exQUIZitely

Tests? Exams? Ugh, NO!!

It's always great discovering something new that people are working on and I've been talking with Ole who runs the Exquizitely website. This is dedicated to playing online quizzes with one area devoted to the Atari ST. There are different quiz modes, and all scores are recorded and saved with an option to replay anytime.

I normally hate things like this as I'm rubbish at quizzes but I've thoroughly enjoyed it. You shall note that a few of us from the ST world have already played. It was no shock (for me) to discover who made the top slot. I'll say nothing more but I'm sure you have already guessed? I'll give you a clue, it isn't me! :)

ExQUIZitely is a professionally designed website by two friends, Ben & Ole. What a great website and I'm happy to have helped (a little) to beta test it. Also, I asked Ole for some background on their work...

"Ben and I created the site to make something purely driven by passion. We both have day jobs, so we do this exQUIZitely project on the side, after hours. That's why word of mouth (or any other help) is so important. We wanted a clean, playful, ad-free, no-BS site. Ben is a programmer, and I do all the other stuff (design, content, reaching out). We wanted an 80s theme, hence the pixel-style graphics and the old-school 80s TV screen layout for the quiz."

I urge you all to check this out for yourselves... https://exquizitely.com/quiz/Atari-ST-Games

Three quiz modes last 1-3 mins or you can play sudden death.
Here, I am playing "stacker" mode. This is abbreviated by "ST" pleasingly enough!

Challenges can be set with the results taken and recorded.
Ole challenged me in the (of course) Atari ST quiz.

There are loads of other quizzes you can partake in.
I tried one about the capitals of countries. Never have I sucked so badly... Ugh!!

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If you're interested in more external ST-related websites, check out this section of AtariCrypt "Other STuff Out There!". That is listed on the right, alongside tons of other sections!

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Into The Vertical Blank

The boys are back in town

If you love retro gaming, especially using the world's best 16-bit computer, then check this out. Into The Vertical Blank has recently released two new compilation videos that feature a ton of Atari ST games - Photon Storm, Rainbow Islands, Stunt Car Racer, Sideways, Scooby-Doo, Fire And Ice, Oids, James Pond, Bubble Bobble, and lots more.

But hold your horses, there's also a hefty wedge for the overlooked Atari STe!! Stuff like Rock 'n' Roll Clams, Asteroidia, Uridium, Prince of Persia, No Buddies Land and other (Atari STe) upgraded titles.

I have really enjoyed watching both videos because the presentation is fast and fluent; ie, they don't drag on with overly long clips. This means you get to watch many different games within a short time. I also enjoyed the varied range of games too, along with the fact the Atari STe was used whenever possible. Yep, I hope there are more in the pipeline!

Both videos are on YouTube but don't forget to check out their excellent website with ST games, Podcasts and more.

My greetings to Fultonbot and 8bitrocket. Keep up the fantaSTic work lads!!!

Atari Legend

It's Hollywood time!

I am taking a quick break from my ST gaming to share something special. Well, it's only special for one reason - I shall let you guys decide what that is - Atari Legend has a FANTASTIC YouTube channel run by Maarten Martens. This channel is host to some of the most professionally produced content. Actually, it's on another level compared to other channels.

Anyhow, it shocked me to discover that many Atari ST gamers don't know about his channel. And you should! Maarten has a fantastic sense of humour which is equally matched by his video production skills. Everything always comes together for an excellent presentation. I hope you will enjoy this video as much as I enjoyed taking a small part in it.

Hang on, what did I just say?

Ironman Challenge III

Running The Gauntlet!

A couple of years ago, I asked Mike (of The New Retro Show) to play some Atari ST games. An alternative selection that I knew would push this bloke to his limits - it was especially fun watching him endure Fire And Brimstone!!

Two years is long enough, so I challenged him to a third "Ironman" video which he agreed to! So I picked games from the PD/Shareware scene, four platformers and three conversions of arcade classics: Clod Hopper, Crapman, Frogger, Hector vs The Mutant Vampire Tomatoes From Hell, Hoog, Space Monsters and Winglord.

I would like to thank Mike for this fun challenge, which I have really enjoyed. Oh, and this video is actually an early screening just for Atari ST gamers and it will not be made public until this Wednesday!! One more thing... Mike, I've got some cool (and cruel) ideas for a fourth challenge if you're interested? Go on, I dare ya!

  
Three belters: Winglord (Atari STe), Crapman and one of the latest games released for the ST, Frogger!

 
Hoog is one mightily impressive jaw-dropping platformer and Clod Hopper feels so authentically 8Bit.

 
Hector... must be one of the best titles ever and who doesn't love a fantastic conversion of Panic?

Ballerburg for mobile phones

[This video shows the wonderful Atari ST game because I have no way to record directly off my phone!]

An ST classic goes mobile

Let me start by saying that I never play "mobile" games. However, I was in my car bored stupid (it didn't take very long) and I remembered that Eckhard Kruse's Ballerburg had been remade by a company called DonkeyCat. Well, to say I'm blown away is an understatement because this classic mono game looks and feels very authentic.

The gameplay is as you would expect with wind, angle and speed to decipher. So choose your kingdom and get blasting cannons over the mountains! Okay, I admit that I prefer the Atari ST original but this mobile game is jolly good fun. Waste no more time and get on your chosen App Store and download this mobile artillery action (both iOS and Android).

Consider this isn't on an Atari ST... I had buckets of fun with this game. Highly recommended.

- ST DOWNLOAD & SCREENSHOTS -

Ironman Challenge II

Mike's torment!

Glutton for punishment Mike, of The New Retro Show, has just released the second part of our Ironman Challenge. As you may remember, I gave him a list of Atari ST games which I thought would help push him over the edge. Well, he's still with us, so let's see what torture he endured for the final part of this challenge (above).

This new video features Fire And Brimstone, Crash Time Plumber and R0x. If you missed the first video from this Ironman Challenge then simply clickety-click to watch that video of Mike's torment! Get the popcorn - enjoy :)

The New Retro Show

I love finding YouTube channels with great Atari ST content and The New Retro Show is one such place to get my fix. It's run by a fella with a beard, called Mike! He's been addicted to the ST since he first got to play Dungeon Master (there's a shocker) and currently owns two machines: a Mega STe and a 1040 ST.

Now, after watching this video I came up with the idea for a challenge and suggested a few games which have all appeared on AtariCrypt: Chubby Gristle, Cybernoid, Zynaps, along with a few others. Shockingly, he actually agreed to the challenge (Muwhahaha!!) and released the first Ironman Challenge which you can watch here.

My thanks to Mike for taking on my silly challenge but I am now looking forward to the second part!!

UPDATE: Part two has been released... Clickety Click!!

Wasabim

FantaSTic ArtiST

It's always great to see somebody start up a new Atari ST site and today we have one by Aurélien Vaillant, aka Wasabim (I dare you to say that after a few beers). His website will feature each of his various artworks along with those awesome videos, many of which begin with the box cover coming to life - that never fails to impress. Incredible talent!

Clickety click right now to take a gander through the Wasabim website... Enjoy!!

Everyone's A Geek

Top Of The Pops!

I've just been contacted by Robin, of Robberie, an acoustic indie group. Their latest record is about retro gaming and features numerous devices like the Atari ST and ZX Spectrum. In fact, an Atari ST even played a role in the production using VideoMaster and this alone is very cool. I was extremely fascinated by their ST's role in the production so he kindly sent pictures of his setup that went into making the video.

Check that out above and clickety-click to visit the Robberie website!

- Chatting with ROBIN -

"My 1040 STE plays a starring role in the robberie video for Everyone's a geek, helping to create the pixellated monochrome shots. To do this, footage was recorded on a video camera, which was then fed through a Microdeal Videomaster cartridge.

The software has a live preview mode which displays a quarter-screen feed of whatever you play in 16 shades of grey. So the recorded footage was played back and then I recorded the output from the computer's screen on my smartphone in order to get into a format compatible with editing software on my Mac.

There are some other Atari relics in the video. There are some shots of Roadblasters on my Lynx, which is modded with the brilliant replacement LCD colour screen. The shot of Pong is I'm afraid not original hardware but comes from an Atari classic tv games joystick.

And the Powerplay Cruiser joysticks are the ONLY ones that I could properly play Kick Off 2 on! You can find out more about the other retro hardware to be found in the video on the robberie website."

Online ST Picture Viewer

Often I need to quickly view an Atari ST piccy on my Mac, and there are plenty of options, but here is a fascinating web-tool by Cyprian. This allows you to instantly view those old images within a web browser. It supports classic formats like Degas, Neochrome, Spectrum 512, and even works with drag and drop. An outstanding tool.

Retro Image Tool

  

Argh, why are there so many different image formats?

Well, I recently found a video by Sascha Springer, aka Anima, who has created a tool to convert any modern picture into the Spectrum 512 format. This can then be viewed on your Atari ST/e with astounding results!!

These three pictures I created for my own Atari STe are in Spectrum format using the extended palette. Fantastic results, I'm sure you'll agree? So give this extraordinary tool a playtest to see what you can create/convert.

Watch the tutorial video before playing with Retro Image Tool (use Chrome).

You can view the SPU image using his slideshow program on your Atari ST/e computer.

1632 ATARI podcaST

It's always nice to see someone doing something creative for the ST scene and here is Atari 8-bit legend, Wade with a new podcaST. Obviously, this is about the Atari ST and by a guy that didn't originally care for it. Interesting? Maybe, so let's check this out and his re-discovery of the best 16-bit retro computer! <clickety click>

Floppy Shop

Disks through the post?

For those of us old enough to remember Floppyshop, you will be pleased to hear that Chris Swinson has brought back to life their entire catalogue. That's right, it's all here and, unlike the old days, everything is completely free of charge!! All that is required is nothing more than a click of the mouse to relive those PD days.

Each disk is split into the original 16 categories and I'm currently hitting the games... How predictable of me!

Art & Graphics / Astrology / Clip Art / Communication / Demos

Disk Mag / Educational / Fonts / Games / Programming / Midi

Music / Product Demos / Sound / Utils / Word Processing

Anyhow, everything you once saw advertised in the latest issue of ST Format is now available to download. Kudos to Chris for supplying this service. I've already downloaded tons of disks and I hope you guys do too :-)

Page 6

Page 6 is a great slice of Atari history and they now have a website for the magazine and even their PD Library software is available to download. I remember buying stuff from Page 6 when I first became an Atari ST addict but their magazine had been going long before then and continued until 1998, true enthusiasts. Happy days!

"Page 6 is remembered fondly by many Atari owners as a unique and invaluable resource, supporting true enthusiasts in the heyday of Atari home computing" - I'd say that sums up Page 6 rather well :-)

Traveller-Box

I've stumbled upon a nifty resource for lots of Atari ST goodies waiting to be downloaded. It's the leftover remains of what used to be a popular German BBS called Traveller-Box, by Alexander Bochmann. His hard drives have been recovered and their BBS contents have been uploaded for the Atari community to use again.

Look, stop reading this lil' article and go and check it out for yourself... Enjoy!!

3D con kit

I've always been interested in 3D from my early computing years as a kid with a ZX Spectrum and games like Ant Attack, Deathchase and then the mind-boggling Knight Lore/Alien 8. Those games just blew my mind, so when I came across 3D Construction Kit for the Atari ST I was delighted.

After a little googling, I found a fantastic web resource by a Stuart Wilson which I'm hoping will prove to be useful and help me get the best from this program. They also run a FaceBook community page too.

3D Construction Kit is an old but excellent application for making your own virtual worlds. This video is the actual VHS recording that was released back in the day which is fascinating and explains many aspects of the program nicely. There are lots of projects already created on the Atari ST and many are excellent :-)

At my request, Peter Putnik has graciously adapted 3D Construction Kit so it can now be installed and ran from hard disk - so download this instead of the floppies! Plus those faster computers can make use of their power and my own 16Mhz Mega STe runs beautifully! :-)

Stu-Wilson’s website for 3D Construction Kit [and their dedicated FaceBook page]

The Ultimate Captive Guide

I recently bought Captive and anyone with half a brain (like me) knows this is an awesome RPG by Mindscape. We have been held prisoner for a couple of hundred years from a crime we did not commit - and the A-Team thought they had it bad! After such a long time, your freedom from the unjust hell is your only goal.

This RPG uses a unique user interface to configure and control droids - it's a briefcase. Why a prisoner has this I cannot tell you but operating it is like something from Mission Impossible! The graphics are excellent with stunning monsters but I was a little disappointed by the sparse audio. Which is made worse when finding out that the original released used DMA of the Atari STe whereas that was dropped for the v1.2 update!

Fans of this RPG should take a look at a website by Pierre Fournier called The Ultimate Captive Guide.

The Mercenary Site

Update: Paul Woakes sadly passed away on July 15th 2017. RIP †

The Mercenary Site

I love finding websites that are active and buzzing with great content - especially for games that were available for the Atari ST. The Mercenary Site is run by a great guy called 'Symoon' and it's dedicated to the entire Mercenary series. He's a bit of an obsessive addict and it shows when you browse his immense website!

Personally, I'm all about the second game - Damocles. What a cracking Atari ST game thanks to an excellent open-world environment that isn't hampered by linear restrictions. Yep, you're free to do whatever you choose and however you choose to do it. And that's something that holds dear - because I'm a sucker for messing about :)

Before you rush off to his website, we chatted and I asked him a few questions about it...

My site is horribly old but, to me, the content is more important than its look - and spare time is a rare thing these days ;) .... (we then began to talk about Hunter!) ... I also have fond memories of Hunter, except that the energy was dropping way too fast! I cheated to stop that and finished all the missions a long time ago. Really good fun using helicopters or hovercrafts!

There isn't much to say about me - I can't call myself an active Atari ST owner. But my brother bought an Atari ST and we mainly played games with it. I remain attached to it, but not as much as I am to my very first computer (the Oric!). You'll find a few occasional posts from me on some Atari forums under the nickname Symoon, but nothing worth talking about really ;)

I began the website around 1996, learning HTML to make a solution page for Mercenary III while I was doing the compulsory military service in France. I had struggled so much to get my copy of Mercenary III (I guess it hasn't been imported at all in France then) that I played it and found a way to complete it with all the solutions. There was almost no information about Mercenary III on the Internet at the time, and I had discovered the great Mark Sachs' guide to Damocles which inspired me. So it all began as "the Mercenary III solution page", designed in the same way...

Then the site grew little by little, as I added content very quickly thanks to many, many contributors. I recently read old emails and was puzzled at how many people wrote to me about it, and how interesting many of the messages were. I got in touch with many people from Novagen (first was Mo Warden), all very kind, and even met some of them. I'm so sad that Bruce Jordan, who lead the Novagen company with Paul Woakes, passed away 9 years go.

Firstly, because he really was a friendly man! Of course, on more Mercenary-driven motivations, because he was a great source of information. The MDDClone, that appeared around 2002, also was a source of real motivation. Its author hadn't been here, I might not have kept updating the site so long - and certainly not with so much detailed content.

What I loved about the games? I can't tell you really, I'd say the freedom feeling, and the first-person 3D which put YOU in the world (it wasn't that common at this time). The fact that a whole world was created for the player to simply walk around and the mix between adventure and some kind of flight simulation too. Also, it's humour. As a French young man though, I didn't always notice or understand the fun there was in Benson's words!

I was visiting each and every location hoping to find something significant at any corner. I found (and still find) it amazing that a whole universe was there on a disk. Thanks again, I hope you spend many pleasant hours in the Gamma system soon!

Rick Dangerous

Indiana Jones platforming

Rick Dangerous is a brilliant platformer. Simple as that really! Anyhow, I almost fell over myself when I found this superb website which is dedicated to this incredible game. Go on, take a look at it - have a guess which is the best version of Ricky Dangerous!! :-) Before you go, here is my video recording of this excellent game to watch!

Cyber Antics!

The "Cyber" packages by Antic Software were some of the most creative Atari ST applications. I remember being mesmerised by the 3D modelling often demonstrated by magazines. The work of magicians, no doubt! Much later in the ST's lifetime, these were given away on magazine cover disks and I have such "fond memories" of pushing my mental capabilities to the limits with Cyber Studio CAD-3D. It looked so easy in their articles!

So why am I talking about something that had me bamboozled? Well, Martin Doudoroff has written an awesome article called "The Antic Cyber Graphics Software". It's certainly an interesting read with fascinating details of history - I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I have? There is no denying that the Antic catalogue is rich in the ST's history. You will be impressed to know Autodesk owes its roots to these Fuji apps. That's right. How cool is that thinking about it?