Decent PD, Freeware, Shareware Games?

[wmd]

Below are some of my favourites, please feel free to suggest more (including cover disk exclusive games).

Ace Crusader
- decent Defender clone with end of stage bosses
- below average graphics but plays pretty well

Shangai
- the version by Julian Jiggins
- has the easiest to read (visually scan) tileset of any of the shangai games on the Archimedes IMO
- sadly no scoring system / high scores

BIATetris
- decent version of Tetris "within a demo"

Beanz
- decent puyo puyo clone

HexAtoms
- unique atom-splitting game that can be played against the computer
- not seen this game on any other platform

Dragon Ball
- one of the best bat 'n ball games on the Archimedes

Digger
- only played this on MSDOS, but there was a RISC OS version released (doesn't work on RISC OS3.1)

The Swarm
- Robotron clone where you control a floating spaceman
- mouse-only, would have been better on keys

Stib
- Bust a Move clone
- plays pretty well
- please let me know if you have the full version, I could only find the demo release

Tetris (by Tracy of "SICK")
- best version of Tetris on the Archimedes (unless someone else knows otherwise?)
- poor choice of shape designs

Chuckie Egg (32-bit conversion by Doug Anderson)
- near-perfect port for the BBC Micro original
- adds high score table saving
- weirdly keeps the sprite flicking from the original

Dare Devil Denis (32-bit conversion by Doug Anderson)
- near-perfect port for the BBC Micro original
- weirdly keeps the sprite flicking from the original

Centipede (by Simon Tarry, from a 1994 Archimedes World cover disk)
- lacks technical finesse but has nice sprites

[wmd]

Stib
- Bust a Move clone
- plays pretty well
- please let me know if you have the full version, I could only find the demo release

For anyone interested, the author of this game uploaded the full version here:

https://www.stardot.org.uk/forums/viewt ... 82#p409982

[Rich Talbot-Watkins]

I think Chuckie Egg and Daredevil Denis were Archimedes ports from the BBC versions by Michael Foot. They were essentially the original 6502 code "compiled" into C, with an extra layer of metadata on the graphics data to provide higher bit depth graphics. That'd be why the main character still flickers - it's running exactly the same code (right down to the Chuckie Egg update rate being set to 3/100ths of a second!).

[Rich Talbot-Watkins]

Also, all of Tom Cooper's games seem to be missing from that list. Can't remember anything other than Son of Gyrinus right now, but fairly sure there were more!

[wmd]

Oh, I didn't realise Tom Cooper's stuff was PD / shareware. I think I have everything of his.

[wmd]

I think Chuckie Egg and Daredevil Denis were Archimedes ports from the BBC versions by Michael Foot. They were essentially the original 6502 code "compiled" into C, with an extra layer of metadata on the graphics data to provide higher bit depth graphics. That'd be why the main character still flickers - it's running exactly the same code (right down to the Chuckie Egg update rate being set to 3/100ths of a second!).

Ah, I wouldn't have minded if they had fixed the flickering to be honest. Not a big issue though.

[Rich Talbot-Watkins]

Oh, I didn't realise Tom Cooper's stuff was PD / shareware. I think I have everything of his.

All of his PD games, I should've said! The later stuff (e.g. Hamsters, Darkwood) were all commercial.

[jubber]

!MineHunt by Paul LeBeau is a great minehunter version. I think it's excellent, and not bogus

Was Moonquake PD? Because that's an excellent multiplayer game - I actually prefer it to Bomberman