What I really wanted in October 1991... Amiga Computing issue 41 reveals all...

That's right, I recently sat down and browsed through an old Amiga Computing magazine I had... 

Issue 41 to be exact, why issue 41 I hear you not ask?  Well I've kept all the Amiga Format, Amiga Power and Amiga Computing magazines we ever had.  Recently in conversation the game Mega Lo Mania for the Amiga came up.  Turns out issue 41 of Amiga Computing had a review of that very game, and a great review too 93%.

Amiga Computing - Issue 41 - October 1991

As I was browsing... 

I came across one of those ads that advertised every game under the sun, there's plenty of them, this one was for 'Special Reserve'. Before I flicked the page over I realised, as a 12 year old kid, scribbled next to the things I wanted.  So I thought I'd share with you these things...

My wish list October 1991

The Amiga games/software I wanted in alphabetical order:

• AMOS (Games Creator) - £32.99
  Yes as a 12 year old I was desperate to be a games programmer, I was so naive, but Google didn't exist so didn't know what was out there, this seemed to be the obvious choice.  I owe a lot to AMOS, it spring boarded my programming career! 

• ELF - £16.49
  I remember now, for some reason the advertising for this game really appealed to me. To this day I've never played it, I must fire it up on my Amiga 1200.  I've got a feeling it had bad reviews.

• HOLLYWOOD COLLECTION (Robocop, Ghostbusters 2, Indy Jones, Batman Movie) - 19.99
  Of course I wanted this, how awesome are these bunch of games! Never had this collection. Remember playing Robocop and being slightly disappointed. I'm assuming that was Indiana Jones and the last crusade, I played it on other platforms and loved it.  Never played Ghostbusters 2 or Batman Movie.

• RAINBOW COLLECTION (Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands, New Zealand Story) - £13.99
  Bubble Bobble and Rainbow Islands were a MASSIVE favourite on our ZX Spectrum. Remember seeing the vibrant colours on the Amiga version and really wanted to be in those worlds. I did play New Zealand Story in the end, but I don't think it had the same energy as the other 2 games.

OK so there were a couple of accessories I wanted too...

Many joystick options available back in the day, but the Quickshot Maverick was the one I wanted

• Quickshot 138F Maverick 1 - £12.99
• Roctec External Drive - £54.99

So I was after an awesome joystick and external floppy drive, never did get a joystick better than a standard Competition Pro, but did get the 2nd floppy drive about a year later.

And then there was the Nintendo Gameboy...

OK so I LOVED my Amiga, it was great then, and it still is today. At the time I never had a Nintendo product, they were top of their game and the Gameboy was so amazing.  This is what I wanted.  After months of my Mum pretending to not understand what a gamethingy was she secretly got me one for Xmas that year.

The Gameboy games I desperately wanted was Formula 1 Race (with four player adaptor) £29.49 and Super Mario Land £19.49.  What I find funny about this selection is that I didn't know ANYONE else with a Gameboy at the time, so no idea why I chose the four way adaptor.  Super Mario Land became a massive favourite of mine, but I never did get or play Formula 1 Race.

Yup they were the top things I wanted.  Nothing too exciting I know, but it's just funny looking back on things that a 12 year old me wanted.  When I look at all the other things on offer at the time, makes me chuckle.

Right I must get back to coding in Amiga Assembler...

Comment here or get involved on twitter: @rich_lloyd

It's 2013 man, why bother learning assembler for the Amiga?!

OK so I'm a little late to the party (over 20 years), but I've set myself the goal to learn assembly language for the Amiga (68000 processors) and wanted to share my experience with you.

At the age of 13 I was so excited to see a tutorial in Amiga Format called 'How to program your own games in assember', this was the stepping stone for me to become my dream, a games programmer.  Sadly as a kid, I struggled, I already knew BASIC and AMOS, but Assembler was something else.  The internet didn't exist, I was too young to realise there would be books on the topic, and didn't know anyone in the same boat I could share learning with.  I was alone.  I gave up, but it's always bugged me.

Now I'm an experienced programmer, I became professional in the late 90's and my dream of coding games came true, but I never did learn assembly language.  Of course I didn't need to, the industry moved on, easier and more productive languages are now used.  Games I write for clients these days use Unity3D or XNA/MonoGame and the teams I work with can produce sophisticated 3D worlds.

"Games ain't what they used to be"

Technology today is mind blowing, and the games produced today are masterpieces. However I still feel most games today miss the magic of the games made in the early 90's, especially on the Amiga.  Is it just my age or did Amiga games really have something different about them?  To prove I'm not wearing rose tinted glasses I've started to research some of the old classics.  Google and youtube are great, but I've also fired up my Amiga 500 and properly reliving the experience.  I wanted to understand more about the all round hero Amiga machine, and how the games were written.  Whilst hunting through my old stuff, I came across my Amiga Formats (issues 39-44) with the tutorials I struggled with as a kid, I found all the cover disks, including the full version of DevPac 2.

My Amiga 500 - awesome machine

I'm about to learn assembly language, how hard can it be? Right? Game ON!

Challenge accepted.  I'm aiming to blog about my experience with each tutorial, and then hopefully sum up the whole journey.  I have my Amiga 500 now set up on my desk, all issues of Amiga Format tutorial with all the cover disks (I hope they all still work).

Can't wait to get stuck in to the tutorial I really hope it can teach me everything I need to know.  Having new knowledge combined with my career experience, I would love to write a game for the Amiga!

I've bought this book on Amazon 'An introduction to 68000 Assembly Language', it's very brief, but it does give me the list of commands available.

Very brief book - but perfect for when I start delving deeper...

Do you still code in Assembler?!

Would love to hear from anyone who still codes in assembler, especially for the Amiga machines.  Or maybe if you used to?  Any hints or tips you could recommend?  Did you complete the tutorials?  Did it kick start your career?

Comment here or get involved on twitter: @rich_lloyd