Horror Zombies From The Crypt

Bring out your dead!

I've always been fascinated by Astral's haunted-house platformer from all the way back in 1990. It's like a 16-bit B-Movie in its own right - full of charm with a comical edge hidden amongst the horrors. No haunting would be the same without lots of frightful creatures, which it has. There is everything from witches, zombies, werewolves, vampires, ghosts, and even the odd statue that sticks out its tongue at you.

We are Count Frederick Valdemar, whose once-peaceful home has been overrun by an army of undead creatures emerging from the surrounding grounds and ancient crypts: Zombies, vampires, ghouls and others stalk the mansion's halls, leaving Valdemar with no choice but to fight his way through the chaos.

Let's check out the first scary screenshot, so brace yourself...

The artwork is beautifully creepy, and I love the attention to detail - look at those eyes!!

Enter the haunted house!

Each level has a particular objective, which is described to us during a mini-intro at the start of the stage. The task is to hunt down and collect all the skulls and lay their souls to rest. That won't be easy because this is one tricky platformer using a maze of creepy screens that often contain infuriating traps to catch you out. This is no arcade-style platformer, more of a Fire and Brimstone, so keep your composure and wear your patient head, Worzel. And by that, I mean it starts easy but soon becomes very 'challenging'!

The first level introduces us to freaky horror with puzzle-solving, along with a variety of classic baddies: zombies, headless ghosts, and a Morticia Addams lookalike. The puzzles are easy and shouldn't tax the grey matter too much: move a table to reach an item, find keys to unlock doors, and wear cute booties to creep past something scary. Things heat up on the next level with tougher monsters and puzzles.

Level passes Wolfman, Hammer, Lugosi, Nosferatu & Garlic.

Every character is different and, I must admit to liking the wolfmen - but I hate the old hunchbacked witches who will drop rocks with surprising accuracy! Hint: look for hidden rooms leading to secret objects, different keys, and more. Every level has a password, so there is no need to restart from the beginning each time, which is excellent (I wish more games had this support. Yes, I'm talking to you, Navy SEALs!).

This game is tough and no pushover, so expect lots of comical deaths. Like this one right here...

Oh no, a skeleton with a bow!!! Gets me every time...

Aesthetics

The visuals are perfectly apt for the 1950s cinematic theme with smooth scrolling, spooky artwork, and freaky characters. The horror aspect is cheesy, and I love it. Everything you see is superbly animated - like when you die and see yourself shudder before violently suffering a Scanners-like headache (no matter the cause). I'm impressed with the palette; each level looks tremendous with super attention to detail.

The audio is nothing short of incredible, with a chippy rendition of Montagues and Capulets (I'm sure I'll be humming that all day long). The sound effects are high-quality samples, with the wolf howls being my favourite. However, I'm disappointed there is nothing for my head-exploding deaths? That's weird!

Sound and vision are almost perfect in every respect! So let's look at an evil witch with her pet wolf...

I hate it when the old witch drops objects on my head!

The CryptO'pinion?

This is one of those games that will eat away your spare hours, but it requires practice and a lot of it. In fact, it's often infuriating on the later levels, just try Family Chapel if you don't believe me. Oh, and Horror Zombies From The [Atari]Crypt is the perfect title for such a cheesy platformer. See what I did there? heh

Yes, I wish it were easier on some screens, but I'll never get bored with killing wolfmen and zombies. Those piercing glares of a vampire are tremendously scary! Overall, this is a great platformer with good puzzles throughout a landscape of cruel design. As with Fire & Brimstone, it's tough but excellent.

The HDD version can be found on D-Bug

Floppies can be found at Atari Legend

River Raid for Mega STe

Thank you, Carol Shaw!

I fancied a blast with a favourite ZX Spectrum game - RIVER RAID!! Okay, I know it's lame compared to the Atari 2600/5200 games, but I have happy memories. I figured I should use the Mega STe muscle and boot up the Speccy emulator for some colour-clash action (There was never an official Atari ST version).

Obviously, I cannot record directly off my Mega STe, so I duplicated the setup in Hatari to make this video: a stock 16MHz Mega STe (TOS 2.06) runs the game well. It's almost as fast as a real Speccy. Hey, could my recording fool people into thinking it is real? Until they see the GEM desktop at the end!!

If you wanna emulate more computers on your Atari ST, then check out this section of my website.

Biomechanoid Locomotion

I spent time last night listening to many tunes from the SNDH Archive. Biomechanoid Locomotion, by Shinobi (aka Marcus Andre Rousseau) was my fave of the night, so click the green arrow to hear it :-)

Turn up the volume and use these programs to play everything from this amazing archive. 🎧

Pole Position

The arcade is within your Atari STe

Pole Position is a classic arcade racer from a time when the computing world was youthful and fresh. I played it on the Atari 2600 at a friend's house, but I mostly played the ZX Spectrum version. The Atari ST has a raft of great driving games, but sadly, it never received an official port of this old favourite. Until now.

Official might be the wrong term to use, but don't get your knickers in a twist. A brand new version has been developed by Jonathan Thomas, who reverse-engineered it from the arcade machine itself. He has also implemented many cool features, using real-time sprite scaling, DMA sounds, and more.

Pole Position places you behind the wheel of a high-performance Formula One car on the most demanding circuits. It's tough to master, and it starts with a qualifying lap to earn your place on the grid. Your ultimate goal is to master each circuit and avoid collisions while becoming the king of the road.

The requirements are 1MB RAM, a joystick, and an appreciation of what is nothing less than a brilliant racer. It's quite surreal to have such an iconic arcade racer on the ST. Upon first booting up, I got a giddy feeling at having a phantom arcade machine in the house. Hey, no need to find any 10-pence coins!

I should break for the first screenshot, and I love it for obvious reasons...

I'm feeling like a kid in a Blackpool arcade, spending all my pocket money!!

Yes, put your money away!

It's not an overstatement to say this is authentic, as it even features the same (ripped) visuals and sonix I fondly remember. Now, if you're looking at the screenshots and wondering why the gaming display is narrow, then blame Namco because it's all down to the arcade's vertical monitor. The Atari STe was meant for a different display, so it isn't the same ratio. It merely attempts to replicate the slim ratio.

Playing is tough, and initially, I was all over the road. Slipping and sliding into cars or skidding off into roadside objects. In fact, it felt like I was purposely trying to hit everything - and doing a great job of it!! Ideally, I need a wheel, but stick with it, put aside half an hour to master the controls. The corners are a killer!

Success comes from learning each circuit’s layout, braking early for tighter bends, and avoiding the temptation to accelerate flat-out into every corner. Smooth steering is essential, as overcorrecting can easily send your car skidding into barriers or rival racers. During qualifying, focus on clean laps to secure a strong grid position; then, in the race, watch for traffic ahead, and plan overtakes carefully. Practice is key here!

We don't need a boring screenshot. So, how about an animation instead...

The actual framerate is twice as good as you can see in my capture here.

The gory details

The latest release candidate has major improvements and delivers near arcade-busting gameplay:

• 60 fps framerate to bring the speed and difficulty into correct alignment with the arcade machine. Can you keep up with that speed?
• You can thank the Blitter Chip for whizzing the graphics so fast and furious. If only more games had used this fascinating chip!
• Sprite scaling is utilised for ultra-smooth results. Check out that road zooming up close, so impressive.
• Even good 'ol Mount Fuji is displayed in all its glory!
• The sky gradient is back, along with numerous glitches fixed, and it looks very nice using a good flow pattern.
• The sound effects are taken from the arcade game using the DMA coprocessor. Doesn't get any better than that - gorgeous!
• Code compiled with GCC 7.1 for a significant performance increase. Sounds good to me, but what would I know about programming!
• Many new optimisations, primarily focused on text rendering for authenticity.
• Emulation is fine, but it's BEST played using a real Atari. By far.

If only those tyres would look like they're rotating (come on, Jon) :-)

The CryptO'pinion?

It's impressive to think that here we are in 2017 with a version of Pole Position that's been reverse-engineered from the arcade machine. Everything looks, sounds, and feels like we remember, with only a couple of missing features: the animated tyres are nothing more than a bit of a colour wobble (needs fixing)

Pole Position is very addictive, a cracking arcade port making use of the Atari STe hardware: I love its framerate, audio, and authenticity. Possibly one of the toughest racers, but it certainly keeps dragging you back for more - kicking and screaming!! Pole Position is nothing less than a spectacular arcade racer.

What are you waiting for? Come on and play this outstanding racer!! (Download from AtariMania).