The Joy of Sticks

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?).

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.

Sunday Papers – 28th April 2019