HangAbout!

Cliffhanger!

HangAbout was released in 1995 by John Hodskinson and is one of the quirkiest games I've played. Ignore what you're seeing above and read on... Three (randomly generated) mountains need to be climbed by a little stickman with the first being relatively easy. The second is harder and the third is a killer!

Each mountainside has ridges to which our adventurer can cling. He uses these to find a route to the top. However, if you fall too far you suffer a messy pixelated death. It's brilliant albeit not what you wanna see! Our stickman can use his arms to reach those parts that are a pinch out of reach. Sometimes, the route appears blocked by a gap too large, so a "megajump" can be used - but only once! Use it wisely.

HangAbout! is one of those games that first appears rubbish (with rubbish graphics). But then turns out to be incredible and extremely addictive. In fact, it's gobsmackingly brilliant, and for less than 10Kb!!

+ Download PD Games Compilation Disk #2 which features another by John called Haywire.

Sliders

Atari STe power!!

Sliders is a "sports" game by Microids for both models of the best 16-bit computer - it's the same game on either machine but the scrolling is silky smooth on the STe (hardware scrolling? 50fps and I'm impressed by their dedication). Okay, this is a weird game and the boys at Microids sure had a silly idea about sporting events in the future. It's like ice hockey meets marble madness - but at frantic speeds.

The players aren't people instead, they are balls, not very flattering but, we play as one. The other can be a human or computer-controlled player. Like soccer, we chase a little ball to score a goal before our opponent. The gameplay is furious over a metallic pitch with lots of varied terrain like forced-directional arrows and humps to affect control. Realistic physics will affect your momentum, meaning you have a massive learning curve to master! Interestingly, you can alter various elements: thrust, friction and more.

Balls fighting (one-on-one) over another smaller ball is hardly an interesting or innovative idea. In fact, it's weird but I admit that whizzing around the field is great fun on the STe - kudos to Microids. However, it's too freakishly hard when playing against the computer - which is super and completely outclasses you(me!). Sliders is best with another useless human opponent for the most giggles. Can either of you play it properly? I doubt it!

Sliders is a good idea but badly executed due to its difficulty. Play only with a friend.

 Hard drive game by 8BitChip and floppies by Old Games Finder