Modern — The Bitmap Brothers

Context

The Legacy Question

When the Bitmap Brothers closed in 1999, their intellectual property entered a complicated state of semi-limbo. The studio had closed; the games existed in preservation archives but were not legally available through commercial channels. Ports of the original Amiga titles had scattered across platforms, but no new investment in the back catalogue appeared for over a decade.

The commercial re-releases that eventually appeared demonstrate both the durability of the Bitmap Brothers' work and the challenges of remastering 1990s Amiga games for modern audiences. This page covers what has been released, who made it, and how it fares.

2013

The Chaos Engine Remastered

Steam · 2013 · Abstraction Games

The first commercial re-release of a Bitmap Brothers title since the studio's closure. Abstraction Games — a Dutch studio specialising in ports and remasters — brought The Chaos Engine to Steam in 2013 with updated graphics, improved controls for modern hardware, and online co-operative multiplayer.

The remaster includes both the original version (for purists) and the remastered version with enhanced visuals. Richard Joseph's original soundtrack is preserved. Online co-op addressed what was always the game's greatest structural limitation: playing the co-operative campaign had previously required two people in the same room.

The re-release was received positively by the retrogaming community and introduced the game to a generation of players who had not experienced Amiga gaming.

The Chaos Engine on Steam →

Read the Chaos Engine flagship write-up →

2018

Gods Remastered

Steam · 2018 · Bitmap Bureau

Bitmap Bureau — a British studio whose name is an explicit homage to the Bitmap Brothers — released Gods Remastered on Steam in 2018. The remaster provides updated graphics that scale well to modern display resolutions, a remastered soundtrack, and compatibility with modern hardware and operating systems.

The gameplay is preserved faithfully — the shop system, the upgrade mechanics, the enemy placement and level structure are all unchanged. Bitmap Bureau took a conservative approach to the remaster, prioritising fidelity to the original design over modernisation. This was the right call: Gods' mechanics are strong enough to stand on their own without reinvention.

The remaster also includes the original version, making Gods Remastered the definitive way to experience the game on modern hardware.

Gods Remastered on Steam →

Read the Gods flagship write-up →

2007

Speedball 2: Tournament

PC · 2007 · Empire Interactive

A 2007 attempt to revive the Speedball franchise for the PC. Published by Empire Interactive and developed by an internal team, Speedball 2: Tournament attempted to bring the game's brutal arena sports to 3D while preserving the core mechanical identity.

The reception was mixed. While the game captured some of the original's energy, the transition to 3D removed some of the precise visual clarity that made the original Amiga game so compelling. The franchise has not been revisited since.

Read the Speedball 2 flagship write-up →

Still Waiting

What's Missing

The majority of the Bitmap Brothers catalogue has not received modern commercial re-releases. Xenon 2: Megablast, Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe (the original), Magic Pockets, Cadaver, and Z are not available through commercial digital storefronts as of 2025.

The rights situation for the original catalogue is unclear. The IP appears to have changed hands since the studio's closure. The Bomb the Bass music license that made Xenon 2 so culturally significant also complicates any re-release of that title specifically — music licensing in games is notoriously difficult to renegotiate decades later.

For the titles not available commercially, the Play page covers emulation options that allow access to the original Amiga versions.