Atari ST menu disks

Astonishing!

Menu Disks... I love them for the opportunity they gave us poor folk who couldn't afford to buy many games. I hate them for prematurely killing the Atari ST gaming scene. Whether they did or didn't is an argument that's been going on for years. It's up to you what to think but you cannot deny how great they are with their superb visuals, music, and scrollers. Like it or not, they are an essential part of Atari ST history.

Some disks are incredible, often by a kid in his bedroom who put commercial companies to shame with jaw-dropping effects. Most are by teams of talented hackers, musicians, artists, and distributors. I have many favourites I adore, like Dream Weavers, Automation, Fusion, Elite, Replicants, FOF, Cynix, D-Bug, FOFT, Zulu, Mad Vision, POV, Bad Brew Crew and more. Ahh, the list is almost endless!

Sadly, not many of us kept these floppies they are getting harder to find. Some have disappeared from existence, which is terrible. Thankfully, a website has taken up the challenge to preserve this part of Atari ST's history. It's called Stonish (now incorporated into Atari Legend) and is run by Bruno Mathieu.

I asked Bruno why Stonish and what he hopes to achieve:

"Stonish.net tries to collect all menu disks made on Atari ST. They are mainly games menus, but it will feature tools, demos and mod menus in the next months. The site provides more than 1600 disks at the moment (more to come). All disks have been tested and some of them have been repaired.

The goal is, of course, to provide a safe database for all disks, but not only. Some crews didn't spread very well their disks. A lot of compilations have been lost since the 80's. So we need to fill the gap: any help is welcome ;) This is the first of the website, which will probably evolve in the next months."

Many disks have now been rescued but there is still lots missing. Please, if you find anything lurking in your attic then consider donating. Stonish is a great website, doing great work, I wish them success!

STay Atari.

Moon Patrol

Luna road-tripping

Oh no, the moon is under attack from a legion of nasty aliens and it's our job to stop them! We've managed to find ourselves a cute Space 1999 buggy which appears to mostly drive itself. It even follows handy checkpoints to stop you from getting lost so dust off your spacesuit in anticipation of the Atari ST version of this amazing arcade classic.

With your foot always on the gas, you can only control the level of acceleration as you travel the terrain trying to avoid potholes and any obstacles. Moving the joystick left/right changes that acceleration and pushing up allows you to leap over the potholes. However, be careful because that requires precise timing because the wheels aren't too great at going over potholes. So the slightest missed jump causes the buggy to violently explode like something from a cartoon!!

It sounds silly, and it is, but isn't that what makes a lot of older games intriguing? Let's crack on...

Don't let the graphics put you off from playing what is nothing less than a beast!!

Simple mechanics yet still tough!

There are two difficulty modes, beginners and champions. As you can imagine, if you're new to Moon Patrol and wanna break yourself in gently, then choose beginners. This gradually introduces the game's twisted mechanics and alien monsters at a steady rate. Use this mode to learn joystick controls and the general feel of the game. It's cool.

However, the latter difficulty is much better and certainly offers a far more interesting alternative with many extra features, obstacles and enemies, etc. Here, the landscape is terribly hostile and made worse by even more invading aliens who frequently appear from all corners of your screen. It's manic but wait, don't run away there are weapons!!

Yep, banging on that fire button will simultaneously shoot two weapons: one at the top, is a machine gun firing upwards plus there is a front-mounted rocket launcher for the approaching enemies. So keep one eye on the road ahead and another on those pesky aliens. It's a lot harder than you might think so keep on firing and hope for the best!

Okay, it's screenshot time but why not use a different monitor? Check this out...

Hang on, there are mountains in the background with snow. Hmm, very odd... ;-)

Aesthetics

Graphics appear dated because they are. And that's exactly what you would expect from an 80s game. The decor is authentic with silky smooth scrolling supporting a three-layer parallax effect plus the buggy's animation is superb as it rumbles over the bumpy terrain. Don't forget, Moon Patrol also works in ST High (640x400) and looks gorgeous.

A funky chiptune bops away in the background which is oddly, very much excellent. It's foot-tappingly excellent in fact and I love it. This is accompanied by vintage bleeps for the sound effects to suit this classic game perfectly.

I love it when a game transports me back in time rather than trying to improve (ruin) it...

The checkpoint idea is great for a number of reasons plus it's fun breaking a record.

The CryptO'pinion?

Moon Patrol is an excellent conversion that offers a groovy step back in time to 1982. This is instantaneous fun and I love how its troublesome landscape combines the pothole hopping whilst frantically trying to shoot down the aliens. It's tough but very addictive so keep your eyes on the road otherwise - KABOOM! Instant moon junk!!

A faithful conversion of an arcade classic with rock-solid playability. Trust me, this is #retrogaming gold!!

Old Games Finder has access to all the floppy disks

8BitChip has a version for hard drive installation!

Strategy Wiki lists the many versions of Moon Patrol

Here is their walkthrough which I thought was pretty funny.

Atari 1040 STf

When eBay proves fruitful

I've bought an Atari ST and SM125 of eBay. However, both are in terrible condition! Very dirty with many battle scars and what looks like scorch marks near the power unit area. I took the chance and won the bid for a shocking 99 pence. Yep, less than one pound and that included the monitor as well :-)

Once home, I began the cleaning - it took a long time!! This old computer must have suffered fire damage at some point judging by the scorch marks inside. Also, it seems to have suffered more damage with several stickers from different repair companies. I hoovered around the floppy drive because of a soot-like sludge that looked like tar. Plus a thick bunch of spider webs covered the cables. Quite the toxic state!

After all that work, I'm happy to have this marvellous ST running! Plus the SM125 is a fantastic monitor. To think of its previous condition with the keyboard grime, burn marks, and all that weird thick sludge is gross. For once, eBay has produced a bargain and I'm glad to have rescued this beautiful old computer.

SysInfo reports it to be a 1040 STF with TOS 1.00 and 1MB RAM ...and all for 99 pence. Woop Woop!

Filthy on the outside but worse inside with a thick sludge and cobwebs!!

The old ST scrubbed up beautifully :-)