The Addams Family has received a fan-made Amiga update restoring the backgrounds missing from Ocean’s 1992 release. DJ Mike’s Backgrounds Edition is available now, with version 1.0 offering disk and WHDLoad downloads for OCS and AGA machines.
Both hardware configurations gain the scenery, although they display it differently. On OCS Amigas, the backgrounds move at the same speed as the level. AGA machines, including the Amiga 1200 and Amiga 4000, display backgrounds scrolling at half speed, creating a parallax effect.
The project began after a discussion on English Amiga Board prompted DJ Mike to disassemble the original game. He found existing background-rendering code whose output the program subsequently ignored and overwrote. Restoring those graphics required changes to the code and memory management.
Ocean’s Amiga version originally presented much of its platforming action against black backgrounds. Other editions, including those for SNES, Atari ST and Mega Drive, displayed scenery behind the levels. The Backgrounds Edition revisits the Amiga conversion rather than rebuilding the game from scratch.
Most of the restored artwork comes from material left on the original disk. For the living-room portrait backgrounds, DJ Mike instead used the Mega Drive version’s graphics for their colours. He also reduced the colour count of a couple of backgrounds for the AGA implementation.
Different scrolling and a fix for Gomez
The original game’s 32-colour foreground restricts the options for independent background scrolling on OCS hardware. DJ Mike retained those foreground colours and made the restored scenery move with the level. On AGA, additional bitplanes provide room for a separately scrolling background.
The AGA code also uses FMODE 1, a 32-bit graphics-fetch mode. DJ Mike reports retaining 32 copies of the background in memory to support the scrolling while preserving the foreground. Fitting this arrangement within 2MB of Chip RAM required careful memory management.
Gomez presented another obstacle. The original game changes sprite priority to place him behind scenery in certain locations. With the backgrounds enabled, this approach would hide him behind the background layer too.
Original programmer James Higgins told Time Extension this display problem contributed to his decision to remove the backgrounds on the Amiga 500. DJ Mike’s solution applies a stippled pattern to Gomez when scenery obscures him, producing a partially transparent appearance without the problematic priority change.
The standalone disk version automatically detects OCS or AGA hardware and selects the corresponding background treatment. For WHDLoad, the background mode requires selection at startup, so DJ Mike supplies two archives with OCS and AGA presets.
DJ Mike is exploring further improvements, including performance work. Version 1.0 is available through the official Backgrounds Edition page on itch.io, which offers the downloads on a name-your-own-price basis.
