Puzzle games were more prevalent in the Amiga days and were also more popular which may go some way to explaining my first statement. Anyway. I've got a good puzzler for you here and no mistake.

Hosted by manga/anime women with soft voices and a very low clothing budget you were invited by these girls to manipulate a bank of gems shown on the left side of the screen to match the bank of gems shown on the right. Clicking on a gem sent it down the colour chart (shown in the centre of the screen) by two places whereas the four adjacent gems to the one you clicked advanced one place down the colour chart. Advance a gem who is at the bottom of the colour chart and it disappears allowing the gems above to fall down.

It sounds ridiculously easy and simple doesn't it?

I love you.GemX

I wonder how many of you remember Exile?

A platformy arcadey exploratory game set in a space theme on the surface and in caverns of a planet called Phoebus. Featuring real life mimicking physics such as mass and inertia among others this was certainly ahead of it's time. Astonishingly this was not it's first showing either. This game started life on the Acorn Electron and BBC Micro!

Continuing the turn based strategy games I'm going to choose Celtic Legends for "C". Complete with hexagonal mapping and a pretty full roster of mythological beasties. You see, there are two wizards vying for the land utilising all manner of spells and summoned creatures to accomplish this.

If you have ever played an old 8bit machine game called Chaos by Julian Gollop then you should find this game extremely familiar just rather advanced somewhat.

Here's one for the numbered and symbol section.

Do you remember Freescape? Such titles as Castlemaster and Total Eclipse? Of course you do. They are mentioned in this thread for starters. Well this little program from DoMark allowed you to build your own Freescape world. Free to create your own story with set pieces. Although I must admit that I only ever tried to rebuild my house on it. :)

Why no "Y"? It can't be that difficult can it? Anyway "Y" is open to anyone who wants to grab it out of turn. A cookie to the first who does. :D

Edit: Dozy old me has forgotten to include a slot for games starting with numbers. Again this one is free for the taking out of turn!

Right then it looks like wea are back to "A".

Does this one need an introduction? The pic may be of the 15th anniversary edition but visually it hasn't changed much. Reputed to be an advancement from Prince of Persia with it's incredibly fluid character animation. You youngsters better believe me when I say that at the time of release almost everyones jaw dropped when they saw this in action. :)
The story goes that you are a nuclear scientist and one day when experimenting with a particle accelerator you are zapped into "Another World". What follows is a short but beautiful platforming experience. Yes, you may finish it quickly and yes, it may feel like an interactive film but you can't help falling in love with it.

I remember playinga demo of this on the school Archimedes under the name of Zarch IIRC. So when I got my Amiga I hunted this down. It was actually quite a difficult title to get hold of and even more difficult to play. Boy, was the learning curve steep! However if you could get the hang of it you'd find yourself playing quite an intriguing little game. Your craft (looking remarkably like a Horay Starboat from Eite) could soon be zooming above the patchwork 3D landscape like the Red Arrows. :)

And then you try combatting the Viral enemies and then you crash. You see. I told you the learning curve was steep. :)

Despite the difficulty it still remains an impressive piece of programming considering how smooth, fast and pretty the game is.

Virus.

Now I'd better mention from the off that platforming shooters are really not my thing but this one was good enough to make me play it all the way through. Good visuals, superb movement and control and a surprisingly good soundtrack.

People, here's Turrican.

I remember having lots of fun with this one althouth the story escapes me at the moment. Possibly something to do with two kids searching a tower looking for their kidnapped mom? Correct me if I'm wrong.

Basically each screen is one level of the tower and you have to bash the baddies with your wands (rods). Once captured by the wand keep hammering the fire button and you repeatedly bash your enemy until he/she gives in and expires. Can be played by two simultaneously and I'm almost certain you could pick up your buddy with your wand and bash them as well.

*Reads above script.*

No really it is better than it sounds!

Rodland.

:lol:

I can see "O" being a problem for some people then! Thankfully I've got "P" which means some other sucker gets the dreaded "Q". :)

Okay then. Up for "P" is a platformer. Cute and colourful and also starring Bub and Bob from the two prequel games Bubble Bobble and Rainbow Islands. Who would ever have thought that their latest arsenal would involve bashing and spinning baddies on deadly umberellas?

This "N" came free with the machine in the package I received. On the one hand at least it gave guaranteed sales (which were needed) but on the other it didn't inspire any confidence in your brand new machines abilities when you played this game.

Maybe I'm being harsh and maybe if I played it now (if I hadn't already used it as a saves disk for another game) then I may just get into it and find a decent game lurking beneath the first ropey ten minutes or so. Anyone else have their own ideas and opinions they'd like to share on this one?

Nightbreed: