The Joy of Sticks

The Great Atari ST Game Survey 2020

March 22, 2020March 22, 2020 stickhead 12 Comments

What’s all this then?

Well, it’s been over a decade since the last one, so I think it’s high time we updated the survey to find out what the community’s favourite ST games are!

What are the rules?

Vote for up to 5 games in order of preference.
Your top game will receive 5 points, your second 4 points, your third 3 and so on.
Each person may only vote once.

Anything else?

If you don’t have 5 favourites, don’t worry! You can still vote, and those games you do vote for will get their due points.
Feel free to add comments. They may even appear on future videos and articles! The more personal the anecdote, the better! I love hearing about your nostalgia and intimate connections to the games.

Where can I vote?

You can comment on this post right here.
You can tweet your vote @thejoyofsticks
You can post to The Joy of Sticks Facebook page.
You can reply to the video announcement here: (YouTube)
You can respond to the Google Survey.
You can reply to any of the forum posts where you see the survey. Like this one at atariforum.com.

Basically, anywhere I see your response, I will add it to the database ready to be counted. Think carefully, choose wisely, and above all else: have fun!

How can I help?

If you would like to help, then please share the posts, tweets, videos etc. as widely as you can. A survey is only as good as the responses and the more people that vote, the more valid the data becomes and we can say we have the definitive list of favourite ST games.

Then what will happen?

Last time I did this, people were pleasantly surprised to see that I didn’t just post a list of results, but broke each game down, listed important details and gave them a write up with screenshots. I plan to do the same again, but with a bit more pizzazz this time around.

Why are you doing this?

Well, one of the most common questions I still get asked after all these years by people who have just picked up an ST, discovering it through emulation, or revisiting the machine and looking to play games they might have missed out on is: “What games should I play?” This survey and the resulting list could be a great resource for those people.

Thanks for reading and responding! Stay Atari /|\

Sunday Papers – 28th April 2019

April 28, 2019April 28, 2019 stickhead Leave a comment

Here’s what ST related shenanigans I’ve been enjoying this weekend. Hope you’ve had a nice one.

Apparently, the source code for Infocom’s adventures are now available. How cool is that? Activision owns the rights to Infocom games right now, so they might not be up for long. Grab them while you can!
RPGGamer has listed his Top Five RPG’s on the Atari ST. No spoilers from me, but these are definitely not the games I would pick. I managed to stop myself from flaming the comments section with impotent rage, so go me. There’s a nice little potted history of the ST at the beginning too.
It’s always great to hear from people who used STs back in the day, and the world of cracking seemed like a dark, shadowy underworld to my younger, more naive perception of the world, so it’s a special treat to read this interview with Yoda, a member of the cracking groups The Marvelous V8 and The Empire. Huh. Yoda was a member of The Empire. Who knew?
@backofficeshow played Neighbours on the ST and then took out his frustrations on the machine itself. Ouch!
Patrick’s Retro Gaming played Bonanza Bros. a charming and original title from SEGA. A great port from US Gold (those are quite a rarity, aren’t they?).

Sunday Papers

April 14, 2019April 14, 2019 stickhead Leave a comment

Hey everyone. Here’s what I’ve been enjoying this weekend. Go there, be happy.

Gears of Games played the ST version of Strider. I played this a ton on my uncle’s ST before I got hold of one of my own and I loved being an agile ninja from the future with the swishiest sword that ever did swish. Little did I know how much better a time my Megadrive owning buddies were having. Ignorance really is bliss. A great video as usual from Gears of Games here and it’s always fun watching him get increasingly frustrated at these tough games. It reminds me why I cheated mercilessly at this one. Another serviceable but slightly ropey Tiertex port.
PanAnning tried to play Gauntlet. It didn’t quite happen. It was a bit of a reminder just how much worse this game is than the sequel on the ST. Oh, and “Yellow wizard is a giant douche” almost made me spurt tea out of my nose.
Pete played Castle Master, one of those Freescape 3D games that were way ahead of their time. I’ve only ever played Total Eclipse, so it was cool to see another in action. They may seem incredibly crude these days, but coherent 3D worlds were fascinating to me back in the day. I would spend hours just wandering around in Damocles for example.
There are a bunch of ST magazines in the orchive.org vaults, so it’s nice to dip in now and again. Today, I read Atari User issue 1 which proudly boasts “Tomorrow’s computers are here!” next to an ST and Tramiel’s face carved into Mount Rushmore! It’s a great hype piece on the upcoming world-beating ST and a fascinating retrospective read.