Developed by Time Warp Productions and published by Rainbow Arts in 1988, the Amiga version of The Great Giana Sisters is maybe the best-looking and most playable version of this infamous and arguably overrated platform game, but it isn’t anything special.

The Commodore 64 version is the original and the Amiga conversion was released shortly afterwards, and it is a reasonable upgrade with crisp graphics and distinctive music. Actually, the music I always thought sound a bit off-key and flat, but it is immediately recognisable.

Gameplay-wise, The Great Giana Sisters on the Amiga is not bad. Movement is ‘laggy’ and inertial, which can make survival difficult and frustrating.

The game is obviously an attempt to recreate the thrills of Nintendo‘s 1983 smash hit Super Mario Bros., but it only partially succeeds.

It’s not a bad game on the Amiga, but certainly not the “classic” that some people seem to think it is. The Great Giana Sisters is an interesting (failed) experiment by a bunch of talented German developers who went on to much better things (like the Turrican series, for example).

More: The Great Giana Sisters on Wikipedia