Cst/gp: My Notable/best St Games List


skeezix

Internal Development
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Just posted to my blog but thought you might be interested..

http://www.codejedi.com/cgi-bin/blog.cgi/e....blog?seemore=y

Retro: My list of Atari ST 'canon' - games you simply must try before you can call yourself a nerd.
Tue, 20 Sep 2005

This is a non-exhaustive list of games I played or found otherwise interesting or significant on the almighty Atari ST. Of course I physically played hundreds more, but these I found interesting or amusing enough to comment about and thought they might help give focus to folks who never had an ST or the resources (*cough* BBS piracy *cough*) to see them all personally. This is of course just my list, and so won't include a lot of great titles other people enjoyed.. but what can you do? :)

This took *way* too much time to put together :)

Around 200 games :) For details and screenshots, head over to the very good Atari Legend site. BBS games and applications like Cubase will be in another posting someday.

Legend:

'?' Entries beginning with '?' weren't played by me, though I intend to fire them up in an emu soon.

'=' Format is 'game title' followed by '=' (equal sign) then description; no equals present if no description added. Yes, I'll toss this in a database someday :)

'*' They're not really marked by genre or score, so its less useful than it could be. I'll try and do that sometime. But howabout I lay in a *** for games that you should try first.

--

Alternate Reality = immersive though not so pretty an RPG. Had 'portals' to expansion packs that never arrived =)
? Amberstar = loic keeps pushing it on me to try; supposedly one of the best RPGs.
? Another World
*** Arkanoid = great conversions, really good audio
Arkanoid 2 : Revenge of Doh
** Axel's Magic Hammer - A fun early platformer
** BAT = real game required ST with dongle, as sound chip was in dongle; immersive, neat story, neat graphics.
Balance of Power
Barbarian (Psygnosis)
Barbarian (Palace)
Batman: The Movie = not great, but I liked it
Battle Chess
Better Dead Than Alien = not great, but I recall loving it.. and loved the play on words
Bionic Commando = Frustrating, but always came back for more
Black Tiger
Bloodwych
Breach = great simple tactical turn based shooter
? Breach 2
* Breakers = a really good text adventure; one of the few by a poet laurieat
*** Bubble Bobble
Bubble Ghost
*** Buggy Boy
*** Cadaver = awesome graphics .. a pre-Diablo little RPG by the Bitmap Brothers.
CAD 3d
? Cannon Fodder = Supposed to be amazing; great artwork.
** Captain Blood = great music, strange game
*** Captive = Awesome .. Dungeon Master with robots.
** Carrier Command = a robotic aircraft carrier sim? Yes!
? Castle Master = some loved it; a 3d dungeon romp, in true 3d
*** Civilization
*** Colonial Conquest
Conqueror = Classic.. Virus with tanks.
** D/Generation - interesting tactical platformer
** Defender of the Crown
? Deuteros - Sequal to Millenium 2.2, but couldn't find it back in the day
Dragon Spirit
Dragons Lair = too many swaps
*** Dungeon Master = play it now. Right now.
*** Dungeon Master: Chaos Strikes Back
* Eliminator
? Elite - A true classic across all platforms, though I didn't play it in the day
*** Empire = Very good early tactical wargame
? Enchanted Land = From Thalion, a bunch of demo coders gone platformer. Supposed to be one of the most impressive looking ST games, with full screen 'sync scrolling'.
Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters
? F-15 Strike Eagle 2
** F-19 Stealth Fighter
** F-29 Retaliator
** Falcon (and mission disks)
? Fate = Gates of Dawn
Fire and Forget
Flight Simulator 2
? Forgotten Worlds
? Frontier= Elite II
Gauntlet = not bad but not as good as the sequal
** Gauntlet 2 = very good; movable walls!
Gemini Wing = my brother loved it; windshield=wiper weapons =P
Ghosts & Goblins = a great conversion
Ghouls & Ghosts = Not as good a conversion as the earlier conversoin of the later sequal
? Goblins
*** GODS = Sweetness from the beloved Bitmap Brothers
? Golden Axe
Grav = a simple 'Gravitar' and 'Oids'-like game
** Great Giana Sisters = a very good port; surprisingly, the C64 version is also good!
** Guild of Thieves = another classic text/graphic adventure from Magnetic Scrolls
Hacker = pretty addictive
*** Hard Drivin (and sequal) = Awesome; played them for hours
*** Heroquest = great conversion from the board-game; good all around RPG.
? Hillsfar = battle-RPG
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
Hudson Hawk = I loved the movie; a decent game.
*** IK+ = Worlds greatest fighting game
? Immortal - well loved RPG
** Imperium = freakin' great strategy game
? Impossamole
Infestation = some great artwork; I can't recall the gameplay =P
** Interphase = a classic 3d sci-fi flight-shooter; ripped off 'Drives Me Crazy' music
Into the Eagles Nest = not so good, but I was hooked somehow..
Ishar 1 = Legend Of The Fortress (and series)
? Ivanhoe
? James Pond
Joe Blade = another game I kept coming back to, but don't know why
Joust (Atari) = a decent arcade port
Jouse (PD) = a great remake =P
** Jumping Jack'son = great music, even
Kick Off 2 = if you're into soccer games
Killing Game Show
Kings Quest (series) = I only played Kings Quest III
? Laser Squad (need to try it out sometime)
? Legend = always just wanted to try it
? Legend of Faerghail = Supposed to be quite a good RPG
? Knightmare (Mindscape) = An RPG like Captive
** Leisure Suit Larry 1 = In the Land of the Lounge Lizards (series)
*** Lemmings = everyone has seen this right? Truly great.
? Lethal Xcess = sequal to Wings of Death, never played it, but WoD rocks.
Llamatron = How can you be an ST fan without bringing up Minter's Robotron-ripoff
*** License To Kill = really really good top down strategic vertical shooter, James Bond style
Lode Runner = A classy remake
? Loom = another Lucasarts game, but with a musical component; one of the first and only games ever to do such a thing.
? Lords of Chaos = sorcerous strategy game; well recommended.
*** Magic Pockets = another wicked Bitmap Brothers title, platformer
Major Motion = an alright Spyhunter rip-off; no Peter Gunn =(
? Mega-lo-mania = always wanted to try it.
** Megaroids = A demo for Megamax 'C' compiler, but I _loved_ it
Megatraveller - The Zhodani Conspiracy = _really_ bad, but classic because we wanted to play the pencil and paper version =P
Metal Masters = a fun beat'em'up with robots
Midi Maze = freeware, but we "LAN partied" at work long before deathmatch; really, this is the father to Doom ;) (a series apparently)
? Midwinter = raved in magazines, always wanted to try it
*** Millenium 2.2 = one of the top turn based space conquest sims ever.
Mig-29 Fulcrum = another highly rated flight-sim
Moebius = an RPG no one but me remembers; one of the first games I played to completion I suspect..
Monopoly (Shareware) = I dunno, I played a lot of this; mark me a loser.
? Mortville Manor = a game with speach as a component for play (adventure)
Moonbase = terrible, but I liked it =)
Narc = not a great conversion, but I waited for it with baited breath
*** Nebulus - a classic on many platforms
Nethack = yes, someone ported it to the ST!
? Nine Princes in Amber = I wish I had known about this at the time (and the books its based upon)
? No Second Prize = I never played it, but Earl lived it
Obliterator = another typical Psygnosis game.. gorgeous to see, not to play =)
? Obsession = For STE; supposedly really good graphics; pinball topdown.
Ogre = an 'okay' port of a classic board-war-game
** Oids = peope love it; not bad.. like Gravitar and Thrust
Omega = I even wrote a review; script a tank and toss him into an areana. Great for coders!
Outrun = pretty good port of the driving game; not a great port but good. (series)
* Overlander = straight forward racer with some shooting.. like Road Blasters
Pacmania = I really loved this back in the day.. isometric Pacman.
Pacific Islands = people seemed to think this was the shiz back in the day
*** Parasol Stars = a sequal to Bubble Bobble; really well done.
Pawn = another classic Magnetic Scrolls text/graphic adventure
** Phantasie (series) = one of the first RPGs to grab my soul
? Pipe Dream = everyone loved it; I never tried it.
? Pirates = Sid Meier's.. everyone loved it, but I never tried it.
Plutos = A very primitive shooter, but it was one of the first ST games I bought I think and we played it endlessly. (1986!)
Pool of Radiance = the old goldbox series; dated, but classic.
*** Populous = what more is to say? It started the God Game. (Series, expansion discs)
Powerdrome = a 3d space-sled-racing game; I loved it!
*** Powermonger = like Populous, but for specifically for war; and for soliders to rape sheep in the forest when you're not looking.
? Prince of Persia = everyone raved, but I didn't 'get' it
? ** Rick Dangerous = a classic that never dies..
** R-Type = a respectible conversion of the classic arcade shooter
** R-Type II = another good conversion
*** Railroad Tycoon = if only I'd known it existed at the time; thankfully I didn't =)
*** Rainbow Islands = another Bubble Bobble sequal/clone; great stuff.
Rampage = an excellent arcade conversion
Rings of Zilfin = a nasty RPG, but we didn't have a lot back then..
*** Roadwar 2000 = a long and fun tactical wargame .. inspired by Car Wars I'm sure. Autoduel held nothing to this.
Rockstar Ate My Hampster = a rock-band sim. Fun for an hour =P
Robocop = I'm a sucker for movie and superhero games ;)
** Rolling Thunder = another great arcade conversion.
Rogue = a graphical remake of the classic unix console game
Schoolyard Slaughter (PD) = awful awful, but classic
Secret of Monkey Island = a fun LucasArts game
? Sensible Soccer = People just keep going on about it
? Sentinel = another game loic bugs me to try ;)
Shadow of the Beast = really really annoying; raved about, so must be over=rated.
** Shanghai = my first mahjongg.. loved it!
? Shoot'em-Up Construction Kit = Notable because the ST was _full_ of 'construction kit' games
Sidearms = a good conversion of a not so good arcade game, but I dug it.. it had mecha.
* Sidewinder = an early vertical shooter, wider than the screen
Silent Service = not sure if its good, but one of our first purchased games; wicked.
Silkworm = jeep or chopper, your choice.
** Sim City = one of the first games to keep me up all night.. I simply had no choice. This and Civilization.
*** Simulcra = a really great 3d level running tank/plane game. Awesome.
Sky Chase = an interesting head to head flight sim - with paper airplanes in wireframe. Fun as heck, and stupid =)
Smash TV = a decent port of the Robotron sequal
Space Harrier = not a great conversion, but okay; the title screens were simple Degas files, so I hacked them all up terribly =)
*** Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe = a great sci=fi football game
*** Spherical = a wonderful action platform puzzler
? Spitting Images = a friend of mine dug it; punch out politcal leaders!
** Star Goose! = a fun simple shooter, with elevations in the landscape
Starfleat: The War Begins = not pretty, but the classic 'trek' sector turn based game prettied up
** Starglider - wireframe 3d space-flight shooter
*** Starglider 2 - solid-filled 3d-space-light shooter; classic!
** Star Wars (arcade) = a great port of the arcade classic (mouse or joystick even)
* Street Fighter 2 (series) = never played it at the time as it came out fairly late for the ST; I can't imagine playing it on a joystick with one button!
* Stunt Car Racer = another 3d racer, with twisty and loopy traks
? Supercars = people raved about this 'micro machines' type games
? Strider = Never played it much; over-rated? Everyone loved it!
** Sundog = immersive very impressive RPG-trading-space game. An ST classic.
** Super Hang-On = another great conversion translated pretty well; loved it.
*** Super Sprint = really really good arcade conversion; topdown racer.
Technocop = Amiga version was better, but I dug it all the same
Tempest = a pretty decent conversion if memory serves
Tiger Road
*** Time Bandit - looks 8-bit style, but addictive and ingenious; a true ST classic.
** Turrican 2 = very popular 'console quality' platform shooter
Ultima 6: The False Prophet = the ST had a pile of the early Ultima RPGs (series)
Universal Military Simulator = I don't recall much about it, except it was one of the many "construction set" type games the ST hosted. Tonnes of mods circulated..
Universal Military Simulator II
* Verminator = giant 8-way scrolling play area; platformer. Aphyd loved it.
*** Virus = great 3d scrolling landscape; a true ST classic.
Vixen = a crappy platformer, but it was about amazons so I loved it ;)
Vroom = a well loved high speed 3d racer
Wargame Construction Set = another game maker
** Weird Dreams = not the best, but very original; a must play ST classic. Uncanny weird.
*** Wings of Death = a great primitive shooter; one of the best technical shooters on the platform.
Wonderboy in Monsterland = a great ST coin-op conversion
*** Xenon = a true ST classic vertical shooter, from the Bitmap Brothers
*** Xenon 2 = another classic shooter; really good, for the ST anyway =)
Xenophobe = don't recall if it was good, but we played the heck out of this conversion
* Xybots = good conversion of the boring but unique arcade game
? Zany Golf = Always wanted to try out this mini=golf sim
Zork I: The Great Underground Empire = Really, how can I make a list and not include this?
 
I only have a couple of games for Castaway because of the fact i know nothing about the system. Robocop is great, BattleChess is great, and Lotus challenge is great.

This will help out a lot for me and now i will know what to try. Thanks Skeezix.
 
Angel posted on Sep 20 2005 at 12:52 PM said:
I only have a couple of games for Castaway because of the fact i know nothing about the system. Robocop is great, BattleChess is great, and Lotus challenge is great.

This will help out a lot for me and now i will know what to try. Thanks Skeezix.

You can think of the Atari ST as the nearest thing to a Commodore Amiga we'll ever see on the GP32. The library is almost the same, most games looked almost the same etc.
So if you ever enjoyed the Amiga, look into the ST.
 
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Turrican 1 / 2 on Castaway is about the best implementation of the Turrican games for the GP.

If you haven't played them yet, you should. They rock massively. I had no idea that a platformer would be so enduring, I always come back to those two titles and play them through despite having done it a million times before.

Lotus challenge is another fav of mine for ST.

Did any of the alien breed serious make it to ST?
 
Nice list Skeezix. I am anxiously looking forward to you implementing Cyclone in CaSTaway as it will most probably make many games much more enjoyable. Do you think the time might be ripe already?
 
Glad you like my list :) A lot of great stuff there. Not sure which are or are not compatible for CaSTaway but most should be.

One of these days; I've got my GP32 build env almost set up again (it got wiped out with storm damage a month or so back).. for the last while I've not even been able to build a gp32 app :/

I'm actually working on stripping down Hatari right now for GP32 and PSP and GP2x, as well as screwing with some new homebrew for the trio. Hatari is slower but more compatible, but perhaps Cyclone will help it speed up a touch.

jeff
 
r0lf posted on Sep 21 2005 at 04:15 AM said:
Turrican 1 / 2 on Castaway is about the best implementation of the Turrican games for the GP.

If you haven't played them yet, you should. They rock massively. I had no idea that a platformer would be so enduring, I always come back to those two titles and play them through despite having done it a million times before.

Lotus challenge is another fav of mine for ST.

Did any of the alien breed serious make it to ST?


Mega Turrican for the Genesis works really well in DrMD. It's the same game as Turrican 3 for the Amiga. Not as good as Turrican 2 but still a great game!
 
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skeezix posted on Sep 21 2005 at 02:10 PM said:
Glad you like my list :) A lot of great stuff there. Not sure which are or are not compatible for CaSTaway but most should be.

One of these days; I've got my GP32 build env almost set up again (it got wiped out with storm damage a month or so back).. for the last while I've not even been able to build a gp32 app :/

I'm actually working on stripping down Hatari right now for GP32 and PSP and GP2x, as well as screwing with some new homebrew for the trio. Hatari is slower but more compatible, but perhaps Cyclone will help it speed up a touch.

jeff

Some things never change....I just finished Dizzy : The Prince of Yolkfolk in CaSTaway again, its really sweet! It is great of you to allow us to play such beautiful games :)

I dont know about Hatari, but Cyclone sure is fast and I bet it would give a nice increase to the overall speed. By the way, is the 68k core you are using now in pure C or is there any assembler? And what about the sound/music chip code?
 
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skeezix posted on Sep 21 2005 at 12:10 PM said:
I'm actually working on stripping down Hatari right now for GP32 and PSP and GP2x, as well as screwing with some new homebrew for the trio. Hatari is slower but more compatible, but perhaps Cyclone will help it speed up a touch.


That is excellent news. Your work on Castaway is really appreciated.

The only thing in my view that it is lacking is auto frameskip. Still, about 80% of my main SMC is for ST games.

By the way the sound on Vroom is all messed up -- I love that game :)
 
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I used to use ASM rendering and audio routines, but they only accounted for some 1% of performance so I ended up tossing them out and using plain C code, as I was amid updating things and its hella easier to update C code across platforms :)

The YM code is going to get tossed.. its fast and works pretty well, but doesn't handle various edge-cases too well.

jeff
 
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