Cannon Fodder [Atari STe update]

Ugh, another lame Amiga port

Cannon Fodder should have been far better for the Atari ST. Alas, it was a rushed, lame-ass port. However, cry no more tears for Peter Putnik has upgraded the game to support audio playback of 25KHz digital music - yes, during gameplay. This is making use of the DMA audio hardware lurking inside the Atari STe, and (because it's a coprocessor) there is no CPU usage. Thus, zero impact on the game's performance whatsoever.

Storage requirements are too much for a floppy! So an Ultrasatan or other hard drive device is needed to store the music - this can be anything - instructions are included on how to use convert something from your library. It's dead easy to do using Audacity. Click on my teaser video, above...

What an incredible upgrade! It's something else to experience the game with real music blasting out from your speakers. However, I'm gutted that our lame-ass Cannon Fodder is a pile of rubbish with flick-screen scrolling. Sensible Software should be ashamed of themselves for releasing such a terrible port.

I hope Peter uses this technology again for other Atari ST games. The possibilities are endless!!

U P D A T E

After all these years, we now have a decent version. Yes, with scrolling!!

https://ataricrypt.blogspot.com/2026/03/cannon-fodder-wip.html

Tomtar

Tom...what?

Tomtar is a shooter released in 1993 for the Atari STe by UTEN (NewCore, XiA, Toxic Twins & Unit 17). A "tomtar" is a gnome, and they breed like bacteria, so they will eventually take over the world unless something is done! We asked the Grim Reaper for help, but there are too many for him to handle, so we needed divine intervention - in the form of a machine gun!! Yep, we all know where this is going, so let's lock and load to help the mythical Reaper destroy the Tomtars in what I can only describe as the craziest 5 minutes of your life.

In the right corner of the screen is an Orch - kill it to advance to the next level. Use the mouse to shoot, but beware, this isn't going to be easy, because these little critters can walk, run, bounce, and fly across the screen. Controls work well with the mouse, but I would have preferred the right button to perform another function like throwing a grenade; this would have been superb... The gameplay becomes frantic and chaotic the further you progress, but I must admit that it's a shame the spooky backdrop doesn't change.

A stupid game that offers nothing more than a maddening few minutes blasting Tomtars. It's brilliant (esp using real hardware) for a few plays. Grab it from Demozoo (which also has a cut-down FM version).

My high scores are:

78,250 (under emulation)

94,740 (using my Atari STe).

What are yours? Can you beat me?? Didn't think so...

SNDH Players

Chipmusic

I love listening to SNDH chiptunes on my Atari STe, but it recently occurred to me that many didn't understand which player to use. Here are four fantastic Atari ST/e GEM programs to play your toons.

There could be more lurking within the archives, but these are the four I enjoy using for different reasons. The last one I usually use when I'm writing on my Mac! My greetings and all credit to the people who made these superb programs. Okay, all links are included, and I hope you find something here you enjoy...

~~ JAM ~~

Quite possibly the most well-known of all the players and deservedly so because it's brilliant with a modular design to handle a wide variety of file formats. It sounds great but looks rather plain jane. Thankfully, there is also a version which doesn't use GEM and is far prettier. (download)

JAM never ceases to impress with massive versitility and capability.

~~ SND Player ~~

It might look ugly in the 4-colour medium resolution but I like this program and it sounds just dandy. I found this to be a reliable player and it looks best in Low/High resolutions. (download)

I love using SND_Play and it's such a sexy looker in ST High. 

~~ GEMPlay ~~

is a "Lite" version of YesCREW's Falcon player. Some features are removed because the ST/e has no DSP Processor but it plays SNDH tunes perfectly fine. It's another program that proves how ugly ST Medium is so I recommend Low/High resolution! (download)

Once again, another beauty that plays your tunes perfectly. 

~~ KrapSNDH ~~

Such simplicity. Set it up as an Application for the .snd file format within GEM. Now double-click any sound file for instant play. No fancy interface but it's fast and a great player! (download)

Ignore the look. This is simple and works like a dream. So fast, I use it all the time.

Flip-O-Demo

Flip Flop Demo

I'm starting my weekend with the exquisite Flip-O-Demo by Oxygene/Diamond Design because it's been updated to support hard drive installation. Originally, it was released in 1993 and contains some of the best artwork and visual fx you could imagine - all whilst playing lovely audio by one of my favourite musicians.

Flip-O-Demo is certainly one of the best examples of Atari ST creativity. Grab it from Demozoo.

Credits
Jess - Music
Leonard - Code
MoN - Graphics
Niko - Graphics
Oxbab - Code
Scavenger - Music
Spiral - Graphics
Wilfried - Graphics

Goldrunner

Fuzzy speech, be gone!

I love Gold Runner; it's a technical masterpiece by legend, Steve Bak. He proved that when in the hands of a talented programmer, the Atari ST is more than capable of producing wondrous results. Other (lame) people would whine and complain, but Mr. Bak got the job done. Perfectly every time, I might add.

Honest time, I'm terrible at this ultra-fast-paced shoot 'em up (shock!!). Plus, I was never fond of that dreaded fuzzy speech. It was fine back in the day and is humorously entertaining, but it soon wears thin and distracts during gameplay. Perhaps I'm old and grumpy, but I've never really liked it. Sorry!

Good news: Peter Putnik has updated Goldrunner for hard drive installation and an option to disable the speech!! All you gotta do is press the F3 key, so clickety-click and download this update to the ST classic.