Fred

Let's get medieval

Ubi Soft's Sir Fred (aka Fred) was released in 1989 and is a platform/beat 'em up. It was programmed by Tuan Do Cao and Philippe Villain and I feel they were inspired by many older games I played back in my Spectrum days.

Our adventure begins with a fantastic intro animation depicting our fearless knight tragically zapped into a midget by an angry dwarf. Shocked by this, he shakes his fists at his foe but, they cannot help themselves and burst out laughing. Then, adding salt to Fred's wounds is a little gnome who completes Fred's ridicule. What a brilliant opening intro!!

That's the basis of the game, we need to heal our wounds. Wanna see some screenshots? I know you do...

Now come on, who would have ever expected rude gnomes to be our enemy?

Hang on, these are armed. They might be little but they're evil little b4s@£@s!

A garden centre platformer?

Beginning our life as a miniature warrior, we first explore the spooky forest to battle those cute garden gnomes. Other beasts lurk in the woods and castle grounds - skeletons, snakes, headless axemen, and ghosts. Everything wants you dead! So kill them with your arrows - these will even reach the baddies off-screen, which is kinda cool.

Fred is a nimble chap with the ability to walk, leap and roll his way through his quest. However, these controls often got me into trouble: turning around reminded me of Black Lamp feeling laborious and lethargic. This cumbersome method of turning around spoils the action somewhat because our ability to react is hampered by that speed.

The graphics are interesting beyond their looks, using a multi-layer arrangement. This effect is used to climb steps and bypass obstacles like rocks or trees, representing a 3D feel. At first, this will feel weird when you are too high/low (behind/in front of objects). It's a good idea but awkward in battles because both parties need to be on the same level.

Energy levels are indicated by three apples and, once they're gone, you're dead as a dodo. These don't last long but, your death produces a hilarious effect as our hero drops his sword in agony. This is just one more aspect of the visuals that is brilliant. There are lots of new and cool ideas in Fred, I just think some weren't needed for this game?

What was it with developers, didn't they play their own games? I know one thing, it's screenshot time...

I absolutely love the details and the murky palette which is perfect for the creepy scenario.

Check out that headless axeman and the gnome's facial details are astounding.

Aesthetics

Jean-Marc Torroella and Jerome Guerry should be forever proud of what they created. This is one of the best-looking games for the Atari ST using unique and colour landscapes with stunning attention to detail. The palette is eerie as it is comical with the cute sprites. The characters are animated perfectly, even the rude ones who stick out their tongues!!

The audio is (almost) as good as the visuals with a crunchy sampled tune playing on the title screen and intro. Charles Callet did great but, I'm more of a chiptune guy. In-game sound effects are sampled and I love these. From the firing of arrows, and clanging of swords to the silly screams of your enemies. Hardly high in quality but very enjoyable.

We've just enough time left to see a couple more screenshots. Keep on scrolling...

Those darn gnomes are a pest even the rude ones lol

Oh no, is that a skeleton or a zombie? Whatever it is, I should run away!

The CryptO'pinion?

Fred is a good game but it's too difficult thanks to the fudgy controls that needed to be quicker. Also, I feel more checkpoints were required to prevent restarting from the beginning. That is so annoying. Don't get me wrong, this is a good game but it looks better than it is. Am I right? Let me know in the comments below what you guys think.

Grab a sword and boot this up on floppy disk or for your hard drive.

Portal To Xenithor

Another STosser!

Portal To Xenithor is a brand new flick-screen platformer currently under development by Michael Keenleyside. The adventure begins with us having survived a crash landing on a monster-infested moon colony. Our job is to kill the nasties and search for a replacement spaceship before piloting it through to a victorious escape.

It's early days, but the storyline and map designs are nicely taking shape with end-of-level cutscenes also planned to be used as the adventure unfolds. The visual style is dark and moody and soon to be enhanced by eerie music. Michael is about six months into his project and is making nice progress with the possibility of using another engine for other parts of the game. And these will use the hardware scrolling and DMA Audio of the Atari STe.

Michael is nuts about STOS Game Creator and wishes to pay homage to Francois Lionet so all development will be done using this and Missing Link/Maestro. The estimated requirements are a 4MB Atari ST with support for hard disk installation. Personally, I'm reminded of Stryx and Baal so cannot wait to see this completed!

Update: Michael has started a STOS Coders group with Francois Lionet

Zaptastic

Crazy gaming time!

When I first loaded up Zaptastic, I immediately assumed a cheap Robotron ripoff but it's actually based on an old Jeff Minter game called Ancipital. Lee Burrows not only coded this conversion but did all the graphics and sounds and runs on both models of ST but was for the Atari STe because it uses the Blitter for the sprites and DMA for all the crazy effects. Sadly, I couldn't get it to work on my STFM without getting two nasty bombs popping up!

We're in control of a Dolph Lundgren dude with spiky hair and cool shades who must frantically clear 64 rooms infested by an incredible array of nasties. He gets around using the screen's four sides and can escape the hoard by leaping across to the opposite side - but be careful because your shield won't last forever! Firing is constant and in the direction last used but can be temporally frozen by holding down the fire button <cough> Llamatron.

Visually, things are quite amateur but it works great with lots of silly sprites filling up the screen. The audio is insane thanks to the DMA coprocessor pushing out funky samples to keep everything very loud and exciting. Overall, this is one incredibly addictive and psychedelic shoot 'em up and I loved every zany minute of it!!

Zaptastic can be downloaded of ST Format (disk #81)

Half-Life II Slideshow

Half-Life 2 for Atari ST!

Well, no but this is the next best thing. Well, no it isn't lol. Regardless, you guys might like this if you appreciate slideshows of digitised pixel art? After last year's mega-hit, ZombieCrypt [yes, sarcasm!], I have made another slideshow. Of course, this time for the incredible Half-Life II games using the engine created by my friend, Peter Jørgensen.

I've added a superb chiptune by TAO called Line of Fire, which suits the theme perfectly with a fast upbeat feel. Each picture is actually a screenshot from my gameplay - I then converted each to Degas format using Imagecopy 4. The entire process took me about six months to compile. I hope you enjoy my lame release? [download]

If you wanna see more of my various Atari ST creations then there's a link on the right and also back there  👈

- A Few Sample Images -

Sadly, a couple didn't make the cut as I ran out of floppy disk space... Doh!

PP's Enhanced Games

New game updates!

Everyone knows that Peter Putnik has adapted hundreds of games for hard disk installation. These often include extras like bug fixes, TOS compatibility, 4MB patching, and so on. However, some are also super-charged with cool coding that utilises the Blitter coprocessor and other hidden chips lurking inside the Atari STe. Are you interested? You should be!

I thought it would be nice to offer a brief round-up of these enhanced games as a compilation here on AtariCrypt. Oids and Uridium are particularly impressive because both updates improve tremendously upon their original counterparts. I also enjoyed playing my own music during a game of Xenon 2 (read the docs and convert music from your library).

There is something here for everyone and I hope you find this useful. Enjoy and let me know what you think...

Let's play...

Okay, let's take a look at some of these enhanced games that you can download and play right now...

 + Xenon II - updated for the Atari STe and features DMA streamed music. Turn up the volume!
 + Cannon Fodder - enhance this lame port with your chosen DMA streamed music.
 + Prince Of Persia - allow the DMA hardware lurking inside the Atari STe to replay the game's sounds.

  

Did you enjoy that? Well, here are three enhanced FTL games that are nicely improved...

 + Dungeon Master - far cleaner samples are heard thanks to the DMA hardware within the Atari STe.
 + Chaos Strikes Back - Again, the DMA hardware allows cleaner sample playback for this awesome sequel.
 + Oids - the potential for double framerates deliver a smoother experience when rescuing the stickmen.

  

Right, let's take a peek at three more which aren't exactly favoured well by the average ST gamer...

 + Jinks - this jerky game is weird but at least it now uses the smoother STe scrolling [original disks still required]
 + Menace - I cannot thank Peter enough for replacing that horrendous yellow ship with a white one!
 + Uridium - Blitter-boost that sluggish ship and add DMA-streamed background music while you're at it!

  

Now let's take a little run-around with these three you might never have expected to boot up...

 + Giana Sisters - this Zamuel_a enhanced game now also comes with optional DMA streamed music!!
 + Hard 'n' Heavy - gone is that embarrassing flip-screen gameplay, all thanks to cool Blitter programming.
 + Road Runner - Improved and also Blitterized for faster scrolling - but it's still a rubbish game (sorry!)

  

Okay, let's end in style! Here are two ST classics and (wait for it) a PC classic too! Ooh, nice...

 + Goldrunner - Some might not like this, but I love hitting the F3 key to disable that fuzzy speech!
 + Gauntlet - this sluggish hack 'n slash arcade game gets big improvements but still needs extra CPU grunt.
 + Wolfenstein 3D - Ray's jaw-dropping FPS now has bugs removed with decent save game support.

  

Impossamole

Monty Mole made it onto the Atari ST!!

I loved Monty Mole on my ZX Spectrum so I had high expectations of Impossamole. However, I was soon shocked to see a number of critical changes had been made and not always for the better. Why do they do that?

There are five huge levels to explore and you can begin on any of the first four, the fifth is locked until these are completed. Each is very different with its own unique environment, bad guys and cruel traps. Weirdly, this is now a scrolling platformer rather than the original flick-screen as seen in most games from that era.

However, the most shocking of all is that Monty can now fight back using karate kicks and weapons. It's a nice idea if the kicks had much effect and the weapons were plentiful and fun to use. Guess what, neither works and having Monty suddenly turn into a Mole version of Chuck Norris doesn't fit in with the original theme.

At least there's no Arthur Scargill

My first game began as an exciting stroll through memory lane with many familiar sights through a similar mining environment. However, my fun ended thanks to the basic mechanics which failed miserably. Things might appear nice but each level is impossibly tricky with enemies that appear to know your every move - before you've made it.

Also, Monty only has one life and it's not long until a couple of monsters have zapped your energy bar and "Game Over" comes all too soon. Sure, Monty can try to fight back with his kicks but those legs are way too short to be useful. The weapons are a neat idea but they're too few and far between. Nice ideas, badly executed.

My thoughts? As I said earlier, fighting back not only doesn't work here but it goes against the grain of what makes a Monty Mole game. The weapons are rubbish and his kicks are too short - well - moles only have little legs! This whole concept feels like an idea bolted onto the game last minute. It does not work.

Impossible Mole!

It doesn't matter which level I chose to play, the name Impossamole lives up to the expectations of being literally impossible. Every level will need to be pre-played to learn all the unfair and irritating traps that make no sense. Not to mention the enemies which are often impossible to kill and can appear from nowhere too.

That might actually sound 'fair' for a platformer but it doesn't work; the weaponry isn't good enough and the overall difficulty is constantly off the scale. Terrible, and incessantly far too tough. Whoever beta tested this game and then thought to themselves, "yes, it's ready" needs to be shot. Okay, I'm 30 years late - but shoot him anyways!

Can you tell I am absolutely gutted that I'm whinging about a game I was really excited about?

Graphics and Sounds?

Visually, this is a beautiful game with each level looking absolutely incredible. The attention to detail is stunning with highly detailed levels and gorgeous sprites plus everything moves along smoother than a hot knife in soft butter. To say it's impressive is an understatement because it's absolutely brilliant in every respect. I have zero complaints.

The scrolling... Well done @Andy Green!! Nailed it. No lame Amiga port here, folks.

The title music is a rendition of the Rob Hubbard classic and is chiptune magic. This is something I can leave playing in the background all night long. Sadly, the same cannot be said for the sound effects which are sparse.

The CryptO'pinion?

I really don't know what to make of Impossamole. Technically, it's well-programmed with great visuals and fantastic joystick controls. It appears to have it all. However, it's simply far too difficult thus infuriating and without any enjoyment. Fancy releasing a game that's no fun? That's literally the opposite Core needed to do...

Impossamole could easily have been another Rick Dangerous but, alas, it's the weakest Monty game in the entire series for any computer. I'm tempted to add Impossamole to my list!! Arrrgh, I hated this game. But I hated hating it more!!

If you're curious, then floppy disks can be found here with a hard disk version by D-Bug.

The One (magazine)

I've got quite a collection of Atari ST magazines and coverdisks but this disk has to be the best of the bunch. The text is something that I didn't really take any notice of at first but I've been giggling to myself over it:

"Visit interesting places, meet new people... and then kill them!". So funny!! Doubt they'd get away with it today...

Pacman On E's

Pac-Man? Again? Yawn... boring!!

Yes, there are already several examples of cracking Pacman games for the best 16-bit computer on the planet. So Pacman On E really needed to bring something extra special to the table. Well, this game has been developed specifically for the enhanced Atari STe and, unlike so many lost shareware titles, this download is actually the registered version! This comes with lots of cool gameplay/aesthetic extras which will impress!

The Pacman game is timeless but this version takes the familiar genre to a new level thanks to its furious speeds. There are 100 levels, zany visuals, funky music and a range of stereo sound effects: like the Road Runner's "meep meep" and the buzzer from Family Fortunes. Digital Dreams utilises the STe's extra colours, Blitter and DMA Audio. Interestingly, the Function Keys can change the bass, treble, volume (and more).

Credits

Stuart Innes - Programming/Graphics

Robert Thompson - Graphics/Sfx

Alasdair Macmillan - Graphics

Come on, play the game

PacMan On E's can be fully enjoyed solo for the most hilariously challenging take on the original concept. It's tripped out and stuffed with colourful visuals and a bucket load of whacky sound effects. The action and fast and exciting so never gets boring, which is how the original becomes. Well, after a while.

Best of all is the simultaneous two-player support especially when hunting for the power-ups. There are a variety of silly effects and my recording shows myself and my daughter playing it together in coop. Absolutely superb!! (When she lost she decided to cheat by covering my eyes with her hands. Hmm!)

Download me!

You can grab this belting Pac-Man game from most ST websites but Peter, aka 8BitChip, has adapted the registered version which you can download from my Dropbox (while his website is currently offline as I type). My personal greetings to Stuart Innes, Robert Thomson and Alasdair Macmillan for this wonderful game!!

Wait, don't go just yet!! Let's see some screenshots before you download this fantastic game...

An iconic opening intro. Love it!!

Oh yes, lots of STe-only features that you can tweak.

Super-duper colourful graphics to jazz up boring old Pacman.

Fine design spruced up using fantastic colour work.

What? This screenshot looks kinda dull. But the action is furious!

The final screenshot is here only to send your eyeballs crazy with a psychedelic design!

Central Cavern

Welcome to the caverns!

This is a short video of the Atari ST emulating the ZX Spectrum and running Matthew Smith's classic platformer. Please note, that this emulator struggles on a stock 8MHz ST when it comes to audio and scrolling the screen. Of course, this game doesn't scroll but the background tune pushes its luck, so I turned it off for better performance (it's then at the speed of the original, almost). You can find out more about Speccy Emulator by clicking here. Enjoy my video recording :)

Virus

My computer has caught a cold

When playing with fractals the other week, I somehow got thinking of David Braben's Virus. This a complex game I've not played since the computer shops stocked Atari ST games on their shelves! Now, the original will always be best, but that's like comparing the STFM to a Falcon - so we should stop right there because our version is a 16-bit classic.

Going for a test flight over its chequered landscape (trying not to smash into anything) is an incredible experience. The mouse controls are intuitive yet tough to master so that will take time - but stick with it because once you've got the feel of how it handles, there's an amazing game waiting to be enjoyed. Check out my animation above, I did quite well ;)

Visually, this game is a gem with an excellent style using fast and smooth 3D which is much better than the Amiga. There are lots of neat touches and I've gotta say, I love the ship's exhaust as it spurts out those lovely particles of thrusting power. The audio is great with crisp sound effects that are refreshing thanks to the YM2149 doing us proud.

Virus is a fantastic 16-bit conversion of the original 32-bit masterpiece. Sure, it has a cruel learning curve (so be prepared for that) but, after beating that, you've found yourself a killer game that's gonna eat away the hours. This game rocks and I found it really enjoyable, if very challenging. An infectious shooter that provided me with hours of fun. Love it to bits!

- Download Virus -

Fullscreen Construction Kit

I've a thing for overscan!

The Atari ST/e might not officially support overscan but that hasn't stopped many games, demos, programs and more from making use of it. There's a lot out there with many already featured here on AtariCrypt not to mention the ability to activate overscan within GEM. Yep, the Atari ST is a versatile machine and often underrated.

Anyhow, Fullscreen Construction Kit is a cool utility program developed by FMC Connexion to display high-resolution pictures using this same overscan technique. It works by piecing together four Degas images which ultimately join up to generate the finishing picture. This image can be viewed on your ST using the program provided.

The process is simple but I had difficulties with the palettes because I'm not gifted when it comes to art!! Hence the reason Milla is in greyscale and the dog is red, not brown. Also, it's worth noting that I found it easier to create the blocks using my Mac but there are online tools available to split images.

Six test images are already on the floppy plus you also have the ability to create your own. This set of image blocks [by Killer D] should give you an understanding of what's expected from budding artists? But even those without any skills (me!!) should be fine, so why not give this program a playtest to see what overscan goodies you can create?

This is a belting program and I've enjoyed dabbling! Let me know what you think of it in the comments below.

Michigan Mike And The Lost City Of Zorog

Michigan Mike is a scrolling platformer developed using GFA Basic by Gordon Storey. It features an Indiana Jones wannabe who's got himself into a spot of bother and now desperately needs our help to escape.

As you would expect from any platformer, each level has poisonous critters and many traps like crumbling rocks, acid pools, and spikes. However, Mike's energy levels are slowly depleting, which is really annoying because this forces you to rush. Of course, touching any of the nasties only helps to increase that energy loss - so collect food to replenish him. Having said that, it's worth watching him die just to enjoy the explosive graphics!

Michigan Mike And The Lost City Of Zorog is a no-frills platformer with great joystick controls that make it very playable. Okay, he may have big feet and freaky eyes but I've actually enjoyed this. My only gripe is the energy meter because this goes down far too quickly. Not a great platformer but far from being a bad one. Give it a try!

Sleuth

I've been searching for more...

Yep, after the jaw-dropping Berzerk, I went searching for other variants of the genre to see what might be lurking inside the ST's archives. Eventually, I found Sleuth a PD release by Larry Scholz of MajicSoft in 1993. The year is 2525 and man's existence is threatened by evil cybernetic organisms (yup, robots!) which Dr Spirit has so kindly butchered and made evil. Okay, it's not exactly what you would call an authentic clone (ahem) but the premise is there!

We are Inspector Sleuth and are about to infiltrate the doctor's lair to show these clumps of metal who's in charge! Gone are the randomly generated screens, replaced with a map that is populated by six different models of the doctor's robots. These range from the Hemroid which is a low-level (wait for it) "pain in the butt" to the Hopperoids and their warp technology, so don't get too close. Come on, you must love the humour in this whacky style?

Well, defend yourself using an armour-piercing gun that features a nuclear charge to incinerate all robots from the inside out. You still need to stay clear of the electrified walls and if you hang about for too long then something freaky appears and chases you across the screen. Now we're back on the familiar ground lol.

Overall, is it better than Berzerk? Not on your nelly! Sleuth feels like a tacky ripoff with rubbery controls, dodgy graphics and sounds. However, it's a good game in its own right, and my 8-year-old daughter loved it. I must admit, so did I.

IGNORE the graphics!! Remember, gameplay counts the most. It always does.

Shoot anything that looks... well... weird. Don't think, just shoot!! Enjoy :D

Bombs And Bugs

Another lost soul has been rescued!

Bombs And Bugs is a multiplayer Bomberman clone developed by Stefan Eilert of Awkward Software. Sadly, the full version was never released but, as of today, it has been found and is downloadable from the AtariMania website. Supporting two or three players, superb power-ups and lots of the jazziest graphics ever seen!

I missed an option for single-player if I'm honest but it's such a brilliant multiplayer. The video shows gameplay by me and our 8-year-old daughter - we both loved it!! It's fun, freaky and always silly. We loved it and so will you guys!