Prophecy I - The Viking Child

Brian the Viking!

Viking Child is the tale of a young boy thrown into an adventure through several medieval lands in search of his friends. He needs to rescue them from the clutches of the evil demigod, Loki. Now, it might look spookily familiar to a console gamer but don't be put off, this is a great Atari ST game in its own right.

There are a humungous 16 levels to plunder with 8 bosses to battle long before you reach Loki. Walk and leap over obstacles and use your weapon to kill anything that looks likely to hurt you. After a monster is slain, coins are dropped. Use them as currency in the local store which offers better weapons and the usual assortment of goodies. I love the fire weapon but I advise you to upgrade your weapon - a short dagger.

Graphics are exceptional with super-smooth scrolling proving yet again that the STFM is more than capable when in the hands of talented people. I love the gorgeous cartoon-like scenery and the sprites are well-detailed, even if the animation is humble. The music and sound effects are great with the choice being yours.

Viking Child is a creative and technical masterpiece. What it lacks in originality is more than made up for in playability. Interesting and challenging gameplay with aesthetics to drool over! This is a cracking game and you soon realise why it's one of my favourite platformers on the Atari ST. I highly recommend this!!

Download for hard drive thanks to 8BitChip.

Floppy disk images can be grabbed via Old Games Finder.

Here are some level codes to skip your way deeper into the adventure:

 Forest level: DENIS<E>

 Landbridge: THE BLIZ

 Labyrinth: SHARKMAN

 The Desert: NYMHARSW

Overscan Invaders

Overscan Invaders was released in 1994 by Janet Dean under the esteemed Budgie UK licenceware label. This is a Space Invaders clone but one with a rather unexpected twist not normally exploited. Yes, I think you've guessed it? It's running in overscan so uses lots of extra pixels and also breaks the 16-colour limit.

It's a great twist on the original Space Invaders and plays well and is very addictive. Ironically, it's the sound effects which I love the most - yes, even more than the overscan! They are superb and so authentic. Just listen to the video recording for all those childhood memories to come flooding back.

Overscan Invaders is definitely one of the better clones and I’m sure any Invader fan will love it. I did.