Raiden

Grab your joystick!

It's been almost a year since I first mentioned news of Raiden's development for the Atari STe by none other than our favourite Frogger dude, Scott Clifford. Sadly, his commitments forced the project to be temporarily put on hold. Thankfully, he has restarted and is making good progress (I'm keeping my fingers crossed).

The initial work behind the scrolling, backgrounds, and sprites is coming together. Also, the enemy sprite routines and placements are now being coded. Quite incredible for a one-man effort and it's a very exciting project to see in progress. I wish Scott well and eagerly await the next update (hurry up mate - I can't wait).

Watch this space, and the plan is rolling around inside Scott's head...

- Hardware scrolling is used for the entire screen - no status panel.
- DMA hardware for the playback of authentic arcade music.
- The Blitter will be utilised for the larger sprites.
- YM chip will be used for the sound effects.
- Support for the JagPad controller can be implemented.
- Please note that my video was recorded using emulation (better on my Atari STe)

Operation Garfield

Wolves eat cats

I've been browsing through the Floppyshop archives and stumbled upon a game called Operating Garfield by Dave Brankin. It’s inspired by Operation Wolf, but what caught my eye is that it’s made for the Atari STe. The Blitter handles the 8-way scrolling and sprites, while the audio makes use of the DMA stereo.

So, how’s it different from Operation Wolf? Well, it’s not - it’s a blatant ripoff and another mouse-controlled crosshair shooter. The story, though, is nuts! This time, aliens invade Earth, but they’ve decided to disguise themselves as Garfield - that lazy orange cat from TV. Safe to say, they’ve severely misjudged us!

The action plays out over a scrolling city skyline, with massive Garfield heads firing rockets from the rooftops. Using the mouse, you shoot down both rockets and heads. It’s that simple. While you're frantically blasting away in this pseudo-3D missile command, keep an eye out for smart bombs and ammo caches. There’s also a Defender-style radar at the top-left, but honestly, I found that too small, so almost useless.

Unfortunately, the difficulty is off the scale, so I rarely got to see the later levels. The scrolling could’ve been smoother, especially given the STe hardware. It’s better on a real machine, but nowhere near Asteroidia levels. Worst of all are the T2-style samples - good, but they’ll grate quickly. Gimme chip fx any day!

Operation Garfield isn’t meant to be taken seriously - it offers a few minutes of stress-busting fun. Think of it as a cheap Op. Wolf ripoff with lots of pointless yet satisfying Garfield-killing. Not great, but worth a play.

- DOWNLOAD -

GEM Desktop

Before wallpapers were a thing

DeskFX is a GEM utility I thought was pretty cool and entertaining, if annoyingly flawed. It replaces three parts of our beautiful GEM desktop - the default font, a choice of wallpaper, and an animated mouse pointer. As you can see, above, the wallpaper feature only updates every 2/3 seconds, which is lame compared to DeskPic. However, the new fonts are superb and (like a big kid) I loved playing with various animated pointers!

It appears the author had an STFM, and DeskFX worked fine on my computer in both resolutions. Sadly, I couldn't get it to work on my Atari STe in LOW resolution - only in medium res. Not in the sense of available colours but in terms of functionality, who uses low to work? Who still works on their ST? ;-)

I thought this was a nice utility to share; grab the download on disk UTL-4410 over at Floppyshop.

Grap

Atarimania's Marko Latvanen sent me a game developed by Tangram programmer, Mark Luthe, for the German magazine ST Magazin. Grap first appears as a Tempest clone but is actually a puzzler which I'm sure will appeal to the brainiacs? It was originally sold through the publication as a "budget" mail-order back in 1990 but hasn't been available since. I am very excited by this rare and fascinating find and I hope you enjoy playing it :-)

The only place you shall find Grap is on the excellent AtariMania website.

Computer Magazine Archive has more on ST Magazin (you'll need Google Translate)

Thinkers might wanna check out our "Puzzle" section right here on AtariCrypt :)

Falcon

Game changer

It's satisfying to finally complete a favourite collection of something we love. I have just managed to complete the Falcon trio. Sure, there is a compilation release that bundles the lot together, but I've never been impressed with many like that. I want the original, individual, games. Now I finally have 'em all! :)

I still remember when I first saw this game. A game-changing moment in my history that my old ZX Spectrum heart couldn't believe. The visuals, the audio, and the feeling of flight. Wow, Falcon is a brilliant flight sim with awesome graphics and many interesting locations to fail its many missions! So here is my special 3x cover feature for our Box Art section. Why not take your own F-16 for a spin today?

AtariMania features every Falcon release within their ST database...

     ~ Falcon
     ~ Mission Disk 1 Operation: Counterstrike
     ~ Mission Disk 2 Operation: Firefight
 - 8BitChip has done it again and adapted a Falcon bundle for hard drive installation.
 - Old Game Finder has the floppies for those poor souls without the original disks or a hard drive! :p

Harris Went Skiing

Horace?

Let's rewind the clock to 1982 for a skiing adventure with an 8-bit hero, Horace. Developed in STOS by a couple of brothers calling themselves OllySoft, and released a decade after the ZX Spectrum original. However, for his Atari ST appearance, he didn't want to upset Psion and changed his name to Harris to avoid confusion!

Anyone old enough to remember the original will feel at home with Harris, who is once again looking to enjoy a skiing trip. However, it didn't start off well... Harris finds himself in a pickle as he didn't bring along any skis, so he must hire replacements from the resort - who built their shop on the wrong side of a busy highway.

The Frogger part is way too easy in comparison to what I remember! Simply waiting for a large gap in the traffic allows Harris to run all the way across the road! The skiing part is great, with many obstacles to avoid. Once the skiing is finished, somebody robs your skis, so you head back to the hire shop to repeat everything.

OllySoft has done a great job with Harris Went Skiing, and "Horace" brought back lots of warm and fuzzy feelings of nostalgia. The Atari ST game is simple and very silly, so is highly recommended if you're bored.

Grab the download of Atari Legend and play like it's 1982!! But hold on, cowboy. There are more OllySoft games, but looking at these makes me think that the boys had serious issues! Or a belting sense of humour?

I'll go with the latter, so let's take a quick look at each one...

Who Maimed Roger Rabbit

Imagine Operation Wolf but set in President Trump's backyard which is overrun by rabbits! Aka lefties. Grab a gun and let's fix this problem once and for all. Gameplay is as you might imagine; successful hit turns the rabbits into a bloody mess of gore. I'm sure animal lovers will appreciate this game! Overall, it's a humble take on the famous title but quite enjoyable, if repetitive.

SubHunt

A pointless two-player game without much enjoyment. Playing solo is even worse and I didn't like this game whatsoever. However, it does feature a fantastic hidden easter egg and that's worth the download!!

 

Ayatollah Invaders

An endless supply of ayatollah chaps running down your screen - straight into the path of your tank. It's actually mind-numbingly repetitive but, I gotta admit, darn good fun. Very enjoyable for a couple of games but boring afterwards. It's worth booting up once just to witness the superb somersault deaths.

Motorway Death

Perhaps we can lower the bar even further? Hmm, how about a game of hit and run? Yep, you heard me right!! And, on this road, people appear glued down so drive into them and watch their bodies turn into blood splatters. It's a sick Carmegeddon and so funny... well... for a few minutes!

Head Over Heels

Heading back to my Your Sinclair days

I stumbled upon Head Over Heels by pure chance today. It's been donkeys years since I played this on my old ZX Spectrum, and seeing it again is a heartwarming reminder of my 8-bit days. Ocean released this tough isometric adventure in 1989 for the ST, but I don't recall ever booting it up. Perhaps an 8-bit game wasn't appealing to me back then?

Head Over Heels is more complex than it first appears - solve puzzles using two characters who have their own skill sets. It's superb to see this game again, and anyone who loved the "filmation" genre will surely be in heaven. The graphics are Spec-tacular with superb details and more colour than my old rubber Speccy could ever have dreamt of.

Head Over Heels is a huge and intriguing adventure offering many sleepless nights! Highly recommended.

AtariMania features this in their ST database including an interesting tidbit! Download Head Over Heels from 8BitChip as this supports a trainer and hard drive installation. Also, here is an interesting website for the ZX Spectrum version with maps, videos, and more which prove helpful.

Nebulus

Pogo the frog?

Nebulus was released in 1988 by one of my favourite companies, Hewson. It features an armed frog with big eyes called Pogo. He isn't happy with the thought of eight large sea-based towers, so decides to climb them and blow 'em up! Essentially, this is a platformer with some interesting pseudo-3D mechanics that provide a unique visual style within an ingenious design. This is class programming as you will soon discover...

All towers are cylindrical with platforms dotted around the outside. Nifty tunnels offer a way to quickly access the opposite side - if the current route appears to be a dead end. The world certainly revolves around Pogo because he remains at the centre of the screen with horizontal movements, causing the world to scroll in a "three-dimensional" circular motion. Thus, turning the tower around into view. It's quite brilliant.

Sounds rather insane, but let's ignore that initial opinion to check out this colourful screenshot...

Talk about going the extra mile and NOT sticking to 16 colours! Absolutely superb.

Frogs love water, right?

Getting through any of the towers will never be easy, thanks to a barrage of unusual nasties to either shoot or avoid. Access to the top will involve careful strategy because your route is broken, thus forcing you to use opposite sides of the tower depending on where you are. Always consider the option of using these tunnels to quickly nip through - they might come in handy to avoid those flying obstacles!!

Nebulus may sound easy, but it's actually very challenging, and a brisk time limit allows little room for error. Bumping into an enemy will drop you down to the previous ledge. That's rather good, as it doesn't necessarily mean a frustrating loss of life, nor will it impede your momentum to try that part of the tower again. However, if there isn't a ledge to land on, you might fall even further, thus requiring hefty backtracking.

Of course, falling further still (and into the water) is strangely fatal for this froggy. Yup, that means we lose a life! Also interesting is a bonus game featured between the levels - this has Pogo travelling to his next tower via a nice horizontal scrolling level. It's a shooter with lots of Psygnosis-busting smooth parallax scrolling! It should have been longer because I really enjoyed it a bunch (best viewed on a real ST).

Right then, you guessed it! Yep, it's time for another cool screenshot...

Another day and another tower to climb. Ahh, this one looks too easy, right?

16-Bit Sex Appeal!!

The visuals are utterly tremendous. Nebulus is programmed by legend, John M Phillips, who treats us to a lovely display of artwork and ultra-smooth framerates. Not only that, but he added a ton of extra shades of colour for the backgrounds. The end result is an astounding display that puts many other games to shame. It's incredible what the Atari ST cranks out when programmed by somebody with talent and commitment.

The audio is equally impressive, with zesty and sharp effects, totally suiting the gameplay. Also, a beautifully unique chiptune that I could leave running all day, it's captivating and totally enchanting.

This is how all 16-bit games should look and sound...

Okay, ignore my jerky capture because this part scrolls so smoothly. And it's great fun!!

The CryptO'pinion?

Nebulus can feel daunting thanks to its learning curve, but with lots of practice, I guarantee hours of addictive gaming because Nebulus is a real firecracker. I love how it integrates both arcade action and strategic thinking using a fascinating visual style. In many respects, this game was ahead of its time.

I rate Nebulus an Atari ST classic, not only because of how it looks and sounds, but also for its addictive gameplay. Enjoy this piece of JMP magic, which is nothing less than an icon of the 16-bit era.

Floppy disks are available on Atari Legend

D-Bug and 8BitChip have a hard drive version!

Donkey Island

Monkey Island?

All the way back in 1997, Ed Cleveland (aka Eddie Cat) spent many moons working on this comedy adventure. However, the late '90s were bitterly cold days with most of us having sold up and moved to the world of Mac/PC. It appears he got little feedback and thus decided to call it a day. I'm gutted!!

Well, that's my take on what I read. It's a shame because his talent and dedication were on the way to creating something rather special. Yep, it's disappointing but at least he released this final/beta version. This was very kind and still worth downloading and playing. Read on...

Donkey Island is a graphical adventure, different from what I expected. Think of something vaguely similar in style to Lure Of The Temptress or a Sierra On-Line game, but with a comical twist. We are Fred, a geek who loves playing games on his Atari ST. He's a smashing lad, and life is obviously TOS-taSTic!

His enthusiasm changed when he discovered Donkey Island, a game he’d been eagerly anticipating, had been cancelled. Devastated by the news, Fred powered down his little green desktop computer and set off exploring his hometown to uncover the reason behind its cancellation. (not an unknown feeling in the 90s!)

That's depressing, isn't it? Well, let's check out a screenshot to cheer us all up...

The cartoon design works really well, and some drawings are superb!

He looks familiar O_o

Fred is controlled using the cursor keys, which is simple and effective. The keypad is used to interact with your surroundings and characters, who are entertaining and interesting, to say the least. Sigh, it’s even sadder now that Donkey Island wasn’t finished. The style and humour put into it are truly beautiful. Although incomplete, there is a large town to explore with some cute surprises to discover.

In its current form, this is a broken adventure game, but one we can still fully play. Getting around Fred's town is a cinch, and we have all the abilities to investigate this horrifying gaming incident. Roam, explore, and never forget to chat with the locals. They're nothing like you expect and their humour is often superb!

Although unfinished, a full exploration of the town is possible. Some rooms are complete while others aren’t, but they’re still worth exploring. That includes the game's many characters, which are available for conversation. I’m glad this “beta” was released, but the potential for what could have been is quite staggering.

Here is one of the unfinished locations...

Sadly, some areas of the game will never be finished, but at least they're left in for us to play.

Aesthetics

Each location is depicted in a cartoon style similar to a comic book. Fred walks through in a rather crude but functional fashion. The artwork isn't exactly brilliant, but the amateurish quality works wonders. I love the way we communicate with others and our surroundings, which is quite unique in style.

The sound effects are good, but what I love is the technique used for speech - it reminds me of Charlie Brown's teacher. Come on, tell me you can't hear that, too? Well, I think it's superb :)

So here is another screenshot, and my daughter says he looks like me...

Exploration is always the key to success, and there are lots of (hidden) locations.

The CryptO'pinion?

Donkey Island had incredible potential and would have been a fascinating adventure. It still is, of course, albeit unfinished. I've enjoyed playing what is potentially a killer product that offers a different approach to doing things. All whilst being thoroughly entertaining with a wonderful sense of humour, strange locations and the silliest characters. Trust me, this is a hidden gem and something truly brilliant.

I wholeheartedly recommend you play this outstanding adventure game!!

THE DOWNLOAD

Motor Massacre

Mad Max with choppy graphics?

Motor Massacre was released by Gremlin Graphics and feels like a wicked blend of a number of my favourite games. The action takes place in a grim post-apocalyptic future where each city is ravaged by war and resembles a Mad Max movie! All food stores were destroyed in the holocaust, so people were starving until Doctor A. Noid came up with a substitute called "SLU" to help the waning population. This all sounds great, right?

Why are these masterminds almost always doctors? Anyhow, it was all a trick because SLU tastes like poo and turns people into zombies! So it's up to you to rescue the city from its psychotic drivers, explore buildings, and then battle in a demolition derby event to ultimately find the doctor and end this misery.

See, it's basically Mad Max in game form! So let's see the first screenshot...

Pandy's Pork Palace sounds a lot better than it actually is!

It's Carmageddon!

This is more than one game: the cities are explored from the comfort of an ATV, top/down, similar to Chicago 90. Unlike that, we can get out of the car and go inside buildings, and this changes the game to something like Time Bandit or Gauntlet. This combination really works well and enhances the overall feel of the game.

So, driving around the city is tremendous fun because you are completely free to roam the streets. That means blasting at anyone who might get in your way. All other drivers are out for blood and want you dead by any means. Their road rage antics are vicious, so defend yourself using the cannon fitted to your car! Whilst blasting the suckers into oblivion, watch out for hazards such as oil spills and explosives carelessly left lying in the road. Do note the gun turrets, which line many streets and are annoyingly highly accurate.

Wanna be Mad Max? Who doesn't, right? Let's see another screenshot...

It's demolition derby time when we can shove other cars into dark oblivion.

Get out of the car

You'll note that this dead city still has many buildings standing, and they offer an opportunity to collect goods like weapons and health. So look out for their location using the road markings (Pandy's Pork Palace is available right from the start and contains a handy ATV upgrade). However, beware and at the ready to expect trouble, as you will discover that these places are often thriving with ghouls and other creatures lurking in the shadows.

Nowhere is safe, but you're armed with a pistol, so shoot first and ask questions later! Keep searching these areas, and you should find an arena pass to the demolition derby. This event is pure Carmageddon, and nothing beats pushing your opponents into a chasm! Success grants you access to the next city.

An interesting "mechanic" is how your vehicle's appearance alters as it takes damage. So I'm grateful the holocaust didn't destroy other buildings - like the repair shops. These will offer a wide range of services that you'll need - like fuel, weapons, and ammo. The mechanic working here scares me, but I like his T-shirt!

Behold, the freakiest screenshot on AtariCrypt...

The mechanic is freaky. It's almost on a Chucky level here... (shudder)

Aesthetics?

Visually, this is a basic affair with crudely drawn graphics and average scrolling to boot. However, I must admit being mightily impressed with the animation of the running men, which reminded me of Impossible Mission. Sadly, the sound effects are probably worse than the visuals. Truly terrible.

Who cares about the sounds when we can destroy the world from our car? Screenshot time...

However, we need him because the roads in the future are just terrible.

The CryptO'pinion?

Motor Massacre has been a nice surprise. It's about as glam as a dog turd, but I enjoyed the mix of arcade-style action with levels of adventure lurking below the surface. Being able to enter buildings adds that extra dynamic I loved - and there's always something stupid waiting for you! Don't take it seriously and have fun.

Superb game, and zipping around the city looking for victims is incredibly enjoyable!!

Mel Gibson wannabes can download the floppies
Tear up the roads like Mad Max!