Onslaught

Medieval Box Art?

It’s time for another nostalgic trip down memory lane, and I actually remember lifting this off the shop shelves. Initially, I was drawn to the captivating medieval artwork, particularly the lush colours that contrasted sharply with the brutal warriors poised to slaughter their enemies. This artwork perfectly encapsulated the savage gameplay that awaited. A happy memory. If you’re feeling brave, open the box and dare to play...

Onslaught, programmed by Chris Hinsley of Custodian fame, is a horizontally scrolling hack-and-slash platformer. It’s an exciting game where we unleash massive explosions upon everything in sight, beautifully illuminating the colourful backdrops and grungy medieval scenery. The music perfectly complements the theme, accompanied by hearty sound samples for grunts, booms and metallic weapon clangs. It sounds as good as it looks!

Regardless of the gorgeous aesthetics, this is a challenging platformer that demands practice, so persevere - or die. It's not easy, but Onslaught is exceptional with its vibrant colours, loud effects and gameplay packed with brutal carnage. It’s one of my favourite Atari ST games, though I do use a (gulp) trainer.

Here are the best download links, and a few screenshots to tantalize your taste buds...

• Download the floppies from Atari Legend.
• A hard drive version is available over at 8BitChip.

Monster Business

The demoscene does it again?

Monster Business is a fun-themed platformer released in 1991 by Eclipse and produced by incredibly talented people you may recognise from the ST scene. As storylines go, this one is a Christmas cracker!!

Crazed "mad meanies" have been loosed from their forest habitat and are pinching items from Bob's construction site. You are Leroy, the Beast Buster, who must help Bob blow up these cheeky invaders. This might sound like diarrhoea, but we should still help Bob - we are the only beast buster in Tin Town. Yep.

Fancy looking at the first screenshot? Here ya' go then...

Each level is big and uses smooth vertical scrolling to hunt down the freaky monsters!

Olde gameplay and it works!

Each level follows a familiar Bounty Bob design of platforms, slippy slopes, and chasing monsters. Be careful; they kill with one touch, so I'm grateful that we carry an air pump weapon to inflate them for a bloated and cruel death. This is nothing short of hilarious; once they begin floating away, you can nudge them into oblivion, leaving behind their goodies. If you're lucky, they might drag along others for multiple killings.

The joystick controls are spritely, and I like how there are two jump heights - this depends on how long you push upwards. Repeatedly pressing the fire button activates the weapon to bloat the monsters, so I appreciated my autofire function. Two players are supported, but not for co-op, which would have been superb.

Okay, let's view the next screenshot, and this one has a fat chicken...

Blown the sucker up for a cruel, yet hilarious end to his life!

A pleasure for your eyes and ears!

Throughout, the graphics and backgrounds are nice, using good colours and great decor. The scrolling is ultra-smooth, but it's the sprites that shine the most: I dare anybody not to laugh when seeing a ginormous duck waddle across the screen. I loved their expressions & bloated deaths. This is hilarious pixel art.

The audio is immensely impressive with a superlative range of lovely chiptunes by Laurens Tummers, aka Lotus! The sound effects are also great, but even so, are completely overshadowed by the music!!

Yeah, it's gorgeous, alright, so let's see the final screenshot...

Taken from behind, check out his expression. This game is brilliant!!!

The CryptO'pinion?

Bloating animals is shockingly entertaining, and I guarantee you will enjoy hunting your prey. However, it's repetitive, which might reduce long-term enjoyment. I also thought the time limit was harsh. Monster Business is best with friends, and I promise that everyone will be giggling like school kids. A superb game!!

Monster Business can be downloaded for floppy & hard drive.

Pure Energy #42

Renewable Energy

I love this Menu Disk released by Pure Energy early in 1993. It has a gorgeous plasma whilst playing excellent chip music by Crawdaddy. The text might have a simplistic feel, but did you notice anything a little different? Look closer... Do you see now?? Pretty awesome, right? If you don't, leave a comment asking ;)

Anyhow, the disk also features Centipede, which is an incredible game.

Credits

B.F.G - Text

Crawdaddy - Music

Mick - Code