Whitewater Madness

I've rescued a game!

Whitewater Madness was under development in 1989 by Scott Williamson and Ed Schneider for Atari. With great faith, it was specifically designed for the new Atari STe (possibly one of the first games to utilise the enhanced hardware). The game was finished but never released, which is disappointing, to say the least.

This is a shoot 'em up taking place on a river; imagine what would happen if you took Toobin' and then slapped in a dollop of River Raid's violence. You will have Whitewater Madness, a vertically scrolling shooter that has us sailing down a bizarre stretch of water through space and time like Dr Who.

In Atari's wisdom, they decided not to bother releasing it. It was left gathering dust in the halls of the forgotten. I love Atari for giving us the ST/STe computers, but their marketing skills tested our patience! Well, cheer up, I have a treat for you - the full and finished version of Whitewater Madness to download and play for yourself. That's right, the disks have been found, and I've been given precious copies - by the developer!!

Note, for years there has been a demo version available to download. Do not bother with that. It's a lame, and very old beta, which plays nothing like this final release you will find today on AtariCrypt.

Are you excited? I know I am, so let's see a screenshot and find out more about this game...

The controls are superb, but you can also use the rapids for additional effect.

A Toobin' River Raid?

We sail a magical river in our little Pod to search for green energy cells. Collect them to raise your Warp Energy levels to maximum capacity - so we can travel further through time. If successful, we are presented with an information screen telling us how good (or bad) we did. However, if you failed to collect the required amount, then you're sent back to the start again to do it all over again. (I saw that a lot)

Our dinghy is equipped with a rapid-firing mounted gun! This is a good job because we are under a constant onslaught of hazards and weird creatures. Avoid dangers such as rocky rapids, mines, artillery, and other crazy stuff like kamikaze dinosaurs - who love to leap from the shores. It's absolutely insane!! There are lots causing mayhem: cavemen, something that resembles a pterodactyl, a giant turtle, and centaurs.

The controls are dead easy to get to grips with - and superbly responsive. I love the directional method that works for fast and efficient guidance down our insane river raid. Picking up green "L" pills will recharge the Pod and stop it from going BOOM, but these are few, so collect as many as possible - quickly.

Let's take a break to check out another screenshot from this crazy Toobin...

Those rapids are ace, but watch out for the nasties - like kamikaze dinosaurs!

An Atari STe game that never was!

Old gamers (me!) will love the graphics that are kinda 8-bit. It feels like something you'd expect of a console because of its traditional palette and dinky sprites. They are small, with little animation, but nicely detailed. With one exception, a hostile kamikaze dinosaur that loves to leap from the shores!!

Scott informed me the Blitter co-processor was used to handle the visuals. And it shows with brisk movements that keeps up perfectly with the player and the hectic action without any trouble.

The sound effects are nice with lots of shooting, explosions, and more. The DMA coprocessor is used and is super-duper. However, I must admit to being disappointed with the title music because it sounds like it's using low-frequency samples and is "STFM" in quality. A bit odd considering what the STe is capable of.

Fancy another screenshot? Of course, you do so, here you go...

Watch out for dinosaurs, mines, birds, riverside cavemen, and lots more!

The CryptO'pinion?

Whitewater Madness has the hallmarks of a fantastic arcade game and is something I'd expect to see on an Atari console. I love the frantic Toobin-style action, which is perfectly balanced yet challenging without feeling impossible. There's much going on, and I think this is an exciting arcade shooter.

Why Atari didn't release this is unbelievable! It's a great game, so it sails into the seas of retro gaming gold!! It's simple, it's fun, and it's now available to download after being 'lost' for decades. That alone makes it special, so enjoy what would have been one of the first Atari STe games. A delightful arcade game!!

Download the official disk images

(with source code) kindly supplied by Scott.

Street Fighter II

Another unfinished game

The ST world constantly amazes me. Just when you think you've seen it all, a "new" version of Street Fighter pops up and slapped me in the face!! Yep, I'd never heard of this before! Where have I been?

Anyhow, this was developed for the Atari STe by Patrice Mandin (the guy behind Doom and more). However, it's incomplete and without colours (although it is running in ST low). Regardless, as is, it's fast and responsive because of the Blitter, hardware scrolling, and DMA sounds. It's actually very, very playable!

Sadly, Patrice stopped development, so he left his project in limbo - possibly waiting for another techie to pick up the gauntlet. Great progress has already been achieved, and the source code is included. After all this time, it's sad that nobody from the scene has attempted to finish this incredible "beta".

Give it a whirl, and download Street Fighter for the Atari STe. Prepare thy jaw to drop!!

Wowy by Tomchi

Chiptune Saturday!

I've listened to an amazing tune called Wowy, by Tomchi (played using JAM), and had to record it. Absolutely superb!!! So, kick off your weekend in style and download this chiptune for your Atari STe!! 🎧

Mystical

The French have their own unique style of humour!

Infogrames has once again delivered something truly unique and special. In Mystical, players embark on a magical adventure, battling bizarre creatures. As a novice magician under the tutelage of the Grand Wizard, he's eager to learn but quick to make silly mistakes like losing precious scrolls and phials. Now, he must travel to parallel worlds to retrieve them. Prepare for the most unexpected journey of your life!

Our quest will take us into strange places to battle against wacky characters: Buzzards, shepherds, faithless Monks, reptiles, sea creatures, farmers, little girls, Vikings, walking trees, and more. Most will throw something at you or chase you. Sounds mad, right? It certainly is, and I'm sure everyone will love its silliness.

I cannot continue without showing screenshots of just how unique this game is...

I must say, the palettes used are pastel-perfect, and with lovely artistic tones too.

The characters you meet are... different! What a weird game this is.

Magically weird

The big man has granted permission to use his magic. This means the ability to cast spells that provide unique ways to dispose of our foes. For example, the ring of fire scorches anyone who dares to get too close, whereas the blue ring deflects enemy attacks. Another will open up the ground to swallow our victims, which is superb. Possibly the best of all is shouting "Boo" to shoo off anything nasty. Seriously!!

As you collect them, a spell activates immediately, but if you are quick, slap that Spacebar to stockpile it for later use - in combination with the Return key. Yes, it's a cumbersome design, but it works well if ever you're struggling. Each level ends when you reach the pentagram for a battle with an end-of-level boss - the first throws babies at you! Once defeated, a large sphere appears and whisks you off to the next level.

I'm sure you're thinking this is weird. And you're right, it is!! But it's brilliantly weird...

Collect the funky power-ups and use all magic spells to the best of your ability!

I'm tripping out here, but three blue dudes appear and cause me trouble.

Aesthetics!

The visuals are gorgeous with smooth scrolling across beautiful landscapes. All use an impressive and pleasing palette, I might add. However, it's the tremendous quantity and quality of the characters that steal the limelight. Never have I seen such gorgeous sprites with humour and detailed animation.

I must take off my hat and commend Olivier Roge and Jocelyn Valais for such amazing work. Take a look at these screenshots and tell me you're not impressed by the sprites and even the artwork as a whole? Possibly one of the best examples of 16-bit pixel art I've seen in a game.

The audio is a mixed bag. The sound effects are ace, using samples for each character and other things like the spells. All great, and I adore the "Bla Bla Bla", which reminded me of the speech in Donkey Island. Sadly, the title music is awful, and I can’t understand why they used low-quality samples over a chiptune.

Fancy another screenshot? What about silly faces to start off...

Hey, what's that? I've got a doppelganger to help me out.

Who are those people in the cages? Enemies, so don't help them!!

The CryptO'pinion?

Mystical is a generic shoot 'em up, albeit with cool power-ups and humour. (I never knew the French had a sense of humour? heh). Unfortunately, it’s repetitive, and the end-of-level bosses are frustrating. Regardless, it’s clear that a lot of time and effort went into Mystical’s production. I thoroughly enjoyed playing it, and I’m sure most gamers will appreciate its distinctive style and personality. A rather silly game you're gonna love!

Grab a magic wand and help our magician out?

Download for floppy or a hard drive.

Hard 'n' Heavy

Looks familiar...

Hard 'n' Heavy follows on from Giana Sisters in true fashion with more Mario-esque levels to run and jump through. The official commercial release was poor with awful flip-screen scrolling that ultimately ruined what might have been a great conversion. Sure, flip might work well with some platformers, for example, Jet Set Willy, which would have been horrendous with scrolling. Just imagine... but Hard 'n' Heavy needs scrolling!!

That's where the bad lesson ends and the good news begins as Peter Putnik has developed a version that features smooth-as-silk scrolling thanks to the use of the Blitter lurking inside every Atari STe. And also most other earlier models (incl. later STFM models which had a Blitter or at least a hungry socket).

Hard 'n' Heavy obviously looks and feels similar to Giana Sisters, so if you didn't like that game, then you may as well start looking elsewhere right now. Interestingly, the physics exaggerate the Giana experience to feel more like we're floating, and this took me a few goes to master. It's pretty surreal. Okay, there are 25 levels of shooting the baddies, destroying blocks to find all the bonuses, and even access to hidden levels - if you can. Also available is an incredible two-player feature, with various game types.

This is superb, and I'm sure a Giana Sisters fan will love what is more of the same with a few extra bells and whistles. Peter has done well to transform that pathetic commercial game into something it should have been all along. Make sure you play it on a real computer to experience the silky-smooth movement.

I prefer Giana Sisters, but this Hard & Heavy upgrade is downright marvellous. Highly recommended!!

- Download Hard 'n' Heavy -