While Sega never supported the Commodore Amiga with any games, they did later support Windows 95/98 PC’s, which did not stop Warp Software’s Keith Bugeja from taking on Sega’s mascot with a clone of his own.  Blaze is basically Sonic the Hedgehog for the Commodore line of computers, of course it is a clone and a lot has been changed to avoid copyright problems, even though Blaze was only just finished and released.  Oh, did I mention this is not your normal homebrew?  Blaze was originally started in 1994, this gives the game a longer development cycle than that of Duke Nukem Forever.

Colorful levels, enemies that pop out of nowhere due to your speed and items to collect.  Yep, this screams Sonic the Hedgehog.  There is even a crab like creature that stands in your way at the most inopportune moments.  There are sassy animations for boredom, almost falling off a cliff, etc.  Did I mention that the iconic Sonic the Hedgehog loop de loops are here too?  There are other similarities to look forward to.  Power ups and jewels are contained in computers (similar to Sonic’s monitors) or out in the open and there are many similar enemies between the two games.  It is quite clear that Blaze was pulling inspiration from the Sega Genesis title.

Some things that Blaze does better than Sega’s mascot include mirrored reflections in the first level.  There are only two levels available so don’t get your hopes up for a full-fledged game, at best Keith Bugeja has completed the demo- maybe someday we will see a full release of Blaze on the Commodore Amiga.

More on Blaze is available at Keith’s Corner and on the Hall of Light website.  There is even a download available for those of you wanting to give Blaze a run through for yourself.  How many other lost to time titles like this exist out there on a developer’s old computer, or disks, or in their collections?

Thanks, Retrocollect.

Carl Williams

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