Sunday, July 16, 2017

Menace [upgraded]



When something isn't quite right...

Menace is one of the few Psygnosis games that I actually enjoy. Yep, I think it's a good shooter. Okay, it should have been much better with a little effort but, that's an Amiga company for you. Anyhow, it's still a decent shooter and I enjoy it a lot. But what's with the YELLOW ship compared to the other version? For years, I've hated that bland colour and wondered what they were thinking and if it was possible to change it to something better?

So, I contacted Atari ST wizard Peter Putnik about this and he came back with a neat solution that actually works very well. As you can see in both the video and screenshots, our spaceship now has a brand new paint job!! The caveat is a change to the (oddly placed) status panel which is due to the 16-colour palette design. Of course, the game itself remains exactly the same - but we can now enjoy a spanky-new WHITE ship. Which is brilliant.

You know folks, this is what makes the Atari ST scene a marvellous place. Think about it, I wasn't happy with a commercial game from 30+ years ago so I asked a guy, who I've never met in another country, for his thoughts. What does he do? He fixes it without hesitation for me. Incredible. What an amazing community we have.

My sincere thanks to Peter for being gracious with my request - this version of Menace is the only one I will now play for the Atari ST. I love it. Here's the download to the newly designed AtariCrypt White Star release of Menace (geddit?).

Please watch the video trailer above and also take a gander at these lovely screenshots...






Friday, July 14, 2017

Reanimators #6


Reanimators #6 features a few simple effects with a superb chiptune (hmm, it sounds familiar). You know me, I love sine scrollers and this one is a belter and displayed using the full range of lovely rainbow colours. On the disk is Thunderstrike is an incredible 3D shoot 'em up with outstanding graphics - it feels like an early Cybermorph ;-)

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

wave upon wave



There are many amazing artists out there and I've always had a soft spot for the guys that make up the incredible YM Rockerz. So here is the wonderful compilation called "wave upon wave" which they released 17 years ago! It features several tracks by their awesome musicians: 505, D-Force, Dma-Sc, Tao, Lotek Style and Milhouse.

It's impossible to pick a favourite, but I do love Shifter by Tao which you can listen to by clicking on the GEM green arrow. Check out the YM Rockerz website ... I think that I'm going to listen to "Seven" again tonight :-)

Wave Upon Wave by YM Rockerz [demozoo download]

Credits:
505 - Music
D-Force - Music
Dma-Sc - Music, Text
Exocet - Graphics
MC Laser - Graphics (ASCII), Music, Text
Milhouse - Music, Text
Tao - Code, Music

Sunday, July 09, 2017

Atari ST demos



Today I fancied some ST GLAM!!

I've just been going through the latest uploads on Demozoo and there have been many incredible releases of demos, artwork and music from both the Outline and Sommarhack parties. I'm constantly blown away by what the DHS boys can produce: the video above is of Midnight Sun for the Atari STe which runs in complete overscan!!

Check out these screenshots for an idea of what the Atari ST #demoscne is cable of knocking out. Remember, YouTube is good, but nothing beats the experience of using a real Atari ST/e computer. #JustSaying :p

Saturday, July 08, 2017

P-47 Thunderbolt


P-47 was released in 1988 by Firebird and is based on the popular Jaleco arcade game. There are several levels through a wide variety of landscapes so put on your Biggles outfit because you're about to reach for the skies.

Any shoot 'em up needs decent scrolling, awesome controls and lots of enemies to kill which P-47 has by the bucket load. It's immediately obvious the teamwork that went into development has certainly paid off with a quality product: choose either a 50/60Hz display with smooth parallax scrolling, great graphics throughout and fast sprites that honour the original. Funky chipmusic plays alongside the pizazz sound effects, both of which are great.

The action is hectic as the planes whizz onto the screen with tanks blasting artillery - they're just asking for a MOAB!! Other levels have us flying through sunset clouds, pyramids, and over the seas - I love the missiles which emerge from underwater. Strangely, the bosses are often easy to defeat by simply positioning yourself in a safe place and repeatedly dropping a payload of bombs. Each level varies but the concept remains the same: fly, avoid, panic, and kill everything.

Where P-47 fails is the frustratingly high difficulty because your screen will always be cluttered with many baddies and a collision is inevitable. Stick with it; collect the power-ups, learn the enemy's attack pattern and keep on firing - practice makes perfect!! Sure, this is imperfect but it's also one I really enjoy and a darn challenging shoot 'em up.

Stonish has the game on floppy disk and I recommend New Order #20 Menu CD.
Hard drive installable versions are available by both 8BitChip and D-Bug.
Enter "ZEBEDEE" into the high score:
Press F1 for a level skip
press F2 for infinite lives. Have fun!!