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Armalyte

Armalyte was considered a masterpiece when it was released in 1988, bringing the 8-bit Commodore 64 computer closer to the arcade experience. It reached number one in the European charts and the magazines of the time hailed it as the end-all of C64 shoot-em-ups. It all started when Dan Philips (main programming) became obsessed with Salamander in the arcades and was able to complete it on one 10-pence piece. He then convinced Robin Levy (graphics, attack waves, level design) to make their own horizontal shooter. Together with John Kemps (systems programming) they formed Cyberdyne systems, a reference to Dan’s favorite movie, The Terminator. The team wanted to do the C64 conversion of Salamander, and actually talked to Konami about it, but were disappointed to find out somebody else already got that job. They then decided to develop their own original shooter, Armalyte, which they eventually released through British publisher Thalamus Ltd.

Katakis

The shoot-em-up Katakis on the Commodore 64 (C64) started as a sideproject of Manfred Trenz (coding, game, and level design)who worked with Andreas Escher (graphics)on the game after working hours at German developer Rainbow Arts. Both men were new in the industry, although Trenz had just finished The Great Giana Sisters, one of the most popular titles for the C64 that was infamous for being given a cease-and-desist by Nintendo due to the game’s similarities with Super Mario Bros. Trenz, who would later cement his reputation as an exceptional game designer and programmer with the Turrican-series, impressed his boss with his Katakis demo and convinced him to turn it into a full-fledged project.

Apidya

The folks at German developer Kaiko were huge fans of Japanese video games and aspired to give their own games the special look and feel associated with those produced by the likes of Taito, Jaleco, Namco and Sega. At first glance Apidya therefore appears to be a Japanese title on a platform, the Amiga, that totally lacked support from Japanese developers. Visually the Japanese inspiration is apparent in Apidya’s intro and ending animations, which uses anime-style graphics, and the opening screen, which boasts anime-style characters.

Agony

Back in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, Psygnosis had a reputation for publishing games that squeezed the Amiga hardware like no other. Agony was a perfect fit and saw its release under the Psygnosis banner in 1992. The game was developed by the Belgian studio Art & Magic which had previously worked on the Amiga title Unreal. Unreal already featured some graphical trickery, but it was with Agony that the team would truly create a technical masterpiece. The name Agony was chosen because it sounded cool, and also because its initial letter ‘A’ would ensure it being featured at the top of alphabetically ordered games lists in magazines. This was a lesson the team had learned from Unreal which had always ended up at the bottom.

Disposable Hero

Dutch development team Boys without Brains, at the time still in their teens, released their first game Hawkeye on the Commodore 64 in 1988. Hawkeye, a Rygar inspired run-and-gun game, showcased their talent and was the first on the system to feature parallax scrolling. After releasing the platformer Flimbo’s Quest in 1990, the Boys moved to the Commodore Amiga to work on their most impressive game yet: Disposable Hero. Inspired by games like Salamander, Gradius and R-type, their mission was simple: to create the very best and technically most advanced Amiga shoot-em-up. For two years, the Boys Without Brains worked tirelessly on Disposable Hero. Without corporate deadlines or creative restraints, the final product was both a labor of love and an impressive achievement. Disposable Hero was released through publisher Gremlin Graphics in 1993 with a rerelease for the Amiga CD32 following in 1994 featuring similar graphics but a new soundtrack and some difficulty tweaks.

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