Pegasus

Swords, guns and flying a horse

Satan has been a bad boy and turned the world on its head so it's our job to reverse his dastardly deeds before it's too late. Developed by Optimus Software for Gremlin, we are Percius and fly on the mythical horse, Pegasus. Our adventure is split into two parts: Firstly, a shoot 'em up which has us riding Pegasus and it flips into a platformer where Percius is free to unleash his wrath using a large sword (it flips between these two throughout).

The shoot 'em up parts are quite good - just imagine something like R-Type, but on horseback, and you have the idea. The baddies appear in the expected patterns so bang on that fire button and collect the crystals that they leave behind. These enhance weaponry and there are lots of power-ups that help brighten up this dull affair...

The platform parts are much better - run, jump and leap your way through, collecting crystals and killing baddies... Yup, hardly riveting stuff but I liked it the most. In fact, the mechanics are superb, so controlling little Percius is a cinch. I wish more platformers had great controls and fluent movement like this. This game had the potential to be great!

The graphics are bland and I fear a lame port because as each game is sparsely populated so feels a little too empty. Plus that blue background could have been better. However, the scrolling is nice and smooth so at least that's something? The audio is feeble and it's only the firing that stops this game from being as silent as a ZX81!! Yawn...

Okay, let's not kid ourselves, this is lame Amiga port and a terrible one at that. It could have/should have been better so it's embarrassing to think Gremlin released this. However, I gotta admit that the platform stages are enjoyable with much potential. Overall, there are far better (shoot 'em ups and platformers) to play on your Atari ST.

The platform part is actually not bad and could have been made into something really good...

Collect those power-ups otherwise it's Zzzzzz!! Play R-Type instead.

Download and play Pegasus using a hard drive thanks to both D-Bug and 8BitChip. But those wanting the floppies can find 'em on Old Games Finder.

If the game is too hard (or boring) then here are some nifty cheats: press P on the title screen and type in this code: FRUITBAT

Now use the arrow keys to select your starting level.

F1 for extra lives.

F2 to select a power-up.

F3 for an extra special weapon shot.

F5 advance a level.

F7 for a nifty shield. 

 To view the greetings, enter this code as a password on the title screen: CATFOOD.