Ballerburg

Artillery gaming

Whilst enjoying my cuppa this morning (in my Atari ST mug), I stumbled upon a tweet about Ballerburg, a turn-based artillery game by Eckhard Kruse. It's an ST classic and offers addictive, strategic gameplay, blasting enemies into smithereens using basic maths to calculate our weaponry's speed & direction.

Ballerburg requires the ability to read German and a monochrome hi-res monitor. Let's be honest, as ST users, we are familiar with language translation on-the-fly. And there are programs to emulate the ST's high-resolution mode for those using real hardware. As I type, my Atari STe is running Ballerburg, and I'm (trying) to teach our 6-year-old daughter the basics. Sadly, that ain't going well, so I know she will be an easy victim!

Yes, I am father of the year. I'm going to destroy her. Muwhahaha!!

• A download is available on Eckhard Kruse's website.
• Ballerburg has a wiki page.
• I use MonoPack to enable ST High Res on my colour monitor. It's excellent.
• So you didn't believe me about my Atari ST mug, uh? Slurp... Slurp...

Ballerburg

A quick play...

There's nothing better than blasting cannonballs at enemy kingdoms after a soul-crushing day at work. Today was that day. I needed a game of artillery mayhem in Ballerburg, as this is one of my favourite Atari ST games. I first played it long before I could afford a high-resolution monitor, but it was still playable in "emulation". In fact, this isn't the first time I've featured this fantastic game, so click here for more.

Are there any fans out there? Let me know in the comments below...

• The download is available on Eckhard Kruse's website. Along with a rather potty horror demo!!
• Try MonoPack if you don't have a mono monitor; it's great and can even use the Blitter.

Ballerburg [mobile version]

[This video shows the wonderful Atari ST game, because I don't know how to record directly off my phone!]

An ST classic goes mobile

Let me start by saying that I never play "mobile" games as I don't see the point of using a tiny screen and virtual controls! However, I was waiting for my wife in the car - totally bored stupid (it didn't take very long). Then I remembered Eckhard Kruse's Ballerburg had been remade by a company called DonkeyCat. To say I'm blown away is an understatement because this classic mono game looks and feels very authentic.

The gameplay is just the same, with wind, angle, and speed to decipher. Choose your kingdom and blast cannons over the mountains. I admit, I prefer the Atari ST original, but this mobile game is jolly good fun. Waste no more time, get on your chosen App Store and download this mobile artillery action (both iOS and Android).

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

- ST DOWNLOAD & SCREENSHOTS -

Grusel

Comedy Horror

This was one of the first demos I ever bought from a PD library when I became an ST user. The scene was fresh and bewildering for me back then. Plus, I had little money and took the plunge, blindly spending my pennies on something called "Grusel". I miss those days of ordering disks from PD libraries!

Thanks to the insanity of Eckhard Kruse, I've been hooked on graveyards, weird skeletons, and ghosts for over 30 years. Yes, it's silly, but this is an ST classic, and I just had to share it. Grusel can be downloaded from Eckhard's own website (don't forget Ballerburg, an outstanding turn-based strategic shooter you need to play!). This little demo is nothing less than a timeless classic. A childish demo. A masterpiece!

• Grusel can be downloaded from Eckhard's website.
• Please don't forget about Ballerburg, utter ST classic this one!