Thundercats

Today's cartoons are rubbish!

Thundercats was released back in 1988 by Elite and is obviously based on the old kids' TV show. I don't remember the programme much myself, but YouTube does, which meant I got to watch a few episodes of this olde classic. An interesting show for the time, and something that makes you realise just how much better things were back then. The ST game shares many expected similarities, particularly with its characters.

The gameplay is represented as a sideways-scrolling platformer across multiple (torturous) levels. We are Lion-O, a Thundercat with flame-red hair and a huge sword who battles strange animal foes. These baddies are from Mumm-Ra, who has stolen the Thundera jewel and kidnapped the other Thundercats.

What shall we do? I think we'd better save the day, but let's see some screenshots...

The first level breaks you into the mayhem nicely. Look for power-ups and try not to panic.

However, things soon get freaky with loads of enemies attacking from all sides!



Being attacked by so many birds at once isn't my idea of great fun.

The weapons are great, but I didn't like that slowwwwww laser gun!

Run...Shoot...Die!!

The terrain is straightforward with monsters, deadly water, disappearing platforms and rocks/etc to leap over - watch out for the bigger baddies who will follow and chase after you. Random power-ups will appear at regular intervals and will need to be struck (with your sword) before you can collect them (I liked the mushrooms). An extra life is appreciated, but I wasn't thrilled about the laser gun, which is limited - it doesn't fire far, thus annoying when something is out of reach! That doesn't make sense, does it?

The gameplay is regularly broken up by bonus rounds like trying to rescue Tygra, which proved impossible: one touch and you have failed the mission!! Who playtested these games back then, or is it just me and my lame skills? Also, the levels are broken up into themes, which you can choose between: they are Fire, Water, Air and Earth. Basically, little changes, but we do get different visuals and extra baddies to kill.

Are you ready for more awesome Atari ST screenshots? Of course, you are...

That creepy fella is tough, so repeatedly hit him where it hurts. No, not his wallet!

Don't forget the mushroom power-ups... You will need all the help you can get.



Hang on, what's this? A spaceship? Gun? Plane? Hover car?

Nope, it's a lame spaceship and one that features that silly laser too... Joy!

16-bit gamers are tough!

The joystick controls are easy to learn and also very responsive: left/right walks our flame-haired hero, and he can also jump and crouch with ease. I liked these controls, which work well, and the best part is our huge sword, which puts Conan's to shame!! However, it's used more like a club, which is weird, but it works.

Sadly, no matter how responsive the controls are, there are too many baddies to cope with. They appear from both sides of the screen - so you're soon overrun as the hordes gang up. To make matters worse, your weapon (which thinks it's a club) can only kill what is directly in front of it, rather than swinging like a sword in a wide arc. So you're constantly jumping, crouching, and turning around. Add that to everything else, and it won't be long until you've died - or launched the joystick in frustration! Yikes.

Maybe games were a lot harder back in the day? Thundercats certainly proves that possibility...

I love the macabre artwork here. It's a bit crude yet very cool... and his toes are funny!

Graphics & Sounds

Visually, things are lovely, I thought. Colours are bold and represent the cartoony-feeling well. Plus, I loved the sprites, which are superbly detailed. However, what shocks me most is the smooth scrolling, including a second parallax layer, too. It's always nice to see when developers don't wimp out with flick/push-scrolling.

The in-game sound effects are nice, even if everything sounds all too familiar. However, it's the music I adore. This game ROCKS, and the theme tune is Rob Hubbard awesomeness. Leave it playing!!

Check out this artwork and listen to the tune. Go on, it's lovely...

I always fail to rescue poor old Tygra!

Click on the green arrow and enjoy this outstanding Rob Hubbard chiptune.

The CryptO'pinion?

Thundercats is a good game, albeit ridiculously challenging. My red-haired hero was walking, jumping and crouching like a crazed maniac on speed!! Yet, I still couldn't manage to kill everything without dying several times. Heck, even with a trainer, it's still hard, but at least this cheat enabled me to endure and finally see the other levels after decades. However, those who playtested this need their head examined.

Yes, it's crammed full of annoying mechanics. However, it's still a game to boot up and play because it looks great, sounds great, and who doesn't enjoy clobbering animals with a huge sword? Personally, I'm more of a He-Man fan, but I enjoyed this platformer, and I think you will too. Flawed but bucket loads of fun!

AtariMania has the Super Pack floppies, and 8BitChip supports hard drive.