_{Cover of the April 1986 issue of Amstrad User}

The Amstrad CPC line of computers were not ones I had ever even heard of back when they were current in the mid 1980s to early 1990s. They were popular in the U.K. but virtually unknown in the U.S. and never commercially available here as far as I know. Amstrad Computer User was one of the magazines that covered these machines in the U.K. The April 1986 issue includes:

Regulars

• News - Profits up for Amstrad; new game, Meltdown, for the CPC 6128; a new port of Empire from Firebird for the CPC; rumors of a PCW 8512 model of the CPC; new ports of Activision games Rescue on Fractalus and Eidolon for the CPC; and more.


• Letters - Letters from readers about the availability of the magazine in Australia, DR Draw on the PCW 8256, the music in The Neverending Story, and more.


• Gallup Chart - A list of the top 20 games on the CPS. At the top of the list is They Sold a Million. Coming in second is Yie Ar Kung Fu (one of my favorites on the Commodore 64).


• Least Significant Bit - Commentary on disc based games, Amstrad profits, and more.

Features

• Animator - A type-in program for creating animation.


• Goin' Loco - A guide to using string variables in BASIC.


• Adventure Column - A look at Lord of the Rings on the Amstrad CPC.


• Windows - The last article in a series on creating pull-down menus on the Amstrad.


• 6-8-4-5 Who do we appreciate? - A guide to manipulating graphics on the CPC.


• Screen Flipping - A demonstration of creating animation on the CPC 664 and 6128 via 'screen flipping'.


• Awards - The results of the first Amstrad User Rewards where users pick winners in a variety of categories.

_{Table of Contents from the April 1986 issue of Amstrad User}

Reviews

• Epson FX85 - A review of the latest dot matrix printer from Epson.


• In the Pictures - An overview of the latest drawing programs available on the Amstrad including Rembrandt, Grafpad 2 Art, and AMX Art.


• Romboard Rivals - Reviews of the Honeysoft Rom Board and the Britannia ROM Board. These were devices in which you could plug ROM chips into with programs. This was sort of an alternate approach to cartridges except that ROMs would generally be left in and the programs on them could be selected any time.


• Game Reviews - Reviews of the latest games available for the Amstrad CPC incluing Tau Ceti (Game of the Month), Skyfox (I played the Commodore 64 version of this one some), Three Weeks in Paradise, Sweevos World, Sir Fred, Spindizzy, Zorro, Le 5eme Axe, TLL, Theatre Europe, and Cluedo.

Amstrad Business Computing

• Editorial - Reflecting on the first year of te PCW 8256, the latest iteration of the Amstrad CPC.


• Living with Joyce</b - Hands on with LocoScript, the word processor included with the PCw 8256.


• Who are you? - The results of a user survey in a previous issue.


• Getting inside your PCW 8256 - A guide to creating a custom character set on the PCW 8256.

_{Back cover of the April 1986 issue of Amstrad User}

...and more!

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