Tag Archives: Atari A to Z

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Atari A to Z: Orc Attack

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Orcs used to be a popular, even clichéd, fantasy foe to encounter in both video and tabletop games, but I feel like their prevalence has declined somewhat over the years — perhaps in a concerted effort for modern fantasy to move away from Tolkien.

Fear not, though, because this 1983 release from Thorn EMI Video has absolutely hundreds of the little buggers just waiting to make your life an absolute misery — climbing up ladders, shooting arrows directly into your eye, chipping away at your wall and pulling your head clean off. What’s a humble guard to do?

Fight back, of course! Preferably by hurling heavy objects and boiling oil, but as a last resort there’s always the option of a bit of slicing and dicing…

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

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Hello everyone! It’s nearly the end of November; hard to imagine that we’re nearly in to a new decade already, isn’t it?

Still, keep tackling things one week at a time and we’ll get there eventually. As much as it feels like we might not want to sometimes. Remember, as bleak and shitty as the world might be, there are always video games, anime, manga, music and all manner of other wonderful forms of art and creative expression to escape into when it all gets a bit much.

And if you’re in the mood for a bit of escapism right now, why not delve into what you might have missed in the last week or so? Let’s take a look.

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Atari A to Z Flashback: Basketball

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Sports games have always been a staple of video gaming. In fact, in the earliest days of the medium, they were a good source of basic rules and mechanics for designers to rely on.

Basketball for Atari 2600 was a noteworthy example of one of these early sports games for being an early title that didn’t require two human players. In fact, the single-player mode even claimed to offer an adaptive difficulty of sorts, with the computer player supposedly playing “better” if the scores were closer.

In practice, this mostly equates to the computer player running the wrong direction if he’s winning too much, but it was 1978… give them a bit of credit!

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

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Atari A to Z: Neptune’s Daughters

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Splish-splash, I was taking a bath, and then suddenly I was beset with crabs. Crabs, crabs everywhere.

In Neptune’s Daughters from English Software, you take on the role of Aquaman as he strives to rescue the eponymous young ladies from the slimy clutches of a mean ol’ sea serpent. Along the way, he’ll encounter poisonous sucker plants, oxygenated amoebae, an amorous octopus and the most dangerous walls on the planet. Can he survive the perils that lie beneath the waves?

There’s a glimpse of pixellated boob in it for you if you’re victorious. Don’t get too excited, though. It seems those daughters just aren’t that into you. Maybe it’s the gills…

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

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Atari ST A to Z: Go-Moku/Renju

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Computers make good opponents for classic tabletop games, and have done since the earliest days of the 2600.

They get on with their turns rather than checking their phones or talking about the football (although 2600 board games on the hardest difficulty warn they may take up to 20 minutes to make a decision about their next move, which is almost as bad as my friend Sam deciding whether or not he wants to build the Well in Agricola) and they’re able to provide a reasonable challenge for both beginners and masters in a variety of disciplines.

Today, then, we look at an entry in Atari’s “Mindgames” range for ST: it’s Go-Moku/Renju, two very similar “five in a row” games very loosely based on classic Chinese game Go.

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

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Atari A to Z: MasterType

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How’s your typing speed? How’d you like to improve it with the help of a lightning-spewing wizard IN SPACE?!

Such is the concept of Lightning Software’s MasterType, a typing trainer for the Atari 8-bit that I always used to enjoy a great deal as a kid — and, it turns out, I still enjoy an awful lot now, too.

If you’ve ever had trouble quickly and accurately typing BASIC commands or the word “Oriole” under intense time pressure, then you’ll definitely want to check this one out…

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

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Atari A to Z Flashback: Backgammon

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A big part of the early Atari 2600 library consisted of digital adaptations of tabletop games — including several that could be played solo against a computer opponent.

One such example was Backgammon, a fairly comprehensive package that allowed one or two players to play Backgammon or Acey Deucey, with or without a “doubling cube” to facilitate gambling.

I’m not good at Backgammon, but aside from this adaptation’s bizarre paddle-based control system, this seems like as good a way as any to learn!

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

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Atari ST A to Z: E-Motion

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The “E” is for “Einstein”. So says The Assembly Line, anyway, in this curious physics-based puzzler for Atari ST featuring “ray-traced” graphics.

E-Motion is the predecessor to Vaxine, which you may recall from our first time around the ST’s A to Z. This time around it’s all about bouncing balls around rather than blasting away viruses, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less hectic! The world of subatomic particle physics is, it seems, rather dangerous.

E-Motion drew praise at the time of its original release for its colourful visuals, digitised sound and unusual premise. Today, it’s still an enjoyable — if rather frustrating — experience, and a charming, technically impressive highlight of this era of gaming.

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

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Atari A to Z: Kangaroo

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The ’80s were a strange time, particularly for Atari, who, it seems, were never quite sure how to release or market things properly.

One of their well-received arcade games received an official port to the Atari 2600 and 5200, and the latter version then ended up on the 8-bit Atari computers. Unusually, however, this was published via the Atari Program Exchange or APX, which more commonly published consumer-submitted games rather than licensed ports.

That game was Kangaroo, and it’s an enjoyable single-screen platformer with lots of monkey-punching and fruit-grabbing. It also used to terrify me as a kid and I can’t remember why…

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

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Hello everyone! I hope you’re doing well.

The wife and I have been having a troublesome few months. Our hob went, our roof leaked, our cats had fleas and yesterday our washing machine broke. Thankfully all but the latter of these have now been resolved (at varying levels of expense) but as I type this, the wife is in search of a suitable replacement washing machine to go in our awkwardly shaped gap.

But you don’t need to know all that, really. You’re here to find out what you might have missed in the last week or so, right? Read on, then…

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