Circus back²STage

Circus back²STage demo for the Atari STe, by BlaBLa, Cocoon & Sector One.

With such an unusual style, Circus back²STage is a fascinating Atari STe demo. It features a bucket load of crazy, colourful effects in overscan with the most wonderful chip music. Some people hate clowns but get over it - this is literally one of the best demos I have ever seen. Okay, it's hard drive installable and downloads are available via Demozoo.

Test Drive

I fancy a road trip!

Accolade's Test Drive was released in 1987 and is one of the games I got it free with my first Atari ST computer so I have fond memories of playing this during my early 16-Bit days. It begins with an intro animation of a dude sitting in his Porsche before winding down the window to display a cheesy grin and then speeding off into the sunset.

There are five cars to choose from and each is viewed on the main menu with lots of technical details (that I've never read). Their artwork is gorgeous and I personally think the Corvette is the best of the bunch for a road trip.

Okay, it's time for some screenshots so let's check out the choice of smooth riders...

I've never really been much of a Porsche fan... More of a girl's sports car, right?

Okay, it's not a Ferrari 308 but that doesn't stop me from thinking I'm Magnum P.I.

I can't say I'm a fan of this and the handling never really excites, more terrifying!

(Insert James Bond theme now). Okay, it might not be that fast but we love British muscle!!

I'm more of a muscle car fan myself but the Chevrolet Corvette is a beauty in every respect.

An oldie classic?

Test Drive is a race against the clock with points awarded for faster times along a seemingly endless mountainside highway. Driven from an in-car perspective behind the wheel, you will notice that each car has a realistically represented dashboard with manual gearbox controls that briefly display with each shift.

At first, I found the controls a little wooden, but I soon got the hang of them after a couple of races. A red dot on the steering wheel helps to pinpoint a more precise indication of your turning and direction which is as helpful as it is crude. But I must admit, it does make up for the lacking analogue controls very nicely and feels pretty natural.

Like cars? Like rocks? Then you are gonna love this next screenshot...

Ahh, the open road of a road trip. Wait, another car? Argh, it's suddenly gridlock!! ;^)

You're not alone!

Beware, you're not actually on a race track: annoying civilians are driving on these once-safe roads and they do seem to love head-on collisions!! There are also cops so it's a good job that your car is fitted with a radar to signal when they are nearby. Then, you have a choice of being good or watching them disappear in your rearview mirror!

Personally, I treat these moments as a green light opportunity to push the pedal to the metal, but that's just me! Now, just remember to refuel at the gas station checkpoint before continuing on with your Bullrun Rally.

I'm a good driver. Honest! Well, especially after a few beers as shown in this next screenshot...

Sometimes road trips can go terribly wrong...

Old school aesthetics

Test Drive has some nice characteristics which I think are hilarious - like the badly drawn grey fella driving his truck. How about the handless steering wheel or the slo-mo effect as your windscreen breaks up after a crash - it's almost worth slamming into an oncoming vehicle just to see it! Yep, I think that the graphics are nice considering the age of this famous racer and I probably like the dashboards the most - with the Corvette being my favourite.

Musically, this is nice with lots of jingles and cute tunes during the menus and screens when filling up with fuel. The sound effects of the car aren't the best; it's all buzzy compared to other oldies like Turbo Cup.

I love how the game looks, even if the cars sound like a bee trapped inside a drum. Screenshot time...

It's time to fill up before hitting that open road.

The CryptO'pinion?

Overall, an enjoyable drive without the crazy rush of a speedster like Vroom or Crazy Cars III. This is more like a charming Sunday drive but I have a soft spot for this cliffside road tripper. Why? Because it's a cracking game and even went on to be quite the historical driving series throughout the 90s. It's great to think that this series began on the Atari ST.

This is a great racing game with tons of great cars driving through the rocky American roads. Love it!!

8BitChip has a hard drive installable version which I highly recommend!

Old Games Finder has floppy disk images.

Update: There is an excellent newly uploaded video by Wasabim.

There have been many Test Drive games and I still loved No.5 on the PlayStation.

Giana Sisters

Turn your ST into a Nintendo!

The Great Giana Sisters was released in 1987 by Rainbow Arts and is a platformer with (umm) more than a hint of Italian plumbing. Anyhow, the ST version played well but suffered flip-screen scrolling that soon became tiresome on the old eyes. Ultimately, it was a lame port that spoiled what should have been an excellent game.

Don't give me the old excuse that the ST cannot scroll. It can scroll: Viking Child, Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Enchanted Land, Stario, Alien World, Zone Warrior, Onslaught and many, more!! Yes, it bugs me when I see people's daft comments claiming that the ST cannot scroll. Blame the programmer - not the computer! /rant

It looks like I wasn't the only person to hate that poor conversion because Samuel (aka Zamuel_a of Pac-Mania fame) decided to convert it to the Atari STe. He makes use of the hardware scrolling so the entire screen now scrolls rather than flipping - and it's smooth, 50fps smooth. To say that this update is jaw-dropping is an understatement and it most certainly beats the pathetic commercial game. Now, just imagine if the industry would have supported the Atari STe properly...

Anyhow, the game itself is the same but it scrolls and that transforms a good product into something else. Samuel has put the Atari STe to great use which proves the power of this wonderful computer. Finally, we can play Giana Sisters as it was meant to be enjoyed so waste no more time and download this wonderful new version (improved by Peter Putnik)

Watch the video and check out these screenshots before deciding whether or not you should download...

It looks basic but it also looks console-cool too. I like it, very NES... to me.

Happily walking along and then something falls on your head! Let's collect the gems.

I really hate that horrendous big bug so let's jump over the sucker and run!

Anarcho Ride

Carmageddon!!!

Anarcho Ride is a new "racer" for the Atari STe by the ever-zealous Thomas Ilg of Laser Ball fame. Well, this game isn't really a racer at all. Sure, it looks the part but it's more of a smash 'n grab - think Carmageddon where head-on collisions get you the points needed to go further and play extra levels.

This game is fun but I actually found it difficult at first because it's natural to try and avoid the other cars. Don't. When you're behind the wheel, the aim is to smash into every car you can and shoot the ones you might miss using a missile. It's silly and very stupid but it's also pure mechanical violence! Totally insane gaming!!

The graphics are weirdly good with my STe delivering a decent framerate. Everything looks like it's been designed by a kid, a mad kid. But I like the quirky style, even though I think it's odd to see the car "hovering" without a shadow. The audio is ace using the DMA for sound effects alongside stunning chip music too. Beautiful audio!!

If you're looking for a racing game then look elsewhere. This isn't a racer - this is a crash 'em up and we just happen to be in a car! Smashing stuff up is always great fun and Anarcho Ride proves that perfectly.

Download Anarcho Ride (+ expansions)

Robert HC Leong

All the way back in early January, I featured a mini-review of Annihilator. This is a familiar-looking oldskool shooter by Robert HC Leong, a much-respected name from the Atari ST homebrew scene I'm sure you'll agree.

He has developed four games - Annihilator, Missile Alert, Pac-Man ST and Space Invaders. Each one was released under the Budgie UK label and they were all hits with ST gamers. Plus I thoroughly enjoyed playing them all too!

To say I was surprised to find out Robert read my review -and- also follows AtariCrypt is an understatement! Talk about a nice surprise! Anyhow, we got chatting and it wasn't long before I threw out a few questions and here we are. :-)

I hope you enjoy this interview? My gratitude to Robert for being a great sport (and for being a fan of AtariCrypt!)

Robert HC Leong
- The Interview -

Hello Robert, please tell us about the guy behind the games

I am from Malaysia and I moved to Ireland in 1980 to further my studies. I bought an Atari 520STFM in 1988 while in Ireland, after graduating. At that time, I had already owned a BBC Micro and was looking for a new computer. I was impressed by the plethora of colours that the ST could produce, and the increase in speed and memory.

I tried to program the ST in Fast BASIC initially, but that was too slow, so it was a natural progression for me to move on to 68000 assembly language using HiSoft Devpac, especially since I was already familiar with 6502 assembly language from my time with the BBC Micro.

Hey, wanna see Robert's Atari ST setup? Of course, you do...

Can you imagine going back in time and being there as he programmed his games!!

What was it like developing ST games?

I have always enjoyed playing shoot-em-up games, so the first game I programmed was Space Invaders in 1989. I tried to keep the game as close to its original playability as possible, including the sprites and even its logo colours. It made the cover of the December 1989 issue of Atari ST User magazine.

I then moved on to do a simplified, 2-player version of Missile Command just for the fun of it – it wasn’t anything spectacular. After that, I challenged myself to do a version of Pacman. Many home computer versions of Pacman at that time had very small sprites. I decided that, for the cuteness factor alone, the sprites needed to be larger, and the way to implement this was to do a vertically-scrolling screen to increase the size of the maze. I tried again to keep to the original version and came quite close. I was not good at producing music so Gary Wheaton, a fellow programmer and musician, was kind enough to provide the music for version 2 and it sold quite well.

Annihilator was my final game for the public shareware label. It was a Galaxians clone, but this time, I drew my own sprites and provided power-ups and end-of-level guardians to spruce up the game as it was the trend in shoot-em-up games at that time. After this, I started programming a horizontally scrolling shoot-em-up but I did not progress much further because of a lack of time; I was spending many weekends and nights on-call while pursuing my medical career. This was the simple reason why I did not have a chance to release any new games for the Atari ST after that.

This is Annihilator and is stuffed with Galaxian action!

Do you have a favourite game?

I had no clear favourites but, looking back, I thoroughly enjoyed programming and play-testing Pacman ST because in my mind it was a step above the other Pacman clones at that time with gameplay approaching that of the original arcade version, and cute to boot!

Did you rake in the cash to buy a sports car!

Budgie UK Licenceware was a public domain label started by Camy Maertens in 1987, where a group of software programmers shared joint royalties on all the games sold. It was a fun concept, gave us some camaraderie, and made us some pocket change, but certainly not enough to buy an inexpensive car, let alone a sports car!

Any chance you will start coding again?

Unfortunately, when I left Ireland for the US, where I am now based, I sold off and gave away all my Atari ST stuff! Hence, it is unlikely that I will ever code anything new for the ST again.

It's Pac-Man and it's a cool version of the original arcade game.

Do you play games?

From time to time, I still reminisce about the good old days of the Atari ST, when I’ll try running an ST game or two on Steem, an excellent emulator on the PC. Of course, I still check Atari ST websites like AtariCrypt and Facebook.

What do you think of the ST world today?

I am frankly amazed, but pleasantly surprised, that the Atari ST scene is so resilient, considering that the machine was discontinued in 1993. For me, the ST had always been an integral and fun bit of my life, so I hope the community lives on!

However, the ST presence appears much greater in Europe, compared to the US, though there is still an active Atari club near me in Davis, California, it tends to cater more to the 8-bit Atari consoles than to the ST. Check out: http://newbreedsoftware.com/atariparty/2016/. (I hope they change! -AtariCrypt)

An excellent alternative spin on Missile Command. It's very, very difficult!!

So what are you doing these days?

I’m now based in the San Francisco bay area where I work as a consultant in the biotechnology industry. I remain interested in IT and programming, especially since Silicon Valley is just a short drive down the road. Facebook, eBay, LinkedIn, Google, Apple, Cisco, and Oracle are all around me. IT executives of all ages are driving Teslas.

When driving around in Mountain View, I give a wide berth to the autonomous vehicles that Google is testing out here. Even Atari had its corporate headquarters here on Borregas Ave, Sunnyvale, but that closed down in 1996 (http://www.atari.io/back-to-borregas-ave/). I have visited the location once or twice to reminisce, and to imagine how it would have been here during Atari’s heydey…

Take a look at my website: (http://fungames.zone/#AtariSTgames)

-It was brilliant talking to Robert and I hope you've enjoyed this little interview :-)

Space Invaders can run in a modern or classic mode and (above) is the classic version.