Emulators - Amstrad CPC

Last update :- 29 December 2009

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Amstrad CPC

Amstrad introduced their CPC (Colour Personal Computer) range in 1985 with the CPC464, to be followed by the CPC664, CPC6128, CPC464+ and CPC6128+. They were all based upon the following specifications:

Z80A 8-bit processor running at 4.7MHz
64K (464/664) or 128K or RAM
In-built tape-drive (464/464+) or 3" disc drive (664/6128/6128+)
16 (464/664/6128) or 4096 (464+/6128+) colours at 160x200 pixels
Green screen or colour monitor

The competition at the time was stiff from the Sinclair Spectrum, Commodore C64 and BBC Micro to name a few. It stood up well against the first two as a games machine and was on a par with the BBC for small business purposes and expansion capability. Click on one of the thumbnails below to see a larger picture (this applies to all pictures on this page).


Amstrad CPC6128 Keyboard	Amstrad CPC6128+

PC emulators breathed new life into computers like this because of the ability to load and save games quickly from a PC's hard drive. Originally you had to load and save from cassette tape (slow and unreliable) or floppy disc (quicker but with limited storage space). In a lot of cases you didn't have the option to save a game in progress.

The vast majority of original games programmers and publishers have given their permission for the software to be released into the public domain, including Amstrad who released the system ROMs. Of the hundreds of games available, the Top 10 (according to GameFAQs from GameSpot) are:

SimCity
Street Fighter
Blueberry
Catch 23
Friday the 13th
Zarxas
Cricket Crazy
Prince of Persia
Cyrus II Chess
Spitfire 40

Some of my favourite games (of which there aren't PC equivalents except via emulators) are:

Alien 8
Alien Highway
Mission Genocide
Reflex
Starion
Super Cars
Switchblade

Emulator

The emulator I use for the Amstrad CPC is WinAPE by Richard Wilson (who was famous in the CPC world for writing the ParaDOS CPC disk operation system):

Emulates all CPC and CPC+ versions
Works with Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP
Built-in Z80 debugger and assembler
Retains configuration settings
Automatic version control
Supports tape and disk images
Supports digital gamepads
ZIP archive support

The pictures below show the CPC Loader front-end, CPC boot screen (via WinAPE) and two games running - one disk based and the other cartridge (note that these WinAPE screenshots were taken with an earlier version of the emulator):


CPC Loader	CPC128+ boot	Switchblade (disk)	Batman (cart)

Tutorial

If you go the the CP Loader link above it includes a tutorial.

Cheats

Initially, if you were stuck in a game or level, the only way of cheating in a CPC game was to write a small loader program (or copy one from a magazine) to load the game and POKE values into specific locations - not much fun given the both the loading times from tape and unreliability. Obviously this was easier with a disk drive but the product that made a real difference was the Multiface II from Romantic Robot - probably the 3rd most popular add-ons for the Amstrad CPC range - after a 3.5" disk dirve and ROMbox.

You could freeze the system memory and change it - allowing you to enter "infinite lives" and "invulnerability" pokes for instance
You could save the contents to disc - rather than having to transfer it from tape manually

It plugged into the expansion port of the CPC and once a button was pressed sat silently, invisibly waiting in the background until you pressed the red button before springing into action.


Romantic Robot's Multiface II	RED "STOP" button pressed (F11)

If you want to use it with an emulator (and most now support it) you'll need the ROM (original from NVG) and it'll be helpful to read the user guide (in PDF format). You'll also find a list of codes to use with it here. The following assumes you're using the CPCGamesCD (see below) and have configured it to use WinAPE as the emulator:

Load up the CPCGamesCD and run any game
Hit F12 to bring up the WinAPE Setup menu
Select the Memory tab
Make sure the "Enable Multiface" check-box is enabled
Click on the small box to the right of ROM and point it to the location where you saved the unzipped ROM file from above and select OK
Now, when ever you load a game in the future the Multiface features are always available by pressing F11 at any time. Note that some games may refuse to run or crash if the Multiface is enabled

Quite a lot of the games on the CPCGamesCD have already been modified to incorporate a cheat routine of some kind.

Controller

All you really need to play Amstrad CPC games on a PC is a gamepad or joystick with 2 buttons - or the keyboard.

ROMs

You can get all the games currently available for the Amstrad CPC, along with the CPC Loader front-end and the snap-pack (containing 3500+ images) by MiguelSky on a single CD image which is only ~250MB - namely, the CPCGamesCD. You can then either burn it to a real CD or mount it in a virtual CD/DVD ROM drive.

Don't ask me for any games as I won't reply!

Games

For a comprehensive (but not complete) list of the thousands of Amstrad CPC games with their developers and release dates see the Wikipedia List of Amstrad CPC Games.

Screenshots from some of my favourites, categorized as I see them are shown below. Click on the thumbnails to see a larger version and the name for an external review. These screenshots are taken from the Snap-Pack included with CPC Loader and are included with kind permission from the creator - MiguelSky. These consist of the game loading screen and in game screenshot combined in a single image.

LATE
(some of the games developed late for the CPC)


Fluff	Fres Fighter II - Turbo	Phantomas Saga - Infinity	Prehistorik 2	Super Cauldron - Cauldron 3	Zap'T'Balls - Advanced Edition

PUBLIC DOMAIN
(written by independent coders and fans of the CPC - probably fore-runners of modern modder)


Axys - The Last Battle	Bombuz 3D	Call Bd10'n'oeuf	Cubulux II	Cyber Power	Groops

Logistic	Puzznix	RC-Quest	Spots	X-Contra	Zaxon

CLASSICS


Arkanoid	Bomb Jack	Bubble Bobble	Commando	Defend Or Die	Donkey Kong

Dragon's Lair	Frogger	Gauntlet	Ghosts 'N' Goblins	Moon Cresta	Out Run

Pac-Land	Rainbow Islands	R-Type	Salamander	Tank Busters	Xevious

3D ADVENTURE


Alien 8	Amaurote	Batman	Head Over Heels	Knight Lore	Meltdown

ARCADE


Advanced Pinball Simulator	After The War	Alien Highway	Astro Marine Corps	Ball Bearing	Beach Head

Bob Morane - Science Fiction	Boulder Dash 1	Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show	Bumpy's Arcade Fantasy	Codename Mat 1	Crazy Ball

The Duct	Elite	Game Over	Garfield - Big Fat Hairy Deal	I, Ball	Incredible Shrinking Sphere

Killapede	Klax	Reflex	Spindizzy	Starion	Xyphoes Fantasy

BOARD


Cyrus II Chess	Micro Scrabble Deluxe	Monopoly	Nemesis IV	Trivial Pursuit - Genus Edition	Who Said That?

DIZZY
(a whole series of games based upon an egg called Dizzy (and friends) by the Oliver Twins)


Bubble Dizzy	Crystal Kingdom Dizzy	Dizzy	Dizzy - Prince of the Yolkfolk	Dizzy Down the Rapids	Fantasy World Dizzy

Fast Food	Kwik Snax	Magicland Dizzy	Panic Dizzy	Spellbound Dizzy	Treasure Island Dizzy

MOVIE TIE-INS


Batman: The Movie	Ghostbusters II	Indiana Jones & The Temple of Doom	Licence To Kill	Star Wars	The Living Daylights

COMPILATIONS
(a sample of the collections of games available for the CPC)


4 Amtix! Accolades	6-Pak	6-Pak Volume 2	All Star Hits 2	Best of Elite Volume 1	Game, Set & Match

Imagine's Arcade Giants	Konami Coin-Op Hits	Konami's Arcade Collection	Les Collectors	The Top 10	The Sold A Million

PLATFORM


The Addams Family	The Sacred Armour of Antiriad	Beyond The Ice Palace	The Blues Brothers	Builderland	Cavemania

Flimbo's Quest	Ghost Hunters	Jet Set Willy	Potsworth & Co	Rick Dangerous	Rodland

Space Froggy	Starquake	Stormlord	Switchblade	Titus the Fox	Turbo the Tortoise

PUZZLES


Chip's Challenge	Confuzion	Deflektor	Lemmings	Puzznic	Solomon's Key

SHOOT-EM UP


3D Starfighter	Action Force	Cybernoid	Dandy	Dark Fusion	Dragon Spirit

Exolon	Flying Shark	Into The Eagle's Nest	Light Force	Mag Max	Megaphoenix

Mission Genocide	Mr Heli	Nemesis	Q10 Tank Buster	Robozone	SDI

Silkworm	Slap Fight	Tomcat	Ultima Ratio	Xenon	Zynaps

SPORTS


Basket Master	Grand Prix Master	Hyper Sports	Match Day	Microprose Soccer	Nigel Mansell's World Championship

Super Cars	Super Monaco Grand Prix	Track & Field	The Way Of The Exploding Fist	WEC Le Mans	Yie Ar Kung-Fu