Games for the atari st

It was an odd little title that, although looked very basic, kept me playing for days on end. I have no idea how many levels there were. The game appeared to go on forever. But it was a compelling and oddly addictive game. This largely forgotten title was a part of the Comic Relief appeal back in the early 90s. Graphically, it was smooth, fast, and had an amazing cut scene, complete with a voice over from Lenny Henry.

Simulators already had a healthy foundation by the time the ST came along. Thanks to the Spectrum, C64, and so on, gamers could already conquer the skies or relive ear-splitting combat between tanks.

Marine warfare had its share too, but most were focused on the stresses and strains aboard a submarine. Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!

ADS had you in command of a destroyer though, and it worked a treat. How else could you float around the Med finding other ships to unleash the full fury of your guns on?

The 3D aspect was impressive, but the game was ultimately tedious as hell. Thankfully, minus the seasickness. Sierra On-Line games were instantly recognizable, and were some of the most played and compelling point-and-click adventure titles ever conceived.

Admittedly it was a slow game, with you playing the role of Navy Commander Jonny B. Westland, who must locate a missing U. Ambassador or something in Tahiti. Sierra On-Line pushed the limits of the machine, which caused untold disk loading and slow-downs. But you could hook up a Casio Synth and enjoy the in-game music, especially during the dance scene.

Millennium 2. It was, for a lot of us, the first time we had to focus on the intricate mechanics of micro-management. After the earth had been hit by an asteroid big enough to wipe out humanity, the few survivors left stranded on a Moon base must somehow become self-sufficient enough to continue our species. Hewson Consultants were already a familiar name to most 8-bit gamers. The likes of Uridium , Paradroid , and Firelord were highly regarded games.

Onslaught was originally an Amiga game, but ported over to the ST, and done remarkably well, too. As side scrolling shooters go, it was certainly action packed, and it looked great as well. However, despite doing well when it was released, Onslaught was soon packed off to the great gaming loft in the sky, and all but forgotten until more recently when it was re-released for the iPhone and Xbox Rampage was one of the most memorable games of the 80s. The graphics were large, colorful, and the controls infuriating to master.

Hacker , from Activision, was a game I enjoyed immensely on the Spectrum. The lure of taking on the then glamorous lifestyle of a hacker was something most young teens would have snapped up in an instant. The fact that I would have become target practice for some government agency never entered my mind.

Probably the reason why my parents never bought me a modem. The king of the combat flight simulators on the ST was undoubtedly Falcon , the game was immense in every way. However, there were a few other aerial combat sims that managed to slip under the radar. Strike Force Harrier was one. Moving from the limited graphics on the Spectrum to the likes of Starglider and Carrier Command for the Atari ST caused many a jaw to drop in wonder.

It even had a cracking title tune from Jonathan Dunn. Not many people did, especially the magazines that reviewed it. But I actually thought it was a pretty good game, and it was one that I was surprisingly very good at, too. In all honesty, the graphics were quite bland and the sound was terrible, but it was playable and enjoyable. Turning board games into computer games was always a hit and miss affair. You either stuck to the rules of the original board game, and as such left out a huge number of potential gamers, or you got a little creative but lost the favor of those who played the board game.

Thankfully, I thought Hero Quest was quite an accurate representation of the board game — although to be fair I only played the board game version a handful of times. As far as turn-based, Dungeons and Dragons sort of games go, Hero Quest was quite absorbing, and could easily chew up a good few hours of your evening before you remembered you had a paper round in the morning.

This is a game that I have to admit I never owned. It was. But I found myself being pounded frequently, either in two-player mode or by the computer. It was infinitely better than being repeatedly punched in the head, though. Games like Commando or Ikari Warriors were the bread and butter of the fast action home computer gamer. Nobody really cared what the story was behind the game, just as long as the action was intense, and the body count high.

Mercs was exactly that. After frantically pressing fire to get past the intro where the President of the U. It was great fun, especially with a second player, as you both laid waste to vast stretches of the jungle. Aside from racing around the track, it had the added benefit of allowing you to launch missiles from the front or rear of your car at the other cars.

Other notable memories include a soundtrack that sounded a little like Renegade on the K Spectrum, and driving lessons advertised on the title screen from Woolwich Building Society. Double Dragon , Bad Dudes vs. It was slated by the reviewers of the time, and tossed to the bargain bin almost as soon as it hit the shelves. The coin-op was good, rescuing kidnapped Madonna from the Skin Head gang. The conversion to the ST, though, looked like it was lifted from an 8-bit machine.

But I rather liked it. There was something oddly unique about it, despite the poor animations and even worse controls. It was fun, and frustrating at the same time. But worth a laugh. Falcon 3. Oids may look pretty simplistic, with its Thrust and Asteroids heritage, but it was immensely playable and took up so many hours of my time. The number of times I landed to pick up the little stick androids, and a homing missile suddenly appeared and wiped me out.

Incredibly frustrating, but addictive enough to keep going back for more. In the case of Ork , it was the really funky music that first drew me to it, the game being played loudly in the local computer shop at the time. What you had to actually do in the game, I must confess, I have no idea. I never really got all that far. In fact, I think I just used to load it up and listen to the title music. Deuteros is the sequel to the much-loved Millennium 2.

The nearby colonies were all called back to repopulate this blissful new Eden hooray! That is until a Dr Trout laid out a brave new plan for space travel and the construction of a new base on Earth modelled on the old Moon colony that would serve as a first step towards the rest of the solar system.

Operation Deuteros was underway. Atarimania link. The game boasts stunning graphics by Dan Malone who also worked on the similarly stunning Cadaver and Speedball 2 and he uses a mix of organic and metallic styles with just a sprinkle of steampunk to create this hideous, malicious world full of weird monsters and mysterious locations. Into this nightmare you must thrust your choice of one of six characters: The Thug, Preacher, Mercenary, Gentleman, Navvie, Brigand and Mime no, I made that last one up, there is no mime, thankfully.

Each of these cut-throats have their own characteristics and special move The Navvie was always my favourite — that Tom Selleck tash is just irresistible. Primary amongst the games appeal is its excellent co-op play, and when matched with its challenging difficulty level, it really does feel like you are both venturing into a hostile land. But be warned: there are fewer annoying things than having all the good stuff stolen by a light fingered computer controlled player.

The characters are so fragile, only taking a few hits before going down that you will find yourself edging yourself along inch by inch to avoid an unexpected death. This adds to the tension no end, but also slows down gameplay significantly.

Minor niggles aside, this is a complete package: the story, design, pixel art, music and gameplay all contributing to a compelling experience. This is the second game in the Dizzy series originally developed on the ZX Spectrum by those legendary boffins, the Oliver twins. So, he must collect stuff to help him overcome traps and creatures as he collects all the coins and finds a way off the island to be reunited with his beloved yolk-folk. It was the first game in the series to introduce the inventory puzzles now synonymous with the Dizzy series.

Unfortunately, this early Dizzy entry does not feature the later additions of an energy bar or multiple lives, so Dizzy is as fragile as… well… an egg.

Still, if you are a fan of the puzzle platforming genre, then this is a must play, both for its own merits and its historical significance. The protagonist is a suave, womanising secret agent with a briefcase full of secret tricks and although extremely capable, he soon finds himself in over his head in a series of ludicrous goings on. Operation Stealth uses the same point and click engine as Future Wars which means that when you click the mouse button, you get a context sensitive pop up showing you the different actions you can take.

Indeed, Obsession was one of the last official releases available for our beloved ST and what a swan song it was! The game features four tables all aesthetically beautiful but also well-designed from a gaming point of view. Pinball tables of yore are evoked nicely here with some innovative and left-field concepts such as the Paris-Dakar rally and a baseball game.

The best thing about these tables, though, is how they differ from each other, both thematically and in gameplay, resulting in a fresh experience each time you boot up a different table, which adds to the long term appeal of the game no end. With the amazing visuals and scrolling and sound effects, this really is a window into what the Ste was actually capable of when allowed to flourish.

Add to this a cracking soundtrack from Per Almered otherwise known as Excellence in Art and it all adds up to being the best pinball experience available for the ST.

The original Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge was highly acclaimed for its smooth gameplay and sense of speed and this sequel sprinkles a little extra seasoning onto this race winning recipe. Not least amongst these extras is the ability to play a single player game using the full screen.

That might not sound like much, but racing using only half of the screen was one of the biggest complaints about the original. But now look at how much sky you can see. Much better. A nice addition are the new hazards and weather conditions that do genuinely keep things fresh for this sequel and it is genuinely atmospheric no pun intended to race during one of the games thunder storms or blizzards.

Ooh, and you can also link two STs together for some 4 player action if you are a sociable sort. Other changes less sought after by some include the loss of the fuel gauge and with it the need to enter the pits to refuel.

I always liked the tactical element that added to the original and the tension of leaving it as late as possible as the car beeped frantically at you and then only pitting in for the briefest time possible, risking running out of fuel to save precious tenths of a second.

But the biggest loss in my opinion is how the races in this game are no longer a simple race against opponents on a circuit, Magnetic Fields having instead opted to pit you against a stringent time limit. Because we all need more stress in our lives, right? The F is a fictional aircraft based on a model kit released in Later in , the US would unveil the F Nighthawk, a real life stealth fighter, which Microprose would later add as an optional extra for the Amiga and ST releases.

In this game, you pilot the F on various missions in the Middle East and Central Europe, and was praised for its realistic AI responses and emulation of radar detection. The game keeps track of the pilots in a roster, and deaths are permanent giving the game a nice, overarching campaign feel. The presentation is nice, as is the norm with Microprose flight sims, with well-drawn skeuomorphic visuals accompanying the pre-flight preparation scenes.

The in-flight graphics are basic, but functional and it all moves pretty smoothly. A classic to add to the collection of quality games from Microprose. One of the reasons I and many like me were so enamoured by the onset of bit computing was because the games were a step closer to their arcade counterparts. Full colour graphics? Yes please! Samples and speech? Oh, go on then. I had a version at home that to all intents and purposes was arcade perfect. Hard to reach areas become accessible to those who jump on their own bubbles and learning the huge variety of pickups and what they do is a treat.

At first, power up appearances seem random, but actually everything that happens in this game is controlled by what the players are doing, or what they did on the previous screen. My best friend and I would play this game religiously. We played it so much that we knew exactly where each of us should stand for each level, and exactly who was responsible for which group of enemies so we could rinse each level as quickly as possible, minimising risk to our lives bank and maximising the possibility of juicy power ups on the next level.

You control a wizard who is determined to bring the colour back into the world stolen by the spectrum-hating Zark by transforming himself into a ball and taking his robot-piloting cat along with him. Laudable goal, questionable methodology. Many of these upgrades are essential for you to be able to accomplish your task. The first two of these power ups stop you from bouncing about like a fart in a colander so you can actually dispatch enemies a little easier, and another calls into play your trusty feline friend, who is needed to collect the droplets of colour that will eventually revitalise this drab, grey, lifeless world.

But it is compelling. Gods is one of those releases that rightfully earned the Bitmap Brothers the reputation for creating stunning looking games see The Chaos Engine from earlier in the list , Gods is gorgeous. The stone textures, the metallic sheen, every sinew of the hero, the gruesome enemies, the flashy effects and colourful sunset: all rendered in incredible detail.

Being but a half god, Hercules quite fancies having the full kit and caboodle, so chooses immortality as his favour, much to the gods chagrin. Unfortunately, this task is not going to be easy. In his defence, this lack of agility is at least completely predictable so when you take the time to adapt to his sluggish nature, you can minimise this frustration and begin to make good progress. As a side note, this game also has one of the best shops ever seen in a video game. Bob Morlock, a videogame developer otherwise known as Captain Blood has developed a natty little game about squiddly aliens and somesuch.

During a particularly frantic crunch time he really should get himself some union representation he is zapped into the game, whereupon he is cloned 30 times. In order to get back to the land of the living he needs to collect the vital fluid of these clones. So far he has tracked down 25 of them, but you must aid him in his hunt for the final, elusive 5. To do this, you fly through the game world in your living ship, visiting planets and launching a probe in order to have a good old chinwag with some aliens.

Time, however is not your ally in this quest. Disintegrating a clone and liberating those vital essences is the only remedy. Captain Blood wears its influences on its sleeve. Giger-esque alien morphology, Kubrick-ish warp sequences, Mandelbrot-ian lansdscapes and Jean Michelle Jarre soundtrack are all front and centre. Any science fiction fan with an ST or an emulator owes it to themselves to hop onto this thrillingly atmospheric interplanetary ride.

There are very few games that one could really say are arcade perfect on the ST. But this is genuinely one of them.

Just like the games of that golden era, it has a ridiculously cute aesthetic, solid controls and secret gameplay elements that reward inquisitive players. The graphics really are a treat for the eyes here: the sprites are all very cute and colourful, designed in the Japanese chibi style and animated with tons of character.

The backgrounds are colourful and nicely detailed without being too distracting and the occasional cut-scenes are beautifully drawn. Rod-Land has some nice, novel additions to the genre too. The village elder has gifted you a rather fetching pair of rainbow booties that can summon a ladder with a press of the fire button and your dear departed father has left you the Rod of Sheesanamo, a magic rod that can grasp enemies and repeatedly suplex them until they die.

Each time you kill an enemy like this, a weapon will drop that you can use to dispatch the others: bombs, rockets and bouncy star things will all kill enemies for a nice juicy fruit bonus.

Each level also has a collectible that can be snaffled in order to turn the enemies into weird peachy things that can then be farmed for letters. So, as you are the last surviving member of your crew, you better don those metallic pants and get ready to blast those alien scumbags. Your nifty Turrican suit comes with a few additional extras to help you in your quest. You can turn yourself into an invincible spinning ninja star to zip around and take out those xenomorphic shins or release a smart blast that causes a wall of fire to spread across the screen.

Experimenting with these and the variety of power-ups to your main blaster constitutes a lot of the appeal of Turrican II and finding which weapon works best in each situation will see you progress a lot further. The theme and main character feel very Metroid , whereas the power up system feels very Contra. The levels have a maze-like quality to them like Metroid , requiring you to blast your way through until you get to the big fella at the end, like Contra.

Turrican II is very difficult, but rewards patience and perseverance with some great set pieces and the amazing soundtrack throughout makes the game worth a play alone. The best run and gun action the ST has to offer? Delphine at their cinematic best. From the moment the opening sequence begins you know what you are in for. Lester Chaykin turns up for another boring day at a hi-tech underground laboratory. The atmosphere. Sound effects. The way the beast at the very beginning of the game is animated just exudes menace.

The way little fangs pop out of the knee-slugs with a little flick of venom. The way the guard languidly removes his coat. Just masterful. Anybody who cares about narrative design or animation really should have played this already. The best part of the game for me is the comrade you encounter and help free from the prison. This is the second game that Jordan Mechner made using the technique, the first being Karateka.

The game is set, obviously, in Persia. He locks her away until she agrees to become his wife, and it is up to the player to rescue her. The only problem is that he himself is trapped in the dungeons and must escape first. The bulk of the gameplay comes from successfully negotiating the traps and hazards around the dungeon and defeating guards in swordplay.

The second flight simulator on the list is the seminal Falcon , a game that was lauded for its accurate simulation of the F fighter that it is named after, while still being accessible enough for newcomers to get into. Many features that would later become staples of the genre were first showcased here, and the attention to detail is astounding. Another nice touch is how you can pull too many Gs in a turn and cause your pilot to black out.

The difficulty level is chosen by selecting the rank of your pilot, with Colonel offering the most accurate simulation and steepest challenge, while 1st Lieutenant enjoys unlimited ammo and a plane that is more forgiving to fly and completely invulnerable to collisions.

Another great addition to ease in players new to flight sims. Pretty well received in the press at the time, but obviously well loved by many ST gamers to appear this high on the list, Blood Money was one of the earliest games developed by DMA Design, the creative force that would go on to create Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto.

In , however, Blood Money was notable for many interesting and novel features such as its four directional scrolling and the ability to fly different vehicles on the different levels like helicopters and submarines. You can get spread shot, reverse fire, speed up your thrusters and a multitude of other upgrades to improve your chances of surviving.

To be honest, my absolute favourite thing about Blood Money is the manual. Bring back manuals, I say! The unprecedented animated 3D graphical representation of the game world alongside detailed portraits served to hook players into this evocative adventure. Gameplay consists of you creating a group of six player characters and proceeding to level them and gear them up until they are strong enough to take on the dangerous enemies in three dungeons.

Star freighter SunDog requesting emergency assistance… fuel low… shields failing… unable to make port…. Not a bad hit rate, really, FTL. Only three games released, but all of them absolutely stonking.

In fact, FTL originally planned to release more games in the SunDog series, but the success of Dungeon Master meant that they plowed all of their resources into that series instead. You start SunDog as the underdog. You have been enslaved and forced to work in the glass mines. Your uncle has recently died and bequeathed you his ship. The game has such a great implementation of a mouse and window driven interface, before such things were commonplace.

The attention to detail in the game is astounding. For example, if you park your vehicle in the street when visiting the bank, you will get a parking ticket. I could go on and on about the brilliance of this game, but it will be best served if you just pick yourself up a copy and have a go for yourself. I say our friend, but there is very little that is friendly about a game of Rick Dangerous. Random, unforeseeable and unavoidable death stalk you around every corner in this game, right from the word go.

And learn them you must if you are to make any progress at all. Where was that hidden spike? When will that blow dart fire? Which direction will the bat fly in?

Deeply satisfying. The thing that keeps you coming back for more during all this punishment is just how tight the design is here. Rick is responsive and enjoyable to control, the collision detection is spot on and the game is chock full of charm thanks to the cheeky sprites and over the top samples. The game might have simply been infamous for its difficulty or just dismissed as a mere precursor to one of the most successful franchises of all time, but thanks to these deft touches the game has tons of heart and because of that, Rick Dangerous is a classic in its own right.

You have witnessed a catastrophic event. As the leader of the Moon colony, you watched as a 20 trillion ton asteroid struck the Earth, making it completely uninhabitable. All that is left of humanity is you, your small group of colonists and a band of half-human mutants living on Mars. It is up to you to ensure the survival of the species by exploring and colonising the Solar System. The game unfolds as you direct the inhabitants of the Moon Colony to mine the correct resources, research new technologies and construct space craft that will allow you to explore the solar system.

Resources on the barren, rocky moon are limited, but there are untold riches to be found on far flung moons and microplanets. Unfortunately those dastardly Martians are not happy to sit back and watch you dominate the Solar System planetoid by planetoid and declare that any craft seen leaving the Moon will be considered an act of war.

Most of the game is presented through static screens where your decisions are made via clicking on icons. This UI is so good, so intuitive that the manual does very little to tell the player what they must do. It tells you what each UI element does but then leaves you to explore the options and courses of action available for yourself.

There are some live action sequences were you must hop into the seat of a defense fighter to blast the Martians to smithereens before they bomb the colony. One of the most remarkable pieces of music on the ST plays during the simple but effective opening sequence. This stunningly beautiful piece of music, which was composed as a love song to his wife, is used as a bitter counterpoint the tragedy of a dying Earth.

I was a huge Super Sprint fan thanks to the super tight racing on offer there, and had experienced the first Super Cars , which brilliantly utilised weapons and upgrades to add a little more spice, but it was a little lacklustre in the driving physics department. This sequel however, nails the driving while retaining the fun power-ups and destruction from the first game and wrapping it all in a typically excellent Magnetic Fields sense of style.

Fans of Lotus will be familiar with the premium wood and leather presentation on offer here. In between races, the action is punctuated by entertaining and funny, almost RPG like, question and answers sessions. Where a journalist or driving inspector will grill you for the opportunity for some bonus cash to spend on your car.

Be careful though, because you might just end up with a hefty fine. The racing action is fast and fierce, especially after some engine upgrades, and your rival AI racers will really infuriate you on higher difficulty levels. This, combined with the randomness of these kinds of violent arcade racers can be frustrating, but the animosity that you feel towards your opponents just makes it all the more satisfying when you shove a missile up their jacksy.

One of the things that really struck me when I first saw this game was the presentation. Now that sounds like a pretty shallow thing to appreciate in a game, but that swish opening sequence really sets the scene for this game. Sports cars are all about elegance and style, and this game did its best to emulate that. But what of the game itself? Mainly, the line of computers were used for early software trials and people started to get ideas of various applications through the Atari ST PCs.

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