Oioi! Thanks matey, hard to think of a better (commercially released) shmup than that one! (P47) Although I tend to play more of stuff like Mission Genocide but I know that's not everyone's cup of tea.
Thank you Sir Yellowbelly! Coming from you that's means a lot, you of all people 'get it' and understand - you brought a lot of us together yourself in some tough times not too long ago!
Like many others here, I probably played that one hundreds of times. It has a unique charm, vibe and atmosphere and the gameplay is pure arcade action with great graphics.
Nice! Glad to see a few people already agreeing with me on my choice of Destructo in there! Was a bit nervous of putting that one there, being a little more obscure and a budget title! Phew!
@@Xyphoe Talking of Top 10s and lists in general, I used to keep daily and monthly records of everything I played back in the 80s on my CPC (never did this for my Spectrum), along with a score for each game session. Then a yearly chart to find the overall most played and enjoyed games. I still have all these written records, so it would be interesting to see them again soon. Also my best gaming friend and I, used to do magazine style reviews of each others purchased games, in an improved custom style CRASH! ZZAP! AMTIX! format.
Great list. the CPC (6128 in my case) was my first computer where I learnt to code, and took me onto a path of university and then onto a career as a games programmer. Thank you Sir Alan!
Great video. Thank you for turning on subtitles for people with low level of English, like me. Within that Top 10 I miss titles like "The Abbey of Crime", "Rick Dangerous" or "Prohibition". Although I agree with your list, I wouldn't know which one to exchange. And above all, what this machine that accompanies us for life has meant and means. Thank you!
Oh gosh, "The Abbey Of Crime" (La Abadia Del Crimen) I know is such a brilliant game, but I never played it because it was all in Spanish and never got released in English sadly. I believe there was work somewhere to translate it. There's a lot of love for "Rick Dangerous", it is lovely but it is frustrating - unless you know where the traps are being repeatedly killed is annoying, it's a giant memory test. I love "Prohibition" it's fantastic, but when I went to do a longplay I was disappointed to find the really late levels are absolutely impossible unless you cheat. That would have been my reasoning for leaving those out my top 10 I guess! :)
Thanks for a great video. I grew up with C64 and that is still my main interest in old computers. I have since gotten my hands on an Amstrad CPC 464 and many other computers. I love them all.
Delighted to see a 464 exclusive top 10 - for many of us, if it wasn't on a tape, we weren't playing it! All of your choices were spot on. If we could push to a top... more than ten, I'd add Arkanoid and Barbarian also - our versions of those were simply brilliant.
Thank you mate! Oh and yea.... Arkanoid nearrrrrrrly very nearly made it in, it pained me to knock it out the top 10 because it's such a superb conversion so close to the arcade - but the bugs swung it for me like on the 3rd level where the ball often gets stuck in an infinite loop, etc. When it doesn't - it's so hard I often never saw past that level and gave up! lol
What a great list, and a top idea with the flexible options! I remember the first time I got into the tank in Ikari Warriors and my mind being blown by the 'open world' gameplay of being able to put the character in a vehicle!! :D Spindizzy was a big favourite, and I would probably have to add Jet Set Willy, Captain Blood & Nebulus as my most played games.
Thanks! And I think I got away with the 'flexible options'! 😂 To be honest, I don't know why more people don't do them! Good call on Jet Set Willy, because for a while the Amstrad got the best version - when it got ported to the CPC it was done so with more content and all the bugs fixed that were present in the Speccy one!
@@Xyphoe - and the cut-back-down version that was included in They Sold A Million is my preferred way to play the original game. The Spectrum original is quite glitchy looking by comparison, and was bugged as you mention.
So many strong choices here. I had so much fun with Gryzor and Ikari.. finished both. Destructo is indeed very good. Super addictive. Head over heels is just a masterpiece. I wish a I had the patience to finish it.
Thank you mate!! And yes, I'll be doing a special Sorcery+ AMSTREAM before the year is out! I will sit down and figure that damn game out!! With all of your help of course....
Some good games there, Prince of Persia too I see! Great vid m8, very well put together! Your closing speech was spot on and I suppose you can replace the word CPC with the computer you grew up with and it still rings home. Nice one
For me thats one of the best and the most intel-ligent video you done , final reflection is so much good too . congratulations for that and for the 40th anniversary of our 464 , the most beautifull & the best 8b microcomputer (with permission of the 6128 xd) . Nowadays, half life passed........but finally ......... you are so lucky
Excellent video, very well put together. I recently bought my first cpc 464 and am looking at what games I should play. Loads here to look at. Interestingly i did a video of top ten games as rated by Amstrad Action and I think there was only 3 of those 10 in this list! Just shows magazine scores didnt always matter.
I first used a friends CPC464 back in 1984 and was impressed, and then later got myself one in 1987. Your Top 10 was pretty much what I would have chosen except for two or three differences, but even those were top notch selections. It's tough to do these sort of lists as the temptation is to only go with your most played or enjoyed games, and not necessarily the best the computer has to offer. I'm 52 so my gaming goes back even further, and I guess you are around mid-40s in age? What type of computer jobs have you done over the years? In some ways I wish I had gone in that direction; my folks assumed wrongly that I would, but I ended up working dead end retail jobs while becoming a very good musician and everything associated with that. My uncle that got me into computers was a certified white coat boffin in electronics and computing, and went around the world as part of his career. RIP uncle Donald September 2022.
Yea my list was a bit of a mix of both - some personal choices but balanced out by 'yea but what is the popular consensus?' hence things like isometric adventure games appearing in there because they're the least played games by me by a country mile! And yea, I'm 43 now and I suppose my original career choice to be honest was music / film (directing) but was kinda pushed into computing by my parents somewhat as a 'sensible fall back option'. I have done some music and a little touring, but who knows how things might have worked out if I had pursued that or film more aggressively.
Wow Prince of Persoa on CPC464 ! Definitly have to watch a longplay or it. BTW I'm a bit surprises by the date you gave because I had this computer as a gift for my Ten years anniversary in june 1984 (and i was not even in continental France at thé Time)...
There's a longplay & review of Prince Of Persia on my channel, here's the vid -> ruclips.net/video/VIglWyDDZAo/видео.html The CPC 464 first went on sale on the 21st June 1984, but only in one store in London (Rumbelows) and there were only a few hundred at most there... so if you got one in June 1984... you were exceptionally lucky!!!
I don't think I've ever heard anyone acknowledge this, but the main theme from Commando is the song Chase by Ennio Morricone from the film Hundra (1981).
Thanks mate! Yea I'm glad now I did it like that, wasn't sure how people would react to that and go 'thats NOT how you do a top 10!' etc but yea seems it's going down well!!
A lovely video Xyphoe. I was never such a fan of Prehistorik 2 or Super Cauldron myself but you make a fair case for all your inclusions. I'm not sure what I would give my own #1 to TBH but it's Batman over Robocop for me. The excellent CPC port of Gauntlet was another one that stood out at the time, and I guess you could justifiably claim Jet Set Willy 2 for the CPC if you like really old-school platformers (I do). And contesting Dizzy for puzzle-platformers, Jack The Nipper is another early game that looks very pretty on the Amstrad. My idiosyncratic top ten CPC game is Radzone, of course.
Thanks Anthony! I did really deliberate hard over "Gauntlet" - in terms of a 'conversion' it's brilliant. You can't fault it. But I think the core game has not aged well, and it starts to get tedious after a while (it was after all designed to munch coins)....... specifically in single player. If you have a friend to play with, well then that's different, because I think it was always designed for co-operative play with you fighting in one direction whilst the other play 'had your back' and targeted enemies in another direction. That's if you wanted to progress and not have your energy drained. "Jack The Nipper" was actually better than the Speccy version, despite them sharing code and it being in Mode 1 clearly to make it easier to port between them. It's a great game but I think I'd find it hard to justify it being in a top 10 for everyone :) I love it to bits though - you'll see that it was played extensively on last Friday's Amstream celebrating the 40th Anniversary actually!!
Awesome video. And of course everybody probably has its own top 10. Funny enough, the only one I personally cannot understand is #1. While it is technologically an amazing achievement, it's graphics try too hard to be 16bit-"ish" - and (for me) it becomes a blurry pixel-mess which (imho) kills a lot of the joy to play it. A few things to add to the last part: It's a lot about emotions. Of course the joy and fun of games, but it was also the joy of being effective. The CPC was not only a games machine it was also a tool that I could use to achieve something. Doing a small BASIC program that helped with homework. Or printing a tiny cheat sheet for school ;-) It opened new possibilities. And not to forget: One thing that makes it so attractive to me nowadays is that it's possible to understand the nitty gritty details of how this thing works. It's possible to predict program flow to the nanosecond. Or understand in on hardware level to such detail that (even without an engineering degree) you can repair it or build expansions for it.
Thank you eto! Yes that's always been my point about the Amstrad CPC computers... when it comes to the old 'school playground' argument of what is the best, certainly in the UK at least, it often devolves into C64 vs ZX Spectrum and the Amstrad is forgotten about somewhat. Eventually, in that argument the C64 probably wins out just about with 'it has the better (quality & quantity of) games' and that may even be true against the CPC... but I will always argue that the Amstrad CPC (certainly when it comes to the 6128) was the better 'all round computer' - ie not just for games, but all round for everything... for home office for typing stuff up on (better keyboard) word processing, accounting, etc because of the better disk drives and hardware add-ons and reliability + support from Amstrad; because of that better for coding on (it also had the best BASIC); better graphics capabilities for art/graphics design; etc etc - it was the all in one package at an affordable price. And it came with a colour (or err green screen) monitor - out to one plug. With plenty of expansion capabilities and support. Even in 1994/5 I was still writing my essays and homework on my 6128 until I eventually got my first PC.
This is another brilliant video, but it felt a bit odd showcasing _Pinball Dreams_ at 3:18 and _Alcon 2020_ at 4:25 when those games won't run on a standard CPC464. Your choice of top 10 games was really good, although I think that with the number of games you actually demonstrated, you should have made it a top 20 or even a top 25 chart! 😄 As for your closing thoughts about the CPC at 44:11, I couldn't have put it better myself! 👍
Well you technically can play Alcon 2020 on the CPC 464 (the physical edition) but you need the Play2CPC adapter. 😄 Obviously Pinball Dreams will need 128k. But the point of that section was to say the best 'Amstrad' games were long after the commercial days and we didn't need to get bogged down in details there. I see your point there though, maybe I should have just shown Oscar Z or something.
Amazing video! Happy birthday 464! Now regarding the titles in the top 10: Rainbow island Karnov Arkanoid Altered beast (don't hate me, I loved it) New Zealand story Match day 2 Badlands (again I spent hours and hours and hours!) Powerdrift (miles better than the racing games you showed; but that's just my humble view) Totally agree on: Gryzor Ikari warriors Phrehistorik 2 (however, I played the "obscured" dos version first as I just bought a 286 with a colour VGA monitor back then and it was amazing !) 🤩 Really looking forward for the cpc6128 anniversary next year (which was the machine I had). Many thanks Mr. Xyph for this wonderful video and the memories.
Thank you for your list! Very interesting choices! ARKANOID!!! That very very nearly made the top 10... a BRILLIANT conversion, almost arcade perfect - just missed out due to some bugs where the ball(s) can get stuck in an infinite loop like on level 3 and some other annoyances. A bit of a shame that, wish they had sorted that out. Check out the recently released homebrew patch where you can play it with a mouse in emulators! Super good fun!
@@infamousJohn_thedoc yes we had a look at them on this Amstream -> ruclips.net/video/SUjKN1idAUk/видео.html Details on where to get the files and how to do it there too
I compiled my own list of top 10 Amstrad CPC games released commercially during its "golden era" for one of Classic Replay's videos a few years ago, and in April 2024, I probably wouldn't change it: 1. Ranarama 2. Skweek 3. RoboCop 4. Rainbow Islands 5. Destructo 6. Operation Wolf 7. Bumpy 8. Pick'n Pile 9. Head Over Heels 10. Gauntlet (US Gold)
Interesting choices!! Rainbow Islands and Gauntlet were very close to my top 10 too. Bit surprised seeing Ranarama at the top, with it being better on the C64 but like I said elsewhere it's all subjective and all that :) Skweek is really cool! I just wished it scrolled.
Head over Heels is, honestly, a lot more linear than it feels when you play it. There is relatively straight path to the moonbase, a few small diversions but none long enough to get lost on. And while you can choose your planet from the moonbase, each of them is also pretty linear too.
Yea you're right, pretty much ... it's a massive game but if you make a mistake in some areas and fall down you can get very much lost I found and have to work your way around. And that could get frustrating without a map. It does for the most part funnel you along yea!
Well it was interesting but it was kind of like Top 10: Semantics Special lol.😄 I'm kind of two minds about original software since sure there are favorites there from original fans, but when it comes to those lacking in interest for a platform I often recommend they go straight to homebrew, especially the CPC for the reasons you mentioned.😉 For example many don't see the appeal of NES black-box titles, or how the Playstation Classic Console hindered itself with PAL Roms, no analog sticks, and dated software choices simply for authentic history sake Ie. including all the growing pains for an apathetic audience for such things.😬 Still an excellent list of games, and I've never even touched an Amstrad CPC 464.😁
3D Starfighter was a cool Oliver Twins game, I'll have to do a longplay video of that one day. Stryker In The Crypts Of Trogan is also high up in my list to do also - especially the 464 Plus version! Fantastic game, unofficial sequel to Switchblade!
You did a very great job with all this my Emperor @Xyphoe 🎖🎖🎖🎖 I think if Lord Sugar saw this video of this top 10 an celebration 40th birthday aniversary of the best home computer games system i think he would be very pleased with the great job you did with this review journalism journalist approach. Your comments throughout an reviews really touched me, an your presentation is top the best of all time an i award you lots of gems here 💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎 You certain deserve a award for Entertainment Excellence Amstrad shall always be the best ever it was part of my happy childhood an had my Amstrad from the age of 5, this introduced me to the world of computers an games and how the Amstrad CPC 464 at the time not only but interesting to know it also helped me cause i had a fear of a computer like an was frightened by oh im think whats this thing with a screen all those keys oh an whats that horrible strange noise when its loading a game, so overtime it helped me overcome my fear of technology, just nice story i thought i would share with you all. So Happy 40th Birthday Amstrad CPC 464 🎉🎊🎁 Also wish to give so much special thanks to Lord Sugar an Roland Perry an all the amazing coders from the past an present I simply wish to say this Thankyou ❤
Thank you Legion, my centurion for your kind and epic words as always kind sir!! 🎖🎖🎖🎖🎖 Medals for you!! I'm glad to hear the 464 helped get you over your fear of computers, I certainly think definitely with that wonderful manual they made that Amstrad created a very friendly and welcoming atmosphere that introduced you in gently ... and that 'all in one / one plug' solution made it very easy to setup and use too! Well done Lord Sugar, Roland Perry, etc!
Not a big fan of the Amstrad as I only had one towards the end of its,life (464), I am a massive fan of retro gaming and have seen many many videos on retro gaming. This was one of the best, thank you.
Second comment. Your point about ROBOCOP's inability to jump, makes total sense, even without any video game, just the sound fx of Robocop waliking, in the movies, rythmically and slowly, no chance of jumping, must be a disadvantage whilst on the stairs, without a convenient escalator, on scene! Otherwise Robocop is someone else to add to the list, of persons who have an inability to jump, cititing the title of early 1990's movie, vaguely basketball, themed movie.
Yup! And seeing as Robocop NOT jumping worked so well in Ocean's first game... it's weird how everyone just ignored that in all the later Robocop games and sequels - including Ocean themselves!! 😂🤦♂
That's an incredible AY3910 version of Van Halen's Jump in the intro. Searching for it via Google just brings up inferior 8-bit remixes. Anyone know where I could find the AY file, or even an mp3 of the full track? 🤔
Thank you! Someone asked elsewhere in the comments about Jump, but I made it myself on the Amstrad!! Using Arkos tracker, years ago! So that's a real Amstrad AY chip rendition of Jump! (Just the intro bits, I didn't do any more of what you hear there). I didn't get a fair bit of help from the brilliant McKain who does a lot of great chiptunes on the Amstrad scene to make it sound a bit beefier.
Me too, my 6128 was donated to me by my old primary school music teacher weirdly (I started out with the CPC 464 of course) - you can see me with the 6128 in the brief picture at the end of the video! The 6128's 40th anniversary is next year!
Yea I really wanted to squeeze Rainbow Islands in there.... it almost broke my heart leaving it out. I think the decision was made because I looked at a lot of other lists and it was hardly mentioned ever. Now I see it brought up a few times in the comments here!
Some of my favourite games were: Spindizzy, commando, ikari warriors, bounder, manic miner, spent hours solving Batman (knight lore similar type game), Gauntlet, Bruce Lee, Boulder Dash, Arkanoid, bomb jack, crazy balloon.Sure there were more but I cannot remember them all! Amsoft games were pretty rubbish...there was an okay fruit machine type game and of course harrier attack ...and that was about it, Yie Ar Kung Fu was over-rated.
Good list! But you know, there's the odd hidden gem in the Amsoft back catalogue .... I think there's a video in that! I might get round to doing that at some point!
Perfect top 10 for Amstrad CPC 464, i like so much. Thank you for this birthday, a very nice gift ;)
Wow I'm glad you enjoyed it so much! That pleases me greatly ☺ Cheers!
That was a great video!
Lots of fantastic memories.
And the ending... holy cow that was beautiful.
Thank you mate... I appreciate that a lot! Cheers! :)
Brilliant video matey. Love that P-47 got some appreciation. Great little shooter.
Also, we got a decent Donkey Kong port to the NES in North America. Unsure about PAL region.
Oioi! Thanks matey, hard to think of a better (commercially released) shmup than that one! (P47) Although I tend to play more of stuff like Mission Genocide but I know that's not everyone's cup of tea.
That Sunset backdrop on P47 is peak CPC art. Music in Renegade is awesome too.
Oh yes I HAD to include a clip of that P-47 2nd level in the video! One of the most stunning looking things on the CPC 464 from the commercial era!
that last bit about why we love our old CPC's brought a tear to my eye, well done buddy.
Thank you Sir Yellowbelly! Coming from you that's means a lot, you of all people 'get it' and understand - you brought a lot of us together yourself in some tough times not too long ago!
Totally
Destructo was one of my go to games on the Amstrad, glad it made the top 10! 🙂
Like many others here, I probably played that one hundreds of times. It has a unique charm, vibe and atmosphere and the gameplay is pure arcade action with great graphics.
Nice! Glad to see a few people already agreeing with me on my choice of Destructo in there! Was a bit nervous of putting that one there, being a little more obscure and a budget title! Phew!
@@Xyphoe Talking of Top 10s and lists in general, I used to keep daily and monthly records of everything I played back in the 80s on my CPC (never did this for my Spectrum), along with a score for each game session. Then a yearly chart to find the overall most played and enjoyed games. I still have all these written records, so it would be interesting to see them again soon. Also my best gaming friend and I, used to do magazine style reviews of each others purchased games, in an improved custom style CRASH! ZZAP! AMTIX! format.
@@EgoShredder That's dedication! And kinda cool! I hope you find them again!
I also kept coming back to Dr Destructo; it's a little bit shallow but a good solid blast. Likewise Mission Genocide/ZTB.
Fantastic video Xyphoe, congratulations! You've done the Amstrad proud once again. Here's to the next 40! :)
Thank you mate! You reckon I'll be doing the Amstream when I'm 80? 😂
Lovely wrap up to the video Al! Had a tear in my eye haha
Hahah! Nice! 🥲Sorry Lewis! Or was it too much whiskey on a Friday night? 😂
Great list. the CPC (6128 in my case) was my first computer where I learnt to code, and took me onto a path of university and then onto a career as a games programmer. Thank you Sir Alan!
Great video
I bought most of these games on release day as a kid, what a trip down memory lane this is for me
Thank you!
Brilliant video and final thoughts on why these machines hold so much value and joy 40 years later. Thanks Xyphoe!
Thank you James and glad you liked the end bit - it was a last minute addition really and I was 50/50 on whether to keep it or not, glad I did!
Great video. Thank you for turning on subtitles for people with low level of English, like me. Within that Top 10 I miss titles like "The Abbey of Crime", "Rick Dangerous" or "Prohibition". Although I agree with your list, I wouldn't know which one to exchange. And above all, what this machine that accompanies us for life has meant and means. Thank you!
Oh gosh, "The Abbey Of Crime" (La Abadia Del Crimen) I know is such a brilliant game, but I never played it because it was all in Spanish and never got released in English sadly. I believe there was work somewhere to translate it. There's a lot of love for "Rick Dangerous", it is lovely but it is frustrating - unless you know where the traps are being repeatedly killed is annoying, it's a giant memory test. I love "Prohibition" it's fantastic, but when I went to do a longplay I was disappointed to find the really late levels are absolutely impossible unless you cheat. That would have been my reasoning for leaving those out my top 10 I guess! :)
Thanks for a great video. I grew up with C64 and that is still my main interest in old computers. I have since gotten my hands on an Amstrad CPC 464 and many other computers. I love them all.
An authoritative masterclass. I can’t wait for the 6128 equivalent.
You are too kind! Not sure how to top it next year for the 6128!!
40… bloody hell…. We are all old gits 😂😂😂🤣🤣
I know right? Don't we all feel old now!!
Delighted to see a 464 exclusive top 10 - for many of us, if it wasn't on a tape, we weren't playing it! All of your choices were spot on. If we could push to a top... more than ten, I'd add Arkanoid and Barbarian also - our versions of those were simply brilliant.
Thank you mate! Oh and yea.... Arkanoid nearrrrrrrly very nearly made it in, it pained me to knock it out the top 10 because it's such a superb conversion so close to the arcade - but the bugs swung it for me like on the 3rd level where the ball often gets stuck in an infinite loop, etc. When it doesn't - it's so hard I often never saw past that level and gave up! lol
What a great list, and a top idea with the flexible options! I remember the first time I got into the tank in Ikari Warriors and my mind being blown by the 'open world' gameplay of being able to put the character in a vehicle!! :D Spindizzy was a big favourite, and I would probably have to add Jet Set Willy, Captain Blood & Nebulus as my most played games.
Thanks! And I think I got away with the 'flexible options'! 😂 To be honest, I don't know why more people don't do them! Good call on Jet Set Willy, because for a while the Amstrad got the best version - when it got ported to the CPC it was done so with more content and all the bugs fixed that were present in the Speccy one!
@@Xyphoe - and the cut-back-down version that was included in They Sold A Million is my preferred way to play the original game. The Spectrum original is quite glitchy looking by comparison, and was bugged as you mention.
GREAT VIDEO. LONG LIVE THE AMSTRAD CPC!
LONG LIVE THE AMSTRAD INDEED! 🥳 Thanks mate!
So many strong choices here. I had so much fun with Gryzor and Ikari.. finished both. Destructo is indeed very good. Super addictive. Head over heels is just a masterpiece. I wish a I had the patience to finish it.
I always think Ikari Warriors was the game that really showed off the Amstrads capabilities.
Brilliant video with great (multiple) choices! And I'm very excited by your Sorcery + tease...
Thank you mate!! And yes, I'll be doing a special Sorcery+ AMSTREAM before the year is out! I will sit down and figure that damn game out!! With all of your help of course....
Some good games there, Prince of Persia too I see! Great vid m8, very well put together! Your closing speech was spot on and I suppose you can replace the word CPC with the computer you grew up with and it still rings home. Nice one
Absolutely mate (re your last comment), can easily replace with 'Speccy', 'C64', 'Atari XL', or whatever! Thanks for the nice words :)
For me thats one of the best and the most intel-ligent video you done , final reflection is so much good too . congratulations for that and for the 40th anniversary of our 464 , the most beautifull & the best 8b microcomputer (with permission of the 6128 xd) . Nowadays, half life passed........but finally ......... you are so lucky
Thank you for your kind words... very kind of you to say so!!
Excellent video, very well put together. I recently bought my first cpc 464 and am looking at what games I should play. Loads here to look at. Interestingly i did a video of top ten games as rated by Amstrad Action and I think there was only 3 of those 10 in this list! Just shows magazine scores didnt always matter.
I first used a friends CPC464 back in 1984 and was impressed, and then later got myself one in 1987. Your Top 10 was pretty much what I would have chosen except for two or three differences, but even those were top notch selections. It's tough to do these sort of lists as the temptation is to only go with your most played or enjoyed games, and not necessarily the best the computer has to offer. I'm 52 so my gaming goes back even further, and I guess you are around mid-40s in age? What type of computer jobs have you done over the years? In some ways I wish I had gone in that direction; my folks assumed wrongly that I would, but I ended up working dead end retail jobs while becoming a very good musician and everything associated with that. My uncle that got me into computers was a certified white coat boffin in electronics and computing, and went around the world as part of his career. RIP uncle Donald September 2022.
Yea my list was a bit of a mix of both - some personal choices but balanced out by 'yea but what is the popular consensus?' hence things like isometric adventure games appearing in there because they're the least played games by me by a country mile! And yea, I'm 43 now and I suppose my original career choice to be honest was music / film (directing) but was kinda pushed into computing by my parents somewhat as a 'sensible fall back option'. I have done some music and a little touring, but who knows how things might have worked out if I had pursued that or film more aggressively.
That disprespect for Bridgit. 😅
Some games for my top ten would be: Rebelstar, Ghostbusters and Tomahawk.
I'll let you into a little secret.... the Bridge-It cassette box didn't survive that throw! Oooops! Oh dear what a pity.... 😂
@@Xyphoe Ask Novabug. He's bound to have a spare copy somewhere, even after selling a lot of his copies for charity. 😉
@@CPCGameReviews I'm good thanks!!!
Great show, my friend. I try so hard to be awake in your oddly non-compliant hemisphere ( Aussie ) .
Love the nostalgia…. Lords of Midnight sticks in my memory from the 80’s 👍
Thank you! And oh yes a brilliant game if you had the patience for it!
Wow Prince of Persoa on CPC464 ! Definitly have to watch a longplay or it. BTW I'm a bit surprises by the date you gave because I had this computer as a gift for my Ten years anniversary in june 1984 (and i was not even in continental France at thé Time)...
There's a longplay & review of Prince Of Persia on my channel, here's the vid -> ruclips.net/video/VIglWyDDZAo/видео.html
The CPC 464 first went on sale on the 21st June 1984, but only in one store in London (Rumbelows) and there were only a few hundred at most there... so if you got one in June 1984... you were exceptionally lucky!!!
Yeah i watched it, funnily it was made not long before the 30th anniversary of thé cpc 464
I don't think I've ever heard anyone acknowledge this, but the main theme from Commando is the song Chase by Ennio Morricone from the film Hundra (1981).
This one? ruclips.net/video/vSYos_S-IUg/видео.html
Sorry dude, I don't really hear it.
Happy birthday to the 464!!!!
And many more years of love to come!! Thanks Robin!
@Xyphoe Yes for sure, it will be the last of my collection to go.
Great stuff Xyphoe pal. Brilliant.
Thank you mate! And cheers for joining the Amsquad again, much appreciated!!
Great video, definitely a good choice to offer multiple suggestions, for each tier of the chart. 😊 Edit: Totally got the closing comments, Thanks.
Thanks mate! Yea I'm glad now I did it like that, wasn't sure how people would react to that and go 'thats NOT how you do a top 10!' etc but yea seems it's going down well!!
I really enjoyed this video. I really should sit down and play my Amstrad more often!
Thank you! And... Yes! You must! 😄
A lovely video Xyphoe. I was never such a fan of Prehistorik 2 or Super Cauldron myself but you make a fair case for all your inclusions. I'm not sure what I would give my own #1 to TBH but it's Batman over Robocop for me. The excellent CPC port of Gauntlet was another one that stood out at the time, and I guess you could justifiably claim Jet Set Willy 2 for the CPC if you like really old-school platformers (I do). And contesting Dizzy for puzzle-platformers, Jack The Nipper is another early game that looks very pretty on the Amstrad. My idiosyncratic top ten CPC game is Radzone, of course.
Thanks Anthony! I did really deliberate hard over "Gauntlet" - in terms of a 'conversion' it's brilliant. You can't fault it. But I think the core game has not aged well, and it starts to get tedious after a while (it was after all designed to munch coins)....... specifically in single player. If you have a friend to play with, well then that's different, because I think it was always designed for co-operative play with you fighting in one direction whilst the other play 'had your back' and targeted enemies in another direction. That's if you wanted to progress and not have your energy drained. "Jack The Nipper" was actually better than the Speccy version, despite them sharing code and it being in Mode 1 clearly to make it easier to port between them. It's a great game but I think I'd find it hard to justify it being in a top 10 for everyone :) I love it to bits though - you'll see that it was played extensively on last Friday's Amstream celebrating the 40th Anniversary actually!!
Awesome video. And of course everybody probably has its own top 10. Funny enough, the only one I personally cannot understand is #1. While it is technologically an amazing achievement, it's graphics try too hard to be 16bit-"ish" - and (for me) it becomes a blurry pixel-mess which (imho) kills a lot of the joy to play it.
A few things to add to the last part: It's a lot about emotions. Of course the joy and fun of games, but it was also the joy of being effective. The CPC was not only a games machine it was also a tool that I could use to achieve something. Doing a small BASIC program that helped with homework. Or printing a tiny cheat sheet for school ;-) It opened new possibilities.
And not to forget: One thing that makes it so attractive to me nowadays is that it's possible to understand the nitty gritty details of how this thing works. It's possible to predict program flow to the nanosecond. Or understand in on hardware level to such detail that (even without an engineering degree) you can repair it or build expansions for it.
Thank you eto! Yes that's always been my point about the Amstrad CPC computers... when it comes to the old 'school playground' argument of what is the best, certainly in the UK at least, it often devolves into C64 vs ZX Spectrum and the Amstrad is forgotten about somewhat. Eventually, in that argument the C64 probably wins out just about with 'it has the better (quality & quantity of) games' and that may even be true against the CPC... but I will always argue that the Amstrad CPC (certainly when it comes to the 6128) was the better 'all round computer' - ie not just for games, but all round for everything... for home office for typing stuff up on (better keyboard) word processing, accounting, etc because of the better disk drives and hardware add-ons and reliability + support from Amstrad; because of that better for coding on (it also had the best BASIC); better graphics capabilities for art/graphics design; etc etc - it was the all in one package at an affordable price. And it came with a colour (or err green screen) monitor - out to one plug. With plenty of expansion capabilities and support. Even in 1994/5 I was still writing my essays and homework on my 6128 until I eventually got my first PC.
Glad to see 8-bit Xyphoe got a cameo as well. 😊
I sneaked him in at the end!
Wonderful video Xy.
Thank you Adi... much appreciated mate!
I love the 6128, it was a step up on 8bit micros as it uses disks for more comfort.
Best Amstrad video ever. Agree with the game selection.
you do the Amstrad CPC justice Xyphoe, great list and quintessential format
Thank you mate! I really appreciate that! 💙👍
This is another brilliant video, but it felt a bit odd showcasing _Pinball Dreams_ at 3:18 and _Alcon 2020_ at 4:25 when those games won't run on a standard CPC464. Your choice of top 10 games was really good, although I think that with the number of games you actually demonstrated, you should have made it a top 20 or even a top 25 chart! 😄
As for your closing thoughts about the CPC at 44:11, I couldn't have put it better myself! 👍
Well you technically can play Alcon 2020 on the CPC 464 (the physical edition) but you need the Play2CPC adapter. 😄 Obviously Pinball Dreams will need 128k. But the point of that section was to say the best 'Amstrad' games were long after the commercial days and we didn't need to get bogged down in details there. I see your point there though, maybe I should have just shown Oscar Z or something.
@@Xyphoe - It made sense to me anyway, as you were showing off some of the best CPC games that DON'T qualify for various reasons.
@@AnthonyFlack yea that too in a way!
Amazing video! Happy birthday 464!
Now regarding the titles in the top 10:
Rainbow island
Karnov
Arkanoid
Altered beast (don't hate me, I loved it)
New Zealand story
Match day 2
Badlands (again I spent hours and hours and hours!)
Powerdrift (miles better than the racing games you showed; but that's just my humble view)
Totally agree on:
Gryzor
Ikari warriors
Phrehistorik 2 (however, I played the "obscured" dos version first as I just bought a 286 with a colour VGA monitor back then and it was amazing !) 🤩
Really looking forward for the cpc6128 anniversary next year (which was the machine I had).
Many thanks Mr. Xyph for this wonderful video and the memories.
Thank you for your list! Very interesting choices! ARKANOID!!! That very very nearly made the top 10... a BRILLIANT conversion, almost arcade perfect - just missed out due to some bugs where the ball(s) can get stuck in an infinite loop like on level 3 and some other annoyances. A bit of a shame that, wish they had sorted that out. Check out the recently released homebrew patch where you can play it with a mouse in emulators! Super good fun!
@@Xyphoe oh wow! Arkanoid with a mouse!!!!! Will do!
@@infamousJohn_thedoc yes we had a look at them on this Amstream -> ruclips.net/video/SUjKN1idAUk/видео.html
Details on where to get the files and how to do it there too
Excellent celebration of the classic machine. ❤
I compiled my own list of top 10 Amstrad CPC games released commercially during its "golden era" for one of Classic Replay's videos a few years ago, and in April 2024, I probably wouldn't change it:
1. Ranarama
2. Skweek
3. RoboCop
4. Rainbow Islands
5. Destructo
6. Operation Wolf
7. Bumpy
8. Pick'n Pile
9. Head Over Heels
10. Gauntlet (US Gold)
Interesting choices!! Rainbow Islands and Gauntlet were very close to my top 10 too. Bit surprised seeing Ranarama at the top, with it being better on the C64 but like I said elsewhere it's all subjective and all that :) Skweek is really cool! I just wished it scrolled.
Head over Heels is, honestly, a lot more linear than it feels when you play it. There is relatively straight path to the moonbase, a few small diversions but none long enough to get lost on. And while you can choose your planet from the moonbase, each of them is also pretty linear too.
Yea you're right, pretty much ... it's a massive game but if you make a mistake in some areas and fall down you can get very much lost I found and have to work your way around. And that could get frustrating without a map. It does for the most part funnel you along yea!
nothing like coming home from work and chilling on Gryzor and haarrier attack 2 of my favourte games
2 absolute classics!!
Well it was interesting but it was kind of like Top 10: Semantics Special lol.😄
I'm kind of two minds about original software since sure there are favorites there from original fans, but when it comes to those lacking in interest for a platform I often recommend they go straight to homebrew, especially the CPC for the reasons you mentioned.😉
For example many don't see the appeal of NES black-box titles, or how the Playstation Classic Console hindered itself with PAL Roms, no analog sticks, and dated software choices simply for authentic history sake Ie. including all the growing pains for an apathetic audience for such things.😬
Still an excellent list of games, and I've never even touched an Amstrad CPC 464.😁
My favourite game was 3D Starfighter, followed by Blade Master and Stryker in the Crypts of Trogan.
3D Starfighter was a cool Oliver Twins game, I'll have to do a longplay video of that one day. Stryker In The Crypts Of Trogan is also high up in my list to do also - especially the 464 Plus version! Fantastic game, unofficial sequel to Switchblade!
You did a very great job with all this my Emperor @Xyphoe 🎖🎖🎖🎖
I think if Lord Sugar saw this video of this top 10 an celebration 40th birthday aniversary of the best home computer games system i think he would be very pleased with the great job you did with this review journalism journalist approach.
Your comments throughout an reviews really touched me, an your presentation is top the best of all time an i award you lots of gems here 💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎
You certain deserve a award for Entertainment Excellence
Amstrad shall always be the best ever it was part of my happy childhood an had my Amstrad from the age of 5, this introduced me to the world of computers an games and how the Amstrad CPC 464 at the time not only but interesting to know it also helped me cause i had a fear of a computer
like an was frightened by oh im think whats this thing with a screen all those keys oh an whats that horrible strange noise when its loading a game, so overtime it helped me overcome my fear of technology, just nice story i thought i would share with you all.
So Happy 40th Birthday Amstrad CPC 464 🎉🎊🎁
Also wish to give so much special thanks to
Lord Sugar an Roland Perry
an all the amazing coders from the past an present
I simply wish to say this
Thankyou ❤
Thank you Legion, my centurion for your kind and epic words as always kind sir!! 🎖🎖🎖🎖🎖 Medals for you!! I'm glad to hear the 464 helped get you over your fear of computers, I certainly think definitely with that wonderful manual they made that Amstrad created a very friendly and welcoming atmosphere that introduced you in gently ... and that 'all in one / one plug' solution made it very easy to setup and use too! Well done Lord Sugar, Roland Perry, etc!
Not a big fan of the Amstrad as I only had one towards the end of its,life (464), I am a massive fan of retro gaming and have seen many many videos on retro gaming. This was one of the best, thank you.
Wow that's very kind words.... thank you!!
Great vid xyphoe 👍
Thanks mate! And cheers for the awesome music over the years!! 💙💙💙
Second comment. Your point about ROBOCOP's inability to jump, makes total sense, even without any video game, just the sound fx of Robocop waliking, in the movies, rythmically and slowly, no chance of jumping, must be a disadvantage whilst on the stairs, without a convenient escalator, on scene! Otherwise Robocop is someone else to add to the list, of persons who have an inability to jump, cititing the title of early 1990's movie, vaguely basketball, themed movie.
Yup! And seeing as Robocop NOT jumping worked so well in Ocean's first game... it's weird how everyone just ignored that in all the later Robocop games and sequels - including Ocean themselves!! 😂🤦♂
Why is Dizzy Mouldy on the CPC version ? lol. Such a shame chase hq doesn't have the music :( wonder why there wasn't any?
I love destructo too, definitely in the top 10
Nice! Glad to find another Destructo fan, I was a bit nervous about including it!
Great video 👍
Cheers Waldon! Always good to hear from ya!
My fav of all time.... Macrocosmica!
Ooh that's one game I've never really played much of. Must investigate properly some time.
That's an incredible AY3910 version of Van Halen's Jump in the intro. Searching for it via Google just brings up inferior 8-bit remixes. Anyone know where I could find the AY file, or even an mp3 of the full track? 🤔
Thank you! Someone asked elsewhere in the comments about Jump, but I made it myself on the Amstrad!! Using Arkos tracker, years ago! So that's a real Amstrad AY chip rendition of Jump! (Just the intro bits, I didn't do any more of what you hear there). I didn't get a fair bit of help from the brilliant McKain who does a lot of great chiptunes on the Amstrad scene to make it sound a bit beefier.
@@Xyphoe in that case you have a real talent! Maybe a Xyphoe video idea for the future.
All hail the supreme Amswok
Happy Bday!!!!!
I had a 6128 I loved it so much
Me too, my 6128 was donated to me by my old primary school music teacher weirdly (I started out with the CPC 464 of course) - you can see me with the 6128 in the brief picture at the end of the video! The 6128's 40th anniversary is next year!
Hard to choose. I'd deffo put Batman 89 and Rainbow Islands up there.
Yea I really wanted to squeeze Rainbow Islands in there.... it almost broke my heart leaving it out. I think the decision was made because I looked at a lot of other lists and it was hardly mentioned ever. Now I see it brought up a few times in the comments here!
My version of werewolves of londan had speccy game one side, cpc on other
I loved mr heli
Who dares wins was my top game as a kid
@Xyphoe Awesome video
Thanks mate! Glad you enjoyed it :)
what is the game on 4:00 ?
Some of my favourite games were: Spindizzy, commando, ikari warriors, bounder, manic miner, spent hours solving Batman (knight lore similar type game), Gauntlet, Bruce Lee, Boulder Dash, Arkanoid, bomb jack, crazy balloon.Sure there were more but I cannot remember them all!
Amsoft games were pretty rubbish...there was an okay fruit machine type game and of course harrier attack ...and that was about it, Yie Ar Kung Fu was over-rated.
Good list! But you know, there's the odd hidden gem in the Amsoft back catalogue .... I think there's a video in that! I might get round to doing that at some point!
40 years - yikes!