1995 Mindscape
Platforms: PC DOS and Amiga CD32
Amiga fans may recall a late release in the Amiga calendar in the shape of Tiny Troops back in 1997 from Vulcan Software and then later Amiga Future in 1999. A real-time strategy game with elements of Cannon Fodder at times, and where you could have up to 2 players in a split-screen mode.
In the game, you would control foot soldier, grenadiers, armoured tanks, dune buggies, paragliders and more bug types across 5 worlds and 65 levels in strategic warfare to defeat the enemy, avoiding land mines and dodging enemy guns along the way.
The game got mostly average scores, but a decent 88% from Amiga Format. However, the game was actually intended for release much earlier by Mindscape in 1995, and not only for Amiga – but also PC DOS and Amiga CD32 platforms. Around the same time, Mindscape were to release Alien Olympics, but pulled out from releasing both Alien Olympics and Tiny Troops due to financial struggles at the time and other issues going on behind the scenes.
Although the Amiga version was eventually picked up and finished in 1997, the DOS version was never fully finished and didn’t get the same publication outcome. Thankfully, Games That Weren’t has managed to recover a staggering 33 builds of the PC DOS version dated from 20th September 1993 to sometime in late 1994/early 1995. At the start, the game was known as Bugs, before the name change to Tiny Troops. This also include assets, and a very cool diary of the development which may have been written by Alastair Dukes, and gives a fascinating insight into how the game evolved.
So, after being missing for just over 30 years – you can now check out Tiny Troops on the PC for yourself – though it is a little way off completion at this stage, and seems to be lacking sound (we’re not sure how many levels it contains). We’re not 100% certain if there is a later build, but we believe that the main preview download is pretty much the final version at the point of cancellation, which is dated 13th June 1995. At some point in the future, we may find further builds and will add to this page over time if they appear.
Sadly there was no evidence at this stage of a CD32 version being worked on, though that doesn’t mean that something wasn’t started – there just wasn’t anything within the archives we processed sadly. Again. If anything does turn up – we’ll be sure to add it to this page.
For now, check out the game for yourself and see another piece of PC gaming history preserved.
With thanks to Mark Greenshields for allowing us to release and preserve.
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