The Icon Bar: Free games

Getting complete games on magazine coverdiscs is all very well, but it doesn't make games freely available, and getting hold of the games is difficult once the magazine isn't stocked in the newsagents, so...

We've managed to get permission to distribute the following games. Most of the below didn't originally run on RISC OS 3 without severely messing up the configuration of the machine, if at all, so we've done a bit of work and put them together into proper RISC OS applications, and tested most, if not all, on every version of RISC OS we can find from 2 to 5.

Everything on this page is freely distributable. There is some possibility of obtaining the source of these games as the work we have done is in some cases not complete.

ArcElite
	Elite is one of the best games ever... even Official PlayStation mag agrees with me there! This is the Archimedes version of Elite, a title dating back as far as the BBC Mirco, which has been updated to work on all RISC OS machines including StrongARM RiscPCs.
Original game by Burch and Gringras, after Braben and Bell. Updated by Richard Goodwin and Jeffrey Lee.

Big Bang
	Big Bang is an undeniably psychadelic platformer created by a mysterious coding group known as Psycore. Chock full of snazzy graphics, deadly teddies and fiendish level designs, this is definitely not one to miss. This is the original version, which has been kindly released as freeware by Miles Visman at PomPom Games. It will work fine on anything from RISC OS 3.1 to Select.
Original game by Psycore.

Cycloids

If you've ever played Hamsters or Dinosaw, you'll immediately recognise Cycloids as one of Tom Cooper's games. Who else would think of making a game based around a clown on a unicycle, deftly dodging flying elephants and giant slugs?

Cycloids was originally released by Software 42 in 1993, but is now freeware thanks to Imparo, who own the rights to it.

This version should work fine on anything from RISC OS 2 to Select.

Original game by Tom Cooper. Copy protection removal and Strong ARM compatibility by Jeffrey Lee.

DarkWood

DarkWood is one of Tom Cooper's latter games, being released by Eclipse in 1995. It's certainly one of his most technically impressive, taking full advantage of the Risc PC's hardware to provide a texture mapped 3D world for you to wander round in.

Described by the man himself as a 'massive arcade adventure', I'd class it more as a Role Playing Game due to its heavy walkabout-and-talk-to-people bias. There are still plenty of things to kill though, ranging from innocent bunnies and locals to undead skeletons and other monsters.

This version should work fine on versions of RISC OS from 3 to 3.7, although the graphics options may need tweaking a bit on low end machines.

Original game by Tom Cooper. Copy protection removal and Strong ARM compatibility by Jeffrey Lee.

DinoSaw

DinoSaw is another classic Tom Cooper game, and is probably the rarest of the lot. Although there are countless copies of DinoSaw PD in circulation, this is the only copy we've managed to find of the full version, featuring 15 levels and a split-screen 2 player mode.

Gameplay wise the action couldn't be simpler - just walk around the levels collecting bonuses and killing various prehistoric creatures. Just because it's simple it doesn't mean that it's easy, though.

This version should work fine on versions of RISC OS from 2 to Select.

Original game by Tom Cooper. RISC OS 4/StrongARM compatibility by A. Nonymous and Jeffrey Lee.

Hamsters

Hamsters is a classic Tom Cooper game through and through - a surreal setting, colourful graphics, dastardly levels, and cool sunglasses. The aim of the game is to guide your mallet weilding hamster through each of the 80 levels, squishing everything in his path.

This would seem like quite an easy task, if it were not for the resiliance of some of the locals - turtles, snails and penguins require multiple blows to kill them, while the slippery frogs can be almost impossible to catch. Add to that the fact that each hammer blow will send you flying across the screen, often to some inconvenient place, and you end up with what could be Tom's trickiest game yet. This is definitely not one to be missed.

This version should work fine on versions of RISC OS from 3 to Select.

Original game by Tom Cooper. Strong ARM/Risc PC compatibility by Jeffrey Lee and Jason Tribbeck.

Ixion
	Ixion is one of many home-grown Acorn games by the god of programming that is Tom Cooper. Originally released by Software 42 in 1992, the game is now freeware thanks to the kind folks at Imparo who now own the rights to it. This version should work fine on anything from RISC OS 2 to Select.
Original game by Tom Cooper and Barry Clarkson.

Phaethon

In the beginning we had Trail Blazer. However, I wasn't around in those days, so we'll fast forward to the 21st Century. If you'd wandered around Acorn World '93 to the System Interrupt stand, you may've noticed a game of a similar theme. Phaethon was it. However, Phaethon sold very few copies, so it never really made it onto the Acorn scene. But thanks to Acorn Arcade, you can download for free a superb game that really should've had a better chance in the Acorn scene. Fantastic gameplay with excellent presentation.

Owners of later machines (RiscPC, A7000, RiscStation, Mico) will require a patch to be able to play Phaethon. This is available to download direct from Acorn Arcade here. The patch was obtained with permission from the author's site at http://www.vd-boogaert.myweb.nl/. The current version of this patch is v1.04, and unlike previous versions, it will not require !StrongGuard, and it is also compatible with RISC OS 4.

Many thanks to Hugo Fiennes and Paul Carpenter for granting permission to make Phaethon freely available.

Original game by Paul Carpenter. Patch courtesy of Theo v/d Boogaert.

Revolver
	Revolver is a colourful game akin to those toys where you must tilt a platform in order to guide a ball bearing through a maze of walls and pits. In this computerised version you only have a limited field of view, and have to face extra obstacles such as a time limit, bouncy walls, and vortexes that spin you around. This is the original version, which has been kindly released as freeware by Miles Visman at PomPom Games. It will work fine on anything from RISC OS 3.1 to Select.
Original game by Psycore.

Terramex (V2.05)
	"Years ago professor Albert Eyestrain told the world".... The first game I ever played on the Acorn. A fantastic platform adventure in which you take command of one of 5 brave adventurers, each with a different story to follow in finding the professor and saving the earth. Big thanks to Shaun Hollingworth for permission to get Terramex back on the scene. This is the first in our get it here series. This is the complete game, but currently requires some utility to slow the game down by trapping every other vsync. Game On! from the ARM club does this, and it is supported directly by the game.
© 1987 Krisalis Software. By Shaun Hollingworth and Pete Harrap. RISC OS modifications by G. Crockford.

Terramex (V2.05)