Tag Archives: Atari 8-bit

Atari A to Z: Death Race

Sadly, this game is nothing to do with the movie of the same name. Instead, it’s Atlantis Software’s budget-price attempt to recreate the experience of Sega’s early arcade game Turbo, albeit a few years late.

The latter years of the Atari 8-bit saw a lot of publishers specialising in budget-price, cassette-only releases for around the £2 mark. This put them firmly in “pocket money” territory for a lot of young gamers, but the quality did vary quite a bit, with Atlantis Software’s titles generally not being received all that well by the press of the day.

How does Death Race stack up in the grand scheme of things? Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!

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Atari A to Z: Computer War

Nuclear war is a scary prospect, but as a general rule we, the people of the world, don’t seem to be nearly as nervous about its possibility as we were back in the 1980s, for one reason or another.

The ’80s, as we’ve seen a few times on this series, played host to a variety of media that acknowledged and explored the strong degree of paranoia and fear that existed with regard to the United States’ Cold War with Russia in various ways. One of those pieces of media was the excellent movie WarGames, which in turn inspired several video game adaptations on various platforms.

One such video game was Thorn EMI’s Computer War for Atari 8-bit, a game I very much enjoyed when I was a kid — and still like firing up now and then today. Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!

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Atari A to Z Flashback: Millipede

You might wonder what the appeal of having several different versions of the same game in one compilation is. Indeed, dear viewer, I was right there with you until recently.

Then I played the Atari 5200 version of Millipede — an unreleased prototype that was essentially a port of the version for Atari home computers. And I was blown away by quite how enjoyable it was. For me, it’s ended up being an even more appealing way to play the game than the arcade original.

To be fair, any Millipede is good Millipede, but to see what makes this version special check out the video below — and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!

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Atari A to Z: Baby Berks

For me, one of the most exciting things to see happen in the retro gaming community is when the original creator of a classic work returns to it and does something cool with it.

Today, we have an example of that. Baby Berks was originally a type-in listing for the Commodore 16, and after an AtariAge forum poster noted that it might be nice to see an Atari 8-bit port of it, who just happened to show up in the thread but the original creator Jon Williams himself?

A month later, there was an official Atari port of this fun arena shooter. Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!

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Atari A to Z: Action Quest

I’ve been meaning to get around to this one for a while, as someone recommended it to me quite some time ago, but I’ve finally gotten around to it!

Action Quest is an interesting game that blends elements of top-down arcade adventure with some genuinely interesting puzzles. It was an early attempt to make something of a “graphic adventure”, though it still errs a little more on the “action” side of things, as you might expect from the title.

Enjoy this unusual game in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more.

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Atari A to Z: Zaxxon

Early arcade ports certainly varied quite significantly in quality, and opinion appears to be a bit divided online as to whether or not Ron J Fortier’s Atari 8-bit take on Sega’s classic Zaxxon is “good” or not.

Well, “good” or not, that’s what we’re taking a look at today — and it turns out there are two slightly different versions of the game out there. (I discovered after I made the video that these are due to there being a 16K cassette version and a 48K disk version — in the video you’ll see the disk version first, followed by the more limited cassette version.)

Enjoy this take on a classic in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!

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Atari A to Z: Yogi’s Great Escape

Yogi Bear is, it is said, smarter than the average bear. He was certainly smart enough to find himself in several licensed games for a variety of home computer platforms in the early ’90s.

Here’s the Atari 8-bit version of Yogi’s Great Escape, a platform game that we’ve previously seen on the Atari ST A to Z series already. While technically inferior, the 8-bit version actually plays quite a bit better, with tight controls and clear mechanics that make it surprisingly enjoyable to play.

Enjoy the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more.

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Atari A to Z: Xirius Defect XXL

In the mood for a good puzzle? Well, fire up the ol’ Atari 8-bit because I’ve got a right cracker for you today.

Xirius Defect XXL is, as the name suggests, an expanded version of Xirius Defect, a modern Atari 8-bit title developed for the ABBUC software competition. This newer version adds a bunch of new levels, tightens up the mechanics (and the explanations thereof) and is an altogether polished package for anyone to enjoy.

Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!

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Atari A to Z: Vicky

There were two girls called Vicky in my tutor group at secondary school. One was short and angry, and the other was pretty chill most of the time. My best friend at the time “went out” with the chill one. This game isn’t about either of them.

Instead, it’s about a Viking warrior descending into the underworld to do… something or other involving a bunch of objects that have been scattered around a randomly generated maze. Sadly, it’s all in Polish so that’s about all I can tell you about the context of what’s going on — but it has a very nice intro sequence and is a fun exploration-centric game that doesn’t require any knowledge of Eastern European languages beyond said intro!

Enjoy my experiences in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more.

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Atari A to Z: Unicum

The type-in listing scene for 8-bit home computers gave us some genuinely excellent games — with some even rivalling commercially released counterparts.

Such is the case with the unusually named Unicum, a take on the Arkanoid-style block-breaking formula that many regard as significantly superior to the official port of Taito’s classic to Atari 8-bit.

Oh, and if you’re wondering, “Unicum” is apparently a Hungarian liqueur, though whether or not that actually has anything to do with this game is anyone’s guess. Be sure to subscribe on YouTube for more valuable facts about international culture!

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