CPCWiki - THE Amstrad CPC encyclopedia! - User contributions [en]

Shufflepuck Cafe

2009-10-29T22:46:53Z

Trotzdem: Created page with 'Type of game: sports game, kind of 3D setup: some space bar, with lots of weird creatures in it - and you. That is, the only part of the bar the player get's to see is a shufflep…'

Type of game: sports game, kind of 3D
setup: some space bar, with lots of weird creatures in it - and you. That is, the only part of the bar the player get's to see is a shufflepuck - table and his opponents ...

The aim is to defeat all of the opponents in a game of shufflepuck. Each of them has special qualities and errors. So there is a chance that one opponent reacts badly to cross shots, and maybe another opponent shouldn't drink so much ... as his play gets worse with every sipp.

The atmosphere of the game is great, and I just love shufflepuck, so it's a must have.

Sorcery +

2009-10-29T22:42:34Z

Trotzdem: Created page with 'Type of game: scrolling 2D action setup: A world full of demons, ghosts and witches ... and you, the sorcerer In the game, the player takes control of a sorcerer. Therefore he…'

Type of game: scrolling 2D action

setup: A world full of demons, ghosts and witches ... and you, the sorcerer

In the game, the player takes control of a sorcerer. Therefore he uses a joystick. The sorcerer flies through screens with items, doors and enemies. Some of the items can defeat enemies, some restore the power of the sorcerer.

And some are helping him in his main quest: free his fellow sorcerer comrades in order to join again in the temple of the sorcerers.

A really brilliant game, the first I ever played on a CPC. The graphics are fast and of good quality. The sound is - for the CPC - also well done.

472

2009-10-26T17:45:51Z

Trotzdem: English expression was improved

[[Image:CPC 472 es.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Spanish Amstrad CPC 472]] The CPC 472 was a spanish version of the CPC [[464|464]] with additional 8 KB RAM.

The reason [[Amstrad|Amstrad]] released a special version for the spanish market was a law ([[RD 1250/1985|RD 1250/1985]]) that said that every computer with up to 64kb should adhere to some rules - namely, have extra keys for the spanish language, and the video hardware had to be able to display spanish characters; otherwise an extra tax would be levied. So Amstrad soldered in an extra 8kb which was not, however, usable by the machine since it was not connected to anything else. Later on Amstrad released a 472 with a proper spanish keyboard and the 8 extra kB as well. [[Image:Amstrad 472 motherboard.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Left side of the CPC472 motherboard, revealing the location for the presumely 8KB expansion memory.]]

The 8KB "extra" memory, was in fact a single [[4164|4164]] DRAM chip. This chip stores 64 Kbits, but its data bus is only one bit wide. So, it wasn't possible at all to use the so called 8 KByte memory expansion, as the Z80 needs the data bus of the memory to be 8 bits wide. 

Because there was no space for a new chip, Amstrad designers took off one of the ROM chips, and put it in a daughter board, along with the 4164 chip. Wires connected pins at the ROM from the daughter board to the corresponding pins on the main board. The wires were hard enough to make difficult to turn the daughter board over and reveal the trick: no wires were connected from the DRAM chip to the main board. Even the supply pins were not connected!!

While based on the CPC 464, at least some of the 472s got the ROM v2 with [[Locomotive BASIC]] 1.1, which normally was built into the CPC [[664]].

After the rule changed there was also a CPC 472 with non-spanish keys available for a very short time. The CPC 472 with spanish or british keyboard is very very rare.[[Image:Amstrad 472 detail motherboard.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Motherboard close-up, showing the "8KB" extra memory, next to the 40037 ROM chip.]]

[[Category:Hardware]]

Thrust

2009-10-25T01:33:17Z

Trotzdem: A real fun game, a classic !

Type of game: 2d action / dexterity

Setup: Planets, the universe

In Thrust you steer a space-craft which is equipped with a laser and a tractor beam.

With the tractor beam, one can harvest the needed fuel. The laser helps to defeat enemies on the ground.

The aim is to get a sphere off the planet. In order to do that, one locks the tractor beam onto it. But then the player has to manage the swinging weight of the sphere, which pulls him in any direction as it reacts to gravity.

Sub Sunk

2009-10-25T01:28:03Z

Trotzdem: Text adventure, escape from a sunken submarine ... nice to play.

Type of game: Text adventure

Setup: a nuclear submarine on the bottom of the sea

As a reporter, you have been sent to join the crew of a nuclear submarine. An unknown enemy assaults the submarine and takes the crew as prisoners. You are the only one who is not taken.

That leaves you with the problem that you are in a submarine and have no idea what to do.

The player has to solve several riddles in order to get out of the sub and rejoin the world above the sea.