10 Years!!

A Happy Birthday!

Only the other day did I realize that AtariCrypt has been going for a decade. I never expected that!! So I want to thank everyone who has helped and supported me over the years. I call them "Friends of AtariCrypt" and they are (see top/right). Of course, my greetings to everyone else who regularly pops over to see what's new. Thanks for visiting, and it's always a pleasure reading your comments left on the pages here.

I nabbed this picture from the ElefantaSTic demo by Genesis Project. I have always admired its style using stunning visuals and funky music. It's a fantastic production that also seemed appropriate for today.

After a whopping 10 years, I have built up quite a library of ST talk. The older stuff could be better (ahem) but I have gained experience writing reviews over the years. A fun ride but it went rather quick!! Well, there are now several categories listed on the right. Please take a look and dig deep into the many archives.

Following on from my previous article, I'm continuing my break from my ST addiction. Just for the moment. I hope to resume someday soon and crack on with the ST stuff for another decade!! He says...

ElefantaSTic credits

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Shadow - Code
MCH - Music
Mermaid - Graphics, Music
https://demozoo.org/productions/93373/

The beST Game Ever

There can be only one

I hate silly questions like, "What's your favourite game". That is an impossible question to answer because it doesn't take into consideration the genre or even my mood at that moment. Plus my answer changes daily! However, people still ask me now and then which is understandable but also quite infuriating too. Or am I in a grumpy mood?!!

Possibly, but today I'm actually wondering just what might be my favourite Atari ST game! We have a ginormous library so how can I answer? Well, here goes: I'm ignoring ratings. I'm ignoring genre. I'm ignoring my mood. I'm ignoring everything to make this the most pointless article ever. Wait, it's too easy to pick Dungeon Master, right?

That's the one I cannot choose because it's the game everyone automatically plumps for. Rightly so, but...

Argh, too many!

Anyhow, what about Defender of the Crown? What about Stardust? What about Rogue? Then there is Prince Of Persia, Gauntlet II, Joust, Magic Boy, Borodino, Zero-5, Stunt Car Racer, Speedball, Populous, Golden Axe, Time Bandit, The Secret Of Monkey Island, Death Chase, Rick Dangerous, Hostages, Kult, Resolution 101, Stormlord, Midwinter, Hunter, Legends Of Valour, Carrier Command, Mr Do! Run Run, Captain Blood, North & South, Starglider, Oids, Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters, Turrican, and Out Run. The list goes on and on and on... (I was joking about Out Run!)

So, with my back against the wall and a loaded gun held against my head, the dreaded question is asked. I'm starting to sweat. What game might come out trumps? Well, after great thought (honest) I've made my decision - knowing full well this is a pointless venture that makes no sense. Nobody will read this rubbish so I'm perfectly safe from ridicule.

Okay, I've picked the best Atari ST game. Do you wanna know what it is? Really, are you that bored? Right, scroll on...

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The CryptO'pinion?

I've picked Domark's Shadowlands as the best Atari ST game because not only was this ahead of its time but it was created, designed and produced to near-perfection. It offers the player a fascinating, atmospheric and captivating world to enjoy exploring. What, you completely disagree with me? Well, there's a shocker!! Am I really that wrong?

I don't care :p but why not click the above link to read my old review? Hang on, is it okay if I change my mind? lol

Yes, this was silly but, if you had a gun held to your head and I forced you to make the decision - what Atari ST game would you choose? It can be anything except Dungeon Master so let me know in the comments below. STay Atari.

Downloads for: Floppy Disks | Hard Drive

The title screen is superb and nicely animated too, which this screenshot fails to show!

The opening level outside is quite lame but don't enter the dungeon without looking around first...

Once inside, the game perfectly introduces you to the lighting, puzzles, and monsters.

The first baddie is this fella but, don't worry because he's really easy to kill.

Another baddie and some pick-ups too. Hang on, is that a key I see?

Replaying this game again, from scratch, is proving to be fantastic. What an ace RPG it is!!

Make sure you read the manual. There are more than enough helpful hints to get you started.

Geeky memories

The biggest games club in the world

Today I was going through a few games from my collection, deciding what I should keep or (sigh) get rid of. Apparently, there's only so much space a married man is allowed for this "old junk", as she calls it. She's a cruel woman!

Anyhow, inside one of my game boxes was a flyer from Special Reserve - these guys were superb and sold many discounted Atari ST games. I've not seen this advert before so it was an exciting find for this old man. I remember joining them and getting many great deals that our one-and-only local computer shop couldn't compete with. I think I was a member until the mid-90s when our gaming era was drawing to a close. A sad time but, with many mega-cheap deals!

You know, I absolutely love finding geeky stuff like this! It makes my day and is going up on my ST Wall because it's something to treasure! Does anyone else remember this catalogue company? Let me know in the comments below.

Oddly, there were two copies of the same flyer inside my game box - I'll freely send the other to anyone who is interested in this tiny slice of ST history (sorry, UK only). I've taken a few photographs...

Can you imagine ringing their helpline for a game like Dungeon Master or another RPG?

Rubbish! All games worked on the Atari STe. Well, if you used a menu disk hehe!

Even the then-new Atari Lynx gets a little support. I miss my Lynx...

The prices are pretty darn good. I'll take North & South, please!

The mega blaster sounds cool, especially with its steel shaft. Stop it!

Friends Reunited!

Miniature hard drives!

Look what I've just found at the bottom of my cupboard!! After many moons, here is a tiny case that contains two SD Cards I thought I had lost: one features MagiC and the other is a raw ST MiNT image, created by Marcello running Cripple MiNT (due to the ST's 4MB Ram limit and you can read about that here).

For me, MagiC is where it's at because it's a powerful and versatile operating system albeit at the expense of some awkward incompatibilities. Unlike MiNT, I've got some RAM left over to make this a usable operating system replacement. It's superb but the default desktop is lame so I should find a copy of Ease. Now, I know most will probably scream "Jinnee" but I feel Ease is the better alternative desktop for me.

Sadly, I've yet to find the SD card that has my Geneva/NeoDesk installation (that's now free!!). Anyhow, it's funny what you find when least expecting it. So which is your favourite or do you prefer good old TOS? Let me know in the comments below while I stuff this card with programs and my chip music archive...

Marcello's ST MiNT https://subsole.org
MagiC v6.20 https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?p=327914#p327914
Gribnif Software http://www4.pair.com/gribnif/

Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner!!

NeST, AtariNet, Modems... Whaaaat???

Well, my 2020 seems to have kicked off nicely because I've just taken delivery of four awesome Atari CDs and it's all thanks to winning the monthly prize draw over at Darkforce BBS. Now, I never win at anything so this was the biggest Mega ST shock ever!! All I need now is a CD ROM drive. Yup, eBay here I come...

For those who still don't know, Darkforce BBS is a bulletin board service run by a fine Atarian called Ron Hall, aka DarkLord. A great BBS for all the usual stuff like news, messaging, chat, downloads, games, etc/etc. You can access it freely using any terminal program supporting the Telnet protocol, and I prefer using SyncTerm myself.

The CDs are mainly for the Atari Falcon, a grand machine - that I'll probably never be able to afford - unless I win the lottery. However, there is tons of other stuff and I'm eager to see what's on the Moving Pixels disk - lots of ST/STe stuff on that!! Greetings Ron - as you can probably tell, I'm excited to explore these archives :-)

Wanna know more? Wanna experience this fine throwback to a magical time in computing? Of course, you do so ignore the internet and travel back in time and boot up SyncTerm or any other preferred Terminal emulator and then visit this address using the telnet command: telnet darkforce-bbs.dyndns.org 1040

I hope you all enjoy this amazing BBS. My thanks to Ron for this great gift :-)

Don't you dare fall for Ron's trickery? I expected beer and a room for the night... but... NOTHING!!

Check out the main menu!! Time has stood still and is also STuffed full of Atari goodness!

Ahh, I feel all nostalgic now. It's like I'm back in the 90s dabbling in NeST...

Heck, you can even play games. It's like having an Xbox in your terminal!

The downloads area is huge and also complimented with a CD Rom section too!

I love the range of jokes and other random quotes that can be installed to pop up!!

Goodbye...

Another year is done!

I thought it might be nice to wave bye-bye to 2019 with a selection of previously featured games that you guys may have missed. So before welcoming in the new year, here's a bloated list of games which I personally think are true Christmas Crackers - and for a variety of different reasons. So, should be played by all ST Nutters!! :-)

We begin by taking gaming seriously. Yep, let's tax the old brain cells with four amazing games:

• Yopaz is a familiar thinker running in GEM. But don't let that put you off because it plays really well and even supports the STe for some seriously cool ambient sounds.
• Next is Unheart which has a C64 visual feel and some think it's a Boulderdash clone when they see screenshots - which it isn't. Instead, it's a mind-bogglingly brilliant puzzler!
• Thirdly, it should be instantly obvious what BeGEMed is all about? Never have I played something so captivating with beautiful aesthetics. One seriously addictive puzzler!
• Finally, the brilliant and originally titled Sokoban. This unassuming game is cunningly difficult and easily expandable. It will always get a thumbs up from me. Love it!

 

 

Two extra games

Now that's four games you should take time out to play. But wait, that's not all... Here are two more little-known games which I think deserve a lot of attention and for different reasons...

• Alpha Waves. Wow, this is something so captivating and it blew me away when I first saw it. Imagine yourself trapped inside a box and the only way to escape is by bouncing your spacecraft on springy platforms. It's weird yet works so perfectly. A milestone in 3D game that will offer hours of fun. Download this right now!!
• Okay, let's switch now to burning rubber and head straight onto the asphalt! The Atari ST is certainly blessed with lots of ace racers and driving games but few seem to remember Power Up? Okay, it's hardly original but it's so much fun, especially on the STe because it can make use of the DMA and Blitter. Faster Atari computers are supported for smoother framerates. Not perfect but I still love this game!

 

 

Fancy a little more?

Platformers are next and those who know me will be aware of my addiction to the genre. The Atari ST has many: Stario, Rainbow Islands, Gods, Ghosts & Goblins... But here are a few others which I wanted to share:

• Prehistorik was written in STOS and is so much fun. It's a lightweight platformer but one with incredible mechanics and is GREAT fun. It should be played by all. Oh yeah!
• Magic Boy is next and I said BOY not POCKETS!! This is another Christmas Cracker which plays as good as it looks and with STe support. No lame Amiga port here.
• Next is a fella with a Big Nose who walks along boring landscapes - which should have been far better. But, you know what, this plays brilliantly and is so addictive.
• Finally, we end with a Thug but he's a nice thug and another hidden GEM in the ST world.

 

 

Yes, there is always more!

Okay, it's time to end this little compilation but there are plenty more within our archives - so use the *search* function. Also, don't forget to download AtariCrypt Magazine. Yes, it's free... well... donationware... and obviously written by yours truly with visual flair by a talented Darren Doyle. Go on, grab yourself a copy.

Finally, thank you for checking out my website for another year. It's great reading the comments and your messages of support are always appreciated. Once again, I cannot leave without paying homage to our dear supporters: so this article continues over on Buy Me A Coffee as a special treat to those amazing guys!

All the very beST for 2020 and ... STay Atari !!

Dusty Old Disks!

Arghh floppies everywhere!

I figured it was time to start doing a little housework. No, not the dusting and hoovering kind because that's a woman's job. (Ouch!!! The wife just hit me!). Anyhow, I've got hundreds of coverdisks scattered about the house. Well, ahem, over a hundred!! And I can never find the one I want without hunting through a mess of disks. BooHoo, right?

I'm amazed how many coverdisks were released by magazines like ST Format, ST Review and ST User. But there are also many others: The One, ST/Amiga Format, Computer Express, Zero, and my favourite ST Action. /etc/etc

Unsurprisingly, most of my disks are by ST Format with ST User and ST Review following for a close second and third respectively. I've been playtesting most disks and I'm shocked to discover that almost everything still works. I have bad sectors on a few ST Format disks but otherwise, I'm partying like it's 1990. Hang on, that's how I live my life!

As you can imagine, this was quite the trip down memory lane. I've found many games and programs like Recover, Quick ST, Harlekin, K-Graph, That's Write, Cyber Paint, Ani ST, GEMview, Easy Draw, Spectrum 512, loads of CPX modules, etc... In fact, the abundant amount of utilities is most appealing!

A cynic might say, all of which I could have easily found on the internet!! But where's the fun in that? So come on, what does your cover disk collection look like? Do they work? Why not let me know in the comments below.

Don't leave just yet, you have screenshots to view and a pile of disks too...

It's hardly classy but at least they tried, unlike other ST mags.

Dungeon Master for free. This is a belting game!!

Why have I yet to feature this incredible platformer???

Chronicles Of Omega. Search it right here on AtariCrypt. ST/STe support!

Grr, I found another 12 disks after taking this photo!! (10xSTF / 2xSTR)

a real wallpaper!

Look at what came in the post today from Chris Swinson (aka Exxos). Designed by Darren Doyle for the release of AtariCrypt Magazine and today it's in print and on my bedroom wall like I'm 15 again! There are some ace ST folk in our community - thank you so much, Chris. I'm wondering how long the wife will allow this to remain...

Regardless, I LOVE IT!!! :-)

Atari logos

Having zero artistic flair means I need to cheat whenever I fancy changing the website logo. Thankfully, I've found a couple of free websites that offer fancy text-generating tools so I figured it would be nice to share today's experimentations. Take a look at Picture To People & FlamingText to design your own.

I've included a few various logos which can be downloaded from my Dropbox account. These actually double as great wallpapers and are best when centred, not stretched or tiled. I hope this bundle will give you some ideas to create something cool? I'm always looking for an ST-inspired website logo - can anyone help??