Beyond The Ice Palace

Brace yourself for a corker!

I think everyone has played Beyond the Ice Palace at some time, and I got mine free with my first Atari ST computer. Until then, I was a Spectrum user, so I'm sure you can imagine the look on my face when I first loaded the ST version with its colourful graphics, smooth scrolling, and jazzy sounds. It was something!!

Much like Ghosts & Goblins, this is a scrolling platformer with three monster-infested levels designed to test your dexterity, skill, and reflexes. Predictable, yet there’s also something oddly special about it, too. Everything works perfectly: superb joystick control, a generous variety of enemies, and delightfully cruel level design. Annoyingly enough, it’s a platformer that has absolutely everything to make it downright awesome.

Let's break this pointless trip down memory lane with a couple of funky screenshots...

I knew this game was gonna be great from the start but choose your weapon carefully.

Hey, I think I've found a severed head!! Hmm, what could it possibly be?

Play the game

The first level is a trip through scary woods and is the typical platformer environment with peculiar baddies and a freaky end-of-level boss. Actually, each level follows the same formula with interesting places and many monsters to shoot/avoid/run away from. The second and third levels are, more or less, the same: a vertically scrolling cavern filled with hideous creatures before eventually reaching the wicked witch.

You're not alone: a good spirit can be summoned, which helps clear the screen of the baddies. This feature is limited to a certain number of uses (check out the funny face in the status bar). So choose your moments wisely when you are most vulnerable - then watch it zig-zag down your screen, killing baddies for you.

Ice Palace isn't complex, but it can be tricky due to awkward mechanics. For example, the blue demon is irritating as he cunningly appears just as you begin to use the elevating platforms. My advice: leap off at the moment he appears, as it's easier to kill. Otherwise, you are stranded on the platforms and vulnerable.

Hey, I think that we need two more screenshots of our hero with his flowing blonde locks...

Argh, you've blown it by staying on that life. Now the battle is much harder!

Oh no, here is the end-of-level green worm guardian!

A 16-bit jaw dropper

I've always felt the graphics are extraordinary and demonstrate our superiority over the 8-bit computers. The 1980s were an era of no-lame Amiga ports, so this game has been programmed well (thank you, Time Moore). The scrolling is smooth, the landscapes are great, and we have gorgeous sprites. Heck, even dying is a beautiful moment, and I'll never tire of its flicky death effect as my soul ascends into heaven!

The sounds are ravishing, with a sharp arcade-like style throughout. David Whittaker's music plays alongside these using a technique we saw in Xenon (ie, one channel is replaced as and when for the sound effects). After all, there are only 3 channels, so blame Yamaha. Look, the music is awesome. Nuff said.

So, it plays brilliantly while looking and sounding superb. What a game, eh? Screenshot time...

Level two ramps up the difficulty with weird wolfmen roaming the labyrinth!

Let's leap for joy, for we have collected another severed head!!

The CryptO'pinion?

After all these years, it’s still incredibly fun and utterly addictive. The great joystick controls, smooth scrolling, and gameplay make it a joy. The only downside is the small size of each level; I wish they were bigger. Yes, I want more!! :) Hey, he might wear cute green boots, but I guarantee you will love this platformer.

Get this downloaded and experience a platformer that’s nothing short of legendary.

A Midi tune of the awesome game music.

Maps for the ZX Spectrum game aren't needed, but nice to have.

Downloads are available for hard drive installation or floppies.

My Hi-Score. Can you beat me????? No, you cannot! ;p

Popstars by YM Rockerz

Living the dream!

Yesterday I had a demoscene night and relived the old glory days. When we eagerly await the postman's delivery of floppy disks - from Demo Club and other Atari ST PD libraries. Fun times with beauties like Anomaly, European, Punish Your Machine, Antiques and Rising Force. Also, I re-enjoyed some cool animations like Rippler, Newton's Cradle and Walker. I then finished off listening to Popstars by the awesome YM Rockerz. What you can hear for yourself, is ace!!

Yup, this is my rock and roll lifestyle... Well, when the wife and kids are out! :^)

Credits

Popstars by YM Rockerz :

505 - Music

Crazy Q - Music, Text

Dma-Sc - Music

Dubmood - Music, Text

Exocet - Graphics

Frazer - Music, Text

Frequent - Music

Lotek Style - Graphics (ASCII), Music, Text

Nemo - Music, Text

Tao - Code, Music

gwEm - Music, Text

Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more Atari ST demos :)

Thrust

Reliving my college days!

The thumping chiptune of the day is awarded to Thrust!! Let me explain... Earlier, I enjoyed a couple of plays and now must suffer the reward of having its funky music booming through my tiny mind. Yep, I just can't get it out of my head lol. Well, it's a good job then that it's one of my favourite Rob Hubbard masterpieces.

I love Thrust but I don't recall many rave magazine reviews? Probably because it didn't appear that much of a technical improvement over the 8-bit games? For me, that's good because it's perfect. Any cosmetic changes would have been a huge mistake. Remember Chuckie Egg 2, a shocking 16-bit disaster!

Thankfully, Thrust isn't like that. It's still a great game with tough mechanics and hugely addictive gameplay. I love it and so will you because it's a cracking game. It's as good today as it was back then - I should know, I spent most of my college years in the 'library' playing Thrust on a BBC Micro instead of studying!

It looks funky, sounds boomtastic and plays great so is a timeless classic for the Atari ST. Love it!!

D-Bug has a version of Thrust that you can install onto a hard drive/ultrasatan.

Those that need the floppy disk can check out Old Games Finder.

SNDH Record is the place if you fancy driving yourself crazy with this gorgeous chiptune?

Masochists can download it to play later, courtesy of the SNDH Archive. All good fun :-)

Wreckers

It's time once again to save... the ship!

Wreckers is an isometric adventure released in 1991 by Audiogenic. It's the only game I own by them and was developed by Denton Designs. Those old enough to live through the 80s using 8-bit computers will remember them for games like Gift From The Gods. Ignoring Bandersnatch/Brataccas... ugh... from me, it's The Great Escape, which I feel is one of the best 8-bit games ever. Yep, I said that.

Enough trivia! For Wreckers, we're onboard the interestingly named space station, Beacon 04523N, in the loneliest part of deep space. With a crew of three, held in cryogenic stasis, automated robots look after the day-to-day care and maintenance of the station. However, the computer has decided to wake you when it detects the threat of Plasmodians, a lifeform that wants to frantically consume the ship and everything in it.

Okay, let's take a little break for an animated GIF of this wonderful game...

Let's play

In some respects, I'm reminded of the brilliant Escape From The Planet Of The Robot Monsters, but there is far more to this game than simply running around shooting green blobs of plasma, albeit great fun! From the very start, you discover that the alien attack is happening and, once they make physical contact with the outer hull, it's only a matter of time before they begin creating havoc with the computer's systems.

The station has its defence capabilities in the form of a space hoover that sucks up the aliens before they get on board. The droids can be controlled to help, and another option is to suit up and head outside to play Jetman with a can of bug spray. Beacon 04523N is hardly Babylon 5, but at least these options are available. Oh, remember to use the Zippway Shuttles and elevators to travel the Beacon. Don't dawdle, as the main computer has decided one hour is enough to eradicate the threat before self-destruct is activated!!

Graphically, I love the 80s feel and, whilst it doesn't look very 1991, it uses a retro charm I appreciate. Scrolling is adequate, but I sure love the station's attention to detail, along with the colourful sprites. The title music is just awesome, and the box loves to gloat about who made it, Warren Cann of Ultravox!

Control is handled via keyboard and joystick, but the latter might disappoint because I actually found myself holding it sideways. This usually works, but some might find it weird! Also, the user interface will take time to get to grips with. I found it quite unusual and sometimes a little clumsy in the heat of the moment.

Let's now take another break for a screenshot of three dodgy fellas...

My Opinion

Wreckers will keep you on your toes; it requires an urgent attitude with the ability to juggle tasks and think ahead while suffering a constant alien onslaught. Running around zapping them is one aspect of this game, but because there is much going on, it's sometimes hard to keep up with the situation. Don't get me wrong, Wreckers is a very good game, but one that requires a lot of time, patience, and commitment.

Have you got the requirements? If so, brace yourself for an incredible adventure!!

• Floppies can be found via Old Games Finder with a hard disk version by 8BitChip.
• Hall Of Light has a superb map of the space station which sure comes in handy!!

Uridium

C64 rules!??

Do you remember the embarrassment of Uridium? The cruel C64 peeps laughing their socks off at our "superior" computer? Rightly so because we have a terrible port with sluggish controls and lifeless scrolling.

You shall be glad to hear that there is light at the end of the tunnel for the Atari STe. Peter Putnik has fixed the dodgy parts with faster controls and also the option to stream sampled music using the DMA coprocessor (hard drive or ultrasatan obviously required). At last, a version of Uridium we can be proud of.

Uridium is transformed, going from a bummer to an exhilarating shooter!!

Miss this at your peril - download now!!

Prince Of Persia

A 16-bit classic gets updated!

Prince Of Persia is incredible but today receives an audio upgrade which uses the DMA coprocessor to play the effects better. They sound much cleaner and without any slowdown because the DMA is a coprocessor, working independently. This means that the gameplay is better than the original. Which is pretty cool :)

Download right now. Yes, now!!

Chaos Strikes Back

Yet more audio clarity

Following on from yesterday's wonderful news of the Atari STe enhanced update of Dungeon Master, Peter Putnik has improved the audio for Chaos Strikes Back. Once again, this news is making me jump up and down with joy!!! So why not make your Atari STe happy and download this DMA audio upgrade now? Enjoy!! :-)

Dungeon Master

Crawling with audio clarity

Peter Putnik has just updated Dungeon Master to use the Atari STe's DMA Audio hardware. This is huge news for fellow adventurers! Playback is much clearer and this won't impact the computer's performance. Peter informs me that Chaos Strikes Back is next in line for the STe treatment - and I cannot wait!!

Download the new upgrade from 8BitChip.

Scott Clifford

As many know, I've been a friend of Scott's for a while, even though he's from Yorkshire, I've never held that against him! Anyhow, I'm always eager to know what he's working on, from those humble beginnings with a Turrican music disk to a near-perfect arcade version of Frogger. To think he's not been coding for that long. Quite incredible!

But then, he decides to take on the immense task of a Raiden conversion for the Atari STe. His plan is to use the Blitter, DMA audio, hardware scrolling, and more. Such fascinating enthusiasm! So, it was bound to happen sooner or later... Yes, I asked for an interview in the hope it would be interesting for those who don't know the guy behind Frogger and the upcoming Raiden project. My thanks to Scott for this interview, and I hope everyone will enjoy the read.

- Scott Clifford - the interview -

Tell us about yourself

Where do I start? Heh.. Let's skip ahead to Christmas 1990, that's where the real fun begins with the introduction into my life of the Atari STe. I never really had any 8-bit systems, this was the first for me, bearing in mind my age. I turned on the STE, stuck in a disk and for the first time in my life was immersed in the world of Indiana Jones. (Kids these days... Tsk!)

From then on, I only really used my ST for games and some school work, but soon started looking into other uses as a teen. One thing I will remark on though was the ease Automation disks were very easy to get hold of... That is another story, by that I mean, wait for the Automation/DBUG DVD ;)

Coding hiSTory?

I only recently started “coding” on the ST, about 2 years ago, roughly 2014/2015 I started messing about in STOS and found it really easy to program and soon enough I was writing small routines, asking for help on the Atari forums, and generally messing about. At the same time, I was trying my hand at everything, music, games, art, programming and getting into the hardware side too. I now have an STe (Of which there is a certain unnamed person I should thank!!! - He knows who he is) and started coding in STOS full time before moving onto ASM for Frogger, which gave me credibility or notoriety.

The Turrican Music Disk was created simply because I am a fan of the game. I just wasn't very good at it, to be honest, and found it far too difficult beyond the “spaceship” levels so that kind of put me off... My music demo started because I did enjoy the tunes but didn't fancy loading the actual game disk each time, and what's more impressive is the fact that this is the first time STOS has used SNDH convincingly I might add. A point missed by a lot of people - the player routine was developed by me and might be the first time STOS has ever used SNDH (note big ego trip here!). As far as music disks go, I did have the idea for a UMD style music player but it never went beyond the ideas stage. 

Frogger for the Atari ST is arcade-perfect and possibly the best home computer version ever.

Why the peculiar handle?

A nickname was given by a dear friend who is no longer with us, referring to my overuse of the colour black, right down to the nails and eyes. Yeah, I was a goth, but I'm now more immature than anything. :) I suppose I tend to lean on the darker side of life, metal music, Gothic architecture (Prague is awesome, need to go there!) and other such “out of the light” topics. But there is the bonkers side of me too, the sort of person that is bubbly but not annoying... by that I mean I can jump down the stairs backwards when I'm bored!

You must be proud of Frogger?

Frogger, to me, is the epitome of a decent arcade game - full of colour, noises, damn hard gameplay, and it doesn't involve rescuing a princess or collecting gold. I wanted to write Frogger initially in STOS because as I was playing it on #cough MAME I realised that the ST was the perfect platform for it. The game itself is simplistic enough but not rubbish AND didn't require some glorious technical ability - there is no scrolling, no bullets, and nothing beyond the ST capabilities.

The fact that I got really close (using STOS) to releasing it just goes to show how easy, in terms of computing, the game was handled by the ST. Unfortunately, like all simplistic programming languages, BASIC was eventually thrown out and I started (with the huge help of Xia!!!) the process of writing the game in assembly - faster code, closer control over the ST and I could use the computer more reliably. STOS is great, but not for this due to too many things on the screen.

I'm so proud of Frogger. It might not be F1 by Geoff Crammond or Anarchy by Psygnosis but it's mine, and it's my first assembly program that works. At this point, I must thank all the people involved in its creation, there are so many who gave support, ideas and actual assets I could use, like music and SFX from Zerkman and Dma-SC. Immense support and patience from XiA too .. I did get some criticism for not making it 21st-century, but I always wanted to replicate the original and never to out-do it.

You gotta check out this music disk, especially using the Atari STe!!

Raiden is humungous

It is!! I had the idea again from playing it on mameUi64 (Plug right there folks!) and looking at it, I wondered if it was possible. I wrote some routines, originally in STOS, and found it far too slow (this is before I started with assembly language and Frogger). So, after Frogger and after I'd gained some knowledge in ASM, I went back to it. I wrote some routines in assembly language and started to learn about the STE specific hardware scrolling. 

All of the music and sprites you see in Raiden are taken directly from the arcade but, because of the 16 colour limitation, I've had to look at the Megadrive version for the level's graphics. This means the levels are quite dark in colour and maybe a little too washed out - at the moment. As far as technical difficulties go, the oddest thing... the tanks are actually the most complicated, after the player, to write code for.

What games do you play?

I'm kind of notorious for it in my house haha! Although I've recently been putting myself through the Forza experience on the Xbox One (a close second to pride and joy, the Atari STe). I do love the ST and Shadow Of The Beast 2 I have been playing a lot of lately, cant seem to get very far though lol. I'd say I'm not a huge fan of RPGs or fantasy stuff like Ishar, could never get into it, although it's very pretty. But certain consoles for me hold certain games, so for instance, Shenmue on the Deamcast, the Lotus Trilogy (yeah I have the actual boxset) for the Atari ST. I need to get some friends with STs and have a four-way … hahahaha obviously in Lotus :P

Raiden, a WIP conversion for the Atari STe... Will it ever see the light of day?

Who inspires you?

This is a strange one because most of my inspiration for coding comes from, not the current scene but from the days gone by. People like Wayne Smithson who, at the time, were cutting edge and mostly “on their own” releasing games like Anarchy. Even its title “it cant be done” says it all lol. The bedroom coders also hold a certain nostalgic feeling too, like the guys over at DMA or even some of the pirate groups like Automation and the Pompey Pirates, what they DIDN'T do for games, they did FOR the ST … if that makes sense? 

I think nowadays it should be looked back on as part of the ST and not the reason for its downfall, Atari did that themselves. I also like niche programmers, those that don't tend to conform to whats expected, Excellence in Art is a prime example of what I'd consider coding for yourself and NOT for the masses. It's probably one of the reasons me and the leading guy there get on so well, even if we do disagree about binary - haha (in-joke)

Any future plans?

Haha, where Do I begin... Flashback (Delphine) is another do-able game, despite reservations from the “scene” ;) I'm also thinking Mortal Kombat... However, whatever I do, I think it will definitely be game related. I don't consider myself a demo writer and although I've put some code into demos I don't think I'd actually write my own. I'll leave that to the pro's like DHS, their “Sea Of Colour” demo is awesome!! Games require a slightly different process to demos and I feel like I'm more suited to the games really.

Everyone's A Geek

Top Of The Pops!

I've just been contacted by Robin, of Robberie, an acoustic indie group. Their latest record is about retro gaming and features numerous devices like the Atari ST and ZX Spectrum. In fact, an Atari ST even played a role in the production using VideoMaster, and this alone is very cool. I was extremely fascinated by their ST's role in the production, so he kindly sent pictures of his setup that went into making the video.

Check that out above and clickety-click to visit the Robberie website!

- Chatting with ROBIN -

"My 1040 STE plays a starring role in the robberie video for Everyone's a geek, helping to create the pixellated monochrome shots. To do this, footage was recorded on a video camera, which was then fed through a Microdeal Videomaster cartridge.

The software has a live preview mode which displays a quarter-screen feed of whatever you play in 16 shades of grey. So the recorded footage was played back and then I recorded the output from the computer's screen on my smartphone in order to get into a format compatible with editing software on my Mac.

There are some other Atari relics in the video. There are some shots of Roadblasters on my Lynx, which is modded with the brilliant replacement LCD colour screen. The shot of Pong is I'm afraid not original hardware but comes from an Atari classic tv games joystick.

And the Powerplay Cruiser joysticks are the ONLY ones that I could properly play Kick Off 2 on! You can find out more about the other retro hardware to be found in the video on the robberie website."

Raiden

Grab your joystick!

It's been almost a year since I first mentioned news of Raiden's development for the Atari STe by none other than our favourite Frogger dude, Scott Clifford. Sadly, his commitments forced the project to be temporarily put on hold. Thankfully, he has restarted and is making good progress (I'm keeping my fingers crossed).

The initial work behind the scrolling, backgrounds, and sprites is coming together. Also, the enemy sprite routines and placements are now being coded. Quite incredible for a one-man effort and it's a very exciting project to see in progress. I wish Scott well and eagerly await the next update (hurry up mate - I can't wait).

Watch this space, and the plan is rolling around inside Scott's head...

- Hardware scrolling is used for the entire screen - no status panel.
- DMA hardware for the playback of authentic arcade music.
- The Blitter will be utilised for the larger sprites.
- YM chip will be used for the sound effects.
- Support for the JagPad controller can be implemented.
- Please note that my video was recorded using emulation (better on my Atari STe)

Operation Garfield

Wolves eat cats

I've been browsing through the Floppyshop archives and stumbled upon a game called Operating Garfield by Dave Brankin. It’s inspired by Operation Wolf, but what caught my eye is that it’s made for the Atari STe. The Blitter handles the 8-way scrolling and sprites, while the audio makes use of the DMA stereo.

So, how’s it different from Operation Wolf? Well, it’s not - it’s a blatant ripoff and another mouse-controlled crosshair shooter. The story, though, is nuts! This time, aliens invade Earth, but they’ve decided to disguise themselves as Garfield - that lazy orange cat from TV. Safe to say, they’ve severely misjudged us!

The action plays out over a scrolling city skyline, with massive Garfield heads firing rockets from the rooftops. Using the mouse, you shoot down both rockets and heads. It’s that simple. While you're frantically blasting away in this pseudo-3D missile command, keep an eye out for smart bombs and ammo caches. There’s also a Defender-style radar at the top-left, but honestly, I found that too small, so almost useless.

Unfortunately, the difficulty is off the scale, so I rarely got to see the later levels. The scrolling could’ve been smoother, especially given the STe hardware. It’s better on a real machine, but nowhere near Asteroidia levels. Worst of all are the T2-style samples - good, but they’ll grate quickly. Gimme chip fx any day!

Operation Garfield isn’t meant to be taken seriously - it offers a few minutes of stress-busting fun. Think of it as a cheap Op. Wolf ripoff with lots of pointless yet satisfying Garfield-killing. Not great, but worth a play.

- DOWNLOAD -

GEM Desktop

Before wallpapers were a thing

DeskFX is a GEM utility I thought was pretty cool and entertaining, if annoyingly flawed. It replaces three parts of our beautiful GEM desktop - the default font, a choice of wallpaper, and an animated mouse pointer. As you can see, above, the wallpaper feature only updates every 2/3 seconds, which is lame compared to DeskPic. However, the new fonts are superb and (like a big kid) I loved playing with various animated pointers!

It appears the author had an STFM, and DeskFX worked fine on my computer in both resolutions. Sadly, I couldn't get it to work on my Atari STe in LOW resolution - only in medium res. Not in the sense of available colours but in terms of functionality, who uses low to work? Who still works on their ST? ;-)

I thought this was a nice utility to share; grab the download on disk UTL-4410 over at Floppyshop.

Grap

Atarimania's Marko Latvanen sent me a game developed by Tangram programmer, Mark Luthe, for the German magazine ST Magazin. Grap first appears as a Tempest clone but is actually a puzzler which I'm sure will appeal to the brainiacs? It was originally sold through the publication as a "budget" mail-order back in 1990 but hasn't been available since. I am very excited by this rare and fascinating find and I hope you enjoy playing it :-)

The only place you shall find Grap is on the excellent AtariMania website.

Computer Magazine Archive has more on ST Magazin (you'll need Google Translate)

Thinkers might wanna check out our "Puzzle" section right here on AtariCrypt :)

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. However, for his Atari ST appearance, he didn't want to upset Psion and changed his name to Harris to avoid confusion!

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 along any skis, so he must hire replacements from the resort - who built their shop on the wrong side of a busy highway.

The Frogger part is way 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 robs 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 and fuzzy feelings of nostalgia. The Atari ST game is simple and very silly, so is highly recommended if you're bored.

Grab the download of Atari Legend and play like it's 1982!! But 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

Heading back to my Your Sinclair days

I stumbled upon Head Over Heels by pure chance today. It's been donkeys years since I played this on my old ZX Spectrum, and seeing it again is a heartwarming reminder of my 8-bit days. Ocean released this tough isometric adventure in 1989 for the ST, but I don't recall ever booting it up. Perhaps an 8-bit game wasn't appealing to me back then?

Head Over Heels is more complex than it first appears - solve puzzles using two characters who have their own skill sets. It's superb to see this game again, and anyone who loved the "filmation" genre will surely be in heaven. The graphics are Spec-tacular with superb details and more colour than my old rubber Speccy could ever have dreamt of.

Head Over Heels is a huge and intriguing adventure offering many sleepless nights! Highly recommended.

AtariMania features this in their ST database including an interesting tidbit! Download Head Over Heels from 8BitChip as this supports a trainer and hard drive installation. Also, here is an interesting website for the ZX Spectrum version with maps, videos, and more which prove helpful.

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!