Metal Gear 

At the end of January 2021 a port of MSX classic "Metal Gear" to the Amiga was announced by coder "hOffman". "Metal Gear" was a milestone, and is a classic in it's own right, as it started the stealth-and-survival genre in computer gaming. In this type of games it's not just kill-em-all, but more importantly stealth tactics and strategy.

The game is still under development, but nearing completion, and already looks and sounds very good. The graphics are pretty much a pixel perfect recreation of the MSX original. According to the author, it runs at full framerate on the Amiga (even where the original would slow down due to lots of on-screen action), and special care is taken to reproduce and possibly enhance the original soundtrack and sound effects.

"Metal Gear" requires an Amiga 500 with 1MB or higher.

You can watch a work-in-progress video on Hofman's YouTube channel:

This is going to be another quality remake of a classic game - lookin' forward to the release of "Metal Gear" on Amiga!

Additional sources:
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=105620
http://amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2021-02-00002-EN.html
http://www.indieretronews.com/2021/01/hot-news-msx-classic-metal-gear-is...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_Gear_(video_game)

"Imperium Terranum 2" updated

In January 2021 news popped up about turn-based freeware space strategy game "Imperium Terranum 2" by Virtual World Productions. The game has been available on AmiNet since (at least) 2001, but has obviously been resurrected recently.

Coder Rene "fook42" F. is converting the Pascal source code from the AmiNet game version into C code, and adding some improvements. Currently, his new version has no new gameplay features etc., but you can now freely set the game's screenmodes.

This is pretty cool, as it opens up a path for future updates, and portability (maybe AROS?).

Note that if you want to play the new C based version, you need to copy it over the installed previous (AmiNet / Virtual Worlds) version - see GitHub link below for files and instructions.

Go to Virtual World's website to find out more about the original game...
https://www.virtualworlds.de/IT/

...or download it from AmiNet:
http://aminet.net/package/game/strat/IT2000

You can get the latest updated version from GitHub:
https://github.com/fook42/ImperiumTerranum2/releases

Additional sources:
http://amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2021-01-00048-EN.html

Space Pilot of Death

"Space Pilot of Death" - doesn't that sound awesome? Now if a title like that doesn't catch your attention, I don't know what will. 

In Jan. 2021 this game by Marten "goldmomo" Wobst was uploaded to AmiNet, as a result of the author reviving his Amiga, and assembler programming skills, after a break of more than 20 years. It's looks similar to Asteroids, but it's a dodge-and-survive, not a shoot-em-up, that runs on any Amiga with 512KB RAM and able to display a 50Hz PAL or NTSC screen. It can be played with joystick or keyboard. (Note: there seems to be a mistake in the readme file: Space key is not needed.)

It's quite a simple game, but it's also quite well done! The title music gets you into the right mood, terrifying red alert messages pump up your adrenaline level, huge asteroids are approaching, and lots of them - pretty much everything about it feels just right. Yes, this isn't Elite or Wing Commander, we are aware of that. But it's a good looking, well done, quick little release with addictive qualities, for kids and casual gamers, we are aware of that, too. The author also has given hints he might be improving the game further. And, heck, it's... "Space Pilot Of Death"! So what are you waiting for?

Watch a video of "Space Pilot Of Death" on Per-Ola Eriksson's YouTube channel:

Go to AmiNet to download "Space Pilot of Death":
http://aminet.net/package/game/actio/spod

Additional sources:
http://amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2021-01-00056-EN.html

"The nameless platformer" (demo)

"The nameless platformer" is a port of a ZX Spectrum game called "Black and White" - but currently the Amiga version lacks an official name, so we'll just call it "The nameless platformer".

It's a three level demo created using the Scorpion engine, in which you control a little wizard on a single-screen playfield, collecting lots of valuable items. This game is obviously still under development, as you can see in the video below there are a couple of glitches, the title screen looks like it will be changed, maybe sound effects will be added, and so on. But it looks promising with it's cute wizard and overall visual style, some music playing along (I think I've heard the tune before...?), and what appears to be quick and fluid playability.

The demo was first shown at the end of Jan. 2021, so far there seem to be no news, but can certainly be expected in the near future.

Additional sources:
http://amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2021-02-00001-EN.html
http://www.indieretronews.com/2021/01/a-new-amiga-demo-of-upcoming-amiga...
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/35121/ZX-Spectrum/Black_and_White

Turbo Sprint AGA finished (Super Sprint)

Another update to "Super Sprint AGA": It now goes by the name of "Turbo Sprint" - and you can actually play it, it's finished! Since we last reported about the game, development has made lots of progress, in Feb. 2021 a playable 5-minute demo has been released, and on April 28th author Graeme Cowie announced the finished game on facebook and YouTube.

After a year of development "Turbo Sprint" now really feels like a complete game, with lots of stuff going on visually, everything moving around and interacting reasonably, sound effects that create proper atmosphere, yeah, you almost start smelling burning rubber. Up to four players, hires graphics, 8 tracks, car upgrades, ...you name it - and it runs from Workbench. Very good, congratulations!

The game requires an AGA Amiga to run, and will be commercially released as digital download very soon, with a glossy boxed edition following.

You can watch "Turbo Sprint AGA" promotion video on Graeme Cowie's YouTube channel:

Go to the game's website for more details, and game purchase:
https://mcgeezer.itch.io/

Additional sources:
https://www.facebook.com/supersprintdrs
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=101722
http://www.indieretronews.com/2021/02/turbo-sprint-arcade-quality-port-o...