have two of his excellent Ultimate 1541-II cartridges and use them everyday on my real C64 systems. It will be the same/similar Ultimate64 board from Gideon used in the C64 Ultimate, with a new dumbed down menu system to make it more "accessible".
For those who have invested in the Commodore 64 Ultimate pre-order already, I genuinely hope it all works out ok and you get the product you pre-ordered. 
For now, I choose not to link his channel or website - it would just give him further publicity he clearly doesn't need. I am guessing you likely already know about it anyway. I'll wait and see what happens. 
Anyway, enough about that topic. Back to Amigas.
Some new non-game Amiga software I played with is new software from BitPlan called GoVD, which implements virtual desktops to AmigaOS 3.2, which is quite exciting. 
This is made by the same team that made GoADF for mounting, read/writing ADF files on AmigaOS 3.x.
There is a small registration fee to unlock the time unlimited version - otherwise it stops working after 20 minutes. I found the software useful, and so I registered mine.

GoVD gives our desktops more flexibility in a linux style functionality to put different applications in different virtual screens. We can have up to 8 virtual desktops.

You can see the 1,2,3,4 "buttons" at the bottom of the screen, with the current virtual desktop highlighted. You can click on each desktop number to switch.
I installed GoVD v2.0 on my Amiga 2000 at the beginning of 2025, running AmigaOS 3.2 on a 68030 accelerator with 68882 FPU, 2MB chip (with MegaChip add-on),  and 117MB fast memory.
I heard the latest 2.4 version works with AmigaOS 4.x also - so I will have to try it out on my A1222 soon too!

The GoVD software has a lot of configuration options, available via Preferences once installed:

You can change where the virtual desktop buttons appear on the screen, what is shown on the buttons, and shortcuts to show and hide the buttons.

You can also adjust if the virtual desktop buttons are vertical or horizontally displayed.

You can also define the keyboard shortcuts to switch between virtual desktops or switch to the next/previous virtual desktop without needing to click on the buttons on the screen.

We can also exclude specific windows from using the virtual desktop if desired.

Personally I hope this is included as standard functionality in AmigaOS 3.3 :-)

As a test of GoVD, below I launched iBrowse in Virtual Desktop 2:

I then ran GoldEd in Virtual desktop 3:

In the first Virtual desktop I ran Hippoplayer - with the whole screen available I can open up all the plugins :-)

Of course 1280x1024 RTG workbench gives me a lot of real estate anyway, but being able to keep my iBrowse web browser seperate and switchable is very handy.
I know I could hack around with MUI to launch iBrowse on it's own dedicated screen, but using GoVD is much quicker and easier - and such seperate screen settings are limited to MUI applications...I like this approach better:

I definitely recommend using GoVD and see if it works for you on your Classic Amiga or AmigaOS 4 machine too!

Next, I decided to fix another Classic Amiga issue that has been ongoing for some time. 
Back in 2023 I re-built my Pistorm 500 using an Amiga 500 I won in a raffle at the Perth Amiga User Group meeting which I attended that year.
Although that project sorted out and restored my Pistorm A500 system, it left me without a dedicated 1.3 A500 system.
I can convert my AmigaOS 3.2 A500 with the Individual computers ACA500 plus accelerator / network/ USB/Indivision attachment to function as a 1.3 machine, but I prefer to have a dedicated 1.3 A500 machine that I can use my A590 hard disk and A570 CD drive on. 
The A570 in particular needs the 1.3 kickstart rom to work and I don't want to have to disconnect the ACA500 plus card from the system each time I want to use them. In fact, that is not possible without disassembling the A500 since the indivision ecs vga output passes through the zorro port to the ACA500 plus card perspex casing where it is mounted...
To solve that, I would need a new A500. Well, err, not new of course. An additional A500..I kept an eye out on Ebay and eventually tracked one down locally at a reasonable price.
The package arrived, and inside was a rather beaten up A500 box that had clearly seen better days:

Evidently it was used to store clothes for their kids I guess from the label on the box...

Anyway, it was kind of nice to have a A500 box again, even though it is in such bad shape I won't keep it:

I grabbed some photos of it before disposing of it.

Fortunately the A500 inside was not as bad condition - just grubby and in need of a clean:

It was not damaged in transit and that is the main thing.

Also included in the package sent was a boxed Alter Image video genlock package for the Amiga:

This cost AUD$440 back in 1991 - yikes.

Included is a video Genlock, and the software and manuals to use it:

Essentially you can use the software to overlay video titles and other graphical effects over a video you feed into the Amiga, and then feed out to another recording device.

In this era it was not possible to store video on the computer due to the storage requirements - remember that most people who had a hard disk in their Amiga in that era had 52MB drives at most! Even that cost a huge amount of money...
One other interesting inclusion in the package I bought was some Amiga software I had never seen before - language learning software.

Strangely the A500 had a warranty seal on the back of the unit - still intact. I have not seen one in this location before. Perhaps the unit was serviced and a sticker placed to ensure the warranty remained intact?

As it turned out, that was not relevant since clearly it had been opened - you would think they would put the sticker over the original warranty sticker on the underside covering one of the screws?

Anyway, whatever. This machine is likely getting opened real soon anyway!
Opening the expansion bay reveals a stock A501 512KB memory expansion module, with no doubt a leaky battery since it has clearly not been opened...

I quickly removed it:

Not sure what they did to this expansion cover, it appears someone has welded/soldered the parts you can normal use to disassemble the ram module to inspect it.

Very strange. Anyway, I have a spare 512KB expansion board for the A500, so I will not use this old one.

 

I connected the system using an external Scan doubler to connect to a standard vga tft screen and the Workbench insert disk screen appears - excellent.

I booted a Workbench 1.3 floppy disk first and checked the memory expansion is working, and it is:

I then booted up Menace on floppy disk to test the system, and it worked fine - floppy drive, audio and video all good. :-)

Next, I connected my A590 hard disk to it, which has additional 2MB memory in it, and a Aztecmonster CF card setup with Workbench 1.3.

I did this build of the A590 some time ago - the blog entry covering it is here if you are interested in the build details!

It boots up and works great with this A500. One nice thing about setting up a stock A500 with external expansions is that it is much easier to do!

I swapped out the A590 for the A570 CD drive and confirmed that is working well too - the CDTV insert CD screen appears.

This particular A570 I plan to do a lot more with.
To start, I want to add a memory expansion and SCSI connector to the expansion bay, as I plan to add a external SCSI hard disk in the future to use as the full system - it will then remove the need to swap between the A590 and A570, as everything will work with the A570...but not yet, since I need to buy another external SCSI hard disk device.
Let's start with the memory upgrade first.
I was lucky enough to find one of these 2MB fast memory upgrades on Ebay from someone who assembled the designs shown here - this memory card was made more recently for the A570 CD. There are other potential sources from a brief look around the web:

I needed to open the A570 case to get to the internal connector to install it:

This space and connector (visible through the shielding) is where the memory module needs to be installed:

Here is the 2MB memory module installed in the A570:

With that done, I turned my attention to the installation of the SCSI controller into the expansion port at the rear of the A570.

It is easy to access the port without opening the case, however the space between the internal connector and the outside of the case is too small to fit a normal CDTV style SCSI controller.
This solution means you end up with an ugly PCB stuck out the back of the A570. I didn't want that - I wanted a clean solution. 
After looking around online for a while, I found the answer - someone had made a SCSI controller with a different PCB design to the usual CDTV style setup, especially designed to fit the A570 internally, and mount to the rear mounting bracket. I ordered it back in 2023 and it came nicely packaged, complete with mounting bracket.
I haven't seen it when I looked on the web as part of writing this post, so not sure if you can still get one.
The developer of this expansion card created a connector on the PCB to mount the chip components that normally wouldn't fit horizontally, vertically instead. Very clever.
It had been my intention to use the ZuluSCSI MicroSD external hard disk below with it, and indeed I ordered it from Rabbit Hole Computing for that purpose. However, I ended up using it on a seperate Mac Classic project...

I'll have to order another one to finish this build...and they no longer sell it.

Here is the Zulu scsi hard disk connected to the SCSI controller I bought.

Here is the mounting bracket for the A570 rear port, replacing the original blanking plate:

I was about to screw it into the bracket when I noticed an issue I should have seen earlier...

The vertical orientation of the SCSI controller wouldn't for through the expansion bay slot. I would have to open the case:

Heh, should have known it wouldn't be that easy.

Anyway, with the case removed, I could install it into the A570 external port by removing the vertical board, plugging in the horizontal pcb part, connecting the vertical bit once inside:

I removed the screws on the scsi connector so I can fix the back cover to the scsci controller:

The SCSI disable switch also has a passthrough hole in the backing plate, and the status led's too - very nice and clean.

With the screws back in place, the setup of the SCSI controller in the A570 is complete.

I then put the cover back on and I think it looks very clean indeed.

As mentioned, for now I don't have the ZuluSCSI, so I can just enjoy the extra memory and CDTV titles on this A500!

Personally, I am really glad to have the A570 setup - even though I have a CDTV, I prefer to keep that setup as it is now (i did do a number of upgrades to the CDTV as per my post here). 

I decided to focus on doing upgrades to the A570 instead - it is much easier to disassemble for a start!

Audio CD's on the A570 playback just fine with this A500. Note that I need to feed the audio from the A500 RCA ports to the audio RCA inputs on the back of the A570. Then the RCA audio output from the A570 goes to the speakers. That way it mixes the audio from both CD and system together.

Interestingly enough, if I boot the A500 to Workbench 1.3 with a real floppy disk, I can see the CDTV CD mounted on the workbench.

This will be great once I have another ZuluSCSI, as it will give me a full Workbench 1.3 with CD support to use.

I settled back into a nice game of Defender of the Crown CDTV version:

I forgot how much I enjoyed this game:

With the system working well with the A570, and needing a ZuluSCSI to complete it, I decided to go a different way in the meantime and work with the A590's scsi controller. Since I have an external Apple SCSI CD-ROM drive connected to the Amiga 1200 030 system, perhaps I could use that setup instead? 
I moved the A500 to the A1200's location, and hooked it up to the Checkmate display as I was testing it here at the time.

I put my other A500 back in it's usual place, and can now use it as a AmigaOS 3.2 machine with it's ACA500 plus setup with ethernet, USB, etc.

To use this 1.3 A500 with the CD drive, I will need to add a mount list entry for it:

I also decided to add a ZIP drive mount list entry also, as I would like to also connect a zip drive to it, to make data transfer easier. I can transfer data from the A3000 which also has a zip drive.

I then setup the CD drive and zip drive, and connected them to the SCSI port on the back of the A590.

After a reboot, and a CD being in the drive on boot, the Apple CD drive mounted perfectly under Workbench 1.3 booting from the A590!


This is a great result! One annoyance though is the need to cd to the drive before it will mount. I don't recall having this issue on my A2000 when it ran Workbench 1.3 with a SCSI CD drive. Perhaps it is because it is an Apple drive?
I listened to some mods in OctaMED while I chewed that over...

I did hit problems also mounting the zip disks under this setup - perhaps because I formatted the zip disks on the A3000 with a newer fastfilesystem version.

I'll need to try formatting one with the Workbench 1.3 fastfilesystem on the RDB instead and see if that works. A task for another day.
For now I am quite happy with this setup and until I get another mini cased ZuluSCSI (which appears to be out of stock everywhere) it will do for now.
I hope you enjoyed the A500 build and the new games I showed here that have been released on the Amiga in 2025. There are also many more ports of arcade games like Burger time, Gyruss on Amiga too - but this post is long enough already - so I'll save them for later!
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