Amtix! CPC Annual 2023

By the Amtix! CPC team

There's a vibrant scene of developers writing new games for 1980s computers, including the Amstrad CPC 464, which was the one I had. In 2021, Fusion Retro Books revived Amtix! magazine, which was originally published between November 1985 and April 1987. The new magazine takes a look at today's Amstrad scene, reviewing new games, as well as taking a nostalgic look at games from the past.

For Christmas 2022, Fusion Retro Books published the Amtix! CPC annual, an A5 hardback publication with 116 pages. It compiles content from the magazine's issues in 2022, and includes several new features.

I was excited to contribute to this book. One of my first books was a guide to Amstrad CPC Basic programming, called The Basic Idea.

I wrote the following articles:

• A round-up of speech synthesisers, including an interview with Richard Hanson from Superior Software, originally published in issue 3 of the magazine.
• Top of the CPC Pops, in which I write about pop music used in Amstrad games. Hear the tunes here. This article appeared in issue 3 of the magazine.
• Cassette 50, in which I bravely take another look at the notorious compilation. Was it as good as I remembered, or as bad as they all say? This article was written for the annual.
• Flashback: Get Dexter, a review of a classic Amstrad CPC game from the 80s, as originally published in issue 5.

Other articles in the book include:

• Ben Honebone's interviews with developers Mananuk and Crazy Piri
• Graeme Mason's critique of game cover art
• Zoe Kirk-Robinson's history of the Amstrad CPC and overview of Christmas games
• Chris Weatherley's guide to shoot-em-ups and reviews of classic games Renegade and Tempest
• Ian Osborne's assessment of whether you were right to buy an Amstrad
• Colin Bell's Adventure Tavern
• Paul Davies' look back at issue 2 of the original Amtix

The book was originally sold through a Kickstarter campaign, and you can now order a copy of the Amtix Annual here.