Tag Archives: Ocean

Atari ST A to Z: Parasol Stars

A lot of people forget that there’s a third Bubble Bobble game — or, as this port puts it, a second Rainbow Islands game.

But Parasol Stars from Taito is very much a thing that exists — and moreover, it got a very competent port to Atari ST thanks to Ocean Software. While the PC Engine original may be a bit smoother and slicker than this one, this is certainly not a bad effort considering how it’s running on general-purpose rather than gaming-specialist hardware.

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

header-5603011

Atari ST A to Z: The New Zealand Story

Taito made some great arcade games back in the day, some of which are more well-known than others.

One which got a fair amount of attention back in the days of 16-bit home computers was The New Zealand Story which, among other things, was part of a popular Commodore Amiga bundle. Naturally, owners of the Amiga’s big rival, the Atari ST, had a chance to get in on the action, too.

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

header-4165360

Atari ST A to Z: Hudson Hawk

Remember the movie Hudson Hawk? Probably not. It was a Bruce Willis passion project that the people who actually watched found rather enjoyable, but it ultimately ended up forgotten by most.

Like many movies in the ’80s and ’90s, Hudson Hawk got a video game adaptation by Ocean. The remarkable thing this time around is that said video game adaptation didn’t suck; it was actually a rather good platformer that combined dexterity challenges, puzzling and light combat. It also didn’t feel the need to be super-true to the movie, which probably helped it in the long run.

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

header-4165360

Atari ST A to Z: The Untouchables

For the longest time, movie license games were a bit of a laughing stock. That’s because they were often poorly thought out affairs that didn’t really adapt their source material in any meaningful way.

Ocean’s The Untouchables is no exception to this rule, though it was reasonably well-received back in its day for its variety of different gameplay styles, solid performance even on the Atari ST, and stiff challenge.

Said stiff challenge makes it rather hard to enjoy today, sadly, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a good crack at it! Check out my experiences in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more.

header-4165360

Atari ST A to Z: Operation Thunderbolt

It wasn’t unusual to see lightgun shooters adapted to the 16-bit computers of the late ’80s and early ’90s. However, you didn’t tend to see a lot in the way of lightgun peripherals.

You did, however, see a lot of these games making use of mouse control to simulate aiming a gun. Some of these made use of a clear, obvious mouse cursor, allowing for precise aiming, albeit at the expense of a certain feeling of “authenticity”. Meanwhile, some, like Ocean’s solid adaptation of Taito’s Operation Thunderbolt, provided the interesting twist of making where you were aiming invisible until you fired — much like a “real” lightgun would behave.

While the ST struggles to provide a completely authentic arcade experience — particularly in the sound department, as always — Operation Thunderbolt is actually a pretty solid port, and its unusual aiming mechanics make it surprisingly satisfying and addictive to play, even today.

Follow Atari A to Z on its own dedicated site here!