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06/13/2006 (last updated on 11/24/2007)
Downloading Amiga Games Legally and Free of Charge
Amiga emulators for the PC are quite popular these days. Many classic Amiga games can be downloaded legally and free of charge for these emulators.
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Amiga Emulation Software
The Commodore Amiga reached its zenith between the end of the 80s and the beginning of the 90s -- one reason for its popularity was the availability of a great number of first-rate games. If you want to experience these games nowadays, you do not rely on finding an Amiga computer on your attic that had fallen into oblivion. Nostalgic enthusiasts have created free emulation software for the PC that is able to simulate the complete Amiga hardware. Well-known representatives are the UAE project and WinUAE for Windows. The latter is part of UAE project. In this context, Fellow for DOS should also be mentioned as well as its successor WinFellow for Windows.
If you have acquainted yourself with the emulator of your choice, you are ready to feed it with the corresponding software. First of all, you need a so-called Kickstart-ROM. It contains essential parts of the Amiga operating system. Unfortunately, the Kickstart-ROM cannot be downloaded free of charge and at the same time legally. You have the choice between buying Cloanto's Amiga Forever and (if you are lucky to own a working Commodore Amiga) creating a copy of the Kickstart-ROM yourself. ALE has published a guide how to create a Kickstart file.
After having integrated the Kickstart-ROM into your emulator, you can finally start downloading your favorite Amiga games. Beforehand you should note that some games require a special configuration of the emulator. Information concerning this can be found on the websites of the emulators and partly on those sites that offer the games. It is generally advisable to explore the configuration options of your emulator first.
Free Amiga Games From Official Websites
And where can one download the games legally and free of charge now? One source is the websites of some companies that had created or published Amiga games in the past. Sometimes, companies do not publish their games on their website but support a fansites:
Cinemaware offers 14 of its Amiga games. The most popular titles are probably Defender of the Crown, It Came From the Desert I & II (Antheads) and Wings. Less known titles might be King of Chicago, Lords of the Rising Sun, Rocket Ranger, S.D.I., Sinbad and the Throne of the Falcon, The Three Stooges, TV Sports Baseball, TV Sports Boxing and TV Sports Football.
Titles from Team17 are available on the supported fansite Dream17. You can select from more than 30 titles. If you prefer games full of action, you'll be delighted to find titles such as Alien Breed (SE), Alien Breed Tower Assault, Alien Breed 2, Apidya, Assassin (SE), Body Blows (Galactic), Full Contact, Project X (SE), Super Stardust, SuperFrog and Worms. Besides CD32 versions of some games, you can also download preconfigured setting files for WinUAE.
FACTOR 5 offers only three titles: BCKid, Katakis and R-Type. Both classics Turrican I & II can only be downloaded as backups. This means that you have to be in possession of the original floppy disks to be entitled to download these files. Factor 5 has at least so much pity with us that they have put the Turrican soundtrack written by Chris Hülsbeck online for everyone.
"The official 100% legal distribution source for old Gremlin titles" is Gremlin Graphics World. They offer 17 titles. Besides Disposable Hero, Hero Quest, Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge I & II, Lotus 3 - The Ultimate Challenge and Zool you can also find the less known games Celcia GT Rally, Combo Racer, Deflektor, Footballer Of The Year 2, John Lowes Ultimate Darts, K240, Mickey Mouse, Shadow Fighter, Space Crusade, Team Suzuki and Utopia. Unfortunately, the supply is not complete. Games such as Super Cars I & II are missing (these and other titles are available from other websites, see below).
This seems to be everything that company sites or official/supported fansites are offering. A reason is surely the fact that many companies from the old days do not exist anymore or have been swallowed by bigger companies. Another reason is that the existing companies do not always have the ambition to create a section on their web presence for vintage games.
Free Amiga Games From Independent Websites
Luckily, there are some independent sites out there whose goal it is to gather titles from different companies. These people have -- according to their own statements -- permission by the respective right holders to put the games online. Sometimes, these sites overlap with what they offer. Therefore, you are not unlikely to find certain games at different locations. It is also not seldom that one website offers a title in a slightly different version than another website does. In alphabetical order there are:
- The German website Amiga Future (click on "Download" in the left menu) has recently built up a software section . At the moment, they offer about 90 different titles.
- Amigaland is another German site with more than 170 different titles and lots of background information, preconfigured setting files and useful tools.
- AMI Sector One has made about 400 Amiga games available. The site has not been updated since 2002 as AMI Sector One joined Back to the Roots (see below). The goal is to integrate all the collected games into Back to the Roots. AMI Sector One will stay online until this misson has been accomplished.
- Back to the Roots has the largest supply with more than 1,300 games. Over 80 companies support this site by giving permission to offer their old games for download. Back to the Roots was offline for some time, but is now back online.
- Borrowed Time has made only 16 titles available; among them Amazing Spiderman, Arabian Nights, Kick Off 2, Oscar and Shadow Worlds. This website seems to have technical problems.
- World of Classics finally supplies us with more than 427 games. This website also seems to have technical problems.
If you think searching for your favorites is too laborious for you, then you still have the option to buy Cloanto's Amiga Forever. Before you do so you should check if it at least contains the games you are looking for.
Free Amiga Games From Abandonware Websites
Besides official websites and websites that have permission, so-called abandonware websites offer Amiga games, too. The term abandonware refers to old software that is no longer being sold or supported by its copyright holder. As almost all Amiga games are no longer being sold or supported, Amiga game software could almost always be classified as abandonware.
Proponents of classifying software as abandonware argue that is it ethical to freely distribute and use software when the copyright holder does not sell software licenses any more. It is also argued that if a corporate copyright holder went out of business without having transferred the copyrights, the software created by the corporation is no longer copyright protected so that it is legal to distribute and use it.
Opponents of classifying software as abandonware remark that the term abandonware has no legal meaning; software -- even if abandoned -- remains covered under copyright law. They add that considering a piece of software as abandonware does not make it legal to copy it, publish it on a website or download and use it without permission of the copyright holder.
Please remember this debate when visiting abandonware websites! You have to carefully scrutinize for every offered game if it is lawful in your jurisdiction to download and use it. If it is unlawful in your jurisdiction, then you must not download and use the offered game! Abandonware websites for Amiga games are:
- The Thalion WebShrine is dedicated to games created by Thalion. The following games (including manuals, reviews, etc.) are offered: A Prehistoric Tale, Ambermoon, Amberstar, Atomix, Chambers of Shaolin, Dragonflight, Enchanted Lands, Ghost Battle, Leavin' Teramis, Lethal Xcess (Wings of Death 2), Lionheart, Magic Lines, Neuronics, No Second Prize, Tangram, The Seven Gates of Jambala, Trex Warrior, Warp and Wings of Death.
- Planet Emulation is a French website that provides about 20,000 Amiga games. Although referring to the term abandonware, they also declare that downloading most of the offered games would be illegal. Please note that Planet Emulation is only mentioned in this article to let you know that you should not download anything from this website! For the same reason, the link to the Planet Emulation website will not be made available in this article.
External Links
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- Amiga Emulator FAQ
- Emulation guides designed for beginners
- Miscellaneous how-to guides
- ADF Opus is a file management tool for Amiga Disk Files (ADF) and Amiga hard drive files. It allows you to perform common file tasks (like copying, renaming, deleting, etc.) without having to go anywhere near an Amiga emulator (open source, Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP).
- More information about the Commodore Amiga (Wikipedia)
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