R-Type was written in 1987 by Keith A Goodyer for Activion (Electric Dreams label) which gave him only 21 days to write the port, by using the ZX Spectrum version (written by Bob Pape). He used the PDS system written by Foo Katan, probably the world first IDE editor, cross assembler, linker and debugger development. it was running on a PC (ms-dos) with extra hardware that allowed to send the compilted code directly onto the target hardware. It eventually supported development for Z80, 6502 and 68K.

Here is the method he used :

Given the extream time limits i was given to the port this is basic strategy that I took to do the port... (I hope i remember all this correctly).

The spectrum had its ROM in the lower 16K, and the 48K of RAM above it. So I configured the Amstrad to locate the MODE 1 screen in the lower 16K, and loaded the spectrum version in the top 48K (As it would be located on a spectrum - and ran it). I then went through the code line by line, modifying anything that 'plotted' pixels on the screen to something that would plot the equivalent pixels on on Arnolds screen.

As the spectrum screen is 'Attribute Based' I continued to used all of Bobs 'Colour' code, and the whole 768 bytes of the spectrum colour attribute screen is running on the Amstrad version. When ever there was a 'Byte' write to the spectrum screen, I would use a look up table to indexed by the byte and the value of the corresponding spectrum colour attribute to extract the two bytes required to produce the correct pixels on the CPC screen. Then all I had to do was port the control (Sinclair/Kempston) to CPC stuck, and the Sound and the job was done. A few days with DJL to add the 'Protection' and the job was done.

Now the sad news... about 5 years ago, I had a massive leak in my roof, and all my records (including the source code) was destroyed.

Now some Trivia: At the time I had a 464, 664 and a 6128 - I took the final masters down to Activision, and it would not run on their 6128. It tuned out that at some point in time, Amstrad had made a small revision to the design that meant that a the interrupt would fire just before a frame fly back pulse, where on previous versions it would occur just after. The net effect was that when my code was waiting for the frame fly back pulse to occur, the interrupt would trigger just before it, go off do some processing, and by the time it had finished the processing and returend to the main code loop, had missed the pulse - and locked up.

A R-Type remake by Fano (code), TotO (graphics) et iXien(sound) is going to be available very soon, you can actually read Fano's interview on Push'N'Pop.

I let you check differences between the screenshot of the original R-Type and its remake (first screen of the Youtube video)..

Check this Ebay auction of 4000 Amstrad CPC tape games.

Here is a new HD video by Metr81 of Devil's Castle written by Chip in 1986. It's a sorcery clone.

Here is a new HD video by Metr81 of Birdie written by Stéphane PICQ (ERE Informatique) in 1987.

Here is a new HD video by Metr81 of Barrio Peligroso written by Edisoft in 1987.

Another HD video by Metr81 of the prayer of the warrior.

Though this time there is more to say about this plat-form game, which was written in 1992 by 2 brothers : Francisco Javier Serrano García (programmation) et Emilio Serrano García (graphics). It was meant to be edited by Zigurat to be finally canceled. It is now available due to ESP Soft (also available on CPC Power). Code has been modified by SyX, the cover is by Lopez ESPI.

Here is a new HD video by Metr81 of Arquimedes XXI, written by Dinamic Software in 1986 for Spectrum and MSX, and adapted on CPC in 2011 With the efforts of DevilMarkus, MiguelSky, PulkoMandy (french translation, main music conversion), voXfReaX (english translation).

You will find the multi-lingual solution of this game on the source of this news.

Here is a new HD video by Metr81 of the 5th Axis written by Loriciels in 1985.

This time it's a new HD video by Metr81 of Dizzy ! - The Ultimate Cartoon Adventure, written by Codemasters in 1988.

What if ... Maupiti Island has been made on Amstrad CPC ? Then we would have these nice screenshots made by Hwikaa :

Metr81 is finishing Amstrad CPC games and put them as HD video on Youtube. I will now announce his video there (and add them a bit later in the games database).

The first game to be announced isn't well known by me : The Mystery of the Nile (El misterio del nilo) , written by Made in Spain, edited by Zigurat and distributed by Firebird.

After the music remake of Target Renegade by Ömer Aydin (Noisywan), here comes the one by Hulky2006.

You can read (in french) a test of Boulder Dash XL already out on Xbox360 (13th July) and on PC (end of 2011).

There are at least 3 possible gameplays :

• arcade : easier as you cant be crushed, you have life points (no direct death)...
• puzzle : more interesting than the arcade mode
• retro : back to the original !

You can read the history about The Oliver Twins on their web site, they are the authors of the Dizzy games (and many others).

GameBase CPC V21 is out since 14th July 2011. As is my new nephew Matéo born the same day at 2:51pm, the poor kid doesnt know yet who is his uncle (a raving mad Amstrad CPC geek).