Muzzy

Wait, come back!!

Muzzy was featured in ST Format (#58) and is a puzzler by Enigma Software Developments. It caught my eye because I liked the oldskool visuals, plus it's something I've never played before. It should be compatible with both the ST and STe (it crashes on my STFM but works dandy on the STe but YMMV - the download).

An intro kicks things off at the start accompanied by stereo music on the Atari STe. Playing my first game was quite confusing and I wasn't sure what to do but I soon learnt the game's crazy personality. The object is always the same: collect every gem before being whisked off to do it again on the next zany screen.

The trusty joystick is used to control Muzzy which is easy. At first, it feels sensitive but stick with it because pushing against something, whilst pressing fire, will be the most complex action you will learn. Of course, the difficulty constantly increases as does the variety of silly mechanics and enemies (who kill you instantly). So fight back by blowing up these pesky critters using bombs. That is always going to be great!

Visually, I doubt Muzzy will blow you away with its tiny sprites and 8-bit styles. By ST standards, they suck. But since when have graphics made a game better? (I'm talking to you - Dragon's Lair). The audio is basic and it's disappointing that the DMA wasn't used for the sound effects but, the old YM does an excellent job.

Muzzy is a strange game with many weird levels that make little sense - it's different from what I expected. Attack each screen with a 'trial and error' method to see what solution works In my video recording, the last screen had me stumped but it was actually annoyingly obvious - but that's Muzzy for you.

To sum up, I'd say it is infuriatingly good fun!!

ST Globe

By 1999 we will be living on the moon!

In a time long ago, when there were no search engines, we had to read something called a "book". If we wanted to chat with friends then that would mean leaving the house to meet up - in person - for a real conversation. Crazy times, right? Well, I've found something cool that takes us back to this early disconnected age (that we loved to return to).

ST Globe was developed by Jean Pierre Cazes which you will find on the Page 6 website. I thought it was rather amusing (respectfully) but very interesting. It definitely put Encyclopædia Britannica to shame [ahem]. However, my daughter was having none of it and prefers to use Siri or Google. Sheesh, what's up with kids these days, uh?

Grab yourself ST Globe and pretend the Internet isn't real.

Capy

Crappy... Capy... Uh, what?

Capy is a spin on Sokoban and was released in 1998 for the Atari Falcon by YesCREW. We are a shiny ball that desires refuge on an 'exit' tile - usually located on the other side of the screen. Initial levels are easy and break you in nicely, but it soon gets tough, so careful thought is required to execute the correct route.

Interestingly, there is an option to create your own "worlds" in an Editor, but read the docs before jumping in at the deep end. This is a cool addition, and I hope somebody picks up the gauntlet and has a bash.

Take a look at these screenshot animations to get a feel of what to expect...

Sokoban in space

The goal is to guide the ball into a black hole exit. That may sound simple, but it's not... Well, it is based on Sokoban, so what did you expect? Anyhow, there are often obstacles in your way, routes that need to be followed correctly, and even the risk of falling into the gaping deep space that stands between you and your exit. So, take a moment to think about how you're going to get to your target as efficiently as possible.

Each screen uses different tiles in a variety of ways: push tiles can be moved almost anywhere and can allow access to other places by fixing holes. Be careful not to push them into a useless part of the map, and also don't get yourself trapped! Look out for cracked tiles that disintegrate after one use, thus altering your potential route. Sliders are fun and can transport you across the void easily, and Movable tiles have an arrow pointing in a one-way direction with which to travel. Don't forget to collect the goodies for extra points.

This game is a tough nut to crack, with each screen requiring logical thought and planning. My first stumbling block was on Level 6, which my old brain struggled with! This was mainly due to the time restriction (which isn't necessary), so it spoils what should be a difficult puzzler, played carefully. I asked Swe [Janez] if that could be removed, and it wasn't long before it was - and Capy got its first upgrade in 20 years!!

Okay, let's check out another animated screenshot from one of my games...

The CryptO'pinion?

I've had a blast playing Capy, but sadly, there just aren't enough levels for me. Thankfully, there is an editor, so perhaps I should pick up that gauntlet and take a stab at creating some of my own? Also, the timer was a problem for me that been removed, so I can now enjoy Capy to its full potential without rushing.

Capy is an odd spin on the Sokoban genre, but it works. I'm sure its cunning levels will have you stumped for ages! Capy is fresh and addictive, using a beautiful style and presentation. The levels are fascinatingly cruel to solve, and I love it. A fantastic puzzler, and I hope it gets an ST conversion, soon!

Capy has humble requirements:

a Falcon with a VGA @ 640x480/16 colours.

My download contains the original and the newly updated "Crypt" version!

My greetings to Janez :)

One day I'll get to see this screen for myself. One day...

Galactic Conqueror

STress relief!!

Sometimes I need to keep my life simple and take time to enjoy blowing stuff up. This is Galactic Conqueror, published in 1988 by Titus. This is a personal favourite of mine because it grants stress-busting, wanton violence without any hassle. No life-sucking storyline - shoot everything and enjoy the pointless destruction!

That's as complex as it gets - pick up the joystick to mindlessly destroy everything. It's a wicked mash of Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom, Afterburner, and Thunder Blade. Okay, it's not perfect, but it's excellent fun, and that's what matters most. Highly recommended, especially after a "great day" at work (yes, sarcasm!!).

Play this game to blast away the stress from your rat race. A fantastic shooter!!

Download this awesome space shooter now!

Automation

Forget Elvira and Maria Whittaker, this is the sexiest screen your Atari ST will display!! :@)

[ Automation CD151 / Antic Cyber Graphics HiSTory ]

Rumbo

Rumbo is a flick-screen platformer developed in STOS by Pete Halloran and isn't too dissimilar to Rick Dangerous with more than its fair share of <cough> similarities. The story is simple, our girl has been kidnapped so it's time we dressed like Rambo and tool-up to begin our valiant rescue mission.

After watching a short, but superb, intro of our girl being kidnapped the game begins inside the underground in caves - a place that only Rick Dangerous himself would normally explore. Within here are many rooms with a variety of tricks and traps - but many predictable ones like spikes to leap over. Also, there are some cruel ones like strange creatures who appear out of thin air without any warning. I hate him!

The first end of level boss is a giant bat but don't fret too much because it just moves up and down. It's lame and probably should have been left out if I'm honest. But Rumbo has come prepared for all these monsters and bosses and is loaded with more than enough ammunition, which is something I appreciate.

When level two begins it's more of the same, but with different graphics! However, there appears to be a bug that prevented me from completing the final(?) room: hitting a switch did nothing that I could see. Thus I found myself stuck with no way to venture on which is a huge shame because I was enjoying Rumbo until that moment. I'm now wondering if I've missed something stupidly obvious in the previous rooms?

Graphics are average Joe but do their job even if entering a new room draws at the speed of ST Basic. Sound effects are made up of a few samples; they're good and I especially liked the howel of death. Rumbo's tippy-tappy walk reminded this old gamer of Chuckie Egg 2 (ZX Spectrum version). I know I'm being daft, but I loved it and it broke the near-silence due to the lack of in-game music. Which is a shame?

I have really enjoyed Rumbo which is balanced and fun to play. Sadly, there's that bug on level two, but maybe it was me? I tried twice, but each time I got stuck. Ignoring that, Rumbo offers platform fans to be an avenging squirrel in a Ricky D world. This is cool so grab your bandana and download the floppy disk!

This is a fantastic game and here are some screenshots to tempt you to play it...

PC Ditto

Ugh, I hate Winblows PCs!!

I thought I'd have a quick play with PC-Ditto, an old emulator by Avant-Garde Systems. Now, please do note that I've never owned a PC in my life but I remember tinkering with the one (and only) Amstrad PC that our college had in 1987. So, I figured this would be a nostalgic trip down memory lane. Well, maybe!

For anyone interested, AtariCrypt has an emulator section with lots more :)

A stock Atari ST is more than capable of running this emulator fine. Many DOS programs will also run fine. However, you should forget it for games. I used my own Mega STe which barely had the horsepower to handle numerous games. So, in my video recording, Hatari is running a 16Mhz to simulate my computer.

The idea of using DOS for gaming or home computing makes me shudder. Terrible idea but, read on...

I had little luck with Castle Wolfenstein (a bad copy?) but Serpentine ran well.

How did it go with this DOS malarkey?

Surprisingly, I did have some success as you can see in the video which shows me booting DOS 3.3 and then loading a selection of rubbish games. The first is Serpentine, which was definitely the best of the bad bunch and I enjoyed eating the other slo-mo snakes. I then rebooted to try something called David's Kong. Ugh, this is absolutely laughable so please don't waste your time!

Next up was Bird-Brain which didn't seem to work very well because the keys specified on the main menu didn't work for me. Instead, I suffered rapid beeping sound which was rather annoying!! So yet another reboot was called for so I could try Castle Wolfenstein. Ohh, I had such high hopes for this game but alas it didn't appear to run properly and then oddly got itself caught in a loop?

I then loaded Space Commanders which slowed my Mega STe down to the speed of a Casio calculator for some insane reason. In the video recording, I could cheat by hitting CMD X to speed up Hatari but that didn't really help much. No loss anyhow because this is a ludicrously bad shoot 'em up!!

I was now beginning to lose the will to live and only had one game left: Buck Rogers Planet Of Zoom which is one of my favourite ZX Spectrum games. Sadly, it wasn't (umm) playable due to slow speeds but I managed a couple of minutes before PC-Ditto disappointly froze for some reason!

Oh boy, how did the PC win the computer war? The worst Kong and Invaders I've ever played!!

The CryptO'pinion?

This was fun and I enjoyed turning my ST into an Intel paperweight. Games will generally require more CPU grunt but I doubt anyone would abandon the ST's archive for these horrendous DOS equivalents? Of course, not being a hardware product meant performance was always sluggish, even on my 16MHz Mega STe.

PC Ditto did a grand job running DOS and its programs and utilities. However, I wouldn't bother using this for games - unless I had something beefy like a TT or Falcon. This is a pretty good product depending on your needs. But I'll stick with my Atari ST. So, with that in mind, we are left with one final thing to do: del *.*  😇

You can find PC-Ditto on AtariMania or by using Old Games Finder. You will also need the operating system and DOS 3.3 is downloadable from Atari-Forum thanks to Jake/Depression. I found many compatible DOS games on various different of websites - I liked My Abandonware. Enjoy yourself!

Commando

Elite did it again!

I remember trying to conquer this arcade shooter on my ZX Spectrum long before I got an ST. However, no matter how much I loved it, I sucked because it was so difficult. Thankfully, I've improved with age because I've finally beaten the first stage with its tricky soldiers. It's small victories like this that keep me going!

Unsurprisingly, our conversion has more glam compared to the Speccy. I think we received an authentic conversion with responsive controls, gorgeous smooth scrolling and everything is as spritely as it should be. The one-joystick/button method to control works well compared to the original arcade controls.

Commando is something I love and hate with equal measure so it's a good job this shooter is infuriatingly addictive. Highly recommended - if you can master its hideous learning curve!!

Grab a BB Gun and download Commando for floppy + hard disk.

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, who were inspired by older games I played back in my Spectrum days.

Our adventure begins with an 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. Adding salt to his wounds is a gnome who completes Fred’s mockery. A brilliant intro!!

That's the basis of the game: we need to heal our wounds. Wanna see some screenshots...

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?

As a miniature warrior, we first explore the spooky forest to battle those 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 who can 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 because our ability to react is hampered by that speed.

The graphics are interesting beyond looks, using a multi-layer arrangement. This effect is used to climb steps and bypass obstacles, to represent a 3D feel. At first, this feels odd when 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. As you can see, there some cool ideas implemented for Fred.

Enough reading, let's see those graphics! Yes, 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, with colourful landscapes and stunning attention to detail. The palette is as eerie as it is comical with its superbly animated sprites. Even the rude ones who stick out their tongues!!

The audio is (almost) as good as the visuals, with a crunchy sampled tune 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. Absolutely superb.

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 difficult thanks to the fudgy controls that need to be quicker. Also, more checkpoints were required to prevent restarting from the beginning (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 what you guys think.

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

Portal To Xenithor

Another STosser!

Portal To Xenithor is a 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 through to a victorious escape.

It's early days, but the storyline and map designs are taking shape. End-of-level cutscenes are 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 the project and is considering the possibility of a different engine for other parts of the game. 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 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 and can't wait to see it completed!

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

Zaptastic

Crazy gaming time!

When I first loaded 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. It runs on both models of ST but is intended for the Atari STe as it uses the Blitter for the sprites and DMA 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 shades who must frantically clear 64 rooms infested by an 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 amateur but it works great with lots of silly sprites filling the screen. The audio is insane thanks to the DMA coprocessor pushing out funky samples to keep everything 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 at ST Format (disk #81)

Half-Life II Slideshow

Half-Life 2 on Atari ST!

No, but this is the next best thing. Well, maybe! You guys might like this if you appreciate slideshows of digitised/pixel art? After last year's mega-hit, ZombieCrypt [sarcasm], I've made another slideshow. Of course, this time for the Half-Life II games using the slideshow engine created by 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 a screenshot from my gameplay - I converted these 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 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 Peter Putnik has adapted hundreds of games for hard disk installation. These include extras, like bug fixes, TOS compatibility, 4MB patching, Mega STe/Falcon support, etc. However, some are also super-charged with cool coding that utilises the Blitter coprocessor and DMA for audio that will blow your mind.

Are you interested being better on your Atari STe? You should be!

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

There is something here for everyone and I hope you find this useful. 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 in 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 know your every move - before you make it.

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 idea, badly executed.

My thoughts? As I said earlier, fighting back 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 have little legs! This whole concept feels like an idea bolted onto the game. 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 sound 'fair' for a platformer but it doesn't work; the weaponry isn't good enough and the 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 anyway!

Can you tell I am absolutely gutted that I'm whinging about this? I was really excited too.

Graphics and Sounds?

Visually, this is beautiful with each level looking absolutely incredible. The attention to detail is stunning with highly detailed areas and sprites plus everything moves along smoother than a hot knife in soft butter. To say it's impressive is an understatement because it's 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. The same cannot be said for the sparse sound effects!

The CryptO'pinion?

I don't know what to make of Impossamole. Technically, it's well-programmed with great visuals and interesting levels. It appears to have it all. However, it's simply far too difficult thus infuriating and without enjoyment. Fancy doing the opposite of what was needed and releasing a game that's no fun? What were Core thinking?

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

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

The One (magazine)

Violent disks

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. Subtle wording. But I've been giggling to myself over it today: "Visit interesting places, meet new people... and then kill them!". So funny!!

Doubt they'd get away with it today; which sums up today's woke world. Sadly.