Atari 520 STFM Super Pack

I've had an idea

It's something that I've been thinking about for a while... Let me begin by saying my first Atari computer was the 520 STFM (shock) which came bundled with tons of games in the "Super Pack". I remember that Christmas well as my new computer was remarkable with its jaw-dropping speed, GEM desktop, many colours, and next-gen gameplay!!

Until that day, I'd only ever owned a ZX Spectrum so, booting up Xenon for the first time was a mind-blowing experience. Pure witchcraft!! Don't get me wrong, I loved my old Speccy but this was on another level!! So I figured it would be a fantastic idea to replay each of the bundled games and relive Christmas Day all over again.

The games

Arkanoid II Revenge of Doh, Beyond the Ice Palace, Black Lamp, Buggy Boy, Chopper X, Eddie Edwards Super Ski, Ikari Warriors, Marble Madness, Quadralien, Rana Rama, Return to Genesis, Road Wars, Seconds Out, Starquake, Summer Olympiad, Test Drive, Thrust, Thundercats, Wizball, Xenon, and Zynaps. Hey, there was even on Organiser ;)

Phew, 21 games!!! Most of these I haven't played since that first Christmas in 1988. So I'm very excited to see how well they have aged over the last three decades. Yes, I'm talking to you, Mr Eddie Edwards and your Super Ski skills!!

Are you excited? I know I am!

I'll begin my Super Pack journey alphabetically, starting with Imagine's breakout, Arkanoid: Revenge Of Doh. The last time I enjoyed a decent brick buster was Bolo a few years ago [a classic] so I hope this lives up to all my expectations.

Let our joyride through the Super Pack begin --> watch this space :)

---

Credits: My greetings to Róbert Tercsi and Marko Latvanen for their help.

Marble Madness

It's all balls!

Of all the games in this wonderful Super Pack collection, it is (ironically) Atari's own Marble Madness which I was looking forward to the least. I've never played the arcade original but I did have a number of clones back in my Sinclair ZX Spectrum days - and I hated every one of them!! So, we're off to a good start lol.

This ST conversion was programmed by Will Harvey, which shocked me. After all, this is the guy who gave us the excellent Zany Golf and The Immortal so my expectations were always going to be high.

To be honest, I find the whole Marble Madness concept pointless and frustrating. I've simply no patience to spend any amount of time on something that was obviously designed to torture people like me. However, I must keep an open mind and attack this game just as I would any other... Maybe I've been wrong all these years?

Yeah, not exactly off to a great start so let's take a break for a couple of screenshots...

The first level looks good but is a cheap imitation with missing decals

Level two introduces us to the enemy - a black ball that loves to play chase... Weird!

So what's it about?

The aim of Marble Madness is to navigate a ball through six isometric mazes that feature lots of tricks like moving platforms, vents and even "monsters" that zap you for valuable time loss. Yes, there's a timer so, the quicker you complete each screen, the more time you accumulate for the next. This idea is pretty cool and forces you to master each level the best you can. Or you could play coop head-to-head which I thought worked well.

The controls are awkward, so you will probably miss that trackerball? Sure, I've no trackball myself but I found the ST's mouse to be nothing less than useless as I wildly zipped about in every direction except the one I wanted. The joystick proved to be the better choice for diagonal movements and holding down fire delivers a burst of speed. This is good for climbing slopes or avoiding baddies - just try not to fall over the edge!

Sadly, the controls aren't without their quirks and sometimes it felt like my blue ball had a mind of its own: many times, I'd move one way only to see it go another! Plus there are bugs, lots of bugs: level two features an invisible wall that your ball can ignore and drop down into oblivion. Level three crashed on me twice!

Not going good, is it? Well, let's take another break for some more screenshots...

Okay, I've dodged two wibbly things... but... Oh no, there's another black ball about to chase!!

Those green blobs are slow and easy to beat. Hang on, what's that vent used for...?

Aesthetics

Graphically, I expected better from the ST. Just look at its title screen if you don't believe me - what were they thinking? The game resembles the arcade levels but feels rushed with many missing decals, bland colours, and weak shadows. It's rubbish compared to other isometric games I've enjoyed on my Atari ST.

The audio is quite poor. The sound effects barely resemble the original, and the music is irritating at best.

Yikes, I really am not enjoying this part of the Super Pack!! Screenshot time...

Level four has some of the most infuriating moments...

...the kind that has you screaming at the poor ST!!!!

The CryptO'pinion?

Okay, I know I have never liked Marble Madness - but - I have kept an open mind. Honestly, I've tried my best but time has not healed my wounds and it failed to deliver the slightest hint of enjoyment. Also, the ST appears to have received an incredibly lame conversion that feels rushed and riddled with silly bugs.

Hmm, a curious tidbit - was this the STs first-ever lame port?

Marble Madness is the weakest game in the Super Pack; it's worse than Chopper X so I think I'll be fine without booting it up again. It feels rushed and without the dedication the ST requires. I hated it with a passion!!

Those wishing to endure torture can download the floppies or a hard disk version.

Eddie Edward's Super Ski

Thick glasses and a funny face!

So far, my Super Pack adventure has been very strong with some huge titles: Arkanoid II Revenge of Doh, Beyond the Ice Palace, Black Lamp and Buggy Boy. All are searchable right here and all are sweet Atari ST classics. However, there's always an exception and that was Chopper X. But we'll say no more about that! Surely, things are gonna get better?

Well, the sixth game in the Atari Super Pack is Eddie Edward's Super Ski which is basically an "Eddie The Eagle-endorsed" version of Microids' Super Ski. Now, everyone (here in sunny England) admired our lovable sporting icon who was our plucky hero that certainly won over the entire nation's heart. Heck, he even got his name on an Atari ST game which is a gold medal moment in itself. Come on, far more impressive than the Calgary Winter Olympics. Oh yeah!

Hey, before we continue I think we should view a couple of wintery screenshots...

Okay, there's no music but the interface is clear and well-designed.

I like the ability to instantly jump into the action and play any of the games!

Oddly, I had a bit of trouble running this game on my own STe so I switched over to Hatari and configured that to emulate a basic STf (TOS 1.02). Also, (thanks to AtariMania) I had a good laugh reading the box cover which says: Fly like "the Eagle" on the Ski Jump!!

But is it any fun to play?

Super Ski is a 3D skiing simulator where we compete in slaloms, downhill racing and a ski jump. Each event is experienced from a third-person perspective to show Eddie in the thick of the action - which basically means we try our best to help keep him on course using our lightning-fast reactions. Which is harder than it sounds...

The races are fast. And I do mean fast! Chose three tracks that increase in their number of twists and turns for a chaotic experience. Controls are superb - move from side to side to steer through as you zoom down the snowy hills (press the fire button to move quicker). To increase your speed, push up, for an insane boost!

Competition mode supports multiple players using the Booking Office (which is a bit weird) to choose how many and their names. Now you can find out who can jump the best and ski the fastest without incurring too many penalties. You might even become a human snowball... Tell me that ain't the funniest thing you ever expected to see!

Okay, it's time to view some more screenshots so brace yourself for action...

If you can handle it, ride low for faster speeds.

I did and even finished without turning myself into a snowball!!

Oh, how I need the practice...

There is a training mode used to practice each of the four events before taking part in the competition. Using this is something I cannot recommend highly enough, because you will certainly need lots of practice:

The slalom games are fast so require quick reactions to safely navigate each of the progressively difficult tracks. The harder you go, the more winding the path and all whilst trying to hit through the gates. Wow, these races are insane - dare you hit UP to go even faster??

Ski Jump is simple and simply awesome. Sure, it's over within the blink of an eye compared to racing, but it's exciting to see Eddie fly like the eagle he was (ahem). I really enjoyed trying to get the speed and angel just right - now all you've gotta do is try and stop. If you can!

Downhill Racing is very similar to the slaloms and, I suppose, sports fans will hate me for saying that? However, I found it harder because I felt snowblinded due to the lack of colour and visual objects! It's fast, it's furious, it's racing so crouch down if you can handle the exhilerating pace.

This has got to be one of the best moments in gaming? I never expected to be Eddie The Snowball!!

Aesthetics

Graphically, I'm impressed by Super Ski which nicely presents an Olympic scene. Everything flows at a frightening pace and possibly too fast for my old eyes that desired less speed and more frames. We even have foolish spectators standing in dangerous places just waiting to be splattered. Actually, it's good that they're there because I'd probably go snowblind in this white world. But I shouldn't complain because this is brilliant for 1988.

Audio is less impressive with the YM2149 trying to make swooshy/sliding noises and penalty alerts. It's fine but could have been far better? Sadly, there are no chiptunes to bop along to, either in the menus or during play.

Looks great but sounds poor? Well, at least these screenshots show the best of the game...

Looks like the fans are enjoying it?

I wonder if I can entertain them as much as the real Eddie... Yup!

The CryptO'pinion?

You know me, sports games aren't really my bag, baby. I enjoy certain motorsports and even a few beat 'em ups, but I admit to being pretty much meh about athletics. Super Ski is fun but I am concerned about its lack of variety and felt we needed "more" to set apart the events - like a bobsleigh or even curling!! Of course, they're not exactly Eddie's chosen events, but this would have added a lot more to the game which feels quite restricted.

However, I will say that this skiing game really impressed me. The controls are perfectly responsive for each frantic event and the feeling of zooming downhill is a thrill - it's almost like a snowy version of Vroom! Also, the training mode is a Godsend to help brush up on your skills before foolishly jumping into a competition. Overall, Super Ski is great, especially when playing against family or friends - and we had a laugh!! And that's good enough for me - highly recommended.

This Eddie version of Super Ski was a tough find... Thankfully, AtariMania has the correct download.

Dave Rogers

Dave Rogers is one of my favourite musicians who I've enjoyed listening to over the decades. However, that's quite an odd statement when you consider his name is credited on only three Atari ST games (chip). Well, I don't care about quantity because I could never forget my first Atari ST Christmas when I booted up Zynaps and Rana Rama. What a magical moment in time it was hearing these tunes!!

So, with only three chiptunes under his belt, how could I possibly say that Dave Rogers holds this accolade? Easy, because quality reigns over quantity and I've never stopped enjoying his work for over 3 decades. So he must have done something right?

Okay, back when I was running with the Super Pack feature, I got the notion to contact Dave after reviewing the *legend* that is Zynaps - a fantastic and underrated shooter with a massive learning curve. Yep, it takes no prisoners but the rewards are great if you put the time into beating its cruel nature. Which is just what I did - check out my video (which features all Super Pack games).

Well, knock me sideways because Dave replied and kindly took the time to answer a few questions. It was interesting chatting with the guy I've admired for decades and, like me, he's a northern lad. Talk about win-win! My sincere thanks to Dave for taking the time to be interviewed and I'll try my best to forgive your Mac hatred ;-)

DAVE ROGERS - THE INTERVIEW

Tell us about yourself...

The first computer I wrote music for was the Amstrad, using the basic sound command in Locomotive Basic and later I used my own compilers and drivers. For Spectrum and Atari ST games, the music and sound were not written on the machines themselves but were written on the Amstrad and the data was ported across. So, for example, the ST version of Zynaps uses the same sound data as the Amstrad version with a different driver.

I worked entirely from home (I had no choice really, due to some health problems at the time). I never met any other programmers, or anyone in the software industry, apart from two local guys here in Liverpool - Colin Hogg, who later founded The Code Monkeys software house, and Paul Kenny, who worked with me on the Sega.


What hardware was used?

This is quite the list: ZX81 and extras, Amstrad CPC 464, Amstrad disc drive, Dragon32, Spectrum 48k, Spectrum +3, Atari ST, Atari monochrome monitor, Atari disc drive, Sega Megadrive, Gameboy, custom electronics to interface the latter two, PC. I have never owned or used a Commodore 64.

The music compilers, editors and sound drivers for the Amstrad and Spectrum were my own. The driver for the ST was a line-by-line conversion of the Spectrum driver, done by a programmer at Hewson because I was new to the Atari ST and the 68000 (I never found out who did the conversion). The first time I used MIDI was with Cubase on the ST. I very much enjoyed using that setup. The Atari monochrome monitor was very clear, and that early version of Cubase was very simple and intuitive, unlike the cluttered mess that it has evolved into today.

AtariCrypt · Ranarama

Hang on, did I hear you say MIDI?

I used that Atari setup for doing the Megadrive and Gameboy music (Universal Soldier, Centipede, etc). Everything was written on the Atari ST and tracks were auditioned using sounds from a Korg DW8000 keyboard and a Roland D110 rack module put through a home-made mixer. Then the MIDI stream was converted to data for the Megadrive or Gameboy. Voicings for the Sega's FM sound chip and the Gameboy's sound chip were also done on the ST, using editors and drivers designed by Colin Hogg and myself.


Living the rockstar lifestyle, eh?

Almost everything was composed on guitar, a Gibson SG, but not through an amp. I just played it in a very quiet living room, usually in the small hours of the night when I could think clearly. As the music gradually took shape on the guitar I typed in the notes and durations in the form of plain text into my compiler program.

One note at a time. On a 1 to 10 scale of tediousness, it was an 11.

In your interview with Jason C. Brooke, he describes what sounds like a similar method: giving each note a text label, like "c3" to mean C at the third octave. I think many of us came up with similar methods.

AtariCrypt · Zynaps

Who inspired you back then?

I can find something to like in almost all genres of music, and from all eras, but particular favourites include XTC, Genesis, Police, It Bites, and Nik Kershaw. I'm always looking around for new stuff, and I'm constantly amazed by the brilliant musicians that can be found on YouTube if you look a bit outside of the mainstream.

However, the music that I always go back to, time and again, is by Tony Banks, both within Genesis and his solo work. Such epic, elegant tracks as Afterglow, Burning Rope, Mad Man Moon. Coincidentally, one of Banks' lesser-known tracks, "Charm", appears to be a nod towards early chip music, including the distinctive sound of fast trills. "Tony Banks - The Fugitive - Charm" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGS9xzyp9go

Trills were often used by chip musicians to try and compensate for the severe limitation of having only 3 channels to play with. So if, for example, you had a melody line on channel 1 and wanted to accompany it with a 4 note chord, say Cm7, you could trill between C and G on channel 2, and between Eb and Bb on channel 3. It wasn't a proper chord of course, but by trilling rapidly, at say 25 Hz, it gave a reasonable impression of one.

The only musician I worked with was a friend, Paul Kenny, on the Sega titles. But maybe cross-platform conversions could be thought of as "working with" other musicians? In Ranarama for example, Steve Turner had written an excellent melody line for the Spectrum version of the game, so when I did the ST conversion I followed his melody closely, added an intro, added bass and harmonies, then made a completely new section to lengthen it.


Why only three Atari ST chiptunes?

Well, the ST work only started towards the end of my stint with Hewson. Before that, it was all Spectrum and Amstrad, and after that, it was Sega and Gameboy. So my time writing for the ST was pretty short. Another reason is that I tried to aim for originality. Anything that sounded too much like existing music was thrown away.

Also, there are three tunes that were never used. One of them was my first attempt at the title music for Stormlord, which Raffaele Cecco didn't like, so I had to write another. And I'm glad because the first one was awful!

AtariCrypt · Exolon

Looking back...

I'm quite happy with maybe about 70% of my work. Some of it has aged well with me, some has not. I'm still fond of Zynaps. However, a slight annoyance is that some YouTube videos contain glitches and spurious sounds. In this recording, for example, there's a horrible high pitched screech from 1:52 that wasn't in the original. The clean version for comparison can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkMe4vH7Zug


What's Dave Rogers doing these days?

I've never stopped writing music, but hardly any has been published, just these few on Soundcloud.

I'm currently using a PC (I hate MACs, sorry) running Cubase SX. I know that is out of date, but I'm comfortable with it. The software synths I'm using are similarly outdated, favourites being the Wavestation, Edirol Orchestra and some FM emulators. Inputs are from a Casio MG-510 Midi guitar, and occasionally an Edirol keyboard.

I think it's amazing that there is still so much interest in old computers and the games. Although maybe it's not all that surprising really, because they were a part of people's lives as they were growing up, and those sort of memories do tend to stick around. Anyway, I loved being involved in it, and contributing in some small way to the memories, and I really do appreciate the kind reviews and comments I've received over the years.

Cheers,
Dave Rogers, July 2020, Liverpool

Richard Davey

I'm always excited to meet people from the ST world, both past and present. I'm especially thrilled about this interview as it transported me back to the ST's later days, including my emulator years after migrating to the Apple Mac (PPC/1997).

So far, I've interviewed 16 incredible ST guys, which has been an absolute honour. So, let me present the 17th with great pleasure. Yep, it's Rich who you will know as the brains behind the Little Green Desktop! Not only that, but he's also the fella behind those cute visuals in Stario, a gorgeously cute (cough) Mario ripoff.

I found it interesting to discover his motives and passions for the Atari ST. He knows his games and favours some crackers too (do you remember me playing Color Clash?). Not only that, it was fascinating to discover how he came to love the demoscene and its culture. Hearing of his history concerning the MSX and Speccy +3 was fascinating. At least this lead the way to the mighty Atari ST and its Super Pack.

I found Richard kind and enthusiastic although I was shocked by his "modesty" regarding those pixel skills I admire so much. Especially when you consider the Calvin and Hobbes factor. My gratitude to Richard for his time and I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I have? Hey, after you've finished reading this, check out even more interviews?

Richard is featured within the Demozoo archives where you can view more of his excellent work.

 Richard Davey ~ The Interview 

Hello Richard, tell us all a bit about yourself

I was born in 1975 and for as long as I can remember, if we went around to friends or family and they had a computer or console. That would be me lost to the sirens' call of the devices :) We'd travel to the seaside on holiday, and I'd vanish into the arcades until my money was exhausted. Once it was so I'd just stand there mesmerized, watching others play. They were captivating to me in a way nothing else was.

To this day, I can remember visiting a friend who owned a BBC. He ran a program on it, which was an animated demo featuring dancing skeletons. They would take their heads off, roll them down their bony arms, and flick them back on again, all in time to music. I was enamoured that a computer could do this. I pestered my parents for a home computer. I didn't care which one. I just wanted one!

They relented and bought a Toshiba MSX. It had many wonderful games, including lots of Konami cartridges such as Antarctic Adventure, Hyper Rally, and Yie Ar Kung Fu. It also came with several books on BASIC programming, which I devoured. The first program I entered, I didn't realise you had to press RETURN at the end of each line, so I just moved the cursor down. Strangely enough, it didn't work :)

However, I didn't know any other kids who owned an MSX, and I was frustrated at being unable to swap games at school. So we "upgraded" to a Spectrum +3, with those crazy expensive disks. Of course, in retrospect, it wasn't an upgrade at all. The MSX is significantly more capable, with a great keyboard and some staggering games that load instantly thanks to the cartridge. The +3 was a technical step down, but the volume of games available to me exploded. Interestingly, MSX content is extremely collectable these days, with good-quality items going for hundreds! And I sold ours just to get a Speccy. Ahhh, the joy of hindsight.

It's a shame that no MSX photo was ever taken. At least we have a later capture with his Falcon!

Tell us about the years that followed

It was less than a year after getting the +3 when I started seeing the Atari ST appearing in anger in magazines like C+VG. To this day, I still remember the C+VG issue that had Xenon on the cover (issue 77, March 1988) and the screenshots inside of it. The graphics were like nothing I had ever seen before. A world apart from the Spectrum and even the MSX.

I knew I had to have one. I saved money from my paper rounds and odd jobs, and combined with a birthday, I took the bus into the city with my Mum one weekend, visited a large department store, and bought the Atari ST Super Pack. I carried it home on the bus, beaming from ear to ear. My life had changed forever.

The Super Pack came with a large bundle of games, including Xenon, Thundercats, Buggy Boy, and Ikari Warriors, all of which sucked-up hours of my life. It also came with a few real duffers like Chopper X and Road Wars! But even those were graphically way beyond the Spectrum I was used to.

Using a mouse was great, and I enjoyed the power of GEM and the loading speed from disk compared to tape. In August 1989, I bought issue 1 of ST Format, and the cover disk contained a demo of Bloodwych, GFA Basic, and what I thought was an amazing sampled sound demo: Stringray.

That, combined with menu disks from the likes of the Pompey Pirates, introduced me to the demoscene. It felt like the disks could hold so much content back then. In terms of actual bytes, of course, they couldn't, but if you look at it from the point of view of the variety of content you could fit on them, they were absolute gold mines.

Previously I had been all about playing games on the MSX and Spectrum, with a little artwork and coding - but the ST represented something different. A new computing era for me. Perhaps it was my age? Perhaps I was just mature enough to be able to explore the creative side of computing now? I was growing as a person, the ST was there, growing with me, showing me all of these great new avenues and communities I never even knew existed. And I dove head-first into it.

The power and versatility of the Atari ST must have been mindblowing at that time.
It eventually led to projects like Stario and many more throughout the 90s.

This is a games website, so what are your faves?

Like lots of gamers, I struggle to maintain a consistent list of favourites. Remembering one title sparks off the memory of another, and soon that list has grown beyond its original bounds. So instead, here are some games that sit very fondly in my mind for several different reasons:

• Buggy Boy - this came with my ST and I played it for hours! It's a superb racing game and one of those rare titles that I feel has aged well.
• Bloody Money - there's something addictive about this shooter. I think it's the slow pace, it's almost sedate in nature but dials up the challenge little by little.
• Turrican 2 - the raster sky effects! The music! The speed! That final level, when you're escaping the exploding thunderball in your spaceship! Just perfection.
• Dungeon Master - do I need a reason? It's Dungeon Master, for goodness sake!
• Oids - this game is sublime. A wonderful take on Thrust with a brilliant level editor and great animations. The way you can melt the poor oids with your thruster still makes me grin.
• Dynabusters+ - this PD game is a brilliant take on Bomberman with great sampled sounds.
• Flood - this sits alongside Captain Dynamo as one of those often overlooked but sublime to play platform games.
• Golden Axe - there aren't many arcade conversions I rate on the ST, but this is up there with the best of them.
• Hunter - definitely responsible for my love of sandbox gaming. Who can forget all of those great vehicles at your disposal?
• Nitro and Super Cars 2 - they are in the same camp of great overhead racing games. I like my cars to have guns, otherwise I'm just not interested.
• Special Forces - a tactical espionage/infiltration game from Microprose. I lost hours to this when I should have been doing my GCSEs!
• Robotz - if you own an ST, you know how great this PD game is.

Me - how odd that he didn't mention Stario ;)

Richard has great tastes and we share many favourite Atari ST games.

Let's talk about Stario and how this came about

I was talking to James (of Top Byte) one day, and he told me about this game he had been sent. It was a complete rip of the NES Mario Bros, right down to the graphics! He wanted to release it but knew he legally couldn't. I said I'd be happy to look at the graphics, and we took it from there.

I received a few disks and set about making sure it wasn't entirely Nintendo's pixels that Atari players would see on screen. I used Deluxe Paint ST because it was (and remains) my favourite art tool on the ST, although I actually did the graphics on my Falcon running under ST emulation. It was a real challenge to maintain the speed of the original, the sprites used dramatically limited bit planes. For all of them, I had 3 colours maximum I could use (from a fixed palette of 16).

Going legit...

I was a big Calvin and Hobbes fan, so I redrew Mario to look like a little pixel version of Calvin. The other creatures I modified as best I could. Strange spikey monsters, frogs, etc. You can tell I was losing steam when it came to the tiles? Because those are very similar to the Nintendo originals. All in all, it only took a few weeks to do. I shipped them back, and that was that.

I did have a little interaction with Adrian (the developer), via his Dad, who requested a few changes. But what you see in the final game is largely the first pass at it all.

Looking at it now, the graphics aren't very good. A real pixel artist could have done a much better job, even with the bitplane limitations. Thankfully, when people play it, they mostly focus on how fast and smooth it is - and because it feels responsive and moves well, they can forgive the amateur graphics.

Any regrets about making the change?

No, it would have been taking the piss to release it with the actual Mario graphics still in it! Plus, I don't think any magazines would have reviewed it. So it was sensible to change the graphics. I'm glad I found the old disks with the Mario graphics on, though, so they eventually got released anyway.

Top Byte/Top Dollar

I liked James (who ran Top Byte). He was an enthusiastic guy and had a knack for cultivating a good little community. That is what the Atari was all about at that point. The big commercial companies had left, and it was the grassroots communities that held it all together. I'd talk with him for ages over the phone.

On the downside, I never saw a penny for my work on the game :) So I've no idea how many copies it sold. I doubt it was big numbers, but it did review well, so likely a few hundred copies at least.

Me - I see you have a boxed version. Wanna donate it to the Crypt?

Rich - It sits proudly on my gaming shelf, where it will remain :)

 

Of course, I tried bribing Rich, but sadly, he had none of it. Damn!!

What about other games?

I've never done any serious commercial games. Although to be honest, I never tried to either. I was too fascinated by the PD and demo scene. Games were more just for creating and throwing out there fast, to share with friends, not for 'making money' with them.

Robert Annett, a friend from the Storm / STOS days, and I worked on a couple of games - with me on the graphics. We released Super Tet and Shockwave. He did most of the heavy lifting. I just pixel-pushed for them. Shockwave was a good Asteroids-style game and published as licenseware by New Age PDL, whom I traded disks with a lot at the time. Super Tet was released in 1992 and was a standard Tetris game, although even now, I still like the graphics I did for it. DPaint fills for the win.

Fun fact: the digitised face in the middle of the playfield is Sting. I didn't even like Sting's music, I just had his head on a disk for some reason, and it slotted in well.

I've also worked on other games over the years, including Dopewars, some graphics for Biohazard 2, and a strategy game called Outrider. I was clearly stealing other people's art there! The title screen is obviously a scan from White Dwarf magazine, which I then drew a logo over. And the lady on the credits screen was nicked from an art disk. The 3D intro was taken from the PC. I don't actually remember which game, but I stole the cockpit and 'mini-screens' animation - and then I coded the star field effect and the planet appeared.

The game itself was a fun little strategy title. I did the in-game graphics, which was a nice change of style. Small buildings, tanks, UI, etc. Again, it's not exactly great. I'm absolutely not a good artist! Even so, I enjoyed making it. If I remember correctly, the game was actually called Battle for the Stars. We renamed it to Outrider for Top Byte. There are other silly games, too, like Octopod and GoSub! I still have the graphics lurking around.

All images are kindly supplied by Rich. The middle two are of the unreleased game Blasto.

Tell us about the demos!

I adored the demoscene, and I still do. Storm was never a serious demo group. It was more just a collection of friends, both in school and people I traded disks with. We all used STOS and wanted to make demos with it. So, we did. There are only really two megademos to our name, and I use that term very loosely as the first one didn't even have a proper menu system!

The second demo, Cor Blimey, was mostly the work of Robert Annet and his older brother, who developed a number of the screens and compiled the whole thing together. There were a few STOS crews back then, such as the Radioactive Hedgehogs, and it was a fun rivalry. Although the release of the Misty and Missing Link extensions kind of put paid to that.

The demoscene was and still is all about the community. Sure, there were the technical challenges and one-upmanship, of course. Bragging rights were a big part. But I think most would agree it was the friendships built up and within the demo groups that endured long after the machines fell out of grace.

Storm pushed STOS quite well and Richard created the face image using Crackart (1999).

You appear to enjoy diskmags?

I loved disk magazines! I loved reading them, and I loved helping create them. The ST had loads of great mags: ST News, Maggie, Ledgers, Power Mag, STOSSER, Ictari, etc. They fascinated me, and I spent many a fun evening reading and writing for them.

I bought one of the first Atari Falcon 030s on the market. It was crazy expensive. I had worked for months to save up for it! Yet it was and remains the pinnacle of Atari home computing. I enjoyed many years with my Falcon, running the Falcon Owners Group, a big PD library, publishing a magazine, and squeezing every last drop of love out of that machine before the PC finally took over the world. I still have a Falcon today, which I recently renovated (recapped, new parts, etc) - but perhaps that's a story for another day?

The first 3 (maybe 4) issues of Falcon Update were printed. I've sent you issue 1 and some pics from 2 and 3, but I have not scanned the whole of issue 2. I did scan the whole of issue 3 but don't have the time to convert it to a PDF right now.

The diskmag used a magazine shell that I coded in GFA Basic 3 on my Falcon! I bet it would work on Hatari, might be worth trying. I worked with Anthony Jacques to create a Falcon-specific shell, which was based on the Windows 95 concept of using a start menu. It was nicely coded, lovely for the time - but sadly never used and never released. I did release the prototype shells years ago, but no actual magazine was made using it.

Me - I cannot wait for Rich to complete PDF issues 2 and 3!!

Again, I think it all comes back to the social aspect. I know I keep harping on about this, but for me, that is what made the ST and Falcon special. It wasn't the machines themselves (although that did play their part). It was the people I met while using them. Some of which I'm still in contact with today.

Richard is right, the ST/Falcon has an incredible community to this day!

I couldn't end without asking Rich questions about LGD

Ahhh, good old LGD :) I created the first version of the site back when emulation was really taking off. PaCifiST had been released, and I loved it! I still had most of my Atari disks and a few CDs or burned games, and I was working for an ISP, helping look after their servers and working on web development full-time. So it was the perfect marriage at the perfect time.

When it came to creating the site, I knew it had to look like GEM. I also had all of the Pompey, Automation, Medway, etc. disks available. So I stuck them on my PC in the office of the ISP I worked for and ran an FTP server. When I put the site live, it utterly saturated the bandwidth on our line! So I had to introduce some rate limits, but the ball had started rolling, and visitors to LGD spread like wildfire.

Lots of other ST sites were popping up at the time: Demonburps ST Emporium, Lunar Jetmans site, etc. It was fun to be part of all of this. Like the old community was coming back together again, this time via the web and emulation. I contacted the developer of PaCifST, and LGD became its official home. After which, we added WinSTon (one of my all-time favourite ST emulators), and it grew from there.

LGD itself went through a few variations over the years, adding in the games database, the magazine scans, the YM player music, the TOS ROMs, and more. You have to remember back then, most people were still connecting via dial-up, so a nice speedy site was important. It was a wonderful few years, and I met a lot of famous ST legends thanks to it. I'm pleased with the role it took in bringing the Atari ST back into the public consciousness. Plus, I still believe it did it elegantly, much more so than most other sites at the time :)

And yes, I really ought to get around to fixing it one day. I've gone into the ancient PHP code and had a look a few times over the years, but wow, it's really old. I mean decades old. And I've never justified the time it would take to redo it so it could run on a modern server. One day, perhaps...

An iconic moment and website for many of us back then. Much loved!!

What are you up to these days?

I run my own company, Photon Storm (named after the classic Jeff Minter ST game!), and my day job is the creation/maintenance of the game framework Phaser. This allows developers to create games in and for the browser, although you can take them out to Steam and mobile stores. It's open source, heavily inspired by my love of the Atari, the demoscene, and all things retro, and is financially supported by its great community.

It may be 4 decades later, but that excitement and thrill I got from computers and gaming back in the 80s has never left me. And I'm very happy that I can bring this to fresh new developers today. It's like everything has come full circle. I guess some things just never change :)

Rich - Photon Storm Ltd.

Tipbit: I collect ARC games and Photon Storm

is the only one I've left to buy! #spooky

One more thing...

Hey, before you go, how about some insider photos from Richard's years throughout the 90s? These photos are excellent but the PDF of Falcon Update is unbelievable. My gratitude to Rich for everything and thank you for taking the time to answer all my Qs over such a long period of time - we eventually got it done! :)

• The exclusive PDF download - Falcon Update issue #1 (including covers of issues 2/3)

Don't rush off just yet! Check out this final run of images kindly donated by Rich...

Richard's room at university was taken around 1993.

This photo was taken during his Falcon Update years - around 1994/95.

Check this out, the original Stario with that annoying Italian plumber Mario!

Now this is a cool image!

Does anyone remember this remarkable image?

Taken from issue 7 of Falcon Update.

Unreleased shell from FOG issue #10.

Arkanoid - Revenge of Doh

Doh!

It's time to kickstart my Super Pack adventure with Imagine's Arkanoid: Revenge Of Doh. Now, I'm sure everyone has played this at some point in their life because it's such a popular classic and easy to pick up and play.

Our ST conversion was developed by a familiar name from the 1980s, Peter Johnson. This wizball not only did all the coding but everything you see and hear too which is quite staggering when you think about it. From the moment this loads up, I'm in love with its authentic intro! Okay, it's short but it works and features that zappy music!

Check out these screenshots. Crisp, colourful and arcade faithful...

The first level breaks you in nicely and it wasn't long before I found an M power-up!!

No keyboard, please

Using the mouse... Yes, the mouse!! Control the Vaus Craft to deflect the energy bolt back and forth destroying every (destructible) block - Breakout style. You can guide the bolt depending on how contact is made: inner areas produce a taller vertical direction whereas outer parts deliver a wide-angled shot. I must say, the mouse controls are excellent, but don't think that means easy because your hand-eye coordination will definitely be tested!!

Each level follows a trippy design to compensate for the ridged format and later screens are incredibly tricky. Watch out for the aliens who enjoy hovering around to get in the bolt's way and ricochet off at an unexpected angle - which is really infuriating!! So use the Vaus to nudge them into an early grave when they get too close...

Thankfully, the power-ups are back and we have a wealth of snappy bonuses to make full use of:

B - Who doesn't love skipping levels if given the chance?
C - The Vaus Craft gains velcro!
D - Split the bolt into eight - can you handle it though?
E - Bigger is always better, right?
I - We have a ghost Vaus to make our hits a little easier.
L - Hit that mouse button because we have weapons!!
M - Destroys blocks like they're not even there. Amazing.
N - Splits the bolt, which regenerates to keep on damaging.
P - Sounds boring but extra lives are incredibly valuable.
R - The cold of space has shrunken you!
S - Collect this if things are getting too hectic.
T - You gain a twin to help you in your quest!

Aesthetics

Graphically, you won't see any mind-blowing artwork but it's reminiscent of the arcade original using vivid colours. The aliens might be incredibly annoying at times but at least these sprites look great. Arkanoid is as bold and colourful as you would expect and shows just how far we came from the original 1970s Breakout!!

Sound effects aren't going to drive you wild with excitement but who expected anything beyond dink...dink...dink...? Thankfully, the tunes are superb even if we're only talking for mere seconds, but I love their authentic quality.

Overall, for an older game based on boring Breakout, this looks and sounds superb. Love it all.

Personally, I think this is one of the hardest levels in the entire game. Just try and get that last block...

The CryptO'pinion?

Usually, I would now mention all the things about a game that narks me. There are none...

Okay, I think it's easy to say that Arkanoid took the Breakout genre to a whole new level. This sequel is so addictive and infuriating yet always keeps you coming back for more. It's everything I would hope for in an arcade conversion and is certainly one of the best. Overall, I rate Arkanoid II Revenge Of Doh as categorically outstanding!!

Downloads are available for either floppy or using a spanky hard drive device. And, for those of us that are far too impatient, why not skip a level by hitting the S key during gameplay? All ya gotta do is hit the CAPS Lock key when the title screen is displayed and enter MAGENTA. Sweet!

Chopper X

I love SWIV...

Chopper X is a vertically-scrolling shoot 'em up released in 1989 by Paradox that places us in the seat of an Assault Helicopter which is armed with Viper Air To Ground missiles to battle against hoards of bad guys. The blurb says this pushes the ST with its stunning graphics - What absolute twaddle. Don't believe that for a single second!

Anyhow, I should first admit that I'm not exactly the biggest fan of the whole vertical shooter genre. In fact, I can probably count on one hand the games that I have enjoyed over the decades: Flying Shark, SWIV, Wings Of Death, Xenon, Xenon II and Lethal Xcess. Most are searchable here and yes, I'm a freak with six fingers lol. (do you get that? Sigh...)

  
From the start, I knew this was going to be a corker. Yup, right up there with the best of 'em. Ahem!

Never go off looks, right?

Upon starting, the first thing that hits you is how crude it looks. Then you pick up the joystick and realise that the controls are equally as bad because they feel clunky without any swift action manoeuvring your chopper about the screen. Hmm, that just sounds wrong... Anyhow, it simply doesn't feel right to me.

Shooting down enemies should always be fun but I'm not so sure Chopper X has the most accurate collision detection system. Perhaps it's the scrolling which throws me off? But there are times when killing them (and them killing me) seemed somewhat unnaturally fake. Our main weapon doesn't feel good enough, it's like I wanted more from it... Thankfully, there are powerful Cluster Bombs that help out during those sticky situations.

  
The ship does nothing other than help mask the enemy fire!! At last (right pic) we reach the end.

Stick with it!

Each stage is quite short and static in design which is fine because many shooters follow a similar design. However, that means I could soon learn when something was about to appear and these guys are pretty dumb too: they will blindly shoot in a direction which is approximate to your location on the screen. So, if you're quite high up, then their bullets are fired diagonally upwards rather than directly towards your current location. Weird...

It's probably a lot easier to keep your chopper quite low on the screen to avoid the enemy's pathetic attack patterns from above. However, and annoyingly, death not only results in a loss of life but also forces you back to replay the entire level from the beginning rather than the place where you croaked it. Quite infuriating.

  
As you can see, the enemy cannot directly fire at your location but only in the general direction.

Aesthetics

Graphically, this is pretty poor by ST standards with bland sprites, dreary backdrops and horrendously jerky scrolling. It's perhaps one of the worst I've seen and I include those developed with Shoot'Em-Up Construction Kit!

Audio... Well, this is the game's one saving grace with an incredibly funky tune that I really enjoy. However, it doesn't last very long before looping back to the start and, because this plays constantly, it isn't long before it grates on your nerves!! Sound effects are pretty lame, especially when you die or kill something. Lame? Yes, very lame.

Midi is supported and is something I would love to experience - I'm after a Roland MT32. Can ya help??

  
The 2nd level adds a splash of brown but still looks dreadful, I'd lost the will to live by the 3rd.

The CryptO'pinion?

Well, it looks like my fantastic run of Super Pack games has finally come to an end with Chopper X. Yes, I've never been the biggest fan of vertically-scrolling shoot 'em ups but the ST has some corkers in its library - like Xenon 2 or Flying Shark. However, this game is average, to say the least. It's far too easy, dull as dishwater, and I got little enjoyment.

Oddly, this game has its fans and I've no idea why? Are you a fan? Tell me why in the comments below. For me, there are better shoot 'em ups on the ST so stay clear of this choppy chopper. Play SWIV instead I say!!

The floppies can be sourced using Old Games Finder and you can lose precious hard drive space by installing this cool version by 8BitChip. Enjoy the torment!!