Hi everyone,

Hope you all are well. Thanks for visiting my blog. 🙂

One of the go-to places for AmigaOS 4 users is OS4Depot. It is similar to Aminet but with more advanced features such as support for pictures, videos, and comments on each listing. This makes it easier for people to know what they download or perhaps whether it is of interest to them or not.

I like recording videos and grabbing screenshots from games and utilities and then uploading them to OS4Depot. Often I download software I have never tried before and this is a big part of the fun. Sometimes you never know what you are going to get. 😉

The title of this post is OS4Depot Adventures and the beginning of a new series here on Gaming on AmigaOS 4. My goal is to explore uncharted territory and dive into OS4Depot files with previously no comments, snapshots, or videos, or some that have, but which I’m curious about. I hope you will join me on some of my adventures into the unknown, and perhaps we will eventually uncover some forgotten and lost gems.

Chapter 1 – The Crap Games Collections from Spot

Spot has done a great job over the years porting a massive amount of software to AmigaOS 4. This includes what he decided to call the Crap Games Collections. I guess he was just being honest about the contents of these compilations, which amount to a whopping 21 archives, each with more than one game.

The question is, are all of those bundled games really crap? Or could it be that some are actually fun? Taste differs, so there is a slim chance I say. 🙂

Armed with a steaming cup of fresh coffee, I set out to find out…

Searching for “crapgames” brought up the list of all the packages. I decided to start from the top and work my way down. Should at least download and try three, possibly four bundles for this part.

First up was Crap Games Vol. 1. 🙂

This one contains three games; UFO, Paratim, and Tux Learns Notes.

After downloading the archive and unpacking the games, I started out with Tux Learns Notes. This was one was a very strange Space Invaders-styled game! Not very playable, unfortunately. You can see a screenshot of it here:

Never seen anything like it! 😀 Some strange choices when it comes to the graphics, don’t you think?

Then it was time for Paratim. Could it be a hidden gem?

Eh, well, another shooter. It was not fun to play, to be honest, and the graphics… Not good. So far Spot has been “spot on”. 😉

The last title from the archive is UFO. This is a shooter like the others but with better graphics. Sadly, the game runs too fast and has no audio. I managed to take a screenshot before it was game over. You can see it above.

Despite this, I didn’t give up and went forward with fresh courage to check out the next on the list. The name of the included games in Crap Games Vol. 10 looked, believe it or not, promising! Impossible Castle, Tiny Tetris, and Tuxblocks. Could it be a Tetris bonanza?

First up, Impossible Castle! After launching the game, I was presented with this screen:

OK… My first instinct was to move the dot into the square. This turned out to be the correct way to play the game. I ended up on level 7 quickly, then it was game over. It is a simple game, but I think it has potential. If they included better graphics (exchange the square with a door, and the dot with a character) and a tune playing in the background, then it would be much better. 🙂 Still, I can’t recommend the game in its current state.

As for Tuxblocks, I could not get it to run. The archive seems to be missing a file. I decided to give up on it due to this.

The last game was Tiny Tetris. Could it be any good?

The game is, as the name suggests, tiny. It fits in a small window on Workbench.

I thought it was kind of cute! There was no audio, but it is probably not needed with such a game. Tiny Tetris could perhaps be interesting if you are waiting for something to compile, a big download, or perhaps when AmiDream is generating a picture. It reminds me of some of the small WB Games on Aminet. 🙂 So, not a bad one. I decided to give it an OK.

Last up was Crap Games Vol. 11. What would I encounter when opening this chest of potential treasures? Nutella Factory Hijacker, Flash Flood, and SSG. Nutella Factory Hijacker? I had to laugh at the excellent game name “Nutella Factory Hijacker”. 😀 This was the first game I tried, but unfortunately, I failed to get it to run.

The second game was Flash Flood. I did not know what to expect but was positively surprised by the look of it and the excellent little tun playing in the game background. My first thought was that everything looked like a good, old Commodore 64 game.

After playing it I checked it up on Google and it is indeed a classic. 🙂 Cool! The aim of the game is to catch the drops falling from the top of the screen into a bucket. The game plays well and I enjoyed it! This one I will make a small review of later for this blog. 🙂 Is it a gem? Considering it was part of a bundle called Crap Games, I guess we can say that!

The testing was not over yet, even though Flash Flood was a fun game. It was now time to give SSG (which is short for Scrabster’s Sneaky Game) a go. This turned out to be a shoot’em up game where you have a crosshair on the screen and the aim is to take out all enemies.

As you can see from the screenshot, it lacks a bit in the graphics department. It is also not very playable and it is difficult hitting the enemy spires. Not a game I will revisit.

With these games tested, it was time to pack up and head out to the safety of the AmigaOS 4 desktop and the usual games and programs. 🙂

Journal Entry No. 1

In my first expedition, I decided to try the three top Crap Games Collections on OS4Depot. By this I mean the first ones appearing when searching for “crapgames”. These were Crap Games Vol. 1, Crap Games Vol. 10, and Crap Games Vol. 11. Even though the porter considered the games included crap, I found two titles I will likely revisit. These are Tiny Tetris and Flash Flood. 🙂 I think this was a good result for the first expedition into the deep unknown of OS4Depot.

Now it is time to relax and prepare for the next journey! Thanks for reading and see you in another post here on Gaming on AmigaOS 4! 🙂