For christmas I got an Amiga CD32, boxed and in new condition, from my fiancé. Unfortunately when they stated that it was “new”, they didn’t mention that they had opened the box and removed the power supply o_O Also they didn’t mention that it probably was an NTSC machine, since the antenna cables that came with it where the old style american ones.. I had to go order a new power supply, and once I got it I was excited to see if it worked. After some fiddling I realized that the composite cable they had added with it wasn’t a working cable, once switching it out for one of my personal ones I got the CD loading screen.
Now I wanted to try out an old Giana Sisters CD game that I’d had for ages.. But apparently this Giana Sisters game was not an Amiga CD32 game, even though it read “Amiga” somewhere on the cover.. I’ve always wanted to try this game again, I remember playing Giana Sisters once when I was a kid and I loved it, so I’ve been looking to find a copy, but so far this is all I have, a collection CD for something “Amiga” that doesn’t work on the CD32… So now I didn’t have any games for the system :/
I turned to eBay for a quick fix of some Amiga CD32 games, but the supply was scarce.. I bid home Total Carnage and after a while it arrived in the mail. I couldn’t get it working at first but my helpful instagram followers instructed me that the Amiga CD32 is “region free”, but you have to switch between the regions in a lock screen, this can be entered by connecting a mouse to the Amiga CD32 and pressing down both buttons on the mouse simultaneously. They said it had to be during startup, but I managed to enter it even after the start screen had appeared. Once in there you just steer to the side to switch regions. After this my Total Carnage game worked ^_^ It was an ok game, probably really cool back when it was new, but I got bored because it didn’t have music during stages and the sound effects were really clunky :/ I’m just picky like that, I want an awesome soundtrack when I’m going on a kill frenzy in games XD
A while later I bought another game from eBay, not knowing what it was I just had to get it because of the name and the cool cover ^_^ It’s called Whale’s Voyage :) It was an adventure game, it seemed to have been made by Germans, all the voice overs had really German accents XD The game started out with you having to create a couple of characters.. this was quite elaborate, you had to choose a father and a mother. The fathers looked like an enemy from doom, Kramer, Paul McCartney, Val Kilmer (or possibly Christian Slater) and Eugene Levy XD This type of game style is quite boring in my opinion though.. I don’t like just going through menus, I want live action! XD I managed to make it from the menus onto the surface of an actual planet after I had created my crew.. it then turned into a dungeon crawler type of game, except it was in a city, all the doors were locked, and I couldn’t interact with people I met, or even walk past them >_< Boring…
The controller for the Amiga CD32 is really weird looking, but it’s surprisingly comfortable to use! :) Now I just need to find a fun game to use it with XD
What are your experiences with the Amiga CD32? Does anyone have any recommendations of great exclusive games for the system? ^_^
Retro Video Gaming 
These links should help a little. I never owned a CD32, but I worked in a shop that had one on a shelf (boxed/new) and just when I was tempted to buy it, someone walked in and picked it up along with the few games we had for it (boo!):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_CD32
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Amiga_CD32_games
Oops. I should have added the Alien Breed games (there are 3 of them) and The Chaos Engine are probably four of the best games on the system. I’ve played the updated PC versions of the first and TCE is also known as Soldiers of Fortune on the Genesis and SNES here.
Hi there! Glad you got that CD32 sorted in the end. It’s a nice console with a lot of possibilities. You can add expansions to it, turning it into a computer, or watch video-CD on it with the FMV-module. ;)
Anyway, as a former owner of a CD32, I’d recommend you download some ISO’s and burn them to CD-s. There’s no copy protection on old CD32 games, so no need to spend tons of money on eBay for games you’ve never tried before. ISO’s can be found on many websites, use a search-engine. :) When you download, look for Defender of the Crown 2 (awesome strategy game), Simon the Sorcerer, Banshee (my favorite shoot’em up – supports two-player mode), Alien Breed Tower Assault, Super Stardust (very, very, very good), Pinball Fantasies (oh yes), Pirates! Gold.
So, get them free and if you like them, consider purchasing on eBay. :)
Hope this was of help!
Amiga rocks!
Nice! I’d have given up at the cable part already but I’m glad that you have the patience for that. Personally I don’t have a CD32 but try looking it up online for games before you buy it on eBay is my advice!
http://www.TheOldComputer.com You can probably find iso’s there for your system. Pretty neat and complete old gaming system site.
Thanks! I prefer looking for original games for all my systems, but it’s always good to see lists of what games were available for the systems :)
Have a look at http://unofficial-cd32-ports.blogspot.se/ for new ports, including giana sisters
Many games for the system are ported from Amiga, often added CD audio/speech and animated intros, some games have extra levels/world. It is quite similar to the Amiga 1200 computer (AGA chipset, 14 MHz 68020 processor, 2 MB Chip RAM). Own both systems, Amiga rules. :D
— “Exclusive” games —
Flink (The Misadventures Of) – Awesome platformer
Microcosm – Shooter
Litil Divil – Adventure / miscellaneous
The Big 6 (Dizzy compilation, 6 games) – Platformer
Pirates! Gold – Action adventure
Defender Of The Crown 2 – Strategy
Liberation: Captive II – Adventure / RPG 3D
Summer Olympix – Sports / Multi event
— Games worth checking out —
Disposable Hero – Shoot’em up / H-scrolling
The Chaos Engine – Shooter
Fire & Ice – Platformer
Cannon Fodder – Shooter
James Pond 2: Codename RoboCod – Platformer
Simon the Sorcerer – Adventure / Point and click
Banshee – Shoot’em Up / V-scrolling
Marvin’s Marvellous Adventure – Platformer
Super Stardust – Shooter
Pierre Le Chef Is … Out To Lunch – Platformer
Worms – Puzzler
Pinball Fantasies + Pinball Illusions – Pinball simulator
Alien Breed: Tower Assault – Shooter
Fightin’ Spirit – Beat’em up
Super Putty – Platformer / scrolling screen
D/Generation – Action adventure
Worms – Puzzler
Shadow Fighter – Beat’em up
Seek & Destroy – Shooter
Lotus Trilogy (Lotus 1, 2, 3) – Racing