A Look At My Psygnosis Amiga Collection

Thanks to all the feedback I received on Facebook, I’ve decided to share my Psygnosis games collection.

For many of us, Psygnosis was one of the very best publishers on the Amiga. They released some of the most memorable titles and their box art was second to none—well, almost always. But what tends to be forgotten over the past 20+ years are the behind-the-scenes issues: unpaid workers, licensing headaches, and contract troubles. Even after Sony bought them in 1993, things didn’t exactly improve—at least not enough to keep them active in the Amiga market for long.

Rather than just posting a simple gallery, I thought I’d write a few words about each game as well. In hindsight, I’m starting to regret that decision—it’s going to take me ages to finish!

The games are presented in no particular order…

Agony – Art & Magic, 1992

This game absolutely set my world on fire. From the opening sequence to the closing credits, Agony felt like the best game I had played in years. Sure, I’ve said that before about other titles, but this time I truly meant it—the first time I experienced Agony was unforgettable.

The music is nothing short of brilliant, and the graphics were jaw-dropping at the time (and still hold up today). Some might say it looks a bit bleak and colourless, but honestly—who cares? The animation of the owl alone makes it something truly special.

The boxed version of Agony has become a highly sought-after collector’s item. Sadly, I didn’t buy it when it first came out, but fortune was on my side three years later when I found a brand-new copy in a shop that was closing down—at a bargain price, too.

Verdict: I love this game. I love everything about this game!

Aquaventura – In-house, 1992

Aquaventura was a game I kept a close eye on during development. The team behind it had previously worked on the first three Star Wars games for the Amiga and C64, so naturally, I expected this one to feature a similar vector engine—just more advanced. Early demos and screenshots only reinforced that impression, as it all looked like an enhanced Star Wars game at first glance.

When the final game arrived, though, it turned out to be less of a Star Wars clone and closer to something like Nintendo’s Starfox—at least in spirit.

As you might have noticed, I somehow ended up with three versions of the game. The first set of floppies I bought was broken, so Psygnosis sent me a replacement. Then, a couple of months later, I received yet another set from them—probably some mix-up at their offices. The third copy came from a computer games club I was a member of back then. They offered loads of cheap games over the years, but eventually started sending out just the floppy disks without the boxes… (seriously, WTF?).

Verdict: Fantastic intro, great gameplay, and easily one of Psygnosis’s best titles.

Air Support – In-house, 1992

This was another Psygnosis title that spent a long time in development, and with every bit of new information released, my excitement only grew.

I ended up playing it quite a lot with my oldest sister’s husband. Normally, he wasn’t much into games, but flight sims were a whole different story for him—and Air Support managed to grab his attention too.

When the game launched, it really highlighted how outdated our hardware was compared to the latest PCs. While PC flight sims had already moved on from vector graphics to textured, filled environments, the Amiga was starting to lag behind. Thankfully, the release of the A1200 and A4000 helped bridge that gap a little, but even so, flight sims on Amiga never quite reached the same heights as their PC counterparts.

One of the big selling points of Air Support was that it shipped with 3D glasses. The effect was decent enough, though not exactly mind-blowing. From my perspective, parts of the game’s code felt very reminiscent of Anarchy’s famous 3D demo—though I could be wrong on that.

Verdict: Great intro, great gameplay, and possibly the best flight sim ever released on the Amiga.

Atomino – Play-Byte / Blue Byte, 1991

I’m not entirely sure what happened with this game’s publishing history. It was originally released by Psygnosis in a fantastic-looking box, but later ended up being republished by two other companies. Those later versions were budget releases, and unfortunately, the box designs didn’t do the game any favours. The copy I own is the rarest edition, though the Top Shots version can also be pretty hard to track down.

As a Psygnosis title, Atomino feels a bit of an oddball. There’s no flashy intro, the music is nothing like what you’d normally expect from them, and stylistically it stands apart from the rest of their catalogue. That said, the graphics are solid, and the gameplay is actually quite strong—well above average in terms of playability.

Verdict: A good game, but its messy publishing history makes it a confusing one from a collector’s perspective.

All New World of Lemmings – DMA Design, 1995

This was the final Lemmings game released on the Amiga, and while it made use of the AGA chipset, the implementation was, sadly, very underwhelming.

Right from the start, the game disappoints with poorly downscaled, heavily dithered low-colour intro screens. The menu design doesn’t help either—it looks unattractive and feels anything but intuitive. Honestly, how this game even required AGA is still a mystery to me. Back then, it felt like a huge letdown, and today it feels even worse.

To be fair, the game did introduce a few new features, which were welcome, but it never came close to the leap that Lemmings 2 had offered. Still, I’ll admit the Ninja and Egypt-themed levels were fun additions.

Verdict: A sloppy release from DMA. No intro, low-res opening screens, poor use of AGA—a disappointing farewell to the series on the Amiga.

Benefactor CD32.  – Digital Illusions -. 1994.

I followed this title from the very beginning of the game development, as DICE and Dator Magazin had an exclusive deal about including weekly/monthly updates to the game in the magazine DMZ. It was fun to see how the game came along, and it was even better to play it and even complete it.

I recall I brought (and a few more) these with me when I went to serve my Military service, and it’s amazing how the box survived those 12 months and still looks pretty good even today. We had many awesome evenings and weekends at camp playing this game, alright, and in the end, we completed it too. Sadly, the announced DLC/extra levels stuff was never released.

Pretty good platforming puzzle game, well worth a try for everyone.

Also got the ECS box, everything is identical to this one, pictures are due soon.

Verdict: Sweet game, wish there would come a sequel or a remaster/make.

Bob’s Bad Day. – The Dome -. 1993.

This was one of those games that looked promising at first glance—solid concept, great-looking gameplay—but unfortunately, it didn’t take long to realise it wasn’t very good.

The idea itself was decent, though clearly lifted from Taito’s arcade classic CamelTry. The engine ran smoothly, with no slowdowns, which was impressive enough, but something about the execution just felt off. Within minutes, the fun wore thin, and the whole experience grew stale.

This was the first title The Dome developed for Psygnosis, and it marked the point where Psygnosis began to lose some of its footing. Sadly, this developer played a part in that decline.

I also have the game’s poster, though for some reason it’s not shown in the picture here—something I’ll need to fix later.

Verdict: An “okay” game, ultimately let down by weak design and an uninspired feel.

Ballistix. – Reflections -. 1989.

Ballistix was never my type of game, and the only reason I got this one was because of the hype and media reception around it. Reflections went to become one of my favourite developers of all time, but I never did fancy Shadow Of The Beast 2 (1 and 3 I loved) and Ballistix really.

Gameplay was some sort of hybrid mix of a football/speedball game.

Verdict: Happy I bought it when I had the chance, as it’s worth a lot now; however, the game itself is bad.

Armour-Geddon. – In-house.  1991.

A lot of games get remastered and so on today, so one has to wonder why neither this nor the sequel got that treatment is beyond me, as these 2 games have a lot of potential.

I remember we played this game a lot in the military in 2-player mode via a link cable and 2 machines. fantastic stuff.

Verdict: A landmark of a title, great box design, cool intro.

Armour-Geddon 2: Codename Hellfire. – In-house. 1994.

AG2CH was a major jump up from the first game, yet it never forgot where it came from, so it never felt like it was alienating it. Lots of new features were added, and the entire system was redefined.

I can’t remember if there was a Link option in this game. Need to check that one day.

Verdict: Awesome intro, boring “1994” box design, great game.

Amnios. – Flying Chicken. 1991.

This is one of those games that I always thought I played a lot, which I actually didn’t, as I confuse this game with Psygnosis’s Awesome.

I will cover Awesome, too, but not right here.

Amnios is quite good for a shoot ’em up like this, and the graphics may have looked a little bit on the sharp side of things, but once you had figured out how it all worked, that’s when you started appreciating the game and its quality.

Verdict: Excellent-looking box design, great intro, and design.

Barbarian. – In-house. 1987.

This was the first Psygnosis game I played, and I still get the chills when I see pictures of it today (or even the box).

That scream in the intro, that huge dude with that sword smashing that chain, those graphics blew my mind. I actually think I managed to complete this game, which is quite odd as the control system is super sucky, but I guess that’s what happens when you have no games and are stuck with launch games that followed your friend’s machine.

Funnily enough, many others and I confused this game with Death Sword (and its sequel), a lot, but luckily, that game also came to the Amiga eventually.

Verdict: Intro was perfect, great box design and a horrible control system.

Barbarian II. – Pandamonium. 1991.

It took several years before this sequel came, and one of the reasons was probably that they wanted a better control system and possibly a larger market.

It didn’t matter that it took 4 years, as this sequel was way better than expected, and this time around, they even put in some control system as well as a proper fighting mechanic.

A great opening intro this time around, too, although not everyone got to see that one, as there were 2 versions out there, and 1 of them had no intro.

Verdict: Much better than the first game, great-looking box too.

Blood Money. DMA Designs. 1989.

First, there was Menace, now Psygnosis presents a DMA Design game – Blood Money -, that opening sample there and the intro with it must have been one of the best openings of its time (on any format).

I remember I saw this game for the first time at a random guy’s place that we met at an Amiga shop in Stavanger. No idea how all of it fell together, but we ended up swapping (via snail mail) games for several years after that.

I recall I felt like an n00b when I showed how ecstatic I was when I saw his diskette box with hundreds of pirated games. I had tons of pirated games myself, but he had so many new ones!

I eventually bought the game some years later. I always tried to buy the games I liked, but without a job and being under 18 and at school was, of course, a challenge when it came to buying several games a month.

Verdict: The Excellent sequel (to Menace), and it is still mighty good even today.

Brian The Lion AGA. – Reflections. 1994.

I got all 3 versions of this game, and that is for a reason; they have all different “exclusive” sections /features, and the CD32 version is the best of the lot.

I have played all 3 versions to death, completed them all several times (Cd32 especially), and I can’t recommend this game enough, really, go play it now if you’re into platformers!

The first time I completed Brian was back in 1995 when I served my military duty, and it is quite funny to think back on which games I brought with me there (along with my souped-up A1200) – Flink, Brian, Benefactor, Darkseed, and while I was there, I bought Slamtilt and XTR.  Not a single war game.

Brian The Lion offers 50Hz scrolling on all 3 versions, and every version takes the hardware to the max with Mode7 styled effects and crazy-ass blitter/c2p tricks. The game is a marvel, and it wowed me back then and still does today.

Verdict: No-Intro in here, sadly, the rest of the game is close to the top-tier Psygnosis quality.

Christmas Lemmings. – Dma Design. 1993.

More Lemmings again, I never could get enough of them, really, and while I have yet to buy one on Vita/PS4, I still might do so one day.

Interestingly enough, this game was actually a freebie before they boxed it and sold it.  At one point, it came with the Oh No! More Lemmings levels, and later on, it came out in various magazines and so on. If new stuff was added, I don’t know for sure, as I bought this when it came out without realising the backstory of it.

Verdict: Great game, although unneeded. A rare game today.

Captain Fizz Meets The Blaster-Trons. – Papyrus. 1988.

Another Rare Psygnosis/Psyclase title, this one, this game never felt like a Psygnosis title really, but it is a good game, and it must have sold quite a bit too, as there were 3 major releases for it.

Back when this game was released, there weren’t all that many games like this to choose from, action shooter/top down, and it wasn’t before a few years later that the genre exploded with loads of publishers releasing their own games. The most well-known one must be Alien Breed.  If you compare those two, then this looks and plays archaic and way too annoying for its own good.

Verdict: Good game for its time, looks, and plays dated by today’s standards.

Combat Air Patrol. – Maverick. 1993.

This was Psygnosis’s second flight sim, and many expected it to be quite a few steps up from the 2 years older Air Support, but that wasn’t so. The game is wonderful and all, but it ain’t up there with Air Support.

The game boasts a kick-ass intro, and the music in the game is also perfect; graphics are top-notch, too.

The best feature of the game was the Link cable option; playing dogfights with 2 players was great fun.

Verdict: Great intro, good game.

Cliffhanger. Spidersoft. 1994.

The only reason you should have this game is for collectable values. This game is so bad that most copies out there have been trashed/burnt, and fed to the monkeys.

Yes, this game is that bad!

Clearly, the worst game from Psygnosis ever, not a single thing is good with the game, and it is strange how Spidersoft got the rights to this game and got Psygnosis as the publisher. Seriously, this is even harder to understand than “The Last Action Hero” stuff.

Even the box art is crap. I have no love for this game at all. I also read on a forum that the game is not even possible to complete due to a “jump distance” bug. Who in the world bothered to play this far to figure that out?

Verdict: I have no words for how bad this is; that’s how bad it is.

Carthage. – In-house. 1990.

Another cool title and one of those games that I really wanted to like but never got into.

The intro in the game was pretty good, although pretty meaningless too.

The actual gameplay was too fiddly for its own good, and in the end, it was just too much back and forth for nothing really and when it came to the cool stuff, it was all over before it even started.

Carthage could have been a winner, but instead, it ended up being subpar and boring.

Repetitive sounds and gameplay were the worst problems with the game, but it didn’t help that the game wasn’t any fun either.

Verdict: A missed opportunity.   Cool Box art and intro.

The Carl Lewis Challenge. – Teque. 1992.

I had totally forgotten about this one, I had to fire it up to have a look, and within minutes I realised why.  Not a very good game! It’s awful, actually.

The Amiga and the C64 had lots and lots of great sports games, and while most were from the 80s and from Epyx, it was no excuse to make a bad sports game like this. It pales in comparison to Summer Games, California Games, and so on.

Very weak of Psygnosis to not try and raise the quality on this one.

Lots of bad sports games were released in 1992, games as Espana, International Sports Challenge, and so on.

Verdict: Bad game, no intro to speak of, very disappointing.

Cytron. – Lunatic. 1992.

Cytron is one of the more unknown Psygnosis titles, although it was marketed well, and there were demo versions around too.

I snapped the game up because of a demo version, and that was not a bad thing, really, as the game is quite good.

Cytron is one of those hysterical, fast top-down action games and can be described as a mix between Alien Breed and Firepower of some sort.

It is quite strange how Lunatic never got their name more known, as they did 2 mighty fine games on the Amiga and eventually console classics like Project Gotham Racing and MSR.

Verdict: No-Intro, a solid title, and a great box design.

GLOBDULE. – Ex Animo. 1993.

This is yet another surprise game from Psygnosis; gameplay, graphics, and sound are of excellent quality, and they came out of nowhere.

I recall buying this game from the (then) local el-shop together with Jurassic Park AGA, and the reason I bought it was that I had not seen the game earlier and of course, because it was a Psygnosis game.

Took me years to complete this game, but I have always had a place in my heart for this game, a true gem.

Very varied graphics were one of the reasons why I couldn’t get enough of this one.

Verdict: No-Intro, Great looking box. Great gameplay.

Hired Guns. – Dma Design. 1993.

After something bad comes something good, this time around it is something very good. Hired Guns is one of the best games of its genre on the Amiga, and at the same time, it is also one of the best Psygnosis games too.

DMA has a long history, and it is no wonder that they went from Menace to Grand Theft Auto 5. To be successful, you have to make good games, lots of them.

Every time an RPG thread about Amiga games comes up on forums then this game is mentioned, and many mentions also the great soundtrack (which is better on A1200/A4k) or its graphics or, yes, the 4-player option.

Verdict: Fantastic game, not much intro to call home about, but there is one.

Infestation. – In-house. 1990.

Lots of strange ideas at Psygnosis from time to time, and this was one of them. This was a first-person type of viewpoint game where you guide an insect(?).

I never liked this game, but for the price, I got it for it was ok enough, as it came with an awesome poster as well as that great-looking box!

There’s an intro in the game, but that wasn’t all that good, so I never really watched it more than a couple of times.

I have always been fond of Vector games, but that doesn’t mean I like everything really, and the speed (FPS) in Infestation was very low and had annoying sounds on top of it, I remember correctly.

Verdict: Not my cup of tea. There’s an intro in it. awesome box!

Innocent Until Caught. – Divide By Zero. 1994.

This is another one of those games that you wouldn’t expect from Psygnosis.

IUC is another adventure game that starts off pretty quiet but eventually turns out to be pretty good, and by the end of it, I was screaming for a sequel. A sequel was announced for the Amiga in the end scroller/credits, but this game was never released for the Amiga.

The game came on 10 Floppy disks, one of the largest Psygnosis titles before the PlayStation era.

The sequel was released on the PC, though it had a new name too, ” Guilty “.

Verdict: Quite a good game, great opening too, never felt like a Psygnosis game.

Lemmings 2: The Tribes. Dma Design. 1993.

Lemmings became an instant classic when it was released back in 1990, so it never came as a shock that it spawned endless amounts of sequels and spin-offs.

Lemmings 2 brought a lot of new stuff to the table, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. Better graphics, new engine, new features, and all those new Lemmings variants. Snow, Beach, and so on, it added a lot of things to the Lemmings universe, and it is stuff that we today take for granted.

This time around, there even was a full intro too, hand-drawn style, great-looking stuff.

Verdict: Great game, wonderful intro.

Leander. – Traveller Tales.  1991.

This was the first game that TT did, and it was because of this game that they went to stardom for sure. You realised from the first few minutes of the game that this game is something out of the ordinary.

Awesome graphics, splendid sound, and the playability/gameplay was fine-tuned; it moved so slickly that it almost felt unplayable until you got the hang of it.

The guys at TT didn’t stay long on the Amiga before Psygnosis wanted them to do console games, but luckily, we managed to get one more from them, and that was Puggsy, more about that later on.  TT went to the PlayStation after Leander and Puggsy for the Amiga and (later) the Megadrive/Genesis.

Verdict: Extremely polished game, 50/60Hz scrolling, 1/4 pixel parallax scroller.

 

Lemmings. – DMA Design. 1991.

This game needs no introduction, I think; it has to be one of the world’s most famous games by now.

Must have played this game a bazillion times by now, and I will most likely play it more in the future too if there are any new versions released.

So instead of going on about the usual game talk, Trivia time…

Did you know that Lemmings actually has several levels with game names from Reflections games? There are levels called “A BEAST of a level”, “what an Awesome level” and of course, one called “A BEAST II of a level”… I guess you know which games they’re from by now.

Verdict: Nice cameo for Reflections, a fantastic game, a Kult classic.

Lemmings CD32. – DMA Design. 1994.

This is one of the things that really pissed me off when it came to the Amiga CD systems, yes, I am on about the quick and dirty ports that they got, as most of them were Amiga 500 games on a CD with nothing new.

Sometimes they even rebranded CDTV games, which were basically just an Amiga500 game as CD32, and one of them is Lemmings CD32, which is exactly the same as the CDTV version, which is exactly the same as the Amiga500 version.

Sad, very sad. Lemmings 2 had been out for years, and Lemmings 3 was just around the corner to top it off. There had already been 4 other Lemmings releases between all major releases, so DMA / Psygnosis had no excuses here.

Verdict: Major let down. Great game though.

Menace. – DMA -. 1988.

This is one of many Psygnosis games that people remember being ultra good, and that is for no reason, as even today, this game is a gem of a game.

It is disputable if this game is better on the C64 or not, and as always, it is about taste and platform choice; both versions kick ass for sure and are a proper milestone for Psygnosis as a brand.

Menace is the prequel to Blood Money, which was released a year later. (see below)

Verdict: If you’re into horizontal shoot ’em ups, then you must try this one!  Ace game!

Matrix Marauders. – In-house – 1990.

Got this game about 15 years ago, and it is still sealed.

I had a copy/cracked version of this game for years and never really played it.

Not a bad gam, but the cover art makes it look so much better than it really is.

I guess I never really did give this game a good chance, but what I did, though, was that I must have watched that Intro movie a couple times more than I should have, because I remember every detail even today, 25 years later.

Verdict: really good intro, cool box art.

Microcosm. – In-house. 1994.

I will never forget the day this was announced and we got to see pictures of it. The Cd32 would finally come to use for the future of gaming.

The game looked absolutely spectacular, and unlike other FMV games from the same era, this one was actually one with playability, or that’s what we thought anyway.

The game turned out to be yet another simple game with cool videos, lots of cool videos. The actual gameplay was rubbish, to be very gentle, and it was so boring that I never bothered to complete the damn thing!

Shame the sequel never was released (Novastorm) as that game was actually fun to play, at least on the PlayStation.

Verdict: Lovely videos, intro, and so on. Crap gameplay.

Nitro. – In-house. 1990.

Another extremely popular Psygnosis title is way ahead of its time in many areas.

The game starts off with a quite good intro, an intro which many might not have seen, as many of the cracked versions had this intro removed.

In-game music and graphics have the typical Psygnosis standard; everything is super polished, and if you compare it with other games released around the same time, then it looks several years ahead of its time.

This game was first beaten by Team17’s Overdrive; many excellent games in the same category/style came after that.

Verdict: One of Amiga’s best top-down racers!

 

Oh no! More Lemmings – ADD ON. – Dma Design. 1991.

Data disk version, original Lemmings required to play this one.

Trivia, it is region-based too, so this one will not work with Lemming’s copy from Europe.  (My Oh No! is from the USA).

I always thought this was one of the first games to do this on Amiga, but I have been proven that this is not correct after starting the Collectors group on Facebook.

Verdict: Cool idea to release just the data disk set and in a separate box, too.

 

OH NO! More Lemmings Stand Alone. – DMA Design. 1991.

The stand-alone version of the extra set of levels, some of which were later used in Christmas Lemmings, etc.

I always thought this was one of the first games to do this on Amiga, but I have been proven that this is not correct after starting the Collectors group on Facebook.

Verdict: Cool that they have 2 versions of this edition. Great, looking like a box too.

 

Ork / Infiltrator. – W.J.S. 1992.

This is one of those games that I played so much that I can probably sit down and draw the level exits right away.

This game had so many good things in it, and one of them was the level design. The game wasn’t all that big, but it was constructed in a way that made it very hard to find the exits, yet it wasn’t too hard, so I kept playing it even if I died a lot.

The intro in the game is another high point, and the same with the scrolling system and refresh rate (50Hz?) and while I do not know the artist, I bet he came from the Demoscene, as there are a few pretty cool effects in the game which feel like if they came from the scene.

The music is another high point. I recall we taped the Highscoresong and played it all the time, and eventually, we ripped the song and mixed it in Protracker.  Those were the days!

Verdict: Awesome box, game, and intro. Music tops it all off.

Puggsy. – The Dome/TT. 1994

Puggsy was the last game from Traveller Tales on the Amiga, and while they didn’t do much with the Amiga version at all, the game still got its name all over it.

Puggsy started off as a demo from the Demoscene, and if memory serves me correctly, it was called Pugs In Space!

The game features some very nice touches and gameplay, and is one of the better platformers of the later Amiga years.

Somehow, The Dome managed to make the game fun, good, and not a bad port at all. strange how they managed that when you look at the rest of their games.

Verdict: Overlooked gem, might not suit all fans of the genre. Great Intro too.

Prime Mover. – Interactivision. 1993.

This is another of those games that I followed while it was in development, as there were interviews and stuff in Danish Amiga magazines that covered the game monthly(?).

Back then, the game was called Turbo Terminator, and everything looked good until one day, when I heard nothing more about the game.

A year later, it showed up as Prime Mover and looked the same as before, but this time around, it was finished, and that horrible name had been removed.

Cool intro, a great engine for the racing/road, and fast, maybe too fast!

The game was excruciatingly hard, and I gave up on the game quite soon after I had got hold of it.

I found a very special demo version of the game in 1999; it was one of those 4 demos and 1 PD (advertised as full) game bundles for a few dollars.  Interestingly, this demo version is called Turbo Terminator and is dated 1993.

Verdict: Great intro, very nice engine, but a very hard game.

Red Zone. In-House.  1992.

Vector-driven motorbike games were quite “in” in 1992, or rather, Vector/3d driven games, in general, where in, and after the success of No Second Prize, it was no wonder that others would try and get a similar success.

Red Zone was another heavily marketed Psygnosis title and generally received great reviews all over the board, but I thought it was a lesser game compared to No Second Prize (Thalion), both in playability and speed.

Both games had great intros, and I like to think that the Psygnosis one is the best, but every time I watch both, I can’t decide which is better (for its time, etc).

Verdict: good game, overshadowed by its competition.

Shadow Of The Beast 2.  – Reflections. 1990

Reflections pumped out showcase title after showcase title, just about every game they released got rave reviews and big fan support.

For me, Shadow Of The Beast 2 never reached that status. I never got into it really. The first and the 3rd ones were different matters.

I will not deny that it looked good and that it repaired many of the broken designs of the first game, but to me, it never felt fun.

Huge box + T-shirt in a later section of the article. (still on the camera).

Verdict: Great intro, music, and whatnot, but the game was not for me.

Shadow Of The Beast III. – Reflections. 1992.

This is one of the best games from Psygnosis, for certain. From the very first second, you just know how this game will make your jaw drop to the floor.

The intro, the music, the scrolling, and those graphics! In my opinion, this repaired everything in Beast 2 and bundled it with 1, and created a new game around it called SOTB 3, a masterpiece.

I never got around to getting all versions of the game, as it got insanely expensive shortly after release, so all I got is this version and a jewel-cased one.

Verdict: One of the top 3 games from Psygnosis on the Amiga.

Second Samurai. – Vivid Image. 1994.

This was the second game in the series, and while the first game in the series, “The First Samurai”, wasn’t a Psygnosis game, they still got the publisher on board.

These series have been praised for years now, and to be 100% honest, I have no idea why. The only good thing about the series was the opening in The First Samurai, that tune, and those graphics set my expectations too high for the rest of the game.

I always found the series to be messy, difficult, and extremely dull at times. Maybe I should give it another go.

Verdict: No intro, feels unfinished at times, and no graphics upgrade in the AGA version to speak of.

Theatre Of Death. -The Software Shed –

Compared to the other games from Psygnosis in 1993, this one has to be one of the most unexpected ones.

My opinion about it is that this is a Cannon Fodder copy and it ain’t a good one either, well at least if you compare it with Cannon Fodder of course.

The graphics were certainly one of the worst things about this game; they looked bad back then and still do today.

To me, this game was, of course, great back in 1993 when I bought it because it was a Psygnosis title and I even completed the game too.

Verdict: Not crap, but not good either.

Triad Volume 2 Compilation. – In-House/DMA. 1989.

Baal. In-house. 1989.

3-Game Compilation – Psygnosis / Mirrorsoft

This compilation is a bit of an oddity, combining titles from both Psygnosis and Mirrorsoft. Since it includes two Psygnosis games, I’ve decided to feature it here. Inside the box, you’ll find Baal and Menace—both solid titles in their own right.

I’ve already written about Menace earlier in this article, so check that entry if you’d like more details.

As for Baal, it came from the same team responsible for many of the action platformers of the late ’80s, and it shows. The scrolling, visuals, and general style are instantly recognisable. The original box design is also worth mentioning—it carried a very “Alien-inspired” look that probably helped boost sales at the time.

Verdict: 2 really good games in one box, Tetris being an added bonus.

The MisAdventures Of Flink. CD32 – In-House. 1995

One of the last Psygnosis titles to hit the Amiga, Flink was the perfect game for the task as it took the Platforming and RPG genres to the next level.

Flink was one of the last proper platformers on the Amiga.

There were a few things about the game that pulled it down; there was no intro, the game felt rushed/unfinished in some parts, and it was only released on the CD32, which was the smallest market on the Amiga.

Flink was often said to use the 3D chip in the CD32, but it didn’t take long before this rumour was busted. The reason why everyone thought it was using the chip was that of all the effects used in the game, mode 7 styles, and so on.

A sequel to Flink was released for the PC and PlayStation in 1996/7; the graphics look quite the same, but Flink and enemies were replaced with Lemmings-oriented graphics/style.

Verdict: Psygnosis Amiga’s Last swansong is a game up there with the best.

The Last Action Hero. – The Dome. 1994.

I have no idea where to start with this one, really, as it is one of the worst games from Psygnosis and only surpassed by Cliffhanger.

What a disaster this game is, unplayable, crappy music, crappy graphics, nothing in here is good, NOTHING! How on earth Psygnosis let this one through is beyond me. How The Dome managed to pull off this travesty of a game is a milestone itself, and it looks as if the game was made in a single weekend.

Sidescrolling beat ’em ups on the Amiga were not a new thing; every game of this genre beats this one hand down!

Verdict: CRAP!, rubbish!, PIECE OF SHIT!  No-Intro??! (DO I CARE???).

Terrorpods. – In-house. 1987.

One of the earliest Psygnosis titles I remember, though I honestly can’t recall whether I ever liked it. If I had, I’m sure I’d be able to explain it in more detail—but most likely, it just didn’t leave much of an impression.

The highlight for me is probably the extras—the poster and the T-shirt—which were far more memorable than the game itself.

Yes, it does have an intro, but to be fair, it looks and feels more like something you’d expect on a C64 rather than an Amiga.

If you’re planning to try this game for the first time today, do yourself a favour and read the manual first. Without it, the game is extremely difficult to make sense of.

Verdict: Cool box, looks very pre-Amiga.

Wiz’n Liz. – Bizarre Creations/Lunatic. 1993.

This game took me years to discover, must have been around 2000 or so, had it in my collection since release, but never did get into it.

When my girlfriend and my girlfriend gave it a second chance then we couldn’t let go of it. The addictive gameplay, 50Hz scrolling, and great graphics make this game one of her favourites of all time. We must have played the game 50+ hours in 2 players and probably the same in single player, too.

Chasing rabbits has never been as fun before and the only time it has been as fun as this was when Rayman Raving Rabbids came out in the mid-2000s.

Verdict: No intro, but a very good game.

 

Alright, folks—this is it for now. The post has grown way too long, so I’ll stop here and save the rest of the games for another article.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this deep dive into my Psygnosis collection. If you did, don’t forget to hit the Like button (both on the blog and the post)—that kind of support really helps me find the energy to put together more of these monster write-ups.

P.S. Keep in mind, I still have well over 2,000 boxed Amiga games in my collection, so I could easily keep writing articles like this for years to come.

Thanks for reading!

Follow Us... Inspire Us To Get Better... Keep The Amiga Flame Alive... PlayStation VR2 For The Future... AmigaGuru For The Future... Contact Us At Twitter For Content Creator Support...

• 
• 
•