Jimmy White’s Whirlwind Snooker Amiga

Description

Jimmy White’s Whirlwind Snooker Amiga

Jimmy White’s Whirlwind Snooker is a video game by Archer MacLean, released by Virgin Games in 1991 for the Commodore Amiga, Atari ST and PC (later for the Sega Mega Drive). A port for the Atari Lynx was planned but never released. ‘Whirlwind’ Snooker is a realistic snooker simulator.

Although the game was not the first to simulate snooker (or pool) in 3D, it made full use of the processing power and graphics capabilities of 16-bit home computers and was praised for its then ground-breaking realism and easy-to-use interface. ACE said that the game was the closest thing to being on a real snooker table which existed at the time, and it could be used by a player to refine real-life snooker skills.

Jimmy White’s Whirlwind Snooker Amiga

Despite being an accurate and serious simulation of the sport, MacLean’s irreverent sense of humour was prominent throughout. The sound effect used for a successful pot was a resounding “pop” (regardless of the speed at which the ball reached the pocket) and numerous animations provided comic relief should a player take more than a few seconds to shoot. Balls would sprout eyeballs and arms, making faces at the player or holding up signs that read “Get on with it!” and such.

Also present is an extensive trick shot editor, featuring a number of pre-set table arrangements with instructions on how they should be played. An Easter egg enabled the option to watch the computer player complete a maximum break. The game’s title music was similar to (and probably intended to pay homage to) that of snooker TV programme Pot Black.

Jimmy White’s Whirlwind Snooker Amiga

The game uses a copy protection mechanism in which the user is prompted to enter a word from the manual corresponding to a certain page, paragraph and word number. Getting this word wrong three times caused the word FAIL to appear over the screen many times (after which, in the MS-DOS version, the computer was rebooted).

Another great Amiga game – PGA European Tour (Amiga)