1994 Mindscape
Platforms: Commodore Amiga (1mb) and Amiga CD32
Following the recent recovery of the Game Gear game Alien Olympics, we were surprised to find a curious “Alien.500” file that I suspected might be an Amiga conversion.
Thanks to the absolutely amazing work of Galahad, that’s now been confirmed. He’s managed to patch up the file and get it working – allowing us to load and play what remains of a very early Amiga conversion by Mark Greenshields.
Originally slated for release in 1994, this version wasn’t set to be handled by Ocean, but rather by Mindscape. There’s a brief mention in the press about Mindscape publishing the game for both the Amiga 500 and the CD32, along with several appearances in price lists. If anyone out there comes across more preview materials relating to the conversion, please do get in touch.
Mindscape’s interest in the Amiga platform seemed to fade toward the end of 1994. They shifted focus to other titles and ultimately cancelled Mark’s work on the game. It’s thought the company may have been struggling financially at the time and had some other issues going on, which likely played a role in that decision.
Mark confirmed the title was only around 50% complete when it was canned, though if this preview is indeed the final version – then we’d say its more 30% complete. Many of the events are missing unfortunately. No work ever began on a CD32 version either.
Mark also recalled having to disable the borders and OS, figure everything out from scratch, and even set up an HD installer – this being his first time coding on the Amiga platform.
For those unfamiliar with the Game Boy and PC versions of Alien Olympics, it’s essentially a Track & Field clone set in space, featuring eight alien competitors each with different strengths – adding a strategic edge to the gameplay. The Amiga version is much closer to the PC edition, featuring higher-quality graphics and animations throughout, though plenty of glitches and unfinished elements remain.
For now, check out the game for yourself – and as more details and resources come to light, we’ll continue to update this page.
With a huge thank you to Galahad for fixing up the game to make it playable, and Mark Greenshields and Darren Melbourne for arranging the recovery, Archive.org and HOL for the scans.
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