Brian the Lion

Brian the Lion is a platform game developed by Reflections and published by Psygnosis in 1994, initially for the Amiga CD32. It was also released for Amiga, including an AGA version.

Designed by Philip Baxter and produced by Martin Edmondson - creator of Shadow of the Beast and Driver - Brian the Lion is a cute platformer with all the bells and whistles you can expect from a title like this. Colorful, cartoon-style graphics, gorgeous backgrounds, and a character that runs, jumps, and fights enemies by jumping on them or by hitting them with the claw. Using the space bar, the game will pause, and you can activate Brian’s special powers: the “jinormous” jump, the “splendid” speed, and the “rajar” roar, a powerful roar that will stun or wipe out the enemies.

Brian the Lion is a game developed when the Amiga was already a mature platform, and the results are visible. The hardware capabilities of the machine are used at their best: perfect scrolling, detailed animations, and fantastic graphics. None of the 256 colors of the AGA chipset was wasted. But the ECS version is a beauty too. All of this shows how the Amiga was really the perfect machine for games like this. The difficulty is high, but nothing is impossible for lovers of this genre. I still consider Zool, and Superfrog better games, anyway Brian the Lion deserves to be in the top 10 of the best Amiga platformers.