Amstrad CPC games list!

Total reviews!

Handheld: 57

16/32bit Computers: 591

8bit Computers: 382

8bit Consoles: 41

16bit Consoles: 76

32/64bit Consoles: 98

128bit Consoles: 24

OnLine members

Currently: 4

Total hits!

Play old-school now!

Best on 8bit micro!

Batman The Movie - Commodore64
Shadow of the Beast - Commodore64
International Karate + - Commodore64
Xyphoes Fantasy - AmstradCPC
Robocop II - AmstradCPCPlus
Arkanoid II - AmstradCPC
Pang - AmstradCPCPlus
Wrath of the Demon - Commodore64
Night Hunter - AmstradCPC
Barbarian - AmstradCPC
Prince of Persia - SamCoupe
Lemmings - SamCoupe
Draconus - AtariXE

Best on 16bit micro!

Turrican 2 - Amiga
Shadow of the Beast - Amiga
Jim Power - Amiga
Apidya - Amiga
Leander - Amiga
Turrican 2 - AtariST
Project X - Amiga
Super Frog - Amiga
Another World - AtariST
Flashback - Amiga
Toyota Celica GT Rally - Amiga
Toyota Celica GT Rally - AtariST
Wrath Of The Demon - AtariST
Wrath Of The Demon - Amiga
Dark Seed - Amiga
Stardust - AtariSTE
Stardust - Amiga
Banshee - AmigaAGA
Flashback - Archimedes
Star Fighter 3000 - Archimedes
Warlocks - Archimedes
Cannon Fodder - Amiga
Another World - Appleiigs
Turrican 2 - PC
Universe - Amiga
Turrican 3 - Amiga
Hurrican - PC
Tyrian - PC
Super Stardust - AmigaAGA
Cannon Fodder - Archimedes
Dark Seed - PC
Pac-Mania - X68000

Best on 8bit consoles!

Chuck Rock II - MasterSystem
Robocop II - GX4000
Pang - GX4000

Best on 16bit consoles!

Jim Power - snes
Donkey Kong Country - snes
Aladdin - snes
Alien Soldier - Megadrive
Street Fighter 2 - pcengine
Blazing Lazers - pcengine
Raiden - pcengine
Super Star Soldier - pcengine

Best on 32bit consoles!

G-Darius - psone
Super Mario 64 - n64
ISS - psone
Raiden - Jaguar
Perfect Dark - n64
Sensible Soccer - Jaguar
Batman Beyond - n64
Dino Crisis 2 - psone
Resident Evil 2 - psone
Metal Gear Solid - psone
Driver - psone
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee - psone
Klonoa: Door To Phantomile - psone
Nights Into Dreams - Saturn
Cotton 2: Magical Night Dreams - Saturn
Flashback - CDi

Best on 128bit consoles!

God Of War - PS2
Resident Evil Zero - GameCube
Gran Turismo 4 - PS2
Black - xbox
Halo Combat Evolved - xbox
Star Fox Adventures - GameCube
SoulCalibur - Dreamcast
Under Defeat - Dreamcast
Soul Calibur 2 - GameCube
Metroid Prime 2 - GameCube

Best on handhelds!

Metroid Fusion - GBA
Raiden - Lynx
Robocod - GameGear

Game info

Xyphoes Fantasy

Genre

Action Adventure

Developer / Publisher

Silmarils

Released

1991

Media

1 x

Rating

Graphics:
Sound:
Gameplay:
Excellent

Reviewed by

ndial

Xyphoes Fantasy is a 2D side-scrolling action adventure game developed in 1991 by Silmarils exclusively for the Amstrad CPC 6128. It's a highly-recommended Amstrad CPC game mainly for its visuals and sound! The game comes in 1 disk and runs only on 128k systems.

Review

In the land of Norem, an army of warriors called The Skulls, have forced Norem's magician lord to lose all of his powers. The desperate man has chosen you as the hero who will trek across Norem and prevail against The Skulls and their evil leader, Kan. And not only that, but your girlfriend was kidnapped too by the evil Kan! You need now to fight your way through four different levels that mix shoot em up action with 1-on-1 sword fighting against Kan's finest warriors. The world is mean and the enemies very hard to compete, so grab your sword and start ripping their heads off.
Gameplay and level designs looks like a mix of the well-known Amiga smash hits, Shadow Of The Beast and Wrath Of the Demon titles (not in quality, of course). During your quests you must collect various objects on your way (these are trophies that will end the reign of Chief Skull). If your bag is not fully filled, access to the next level will be refused. At the end of each you must fight with your sword against the most terrifying barbarians (one at a time).
Gameplay is rather simple, including hitting incoming foes, jumping on platforms, one-to-one fighting and so on. You even riding a horse (at level 2)! In general, gameplay is not bad either, but it's a highly-recommended CPC game mainly for its visuals and sound!

Ok now let's get serious. When I first played this game, I couldn't believe in my eyes! I thought that I was dreaming as I've never played such a game on an Amstrad CPC, provided its 'weak' hardware! The graphics and music are out of this world - something that the CPC users (and in general the 8bit home users) could only dream of. The graphics engine here offers overscan screens, beautiful sprites, smooth animations (except some instances when too many sprites populate the screen) and lots of colorful backgrounds. It seems developers have used all the colors an Amstrad can generate, simultaneously (27 in total)! Technically it is a very impressive game.
There is also a sampled tune on the title screen while the gameplay sound uses Atari ST-like sound transfers (soundtracks and effects)! Overall, the game itself is a brilliant example of what an Amstrad could do when programmed properly...Well done Silmarils once more! And for the record, some members of the development team were later involved in the demo scene.

Screenshots

Sound samples

Intro music:

In-game sound:

Gameplay sample

Some videos belong to retroshowcase.com (indicated); others not

Hardware information

Amstrad CPC 464/664/6128

CPU: ZiLOG Z80 4MHZ
MEMORY: 64 KB or 128 KB of RAM depending on the model (capable of being expanded to 512k using memory extension boards)
GRAPHICS: Motorola 6845 address generator, Mode 0: 160x200 / 16 colors, Mode 1: 320x200 / 4 colors, Mode 2: 640x200 / 2 colors, A colour palette of 27 colors was supported
SOUND: The CPC used the General Instrument AY-3-8912 sound chip, providing 3 channels Mono Sound (via internal speaker) but capable to offer Stereo Sound provided through a 3.5 mm headphones jack (with pretty impressive outcome!). Also, it is possible to play back digital sound samples at a resolution of approximately 5bit. This technique is very processor-intensive though.