Black Tiger

Ohhh, yes!!!

Black Tiger is one of those games that I have loved since day one and today I got to play it once again after what feels like a lifetime ago! It's a good arcade conversion but sadly, 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!

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.

However, I must say that the joystick controls are what impress me the most which is no easy task for the Atari one-button design. It is very responsive so therefore 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 sprites are ace - I love those wonky old skeletons the most. Overall, the design is something I adore because it works perfectly, so 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 Old Games Finder 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 always loved The Lost Boys, they started as England's answer to the Carebears! Their demos are outstanding and I still remember my jaw dropping to the floor when I saw Ooh Crikey Wot a Scorcher - a masterpiece!!

And that "main menu" system used to access each demo screen? Impressive, to say the least? Hmm, but what would happen if it was 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 absolutely insane. Like an early Cybermorph... sigh... what might have been?

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

H-Mec II

H Mec II carries on from where the first game nicely Jon and Sally Garry and appears to be 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. 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 that this is one of the better PacMan games out there but it's not. Sure, H-Mec 2 looks like PacMan and there are pills to nosh, but it actually plays differently when being chased around a maze by angry monsters. It's more like Lode Runner and pretty darn addictive too. You will love every second of this - it's a cracker!!

So waste no more idle time and get this downloaded from Atari Mania right now!

War Zone

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

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

Starball

It's all flippers and balls!

I've always liked playing Pinball in the arcades but I doubt you'd ever call me a serious addict of the genre. The ST seemed to receive a number of Pinball games back in the day with some possibly better than the real deal? Hmm, maybe not. But perhaps I'm tight with my money? Or I just love to see how much the Atari ST/e could impress me! ;)

Starball is different from the other 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 to say the least.

This is a great game and I love Starball, it's not got the polish of a certain commercial offering, which is understandable. But it's still got its own style and oozes its own brand of character with such different tables. The graphics and sounds are gorgeous and everything scrolls down your SC1224 fast. Okay, I'm a little unsure about the physics behind all the 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. Too think £5 was the asking price back then - shockingly good value. What a superb "PD" game and possibly one of the best within the Atari ST's library.

   
I love the dark tones and each table is different from what I expected with many cool fx.

   
Check out these awesome graphics and whoever expected to see those guys in pinball?!!

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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...

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