Atari ST Hidden Gems

[KTverse]

Hey Everyone,

 

I was wondering if the ST community could point me towards some hidden gems on the Atari ST, of games that perhaps fly under the radar that doesn't get the recognition that they deserve.

 

I guess an example would be PushOver or Rolling Ronnie.

 

Any suggestions?

 

All the best,

Katie

[Inky]

Frantick I liked. Look up any of the shareware by Dave Munsie. He made great stuff. He's a member here at AA, but I don't think he's posted in quite some time

Edited February 14, 2017 by Inky

[juansolo]

Archer Maclean’s Pool (sister title to Jimmy White’s Snooker) - Unsurpassed Pool game to this day

Archipelagos - Remember me playing this a lot back in the day. Sort of Virus crossed with The Sentinel.. Or something…

Cybernetix - Defender clone

Millenium 2.2/Deuteros - One of the best resource management games out there and it’s sequel

Eliminator - 3Dish shooter

Flood - Absolute classic. You’re a strange amphibian thing (frogish) with hand grenades. Love this game

Mad Show - Now I expect people won’t get me on this very French game. But the Sawblade discs of tron knock-off game in there I used to play the hell out of

Shuffle Puck Cafe - Air hokey made even more awesome

Typhoon Thompson - Bizzare shoot/collect-em-up. Strangely addictive…

Vroom - One of the greatest racing games of all time

Simulcra - Another blast from the past that I remember playing the hell out of.

Oids - Bought my first ST to play this, Dungeon Master and Carrier Command

Super Sprint - Not exactly unknown! But the best version of the game on any platform

Metal Masters - (aka Metal Bastards in our neck of the woods) Big robot fighting game, tremendously satisfying and addictive.

[KTverse]

Archer Maclean’s Pool (sister title to Jimmy White’s Snooker) - Unsurpassed Pool game to this day

Archipelagos - Remember me playing this a lot back in the day. Sort of Virus crossed with The Sentinel.. Or something…

Cybernetix - Defender clone

Millenium 2.2/Deuteros - One of the best resource management games out there and it’s sequel

Eliminator - 3Dish shooter

Flood - Absolute classic. You’re a strange amphibian thing (frogish) with hand grenades. Love this game

Mad Show - Now I expect people won’t get me on this very French game. But the Sawblade discs of tron knock-off game in there I used to play the hell out of

Shuffle Puck Cafe - Air hokey made even more awesome

Typhoon Thompson - Bizzare shoot/collect-em-up. Strangely addictive…

Vroom - One of the greatest racing games of all time

Simulcra - Another blast from the past that I remember playing the hell out of.

Oids - Bought my first ST to play this, Dungeon Master and Carrier Command

Super Sprint - Not exactly unknown! But the best version of the game on any platform

Metal Masters - (aka Metal Bastards in our neck of the woods) Big robot fighting game, tremendously satisfying and addictive.

 

So I've played Super Sprint (amazing), Vroom (very good, surprised me the sense of speed achieved in that game, had some great handling) and Archer Maclean's pool was good also, interestingly enough Shufflepuck Cafe made my Top 10 list. There might be a few in there which may surprise https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5A-uAxba1U&t=3s remember Star Goose?

[pixelmischief]

David Addison's Monopoly, made in GFA BASIC, continues to be my favorite. The pacing and simplicity make a casual playthrough as enjoyable as it is accessible. The AI players are varied and challenging; though they do "cheat" a bit. You'll see. In addition to the game itself, the story of how Parker Brothers went after him is quite interesting. Here's an old newsgroup announcement.

 

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.sys.atari.st/FN3YUwpA3Ow

[pixelmischief]

Obsession Pinball is, for me, the very best in the genre. The Aquatic Zone table is my fave. Xenon 2 is a great top down, vertically scrolling shoot 'em up. Dynabusters is a very good Bomberman clone. Yeah, there's a few.

[juansolo]

So I've played Super Sprint (amazing), Vroom (very good, surprised me the sense of speed achieved in that game, had some great handling) and Archer Maclean's pool was good also, interestingly enough Shufflepuck Cafe made my Top 10 list. There might be a few in there which may surprise https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5A-uAxba1U&t=3s remember Star Goose?

 

 

Never had Stargoose, will have to track it down. Was getting slightly concerned in your top ten that SCR wasn't going to be there. Geoff Crammond was showing it at a computer show and I played the shit out of it on his stand. I begged him to sell me a copy and he couldn't because it wasn't ready for release at that point. It also sold me on the TAC-2 joystick as that's what he had on his ST that was demoing it (took me ages, but I managed to bag a NOS TAC-2 about 2 months ago... Oh how I've missed you!). Definitely my number 1 on the ST.

[soob]

Hewson's Onslaught is great - crazy mix of platforming, shmupping and a little bit of strategy and puzzling.

 

Silmarils' Metal Mutant - which had the most amazing sound and graphics at the time.

 

Conqueror - a superb slightly strategic WWII based tank shooter using David Braben's amazing game engine from Zarch (Virus).

 

Was going to suggest Infogrames' excellent TBS/RTS/platformer North and South as well but I think it might be quite well known. I don't see it crop up in conversation very often though.

Edited February 19, 2017 by soob

[Zap!]

Frantick I liked. Look up any of the shareware by Dave Munsie. He made great stuff. He's a member here at AA, but I don't think he's posted in quite some time

 

Dave's games were amazing. A damn shame he never completed his Choplifter ST game.

[KTverse]

Thanks for all of the suggestions guys. I shall give a number of them a play. A number of these made my shortlist when creating the Top 10 i.e. Xenon 2.

 

 

Oh - there is a hidden gem that I must mention. Silkworm That was an incredible shooter game.

[KTverse]

Hewson's Onslaught is great - crazy mix of platforming, shmupping and a little bit of strategy and puzzling.

 

Silmarils' Metal Mutant - which had the most amazing sound and graphics at the time.

 

Conqueror - a superb slightly strategic WWII based tank shooter using David Braben's amazing game engine from Zarch (Virus).

 

Was going to suggest Infogrames' excellent TBS/RTS/platformer North and South as well but I think it might be quite well known. I don't see it crop up in conversation very often though.

 

Ah yes - Metal Mutant, arguably one of the prettiest games on the Atari ST in, and you are right, the sound really was sharp. I must admit I would always get hampered by the quicksand.

[Zap!]

So are we counting PD/Shareware (which nearly all will be "hidden" the the average user), or commercial hidden gems? If we're focusing on all, then I have some really unknown gems for you.

[Vidiot1981]

Wings of death is a fantastic shmup and it's easily one of the best games on the st. Definitely worth a look. Not sure if it's a hidden gem but definitely a gem.

[+rdemming]

Wings of death is a fantastic shmup and it's easily one of the best games on the st. Definitely worth a look. Not sure if it's a hidden gem but definitely a gem.

 

Its successor "Lethal Xcess" is IMHO even better. And it has two player co-op mode.

[English Invader]

Skulldiggery - ST exclusive Boulderdash clone and my #1 desert island game for the ST

 

Super STario Land - another ST exclusive and a lot more faithful to the Mario format than Great Giana Sisters

 

Berzerk - Dave Munsie port of the arcade classic, based on the 5200 version

 

Duckdash - quirky collect-em-up that was released on a magazine disk circa 1992, one of my favourite pick-me-up games

 

r0x - 2009 homebrew that really maxes out the ST's potential (won't run on anything less than a 4MB STe) and is insanely addictive

 

Sleepwalker - STe exclusive and because of this the game is able to match the Amiga version frame for frame, sound for sound and visual for visual which didn't happen much in the early 90s

Edited March 13, 2017 by English Invader

[Inky]

Berzerk (D. Munsie)

Frantick (D. Munsie)

Hack-Man II

It's hard to think of underrated games, as most of the ones I like are well known.

[zzip]

David Addison's Monopoly, made in GFA BASIC, continues to be my favorite. The pacing and simplicity make a casual playthrough as enjoyable as it is accessible. The AI players are varied and challenging; though they do "cheat" a bit. You'll see. In addition to the game itself, the story of how Parker Brothers went after him is quite interesting. Here's an old newsgroup announcement.

 

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.sys.atari.st/FN3YUwpA3Ow

 

Agreed. Every official version of Monopoly seems to waste your time with useless animations and make a game known for dragging on drag on even more. The Addison monopoly allows me to actually play a quick game. I like it for that reason alone!

[Inky]

 

Agreed. Every official version of Monopoly seems to waste your time with useless animations and make a game known for dragging on drag on even more. The Addison monopoly allows me to actually play a quick game. I like it for that reason alone!

 

I totally forgot about this. This was my all time favorite game of Monopoly, despite the bug which allows you to accumulate an infinite number of "get out of jail free" cards.