A-Z of Atari 8-bit Games , livre ebook

Andrews UK - Kieren Hawken

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111 pages

English

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Description

The A-Z of Atari 8-bit Games: Volume 2 features reviews of three different games for each letter of the alphabet. The games range from the very earliest releases in the late 70s to the modern homebrew games of today. This book shows you just how diverse the library of titles is for the Atari 8-bit computers and how it became one of the popular computers of all time.

Sujets

Indoor games and sports

Informations

Publié par	Andrews UK
Date de parution	03 septembre 2018
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781785388385
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0100€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

The A-Z of
Atari 8-bit Games
Volume 2

Kieren Hawken

Published in 2018 by
AG Books
www.agbooks.co.uk
Digital edition converted and distributed by
Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com
© Copyright 2018 Kieren Hawken
The right of Kieren Hawken to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998.
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without express prior written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted except with express prior written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damage.
The opinions expressed herein belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect those of AG Books or Andrews UK Limited.
Game screenshots are included in this publication legally under applicable fair use law which allows such material for the explicit purposes of commentary and criticism.

Introduction
The Atari 8-bit computer range has an outstanding legacy in the video games industry. The very first models, the 16k Atari 400 and 48k Atari 800, were released way back in 1979 and instantly became the most powerful home computers on the market. With 256 colours, four-channel sound and advanced features such as hardware scrolling and sprites they were clearly designed with playing video games in mind. Of course, this is what Atari was great at and it wasn’t long before all their hit arcade games started appearing in home computer form. Upgrades of the machine followed in the XL range (600XL, 800XL and 1200XL), which stood for eXtended Line, and the popularity of Atari’s home computer range grew even further. Come the takeover of Atari’s consumer division by former Commodore owner Jack Tramiel in 1984 and the range was designed one again. The 64k 65XE (also released in Eastern Europe as the 800XE) and 128k 130XE was joined by the XE Games System, a 65XE computer in console form to appeal to a different market. The XE moniker stood for XL Expanded and these new computers were designed to more closely resemble the company’s flagship 16-bit Atari ST computer, also released in 1985.

In this book I take you through the life of the Atari 8-bit range, affectionately known as the A8, looking at a varied cross section of the 600+ games available with a small review and screenshot of each one. This is not a list of the best games, a list of the worst or indeed a complete guide to what’s available. The A-Z of Atari 8-bit Games: Volume 2 is just that, the second volume of my look at a selection of A8 games in alphabetical order. There are three games featured for each letter and these range from the earliest released in the late seventies, to modern homebrews and even unreleased prototypes. Hopefully this book gives you some inspiration to try games you’ve never played before or bulk up your own personal collection. You might even find it that brings back happy memories of unwrapping Christmas and birthday presents or inviting your friends round for a few games after school. Most of all though I hope you enjoy reading it and remember what makes the Atari 8-bit computer range so great.
Kieren Hawken
Author

A
Animal Party
ABBUC - 2008

Animal Party has to be one of the most attractive games I have played on the A8, the game really does look wonderful. It is basically an Atari version of those whack-a-mole games that you play at the local fair or arcade. The programmers have cleverly worked the control method to fit a home system so it’s still all about the reflexes like the real version. The animals pop-up out of nine different holes in 3x3 rows and you use the joypad on its own to hit them. All you have to do is hit the direction to smash the mallet down, using the eight directions to smash the holes round the side and the button on its own to hit the middle hole. This works amazingly well and after a couple of goes it just becomes second nature. If you miss an animal then you get a brief pause before you can smash the mallet down again, costing you valuable time. One of the best features of Animal Party is the hilarious animations when you hit the furry critters. Their tongues pop out, stars appear round their heads and the sound effects are perfect. There are very few games around on the A8 that have made me smile as much as this has. Animal Party is just a wonderful little game in every way from the superb use of colour to the wonderful music and child-like themes. So what are you waiting for? Get your flash cartridge out, load up Animal Party and bring a smile back to that miserable face of yours!
8 /10
Alien 8
Fandal & Miker - 2013

Ultimate Play The Game are synonymous with not just the Sinclair Spectrum but also the evolution of the isometric adventure. Games like Knight Lore, Night Shade and Gun Fright are still mentioned among the best games for the machine. Released in 1985, Alien 8 was the follow-up to Knight Lore and was the second game Filmation game to come out. Just like its predecessor Alien 8 is an adventure platformer using high-resolution monochrome graphics with an isometric perspective. You take control of a robot, the titular Alien 8, whose job is to ensure that all of the cryogenically frozen passengers on a spaceship remain alive during the long voyage of a spaceship. During this journey the ship comes under attack and the cryogenic circuits have been damaged. You need to roam the ship to find the parts needed to repair them and keep the passengers alive. The programmer Fandal actually disassembled the BBC Micro version of the game to create this Atari iteration. It uses the two-colour high-resolution mode of the Atari to great effect meaning that it looks very close to the original Spectrum version. Miker did all the sound and while the in-game sound remains very authentic, they have added a nice POKEY track on the title screen. The game has been released for free to use with flash cartridges and emulators so now all Atari owners can see what they were missing out on!
8 /10
Arkanoid
Imagine - 1987

While Atari’s Breakout, programmed by Apple founders Jobs and Wozniak no less, was the very first bat and ball brick breaker, Taito’s Arkanoid was the game that revolutionised the genre. It took the basic gameplay of Breakout and added a host of new features like enemies that float around the screen, different formations, multi-hit bricks and, of course, lots of great power-ups! Collecting these allows you to do stuff like shoot the bricks with a laser, catch and then aim the ball, expand your bat, slow the game down and even skip a level. This adds so much more to the game and it really is no surprise that Arkanoid has been cloned hundreds of times over the years. Not to mention that it’s influence can still be seen, in some shape or other, in many of the games of today. This is also a game that has been hacked many time by Atari 8-bit coders to add new levels and features. This Atari 8-bit version is very good indeed it has to be said. There is the option to play it with either a joystick, paddle controller (for real authenticity) or the keyboard and you can also compete against a friend for the high score. The colourful graphics are extremely close to the arcade game and the sound effects do their job more than well enough too. For me Arkanoid is one of the best arcade conversions to grace the 8-bit Atari computers and should definitely be a part of every Atarian’s collection!
9 /10

B
Battle Eagle
Cosine - 2013

After the very nice Callisto , Jason “TMR” Kelk is back again with another shoot ‘em up for the 8-bit Atari. This time he has decided to turn his hand to making a vertical shooter but with the same brutal difficulty as before. Battle Eagle came eighth in the 2013 ABBUC coding contest, a year when the competition was probably hotter than any other. Battle Eagle is a very claustrophobic feeling shooter, you have to try and squeeze your ship through tight gaps and avoid the scenery as you make your way through each level. What makes this even harder is the enemies need to squeeze through these very same gaps. And if that was not already hard enough each enemy takes several hits to destroy, while you can only take a single hit. At the end of the level you face a boss, who takes even more hits to destroy. Battle Eagle is pretty unforgiving, you make a mistake and it costs you a life - it’s that simple. This is a shoot ‘em up that really relies on you learning each level like it’s the back of your hand. The chunky graphics are quite nice, I really liked the shading effect especially. In game there are lots of noisy sound effects while on the title screen there is an absolutely cracking tune by German musician Der Luchs. I really wanted to love Battle Eagle , it has some really nice touches and definitely has the feel of a commercial product, my problem with it is that it’s just a bit too hard and too unforgiving for my liking. With a few tweaks here and there though, this game could be great.
6 /10
Barnyard Blaster
Atari - 1987

One of the most famous games for Nintendo’s Entertainment System was the game that came with the Zapper, the legendary Duck Hunt . Well, when Atari released a light gun of their own for the newly released XE series they decided they needed something similar and so came up with this similar title - Barnyard Blaster . It’s actually a lot more