Xenon

Kelly X

Finally, there is light at the end of my Super Pack tunnel - the penultimate game is a beast of a shoot 'em up released in 1988 by Melbourne House. The mighty XENON was my first experience of what the Bitmap Brothers were capable of. A team that (for me) was the Atari ST equivalent of Ultimate Play The Game, high praise indeed from this old fan. Few titles, but each one pushed our machine to its limits whilst also oozing a level of class beyond others.

I can still remember loading up Xenon for the first time on Christmas morning. Once the graphics appeared, I was so impressed - when compared to my 8-Bit experiences. However, my jaw didn't drop to the floor like a weighty anvil until that music kicked in, just as the visuals raced down my TV screen. What a simple yet, brilliant intro. Timeless

However, I always wondered why the pilot zooms over the entire level - because I've only gotta travel back up through the baddie-infested lands? Gee-whiz, thanks! Well, I should shut up and stop being silly because it's fantastic to watch and the digitized recording of Erich Matthews saying "Sector One" is pure gold. Iconic even!!

Righto, do you fancy some screenshots from the first level? Of course, you do so here you are...

The first level is iconic. It looks great. Sounds great. Plays great. Then you meet the boss...


Very few times I beat this sucker. It's a lot harder than anyone admits!

Plane And Tank!

We start in our little tank which is fast and manoeuvrable, but it's not long until you realise that you can't hit anything up high. Waggle that joystick (or hit the spacebar) to transform into a jet aircraft!! This is ace but, unlike the tank, cannot hit those critters crawling the floor... So, once again, get waggling to morph back into the tank. This method of flipping between the two vehicles is genius and can be done anytime during normal play one level 1/3.

Initially, Xenon's gameplay is neither fast nor furious - yet I still panic when something is chasing me and my little tank! The first level isn't really that difficult and you get to see a small selection of the baddies that the game was hiding up its sleeves. Heck, we even have ladybirds! There are more traditional defences that need blowing up, like aeroplanes and ground-based missile silos. So flipping between your two attack vessels now begins to prove fruitful those super-sexy bonuses.

If you managed to beat the boss then you're whisked off to the second stage where it's much harder...

The second level proves just how cruel and sadistic those Bitmap Brothers truly were!!


Having said that, I think the boss is slightly easier than on level one.

Frantic. Mayhem. Death!

A status panel (along the right side of your screen) shows a range of different stats including your score, altitude and fuel. But there are also power-up letters that might be available after blasting something to smithereens - and Xenon has a great selection. Well, except for the balls that follow behind your ship - I hate those. Always have! Anyhow, each power-up offers a wide variety of features to refuel, increased shot length and more. But here are the cool ones I like:

• W = This is probably my second favourite power-up. Instant extra firepower!
• A = Stay protected and stronger in your ship.
• S = Side shots is a pretty cool upgrade, especially on the harder levels.
• H = Homing missiles help to make things so much easier.
• B = Balls, which can be stacked up to three. Great...
• L = This is so fantastic and possibly my fave - and picking up "G" reverts back.
• Z = Surely every game needs a smart-bomb?

Of course, there's always an end-of-level guardian and Xenon is no different. In fact, the Sentinels also appear halfway through each level. That's right, four levels so eight times you're having to battle these guys. They can only be killed by carefully aligning firepower at their weakest point. It's now that you die only to reload with a trainer enabled.

However, if you manage to win, then you're allowed to play the remainder of the level before another boss battle at the end. Beating him (for that second time) will whisk you off to the next level to fight against another massive array of new foes. And it's always tougher so I doubt you'll last very long - and that's the main issue I have against Xenon. It's just too hard after level one. How many ST players have seen the later levels without resorting to a cheat? I thought so.

Enough reading as it's time for more screenshots and, you guessed it, here are a couple from the third level...

Don't adjust your monitor... Yep, level three sure does look familiar albeit in pink. Ugh!


The toughest boss in the game. This one is a killer and I have never beaten it (without a cheat!)

Pixels

Visually, and for the most part, this game is a total babe. Level one has a stunning metallic charm which I absolutely love. Heck, even now it looks outstanding to today's spoilt brats on their PS4s! Every stage looks great but I admit to not being a fan of the fourth level - I think it looks rather out of place and kinda like an Amstrad game. I know, weird, right?

Sprites are stunning, even those peculiar pink-brain things on level 4! Scrolling is always smooth and perfectly paced for the gameplay. Overall, Xenon epitomises that mind-blowing late 80s era when we upgraded from older machines like the Sinclair ZX Spectrum or Commodore 64 to the glorious 16-Bit world. Yes, this game is nothing less than a visual feast!

Okay, I've hinted at the gore but here are some screenshots from the odd-looking fourth level...

Level four is insane and there are enough enemies to strike down an Asgard mothership!!


I wonder how many got that Stargate reference? Does anybody read my website?

Audio

Dave Whittaker has produced everything booming out of your ST mono speaker and what you hear is every bit as mind-blowing as those gorgeous visuals. Sound effects are a blast, even if they do mute one channel to work.

However, having said that it's the music that is just... Mmm, timeless. Level one has possibly one of the best and most brilliant chiptunes ever? So turn up the volume because the YM2149 is about to rock your house!!

The CryptO'pinion?

Hands down, this is one of the best 16-Bit shooters there is. The range of powerups is great and I love how we can flip between tank and plane. Sure, the bosses are annoying and later levels have too much action for even Superman to contend with. But, there is no denying this is an exciting shooter and a timeless classic I've loved for over 30 years.

Xenon is just downright awesome and very addictive. Play it and try to hate it. I dare you!!

Download available for floppies or hard drive.

Begin your drooling! Yes, I really do own this ace Atari ST game!! Oh yeah :-)

Xenon II - STE - Megablast!

Real music in-game!!

Xenon 2 is pretty much Marmite - some love it and some appear to hate it. Well, I love it. It's one of my favourite shooters with fantastic power-ups and freaky baddies. Plus, it's a technical masterpiece with outstanding aesthetics that proves the power of the Atari ST - when in the hands of developers with talent and commitment in equal measure. We need no custom chips nor those horrendously lame Amiga ports from the 90s!!

Okay, rant over. Here is a brand new Xenon II upgrade for 1MB+ Atari STe computers with an UltraSatan or decent hard drive. This new version streams 25KHz music, during gameplay, thanks to the DMA Audio hardware. There is no CPU hit whatsoever so everything is as good as it ever was BUT with your choice of music :-)

Just convert any song into: 8-Bit @ 25033Hz using a free program like Audacity. I've a massive selection of rock/metal songs stored and ZZ Top is currently during my games!!

Xenon II just got even better and I hope Peter converts many more games to make use of the DMA co-processor. The possibilities are endless... Hmm, perhaps I should send him a wishlist? LOL he'll block me!!

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!!

Perhaps you're insane and wish to play this? The floppies can be sourced using Old Games Finder and you can lose precious hard drive space by installing this version by 8BitChip. Enjoy!

Enhanced Games

New game updates!

Everyone knows that Peter Putnik has adapted hundreds of games for hard disk installation. These often include extras like bug fixes, TOS compatibility, 4MB patching, and so on. However, some are also super-charged with cool coding that utilises the Blitter coprocessor and other hidden chips lurking inside the Atari STe.

I thought it would be nice to offer a brief round-up of these enhanced games as a compilation here on AtariCrypt. Oids and Uridium are particularly impressive as both updates improve tremendously upon their original counterparts. I also enjoyed playing my own music during a game of Xenon 2 (read the docs and convert music from your library). There's something here for everyone and I hope you find this useful. Let me know what you think!

Let's play...

Okay, let's take a look at some of these enhanced games that you can download and play right now...

 + Xenon II - updated for the Atari STe and features DMA streamed music. Turn up the volume!
 + Cannon Fodder - enhance this lame port with your chosen DMA streamed music.
 + Prince Of Persia - allow the DMA hardware lurking inside the Atari STe to replay the game's sounds.

  

Did you enjoy that? Well, here are three enhanced FTL games that are nicely improved...

 + Dungeon Master - far cleaner samples are heard thanks to the DMA hardware within the Atari STe.
 + Chaos Strikes Back - Again, the DMA hardware allows cleaner sample playback for this awesome sequel.
 + Oids - the potential for double framerates deliver a smoother experience when rescuing the stickmen.

  

Right, let's take a peek at three more which aren't exactly favoured well by the average ST gamer...

 + Jinks - this jerky game is weird but at least it now uses the smoother STe scrolling [original disks still required]
 + Menace - I cannot thank Peter enough for replacing that horrendous yellow ship with a white one!
 + Uridium - Blitter-boost that sluggish ship and add DMA-streamed background music while you're at it!

  

Now let's take a little run-around with these three you might never have expected to boot up...

 + Giana Sisters - this Zamuel_a enhanced game now also comes with optional DMA streamed music!!
 + Hard 'n' Heavy - gone is that embarrassing flip-screen gameplay, all thanks to cool Blitter programming.
 + Road Runner - Improved and also Blitterized for faster scrolling - but it's still a rubbish game (sorry!)

  

Okay, let's end in style! Here are two ST classics and (wait for it) a PC classic too! Ooh, nice...

 + Goldrunner - Some might not like this, but I love hitting the F3 key to disable that fuzzy speech!
 + Gauntlet - this sluggish hack 'n slash arcade game gets big improvements but still needs extra CPU grunt.
 + Wolfenstein 3D - Ray's jaw-dropping FPS now has bugs removed with decent save game support.

  

Atari Super Pack (the results)

Snippets from each game and even some Zynaps skills on show. Watch that and be jealous!!

Atari's Super Pack giveaway!

Well, I finally got around to finishing what took a lot longer than I originally thought. Yep, I completed the task of reliving Christmas 1988 by playing Atari's Super Pack - it all started with this article (click & read) :p

To be honest, I probably played the games a lot more this time around. Back in the 80s, I would have spent the most time on Buggy Boy, Beyond The Ice Palace and Xenon? I doubt I would have had the patience for Marble Madness nor the desire to spend hours on Quadralien. And even at 17 years old, I didn't have the reactions to cope with Return To Genesis.

Here is a list of all the games. BTW, each game is searchable if you look to the right > >

 The Atari Super Pack Games 

1. Arkanoid II - Pure old skool gaming and it is brilliant.
2. Beyond The Ice Palace - Blondes really do have more fun!
3. Black Lamp - Faster turning would have made this perfect.
4. Buggy Boy - Come on, who doesn't LOVE this arcade racer?
5. Chopper X - Turn down the volume... and it's still rubbish!
6. Eddie Edwards Super Ski - It's fun wearing milk-bottle lenses!
7. Ikari Warriors - A classic arcade conversion.
8. Marble Madness - Not my cuppa tea and a buggy lame port.
9. Quadralien - A great game to dig your heels into this!!
10. Ranarama - Gauntlet, for those who enjoy using their brain?
11. Return To Genesis - Swoosh, I'm dead! Whoosh, I'm dead!
12. Road Wars - There's always one...
13. Seconds Out - Then again, make that two!
14. Starquake - What a belting ZX Spectrum conversion.
15. Summer Olympiad - Good fun but needed a few more events.
16. Test Drive - Yeah, it's time for a road trip in my new Corvette.
17. Thrust - Come on, this is a beauty. Love it!!
18. Thundercats - A bit wooden and far too difficult. Whhhhhhy??
19. Wizball - A corker, if you master its massive learning curve!
20. Xenon - It's all about level one for me. A great game.
21. Zynaps - Thanks to Hewson we ended on a massive high!

So, which game won my heart?

Wow, that is a tough question alright especially when you look at the massive list above. But, IF I'm in the mood for something of a platformer then it's no contest: Beyond The Ice Palace wins hands down. A shooter? Zynaps! Arcade? Ikari Warriors, easy! Thrust and Buggy Boy are up there as is the amazing Rana Rama.

However, the Super Pack is diverse in content and quality. Although the list changes daily, I feel the need to push myself for a decision!! Cue "Whole Lotta Love" because my Top Of The Pops desert island floppy disks would probably be...

The CryptO'pinion?

Well, this has been enormous fun over the last few months and it certainly proves that Atari went that extra mile in the 80s. What a giveaway it was - 21 incredible games AND an Organiser too (Woo, fun times). Anyhow, my Super Pack mission is now over with so let's see what else is lurking within the Atari ST archives throughout 2020...

I hope you guys have enjoyed this run through the Super Pack? Let me know in the comments below :)

Atari 520 STFM Super Pack

Update!!!!

Every Atari Super Pack game is now featured, so use the search function at the top/right of this website. Those wondering what games won then click here for my final thoughts on this great Atari ST giveaway. Enjoy the read! :)

I've had an idea...

And this is something that I've been thinking about for a while but somehow never managed to get around to doing. Let me begin by saying that my first Atari computer was (shock) the 520 STFM model and this beautiful machine came bundled with a ton of games called the Super Pack. I remember that Christmas well and this new computer was quite remarkable with jaw-dropping speed, sounds, colours and immense next-gen gameplay!!

Until that day, I'd only ever owned a ZX Spectrum so booting up Xenon for the first time was, well, mind-blowing. Pure witchcraft!! Don't get me wrong, I loved my old Speccy but this was another level completely. 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. Phew, 21 games!!!

As you can see, seven games are already searchable right here on AtariCrypt - so click their links to see what I thought. Thankfully, there are many remaining and a few which I've not played since that first Christmas so I'm very excited to see how well they've aged over the last three decades. Yes, I'm talking to you Seconds Out!!

You excited? I know I am...

I'll begin my Super Pack journey alphabetically which means starting with Imagine's colourful breakout, Arkanoid: Revenge Of Doh. The last time I enjoyed a decent brick buster was Bolo a few years back [what a classic] so I hope this lives up to all my expectations. Let the joyride through the Super Pack begin - watch this space :)

Greetings to Róbert Tercsi and Marko Latvanen for

their help hunting down images and information

Diamond Edge

I loved Hi-Soft!!

Isn't Diamond Edge a brilliant program? One of its features is 'Test Disk' which scans for various types of potential problems and, only the other day, this saved my bacon because Drive C (a 32MB partition) suddenly reported itself as 22MB. Why I do not know, but Diamond Edge came to the rescue and fixed several serious errors!!

I have also found it particularly useful to optimise (defrag) the partitions in order to better stream audio for (storage) demanding games (Cannon Fodder / Xenon II) or other programs like ST Video Player. I try and defrag the drives on a monthly basis. Don't even get me started with Undelete, another superb part of the Diamond Edge suit.

Diamond Edge is one of the most fundamental utilities for all Atari computers equipped with a hard drive. Anodyne has Diamond Edge freely available to download along with the manual too. Which is simply excellent.

Jon Garry

Jon Garry is the man behind one of the best and most liked alternatives of Pacman, H-Mec. The maze is still there but gone are those dozy ghosts in favour of a sinister AI that gave it a Lode Runner feel.

And it worked so well H-Mec appeared on an ST Action cover disk!

I think H-Mec was a hit because it was instantly playable and addictive. In fact, it is a simply great game and one that sported superb visuals & audio. Oh, and was exclusively available for the Atari STe!!

Yes, his first game and already he was making good use of the enhanced hardware - extra colours, Blitter, smooth scrolling and DMA audio. Later on, a sequel was released along with a new game called Oh No! Not More Radioactive Mineshafts. H-Mec II was basically more of that winning formula but his Mineshaft game was something new and much underrated with simple gameplay mechanics yet, immensely addictive. And I loved it.

I was eager to contact Jon for an interview and he agreed. Heck, he actually seemed giddy about the idea and was a pleasure to chat with, a great bloke. I was impressed to discover the part his Dad played in this - come on, he sold the family car! However, what was he thinking about games like Ghouls 'n Ghosts! Whaaaaat??

I'd like to thank Jon for being a great sport over the last few months and I hope y'all enjoy this interview!

- The Jon Garry Interview -

Hello Jon, tell us all about your hiSTory

My coding life began on the ZX Spectrum when I was about 8. Funnily enough, around 1982, my Dad sold the family car to buy us the computer and that's where I first got the coding bug. How he got that past Mum, I've no idea! He thought that computers were the future and bought it for us to play on. I cut my teeth learning to program and the first game we played was Manic Miner which had a huge impact on me. From the moment I saw it, heard it and played it I loved it. The colours, the sound, the humour, the obstacles, the names of the levels!

I think of Manic Miner as the "Sgt Pepper" of computer games so, 1982 was where my coding journey started. Whilst I loved this, I wanted to know how to make it myself. Fairly soon, I went from "Guess the number" to understanding screen coordinates, variables, algebra, sprites, etc. In short, I taught myself a lot of maths and, by the age of 10, I was able to make a platform game more like "Lode Runner" than Manic Miner, which never happened.

Christmas Day around 1989 I guess when we got our Atari STe, our brand new "16-bit" computer and we couldn't wait to plug it in! We were lucky that my Dad had a bonus from work and used that to buy us the STe. I think it's the most important present that I ever had, just because of the impact it had on my life. I can't thank them enough for that. They weren't flush with cash and used that bonus to treat us to an extra present.

By the time the Atari came, I understood BASIC and the maths behind games. This helped me move back into programming — wanting to make my own version of games I was seeing on the STFM and Amiga. I was used to only having BASIC on the Spectrum so it was strange to find you could choose your language on the ST.

I found STOS too slow so that was out of the window. By the same token, the effort needed to learn Assembly seemed huge. I didn't know C at the time and it seemed difficult to use the tools. However, when I came upon GFA Basic, I started coding. GFA was surprisingly fast on the Atari STe, probably not much slower than C.

In the meantime, I'd started to see what the STe could do on demo disks and more people were getting them. So, I was getting introduced to the idea that the Atari STe could — easily - have full-screen smooth scrolling, lots of action on the screen, digi-music, no borders and a 256 colour palette.

Hey Jon, you're in luck! Manic Miner has been released for the Atari ST (by Peter Jørgensen)

What games did you play?

I just didn't code all the time and still did lots of other non-computer things. I was — still am — a huge football fan and spent hours with friends playing Kick Off 2 and Player Manager. To this day I still think those games were almost perfect — simple, fun and once you'd got around the ridiculous speed of the games they were utterly addictive. I think our Mum and Dad must have bought tens of joysticks after we wrecked them lobbing the keeper!

I also loved playing Castle Master, Terry's Big Adventure, Xenon 2, Stunt Car Racer, Continental Circus, Toki, Millennium 2.2, Speedball 2, Mega Lo Mania, Wonderboy, Vroom, Giana Sisters to name a few!

I loved Ghouls N Ghosts and Ghost N Goblins on the arcade, but the ST ports were poor. Well, any game on the STFM just wasn't as smooth as the arcades, or in truth even compared to the Amiga. I thought they were the 'past' and basically were no good for arcade games and that the STe was the future. So, the combination of coding, watching demos and seeing the STe as the future paved the way for what would become H-Mec!

Tell us about H-Mec

From memory, the first 'application' I wrote was ProbeST which allowed you to 'rip' music and graphics from games. ProbeST was actually a great help in ripping music to use in the two H-Mec games! In terms of H-Mec, I think that technically it was quite impressive for its time. It couldn't run on the STFM, certainly not smoothly.

All the coding for H-Mec was in GFA Basic - a superb language at the time. It supported the Blitter chip which meant that I could use this chip to do full-screen smooth scrolling using about 20% (from memory) of the CPU. This meant that I could 'afford' 20% for digi-chip music and the rest for the rest of the game. To see that full-screen smooth scrolling with the music and the gameplay was quite something at the time.

So, you have a game that is smooth, great graphics, great music and is quite playable. I sent it off to a few PD libraries to share. I thought it was a good game, but didn't expect much more than a few decent reviews. Just after I posted the disks, we all went on a family holiday for a couple of weeks.

What happened next?

When I came back, I had about 30 letters waiting for me telling me how they'd loved the game on the ST Action cover disk... but I never sent it to ST Action! I was puzzled! So I went to our local newsagents and sat on the shelves was ST Action. As you'll know, ST Action was 'the' ST gaming magazine which always had commercial game demos on the cover disk but for that month it was H-Mec.

For anyone to remember this game after all these years is touching. It's hard to explain but something I created as a 17-year-old is still available on the internet and someone is asking about it.

My game competed with commercial games! The review said something like 'this game was too good to review so we put it on the cover disk!'. This was an STe-only, PD game on their cover disk and I was blown away. I got loads of letters from all over Europe and the UK for weeks afterwards which was brilliant!

Forget Pac Man, the ghosts here are brutal and never give up until you are dead meat!

Where did the name H-Mec come from?

From memory, it came from the noise of a dog barking in the local park I used to walk past to get the bus!
I remember hearing a dog bark, and it sounded like "H-Mec" and it stuck with me for some reason. It didn't mean anything as such but I guess to me at the time it also sounded slightly modern too! :)

So what about your other games?

H-Mec 2 was just adding some other ideas on really — the pointed traps and graphics. I'd gone to University to study Computer Science and I just didn't have time anymore. I think it was just added a few things like the spikes, updating the graphics and (rather primitive) AI. I had too many other things to do then!

Radioactive Mineshafts was a quick idea — it certainly didn't take long to write. I didn't think it was good enough to release as a full game (see the falling block graphics). The penguin character and the jumping action were the start of a platform game — remember, I was hugely influenced by Manic Miner - which didn't happen.

Funnily enough, I always thought it was a better game than H-Mec and in recent years when I've played, I still feel the same. I just think it was on the same disk as H-Mec 2 and was pretty much overlooked. A few years ago, I did think about porting it to phones as I think it would work where you could tilt the phone to control the penguin!

Which game are you most proud of?

Without a doubt, H-Mec. After I did my degree, I applied to do a Masters degree in Multimedia. I went for an interview with the Doctor who was running the course and his first question was "What is multimedia?". I spoke about graphics, music, animation, co-ordinating them as well as computer science aspects. Of course, it led to H-Mec and the magazine reviews. He was impressed by the reviews and we spent a lot of time talking about it. H-Mec got me a place on the course to my Master's degree, and basically kick-started my professional career. 

A few years later, I remember thinking it was quite an achievement to have written the game. Especially when I think about how much I'd taught myself. Remember, there was nothing in schools to teach kids anything about programming. I taught myself from magazines and library books — there was no internet! To go from ZX Spectrum basic to understanding blitter chips, CPU cycles, ripping music and spending months working on a game was really hard work. The reviews it received were astonishing and I am really proud of the work I did.

My Dad was right about computers being the future and both myself and my brother work in IT. If my Dad hadn't sold the Beetle or used his backpay differently, my life would have been different. So, H-Mec definitely is the one I'm most proud of — technically impressive, decent gameplay, great reviews and helped me enormously!

I see this screen a lot but it always makes me smile thinking about H Mec's "grilling" lol

Inspirations?

Demos were definitely a huge inspiration. Whilst H-Mec isn't a demo it shares some of their traits — the big palette, smooth scrolling, and the intro screen look like a demo disk. H-Mec was a platform game to start with, but it was just easier to do mazes rather than something like Rainbow Islands!

I'd say, on the whole, I am still proud of the work I did and it definitely surpassed any expectations I had!

Also, quite a few people did donate which was very kind and generous. I had enough to pay for a few nights out which was great! I also had quite a few football pennants from around Europe sent to me as 'thank yous' as well which was lovely. I had all of them up on my bedroom wall for many years after!

What was it like being a part of the ST scene?

I loved it! Whilst a lot of the Atari ST scene was done through posting disks, I was also a member of a very social ST Club in Oldham. This club was based at the Bowling Green in Hollinwood, eventually moving to the Lancaster Club in Failsworth and, every week, about 50+ people would turn up armed with STs, TVs and 4-way plug sockets! You'd have rooms, where each plug socket had a 4-way in and each socket on the 4-way had a 4-way in which had 4 ways in with all these ST's and TVs plugged in!

The club was very friendly and had a real mixed bag of members. People from 8 to 80, some were there just to play Kick Off 2 every week, others to swap games, others came to chat and others had connections to the Pompey Pirates and download games on a primitive internet. It was very, very social and was enormous fun. Just lots of people, of all ages and backgrounds, with an interest in the Atari ST coming together to chat and have a good time. Nowadays, it would all be on the internet and nowhere near as social. I do miss those days.

Through ProbeST and H-Mec, I got in touch with other people around Europe too - Germany and Finland in particular. The PD Libraries were great and I'd regularly swap disks with people who ran them. All this would be done on the internet today, but I think that it was more personal back then as you had to -write- to someone. Whether it was the club in Oldham or the letters to Europe I do feel privileged to have experienced it.

Jon and Sally?

In terms of the handles I had, I can't quite remember them, to be honest. I was obviously Jon, and Sally was our dog haha! I think the names were probably to make it look like lots of people had worked on the games but in reality, it was me coding and others did the music and graphics. Sadly, Sally the dog died although she did extremely well for an Irish Red Setter and lived till she was about 17.

Imagine yourself back in the day knowing people who had contact with the Pompey Pirates!

Did you make music with your STe?

Whilst I can play a bit on the keyboards and I can play the guitar, I never wrote music on the Atari. At University, I did do some sampled music for fun, but nothing decent. I was a big fan of "Count Zero" who I thought made the best Atari music. I loved his version of the end of Tubular Bells and it's no surprise it's used in everything I did!

Very creative!

At the time, I didn't consider making games to be particularly creative, but as I've got older I have a different perspective. In my teens, I thought being creative was about painting, films, playing music or drama, etc. Not programming. But when you write a game from scratch it's one of the most creative things you can do!

You start with a white screen and nothing happens. You then create a world — the visuals, the sound, what it looks like and the rules. And how each screen flows from one part of the game to another. It's a VERY creative process and when you play a good game, you can tell that someone has really thought about the whole experience.

I'd also written some other tools that kind of grew out of H-Mec as well. ProbeST, was well-received when it was pushed out to PD libraries. It was written by me and my friend Clover at the time. We had lots of ideas, but most didn't come to fruition. It's probably just like someone in a band — you start 500 songs and finish one!

Any unfinished games lurking in the attic?

No, but I started a football manager game and I thought if I could combine Championship Manager with the in-game graphics of "Football Manager" I used to play on the Spectrum, it would be a winner. Sadly, it never went anywhere but it did give me an appreciation of what's involved.

I honestly used to start a new game every week, but most of them didn't go far. Writing a game from end-to-end takes effort and determination and I fully respect anyone who's actually done it. It probably took the best part of a year from start to finish to do H-Mec. Obviously, I wasn't working on it all the time, but it's a real effort to make games.

As I've said, the Spectrum was an influence on me and a game that we loved was "Lords of Midnight" and the sequel "Doomdark's Revenge". I must have started 100 versions of these on the Atari but again, nothing came of it. As soon as you try to make a copy of a game, you really get to see what absolute geniuses people are.

This didn't make it to the top of Jon's list, but I thought this was a darn excellent 'hopper'

What happened after your STe days?

I went to University in 1993 and I didn't have the time anymore to write games. I moved away from home, I stopped going to the club and the letters became harder to keep up with. Still, I used my Atari to write code and essays for a couple of years until I had to get a PC - which again, my parents got for me. It had an astonishing 8MB DX processor (a good one at the time) and a hard drive.

However, compared to the Atari it was such a big, clunky, noisy, ugly machine that couldn't do a lot and the graphics and sound were TERRIBLE. Windows wasn't a patch on the GEM Desktop, but it felt like I had to move. I was learning languages like Pascal, Smalltalk, Assembly and Ada which weren't available on the ST. I was genuinely amazed that Windows was seen as the future at the time, as it was truly awful not to mention - unreliable and slow. The languages just didn't have the power of GFA Basic either!

However, in recent years as Windows improved and emulators appeared I started looking back at the games on Hatari. It really is great to go back and play the games I remember as a kid! Some haven't aged too well but I still get the buzz seeing the old classic games. However, I could never quite get H-Mec to work and maybe, part of me didn't want to be embarrassed by what a 17-year 'me' made!

But part of me wanted to see it and I saw your YouTube video. It's a peculiar feeling though. Remember, this is me in my mid-forties looking back at a game I wrote as a 17-year-old so you will be looking at yourself back in time. When I look at it, I am quite proud although I can see that 16/17/18-year-old boy in there. I can still see 'me' in the game and what I was thinking. I do think 'he/me' was a very good programmer - I'd hire him today!

What are you doing today?

Nowadays, I'm a professional programmer who pays the bills writing web applications and business software. I haven't written games for many years now, but I feel incredibly lucky to work as a programmer.

If you'd had asked me what I wanted to be as a 10-year-old, other than a footballer, I would have loved to have been a computer programmer. I think if you asked my parents, I bet they'd agree that selling that old VW Beetle was one of the best decisions they made!

This is a photo from around 1991 of Jon and his mate "Booze" playing Kick Off 2.

And Finally...

It's funny really, but when you got in touch it brought back a LOT of memories. I could have written a book! As I said, I was touched that you got in contact and it's quite something to think that something I did nearly 30 years ago is still available on the internet. I can absolutely guarantee that most people won't be able to say that! The fact you and others are preserving that slice of late 80s and early 90s culture should be applauded.

I've been very lucky in my life that my parents supported me and my brother, selling the family car, getting us the Spectrum and later the ST and the life it's given us. I feel very lucky to have been part of a wonderful scene in the late 80s/early 90s and met some fantastic people. I genuinely feel very honoured that you asked to do this interview and I send a very heartfelt "thank you" for bringing back many wonderful memories!

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This interview was a pleasure and Jon is a great bloke. Fancy reading more Atari ST interviews?

ZOG

Grab your joystick!

During my time away (wow, that made me sound like a criminal) I was enjoying videos by many YouTubers - ugh, I hate that expression. Anyhow, people like Trusty, PJ Neiland and those Vertical Blankers have released several amazing Atari ST videos. Go on, click those links and take a look for yourselves - but remember to come back here afterwards.

Earlier in February, Into The Vertical Blank released a massive video about many different ST shooters. One of which was called Zog by Chris Lloyd who designed it using SEUCK by Palace Software - and this acronym stands for Shoot 'Em Up Construction Kit. Now, one thing I did pick up from their video was his American pronunciation of SEUCK. I can't speak for all ST nutters over here in Blighty, but everyone I knew pronounced it as a human sound effect: Schhhhuck!

Ah... Okay, so it was just a few of us crazy fools over here then? Damn, let's move on quick...

Frantically bashing the fire-button like a madman hoping not to die!

Am I getting old and slow?

Chris released Zog in 1990 and it appears to be his one and only shooter 'em up (at least for the Atari ST). The gameplay is typically simple; a vertical-scrolling shooter with nothing flashy or fancy as you might imagine - but this is homebrew stuff we're talking about. The docs are pretty thin on the ground but perfectly explain the gameplay: shoot everything that moves. Even shoot the stuff that doesn't move. And that sums up this perky little shooter very nicely.

As with any similar game, we are positioned near the bottom of the screen with the nasties coming into view at the top. Shoot, dodge and blast everything you can whilst trying not to die. Points are awarded for successfully killing the enemies but you only get three lives - which isn't nearly enough. Thankfully, an extra ship can be earned every 10,000 points.

If... you... survive... long... enough!!

Our ship(s) manoeuvre very spritely, but that doesn't mean avoiding the bullet hell is easy. Well, certainly not for me thanks to my old man's reactions. Fortunately, Zog supports two-player mode which is absolutely superb!! Another cool thing is the use of autofire. Yep, no need to hysterically bash the button and I loved this little 'cheat' a lot if I'm honest.

Right then, it's got to that point where I stop waffling on and show yet another screenshot...

With two gamers playing at the same time things improve drastically!!

Aesthetics

Visually, this is a pretty neat game considering that it isn't commercial and also reminds me somewhat of Frenetic. I've played a few games developed with SEUCK and none will blow you away. However, it looks pretty good and the scrolling is smooth(ish) albeit with a slightly reduced screen size. Enemy sprites move predictably, making their way across your screen briskly as the landscape scrolls - a positive testament to the ability of this underrated development tool.

Sadly, there is no title music and all in-game sound effects are the traditional zaps and zings you've heard before. These YM effects are good but a decent background chiptune would have been a miles better option.

Steve, stop complaining because this is public domain! Sheesh, that idiot fella? Hey, it's screenshot time...

A message you see a lot. Argh, if only the gameplay was better optimised...

The CryptO'pinion?

Let's be honest, I doubt anyone will bother downloading this game any time soon. There are already many ace ST shooters like Lethal Xcess, Flying Shark, SWIV, Goldrunner, or Xenon. Heck, maybe even Chopper X. Well, maybe! ;)

However, Zog was released as public domain, so, with that in mind, I enjoyed it. Embarrassingly, I have to admit that didn't get very far! This is one tough cookie and I would have loved any kind of optimisation to its insane design. No matter how I try to avoid the stray enemy bullets, I always end up dying quickly. Which is hardly entertaining, is it?

Having said all that, it's a totally different story as a two-player shooter. With a friend, the hoard-blasting gameplay is fantastic. In fact, I'd go as far as saying this shooter feels like it was meant to be played this way.

So, how should I rate Zog? That's right, a slight improvement to the "CryptO'pinion" as I shall now provide a score (let me know whether you think this is a good idea). Firstly, my greetings to the Fulton boys for their enthusiasm by (wickedly) bringing this game to my attention. It's never a dull moment finding something new and I had lots of fun!

I'm gonna rate it a respectable 65% for dual-gaming. Knock off 10% if you're hammering that fire button alone.

What, you disagree with me? Then get it downloaded from Atarimania and let me know what you think in the comments below? Finally, go and check out Atarilegand for a ton of other SEUCK games listed.

lotharek

Thank you Lotharek

Shortly before Christmas, the hard drive inside my Mega STE died. Thankfully, I had only just backed it up the previous day (how lucky am I) but this did give me a big kick up the backside to invest in something better. After all, it was the original 47MB SCSI from 1991 so it was only a matter of time before it went BOOM!! ;-)

Lotharek is selling the Ultrasatan via their web store and I'm currently restoring everything I can. It's quite something to go from a noisy 47MB drive to a fast and silent SD card offering much more space. I must say, Lotharek are quick, as this arrived on Christmas Eve so I'm spending the holidays playing! The possibilities appear limitless because I am no longer struggling with meagre storage. Lotharek's UltraSatan is a brilliant piece of Jookie kit. Buy this!!

Why not use your UltraSatan to game or enjoy a few demos...

One of the most famous shoot 'em ups ever - Xenon II Megablast. This will always be a firm favourite of mine so it was exciting to hear Peter Putnik had doctored it back in January with his magic. The game now streams 25Khz music directly using the Ultrasatan (sorry STFM guys - this feature requires the audio co-processor hardware of the Atari STe). What a jaw-dropping upgrade!! Such an unbelievably huge size for an ST game and worth it. I certainly hope Peter converts more games in the future!

Drone, an Atari STe demo which I would personally rank as a masterpiece. Stunning audio, artwork and presentation.... all far beyond excellent. It was released back in 2012 by the legendary Dead Hackers and is a whopping 11+MB. It was released for Sommarhack to pay special tribute to the Ultrasatan. This is one of the best demos I've ever experienced.