Sunday, April 05, 2015

Atari ST magazines

( my Atari Falcon w/ MiNT desktop and three PDF magazines being displayed using zView )


An era long since gone

The Atari ST had some of the best magazines the world has ever seen and I still find it helpful in referring back to old issues for their features, reviews, and other information. Thankfully, there are many websites that have scans of this golden era covering ST Action, ST Format, Atari World, ST User, etc... So enjoy the reading, and cover disks!!


Grab a magazine from the rack...

AtariMania is always a great resource and they also have a fantastic magazine section.
Here is a wonderful website dedicated to Atari ST Review, including their ace coverdisks.
Kiwis World seems has bucket loads of Atari ST magazines.
Exxos has a page for ST Format and Atari World with coverdisks.
The Zogging Hell website has a great collection of various magazine coverdisks.
Of course, there's always the newest Atari ST magazine on the block - AtariCrypt!!

Sunday, March 29, 2015

Starglider




Unplug the TV!

If I had to name an Atari ST game that defined the 1980s then Starglider would be up there with the best of 'em. This is a 3D shooter that somehow appeared from out of nowhere and totally rewrote the book on how a shooter could be. A whole new generation of gamers got to witness this explosion of arcade-like aesthetics like never before.

Today, I wanted to show you a different side to Starglider as it's something that's not known to many, oddly enough. This game supports the ST's crisp Hi-Resolution mode which means a loss of colour but an increase in definition thanks to the 640x400 display. Everything else remains the same of course and that means the gameplay too.

I've always loved Starglider as it's a perfect blend of action and strategy. The mouse controls are spot-on and the combination of using both buttons to fire/move is extraordinarily efficient. The sound effects are superb and feel somewhat arcade in their style to me. However, it's the opening music that many remember the most. What can I say...

Staaaaaaaarrrrrrgliiiiiderrrrrrr from Rainnnnnnbirrrrrrd (insert echo effect)!!!

Even today this is still a jaw-dropping shooter which plays every bit as well as I remember. Everything from the smooth framerate, crisp sound effects and exciting gameplay style. This is a challenging yet constantly enjoyable shooter. In fact, it's timeless. Play it today and go and grab yourself either the floppy or hard disk versions right now.

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More random ATARI ST articles from the archives