The A-Z of Atari St Games: Volume 1 1785387014, 9781785387012

Table of contents :
Cover
Contents
Front Matter
Title Page
Publisher Information
Introduction
The Games
A
Asteroids Deluxe
Arkanoid
Addams Family (The)
B
Bionic Commando
Bubble Bobble
Beach Volley
C
Chase H.Q.
Crystal Castles
Continental Circus
D
Dynasty Wars
Double Dragon
Dyna Blaster
E
Empire Strikes Back (The)
E.S.W.A.T.
Elvira: The Arcade Game
F
Forgotten Worlds
Flying Shark
Falcon
G
Gauntlet
Galaxy Force II
Ghostbusters II
H
Hydra
Humans (The)
Human Killing Machine
I
Indiana Jones and the Temple Of Doom
International Karate +
Indy Heat
J
Jinks
Jungle Boy
James Pond: Underwater Agent
K
Klax
Kid Kong
Kwik Snax
L
Lemmings
Last Duel
Llamatron 2112
M
Mega Twins
Mission Elevator
Manchester United Europe
N
Nebulus
New Zealand Story (The)
Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less
O
Operation Wolf
Obession
OutRun
P
Pang
Pengy
Pipe Mania
Q
Quest for Galaxia
Q*bert
Quadrix
R
Rick Dangerous
Rolling Thunder
Return to Genesis
S
Skull & Crossbones
Striker
Stunt Car Racer
T
Tempest
Thrust
Time Bandit
U
U.N. Squadron
Ultima II
Ultimate Arena
V
Vindicators
Veteran
Volfied
W
Wolf Child
WWF Wrestlemania
Warlock’s Quest
X
Xevious
Xenon
X-Chess
Y
Yogi Bear & Friends in the Greed Monster
Yolanda
Yopaz Ice Star
Z
Zynaps
Zany Golf
Zool
Back Matter
Also Available

Citation preview

Contents Title Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i Publisher Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Asteroids Deluxe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Arkanoid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Addams Family (The) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Bionic Commando . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Bubble Bobble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Beach Volley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Chase H.Q. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Crystal Castles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Continental Circus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Dynasty Wars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Double Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Dyna Blaster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Empire Strikes Back (The) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 E.S.W.A.T. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Elvira: The Arcade Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

F . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Forgotten Worlds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Flying Shark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Falcon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

G . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Gauntlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Galaxy Force II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Ghostbusters II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

H . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Hydra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Humans (The) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Human Killing Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Indiana Jones and the Temple Of Doom . . . . . . . . . . . 58 International Karate + . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Indy Heat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

J . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Jinks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Jungle Boy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 James Pond: Underwater Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

K . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Klax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Kid Kong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Kwik Snax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

L . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Lemmings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Last Duel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Llamatron 2112 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Mega Twins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Mission Elevator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Manchester United Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Nebulus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 New Zealand Story (The) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Operation Wolf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Obession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 OutRun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

P . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Pang . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Pengy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Pipe Mania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Q . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Quest for Galaxia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 Q*bert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Quadrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 Rick Dangerous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Rolling Thunder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Return to Genesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Skull & Crossbones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Striker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Stunt Car Racer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 Tempest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Thrust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Time Bandit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 U.N. Squadron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 Ultima II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 Ultimate Arena . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 Vindicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Veteran . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 Volfied . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

W . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Wolf Child . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 WWF Wrestlemania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 Warlock’s Quest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 Xevious . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Xenon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 X-Chess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 Yogi Bear & Friends in the Greed Monster . . . . . . . . . 170 Yolanda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 Yopaz Ice Star . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Z . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 Zynaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 Zany Golf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 Zool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Also Available . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

The A-Z of Atari ST Games Volume 1

Kieren Hawken

Published in 2017 by AG Books www.agbooks.co.uk Digital edition converted and distributed by Andrews UK Limited www.andrewsuk.com © Copyright 2017 Kieren Hawken The right of Kieren Hawken to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998. All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without express prior written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted except with express prior written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damage. The opinions expressed herein belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect those of AG Books or Andrews UK Limited. Game screenshots are included in this publication legally under applicable fair use law which allows such material for the explicit purposes of commentary and criticism.

Introduction The story of the Atari ST is without doubt one of the most complex and indeed most interesting of any computer. Coming out after the split of Atari’s arcade division and consumer division in 1984, the ST was born out of Jack Tramiel’s life saving takeover of the latter. Having previously been the head honcho of rival organisation Commodore he needed a machine that would not just take them on head to head but take their leading market share from them completely. In less than a year Jack and his small team of designers and engineers managed to design and manufacture a 16-bit computer for the masses. In doing so they managed to beat Commodore and their own Amiga computer to the market and kick-start the 16-bit revolution. The ST would go on to sell in huge numbers and became the best selling home computer in the UK for 2 years running. One of the keys to the ST’s success was its diversity – lending itself to all sorts of business applications, desktop publishing, video games and the music industry (thanks to its built in midi ports), where it almost single-handedly created the booming European dance music scene. In this book I take you through the life of the Atari ST looking at a varied cross section of the 2000+ games available with a small review and screenshot of each one. This is not a list of the best games, a list of the worst or indeed a complete guide to what’s available. The A-Z of Atari ST Games: Volume 1 is just that, the first volume of my look at a selection of ST games in alphabetical order. There are three games featured for each letter and these range from the earliest released in the mid-eighties, to public domain games and even modern homebrews. Hopefully this book gives you some inspiration to try games you’ve never played before

or bulk up your personal collection. Hopefully this book gives you some inspiration to try games you’ve never played before or bulk up your personal collection. You might even find it that brings back happy memories of unwrapping Christmas and birthday presents or inviting your friends round after school. Most of all though I hope you enjoy reading it and remember what makes the Atari ST computer so great. Kieren Hawken May 2017

A

Asteroids Deluxe Atari – 1987

Programmed by Paradox and released for the ST by Atari themselves, this is an update of the classic vector based arcade game from 1979. The basic gameplay is exactly the same, to rid each level of the asteroids by shooting them into smaller pieces until they disappear. Your craft can still thrust, the screen still wraps around and you can still enter hyperspace if it all gets a bit too intense. Your ship is now equipped with a shield though, that is represented by an energy bar at the top of the screen. Once this has depleted you lose a life and you have three of these to start with. Another new feature is the addition of a simultaneous twoplayer mode, meaning you can team up with a friend to eliminate the dangerous space rocks. This is a great feature and really adds to an already solid gameplay experience. There is also more than one type of UFO in this version too, with some being much harder

to kill than others, especially the homing ships that hunt you down! The biggest change however in this version of the game is that the vector graphics have been dispensed in favour of shaded and coloured bitmaps. They look pretty decent and make the ST version quite similar to the 7800 and Lynx ports of the game. If you do want to see real vectors then I recommend the Sinister Software PD version of Asteroids. The sound is a little weak, it has plenty of effects but they certainly lack the punch of the original arcade game. While not a massive update, Asteroids Deluxe provides a nice variation on the classic and is great fun to play too, especially when you add a second player.

7/10

Arkanoid Imagine – 1987

While Atari’s Breakout, programmed by Apple founders Jobs and Wozniak no less, was the very first bat and ball brick breaker it was Taito’s Arkanoid was the game that revolutionised the genre. It took the basic gameplay of Breakout and added a host of new features like enemies, different formations, multi-hit bricks and of course power-ups! Collecting these coloured icons allows you to do stuff like shoot the bricks with a laser, aim the ball where you want, expand your bat and even skip a level. The new level formations are interesting too with some even based on other popular Taito arcade games such as Space Invaders and Bubble Bobble! There are also different types of bricks including ones that require numerous hits to destroy and others that can’t be removed at all. All these features added so much more to the game and made it much more than just another Breakout clone. In fact Arkanoid has since been

cloned hundreds of times itself and can still be seen in some shape or form in games of today. Despite lacking a paddle controller, like the original Breakout, it’s easy enough to play with a joystick or mouse, the latter being the far more accurate of the two. Arkanoid is not about graphics or sound, although both are very good here, it’s just pure playability, and there is loads of it here. I have always been a real sucker for these types of game and this is no exception, Arkanoid still sits around the top of ST games to play pile. It’s also worth checking out the sequel too.

9/10

Addams Family (The) Ocean Software – 1992

In the late 80s and early 90s Ocean Software were pretty unstoppable on the home micro, releasing hit after hit in quick succession. Their main forte was licences, whether they be movies or arcade games. This was one their biggest of the nineties and among the very best titles they produced for the good old ST. In it you take the part of Gomez Addams, played by the late great Raul Julia in the movie, a pretty blatant Super Mario World clone. Loosely based on the movie in question, you must make your way around the grounds and many rooms of the Addams mansion trying to find the lost family fortune and rescue the other members of the family who have been imprisoned there by your former lawyer. Wads of cash and bags of money have been left everywhere and are being guarded by all sorts of spooks and nasty creatures. Gomez can walk, jump and duck and in order to kill the enemies you must jump on their

heads in true Mario style. The mansion is huge with many rooms, secret passages and catacombs underneath. There is certainly lots of exploration to be done here before you can complete it. The graphics in The Addams Family really are top notch with gorgeous backdrops and cartoon-like sprites. The classic theme song plays throughout the game and while it does sound very good it can get a bit annoying after a while. The Addams Family is far from being original but it just does everything extremely well. If you are a fan of platformers then I think this game will be right up your street, it’s certainly one of the best examples of the genre on the ST.

9/10

B

Bionic Commando GO! – 1987

Originally known as Top Secret in Japan, Bionic Commando was one of the first Capcom arcade games to be converted to the home computers by U.S. Gold on their GO! label. When the game was renamed for the western market it was promoted as the sequel to the smash hit Commando, although it was not created as such. They renamed the main character Super Joe, to match Commando, and the story was altered slightly to follow on from the first game. Bionic Commando is a side scrolling affair, compared to the top down view of the original Commando and plays very differently too. It combines elements of arcade adventures, beat ‘em ups and platformers to great effect and was also the first ever video game to feature the now famous grappling hook. You use this to latch onto platforms above you, swing from ledges and even to eliminate bad guys. Super Joe cannot jump so this bionic arm must be used to

traverse each level. The idea is to simply fight your way through each level (this is like the first game!) and defeat the enemy boss. You are also armed with a gun and throughout each stage handy power-ups are dropped via parachute, which enhance your weapon when you pick them up. The Atari ST version is rather good, it has some lovely colourful graphics and a fast moving pace. But the best part of all is the award winning music by Tim Follin, the ST version of this music is probably the most similar to the original arcade game (which also used a Yamaha sound chip) and will have you playing the game just to listen to it!

8/10

Bubble Bobble Firebird – 1987

What is there left to say about this iconic game? Bubble Bobble is widely regarded as one of the best platform games ever made, and rightly so too. The game was so successful that it saw conversions to a number of different machines and spawned several sequels. Of the original home conversions the ST version was regarded as the finest of them all. Later on when Taito wanted to convert their game to the new range of home consoles they found the original source code was missing and actually turned to the ST version as base for their new versions! So if you have played the Sega Saturn or PlayStation versions of Bubble Bobble then you are actually playing a modified version of Firebird’s fine ST version! I am sure everyone reading this has played BB on one platform or another but for those who somehow haven’t it’s an addictive twoplayer single screen bubble blowing platformer. Playing the parts

of Bub and Bob, two humans who have been magically turned into dinosaurs, you might fight your way through each level in order to return to your original form. The idea is to blow bubbles to trap the bad guys, burst the bubbles to kill them and then collect the fruit and bonus items that they leave behind. You must also look out for the bonus bubbles that contain letters spelling the word “EXTRA”. If you get all the letters you activate a warp taking you several levels ahead. With it’s nice graphics, wonderfully bouncy music and faultless gameplay, Bubble Bobble, remains one of the finest arcade conversions on the Atari ST and a must have in anyone’s collection.

10/10

Beach Volley Ocean – 1989

Volleyball is not a sport that is often considered for video games. I guess it just lacks the appeal and widespread popularity to make it truly viable. However when it is attempted you usually find it’s of the beach variety. We can only assume this is because of the sunny setting, tanned body and tiny bikinis to give the game some add sex appeal. When Ocean decided to approach the sport it became welcome diversion for the Manchester based software house in age where nearly all their output was arcade conversions and movie licences. The game starts off with a great intro accompanied by some fantastic music and gives you the choice between one and two player games. In the single player tournament mode you get to tour the world taking part in matches in front of famous landmarks. It’s quite funny to see the England stage being set in London with its Beefeaters and Big Ben in the background given

where the 2012 Olympic event took place! The game has all the moves you would expect to find with serves, volleys, spikes and blocks all available to you. It also uses a target system to quickly show you where the ball is going to land. In this game though you only have to play to 7 to win so games are fairly short. The graphics are great with really nicely animated players, detailed backgrounds and great cut screens. The sound is also impressive too with music playing throughout. This is the only volleyball game available for the ST but thankfully it’s also a very good one and I would heartily recommend Beach Volley to all the Atari sports fans out there!

8/10

C

Chase H.Q. Ocean – 1989

Without doubt Chase H.Q. was one of my favourite arcade games of the late 80s, it was also one of the few video games that my dad loved playing. It was such a game of the times and brings back memories of the Lethal Weapon films, Miami Vice and other cheesy cop shows on TV. The idea of the game is get behind the wheel of a high powered police car, a Porsche 928 to be exact (all the cops round my way drove a Ford Fiesta!) and take part in a high speed chase. You are hot in pursuit of a wanted criminal and have to race towards him within a tight time limit. Once you reach him you have to use your car to ram him off the road, also within a time limit. Each level features multiple routes as well as other innocent road users, and a multitude of obstacles that will get in your way and slow you down. You car is also equipped with three turbos that can be used to give your Porsche a limited speed boost,

so save these for when you really need them. If you don’t manage to catch him within the allotted time you will grind to a halt as he speeds a way. Using a continue will give you another opportunity to catch him without starting the level all over again. Being such a lover of the original game I was somewhat disappointed with this mediocre ST port. The graphics are a bit jerky with no real sense of speed and some awful colour choices too. The sound is a bit better with nice speech and good music but sadly no sound effects, even the siren is missing! I can’t help but feel the programmers should have done a much better job here considering the hardware on offer.

6/10

Crystal Castles Atari – 1986

Released in 1983 by Atari, Crystal Castles was a brand new take on the Pac-Man inspired maze game. Rather than a flat 2D look, Crystal Castles took the genre into glorious 3D with the use of isometric projection. This was several years before Namco did it themselves with Pac-Mania and the game proved an enormous success. In fact I have always found it bizarre that Atari never made a sequel or even used the hero, Bentley Bear, in another game. He would have made a brilliant mascot for the company and sadly wouldn’t appear again until the release of Atari Karts on the Jaguar in 1995! Crystal Castles was also one of the very first games to have an actual ending, rather than just looping, which was the standard at the time. Another new trick that was added to the game was the ability to jump over enemies (something else Namco stole for Pac-Mania), but Bentley does move quite fast so it is easy to

outrun them. The power pills are replaced with a magic hat or a honey pot that appears once per level and makes you invincible for a short time. If you take too long to complete a level then a swarm of bees will come to get you! The ST version of Crystal Castles is very close to the arcade game except for one small thing, Bentley looks totally different! Here he is more reminiscent of a teddy bear, which is hard to get used to at first but doesn’t spoil the gameplay. This would be understandable if it wasn’t for the fact that this is an official conversion by Atari themselves! Anyway, Crystal Castles is a great game that you will have an enormous amount of fun playing.

8/10

Continental Circus Virgin Games – 1989

Remember the classic Namco and Atari arcade game Pole Position? Well Continental Circus is pretty much the exact same game just with new tracks and better graphics, as you would expect when you see that this one hit arcades five years later in 1987. While this is without doubt a great game anyway, my favourite thing about it is the bizarre name. The story goes that somebody at Taito mistranslated the name as it should have in fact been called Continental Circuits! This rumour also holds water when you see that many of the cabinets out there use the proper name on the artwork! Silly name aside though what we have here is a really solid F1 style racer where you must not only beat the other cars but also make it to the checkpoints in time. Occasionally there are also track obstacles that must be avoided as well as a chicane to negotiate, making the game that little bit harder. One of the features

I really love in this game is that your car retains damage and smoke starts to bellow out the back of it before it gives up completely! The original arcade game shared the same engine as legendary Chase H.Q. and was praised for its high speeds. Thankfully this Atari ST version keeps that key element. The graphics are really nice with detailed cars, attractive scenery and lovely undulating roads. The roar of the engines sound good and there some short pieces of music on the presentation screens. Continental Circus is also extremely playable and controls really well. This title is definitely one of the more under rated racers out there for the Atari ST.

8/10

D

Dynasty Wars U.S. Gold – 1990

The original Dynasty Wars coin-op was released in Japan in 1989 as Tenchi o Kurau, roughly translated as The Devouring of Heaven and Earth. It was based on a Japanese manga called Tenchi wo Kurau and a re-enactment of the battle between the Kingdom of Shu and the Yellow Turban rebels. It is a two-player game where you can each assume the role of one of the four Chinese generals riding on horseback from the Three Kingdoms period in an attempt to smash the rebellion and defeat the Huang Ching. Although it is essentially a horse riding scrolling beat ‘em up, Dynasty Wars also contains a few RPG elements too as you must level-up your characters by collecting yellow orbs and gain experience points through combat. The four characters also have their own varying amounts of attack power and initial vitality. Aside from the unique weaponry, each character also has a unique partner that joins

them during the special attacks. Blue orbs are collected during the game to enhance your player’s weapon and attacks. I have always thought Dynasty Wars is one of Capcom’s most under rated titles. It offers some excellent variation on the beat ‘em up genre and this ST version is very slick indeed. The stunning intro to the game sets the scene perfectly and the in-game graphics are just as good, albeit a bit slow moving at times. Like many of US Gold’s Capcom conversions it also has a superb soundtrack that will have you humming along as you play. Beat ‘em up fans should have this at the top of their list, especially given it has a two-player mode too!

9/10

Double Dragon Melbourne House – 1988

When it was first released into arcades in 1987, Technos’ Double Dragon quickly became the hottest game on the market. It might not have been the first scrolling beat ‘em up (that honour goes to Kung Fu Master) but it’s certainly the most important as it revolutionised the genre and inspired numerous clones such as Final Fight, Shadow Warriors and Streets of Rage. Where it upped the ante compared to previous efforts was not only in the range of attacks but also adding interactive environments, weapons, a wide range of different characters and a simultaneous two-player co-op mode. The latter becoming an integral part of the game in the final stage to see who could win Marion’s love (the lady you are trying to save). Melbourne House (a division of Virgin Mastertronic) were responsible for all the home computer translations of the game and they really couldn’t have done a worse job, with this ST port being

no exception. It is a very weak version of the famous scrolling beat ‘em up indeed, even compared to the others. It has terrible animation, plays really slow, features numerous bugs and, just to add insult to injury, the in-game soundtrack is missing altogether and, as everyone knows, this was one of the best things about the original arcade game. Hell it doesn’t even look that much like the original coin-op with its fat little dumpy sprites and poorly drawn backdrops. There are far better beat ‘em ups for the machine and thankfully that includes the much better conversion of its sequel. Avoid this stinker no matter how much you loved the arcade original.

4/10

Dyna Blaster Ubi Soft – 1992

If you didn’t already know you can probably now see from the screenshot that Dyna Blaster is none other than the all time classic Bomber Man with a different name. Originally developed by Hudson Soft, the arcade game by Irem used the same name as the home computer versions by French company Ubi Soft, no idea why, but the game plays exactly the same thankfully. I am pretty sure everyone out there knows about this game but for those who have been living in a cave for twenty plus years here is a quick synopsis. In the hugely popular multiplayer mode you have four “bomber men” who each start in the corner of a grid type screen. You must use bombs to blow away the blocks so you can get to your opponents and then blow them up. Hidden behind some of the blocks are power-ups that are both good and bad! There are ones that speed you up, allow you to drop more bombs and increase

the explosion distance but there are also ones that slow you down and make you drop bombs automatically! For those people who have no friends though there is also a nice single-player campaign where the idea is pretty much the same except you are eliminating a series of computer controlled opponents (including some massive bosses!) across a variety of different levels. Dyna Blaster is a really good looking game with its bright colours, slick animation and wonderful presentation. It also features some really upbeat music and great sound effects too. One of the best multi-player games ever created this game is simply unmissable.

10/10

E

Empire Strikes Back (The) Domark – 1988

Released in 1985, The Empire Strikes Back is not just the third film in the original Star Wars trilogy it is also the third game in the Atari arcade game trilogy. It was originally released as an upgrade kit for Star Wars and then as a standalone game, so as you can probably guess, it has far more in common with the original game than the second. This was probably a move for the best as the isometric System 1 game, Return of the Jedi, met with a quite mixed response. So like Star Wars, ESB is a 3D vector based game from a first person perspective that recreates key battles from the movie. In the first part of the game the player takes the role of Luke Skywalker as he jumps on a rebel snow speeder in the Battle of Hoth, battles the AT-AT Walkers and eradicates the Probots. In the second half of the game you take the role of Han Solo piloting at the head of a convoy trying to escape the Imperial onslaught. The game

features two upgrades over Star Wars, the first is the introduction of the “JEDI” bonus. If the player collects the letters of the word, all enemy shots will be instantly eliminated for a short time period. The second is the upgrades to the graphics that, while fairly minor, make it look less sparse. The ST version is incredibly close to the arcade original, in fact it is the best home computer port of the game. The 3D vector graphics are very slick and move impressively fast, the sound is authentic with both the original theme tune and digitised speech. Most of all they nailed the gameplay and allowing you to play with a mouse is a great touch.

9/10

E.S.W.A.T. U.S. Gold – 1990

US Gold’s Sega arcade conversions really are very hit and miss. Unfortunately in the case of ESWAT it’s a big miss, as this game is pretty terrible. First released into the arcades in 1989, it’s a side scrolling action styled shooting game much in the vein of the Atari ST and arcade versions of Robocop. There are your usual array of power-ups, enemies and end of level bosses who have to be defeated as you attempt to clean up the streets of Liberty City (no, not the one from Grand Theft Auto!). The key feature of ESWAT is the way you can increase the rank of your officer. Once the rank of Chief has been achieved the player is given a metallic cyber suit. The manual describes this as a “long-range supersonic powered suit” which contains two Turbo-Booster Thrusters and provides extra ammunition and protection from enemies. This suit is then used for the rest of the game and the player is now focused on arresting

criminal masterminds rather than killing them. Apart from that it’s all very generic stuff indeed and much better examples of this kind of thing can be had elsewhere (like the aforementioned Robocop). The graphics here are really poor indeed with horrible colour choices and badly drawn sprites that move like crippled mannequins. The sound is also incredibly poor with nothing more than some pathetic effects in-game. The gameplay and controls work ok, but this is one of very few positives I can mention. For me this game is definitely best avoided and goes down as one of the most disappointing arcade conversions available for the Atari ST.

4/10

Elvira: The Arcade Game Flair Software – 1991

Flair software originally made a series of highly-acclaimed Elvira adventure games for the 16-bit home computers before releasing this title, which is interesting subtitled “The Arcade Game”. But doesn’t actually match up to any arcade game out there and is actually based upon the film Elvira: Mistress of the Dark. What we actually have here is basically an adventure styled platform game much in the mould of something like Switch Blade or Wolf Child. The game features two distinct worlds - the Underworld of Fire and the Arctic Earth. Once these are defeated you can unlock a third - The Castle of Transylvania. According to the ghost in the game’s introduction, this castle actually belongs to Elvira herself. In your quest you are able to use spells and weapons as well as collect the magical rune stones, some food in order to replenish your health and treasure chests too for bonus points. One cool feature

is that you can trade your rune stones in for secret information to help you complete the game. The graphics here are fantastic with an amazing use of both colour and detail. This game seems to be rather obscure these days, which is almost surprising given how popular the mistress of the night still is. I had actually forgotten myself that it even existed until I came across it online, although once I did I soon remembered it being favourably reviewed in ST Format back in the day. If you are a fan of Elvira or even more so a fan of these adventure-style platformers then this is definitely a game that you will want to add to your collection.

8/10

F

Forgotten Worlds U.S. Gold – 1989

Take Super Joe from the Commando games, give him a friend, throw him into space, add horizontal scrolling, some cool weapon shops and you basically have Forgotten Worlds! This is a conversion of the 1988 arcade game of the same name and was programmed by ARC Developments for US Gold’s Capcom USA label. One or two players can take the role of a soldier flying through space shooting all sorts of enemies that would be right at home in a more traditional horizontally scrolling space shooter. Along the way you collect coins, which are left behind when you kill baddies, and then look out for the shops that pop-up mid-level. In these emporiums you can spend your coins on all sorts of upgrades including weapons, shields, extra lives and health. These vary greatly in price so sometimes it’s worth saving your dosh for the more expensive and more useful items. One of the best elements of this game is

the huge bosses, some of which take up nearly the whole screen! They look amazing and require some serious firepower to take out. Forgotten Worlds on the ST is super slick throughout and far more impressive than the rival Amiga version. The graphics are great and, in particular, I was especially impressed by the fast pace and smooth scrolling. While there are no sound effects there is a superb soundtrack to accompany the game. The best part for me though is the simultaneous two-player mode that sees some great teamwork come into effect. Forgotten Worlds comes highly recommended for fans of shooters and those looking for a great co-op experience on the ST too.

8/10

Flying Shark Firebird – 1988

There once was a time when these World War II shooters were all the rage with titles like Time Pilot, 1943 and P47 Thunderbolt ruling the arcades. Of these Flying Shark was one of the best and one of the best remembered too. Originally developed by shoot ‘em up connoisseurs Toaplan, it was distributed worldwide by Taito and known under the title Sky Shark in North America. This game might now seem like a pretty generic shooter and, in all honesty, it probably is but it’s still one of the best examples of a vertically scrolling shoot ‘em up on the Atari ST. You basically control a little plane flying up the screen over different land and sea based backdrops taking out enemies both in the air and below. You have your standard machine guns and a limited amount of bombs to do this with. There are of course the now obligatory power-ups to increase your firepower, speed-ups and extra bombs to pick

up along the way. Where the ST version of Flying Shark differs slightly from the arcade game is that the screen doesn’t feature any horizontal scrolling, instead the screen is wider, showing you the whole play area at once. This is actually an improvement over the original for me as there are no more unfair deaths from enemies you can’t see! Flying Shark has both music, from the super-talented Jas C. Brooke, and sound effects alongside some really nicely drawn graphics. For what is quite an early ST game, Flying Shark really does the business and Atari shoot ‘em up fans should not be satisfied until they have this rather fine game in their collection.

9/10

Falcon Spectrum Holobyte – 1989

While there were many flight simulators released for the Atari ST over the years it was definitely Spectrum Holobyte’s Falcon that set the bar. Featuring a fully 3D polygon world, realistic controls and varied campaigns (also allowing you to add new ones via data disks) Falcon really is an all-inclusive package. You control the plane of the title, an American F-16 Falcon fighter jet, while the enemy forces fly Soviet MiG 21s, re-enacting the potential air battles of the Cold War. But in the game there are both ground and air targets to take care of as well as a limited amount of weapons available to actually take them out. In total there are twelve missions to get through and you can treble that with the addition of the Falcon Operation: Counterstrike and Falcon Operation: Firefight expansion packs. Falcon won numerous awards for its excellence including best simulation game at the 1989 Golden Joystick awards

and was also voted the 8th best game of all-time in Amiga Power magazine. So when reading that last part take into account that the ST version is even better thanks to the faster processor! When it comes to 3D graphics you’re not going to find much that beats Falcon, it’s every bit as impressive visually as it is realistic. As well as some suitable sound effects the programmers also threw in a smattering of digitised speech too, that handily gives out advice at just the right time. Let’s make get thing straight Falcon certainly isn’t a game for beginners as the hefty manual already proves, it’s certainly more than enough to satisfy any budding pilots out there.

9/10

G

Gauntlet U.S. Gold – 1985

This conversion of Ed Logg’s outstanding 1985 arcade game was one of the very first coin-op conversions on the ST and really showed what the machine could do. Because it came so early in the machine’s life it also never saw a port to the rival Amiga either. One of the key features of the ST version compared to the other home ports of the time was that it retained the arcade game’s simultaneous four-player mode! It did this by using a special adapter that plugged into the ST’s printer port giving the machine a further two standard 9-pin D-plug joystick sockets, it would also be taken advantage of for the sequel and the classic Ikari Warriors clone Leatherneck. As well as retaining all of the original levels an add-on data disk was also released called Gauntlet: The Deeper Dungeons that gave you a further 512 levels to battle through! For those that don’t know, in Gauntlet you choose one of

four characters: Thyra the Valkyrie, Thor the Warrior, Merlin the Wizard or Questor the Elf. They all have different abilities in areas such as speed, armour and attack. You must then battle through the maze like dungeons killing the ghosts, demons, lobbers, grunts and sorcerers among other enemies. Then make your way to the exit and onto the next stage. Along the way you must collect keys to open doors, health and magic potions. The latter of which is the only thing that can defeat Death, the grim reaper himself. This ST version has great graphics, digitised sound effects and stonking multi-player gameplay that is only better on the machine by it’s even better sequel!

9/10

Galaxy Force II Activision – 1988

I have always been a huge fan of this game since the first time I played it in the arcades. I always much preferred it over the other quite similar super-scaler games like Space Harrier, Afterburner and G-LOC. Given how powerful those arcade games were you must be wondering how an inexpensive home computer like the Atari ST can handle a game like this? Well in all honestly it actually does a very good job indeed! In fact this ST port even has a jolly good attempt at faking the scaling effects of the arcade original. For those unaware Galaxy Force II is a 3D perspective space shooter where you guide your craft through a series of space and planet based stages that are always followed by a tunnel sequence and a boss. These tunnel sequences were unique to a game of this type and twist and turn making them hard to negotiate. Thankfully another very unique feature of this game is the ability to change

your speed. You need to adjust the power of your thruster so you can speed over the planet surfaces and slow down for the tight caverns. As I already mentioned this ST version is very impressive on a technical level. As great as the space sections look, it’s even better when you enter the tunnel sections and it also manages to keep up a decent frame rate too. It’s also far better than Sega’s own Mega Drive version, mark one up for the ST. In fact I would go as far to say this is the most impressive arcade conversion I have played on the ST. Amazing visuals, superb music, rock solid gameplay and even speech thrown in too. Make this an all-time ST favourite!

10/10

Ghostbusters II Activision – 1989

Who didn’t love Ghostbusters back in the day? The original film is revered as an all-time classic and right so (let’s not mention the modern remake!). While the 1989 sequel is quite as good it was still a highly enjoyable movie with enough great scenes to make a more than competent video game, so I had high hopes for this title back in the day. It was actually programmed by the Oliver Twins, of Dizzy fame, so this only raised my expectations higher. The Ghostbusters II game has levels based on key moments from the film starting off with the sewer section where you go under the streets of New York to discover the source of the slime. Then it moves on to a horizontally scrolling stage where you control the giant statue of liberty strutting across the city. And then finally you enter an isometric showdown with the final boss, none other than the evil baby snatching spook Vigo himself. The thing

I liked the most about this game is the digitised cut-scenes that pop throughout showing scenes from the actual movie helping to tell the story. As well as these impressive images the graphics in Ghostbusters II are excellent. There is a great attention to detail and the statue stage is particularly impressive. The sound is also pretty good too with some especially notable music all the way through the game. Unfortunately the actual gameplay isn’t as good as its other parts and the three different stages are all pretty uninspiring. If you are mad on the movies you might get some fun from it but for the rest of us it becomes no more than a nice demo with a lot of disk swapping.

6/10

H

Hydra Domark – 1991

A conversion of the 1990 Atari arcade game of the same name, Hydra, can best be described as RoadBlasters in boat. You play the part of a courier in specially designed high powered speedboat who has to deliver top secret parcels all over the world using the globe’s great rivers. Other people on the water want these packages too and will do anything to stop you and steal them for nefarious means. Your boat is equipped with guns, boosts and ever decreasing fuel that needs to be kept topped up. Just like RoadBlasters, shooting the enemies reveals extra fuel globes in addition to ones scattered along the water and you will need as many as you can get. The boosts are also limited and, when used, allow your speedboat fly through the air for a short amount of time! This gives you the chance to collect the bags of money hanging from balloons in the sky as well as take down flying enemies too. These bags of dosh

are also littered around the rivers and all add up to give you a nice bonus at the end of each level. Graphically Hydra is very good indeed, the frame rate is smooth and fast and there are some nicely drawn intro screens too. One of my favourite parts of this game however is the soundtrack, Hydra has a really great tune that plays throughout the game, although no effects are present. All in all though Hydra is a rather under rated game in the Tengen library for the ST and often overlooked in favour of similar games such as RoadBlasters or Overlander. So if you already own those titles then you really should be giving Hydra a closer look.

8/10

Humans (The) Gametek – 1992

The idea of this game is to guide a tribe of cavemen through a prehistoric world using a combination of teamwork and their undeveloped brains to create new inventions and evolve. Your humans can stand on top of each other to make ladders, jump, pick up objects and throw things. All these skills must be mastered and used extensively if you are to have any chance of completing a level. On selected levels you also get a witchdoctor who can cast spells to make you an object you require, the only down side is you must sacrifice a member of your team to do so! In this ancient world there are also dinosaurs wanting to eat you up and all manner of flying creatures that may or may not help you on your mission. The simple inventions are such things as fire, the wheel and spears, all things that modern man takes for granted. The other thing is that you must also work out the best way to use all of them. All in all

there are an incredible eighty levels of puzzling action in total. So it’s a really good job that developers Imagitec Design gave each level a password so you can come back to it. The graphics in The Humans are quite nice with well animated sprites, good colour choices and attractive scenery. The sound isn’t bad either with some nice music from Barry Leitch and there are even a few digitised voices thrown in too. If you are a big fan of games like Lost Vikings and Lemmings then you will love The Humans. This game was so popular back in the day that it came out on no less than thirteen different formats and it’s not hard to see why as its pretty damn great!

8/10

Human Killing Machine U.S. Gold – 1989

U.S. Gold were always a company with a reputation for producing poor quality arcade conversions. We had horrors such as OutRun, ESWAT, Kung Fu Master, G-LOC and Street Fighter stinking up our computers back in the day. But it’s the last one of those that we need to pay special attention to here, Tiertex’s horrendous conversion of Capcom’s one-on-one fighter. Now Street Fighter wasn’t the greatest arcade game in the first place, it’s the sequel that set about redefining the genre. Add in the fact they got Tiertex to port it, who pretty much always produced sub-standard goods, and you are onto a loser. But despite this all, the game sold really well and made U.S. Gold a lot of money. So it was only natural they would want to cash in with a sequel. After Capcom refused them using the Street Fighter name again (no doubt because the true sequel was already being planned) U.S. Gold came up with the title Human

Killing Machine, or HKM for short. Despite the change in name, the Birmingham based company made the connection to Street Fighter at every opportunity and milked it for all it was worth. But was HKM any better than the first game? Simple answer is no, it actually managed to be worse! In fact I would argue that HKM is the worst fighting game ever made, it’s that bad! All the characters (you only get to play as one of them though) have about three frames of animation each, the collision detection is atrocious and the controls are totally unresponsive. HKM is an utter car crash of a game that ranks among the very worst titles to be released for the ST.

2/10

I

Indiana Jones and the Temple Of Doom Mindscape – 1986

The original Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom arcade game was released by Atari Games in 1985 and was based on the 1984 film of the same name, which was the second film in the ever popular Indiana Jones franchise. It is also the first Atari System 1 arcade game to include digitised speech, including voice clips of Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones and Amrish Puri as Mola Ram, as well as John Williams’ classic music from the film. This 1987 conversion of the game by Mindscape was originally Atari ST only, before being converted to the Amiga and PC much later. The basic idea of the game is to make your way through all five levels collecting the treasures and rescuing the kidnapped children. The levels vary quite a lot here, from the 3D perspective adventure stages that scroll in all directions to the classic mine cart chase that requires quick reactions to progress through. Indy himself is

armed with his trusty whip (as always) to help him along the way and handy messages appear at the bottom of the screen to guide you. This Atari ST conversion is fairly decent in most ways, but does suffer from some very poor collision detection at times. The graphics look fairly nice for the time and they have included the original music and sound, although not particularly good quality renditions of either unfortunately and all the arcade game’s iconic speech is completely missing sadly. If you are a big Indy fan or loved the original coin-op then you will probably still dig this game, but others might find it a little too frustrating to bother spending any time with.

6/10

International Karate + System 3 – 1988

Archer MacLean’s original International Karate was a massive hit on the Atari 8-bit computer so it’s only right that the sequel would become such a massive hit on the 16-bit Atari computer. The original IK was based on the Karate Champ arcade game by Data East and even led to lawsuit over the similarity of the game. The sequel adds a number of new features that totally change the dynamic of game while still being familiar. The main one is that you now fight two other players at once, whether they both be CPU controlled or CPU and human. In each round the first and second ranked players progress, which is decided by how many hits you land on the other fighters. Lots of quick movement is required to stay on top and not get hit in the back while you go for the win. The other great new feature is the addition of bonus stages such as one where you have to use a big shield to deflect balls and

dismembered heads being thrown at you! IK+ also has more than a few secrets to discover too (tip: try pressing different keys!) that add a great comedic touch to the proceedings. The graphics here are utterly superb with brilliant animation, great use of colour, tons of detail and a stunning background. The game is no slouch when it comes to audio either, with both digitised sound effects and a brilliant tune by Dave “Uncle Art” Lowe playing throughout. The controls are super tight and collision detection really is pixel perfect. Without any shadow of doubt IK+ is the best fighting game on the Atari ST and an essential purchase for every owner of the 16-bit computer.

10/10

Indy Heat Storm – 1992

Endorsed by fellow named Danny Sullivan who, after a bit of Google-fu, I found out is a 17 time winner of the CART Indy Car series, this top down racer for the Atari ST is basically a sequel of sorts to the terrific Super Off-Road. Like it, Indy Heat is also a conversion of a Leland arcade game, this time released in 1991, and it offers very much the same experience. Swap out the jeeps for racing cars and the mud for tarmac and you pretty much have this game in a nutshell. Based on the hugely popular (in America anyway!) Indy 500 series this is almost like a more modern update of the Super Sprint games. But instead of the more standardised top down 2D view, Indy Heat uses the same forced 3D viewpoint of Super Off-Road and has much of the same features too. The player has a limited amount of fuel and can also sustain damage, so pit stops are needed in order to keep on going. You can use

your winnings to improve the car and buy power-ups such as turbo boosts. There are nine different tracks in total that represent different parts of North America, culminating in Indianapolis itself. When comes to the gameplay it also plays pretty much the same too, so if you’ve played it’s more illustrious cousin you know what to expect here. I did find this game a little more enjoyable though for some strange reason, I can only assume that’s because I have always been more of a fan of cars than burly 4x4 vehicles. If you are into these top-down style racers like me then Indy Heat is a game you should definitely add to your Atari ST collection.

8/10

J

Jinks Rainbow Arts – 1988

Jinks is one of those real Marmite game that people seem to either love or hate, personally I am on the side of the folks that love it. I first encountered the game on Atari’s 7800 console, where it quickly became one of my favourite cartridges, so I was very pleased to discover this vastly superior ST version. The best way to describe Jinks is that it plays a bit like a horizontally scrolling cross between Breakout and pinball. In Junks you have to use your paddle to get a ball along the course of a level and into the exit at the end. You can move this paddle around in every direction and also change the angle of it, allowing you to manipulate the way the ball bounces and reacts. Though the levels there are bricks to break, bumpers to bounce off, bonus items to collect and the odd enemy in your way too. Among the items you can collect are extra balls, extra bounce and also one that makes your bat much smaller (not so

good!). As I kind of mentioned already, this ST version of Jinks is far superior to its original 8-bit counterparts. Not only does it have much better graphics in every respect, but also some terrific music from the legendary Jochen “Mad Max” Hippel of Thalion fame. The slight thing I will criticise though is that the scrolling is a bit on the choppy side, something that we ST owners are quite used to by now though. ST Jinks also gives you the option of adjusting the gravity as well as the speed of the game too, which is fun to play around with. It might be a bit obscure, it’s certainly a bit weird but it’s also highly original and I recommend you all give Jinks a try.

8/10

Jungle Boy Byte Back – 1991

Released to arcade audiences in 1982, Jungle Hunt was Taito’s next big hit after the legendary Space Invaders. Originally known under the title Jungle King, Taito were forced to change it after a lawsuit from the owners of Tarzan, citing the incredibly similar main character and theme of the game. Jungle Boy for the Atari ST is an almost carbon copy clone released for the budget market that certainly seemed to slip under the radar of the I.P. lawyers. Jungle Hunt was particularly notable for being a game of several different parts. In the first scene you are required to swing through the jungle using a series of vines, expert timing is required to grab each following vine at the right time. In the next part you are swimming through a crocodile infested river. You must avoid the crocs and also keep returning to the surface for air, stay underwater too long and you will drown. You are then required to run up the volcano

as you avoid the falling boulders, these are all different sizes and move at different speeds to make things tougher. The final scenario sees our hero trying to rescue his girlfriend from the clutches of cannibals. You must avoid the crazy natives and then steal her from the giant pot and make your escape. The amusing thing about this clone is that it’s called Jungle Boy (which was actually the games original name in prototype stage) and shows a kid on the title screen but when you start the game you have become a Tarzan like muscle man! The graphics here are pretty decent, as is the sound, and it plays ok too. All in all this game is a pretty good effort for the 16-bit Atari.

7/10

James Pond: Underwater Agent Millenium – 1990

In the early nineties platformers were all the rage and everyone was trying to create their own characters to compete with Sonic and Mario. Another think that was all the rage was puns, especially in video games, and James Pond combined the best of both worlds. Not only did James Pond contain more bad puns than any other game of the time but was also one of the more popular mascots of the time. As you probably the guessed by the games title Pond himself is a play on none other than 007 himself but this of course is not the only pun, the game is loaded with them. The main villain in this title is Dr. Maybe and levels spoof many of the James Bond films with titles such as License to Bubble, A View to a Spill and Leak and Let Die. The idea of James Pond is to solve puzzles so you can defeat the enemy and this involves finding objects to perform specific tasks, such as keys to rescue captured lobsters or

sponges to bung up the holes in leaking oil tankers. James must also fire bubbles at his enemies to trap them, Bubble Bobble style, before popping them to finish them off. This game was incredibly popular back in the day and came out on a multitude of systems but I’ve always found it really tedious to play. It always just felt like a budget game to me with its generic gameplay and lack of any real substance. The graphics are poor with its bland backdrops and unimaginative design. The sound is also nothing to write home about with equally bland title music (none in-game!) and harsh effects. James Pond is a game that really does belong at the bottom of the sea.

4/10

K

Klax Domark – 1990

After Atari Games had enormous success with their version of Tetris in the arcades they decided to come up with an original successor of their own. This game was the unique colour matching puzzler Klax. Released to arcade audiences in 1989 it became an instant hit and was quickly converted to just about every home format under the sun including the Atari ST. For those who don’t know Klax is a tile based puzzle game that requires you to drop different coloured bricks into a pit to form lines of three or more in the same colour either horizontally, vertically or diagonally. These bricks make their way to pit along a conveyor belt that moves faster and faster as the levels increase. More colours are also added as the game progresses making it harder and harder to build longer chains and matches. You use a paddle to catch the bricks at the end of the belt and then drop them. Your paddle can hold up to

five at a time and if you miss a catch then you lose a life. There are different criteria to achieve on each level, which are set before you start, such as points wave (score a certain amount of points), Diagonal wave (complete a certain amount of diagonals) and tile wave (shift a set amount of bricks). One of the best features of Klax are the secret Klaxes that can be used to achieve warps, such as the well known giant X, allowing to skip ahead in the game. This Atari ST version is pretty much identical to the arcade game in every way with its colourful visuals and excellent audio that even includes some digitised speech! Atari ST fans can certainly do a lot worse than pick up this great game.

9/10

Kid Kong Munsie Entertainment – 1993

Despite the name change to Kid Kong, this is very much the same Nintendo game we all know and love and a very good version it is too. This shareware title by Dave Munsie pretty much nails the original coin-op in nearly every respect. It starts off with a very similar title screen (only the name is changed) is followed by the traditional intro sequence that shows Kong grabbing Pauline and making his way to the top of the girders. This is of course is followed by the mighty ape beating his chest before jumping up and down to tilt all the platforms below him. Only after this sequence do you get to play the actual game. Kid Kong is stretched out vertically, much like the other home versions of the game, but doesn’t suffer for it. Everything looks the same as it did in the arcade game including Mario and Donkey Kong themselves. The controls are fast and responsive and the gameplay just feels very

similar indeed to the original. Kong varies the way he throws the barrels and the difficulty is set fairly high. All the levels are present and you get three lives with which to defeat Kong and rescue Pauline, but annoyingly there are no continues. Most of the sounds have also been recreated perfectly here, but I said most, and there is one exception. For some reason there is no background music, which seems incredibly strange given that everything else is here and that it was very prevalent in the arcade original. All the intro tunes are present as are the sound effects. Despite that this is a solid conversion for the Atari ST that Donkey Kong fans will greet with open arms.

8/10

Kwik Snax Codemasters – 1991

When somebody mentions Codemasters the first name that usually comes to mind is Dizzy. The Oliver Twins’ charismatic egg starred in a series of hugely popular arcade adventures and to cash in further on the craze another series of spin-off games was created too. The first of these was Fast Food, an enjoyable take on Pac-Man, and Kwik Snax is the follow up, this time basing it on another classic arcade game – Sega’s Pengo. As Dizzy himself you have negotiate a series of single screen levels trying to collect all the fruit and not get killed by the enemies. Putting aside the food foraging, the majority of levels in Kwik Snax play exactly the same as Pengo. You can push blocks around and use them to either protect you or squash enemies behind them for bonus points. There are other hazards that get in your way too though that can also kill you or stop you moving the block, so there is also

somewhat of a puzzle element to the game at times. And this is especially true of the bonus levels, where you have to guide Dizzy round the screen collecting all the fruit once again, but in this case he will keep moving in the direction you press until he’s stopped by something. To complete this successfully and earn your bonus you need to collect all the goodies without dying. Graphically the game is excellent with colour splashed all over the place and the sprites have real personality. You’re also in for a treat when it comes to the audio too as Kwik Snax has terrific music throughout. Highly playable, hugely fun and very enjoyable are all correct phrases used to describe Kwik Snax.

9/10

L

Lemmings Psygnosis – 1990

Well it has appeared on pretty much every platform of its time from the humble Sinclair Spectrum to the awesome Atari Lynx and become one of the most popular strategy puzzle games of all time. So it would come of no surprise to hear this game also got a conversion to one of the most popular home computers of all time, the Atari ST. The idea of Lemmings is to guide your troop of blue haired death merchants through each level trying to save as many as possible. You can assign each Lemming a skill such as digger, climber, stopper or builder to help you make your way to the exit. On each stage you get a limited amount of each skill and a percentage figure of how many lemmings you must save. If it all goes wrong then you can hit the nuke button and watch them explode! Each level has its own theme to add a bit of variation to it from the fiery depths of hell to the shining crystal caverns. The ST

version arrived shortly after the original Amiga one so we have all the levels, with a password system, and all the features that were in the other versions. The graphics are very nice and I still find myself humming the music at random to this day. You will also be pleased to hear that all the iconic speech remains intact too. The other big bonus of the ST version over the console counterparts is that you have mouse control, which I far more intuitive and accurate. You have probably played Lemmings to death over the years, most people have, but that doesn’t stop it from not only being one of the best strategy puzzlers ever made but also one of the best games to grace the Atari ST.

10/10

Last Duel U.S. Gold – 1989

Subtitled Inter Planet War 2012 and originally released in arcades in 1988, Last Duel is easily one of the more obscure games that U.S. Gold licensed from Capcom for release on the home computers. Not many people actually realise that Last Duel is also the sequel to the criminally under rated L.E.D. Storm (which U.S. Gold also ported). There are quite a few differences between the games though, despite them looking incredibly similar from static screenshots. The most major change is that your car can now shoot, so you are able to blast the other cars off the track. The second big change is that rather than just watch the blue car race alongside you, like it does in L.E.D. Storm, a second player can now join the game and play with you! Instead of end of level checkpoints there are now end of level bosses you must destroy to progress and you no longer have to worry about topping up your fuel. The power-ups

in Last Duel now improve your weapons as well as your car to fit in with the other changes to the game. One of the best things about L.E.D. Storm was the music by Tim Follin, that is widely regarded as some of the best on the Atari ST. While Last Duel has a cracking title track the in-game sound is sadly lacking with just some very generic sound effects present instead. Graphics wise it’s pretty similar to its predecessor, although perhaps not quite as smooth. Last Duel is a decent enough game but it pales in comparison to its predecessor. After an extended amount of play you will soon see why this is now one of the lesser known Capcom conversions out there.

7/10

Llamatron 2112 Llamasoft – 1991

Many people out there will agree that Eugene Jarvis’ seminal 1982 arcade classic Robotron 2084 is one of the greatest games ever made, or at least agree that it was one of the most challenging! Although it got ported to the ST in 1987, madcap genius Jeff Minter wasn’t happy with it and decided to come up with a version of his own. The result of that was Llamatron 2112, a wonderfully whacky clone that really put his talents on the map and a title that many still regard as his best work. The basic gameplay is exactly the same as Robotron, you run around the screen trying to kill all the enemies before they kill you in a frantic fashion. But from there the game starts to mutate in typically crazy Minter style. The Robotrons are replaced by crazy things like coke cans, fruit and even space invaders. There are also now power-ups to help you in your death quest such as smart bombs, improved weapons and love potions.

The latter of which help you attract the goats and yaks that replace the humans you need to save from the original game. Another great feature of Llamatron is the team mode that lets you either play two-player with a friend or with a CPU controlled player instead! The graphics in Llamatron are great but the biggest props have to go the amazing digitised sounds, especially the echoing scream when you kill the Mandelbrot! It’s rare that you will hear sound effects this good in an Atari ST game. Llamatron 2112 is quite simply one of the finest Atari ST games ever made and a must have title for every owner of this fine machine.

10/10

M

Mega Twins U.S. Gold – 1991

U.S. Gold and the much derided Tiertex team up again to deliver us a conversion of this cute platformer for the company’s popular Capcom USA arcade label. Known as Chiki Chiki Boys in Japanese arcade and on the Sega Mega Drive it was originally unveiled to arcade audiences in 1990 and is very reminiscent of Sega’s excellent Wonder Boy games. As you can probably tell by the title, this is a multi-player game where two of you can team up as the twins in question to try and rid the land of Alurea from the nasty monsters that have taken over. As well as being able to jump and climb, the twins are armed with a magic sword with which to despatch the baddies. You can also collect bombs that can be used to cause massive damage to all the enemies on the screen at once. The twins also have an energy bar that depletes when they are hit as well as lives and credits. Each level has a boss at the end and many

of them contain secret short cuts that can be used to complete the game quicker too. Graphically Mega Twins is very nice with its bright colours and cute design but is sorely lacking the sound department. The nice title music doesn’t continue into the game and is instead replaced with some crappy sounding effects. In my opinion platform games just don’t feel the same without music and not putting a tune in a game like this just seems wrong. That said though it is still a solid port of the arcade game and at least it has the two-player mode intact, which was notably missing from its Sega Mega Drive counterpart. Take that that console kids!

7/10

Mission Elevator Euro Gold – 1989

While the Atari ST never got an official version of the classic 1983 Taito arcade game Elevator Action it did get this rather interesting clone from obscure publishers Euro Gold. Released quite early in the ST’s life, 1987 to be exact, this game features that ultra bright and colourful style that seemed to be the standard look of ST games back then. Thankfully it suits the game perfectly here as that was very much the same style the original arcade game used. Mission Elevator also contains numerous enhancements over the Taito original. Firstly, the programmers have doubled the number of floors from 30 to 60. Secondly they have added a series of little sequences to break up the otherwise samey action. These revolve around a series of hints that appear at the bottom of the screen and the interaction with people you find behind the doors on your travels. The basic gameplay is still exactly the same though as

you use the elevators to move around the floors, avoid the enemy agents and collect the secret documents. The enemy agents can also be attacked, but watch out for their flying bullets! Once you have searched all the floors and recovered everything you need, you must go right back down to the basement in order to jump in your car and escape. As I alluded to earlier the graphics are bright and colourful and faithful to the original. The sound is pretty decent with chirpy tunes and decent sound effects too. If you were a fan of the original arcade game then this title will certainly fulfil your fix, if you are able to actually find it that is!

7/10

Manchester United Europe Krisalis – 1991

What we have here is a new updated version of the best selling 16bit home computer game Manchester United. Whether you liked the club or not there was no doubting that with Krisalis had created an excellent game of footy. Some people might better know this sequel as European Soccer Challenge on the Atari Lynx or European Club Soccer on the Sega Mega Drive, where it also appeared. When Manchester United Europe was first released it was hailed as the best side viewed footy game ever and it still holds up well today. You can compete in friendlies or compete in what we used to call the UEFA Cup. The selection of teams on offer is unbelievable, from the might of Barcelona, AC Milan and Tottenham Hotspur (my own team!) to the likes of Dundee United, Shamrock Rovers and Wrexham! The game doesn’t have any real names for the players but does allow you to choose your tactics and each team

does differ in technique. Your players are able to pass, chip, volley, cross and of course shoot so there are plenty of ways to score goals too. There are also some genuine techniques that can be worked out around set pieces too, so it’s not just random. Computer A.I. is also a lot better than many other games of the time. The whole game is wonderfully presented with great static screens and the in game visuals are decent enough too. Sound wise there is some rather nice music alongside a host of suitable effects. Although the ST isn’t exactly short of football games, Manchester United Europe is up there among the very best.

8/10

N

Nebulus Hewson – 1988

This game is also known as Tower Toppler on the Atari 7800 and as Castelian on the Nintendo systems, so if you don’t immediately recognise the name you might now! However Nebulus is the original title of this best selling platformer that wowed audiences upon its release. In this title you control this deformed little man as you try to get to the top of a series of towers. You do this by using combination of lifts, doors and pixel accurate jumping. The most unique, and for that matter incredibly impressive, feature of Nebulus is that the tower actually rotates as you move round it, giving one of the most stunning 3D effects I have seen in an Atari ST platform game. This is not the only impressive graphical effect though as the reflections in the water at the bottom of each tower look amazing too. The tower is also inhabited by lots of different monsters who are trying to stop you, hit one and they knock

you back down the tower. Did I also forget to mention you must complete each tower within a time limit? Between each level there is also a great mini-game where you control a submarine shooting at the monsters, even more impressive visuals here with loads of smooth parallax scrolling. As much as I wanted to love this game, because it really is a great technical achievement, I just can’t. Impressive as it might be, especially in the visual department, I just find Nebulus far too hard, too frustrating and far too annoying to gain any enjoyment out of it. Fans of platformers may want to take a look at this though, but make sure you have plenty of patience at hand!

6/10

New Zealand Story (The) Ocean – 1989

While Taito’s Bubble Bobble franchise has always remained their most popular and famous platform game series another big favourite has always been this ultra cute game, that sadly lacked the sequels of its more illustrious brethren. The New Zealand Story came out around the same time as highly acclaimed Rainbow Islands and was met with the same level of enthusiasm, which makes it even more surprising that the story wasn’t continued. In it you play the role of a cute little kiwi trying to rescue your friends down under. They have all been kidnapped from the zoo by an evil walrus and locked in cages around the landscape under armed guard. You start off with a bow and arrow to battle your equally cute opponents but can soon upgrade to other weapons that increase your firepower greatly. Because poor old kiwis cannot fly he must use the balloons and flying platforms to reach some

of the higher areas, but watch out for the lethal spikes that will bring back to earth with a bang! To complete each level you must rescue your buddies and make your way to the exit. Along the way you can also collect fruit, much like Bubble Bobble, to gain bonus points. This Atari ST version of New Zealand Story is pretty arcade perfect in every way. The wonderfully animated cartoon-like visuals accompanied by the now classic music create a near perfect platform game experience. If you are a fan of the genre or even arcade games in general then you should be making this game a part of your collection as soon as possible. Especially if you can grab the bundle with Rainbow Islands too!

9/10

Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less Domark - 1987

For those that haven’t already worked it out from the title, this game is based on a Jeffrey Archer novel of the same name. I really wish I was kidding but I’m not. Originally released in 1987 for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC, an “enhanced” version for the Atari ST followed soon after. Staying somewhat faithful to the original printed source material, it’s a text adventure that uses still graphics to portray key moments within the game. Just to make things a bit more interesting, the player is also required to solve puzzles from time to time in order to progress. The plot revolves around three Englishmen and one American who have been conned out of their savings by a crook. Taking the role of one of these men, named Stephen Bradley, you must join up with the others to try and swindle the money back from the original fraudster. Although all puzzles have to be solved in a order

to progress from a location, it is still possible to miss important objects along the way and then get totally stuck later on because of it. The game gives you no clues or hints about how to achieve your goal and you are automatically expected to have read the book first, which was included with the game. Graphically they did a nice job with the still images and cut scenes but there isn’t a lot else to it, remember this is a text adventure after all. The huge flaws in the game design and uninteresting subject matter really don’t help things here. Combine that with the fact that no further games based on the former MP’s books followed, and you should have all you need to know!

3/10

O

Operation Wolf Ocean – 1988

While Operation Wolf was not the first light gun shooter in the arcades it was certainly the game that all future ones were judged by. Released by Taito in 1987, it spawned several sequels as well as endless clones from other coin-op manufacturers. In Operation Wolf you are a soldier who has parachuted into an enemy warzone and must rescue all the hostages then make it to the airport in order to escape! You see the game from a first person perspective and move the target round the screen to shoot all the enemies. While this Atari ST version doesn’t support a light-gun it does utilise the mouse, which is much more preferable to joystick control and also allows you to use the second button to launch your grenades. When hostages appear they are marched across the screen by enemy troops, so you have to be extra careful not to shoot them! Enemy soldiers are not the only things you have to worry about in this

game though, as you are also attacked by tanks, armoured vehicles and even helicopters! This is where your grenades will come in particularly handy. You will need to look out for animals like flying ducks and trotting pigs to replenish your health along the way too, no time to cook them here! Operation Wolf is undoubtedly a classic shooter that is rightly well remembered. The ST port has some nice graphics that look very close to the original arcade and plenty of great sound effects including the digitised speech. One of the best games of its type on the ST, it was only really surpassed when the sequel, Operation Thunderbolt, came along.

8/10

Obession Unique Developments – 1994

Swedish studio Unique Developments were responsible for some of the most impressive games released on the Atari ST, it’s just a shame that many of them came about too late in the machine’s life to really get noticed. Obsession is a pinball game released in 1994 that only works on STe and Falcon computers with at least 1MB of RAM. If you didn’t know any better you would actually swear that this was part of the Pinball Dreams/Fantasies series by 21st Century Entertainment. Not only does the name fit, but the whole style of the game right down to the dot matrix style displays is identical. They do say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but I do feel that 21st Century might not have been too pleased about this had the game been more of a commercial success! Obsession features four different tables all with their own theme. These are: Aquatic Adventure, Balls and Bats (baseball), X-ile Zone

(spooky) and Desert Run. As you can see they follow very similar themes to the games created by DiCE, but don’t let that put you off. Especially as each one is utterly gorgeous with over forty different colours on screen (the ST is supposed to be limited to just sixteen) and an incredible level of detail. There is also five channel stereo music plus sound effects and speech, taking full advantage of the STe’s improved sound capabilities. I have always been a huge fan of pinball games on home computers going right back to the first time I played Advanced Pinball Simulator on the Spectrum. But, without doubt, Obsession is the finest example of the genre on Atari’s 16-bitter.

9/10

OutRun U.S. Gold – 1987

Perhaps OutRun is Sega’s greatest ever arcade game, it was amazingly successful and the franchise is still popular to this day. The original game was loved not just for its brilliant gameplay but also for having a simply amazing soundtrack that is still regarded among the best ever. U.S. Gold took responsibility for the home conversions and were much criticised for their efforts. The main complaint of gamers was the slow speed of the home ports, and the ST conversion of this classic road racer is no exception. In fact, let’s be honest here, it’s pretty bloody terrible! The first thing you notice as soon as you stick it in your disk drive is that it takes nearly as long to load as an old tape game! I wish I was exaggerating there but I’m really not. Then it defaults to mouse control (WTF!), so you have to change it in the options menu. This is very annoying indeed if you don’t have the mouse plugged in. The graphics here

look pretty rough with a poor choice of colours, rubbish frame rate and some really strange dimension and perspective problems. They didn’t even get things like the branching roads done properly! The music is actually pretty good throughout though, so at least they got somebody good in to do that (Jas C. Brooke), it really is the game’s only saving grace. Gameplay wise ST OutRun is sluggish at best and completely devoid of thrills. This is a really pale imitation of the brilliant arcade game that should be avoided at all costs. The only slight consolation here (apart from the music anyway) is that the rival Commodore Amiga version is actually worse!

3/10

P

Pang Ocean – 1990

Originally developed by a small company called Mitchell Corporation and released into the arcades in 1989, Capcom licensed this game for worldwide release after it became a huge hit. The game has also been known as Buster Bros. in North America and the bizarre title of Pomping World in Japan, but is best known to most of us as Pang. Over the years the game and its sequels have been converted to a huge number of different formats but Ocean software’s original home computer versions are among the very best out there. Pang is a highly original game for one or two players where you use a harpoon to shoot bubbles that bounce around the screen. When you hit a bubble it bursts into smaller bubbles that are much harder to hit, a la Asteroids. As the bubbles bounce around you must be careful to avoid them as one hit from them and you lose a precious life. Many of the levels feature platforms

that either get in the way or can be used to your advantage by climbing ladders to reach different parts of the screen. Some of these platforms can be destroyed with your weapon making things a bit less awkward. There are also power-ups that can be collected to give you things like multiple shots, freeze, dynamite and rope hooks that keep your stream in place until something hits it. Also watch out for the special items too which will drop from time to time at random and give you a massive reward! Pang is incredibly fun and furiously addictive, especially when played with a second player, and is a game that should take pride of place in any video game collection.

9/10

Pengy Rat Rat Software – 1987

Every self respecting retro fan out there will know about the smash hit Sega arcade game Pengo from way back in 1982. Starring a cute penguin it was no doubt the inspiration for the weird children’s cartoon series Pingu, even the name is similar, and was released for just about every 8-bit system of the time in one way or another. Well Pengy for the ST is basically the same game with some new level designs, new bad guys and improved graphics. Pengy plays a bit like Dig Dug on ice but is still a very original game and the idea of the game is to clear each level of the bad guys. The screen is made up of blocks of ice arranged in a pattern. Pengy can instantly melt a block of ice to get it out the way and push blocks of ice into the bad guys in order to squash them. When you push a block it will keep moving in that direction until it either hits the side of the screen or another block of ice. This means that you can shove them

a whole screen’s width if you like for some epic kills! Some of the blocks have a little square on them and if you leave these too long they create another monster. Be aware though because the baddies can also melt blocks in order to get to you and if they touch you then you lose a life. You also need to try and clear the levels quickly because it is all done against a tight limit. Graphics in Pengy are very colourful, if a bit simple for the ST but you have to remember this was an early game for the machine. Sadly the sound is almost non-existent though. Pengy is a really fun clone of Sega’s classic Pengo that will really appeal to fans of old school arcade games.

7/10

Pipe Mania Empire – 1989

I really do love puzzle games, they are one of my favourite genres, and for me Pipe Mania is one of the best ones out there. I really cannot understand why this game is not better remembered these days and why it never saw numerous conversions to the home consoles of time, let alone receive some deserved sequels and updates. The idea is to build a continuous pipeline around the screen as long as possible from leaking tap. This tap doesn’t start leaking straight away so you are given a slight head start on the flowing water. From here you are given random pieces of pipe to fit together including straight ones, bends and cross pipes that allow you travel through them in both directions. These cross pipes also allow you to cross back though your own pipeline, very handy when you are running out of space on the board. There’s a handy side panel showing you what pipes you have coming so you can

plan ahead, the style of pipe is delivered at random however. If you have a pipe you don’t want you can destroy it and go onto the next one but this costs you valuable time as you have to wait for it to be demolished. As the levels go on special pipes are added around the screen, such as the bulges that help slow the flow down. But the time also gets shorter and longer pipelines are required to clear the level. You will also find that certain parts of the screen may also become blocked off, making your job even harder! Pipe Mania is incredibly addictive, seriously fun and certainly a must have game for any fans of the puzzle game genre.

9/10

Q

Quest for Galaxia Budgie UK – 1989

Shareware publishers Budgie UK are well known for releasing some very proficient clones of classic arcade games into the ST’s vast public domain library. Out of all them Quest for Galaxia is without doubt one of the very best. Programmed by the Shape Shifters, who are probably best known as a prolific ST’s demo team, it’s a clone of the classic 1979 Namco arcade game Galaxian. This was the game that took Space Invaders to the next level by adding colour graphics, a scrolling star field and fully animated enemies with individual A.I. So rather than just having boring aliens that moved along in rows, Galaxian had mutant space birds that didn’t just shoot back, they moved in attack patterns and dive bombed you. Galaxian really shows you how games like this evolved into the modern shooters we know today. The Atari ST actually has a very nice version of Galaxian already, thanks to the brilliant

Sinister Developments, but Quest for Galaxia is every bit as good. Although this title probably isn’t quite as tight in the gameplay department, it does have a brilliant title screen complete with a demo scene style scrolly message and a really kick-ass tune. It even features old school hi-fi style graphic equalisers moving up and down in time to the music! I remember getting this on a cover disk back in the day and actually leaving it on the title screen for ages just to hear all of that great tune. So if you love Galaxian, or just love space shooters in general, then you will most likely love Quest for Galaxia too. This is yet another awesome arcade game clone from Budgie UK.

8/10

Q*bert Methodic Solutions – 1987

In the early days of the Atari ST it got an absolute flood of arcade game clones, which it’s safe to say very much varied in quality. Originally released in 1987 this title was later renamed Fuzzball, obviously to avoid the wrath of Gottlieb’s legal department! Programmed by one H. Pezzotta (according to the title screen anyway) this is about as close a clone as you are going to find on any system. The game is the arcade version Q*bert in pretty much every single way possible! The title screen shows him, the in game sprite is definitely him and the game plays exactly the same. It also, unusually for an ST game, allows you to play via the keyboard as well as the joystick, which is actually a little bit more natural for those who struggle to deal with the diagonal movement of Q*bert like me! For those that don’t know, the idea of Q*bert is to simply colour all squares in the pyramid by jumping on them and not

getting hit. Graphically it couldn’t look any more like Q*bert if it tried. All the sprites and levels look as if they have been ripped straight out of the original coin-op and the coder has made a good use of colour here too. The sound is a bit hit and miss though as while there is some sampled speech (listen to the foul mouthed Q*bert swear!) there’s only sound effects for the enemies and, most strangely, Q*bert himself is completely silent when he moves! The gameplay is perfect here thankfully with pretty faultless collision detection, fast movement and good controls. So if you own a ST and love Q*bert then you have just found the fix you need in this fun arcade clone.

8/10

Quadrix Future Publishing – 1993

Anyone out there who is a Star Trek: Next Generation fan will recall the game of 3D chess they all play where the pieces are placed on different levels and move in three dimensions. You know the one where you wonder how the hell they play it. Only to later find out that people have made real versions of it and have competitions at Star Wars conventions. It has even been played several times on the brilliant Big Bang Theory. Well this game (before I go off topic anymore!) kind of reminded me of that, except it’s not chess – it’s more an advanced version of noughts and crosses. In fact the older people among us may remember an ancient game for the Atari 2600 console called 3D Tic-Tac-Toe, well this is exactly the same game! In Quadrix is an isometric perspective drawing of four square boards displayed on the screen. Each board is a 4 x 4 grid and the object of the game is to place four X’s or four O’s

in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal row. To do this you may use one plane or all four planes. You must try to place four markers in a row before your opponent does to win. The trick to this game is not to concentrate on one specific plane, or you will get caught out quite quickly! Graphically Quadrix is very simple indeed, in fact it looks incredibly similar to the Atari 2600 version in many ways. It also doesn’t impress in the sound department either, so the question has to be does the gameplay hold up? Well it is fun to play to a degree, especially with another human player, but it really could have done with more options to add some variation, even the 2600 version had those!

5/10

R

Rick Dangerous Firebird – 1989

For those that don’t know, Rick Dangerous was the game that really put Core Design on the map. A company who became better known for producing fantastic games such as Thunder Hawk, Chuck Rock and of course Tomb Raider. Rick Dangerous is an incredibly challenging platform game that takes its inspiration from the Indiana Jones films. You guide our hat wearing hero Rick through the various levels trying to recover all the treasures that are hidden within. You must try to avoid the traps, hazards and enemies trying to stop you. Thankfully you are armed with a pistol and a limited amount of dynamite to help you on your quest. Rick must run, jump, climb and fall in order to make his way through each stage with precision timing required for every move he makes. As I already alluded to this game is really tough, so people used to easier console games will be in for a real shock. You will really

need to learn this game in order to progress through it and you will get that bit further each time. It’s almost just a memory game as you try to recall where enemies appear, how many times they shoot and the exact place you need to stand to make a jump. Both the graphics and sound in Rick Dangerous are of very high quality, something that certainly became one of Core Design’s trademarks. Alongside the nicely animated sprites and detailed backgrounds are a host of great digitised sound effects and little tunes too. Rick Dangerous is undoubtedly challenging but there is still plenty of enjoyment to be had from it if you are willing to persevere.

8/10

Rolling Thunder U.S. Gold – 1986

Released back in 1986 this was one of the earliest arcade conversions to be made for the Atari ST and it really shows. One of the main things that seemed to plague these earlier ST games was the awful choice of colours used. The artists back then seemed to stick to a limited 8-bit looking palettes they were already used to and struggled to use the full features of these new 16-bit machines to fell effect. Despite the horrid looks of Rolling Thunder it does thankfully stay close the popular arcade original in the gameplay department. Namco’s original coin-op was clearly inspired by James Bond massively (verging on ripping it off completely!). You play the part of a secret agent who must make their way through the levels taking out the enemies as you go until a final meeting with Mr. Big himself. There are two very unique features in the gameplay of Rolling Thunder that really help set it apart from

other games of this type. The first of these is the way you can jump from the bottom part of the screen up to the top part, which not only helps you avoid some enemies but also grab things like extra ammo, which leads us onto the second feature. This is the series of doors that appear throughout the levels in Rolling Thunder. You will see the enemies appear from behind them, but that’s not the only thing they are used for - you can also enter them yourself! Some will contain things like extra ammo or life to help you on your way while others will just be empty. Rough looking and pretty hard it might be, but Rolling Thunder is certainly rewarding if you choose to stick with it.

7/10

Return to Genesis Firebird – 1988

Steve Bak’s Return to Genesis started off life as nothing more than a technical demo to prove that the Atari ST could do fast and smooth multi-level horizontal scrolling. The story goes that Firebird were so impressed with what they saw that they commissioned Steve to turn it into a full game and Return To Genesis is what he came up with. Despite its technical credentials, it’s a title that’s hardly original, owing much to the much-revered Hewson shoot ‘em up Uridium. It also includes a few elements of the Williams arcade classic Defender too, as your primary objective is to rescue a bunch of scientists who are trapped on series of huge space stations that are under attack. As well as rescuing these twelve civilians you must also battle the alien forces who want these outposts for themselves. The most unique feature in Return to Genesis, that indeed gives it a point difference when compared to Uridium, is the barriers that are

set up to stop you. This means that you can’t just fly over the top of each level and will have to find your way around. But rather than being destroyed on impact when you hit them, you simply bounce off! The sheer surprise you get when you do this for the first time is great. Return to Genesis really is a marvel to behold when it comes to both the audio and visuals. Pete Lyon’s graphics are just superb, especially the scrolling, and David Whittaker’s sublime soundtrack sits perfectly alongside some superb digitised speech. Although Return to Genesis isn’t the greatest game out there to play it wins extra points for the overall package.

8/10

S

Skull & Crossbones Domark – 1991

Released in 1989 this pirate themed scrolling beat ‘em up is one of the more obscure Atari arcade games released on Domark’s Tengen label. The story revolves around an evil wizard who has stolen all your booty and you must travel the seven seas to hunt him down and get it back. Unfortunately for them, our pirates (this is a one or two player game) don’t have many friends but sure have a lot of enemies! One Eye and Red Dog (as they are named) must battle everyone who stands in their way from relentless skeletons to winged demons and one-on-one sword battles with your rival pirates. Stages take place on boats, islands, inside caves and in a smuggler’s coves with each one having an end of level boss who must be defeated. When you kill an enemy they leave behind coins that can be collected to add to your wealth, restoring some of your lost treasure. While Skull & Crossbones is basically just a standard

scrolling beat ‘em up it does have quite unique controls that set it apart from many others. You have to both control the way you’re facing as well as using your sword to block and to stab/slash. This is unfortunately a bit awkward and does take some getting used to. The game is also quite slow moving, which does not help matter further. Both the graphics and sound in this ST version are top notch, the sprites in particular are really nicely animated. You will also be pleased to hear that the legendary Matt Furniss did the excellent music. Skull & Crossbones can take a bit of getting used to, but once you do it’s a fun little game that is improved further by its two-player mode.

7/10

Striker Rage Software – 1992

When Striker first came along it had a big task on its hands, to uproot the mighty Kick Off 2 and Sensible Soccer to take the role of the ST’s best football game, not an easy task! While it didn’t quite take them out it did sit quite nicely alongside them, offering some very cool differences and more arcade styled action with it. While Sensi and Kick Off 2 both took on an overhead view, Striker chose to introduce a new way to play the game. It uses a tilted perspective from behind the player with the pitch scrolling around you in all directions. It works incredibly well and is especially good for taking set pieces and sending in crosses, as you can get right behind the ball and judge the height of it perfectly. Striker lets you choose from a huge range of international teams and compete in a friendly, for one or two players, or take part in a straight knock out tournament for the World Cup. Each team has individual abilities and styles

that reflect the real team of the time. For instance Cameroon are very physical while Spain are very attacking, but there are no individual player stats or real names. The game does allow you to choose your own formation though so you can adapt the style of your team. The gameplay is super fast, you can really knock the ball around at pace and tackles come flying in from everywhere. This means Striker has a real arcade game feel to it, no bad thing as it sets it apart from the other ST footy games. The graphics and sound are pretty decent if not spectacular but that is not what this game is about. So if you are a ST footy fan then Striker should be just the ticket!

9/10

Stunt Car Racer Micro Style – 1989

The arrival of the 16-bit computers really saw 3D games come into their own. Possibly the most famous and highly regarded of these is Stunt Car Racer. Programmed by the king of computer racing games, the legendary Geoff Crammond of REVS and Formula One Grand Prix fame, it was released in 1989 to widespread acclaim. Stunt Car Racer was completely different to anything that had come before it, it’s like a racing game crossed with a roller coaster. You race around a track high up in the air and must try not to fall off! If you do a giant crane has to hoist you back up and you lose valuable time. The idea of the game is compete against opponents in a league style format trying to get promoted to, and subsequently win, the first division championship. Each race is set over three laps and you get points for winning as well as setting the fastest lap time. The key to the game is use your turbos effectively and make

sure you don’t miss the big jumps. One of the most unique features of this game is that not only can you link up to another Atari machine for multi-player shenanigans but you can also connect up to a Commodore Amiga as well! Back in the day this was brilliant, although the biggest problem was hulking around two TVs. The 3D graphics here are brilliant being both fast and incredibly smooth. There are also some really nice presentation screens between races too. The sound is noisy and in your face as it should be and the gameplay really can’t be faulted. This game is mentioned among the very best in the 16-bit computer era for good reason.

9/10

T

Tempest Atari – 1989

Another conversion to the ST Atari themselves this one is a translation of Dave Theurers 1981 vector based arcade game Tempest, hailed by many people as being one of the best arcade games ever! This is a straight port of that game right down to trying to copy the 3D vector based visuals, those expecting something like the Jaguar’s Tempest 2000 will be a bit disappointed. For those who have never played Tempest, you control a ship on the edge of a 3D web and spin around it blasting away the aliens and demons trying to climb up it. If they get to the top they can kill you unless you hit your super-zapper smart bomb in time or carefully move past them as they flip. The ST version certainly looks the part with its colourful wire frame graphics and fast moving sprites but certain things just aren’t quite right. It seems to move a little too fast and performing “the duck under as they flip” move is

near enough impossible here. The sound is also horrible, I know the ST doesn’t have the best sound chip in the world but there is no excuse for this cacophony of noise. It’s a bit of a shame really because Tempest didn’t really get any official ports back in the day except this one, after the 2600, 5200 and 7800 versions were left unreleased in prototype form. What could have been amazing is merely just decent. While not completely horrible (Tempest will always be a good game) it’s just a bit disappointing on the whole. Why did Atari not let Jeff Minter do this? At least they learned from this mistake when their revolutionary 64-bit Jaguar console came along!

6/10

Thrust Firebird – 1989

It’s funny how sometimes the clones are remembered better than the games they are actually based upon. This is definitely true in the case of Thrust, originally released for the BBC Micro in 1986, it was converted to other systems by Firebird in 1989 to great acclaim. The actual game though is pretty much just a rip-off of Atari’s 1982 vector arcade game Gravitar. The aim of the game is to pilot a spacecraft over a planet surface picking up the pods using your tractor beam and then fly them into space. The ship and pod are subject to both gravity and inertia and, as a stiff pole connects them, they can end up spinning around each other and out of control. Hitting the walls of a cave or the ground with either the ship or the pod results in your death. But this is not all you have to contend with, as there are also enemy bunkers on the planet trying to stop you stealing the pods. They will shoot at you and try to take

you down but fortunately you can shoot back. You must be careful though not to fire at the reactors as this will start a countdown that self destructs the planet in ten seconds. You also need to collect fuel along the way and when you don’t have a pod in tow you can use your shield to deflect enemy fire. I was never a fan of this game at all, I always found the gameplay to be infuriatingly difficult. Controlling your ship is an absolute chore and just takes away from everything else that is good. Thrust has really nice vector style graphics and some great music by Rob Hubbard but that cannot save it from being one of the most annoying games I have ever played.

4/10

Time Bandit MichTron – 1985

Time Bandit is a truly iconic game among ST owners, it was one of the very first games released for the machine back in 1985 and became an instant classic upon release. Itself a conversion of the Dragon 32 and TRS 80 game of the same name, it was also ported to the Amiga three years later for the budget market. However the version on Commodore’s home computer was missing some of the graphics from the ST original and was also criticised for its ill-suited sound effects too. In essence this game is very similar to Atari’s classic Gauntlet. Much like Gauntlet you are required to collect keys to open doors and make your way to the exit but where it differs is that in between each level the player must choose the next level from any one of sixteen different “Timegates”. Each of these leads to a different world and each of these must be completed sixteen times. Each time you play one they become

progressively more difficult than the last attempt. Many of the worlds incorporate elements of text adventure games and nearly all of them have gameplay references to other popular games of the past such as Pac-Man and Centipede. In addition to the primary objective each level there are optional side quests that become available in the later stages that award the player with special artefacts. Another similarity to Gauntlet is the co-operative twoplayer mode, only in this title it becomes a split screen affair. Time Bandit is never going to win any awards for its graphics or sound but, as one of the first truly great 16-bit computer games, this title will always be a bonafide classic.

9/10

U

U.N. Squadron U.S. Gold – 1990

Probably Capcom’s most famous and popular side scrolling shoot ‘em up, U.N. Squadron was originally known as Area 88 in Japan and was unleashed upon arcade audiences in 1989. It was based on a Manga series of the same name but being unknown to western gamers the name of the game was changed to something with a more international flavour. The key feature of U.N. Squadron is that you are able to choose between three different pilots, each with their own different plane and characteristics, which is something you don’t often see in a shoot ‘em up of this type. Also rather than the standard lives system, in U.N. Squadron you have an energy bar instead, which depletes as you are hit. After this you get no further lives – just a limited amount of continues. Another neat feature of this title is that you can earn money, by destroying the enemy, which can then be spent in shops to upgrade your weaponry.

U.N. Squadron also earns extra brownie points for being a twoplayer game, allowing you to team up with a friend to take on the terrorist forces. The ST version of this game is rather impressive all in all. The graphics look terrific with lots of detail and a great intro sequence. The scrolling is a touch jerky though, but I have seen far worse on the ST. It’s pretty decent when it comes to the sound too as this game features both music and effects at the same time! Overall U.N. Squadron probably ranks among the most accomplished horizontally scrolling shoot ‘em ups on the Atari ST and holds up very well when compared to its arcade counterpart.

8/10

Ultima II Origin Systems – 1985

If you mention the RPG genre to somebody who grew up with a home computer instead of a console then there is a very good chance they will start talking about the Ultima series. Spanning across ten volumes with a multitude of spin-off Lord British’s creation was an absolute phenomenon. Given how long ago the series started, Ultima I was released for the Apple II and Atari 8-bit in 1981, I was pretty shocked to discover that Ultima II was ported to the ST in 1985, making it one of the earliest games released for Atari’s 16-bit dream machine. This sequel featured a number of improvements over the original including separate town and world maps as well as the concept of travelling through time gates to reach different eras. Aside from that the gameplay is pretty much the same as the original with your character roaming the land fighting monsters and looking for important items to aid him on his quest. The big

change in this ST version from the original 8-bit version though is in the interface. This port has been written to play within the GEM desktop, meaning you now selection options and commands via drop down menus and a point and click GUI. While this does make the game more intuitive in many ways it does hinder the overall look of the product. In fact I would argue that visually it actually looks worse than its 8-bit counterparts! Perhaps the only saving grace in this area is that it can be played in both low and high resolution. I am sure Ultima fans will stick get a kick out of it but everyone else will probably be put off by just how ugly it is and pick up one of the sequels instead.

5/10

Ultimate Arena Steam – 1995

Ultimate Arena was one of the very last commercial releases for the Atari ST coming at a time when most people had moved on to consoles for their gaming fix. Ironically this title is going all out to emulate those console games in its gameplay experience. Ultimate Arena is also especially notable for being one the very few STe only games, taking full advantage of the extra hardware in terms of both graphics and sound. If you didn’t already guess it’s an unashamed rip-off of Mortal Kombat, using the same style of digitised graphics. Not only that, some of the characters included are almost identical, right down to their special moves and backgrounds! I am sure that had this been released for a more mainstream machine at the time then Midway would have sued the hell out of them! Although the digitised graphics are very well done, the animation of them is almost non-existent. I assume they had to do this to keep the

speed up to scratch. The audio is also a bit hit and miss with a nice title track and great speech but sadly no in-game music present. The gameplay however pretty much spoils the whole experience somewhat. Not only does Ultimate Arena play incredibly slow but it’s also rather boring too. Let’s face it, the then aging Atari ST wasn’t really cut out for this type of game at all, so it’s no surprise that it falls down on several levels. As brave an effort this is and as impressive it is from a technical standpoint, you can’t help but feel that you are much better off sticking with something like the brilliant IK+ for your fighting fix instead.

6/10

V

Vindicators Domark – 1989

Vindicators was a 1988 arcade game by Atari that received a sequel just a year later originally named Vindicators II, although in actual fact it was pretty much exactly the same game with just a few new levels. The original coin-op was actually available as a conversion kit for Gauntlet. You can see why in some ways as certain elements of it are very similar, only with tanks instead of wizards and warriors! The idea of Vindicators is to guide you tank through each vertically scrolling level, find the key and then make your way to the exit (much like Gauntlet in fact!). Your vehicle is equipped with a gun, a limited amount of bombs, shields and fuel. Scattered around each level you will find icons that upgrade your guns, restore your shields and top up your fuel. All these things must be kept an eye on as if you run out of fuel you lose a life and if you have no shields you are vulnerable to enemy attacks. These foes consist of other

tanks and gun turrets that can be taken out with a few precise hits. There are also various barriers and walls that get in the way, so you must find the best way round each level to conserve your valuable fuel. One of the nicest features of Vindicators is that two of you can team up to take on the enemy together. Graphics wise the game is nothing special, but then neither was the original arcade game. It does have some nice music though that plays throughout the game. Vindicators might not be Atari’s most famous arcade game but in my opinion it’s a bit of a hidden gem and a certainly worth taking a much closer look at.

7/10

Veteran Software Horizons – 1988

Before I go into more detail about the game itself I have a memory of how I came across this obscure title that I want to share. My next door neighbour as a kid was a huge Operation Wolf fan, it was all he ever wanted to play in our local arcade. One day we made the short trip to the local games shop to pick a couple of new ST games and we saw this on the shelf. I clearly remember him getting excited about how it looked “just like Operation Wolf, only better!” When we got home and booted it up though it was a very different story, as we quickly discovered it was a real dud. Veteran is so bad it actually borders on funny at times. As I previously alluded to, Veteran is a basically a massive rip-off of Taito’s ground breaking 1987 arcade game that uses mouse control, as opposed to an actual gun, to move your crosshair around the screen. Various army related enemies pop up on the screen such as tanks and soldiers,

and then you shoot them. Next you shoot those same guys again, then again, and you can guess the rest. It’s so utterly tedious you begin to wonder if they were just copying and pasting large chunks of code over and over again so they could go home early on Friday afternoon. The graphics are mostly utter garbage but the soldiers that pop up right in front of you are digitised and actually look rather good. These same Taliban looking fellows also seem to swear at you in Arabic when shot, this is utterly hilarious no matter how many times you hear it! Why anyone would ever want to play this game again is a mystery, the one time is fine though, just to have a good laugh at it!

3/10

Volfied Empire Software – 1991

Anyone who frequented amusement arcades in the early eighties will remember Taito’s classic Qix, while others may recall the many conversions and clones for the home machines. Volfied is the sequel to Qix and it upgrades everything from the original title while managing to retain the same addictive and compulsive gameplay. Like Qix the aim of the game is to claim a certain percentage of the screen by way of drawing boxes while avoiding the giant Qix and his two sparx. But now the Qix is no longer just a bunch of lines, he is now a giant animated beast that is themed to each level. There are also other smaller enemies bouncing around the screen to make your job even harder and trapping them gains you bonus points. By drawing around the cubes you can arm your little craft with power-ups such as lasers, a speed-up or the very useful freeze, which stops enemies in their tracks and allows you

to quickly draw round them for a substantial bonus. Rather than just the plain coloured box fill of the original game, Volfied starts to reveal sections of the next stage as you block off parts of the screen. The themes of these stages, and the enemies that inhabit them, are both varied and interesting. Examples of these include sea stages with giant crabs and lobsters, the desert with sand beetles and scorpions and the jungle with poisonous snakes and lizards. It may have taken its time arriving, but Volfied is an unbelievably addictive game and a very worthy sequel that will keep you coming back for just one more play time after time.

9/10

W

Wolf Child Core Design – 1992

Core Design really came into their own on the 16-bit home computers, delivering the kind of games we expected on the games consoles of the time. Wolf Child is one such game and also one that was later converted onto a few console formats. The plot revolves around a biotechnology researcher called Kal Morrow and his son Saul. You take the part of Saul who must rescue his father from the clutches of the evil Chimera organisation who want to use his research to do naughty things. Saul uses one of his father’s own inventions to turn himself into a wolf-human hybrid then sets out to defeat Chimera. You start the game off in human form but by collecting the power orbs that are scattered around the levels you can turn into a super-powered werewolf. The game itself is a pretty standard side scrolling arcade adventure combining elements of platformers and beat ‘em ups as you make your way through it.

The design and detail throughout though is stunning with real attention paid to the animation of the main character. Wolf Child also has some amazingly atmospheric audio too that really helps set the scene combined with a lovely intro sequence to help tell the story. The cyberpunk style graphics really are very here indeed. There is also some great music on the title screen but sadly there are only effects in the game, ones that become pretty obnoxious after a while too. I really wish they had given you the choice to have music or effects. Even with that small flaw though, Wolf Child is a compelling adventure that will keep you satisfied for a good time to come.

8/10

WWF Wrestlemania Ocean – 1992

WWF (now known as WWE) games have become a staple of console gamers over the years and are now one of the biggest selling yearly franchises out there. This game however was one of the very first games to carry the licence when it appeared on the home computers back in 1992. This is a classic joystick waggler where you must try to defeat all the opponents and win the belt. You can choose between just three wrestlers: Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior and our very own, now sadly deceased, British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith. From here you must fight the other wrestlers mentioned as well as a few more famous grapplers including Sgt, Slaughter and Mr. Perfect (another one who has sadly passed away). You have basic moves like punches and kicks as well as grapple moves that are performed by some rapid joystick waggling. It really doesn’t play that much different to more modern wrestling

games in some respects. There aren’t many modes to play, just the standard run for the belt or two-player bout. That’s the biggest problem with this game, it’s pretty short and doesn’t really have any variation to it. There is no tag team mode or Survivor Series style battle here. It does look very nice indeed graphically, there are great intro screens and the wrestlers are very good likeness. Audio wise we have some nice music on the title screen and decent ingame sound effects too. Overall WWF will probably have limited appeal for most, but wrestling fans will love it though. Credit must go to Ocean for making it authentic, just a shame it lacks gameplay variations.

7/10

Warlock’s Quest Ere Informatique – 1989

French developers Ere Informatique are somewhat of an enigma on the Atari ST, many of their games were exclusive to the machine and the ones that were not were usually better on the Atari machine anyway. They always had a certain Gallic flair to them with strange graphics and liberal use of digitised sound for maximum effect. More often than not their games were not particularly good or just too plain weird to enjoy, but it is an exception. Warlock’s Quest is also one of their more popular games and one I have fairly fond memories of from my youth. It can best be described as a cross between Ghosts & Goblins and Pitfall! The screen is split into two distinct sections, overground and underground (much like Pitfall!). It also has a seriously spooky theme to it, as the name already implies, which is more like the Capcom game. You control this tiny little wizard as you move through the levels blasting the

ghoulish enemies and collecting the objects. Strangely this game is also flip screen, again like Pitfall!, something you thought you had left behind with the 8-bit systems. I never really did figure out exactly what was the point to this game but I loved playing it for its spooky atmosphere if nothing else, the random thunder and lightning is a really great touch. The graphics are very small but nicely detailed and perfectly formed. The digitised sound is superb and almost worth the entry price alone. Shame the gameplay is a bit sluggish though. A great game to play on Halloween but not one that will hold your attention for long the rest of the year.

6/10

X

Xevious U.S. Gold – 1987

A conversion of the 1983 coin-op by Namco this was one of the earliest arcade translations to appear on the ST and it shows. When it was originally released in the arcades everyone was raving about Xevious saying it had set new standards for vertically scrolling shoot ‘em ups. To be honest though I have never really seen what all the fuss is about regarding this game, sure it’s a decent vertically scrolling shooter but I think there are better ones out there from around the same time. One thing that was unique about Xevious was that your ship could fire both guns for air targets and bombs for ground targets, the little crosshair that floats in front of your ship is used for gauging when to drop these. There are end of level bosses but they don’t vary at all and don’t provide very much of a challenge to defeat. There is nothing much that impresses about this game for me, starting with the graphics. They are authentic to

the arcade game I suppose but they still have that early ST game look with the bright colours and small sprites. There is also a big ugly side panel that becomes more and more annoying as the game goes on thanks to the flashing logo and scoreboard, not a great design decision even if it does mean the game keeps the right aspect ratio. The sound is also pretty poor with just a simple title track and mediocre in game effects. You are spoilt for choice when it comes to shoot ‘em ups on the Atari ST, so that means that there is absolutely no reason to recommend this game unless you were a diehard fan of the original coin-op.

5/10

Xenon Melbourne House – 1988

Xenon was one of the very first games to be produced by the now legendary Bitmap Brothers and it was released for the Atari first! It’s a shoot ‘em up that features some very unique looks and gameplay that would go on to become the Bitmap’s trademark. The key element of Xenon is the ability to transform from a space ship into a tank and back again at will. The game is designed in such a way that you will need to transform in between the two to complete each level. Although when you get to boss fights your craft becomes fixed on one or the other. The enemies in the game are also ground or air based and their attacks can often only effect one type of craft, likewise you can only destroy some of them using one configuration. Each of your craft has its own characteristics that either help or hinder you in different ways. The tank is very slow, so requires much more skill to move around, which can be

a big challenge in the boss battles. While the spaceship is fast and nimble, but much easier to destroy. You can also collect various power-ups to help you through the game and improve each craft. The graphics are very much in what has now become known as the “Bitmap Brothers style” with a lovely shiny metallic look to them. The sound is outstanding with speech, sound effects and a simply superb in game soundtrack from everyone’s favourite ST musician David Whitaker. If you own an Atari ST and you are also a fan of shooters then you surely own Xenon already don’t you? If not then why not, because there is no doubting this is right up there with the best.

9/10

X-Chess PDS – 1986

So let’s get straight to the point on this one, there are no shortage of chess programs on the Atari ST so what is it that sets X-Chess apart from the competition? Well first of all this title can only be played in medium or high resolution, so what it lacks in colours it makes up for in detail. Secondly, and most importantly when it comes to this game, it has a simply staggering selection of options to choose from. Honestly I was almost overwhelmed by just how comprehensive X-Chess is! Apart from all the usual selections such as difficulty level, CPU or human, length of game and style of pieces there are also options to choose different types of strategies, get evaluations of the game as you play, reverse moves, tutorials and even options that allow you to change the rules completely! Everything is chosen through drop down menus and windows making full use of the TOS GUI, so it couldn’t be easier to make

your choices. The view of the game itself is presented from behind your pieces with a tilted 3D perspective, making it easy to see your moves. Sound is minimal, but then you would expect that from a chess game anyway. I was also quite surprised to find that this game only needs half a meg of memory, given the level of detail and accuracy of the A.I. You will definitely find more “fun” chess games out there, Laser Chess and Battle Chess are the first titles that spring to mind, but you would be very hard pushed to find one that simulates the real thing more accurately. X-Chess certainly isn’t one of the more illustrious chess games, but it’s certainly one of the best.

8/10

Y

Yogi Bear & Friends in the Greed Monster Hi-Tec Software – 1990

The first Yogi Bear game released on the Atari ST, Great Escape, was a rather tedious attempt to cash in on the license by Hi-Tec and so I wasn’t really expecting much from this one. However I was pleasantly surprised to find that this is a very different game with much more going for it. Apparently Yogi Bear and his team of treasure hunters have received a call from Top Cat telling them that all the toys in the world have been stolen (very creative use of the license there!). When they set out to find out what happened to the toys all but Yogi Bear himself are captured by the thieving Greed Monster. So you take the roll of the big cuddly bear himself and set out on a mission to save your friends and recover all the toys. The game takes the shape of a top down flick screen arcade adventure set in a huge world full of the Greed Monster’s minions. Thankfully you have a limited amount of sweets that can be chucked at them

to kill them. You have to use these carefully when you really need them because you don’t know when you will be able to grab more. Also look out for the picnic baskets, which when collected, restore your health. Graphically the game is very nice indeed with some cartoon quality graphics that just burst with bright colours. The sound isn’t quite a great though with just a twee title tune and some average in-game effects. All in all though, Yogi Bear & Friends in the Greed Monster is a rather enjoyable budget romp for the ST that will certainly satisfy all the arcade adventure fans out there, at least for a while anyway.

7/10

Yolanda Millennium – 1990

I have a real love hate relationship with Yolanda, I first came across this game on a compilation disk (can’t for the life of me remember which one) and must have played it for hours while hating myself for doing so at the same time! I have never found a game so bloody frustrating yet so addictive, I have since found out that I am not the only one who feels this way about Yolanda too. Designed by ST legends Steve Bak, Chris Sorrell and Pete Lyon, I was also interested to find out that it’s the sequel to an obscure 8-bit game by Power House called Hercules. In Yolanda you control this Amazononian looking woman on a series of single screen stages where your goal is a very simple one, to get her to the exit. You do this by jumping across platforms, leaping off ledges and climbing ropes. This is not as easy as it sounds though, as there are enemies trying to stop you as well as a multitude of hazards in your way. A

single touch of either one and you are dead, it’s that simple! Some hazards even magically appear as you are playing, such as platforms vanishing into thin air or catching fire and burning you alive! As you can imagine this makes the game even harder than already was. Yolanda looks great all round and each level has a different theme. It also has some fantastic sound and music that really adds to the experience too. I just wish it wasn’t so bloody hard! I am convinced that there are several levels in this game that actually are impossible. As frustrating as Yolanda is though you always want to have just one more try, sado masochists should apply here!

6/10

Yopaz Ice Star OrionSoft – 2016

When it comes to homebrew games the poor old Atari ST doesn’t seem to get a lot of love. So when I discovered that Orion had converted his excellent Atari Jaguar game over to the ST as well I was extremely pleased. In this game you control a little smiley face and your objective is to collect all the diamonds on each level (or ice stars I guess). But, as always, this is not as easy as it sounds. Your little guy, named Yopaz, will keep moving in the direction you tell him until he hits something, at which point he will stop. Then you need to press another direction in which for him to travel. So the key element here is to work out the best route round the screen using the walls and blocks to stop you. You must also zip round the screen within the time limit, which doesn’t give you long to plan your journey. Each level can actually be solved very quickly, in just a few joypad presses, if you work it out correctly. Once you have

collected all the stars, it’s on to the next level. As the game goes on the levels get more complex and the time limits tougher, as you would probably expect. As well as the classic mode there is also an advanced mode, for expert players, and a tiny mode, which is much easier. But that is not all, the game also comes with a fantastic level designer/editor that allows you to design your own stages, play them and save to disk! This is a fantastic edition to the product that really raises its appeal up a notch. Graphically the game is pretty simple and the audio isn’t anything special either, but this game is all about great playability and is well worth checking out.

8/10

Z

Zynaps Hewson – 1988

Zynaps was released in the golden age of 8-bit computing and, for a while at least, leading software house Hewson Consultants could do no wrong in the world. With stuff like Nebulus, Uridium and Exolon receiving rave reviews and hitting the top of the chart everyone was clambering for the latest Hewson release. Come the later part of the eighties and the Atari ST and Amiga were just starting to make headway into the home computer market, so Hewson soon made 16-bit versions of their biggest hits. Zynaps is a horizontal shooter that I remember well from the ZX Spectrum and it was raved about when it was released on Sir Clive’s dream machine, on the Atari ST though it doesn’t really cut the mustard. Playing it now it just seems like a very generic and quite boring affair. It follows the Scramble school of shooters with the levels taking place in tight caverns with both enemies and obstacles to

avoid. You also have to collect fuel like scramble too but Zynaps does have the power-ups of more traditional shooters like R-Type you will be pleased to hear. The control system also takes a bit of getting used to as you have to hold the fire button to collect things and tap it to fire, not very intuitive. Graphically it’s pretty dull and the sound is nothing to write home about either. The enemy attack waves are pretty boring and monotonous meaning you will quickly get bored. Put Zynaps next to games such as R-Type, U.N. Squadron and Dragon Breed this game really shows its age and the pretty huge gap between 8-bit and 16-bit gaming quickly becomes apparent.

5/10

Zany Golf Electronic Arts – 1988

I am going to start this review off by telling a story about the history of the games industry. This fanciful tale may seem outlandish, it may even seem like total fantasy but I can assure you that it’s actually completely true! Once upon a time there was a company called Electronic Arts and they made some of the best and most original games on the market. Back then EA were actually good and their games library didn’t just consist of the same old generic paint-by-numbers updates being released year after year for a quick buck. The 16-bit era was without doubt Electronic Arts’ finest hour. After producing hit after hit for home computers, EA turned to the console world and specifically the Sega Mega Drive, becoming one of the system’s very first third party publishers. Zany Golf a perfect example of the quirky, fun and original games that EA were once renowned for. As per usual with these games you

have a course made up of wacky and imaginative holes containing things like giant burgers, lighthouses and the obligatory windmill. Each hole has a set par and it records your number of strokes. Now this is normal but what annoyed me is that if you run out of strokes it’s game over. So unlike every other game of this type you don’t even get to play your way around all the holes. It’s a shame the game has this one big flaw because the mouse control is great, the graphics are really nice and the sound is also pretty decent too. Crazy golf fans will get a kick out of this and it does get an extra point for the multi-player mode, but the big flaw will spoil it for some.

6/10

Zool Gremlin – 1992

Many years ago when Mario was king and Nintendo ruled the platform games roost a young upstart came along, a blue hedgehog by the name of Sonic. This spiky speed demon helped put Sega’s 16bit Mega Drive console on the map and the new king of platform games was born. Everybody tried to cash in on this console-style mascot craze and it made the computer owners feel very left out. Well until Gremlin created Zool anyway, their own take on Sonic for the Commodore Amiga. A little bit later on this ST version came along and all was right with the world. Eventually it all went full circle as the game ended up being released for several consoles including the Mega Drive! Zool was an alien from the Nth dimension and easily one of the more popular and likeable platform characters of the nineties, in the sequel he was also joined by his girlfriend Zooz. As you can probably tell the Zool games are

as close to a Sonic game as you are ever going find without seeing a blue mohican! When this first came out for the rival Amiga it had all their owners saying how superior their machine was and how it could never be done on the ST. This had all the Atari owners up in arms and eventually Gremlin gave into the pressure and released this ST version which can even be played on the humble 520 machines. Ok the scrolling is not quite as smooth as the Amiga version and there are a few less colours but there really aren’t any massive differences. It’s fast, colourful and well-animated. My only complaint would be that it’s very poor in the sound department, but just stick on a CD while you play and enjoy!

9/10

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