Category Archives: Atari A to Z

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari ST A to Z: Never Mind

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How’s your spatial awareness? Reckon you could put together a picture puzzle from an isometric perspective? Easy, right?

Okay, now you have to do so by controlling a little dude who can walk on walls. Oh, and the pictures are sometimes (often) moving. And malevolent chess pieces want nothing more than to mess up all your hard work for no other reason than “because they feel like it”.

Doesn’t sound quite so easy now, does it? Oh well. Never Mind.

Find a full archive of all the Atari A to Z videos on the official site.

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z: Thrax Lair

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Fie on your spaceships, I say, the true shoot ’em up connoisseur takes control of pterodactyl-esque creatures and uses them to penetrate deep inside their enemies’… err, lairs!

Well, okay, maybe not, but that’s the setup for Thrax Lair, anyway, in which you control a “Tarp”, a winged creature capable of firing lasers from its eyes with a strong (and eminently justifiable) grudge against the spider-like Thrax.

Gameplay-wise, it’s a bit like River Raid, but with enough unique elements about it to make it worth a look — even if it might not be the most flashy game the Atari 8-bit ever offered!

Find a full archive of all the Atari A to Z videos on the official site.

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z Flashback: Space Duel

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How do you make Asteroids better in a more substantial way than just adding “Deluxe” to the name and making it look a bit nicer? Start by chaining two ships together and work from there.

Atari’s Space Duel was designed as another successor to Asteroids after the aforementioned Asteroids Deluxe regrettably failed to replicate the success and popularity of its influential predecessor. Featuring several ways to play — including both cooperative and competitive two-player modes — it’s a more obvious step forward than Deluxe was.

Don’t let the name fool you as it did me for many years, however; this game can very much be enjoyed single-player, and in one of its modes in particular provides an absolutely unique shooter experience that is well worth giving a go for yourself.

Find a full archive of all the Atari A to Z videos on the official site.

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari ST A to Z: Mickey Mouse – The Computer Game

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Who’s the leader of the club that’s made for you and me? Some mouse, I think.

Yes, it’s time for the official computer game adaptation of one of Disney’s most beloved properties: one Michael Mouse. This game was produced by Gremlin Graphics, and was noteworthy at the time for being a licensed game that eschewed the usual platform game formula. (Granted, Mickey Mouse and friends had several very good platform games throughout the 8- and 16-bit eras, but it was cool to see something a bit different!)

This is a pretty cool game with a couple of aspects that are inordinately frustrating… most notable of which is the fact that actually completing a level is next to impossible thanks to a monstrously difficult boss encounter! Oh well. At least it looks nice.

Find a full archive of all the Atari A to Z videos on the official website.

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z: Satan’s Hollow

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Tired of blasting aliens? Fed up of shooting soldiers? Punched enough gang members in the face to last a lifetime? Then surely it’s time you faced the ultimate evil!

Yes, indeed, in Satan’s Hollow, you are going after the Big D (not that kind of Big D) himself, ol’ Satan of the Hollow, Esq. And you’ve brought yourself a natty little bridge-building spaceship that seems just tailor-made for the task of crossing the pit of fire to where Satan hangs out.

But wait! It seems Satan has friends, and they’re not particularly pleased to see you. Can you fend off Beelzebub’s Hoover attack for long enough to even catch a glimpse of the lord of all devils himself? Only one way to find out — in an unreleased Atari 8-bit port of an elderly Midway arcade game!

Find a full archive of all the Atari A to Z videos on the official site.

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z Flashback: Skydiver

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It’s time for another simple but addictive game from the early days of Atari today: this time around it’s the turn of Skydiver.

Skydiver is slightly more complex than Canyon Bomber, which we saw a few episodes back, but it’s still simple enough that anyone can pick it up with minimal explanation. Mastering it is, of course, another matter entirely, but it was ever thus in these early arcade games!

Skydiver is also one of the noisiest games Atari ever created. Be sure to turn your volume down a bit if you’re playing this one yourself!

Find a full archive of all the Atari A to Z videos on the official site.

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari ST A to Z: Lombard RAC Rally

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The Lombard RAC Rally, known today as the Wales Rally GB, is a high-profile race in the annual rally calendar.

Back in 1988, we had the opportunity to strap ourselves into a state-of-the-art Ford Sierra Cosworth and take part in this prestigious event for ourselves. Some massive prizes of up to a hundred English pounds per stage were up for grabs!

Lombard RAC Rally by Red Rat software was a neat game that did  few things rather unconventionally for the driving game genre. So let’s take a look!

Find a full archive of all the Atari A to Z videos on the official site.

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z: Raid Over Moscow

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Don’t you hate it when you just can’t get your thing in the hole to blow your payload?

It’s especially troublesome when the fate of the free world is at stake and those pesky Cold War Russkies are flinging inter-continental ballistic missiles at various landmarks. Why, what did you think I was talking about?

Hopefully in the event of an actual nuclear war, the pilots of the small blue aircraft tasked with protecting us all from high above the Earth’s surface will be piloted by someone a little more competent than yours truly…

Find a full archive of all the Atari A to Z videos on the official site.

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z Flashback: Red Baron

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Chocks away, tally-ho and all that! It’s time for Red Baron!

A contemporary of the rather more well-known and successful Battlezone, Red Baron sees players taking to the skies in a World War I biplane and challenging an endless variety of enemy pilots, blimps and ground targets to aerial combat.

This is an underappreciated gem from Atari’s back catalogue, so while it may not have been a bit success back in the day, it’s well worth playing today!

Find a full archive of all the Atari A to Z videos on the official site.

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari ST A to Z: Knights of the Sky

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’80s and ’90s MicroProse was most well-known for its jet fighter sims, but now and again they branched out into something a bit different.

Knights of the Sky was an ambitious attempt to simulate rickety old World War I biplanes rather than high-tech jet fighters — something that only became possible due to improving technology and mastery over the available hardware.

It’s a cool game, for sure — but be prepared to live without a bunch of modern conveniences you might have come to take for granted in more recent aircraft!

Find a full archive of all the Atari A to Z videos on the official site.