Really?
One of the things we have all heard time and time again, both now and even back in the day, is that the Atari ST cannot scroll. But I’ve never really understood where that came from. Because when I unwrapped my ST on Christmas morning back in 1988, I was straight into games like Xenon, Beyond the Ice Palace, Black Lamp, Return to Genesis, Thundercats, Wizball, and Zynaps. All of them scrolled - and they scrolled well. That was just the start as the months passed, I got to play R-Type, Robocop, Baal, Pac-Land, Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Custodian, The New Zealand Story, Jug, Blood Money, StarRay. And that list goes on (and on, and on...).
Sure, there were some proper stinkers - lazy ports that got the quick ‘n’ dirty Amiga-to-ST treatment, with zero care and even less optimisation. Especially in the 1990s, and when that happened, some developers shrugged and blamed the hardware. “The ST can’t scroll,” they’d say. More likely: the programmer didn’t have the time or the talent to do the job properly (ouch!). I'm still waiting for someone to Blitterise Cannon Fodder!
However, it's deeper than a handful of poorly converted games. So, where did this myth come from? Well, the standard ST was never going to churn out loads of games running at 50fps because it doesn’t have hardware scrolling, after all. But does that automatically mean anything running slower is rubbish? Not at all, but somehow, that excuse stuck - and even now, decades later, people still repeat it like it’s a fact.
Since I’m clearly not bored of moderating the abusive comments after posting about STDOOM & DOOM8088ST, I figured it was time to put this tired old myth to bed. I’ve made a 'gameplay' video showing several ST games that scroll fine – and yes, I could’ve included many more, but I think the point’s been made.
When the ST is in the hands of someone who knows what they’re doing and actually gives a TOS, it delivers. So you might say, a bad workman blames his tools... Just STay Atari, and enjoy my recording! :-)
Hi, thanks for the great video. I have been playing some classic games in hatari on my steam deck and it’s pretty good, but it’s not an Atari ST. So I have found a local listing for an STE and am bidding on it, I really want to set up an ST like I had 35 years ago and run games and demos. Sidecart looks like a great way to get my files running on the ST, what do you think?
ReplyDeleteI don’t know much about that tbh, so I googled… https://store.sidecartridge.com/products/sidecartridge-multi-device
DeleteLooks great, but I’m no techno guy. I’ll have to watch the videos I see on their page first… I’m not allowed near my Mega STe with a soldier iron/etc/etc lol
And thanks for stopping by:)
So I won the auction for a 520ste here in NZ, it was bid up to a stupid amount but I couldn’t let it go. Anyway it has 4 simms installed so I think it has 4mb ram already, and the floppy disk works but I don’t have another drive to write disks so it’s going to sit and look nice until the SidecarTridge arrives!
ReplyDeleteAh, it might be 4x 256 for 1mb, but it could also be 4mb if you’re lucky. (hope so!)
DeleteWhen the SidecarTridge arrives, let me know what it’s like in terms of usage etc. I’m curious :)
Hi, I got the SidecarTridge and first thing I used the wifi to load sysinfo rom and checked the ram, it is 4mb! I have been loading roms, floppy images from wifi and SD card, and also running hdd programs by emulating a disk. All of it just works from the devices perspective( but I suspect some issues with my STE, only about 40 percent of games actually load rather than bomb out or freeze) , very easy way to run ST software. I did run dungeon master, was wandering the hall of champions and laughed out loud when I see your avatar! I haven’t played it for 30 years so forgot all of that.
DeleteThat sounds superb, and easy to get using too. So I’ve ordered mine!!! :D
DeleteAs for the STe issues with games, it might be because of the 4MB RAM. Can you run a program to set the RAM to a lower amount for when you wish to play floppy games? I do that often as having 4MB is the problem 99% of the time for me. After running that, the computer resets and boots from that floppy…. Of course, I’ve not seen how SidecarTridge works in comparison to that. YET! :)
lol at DM!!! Yeah, that’s MEEEEEEE hehehe
Wow thanks, I have found the application to limit RAM by PP (thank you to PP) and that part works, but cannot apply this from HD and then have sidecart switch to floppy mode without losing the RAM change. So now I am trying to use JayMSA to write my disk image to a floppy disk, it keeps crashing and not doing what I expect and its a wonderful way to spend a quiet Sunday morning going down all these rabbit holes...
ReplyDeleteHopefully I can help you more when I get mine, as I can’t imagine how it’s working for you tbh. What I often do is have a floppy set aside with various PRGs that are handy - like a Mem setter. So I boot off that floppy, set the RAM to say 1 or 2MB and then remove the floppy with the game’s disk. Then reboot (not a cold reboot of course). But it’s hard to image how you’re running over there, not until I get mine :)
DeleteI've just got it!! Sadly, I've no Micro SD Card, the one I thought I have doesn't fit! :? Then again, it's years old.. So I've order one and it'll arrive tomorrow. I've had a play, connected it to wifi and downloaded Rick Dangerous (weirdly stores it on the card as there's no SD Card, so that's awkward!). But from what little I can see, this is a cracking piece of kit. Loving it - so thanks :D
ReplyDelete