The beST Game Ever

There can be only one

I hate questions like, "What's your favourite game". An impossible question to answer because it doesn't take into consideration the genre or even my mood at that moment. Plus my answer changes daily! However, people still ask me which is understandable but also quite infuriating. Or am I in a grumpy mood?!!

Possibly!! Yet I'm actually wondering what is my favourite Atari ST game! We have a ginormous library so how can I answer? Here goes: I'm ignoring ratings. I'm ignoring genre. I'm ignoring my mood. I'm ignoring everything to make this the most pointless article ever. Wait, it's wrong to pick Dungeon Master, right?

NO!! I cannot choose that because it's the game everyone automatically plumps for. Rightly so, but...

Anyhow, what about Defender of the Crown? What about Stardust? What about Rogue? Then there is Prince Of Persia, Gauntlet II, Joust, Magic Boy, Borodino, Zero-5, Stunt Car Racer, Speedball, Populous, Golden Axe, Time Bandit, The Secret Of Monkey Island, Death Chase, The Pawn, Rick Dangerous, Hostages, Kult, Resolution 101, Stormlord, Midwinter, Hunter, Legends Of Valour, Carrier Command, Mr Do! Run Run, Captain Blood, North & South, Starglider, Oids, Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters, Turrican, and Out Run.

The list goes on and on and on... (I was joking about Out Run!)

So, with my back against the wall and a loaded gun held against my empty head, the dreaded question is asked. It demands an answer. I'm starting to sweat. What game might come out trumps? Well, after great thought (honest) I've made my decision - knowing full well this is a pointless venture that makes no sense.

Nobody will read this rubbish website so I'm perfectly safe from ridicule.

I've done it and picked the best Atari ST game.

Do you wanna know what it is? Really, are you that bored? Right, scroll on...

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The CryptO'pinion?

I have picked Domark's Shadowlands as the best Atari ST game. Not only was it ahead of its time but created, designed and produced to near perfection. It offers the player a fascinating, atmospheric, and captivating world to explore. What, you completely disagree with me? Well, there's a shocker!! Am I really that wrong?

I don't care :p but click the above link to read my review? Hang on, can I change my mind? lol

Yes, this was silly and a pointless waste of our time. Regardless, if you had a gun held to your head and forced to make that dreaded decision - what Atari ST game would you choose? It can be absolutely anything at all except Dungeon Master. I'm eager to hear your thoughts so let me know in the comments below. STay Atari.

Downloads for: Floppy Disks | Hard Drive

The title screen is superb and nicely animated too, which this screenshot fails to show!

The opening level outside is quite lame but don't enter the dungeon without looking around first...

Once inside, the game perfectly introduces you to the lighting, puzzles, and monsters.

The first baddie is this fella but, don't worry because he's really easy to kill.

Another baddie and some pick-ups too. Hang on, is that a key I see?

Replaying this game again, from scratch, is proving to be fantastic. What an adventure!!

Make sure you read the manual. There are more than enough helpful hints to get you started.

Worm

I got worms!

Every so often, I come upon something so ridiculous it's weirdly enjoyable. Well, today I found an absurd game called Worm which I can imagine was made for kids. Oddly enough, the big kid within me still found it very amusing. Worm was developed by Craig Graham of Data Uncertain Software and is a public domain release (shocker). The title screen says it was released in 1991 but the game files are time-stamped 1989 on my floppy disk so who knows... Maybe a default?

The story is, we're a worm called Ooey Gooey who is on a mission to save the world from an unnatural disaster. Yep, we have been invaded once again by monsters that threaten our very existence. These nasty creatures have they've taken all the worm's eggs so it's our job to rescue those before it's too late (hey, do worms actually lay eggs?).

Wow, I've just googled it and worms do indeed lay eggs!! On that note, I think we better see some screenshots...

The title screen oozes a professional presentation easily on par with the Bitmaps ;)

There is a designer used to create your own levels. Look what I've started making...Hmm!

Let's play

There are 25 whacky levels and each is displayed side-on like many platformers. Using the joystick, Ooey can crawl along the ground, ledges, and other objects looking for eggs. This isn't exactly mind-blowing but there are some located in high areas and worms cannot fly so how can we grab 'em? Well, it's a good job Ooey has a hidden gadget - a helicopter pack! This is actually pretty cool and he uses it to reach those dizzy heights no worm was ever designed to see.

Don't be too quick to rush off and collect the eggs because there are other items for points and helicopter fuel. Also, there are power-ups like extra lives, invulnerability, and ice - used to freeze both enemies and everything else. Once all the eggs are collected, we are automatically whisked onto the next room to repeat the task on a slightly tougher level.

Interestingly, the main menu has a scroller but it's incredibly lame!! However, it does mention about a possible cheat code "Craig Loves Andrea". Perhaps it's for the high score table or maybe a key combo? I didn't have any luck but YMMV. If anyone's still reading this review, then let me know in the comments below.

And that's about all there is to this bizarre game. It's dead simple to play and quite enjoyable in a terrible way...

Leave the title screen alone and you get to view the instructions.

The evil eyeball looks drunk!

The CryptO'pinion?

To be honest, there's not a whole lot to this game and its design feels very amateur with crude aesthetics. Weirdly, I actually found the concept humorous, and enough to warrant writing about it. I really admire what Craig was trying to achieve but sadly, the sprites are far too big and this also comes with a bunch of truly dreadful collision detection too.

Sadly, this spoilt what might have been a silly and childishly enjoyable game. Regardless, it's worth downloading especially if you have kids - who might need punishing for spending all your money and ruining your life. Whaaaat?

You can find this game and lots more over at Exxos' excellent Floppyshop archive (GAM-3341)

17BIT

Disk Magazine #6

The ST is fast approaching its 40th birthday yet this old computer still manages to surprise me with something new. Recently, I rescued a floppy disk by Seventeen Bit Software called "Disk Magazine". It's labelled Membership 5000 which seems a little dubious being such a high number. Although I do wonder if that was the original owner's ID?

It appears 17BIT supported the ST for only about a year until late '89. They supplied commercial games for both the ST/Amiga platforms at a discount along with tons of public domain software too. Membership was required (free!) and that got you a regular disk magazine of which I found number #6. (cheers to Atarimania's Marko for all his help)

The disk boots to the GEM desktop with a hilarious wallpaper - are these the guys behind 17BIT? The contents are varied from utilities to a couple of Spectrum 512 images and also a megademo by XXX International. But the main reason was to advertise everything in their PD catalogue using a program by Andy Styles to browse through their stock.

I'm eager to find disks 1-5 along with anything else they produced. Sadly, I suspect the worst but I have hope that their other disks aren't lost in the void! If you know more or happen to have their disks laying about then get in touch. For now, at least no. 6 is safe because I've made a copy that you can download for either your Atari ST or emulator.

Wait! Before you go, check out these exciting photos and screenshots...

"That Bit Better Than The Rest", I really like their slogan!

This is where all the magic happens. Well...

QMOUSE is cool and I wonder how SPEEDDISK might perform?

One of the readme files. Gripped with excitement now, aren't ya?

XXX International Demo by XXX International (must have taken ages to choose the demo's title)

One of the Spectrum 512 images.

Their program allows you to slowly browse through everything they had in stock.