Winglord

Survival of the Fittest

I don't mind admitting it, but Joust is one of those games that I am absolutely terrible at. In fact, I could end this right now because I really am that bad - it really is quite humiliating! However, I also have much affection for flappy jousting, no matter the quality of my skills. Joust is something uniquely entertaining and something that thrills as much as it infuriates (me). So, it was a pleasure to discover that the Atari ST/e has another jousting competitor.

Winglord was originally a shareware game by Victor Bruhn who has since released it as freeware a few years ago. Now, first things first, Winglord can run on either the Atari ST or its sexy sister, the STe. However, Victor intended it for the Atari STe as he utilises the Blitter Chip and DMA Audio. Older STFM's can still play but, won't get to hear the samples and might even suffer some visual anomalies due to the lack of a Blitter that handles the silky-smooth 50Hz display.

I think we need to stop reading and take a gander at the first screenshot. Well, here ya go then...

I struggle to fly whilst the computer cleans up. Yup, another drubbing by my faithful Atari ST...

README.TXT

Nobody ever reads the manual. Well, that's mainly a guy thing but, in this case, it's worthwhile taking a look. Not only are there lots of handy tips but also a great storyline that is fun to read. Come on, there are nasty wizards, medieval castles and winged unicorns which is all great stuff!! For those who still won't read it, here's my take on it:

Guardian Castle is above the villages in the valley below. They're under attack by the wizards of the Northlands whos minions have found a way into the tunnels under the mountain atop which it sits.

They have gained control of most of the caverns and passages that run through the ground underneath the castle, as well as a large portion of the castle. Sinister beings now roam through these areas and have crushed all resistance offered by the sentries and the castle's contingent of soldiers. Evil creatures, some mounted by riders, continue to advance into the halls of the castle and through the caverns in a seemingly unstoppable march! (It's not sounding too good, is it?)

Thankfully, teleporting into the skies above the castle are WingLords who are ready to do battle with the invaders. Mounted upon winged unicorns whose beauty is matched only by their quickness and power, they descend into the depths of Guardian Castle and intercept a group of creatures. Two more riders enter the room and an airborne jousting battle begins between the adversaries.

Their powerful Fire Lances easily destroy the enemy riders, while providing their wielders with a shield against the enemy. The enemy is defeated and the Winglord's unicorn steeds use their natural teleportation ability and leave the battlefield to have their lances re-charged.

Now the WingLords wait for another onslaught, ready to do battle with the fire-spitting Yellow Jackets. The Dark Riders are also armed with fire-spitting lances. The Wing Masters, deadly flyers who are immune to missile weapons, and must be jousted against. This war is far from won!

Sounds cool, right? Of course, it does so let's take a break from reading and check out another screenshot... 

The Apprentice knights are a little slow but a lot harder than you might think.

Winged unicorns?

Winglord will instantly feel familiar to seasoned jousters. One or two players can compete, at the same time, controlled by either the computer or another humanoid that you may have lying about your house. Of course, each level is of a similar design with platforms that can/will prove to be of strategic use. As with the original, the screens feature a wrap-around design when reaching the edge. However, the eggs are gone and there are ceiling vents.

Yes, there are some alternative changes and also some that are peculiar ones. Gone are the lanky ostriches for unicorns - and unicorns don't lay eggs. But these majestic beasts love to strut their stuff - just watch them walk. So cool. Battling against enemy knights follows the same format but they now feature some unexpected traits and there are even buzzy bees too. Best of all, some medieval knights are expert jousters with exceptional skills. Beware!

Once again, let's stop reading my nonsense chit-chat and take another gander at a screenshot...

This isn't good, I'm about to be pounced on or stung to death at any moment!

Know your enemy

Any level can feature four different enemies each with its own strengths, control, style and armament:

The Apprentice - these guys are armed with only a lance. You might be fooled into thinking he's going to be an easy opponent. Don't kid yourself, he's crafty and has some nice flying skills. Also, he's immune to your missile attacks. Hang on, a moment... did I just say missile?!!

Yellow Jackets - this is a buzzy bee with suicidal tendancies, which means they're quite tough to safely defeat. These can, and will sworm, so watch out. Okay, they're a little dumb but, as a nest, they are a fanominal force. Perhaps a missile in its face is a good idea to teach them who's boss?

Dark Riders - this guy carries both a lance and a pack of missiles. He's fast, he's brutal and he's a damn tough lancer. Basically, he's gonna kick your ass!! Excellent fighters.

Wing Masters - Winglord shows its true colours when this guy enters the arena. These are jousting geniuses and tough cookies with ferocious combat skills. Be warned!! 

Hey, it's time for another sexy screenshot!! Get ready...

I tried my best to get a screenshot of a missile hitting a bee! Quite impossible lol.

Controls

Joystick controls feel much like they do with ST Joust, which was a massive relief because I was dreading any disastrous changes. Flight and control are perfect, even if you are as unskilled as me. There is an option to choose your preferred 'flap power' that will alter the effect of the vertical force which is applied with each press of the button. Choosing high will gain greater altitude whereas low offers better control. It's best to experiment with what feels right for you.

Pushing downwards will fire a missile. Yep, a missile. It's one of the most unexpected treats I could have imagined. I must admit though, at first, it feels weird but it sure comes in handy against those dopy Yellow Jackets! And who doesn't love blasting rockets? Note, these work against the Dark Riders and the bees - and can only be used during flight.

Hey, come back!! I know that you're dying to play this game but we're not done yet - it's screenshot time...

Mummy, I wanna go home now!

Big Tips!

1) Don't panic.

2) Playtest with the different flap rates to see what suits you the best.
3) Disable the second player, he can be distracting I found.
4) Disable the second player anyhow as he's far too skilled!!
5) Judge your entrance for a well-timed drop onto your unsuspecting opponent.
6) Don't bang down on the joystick too quickly, unless you enjoy hearing the sounds.
7) Those platforms can make for good defence.
8) Bonus rounds are a great way to earn extra points.
9) Why you listening to me? I suck at jousting!
10) For those with skills like mine, hit the Up/Down arrows on the main menu!!

There's a swarm of nasties coming and my unicorn decides to strut his stuff to look cool. Sheesh!

Aesthetics

Visually, it's more or less, Joust and a damn good take on that original format I might add. However, being similar to Joust means it's also hardly something to gawk at in wonder! Not only that but the levels appear to have less detail compared to the official ST conversion. Having said these minor moans, it looks nice and the animations are quite beautiful. I love watching my unicorn walk between the levels just for fun. He just loves to strut his stuff - so cool!!

It would be a crime to end it there without mentioning the framerate. It is smooth. Very, very smooth. In fact, it's smoother than Kojak's bald head drenched in baby oil. I believe this is thanks to the Blitter lurking inside the Atari STe. It's a great thing to see a developer that obviously enjoyed going that extra mile.

The sound effects are made up of a neat selection of samples. All are crystal clear, thanks to the DMA hardware that Victor thankfully used. I only wish he would have recorded some more - for extra pizazz. Sadly, older ST's suffer minimal sounds but Winglord was developed on (and intended for) the Atari STe. So stop moaning and upgrade!

Jousting is excellent fun but can you handle the heat when it's 6 against 1 like in this final screenshot...

Hang on, I've lasted longer than the computer? Time to shoot and beat his score, for once!

The CryptO'pinion?

Joust is one of the best arcade conversions for the Atari ST. With that in mind, Winglord needed to deliver the goods and guess what, it did. The cosmetic changes are nice and I love the option to use missiles. Also, tinkering with the flap-power attribute is a superb idea and the option for a second player is just dandy, even if the computer outperforms me every time!! The change of theme worked well as did other differences like the regular use of bonus rounds.

Winglord cannot replace Joust, that's impossible but, I don't think it was ever meant to. As it stands, it's a fine alternative and something that doesn't disappoint in the slightest. This game is so much fun and I would have liked nothing better than to show you more (in my video) but that was never gonna happen with skills like mine. Sorry :p

Personally, I think this game is a fantastic "clone" of the original and the differences are great. Best of all, the Atari ST/e has another version of Joust - that's never a bad thing in my opinion. Winglord is absolutely excellent.

- Download from AtariMania -

Droid Special Edition

Missing: One Droid

Droid was originally developed by MP Lord (he of Hoog fame!!) and was a smash hit that saw a sequel three years later. Sadly, neither of these games supported the enhanced hardware of the Atari STe which meant chip fx, flick-scrolling and a fair bit of slowdown when things got hectic. Not only that, but the joystick controls were finicky - I would accidentally fall off ledges when struggling to precisely time a jump (pulling down and then leaping - arghhh!)

I remember (back in 2016) being excited to hear that Jamie Hamshere was working on an improved version that would take advantage of the Atari STe hardware. I could only imagine what it would be like to play a scrollable Droid. Jamie even planned to tweak those controls to remove the irritation that threatened each and every jump - for me anyhow.

Well, that project was completed late last year yet somehow, I completely missed it. What planet have I been living on? Anyhow, I figured I should boot it up to see how this cult ST shooter played on my Atari STe.

So, without further ado, here is the first sexy screenshot to whet your appetite...

Get out quick, this area is pretty hellish with droids and wall-mounted guns!

An armless Robocop!

Oh yes, we most certainly are. Just imagine yourself as a mechanoid armed to the teeth and able to leap huge heights. Somehow, this beast is trapped inside a massive underground cavern and wants to escape to get home for tea. However, the path through isn't as easy as walking in a straight line into the light ahead. That would be too easy!

The caves are a labyrinth of dangerous rooms and many are guarded or patrolled by other mechanoids all too willing to blast you into smithereens. This is a hideous maze designed with numerous dead ends that require keys to unlock many doorways. It's an underground hell and is nigh on impossible to escape without making yourself a map to help plot your journey. No, wait we don't need a pen and paper because Jamie has added an auto-mapping tool. This helps navigate, find objects and prevent the frustration of getting lost. An exceptional new feature.

That's not all that's changed, the old (large) status panel has gone and replaced by the tiniest bar so we can enjoy more screen space. This still shows the same information for lives, weapons, energy /etc but we now have far more gaming real estate. Are you loving this upgrade already, or what? The various weaponry you're able to carry is also shown - pressing the ALT key will cycle through what you have available. Don't waste your supplies on the wrong monsters!

Come on, let's view another screenshot? Yeah, let's do it...

Oh no, a different type of droid and this one is throwing bombs!

Mummy, I'm scared!

Droid might be a metallic brute but that doesn't mean he's invincible. Watch out for other droids wandering back and forth protecting their part of the cave. They're a few butties short of a picnic but will still shoot on sight. As you progress, you'll see other areas are protected by a variety of strange objects: some shooting out bombs and others like wall-mounted lasers. But there are other things to avoid, like fire or falling into the bottomless pit... It's bad down here!

There is a map and using this is an absolute must! Otherwise, you will only get lost and probably give up. Keep on looking for those keys and carefully plot a route. Mini-bosses appear throughout the entire journey and the first is like an angry prawn! The armoured truck is excellent and an unexpected boss to find in a cavern. I wonder if it's Jet Man?

This game has always been a tough nut for tough nutters and I think this still applies today with this upgrade. Those later rooms are merciless with a cruel design that feels OTT many times with lasers, bombs and mechs all ganging up on you at once. Death results in a life loss which unfairly sends you back to the starting checkpoint. Only a skilled and determined gamer (willing to spend time and effort) is going to succeed. So good luck because I've no chance O_o

Fancy a screenshot that shows a rather weird monster? Don't run away, check this out...

What the heck is that, some kind of sea creature? I hope you saved your better weaponry?

Fancy a few juicy tips?

1) Don't kill everything you see and therefore run out of precious ammo.

2) Collect power-ups for energy and ammo only when you need to!

3) Closely stalking droids is fun plus it's safer and uses no ammo.

4) Learn to use the mapping tool. It's a little odd at first and reminded me of Heartland.

5) Some weapons are best left until you need them for a specific purpose.

6) Learn the controls and enjoy a few practice games before taking on the challenge.

7) Walk away and give up. You're not good enough!! (I'm kidding, I'm kidding!!)

Did those tips help? Are you man enough to play this game? Whatever your reply, here are more screenshots...

Be patient and unlock the doorway barrier only after the droid walks away.

Did you know?

Jame worked with Jonathan Thomas on the recent Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge for the Atari STe. This is an upgrade of the classic racer that brings the game in line with the Amiga version. In every respect, except the tracker music. Now, I know what those guys will think, but I prefer chip music over a MOD any day. I personally don't see YM Chiptunes by Ben Daglish as a bad thing. Quite the opposite and it's one of the many aspects that makes the ST so cool.

To play, all you need is a 1MB Atari ST so check it out, folks because the collaboration between these two has proved far beyond fruitful. And the expertise Jamie has for the DMA hardware is jaw-dropping. Lotus has been transformed from a great racer into an awesome racer which, I assume, wasn't an easy task? I'm sure you will all love playing it!!

* The original web feature proved why 2021 might not suck after a year of paranoia.
* The current release of #LotusSTE is now available so get it downloaded right now mister!!

You not only have Droid for the Atari STe but now Lotus Esprit. How lucky are you!! Very!! So, it's screenshot time...

Another killer area with droids, bombs, guns and fire. RUN!!

Aesthetics

Things might appear similar to the original game but a keen ST gamer will notice the play area has increased by a huge amount. The colours are improved and the Blitter is moving the sprites so that the ugly slowdown has gone. The only thing missing is Droid's minigun graphic from the original. Finally, this shooter now smoothly scrolls in all directions compared to the dreadful horizontal flick-screen method. Jamie, you've (respectfully) blown the original into pieces!!

The audio has also seen big changes with the addition of in-game music and sampled sound effects thanks to his skills in getting the utmost out of the audio hardware. Check out the funky theme music using his own program: Turbochip to knock out 7-channels using the DMA and YM2149 together for phenomenal results. Yes, phenomenal is the word.

So it looks and sounds amazing. So why don't I stick a screenshot of the game's map right here...

The new map tool. Finally, I won't get lost anymore. He says...

The CryptO'pinion?

Miles did a great job and produced a platformer that was different, challenging and stuffed full of action. It's quite incredible considering it wasn't commercial so all credit to his talent, commitment and love for the Atari ST. However, the lack of dedicated hardware had a negative effect on the end product. Plus I found the controls very irritating and I would also get myself lost - a lot. I guess Jamie felt the same way and went ahead to rectify these niggles?

Jamie's project to enhance an already great game was risky but came together well because it's a perfect blend of improved aesthetics with better gameplay. Finally, I'm not accidentally falling off ledges by failing to make those tricky jumps. As remakes go, it's fascinating to think how much hard work he invested into improving this ST classic.

It's still the same shooter but one that has been rolled in glitter so sparkles like it's brand new. And I love it.

- DOWNLOADS -

AtariMania has a floppy disk download.

Jamie bravely recorded a complete playthrough!

Fancy going Godlike with infinite energy and ammo?

Then enter this code on the title: FEELCOSMICALLTHETIME

50 ST games you have to play

A new Atari ST book

I know, I know, I'm late to this party - a brand new book by none other than Karl Morris to celebrate the 35th Anniversary of the Atari ST. A flabbergasting 50 games are featured along with segments for point & click games, Jeff Minter, how to emulate an ST, YM2149 chip. Oh, and I particularly enjoyed the Ad Breaks.

Karl begins with a heartwarming dedication to the passing of his friend and fellow Atarian, Curt Vendel. The introduction then begins to offer extraordinary insight into the entire era of just what makes the Atari ST everything we love: from its early years to the people, events, stories, hardware, technology, and specifications. I found this to be a fascinating glimpse into the mid-80s and something that I'll probably read several times over the years—that's higher praise than you think as I'm no book worm!!

Wanna see what I'm talking about? Of course, you do so here is a photo of the page with Atari ST specs...

Arghh, somebody's broken up my beautiful Atari ST in pieces!!

Get to the games!

Okay, you all know how much I love the Atari ST (and Atari STe, of course). This is my era of "Atari" so I was expecting good things. Thankfully, the book does not fail to impress. There are several games feature and, starting with the earliest, we have the timeless classic Time Bandit to begin his 16-bit gaming journey. Later, there are beauties like Operation Wold (Arcade Conversions), Dungeon Master (Adventures), Backlash (shoot 'em ups), Supremecy (Strategy), Vroom (Sports) and much more. Absolutely brilliant gaming!!

But wait. Not only is there the usual selection, but also a raft of games traditionally ignored, which was a lovely surprise. I was pleasantly shocked to see greats like Sentinel, Corruption, Masterblazer, Beyond Zork, Stardust, Backlash, and Lode Runner. Karl is obviously a guy who loves to play Atari, and that shines through.

Hang on, I didn't see Resolution 101!! (Okay, I'll stop that now! I don't want to be one of those people lol)

The book has several cool ads and this ad for Defender of the Crown is one of my faves...!

Same old same old?

Over the years, we've seen many articles online or in magazines like Retro Gamer, and more. This had to offer something extra special. Thankfully, this is a book that is well-made with a chic style and presentation that is nothing short of exceptional. The writing style is engaging and from a perspective that is both insightful and fun to read. Content is both predictable and also unexpected. That means it doesn't fall into the trap of featuring the same old games we've seen a million times. Hey, you know what I mean!

Each game is presented in a format I admire - rather than defaulting to a meaningless Top 50 chart show. All are split into segments of genre, which makes finding what you need a cinch. I liked the layout with photos of title screens, box art and other tidbits displayed as a funky GEM window. Ad Breaks feature often and are a nostalgic reminder of how the Atari ST magazines once captivated our imagination. Love it!!

It doesn't end yet! Check out these lovely stickers and fridge magnets (which my wife loves!)...

The other books and goodies by Zafinn are magnificent - I feel like a BIG kid on Christmas morning!

The CryptO'pinion?

You can guess how thrilled I am to own yet another Atari ST publication. I've found it to be an enjoyable read which I'll return to time & time again. However, the AtariCrypt website failed to get mentioned, but I can forgive Karl because he managed to get Atari Legend's website wrong - twice!! (Oops, I'm so sorry guys!). 🤪

But seriously, this is the bee's knees and for a meagre €35, it's incredibly good value for money. I believe the available stock is running low so now is the time to act if you want a copy. My sincere gratitude to Karl for holding onto a copy for me over the last few months - I love the goodies, especially the fridge magnets!!

Come on folks, grab yourself a copy of this wonderful new Atari ST book from the Zafinn Books website.

Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge #AtariSTe

It's finally here, folks!!

After months in development, the time has now come to ditch your PC and dust off the old Atari. Yes, a public release of the Atari STe upgraded Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge will be available to download from tomorrow - April 10th. The only caveat is that your computer requires 1MB Ram and a working floppy disk drive. Surely nothing too drastic to ask?

The original plan was to update Lotus with all the features missing from the original ST release. Jon added sky rasters, revamped roadside details and boosted the framerate. He later used the Blitter Chip to crunch those car sprites and smoothly scroll the landscape which delivered even more speed. Jamie Hamshere worked on the DMA audio to ditch the horrendous chip effects. As you can imagine, the end result of all this effort is quite staggering.

I'd like to thank Jon for all his hard work and for sharing with me everything that he was working on over the months. It's been great to follow, a fascinating experience and tons of fun. I would like to thank Jamie & Masteries for their incredible DMA skills; I'll never forget the first time I played Lotus with sampled sound effects alongside the chip music.

Downloads will be available from tomorrow morning via AtariMania. Well, that's my weekend sorted...

One day I'll get myself a sports car and I'll live the game for real. One day...

Did you know?

The new Lotus Esprit actually works on the Atari ST and features nice sky rasters, faster gameplay and more. The only caveat is the requirement of 1MB Ram and also a Blitter Chip (check the Options menu in GEM if you're unsure!). All Mega STs meet these requirements and late-model STFM's have an empty socket... Feeling tempted to upgrade?

Worried that you don't have a working floppy disk at hand? Well, the download is compatible with floppy disk replacements and can also run off a hard drive/ultrasatan using programs like Floppy Image Runner. Check that out!

The 16MHz Mega STe can run Lotus at dizzy speeds - just hold down the SHIFT key at bootup to activate it. Also, if you're missing the peculiar YM sound effects then press the ALT key at bootup to disable the cool DMA samples.

Finally, if you have extra hardware connected to your Atari STe, like hard drives, then disconnect and power them off. Do not try leaving the hard drive on and attempting to bypass that auto-booting. Power it off and cold boot the computer.

Check it out, I made the high score table. Honest, I swear I did... ahem!!

Preview Release Timeline Updates (for reference)

I've made a few video recordings to flaunt the features of each release. All credit to Jonathan Thomas, Jamie Hamshere & Masteries (DMA audio) for all their hard work with each new release. Don't worry, the fantastic chip music remains as an option and the STe's DMA playback has no negative effect on the framerate. Great work lads, keep it up!!

For reference, here are the links from each development build I have received:

Apr 10th - It's finally here to download from AtariMania!!
Mar 31st - video #6 Player two has sky gradient, Blitter scrolls the landscape per pixel, more audio refinements and a higher framerate!
Mar 28th - video #5 Portugal track (audio sample for the intro and many improvements made to the volume balance of YM/DMA.
Mar 21st - video #4 Practice track with a massive change to the audio. Lotus can play play DMA sound effect samples alongside the glorious Ben Daglish chip music!!! Volume refinements to come thanks to Jamie...
Mar  7th - video #3 Iceland track (DMA sfx).
Feb 28th - video #2 Mexico track (chip music).
Feb 21st - video #1 Italy track (chip sound effects).
Feb 21st - website feature with information, specs, photos, etc.. :-)
Dec 24th - Jon posted on Atari-Forum about his Lotus plan!

Sophélie

Bums and Boobs!

Sophelie was once a goddess of heaven but has since been vanquished and left to roam the lands searching for her body. Why do I hear you cry? Well, some kind soul has turned her into an albatross so she now spends her time flying through worlds looking to find her original appearance. As storylines go, this is silly, to say the least!

This is a horizontally-scrolling shooter not too dissimilar to Menace. However, this time we're not killing monsters or aliens but instead some of the weirdest things that you might never have expected; planets, snowmen, wolf heads, giant eyeballs and even trees. The landscapes are lush with colourful and angels will appear to help at regular intervals.

Sounds great, right? Well, let's take a look at some screenshots from the first level...

Yep, giant eyeballs are coming for you and are actually tough to kill too!

Now, this is getting silly! What have the trees ever done to you?

Let's kill the planet? No literally by shooting down the rotating planet Earth!!

Spit, don't shoot!

We begin with the (ugly?) hand of God safely delivering us to each world ready for battle. These worlds are split into several segments with each having its own brand of baddies all too eager to see you dead. Each will swarm onto the screen using its own style of attack pattern and might even shoot at you - the Earth enemies fire mini-planets!

Some of the nasties are far too easy to kill whereas others are quite impossible thanks to the rate at which we can shoot - it's too low. So this makes killing certain enemies quite impossible because they move too quickly in comparison to our fire rate. Dying can be a bit troublesome especially when you materialise too close to an enemy and therefore instantly die once again. A simple invulnerability effect could easily have been utilised for a second or two. Quite unfair!

Angels visit after each of the segments to offer a power-up and these are pretty much essential from the start. Miss them, and the following swarm of enemies is quite impossible to defeat. Also, dying baddies might sometimes throw out an extra power-up, but these fall off the screen before you've had a chance to even think about collecting them. Finally, there is a time limit ticking down to kill each wave of baddies. Which is very peculiar, to say the least.

Let's now take a peep at some screenshots from the second world...

Some of the sprites are freaky... freaky-cool!

I can't make out whether these are balloons or floating severed heads!

Damn snowmen, they all deserve to die!! O_o

Aesthetics?

Visually, this isn't too bad with colourful palettes, funky sprites racing across the screen and smooth parallax scrolling running at a brisk pace. In fact, I love the level of detail that's gone into the sprite's artwork the most: Sophelie's animation is superb and never have I played a game with such a large whacky variety of different enemies.

Sadly, the audio is disappointing with a fuzzy theme tune and near-silent gameplay. Well, apart from the death kill sound effect and a strange background whistle. Overall, it's shocking because the YM is far more capable.

Well, that was a mixed bag alright so let's take a peep at the third world...

These are insanely difficult to kill, if not impossible without losing all your lives!

He's big. He's bad. He's about to be brown bread!!

Hey, a power-up appears from a dying beast yet you have no chance of collecting it!

The CryptO'pinion?

On a basic level, this isn't a terrible shoot 'em up. The levels are colourful, the baddies look great zipping across the screen and the action is constant. Also, I like how angels regularly appear with a gift to improve your chances of winning. However, this is also one of the most boring games I've ever booted up. The graphics might change but the gameplay is bland and very repetitive so becomes tiresome. And then there's the audio... Or lack of... Ugh, terrible!

It's an understatement to say that there are better Atari ST shooters. Sophélie looks nice, sounds awful and doesn't bring anything new to the table but there are boobies so perhaps it's worth playing? Nah, I'll leave it thanks.

If you're curious then grab the floppy disk via Stonish or Old Games Finder. Enjoy...

Oh no, another grisly death beautifully laid out. Interesting artwork!

TRS-80 emulator

Let's go back to the days of Starsky & Hutch and Asteroids!

Most people might think it's pretty stupid to emulate a retro computer - using a retro computer? Thankfully, not me because I have found something rather incredible called 2nd Life. It's a TRS-80 Model III emulator by Sander Berents and is something I stumbled on purely by chance. What luck! So, I figured I should give it a good playtesting.

I've never actually owned/used a TRS-80 and I imagine few made it outside of the US? Anyhow, Tandy and RadioShack released the first model in 1977 and it was a huge hit for those wealthy enough to have lots of spare cash burning a hole in their pockets. Back then, I would have been six years old and too young to care about something like this :-)

Okay, let's begin with a screenshot of the credits. Oh yeah, it's screenshot time...

It's sadly impressive that something this good wasn't released earlier in the ST's life.

What's a RadioShack?

Like you, I love my Atari ST, even when it pretends to be something else, be that a Sinclair, Commodore or even a peculiar clunk of hardware by RadioShack (I used to love the Tandy stores). Anyhow, a TRS-80 emulator sounded far too tempting not to boot up so I read the docs and hit the web to learn how to operate this ancient beast.

First things first do read the docs and take a look at the FAQ text file to understand which options to enable/disable for the best performance and compatibility settings. You will also find two more disk images with compiled and BASIC games but you'll be best with a 16MHz computer to enjoy something close to native speeds.

2nd Life requires ST High resolution and is very easy to use. Along the bottom of the screen, are four floppy disk drive icons - click to highlight Drive 0 and use that as the TRS operating system boot drive. The second drive icon can be used for anything like games or other images that you may have downloaded from the net.

Lots of features and is very versatile. Plus it can play many different games too which matters more...

One of the first things I booted up was Donkey Kong. Okay, it looks terrible but plays well.

Old but not that much different

Using the TRS-80's DOS commands feels a little quirky but is fairly easy to learn. For example, DIR will display the directory of a disk and it can be expanded with extra options and filters, as you'll see in the video:

DIR 0 - will produce the contents of Drive 0

DIR 1 - will produce the contents of Drive 1. Easy, right?

DIR 1,/BAS - this displays the same list but filters for BAS files.
CAT 1 - this provides an alternative way to load programs!

We're gonna get a little more complex now but it's worth it to watch the dancing alien:

BASIC RUN "DANCING/BAS,1"

The command looks worse than it actually is. Breaking it down, it simply instructs the computer to load up the BASIC program. Then that will load/run the file "DANCING/BAS" which is stored on Drive 1. Easy!

This is starting to be fun so I went searching for a game like Menace or R-Type. Ahem, screenshot time...

Sea Dragon is a terrible mess of ZX81 blockiness but it is a brilliant shoot 'em up!

Get to the games already!

Ultimately, we're here to play some TRS-80 games and I gotta tip my hat to this old piece of 70s kit. There are some great games in its library and there's a good reason I chose Sea Dragon as the video thumbnail. Like any old computer, there's a wealth of vintage games from the era: Pacman, Invaders, Frogger, and so on. I'm a geek, so I enjoyed the thrill of playing with something that's almost as old as me. No rude comments, please!

Performance-wise, the humble 8MHZ Atari ST will successfully emulate and run everything you throw at it. However, it's going to struggle with the games as it's simply not fast enough. Personally, my Mega STe is the basic and minimum requirement and produces near-perfect speeds, generally speaking. So, 8MHz will be fine but 16MHz will get you gaming. Hardly a shock and just the same as with other emulators we have within our library...

Don't forget to read the docs as README.TXT is there for a reason... Okay, I'll nag no more! 

Yes, this really is Frogger. Hopper has awful collision detection but is a pretty good game.

Games! Give me games!

One of the best games I played was Sea Dragon, which is a fantastic scramble through watery canyons. Sadly, I wasn't impressed with Penetrator I struggled with jerky graphics and twitchy controls. It was a shock to see a chunky version of Donkey Kong with huge black and white blocks but the gameplay is superb and that's what matters. However, the blocks worked great for Armored Patrol and the wealth of PacMan games!

There are a few games bundled with 2nd Life and many are great but sooner or later you will want more. Thankfully, there are some great websites with disk images stuffed full of games and I managed to find racers, lots of different Space Invaders, Zork and even Temple of Apshai - which is nothing at all like the Atari ST version and its "turn-based" element caught me off-guard, in a nice way. But boy, is it slow - even on a real TRS-80. Yikes!

Most (all?) disk images found on the internet won't be compatible with the Atari ST. Thankfully, Sander has a utility to convert these for 2nd Life and it works a treat from what I've seen so far. Hence, how I got to play Hamburger Sam, Berserk, erm Robot Attack and the sluggish Temple of Apshai.

He might not be yellow but he's on the TRS-80 as Gobbler!

The CryptO'pinion?

I initially expected the TRS-80 to be nothing more than a cumbersome piece of ancient hardware that I wouldn't particularly enjoy. I couldn't be more wrong, this is a machine that appears to have more power and versatility than I would ever imagine. It's a great computer and it's no wonder those plucky Americans snapped it up!

2nd Life is an equally fantastic piece of software and I'm impressed with how well it runs in terms of its speed and compatibility. The inclusion of a utility to convert disk images into a format that 2nd Life can recognise is a wonderful addition and opens up the possibility of playing everything there is. Techies can go further: font editor, altering the keyboard layout, linking computers via parallel ports and even tinkering with a disassembler debugger...

The TRS-80 is a great machine and it is so impressive to see the Atari ST flip back in time so easily and reliably. This is a fantastic emulator - however - you will need a >16Mhz computer to start gaming like it's 1977 and my Mega STe felt close to the speed of a real TRS-80 (from what I've seen online). I have really enjoyed using 2nd Life and I'd love to hear what hardware and performance you guys are getting, so let me know in the comments below.

GitHub has the download which includes the source code for those uber-geeks amongst us :-)

- MORE SCREENSHOTS -

Look what I found and it's quite different to the Atari ST game. Quick, kill the Ant Man!!

This is Astro and it's a BASIC game. No, I mean it's written in BASIC and it's good.

Hamburger Sam, based on BurgerTime but felt more like Mr Wimpy to me. Love it.

This is Speedway and it's kinda like an early Spy Hunter or Major Motion. Hmm...

Runner demands quick control action - you'll regret not reading the FAQ text file!

I only ever played Penetrator on the ZX Spectrum... and this isn't as good!

Hang on, is that Berserk? No, it's Robot Attack and completely different. Honest.

Limit Zero is absolutely superb and something you should play!!

ScarfMan? Okay, it's getting silly now...

Lunar Lander is a cracking conversion but too slow for an 8MHz ST to handle.

Frenetic

Core Blimey!

Those with a good memory may remember already seeing Frenetic here on AtariCrypt about five years ago? However, my review was, ahem, less than favourable. If I remember correctly, the graphics were nice and I thought the gameplay was well-balanced. Yet, I oddly rated it as nothing more than a cheap & nasty Amiga port. Well, that was a long time ago and I figured that I needed to revisit Core's vertically-scrolling shoot 'em up. Let's see if I was wrong back then.

Frenetic transports us slap-bang into the 23rd Century with soulless scientists still debating over the possibility of extraterrestrial life. Well, as often happens in the world of sci-fi gaming, life on Earth is under attack from such creatures. It had to happen! This time it's aliens from the planet "Mozone". Hmm, anyhow we have to head into the unknown to pave the way for the safe travel of Earth's vessels and help prevent the extinction of humanity. Sounds like fun, right?

Before we begin, how about a screenshot? Yeah, let's do just that so here you go...

Giant trees and rocks throughout level one and it's pretty much green throughout!

Big levels, Big Guns, Big Monsters

There are eight ginormous levels stuffed with hundreds of aliens out for human blood. Some will stroll into your line of fire whereas others swirl majestically onto the screen. So, it's obvious what to do - bang on the fire button and kill as many as possible. Power-ups are available along the way to upgrade your ship's firepower. They are essential and blessed with different types of upgrades: forward firepower, speed, side armaments, shields, etc. Sadly, these pick ups areas are few, so I was often left vulnerable and underpowered after losing a life. Yes, power-ups are gone after dying.

Hang on a moment, do you have a friend sat idle? Well, there is a cool option for two-players which is brilliant and certainly comes in handy on those harder levels later on. Sadly, I have no friends... Sniff... boohoo...

Finally, each stage has the expected end-of-level boss and these are huge beasts. When I say huge I really do mean it. They will take lots of time and firepower to defeat, but most aren't really that difficult (beyond the time required to kill). Unless you have just lost your power-ups then you can expect that battle to last a long time... a very long time!

Let's take a break from reading and view another screenshot. How about one that looks creepy and very alien...

Later levels might look funky but the gameplay remains exactly the same!

Aesthetics

The backgrounds are excellent on most levels, especially the first with tons of colour and artwork I really liked. The enemies move spritely with different attack patterns and the bosses are ginormous creatures taking up most of the screen. The vertical scrolling isn't great which is disappointing because the Atari ST has many similar games with smoother framerates. In fact, I'd say that the graphics look better in these screenshots compared to when actually playing.

The music is by Martin Walker and is brilliant - I love it!! Not only that, but it works well alongside the sound effects too I thought. Sadly, that same tune plays throughout which is incredibly disappointing and a massive shame because Martin's one-track is quite excellent. We needed more as I know I would have enjoyed listening to more of his work.

So, it looks pretty and sounds great so let's celebrate with one final screenshot of a funky boss...

Some of the bosses are great and some are... rather rubbish!

The CryptO'pinion?

Well, in hindsight, it looks like I wasn't wrong after all? At best, this is an average shoot 'em up but, if you can find a friend, then it will be a little more bearable. Well, for a few games anyhow. Frenetic needed more progression, more power-ups, and more pizzazz. It's boring. So boot up something like Xenon II, Wings Of Death, SWIV, or Flying Shark.

What I liked: the first couple of levels have well-balanced gameplay and I even reached the third stage - without cheating believe it or not! However, the best feature of all is the two-player mode which is fantastic and certainly helps to (partially) compensate for the things I am now about to moan about.

What I didn't like: the power-ups are needed to defeat the bosses but these are lost after losing a life and new pick-ups are very scarce. Each level is a long slog without variety, excitement or progression and the repetative tune becomes irritating. Basically, I'm getting a nasty whiff of a cheap Amiga port.

Reading this back, I feel that I'm being too harsh? Or perhaps I'm in a bad mood today? Okay, am I wrong? Is this a great shoot 'em up and I'm talking nonsense? Feel free to let me know what you guys think in the comments below.

Atarilegend has loads of floppy menu disks and D-Bug has the best version for a hard drive.

Rob & Lee, coder and artist for Frenetic. Gee whiz thanks, guys. It's a lame ending screen too!

Yet Another Atari RAM Test

Have you got a spare couple of hours?

It's been yonks since I posted anything in our Software sections so here is a Ram utility that I think is the bee's knees. Yet Another Atari RAM Test, by Christian Zietz, rolls through a number of intense tests that execute in-depth algorithms to help diagnose potential problems with our beloved Atari computers. Let's hope it finds nothing!

I won't pretend to understand the technical wizardry but I love finding utilities like this. I want my ST healthy so, I've had it running for what feels like a lifetime and it's still not (yet) found any errors. This is excellent news but, I'm thinking that this program could be helpful to anyone experiencing weird anomalies or peculiar crashes?

Yes, I enjoy finding nifty programs like this lurking in the ST archives and I hope YAART proves helpful if you're suffering from any hardware problems? The download comes ready to support the ST/STe/TT/Falcon but take a moment to read the text file and also try to boot cleanly with as much spare Ram as possible (read YAART.TXT)

I hope you guys have healthy Atari computers? Let me know in the comments below. Good luck!!