Commodore Amiga: a visual compendium

Launched in 1985, the Amiga ushered in a new age of home computing. Its powerful 16-bit Motorola CPU and custom graphics and audio chipsets made it an instant hit among both gamers looking to move on from their 8-bit systems, and artists and musicians moving into the digital realm.

Early titles like Defender of the Crown, Barbarian and Hybris demonstrated the Amiga’s graphics credentials, while arcade-perfect conversions of Marble Madness, Space Harrier and Rainbow Islands showed that it could match the power of dedicated coin-op cabinets. Over the next decade, it would play host to an extraordinary diversity of titles; games like Rocket Ranger, Populous, Cannon Fodder, Speedball and Worms ushered in new genres and helped to redefine the videogame landscape.

Over the course of some 420 pages, Commodore Amiga: a visual compendium showcases more than 140 of the biggest titles, bringing them vividly to life with a double-page screen grab or loading page. Each is accompanied by quotes and commentary from renowned Amiga artists, developers and publishers, including R.J. Mical, David Braben, Sid Meier, Ron Gilbert, Julian Eggebrecht, Tobias Richter, Dave Gibbons and many more.

Beyond the games themselves, it also covers the origins of the hardware and the vibrant demo scene, and includes interviews with artists and profiles of the most prominent games publishers. Presented in hardback, using high-quality lithographic printing on superior paper stock, this book is a wonderful celebration of the machine’s graphics prowess and a reminder of the wealth of quality games the Amiga brought to bear.

Includes contributions from:
George Allan, Jacob Anderson, Rob Anderson, Thomas Andersson, Billy Allison, Torben Bakager, Jim Bambra, Doug Barnett, Patrik Bergdahl, Chris Blackbourn, David Braben OBE, Andrew Braybrook, Allister Brimble, David Broadhurst, Andy Buchanan, Stoo Cambridge, Louis Castle, Charles Cecil, Mark Cerny, Éric Chahi , Andrew Clitheroe, Mark Coleman, Glenn Corpes, Antony Crowther, Mike Dailly, Mevlut Dinc, Dino Dini, Bob Dinnerman, Michael Diskett, Paul Docherty, Martin Edmondson, Julian Eggebrecht, Andreas Escher, Brian Fargo, Allan Finlay, Matt Furniss, Daniel Gallagher, Dave Gibbons, Ron Gilbert, Pierre Gilhodes, Jeff Godfrey, Eric Graham, Bill Harbison, Jon Hare, Thomas Hertzler, Andrew Hewson, Paul Holmes, Richard M. Holmes, Rico Holmes, Tony Horgan, Chris Huelsbeck, Francesco Iorio, Teoman Irmak, Steve Jarratt, Scott Johnston, Ned Langman, Neil Larsen, James Leach, Robin Levy, Dale Luck, Richard Löwenstein, Klaus Lyngeled, Archer MacLean, Dan Malone, Frank Matzke, Rob Mead-Green, Sid Meier, R.J. Mical, Mike Montgomery, Brian Moriarty, Andrew Morris, Dave Needle, Henk Nieborg, Phil Nixon, Markus Nyström, Mark Patterson, Gary Penn, Dave Perry, Simon Phipps, Giacinto Platania, Hugh Riley, Andy Roberts, Tobias Richter, Jim Sachs, Carl Sassenrath, Bruce Schlickbernd, Franck Sauer, Eric Schwartz, Matt Simmonds, Erik Simon, Alfredo Siragusa, Charlie Skilbeck, Tony Smith, Audun Sorlie, Chris Sorrell, Steve Stamatiadis, Howard W. Stolz, Andreas Tadic, Philip Thornton, Edvard Tóth, Michael Troughton, David Upchurch, Mario van Zeist, Edgar M. Vigdal (R.I.P.), Reichart Von Wolfsheild, Joe Walker, Mo Warden, Richard Weeks, Phillip Williams, Aric Wilmunder, Jamie Woodhouse, Simon Woodroffe and Tim Wright a.k.a. CoLD SToRAGE.