Black Tiger

Ohhh, yes!!!

Black Tiger is one of those games I have loved since day one, and today I got to play it again after what feels like a lifetime! It's a good arcade conversion of the famous arcade game we love. Disclaimer time: my old joystick doesn't work well moving diagonally, so you will see lots of silly mistakes in my video recording. Honestly, it's the joystick!

We step into the sandals of a muscle-bound barbarian hero who’s had enough of monsters wrecking his homeland. Three nasty dragons have plunged the kingdom into chaos, unleashing wave after wave of grotesque beasties. It’s down to us to hack, slash, and leap our way through the ruins to put things right. Along the way, we will free imprisoned wise men for handy rewards, scoop up piles of gold, and grab weaponry. So do you fancy saving the world?

This game is classic arcade fun - pick up that joystick and instantly you're having tons of fun leaping over the landscapes and pummelling monsters into oblivion. Each level not only looks superb but is really interesting to explore: I love the mechanics of clinging onto ledges to fire or leaping towards higher places in a dingy, creepy world. What a great adventure - arcade-style - and this is proving to be every bit as good as I remember.

It's the joystick controls that impress me the most, which is no easy task for the Atari one-button design, with regard to many arcade conversions. It is very responsive, so it keeps the action going as fast as it should. The range of monsters is brilliant, and what's better than powering up with ridiculous weapons to crush your enemy?

Graphically, this is a stunner, and considering no STe hardware scrolling is (sigh) utilised, the old STf keeps up with the pace just fine. Sure, it's not as zippy as the arcade, but it works, so I'm impressed with how good it moves considering what's going on. The creepy backgrounds and sprites are ace - I love those wonky old skeletons the most. Overall, the design is something I adore because it works perfectly, so it feels like a belting arcade experience.

Yep, this is pretty faithful to the original, and I feel US Gold did us proud, especially considering they ignored the STe hardware... sigh... That would have been a huge deal with a little help from the Blitter. Still, as is, Black Tiger is fantastic and one of my favourite arcade conversions. This means it scores top marks from me!!

Grab the floppies via Atari Legend or HDD by Klaz!

Leap your way through the labyrinth, killing anything and everything that moves. Perfect!!

Clinging onto anything sturdy helps you get to those areas other beers cannot reach!.

Oh no, skeleton monsters!!! They look awesome, but it's best to KILL THEM!!

Hang on, there's a little old man here. Let's kill him... wait... no, maybe not?

Killing Spree

TLB made a game!

I loved The Lost Boys; they started as England's answer to the Carebears! Their demos are outstanding, and I remember my jaw dropping to the floor when I saw Ooh Crikey Wot a Scorcher - a masterpiece!!

And that "main menu" used to access each demo screen? Impressive, to say the least? Hmm, but what would happen if it were adapted into a game? Would it be good enough? Why not take a look for yourself at Killing Spree, because I think its potential is insane. Like an early Cybermorph... what might have been?

Demozoo features a massive page dedicated to The Lost Boys and their fantastic ST catalogue.

H-Mec II

Pac-Man is back!

H Mec II is a version of Pac-Man for the Atari STe. However, it's very different thanks to the monster AI, which makes this more of a game of chase. Like a mix of Lode Runner and Pac-Man. The graphics are excellent and make use of the hardware scrolling, Blitter, and all those extra colours. Music is by a whole host of famous people like Tao, Big Alec, Count Zero, and more. Timeless and utterly stunning tunes.

I could say this is one of the better Pac-Man games out there, but it's not. Sure, H-Mec 2 looks like PacMan and there are pills to nosh, but it plays differently when being chased around a maze by angry monsters. It really is more like Lode Runner and darn addictive. You will love every second - it's a Christmas Cracker!!

So waste no more idle time and get it downloaded from Atari Legend.

War Zone

Corr, another shooter!

War Zone is Core's attempt to take on the Commando genre by releasing a frantic shooter Rambo would be proud of. Sadly, it doesn't work because of its extreme difficulty - it's too darn easy to die thanks to poor mechanics. This is one of those moments when something looks and sounds better than it actually is.

What we have is nothing more than an average shooter, which is disappointing because it looked great from the screenshots I saw. The problem is the horrendous difficulty, and I'm sure nobody tested before releasing it - what a shame. I'd stick with the likes of Fernandez Must Die, Ikari Warriors, and Commando.

Downloads are available on Atari Legend.

Starball

Flippers and balls

I always liked playing Pinball in the arcades, but I doubt you'd ever call me a serious addict. Fun, but nothing more than that for a game or two. Not a great start, uh? Well, the ST seemed to have received several Pinball games back in the day, and it's only now that I realise I've played so few of them!

Starball is different from the competition because it was made by a couple of Lancashire lads who probably had desires to become bedroom millionaires. Now, I doubt that ever happened, as many ST gamers had given up following the Atari ST scene by 1994. This is a shame because this game is blummin brilliant.

Starball doesn't have the polish of a certain commercial offering, which is understandable. It has its own style and oozes its own brand of character with such distinct tables. The graphics and sounds are gorgeous, and everything scrolls down your SC1224 fast. I'm often unsure about the physics behind all that glam, because sometimes things don't seem to go as expected. But it's shareware, so I must give it a break.

If you love Pinball, this is worth downloading, and I'm sure you'll love it to bits. To think £5 was the asking price - shockingly good value. What a superb game and possibly one of the best within the ST's library.

   
I love the dark tones, and each table is different with many cool fx.

   
Awesome graphics!! And who expected to see Invaders in pinball?!!

--- DOWNLOAD ---

AtariCrypt website

Hello to each and every Atari ST gamer! I've decided to start a website to help promote the fun I'm having making videos of games, demos, musicdisks and other crazy stuff - like Utopos!! This is fun reliving the 80s/90s so I decided to start a blog - because it's free. Yeah, I'm a cheapskate but, let's see what happens with AtariCrypt...

My YouTube channel  |  The Playlists