Falcon

Game changer

It's satisfying to finally complete a favourite collection of something we love. I have just managed to complete the Falcon trio. Sure, there is a compilation release that bundles the lot together, but I've never been impressed with many like that. I want the original, individual, games. Now I finally have 'em all! :)

I still remember when I first saw this game. A game-changing moment in my history that my old ZX Spectrum heart couldn't believe. The visuals, the audio, and the feeling of flight. Wow, Falcon is a brilliant flight sim with awesome graphics and many interesting locations to fail its many missions! So here is my special 3x cover feature for our Box Art section. Why not take your own F-16 for a spin today?

AtariMania features every Falcon release within their ST database...

     ~ Falcon
     ~ Mission Disk 1 Operation: Counterstrike
     ~ Mission Disk 2 Operation: Firefight
 - 8BitChip has done it again and adapted a Falcon bundle for hard drive installation.
 - Old Game Finder has the floppies for those poor souls without the original disks or a hard drive! :p

Harris Went Skiing

Horace?

Let's rewind the clock to 1982 for a skiing adventure with an 8-bit hero, Horace. Developed in STOS by a couple of brothers calling themselves OllySoft, and released a decade after the ZX Spectrum original. For his Atari ST appearance, he didn't want to upset Psion and changed his name to Harris to avoid trouble.

Anyone old enough to remember the original will feel at home with Harris, who is once again looking to enjoy a skiing trip. However, it didn't start off well. Harris finds himself in a pickle as he didn't bring any skis, so he must hire replacements from the resort, which built their shop on the wrong side of a busy highway!!

The Frogger part is too easy in comparison to what I remember. Simply waiting for a large gap in the traffic allows Harris to run all the way across the road! The skiing part is great, with many obstacles to avoid. Once the skiing is finished, somebody steals your skis, so you head back to the hire shop to repeat everything.

OllySoft has done a great job with Harris Went Skiing, and "Horace" brought back lots of warm, fuzzy feelings of nostalgia. The Atari ST game is simple and very silly, so it's highly recommended if you're bored.

Grab the download of Atari Legend and play like it's 1982. Hold on, cowboy. There are more OllySoft games, but looking at these makes me think that the boys had serious issues! Or a belting sense of humour?

I'll go with the latter, so let's take a quick look at each one...

Who Maimed Roger Rabbit

Imagine Operation Wolf but set in President Trump's backyard which is overrun by rabbits! Aka lefties. Grab a gun and let's fix this problem once and for all. Gameplay is as you might imagine; successful hit turns the rabbits into a bloody mess of gore. I'm sure animal lovers will appreciate this game! Overall, it's a humble take on the famous title but quite enjoyable, if repetitive. 

SubHunt

A pointless two-player game without much enjoyment. Playing solo is even worse and I didn't like this game whatsoever. However, it does feature a fantastic hidden easter egg and that's worth the download!! 

 

Ayatollah Invaders

An endless supply of ayatollah chaps running down your screen - straight into the path of your tank. It's actually mind-numbingly repetitive but, I gotta admit, darn good fun. Very enjoyable for a couple of games but boring afterwards. It's worth booting up once just to witness the superb somersault deaths.

Motorway Death

Perhaps we can lower the bar even further? Hmm, how about a game of hit and run? Yep, you heard me right!! And, on this road, people appear glued down so drive into them and watch their bodies turn into blood splatters. It's a sick Carmegeddon and so funny... well... for a few minutes! 

 

Head Over Heels

Back to my Your Sinclair days

Today, I stumbled upon Head Over Heels by pure chance. It’s been 'donkeys years' since I played this on my ZX Spectrum, and seeing it again is a heartwarming reminder of the 80s and its 8-bit games.

Ocean released this tough isometric adventure in 1987. Two years later, an Atari ST version followed, but I don’t recall ever playing it. The game is more complex than it seems, requiring you to solve puzzles using two characters with their own skill sets. Fans of the "filmation" genre will be in heaven with the spectacular graphics and superb detail, boasting more colour than my old rubber Speccy could ever have imagined.

Head Over Heels is a huge and intriguing adventure that’s sure to keep you up at night!!

• AtariMania features this in their ST database, including an interesting tidbit!
• Head Over Heels can be installed onto your hard drive thanks to 8BitChip.

Nebulus

Pogo the frog?

Nebulus was released in 1988 by one of my favourite companies, Hewson. It features an armed frog with big eyes called Pogo. He isn't happy with the thought of eight large sea-based towers, so decides to climb them and blow 'em up! Essentially, this is a platformer with some interesting pseudo-3D mechanics that provide a unique visual style within an ingenious design. This is class programming as you will soon discover...

All towers are cylindrical with platforms dotted around the outside. Nifty tunnels offer a way to quickly access the opposite side - if the current route appears to be a dead end. The world certainly revolves around Pogo because he remains at the centre of the screen with horizontal movements, causing the world to scroll in a "three-dimensional" circular motion. Thus, turning the tower around into view. It's quite brilliant.

Sounds rather insane, but let's ignore that initial opinion to check out this colourful screenshot...

Talk about going the extra mile and NOT sticking to 16 colours! Absolutely superb.

Frogs love water, right?

Getting through any of the towers will never be easy, thanks to a barrage of unusual nasties to either shoot or avoid. Access to the top will involve careful strategy because your route is broken, thus forcing you to use opposite sides of the tower depending on where you are. Always consider the option of using these tunnels to quickly nip through - they might come in handy to avoid those flying obstacles!!

Nebulus may sound easy, but it's actually very challenging, and a brisk time limit allows little room for error. Bumping into an enemy will drop you down to the previous ledge. That's rather good, as it doesn't necessarily mean a frustrating loss of life, nor will it impede your momentum to try that part of the tower again. However, if there isn't a ledge to land on, you might fall even further, thus requiring hefty backtracking.

Of course, falling further still (and into the water) is strangely fatal for this froggy. Yup, that means we lose a life! Also interesting is a bonus game featured between the levels - this has Pogo travelling to his next tower via a nice horizontal scrolling level. It's a shooter with lots of Psygnosis-busting smooth parallax scrolling! It should have been longer because I really enjoyed it a bunch (best viewed on a real ST).

Right then, you guessed it! Yep, it's time for another cool screenshot...

Another day and another tower to climb. Ahh, this one looks too easy, right?

16-Bit Sex Appeal!!

The visuals are utterly tremendous. Nebulus is programmed by legend, John M Phillips, who treats us to a lovely display of artwork and ultra-smooth framerates. Not only that, but he added a ton of extra shades of colour for the backgrounds. The end result is an astounding display that puts many other games to shame. It's incredible what the Atari ST cranks out when programmed by somebody with talent and commitment.

The audio is equally impressive, with zesty and sharp effects, totally suiting the gameplay. Also, a beautifully unique chiptune that I could leave running all day, it's captivating and totally enchanting.

This is how all 16-bit games should look and sound...

Okay, ignore my jerky capture because this part scrolls so smoothly. And it's great fun!!

The CryptO'pinion?

Nebulus can feel daunting thanks to its learning curve, but with lots of practice, I guarantee hours of addictive gaming because Nebulus is a real firecracker. I love how it integrates both arcade action and strategic thinking using a fascinating visual style. In many respects, this game was ahead of its time.

I rate Nebulus an Atari ST classic, not only because of how it looks and sounds, but also for its addictive gameplay. Enjoy this piece of JMP magic, which is nothing less than an icon of the 16-bit era.

Floppy disks are available on Atari Legend

D-Bug and 8BitChip have a hard drive version!

Donkey Island

Monkey Island?

All the way back in 1997, Ed Cleveland (aka Eddie Cat) spent many moons working on this comedy adventure. However, the late '90s were bitterly cold days with most of us having sold up and moved to the world of Mac/PC. It appears he got little feedback and thus decided to call it a day. I'm gutted!!

Well, that's my take on what I read. It's a shame because his talent and dedication were on the way to creating something rather special. Yep, it's disappointing but at least he released this final/beta version. This was very kind and still worth downloading and playing. Read on...

Donkey Island is a graphical adventure, different from what I expected. Think of something vaguely similar in style to Lure Of The Temptress or a Sierra On-Line game, but with a comical twist. We are Fred, a geek who loves playing games on his Atari ST. He's a smashing lad, and life is obviously TOS-taSTic!

His enthusiasm changed when he discovered Donkey Island, a game he’d been eagerly anticipating, had been cancelled. Devastated by the news, Fred powered down his little green desktop computer and set off exploring his hometown to uncover the reason behind its cancellation. (not an unknown feeling in the 90s!)

That's depressing, isn't it? Well, let's check out a screenshot to cheer us all up...

The cartoon design works really well, and some drawings are superb!

He looks familiar O_o

Fred is controlled using the cursor keys, which is simple and effective. The keypad is used to interact with your surroundings and characters, who are entertaining and interesting, to say the least. Sigh, it’s even sadder now that Donkey Island wasn’t finished. The style and humour put into it are truly beautiful. Although incomplete, there is a large town to explore with some cute surprises to discover.

In its current form, this is a broken adventure game, but one we can still fully play. Getting around Fred's town is a cinch, and we have all the abilities to investigate this horrifying gaming incident. Roam, explore, and never forget to chat with the locals. They're nothing like you expect and their humour is often superb!

Although unfinished, a full exploration of the town is possible. Some rooms are complete while others aren’t, but they’re still worth exploring. That includes the game's many characters, which are available for conversation. I’m glad this “beta” was released, but the potential for what could have been is quite staggering.

Here is one of the unfinished locations...

Sadly, some areas of the game will never be finished, but at least they're left in for us to play.

Aesthetics

Each location is depicted in a cartoon style similar to a comic book. Fred walks through in a rather crude but functional fashion. The artwork isn't exactly brilliant, but the amateurish quality works wonders. I love the way we communicate with others and our surroundings, which is quite unique in style.

The sound effects are good, but what I love is the technique used for speech - it reminds me of Charlie Brown's teacher. Come on, tell me you can't hear that, too? Well, I think it's superb :)

So here is another screenshot, and my daughter says he looks like me...

Exploration is always the key to success, and there are lots of (hidden) locations.

The CryptO'pinion?

Donkey Island had incredible potential and would have been a fascinating adventure. It still is, of course, albeit unfinished. I've enjoyed playing what is potentially a killer product that offers a different approach to doing things. All whilst being thoroughly entertaining with a wonderful sense of humour, strange locations and the silliest characters. Trust me, this is a hidden gem and something truly brilliant.

I wholeheartedly recommend you play this outstanding adventure game!!

THE DOWNLOAD

Motor Massacre

Mad Max with choppy graphics?

Motor Massacre was released by Gremlin Graphics and feels like a wicked blend of a number of my favourite games. The action takes place in a grim post-apocalyptic future where each city is ravaged by war and resembles a Mad Max movie! All food stores were destroyed in the holocaust, so people were starving until Doctor A. Noid came up with a substitute called "SLU" to help the waning population. This all sounds great, right?

Why are these masterminds almost always doctors? Anyhow, it was all a trick because SLU tastes like poo and turns people into zombies! So it's up to you to rescue the city from its psychotic drivers, explore buildings, and then battle in a demolition derby event to ultimately find the doctor and end this misery.

See, it's basically Mad Max in game form! So let's see the first screenshot...

Pandy's Pork Palace sounds a lot better than it actually is!

It's Carmageddon!

This is more than one game: the cities are explored from the comfort of an ATV, top/down, similar to Chicago 90. Unlike that, we can get out of the car and go inside buildings, and this changes the game to something like Time Bandit or Gauntlet. This combination really works well and enhances the overall feel of the game.

So, driving around the city is tremendous fun because you are completely free to roam the streets. That means blasting at anyone who might get in your way. All other drivers are out for blood and want you dead by any means. Their road rage antics are vicious, so defend yourself using the cannon fitted to your car! Whilst blasting the suckers into oblivion, watch out for hazards such as oil spills and explosives carelessly left lying in the road. Do note the gun turrets, which line many streets and are annoyingly highly accurate.

Wanna be Mad Max? Who doesn't, right? Let's see another screenshot...

It's demolition derby time when we can shove other cars into dark oblivion.

Get out of the car

You'll note that this dead city still has many buildings standing, and they offer an opportunity to collect goods like weapons and health. So look out for their location using the road markings (Pandy's Pork Palace is available right from the start and contains a handy ATV upgrade). However, beware and at the ready to expect trouble, as you will discover that these places are often thriving with ghouls and other creatures lurking in the shadows.

Nowhere is safe, but you're armed with a pistol, so shoot first and ask questions later! Keep searching these areas, and you should find an arena pass to the demolition derby. This event is pure Carmageddon, and nothing beats pushing your opponents into a chasm! Success grants you access to the next city.

An interesting "mechanic" is how your vehicle's appearance alters as it takes damage. So I'm grateful the holocaust didn't destroy other buildings - like the repair shops. These will offer a wide range of services that you'll need - like fuel, weapons, and ammo. The mechanic working here scares me, but I like his T-shirt!

Behold, the freakiest screenshot on AtariCrypt...

The mechanic is freaky. It's almost on a Chucky level here... (shudder)

Aesthetics?

Visually, this is a basic affair with crudely drawn graphics and average scrolling to boot. However, I must admit being mightily impressed with the animation of the running men, which reminded me of Impossible Mission. Sadly, the sound effects are probably worse than the visuals. Truly terrible.

Who cares about the sounds when we can destroy the world from our car? Screenshot time...

However, we need him because the roads in the future are just terrible.

The CryptO'pinion?

Motor Massacre has been a nice surprise. It's about as glam as a dog turd, but I enjoyed the mix of arcade-style action with levels of adventure lurking below the surface. Being able to enter buildings adds that extra dynamic I loved - and there's always something stupid waiting for you! Don't take it seriously and have fun.

Superb game, and zipping around the city looking for victims is incredibly enjoyable!!

Mel Gibson wannabes can download the floppies
Tear up the roads like Mad Max!

Outrun New Year Demo

Goodbye in STyle

I'm going to end 2016 with a brand new release by Bionic Nerd - aka Peter Jørgensen. It is the Outrun New Year Music Demo, which has just been released, so I've recorded a little sample from each track as a teaser for you all. Clickety click to grab this cool music disk right now and enjoy it. It's brilliant. :-)

Here is a little background provided by Peter...

"Hi all, I made this little new year music demo because I always loved the music from outrun and I felt that we Atari ST guys were cheated on. Firstly, there was a track missing. Secondly, it kept shifting between the two other tune every time one would die. Lastly, I do not think that David Whittaker did his best. The music files are YMT format running at 300hz and the reason the program file is so big. In the new year I will make a new sound format, still as fast, but be taking less space but you will need a 2mb Atari to run this. Thanks to everyone for listening and I hope you like this? Thanks, Peter."

SantaFly

Merry Christmas

It's got to that time of year when I post something Christmassy! Here we have SantaFly by the awesome Reservoir Gods, and regular readers will remember its sister game. Yes, SantaFly is every bit as frustrating, but with a peculiar Christmassy theme. It's great fun! You should clickety click and download it.

Thanks to everyone who visited AtariCrypt throughout the year. I wish you all a Merry Christmas †

Luke 2:11
The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!

Jetpac

Ugh, not the Speccy again?

I love it when I find something new - new to me. After decades of using an Atari ST, I stumbled upon a program that I'd never heard of - an emulator called Artemis. This is a Z80/ZX Spectrum emulator by Jörg Tochtenhagen and Ralf Hemsing and features numerous options for the technically minded - not me then lol. Thankfully, it seems to perform very well indeed on my own Atari (the video above is via emulation).

Feel free to tinker with the configuration. The performance, as is, is more than acceptable on the stock ST. That's a relief because Artemis doesn't work properly on faster computers! Plus, there is no support for colour, meaning your game is in black and white. Even more peculiar is that we only have one game - Jetpac.

The program uses a file format I've not heard of before --> .PRO

Can anyone help with more information or other games in .PRO format?

Playing Jetpac is never a bad thing, and even though it's not as good as the real machine (or indeed the Speccy emulator), it is great to find something new. Note: Artemis comes with no documentation, lacks colour support, and doesn't work properly with computers other than the stock 8MHz Atari ST/e.

Needs other games, but I have enjoyed finding this gem deep within the ST archives.

Download: Floppyshop disk "UTL-3025"

Unheart

A fun puzzler?

Unheart is something I've been meaning to feature for far too long. It's new and was only released in 2014 at Silly Venture by Masters of Electric City. It's based on the original PC game, Heartlight, which happily mixes Sokoban with a dollop of Boulder Dash to produce a riveting and refreshing brain-teasing challenge.

Boulder Dash fans should look elsewhere because this is a Sokoban game and a brilliant take on that. We are a dwarf who enjoys digging through caves looking for love hearts. Watch out for falling rocks that might block your path or worse, a head-crushing blow. You might even come upon a bomb as you crawl through the soft soil, but be careful, because these will detonate when impacting something hard, like a wall or rock. Heck, there are even balloons that will float upwards, potentially pushing whatever gets in their way...

Don't worry if you get stuck, hit ESC will humorously explode our dwarf so we can restart. Also, a level-skip function is used to bypass those brain-destroying levels with the option of coming back later. The difficulty remains constant throughout, with cunning map designs causing the most intense problems!

The graphics are simple yet superbly detailed using a gorgeous C64-like palette. The status bar is displayed using overscan, which is always going to be a great thing for obvious reasons. The chip music is on another level. It is breathtaking and perfectly suits the gameplay - I just wish there was more.

Unheart is good fun and pushes you to think differently. Its difficulty remains constant throughout, with shrewd map designs causing the most intense problems to overcome. Thankfully, with unlimited retries - and the ability to skip troublesome levels - you aren't distracted and will keep coming back.

Unheart is challenging, distinctively brilliant, and one of the beST puzzlers on the Atari ST.

- SCREENSHOTS & DOWNLOAD -

Some levels look simple, yet they are not. Perhaps well-placed explosions will help?

I spent ages on this level and yet it is so easy to complete!! Sometimes physics helps a bunch.

Another level that appears so simple, but that didn't stop me from pulling out my hair!!

I can imagine Boulder Dash fans loving the first level, but not so much the others!

Grab the download at Demozoo & Silly Venture!

Anduril

Wilf is back

Anduril is a PD game by Markus Dheus that features a flying hero. Like the ZX Spectrum game, Kokotoni Wilf, this is a flick-screener with cunning rooms to explore. Unfortunately, unlike Kokotoni Wilf, our guy cannot walk or even touch the landscape scenery. If he does, it results in an instant loss of life. Thankfully, he can fly like a Flappy Bird using simple controls: use the SHIFT key to fly with H + J turning left/right.

I imagine Anduril is beginning to sound rather easy? You couldn't be more wrong, as anyone who loves a challenge will get just that - the first screens are easy, but it isn't too long before the game's true sadistic nature is exposed. Most of the map is made up of tight spaces in which to guide our man. If that wasn't tough enough, once gravity is factored in, Anduril becomes distressing for all but the patient gamer.

The graphics are crisp and detailed, but I sometimes had collision detection, which often worked in my favour, so I shouldn't complain. Sounds are almost void, with only a low-volume spot effect for item pickup.

Very difficult, so not for everyone, but I found it an enjoyable change.

Download Anduril from AtariMania, and this program will help those without a high-res monitor.

Pung

Pong?

Pung is an Atari STe game that has finally been released after years of lurking in purgatory. Obviously, it's based on the 1972 classic and currently stands at v0.30, so it may have a few bugs that could lead to those infamous bombs. Just reset and keep on playing! I'm glad this got a release as we have enjoyed playing it over the weekend - it's different with a few neat ideas, and I recommend you take a look.

Get it downloaded and let me know what you think...

• Demozoo website has a download with all the credits and more.
• I nabbed the MOD music file off Demozoo and made a recording. Love it!