Atari A to Z: A series of short playthroughs of Atari 8-bit games

[pjedavison]

Hello everyone! I pop in here now and again and with the generally terrible nature of social media, I figured I might try and make an effort to stop by a bit more often rather than wasting time doomscrolling on Twitter. Would rather read about Atari than pandemics and politics, for sure.

 

For the benefit of those who haven't met me before (which is probably most of you), my name's Pete Davison, and I've been an Atari user since I was old enough to hold a joystick. My family were devoted to Atari computers (first 8-bit, then ST) and my father John S Davison and brother John Davison jnr. were both regular contributors to Page 6 magazine (later New Atari User) here in the UK. My Dad tended to write about flight simulators, productivity software and MIDI, while my brother covered ST games. I even had a few articles of my own published in the latter years of that publication.

 

For just over two years now, I've been revisiting my love for the Atari 8-bit with a weekly video series exploring its many and varied games -- including both those that I grew up with and new discoveries, including relatively recent releases. I know a few people from Atarimania stop by occasionally, but I didn't know if you good folks here at AtariAge knew about it. If not, it'd be great to see some of you in the comments!

 

Here's a playlist of the full series to date, starting from the very first vid in August 2018. Starting from episode 27 (Attack of the Mutant Camels) my wife managed to convince me to show my face on video instead of being a disembodied voice, and I ended up quite enjoying that format -- so much so that I gradually invested in some better camera equipment over time! If you really want to see my ugly mug, check the videos from there onwards  I've also listed all the videos covered (including those from my other Atari A to Z series) over at https://atariatoz.wordpress.com -- please feel free to stop by there and say hi if you prefer.

 

I'll try and remember to stop by here a bit more often to post new videos as they release as it might be nice to have some discussion around the things I found out during my research, memories of the games and suchlike. For now, I hope you enjoy what I've done to date!

 

 

[+davidcalgary29]

Wow, the version I bought as a kid has much uglier graphics, took forever to load on tape, and constantly crashed on me. I had no idea that there was a re-do!

[Wrathchild]

8 minutes ago, davidcalgary29 said:

Wow, the version I bought as a kid has much uglier graphics, took forever to load on tape, and constantly crashed on me. I had no idea that there was a re-do!

Even so, it still looked nothing like the C64 version!

[TheNightOwl]

Hi Pete - nice seeing you here! 😀

[MrFish]

I found your channel a few months back, and watched a bunch of videos over a few days/nights (Atari 8-bit stuff only). Informative and humorous.

 

[Marius]

Nice to have you here! 

[pjedavison]

9 hours ago, davidcalgary29 said:

Wow, the version I bought as a kid has much uglier graphics, took forever to load on tape, and constantly crashed on me. I had no idea that there was a re-do!

There were two versions! This one came out a bit later but, as @Wrathchild says, the C64 version was different again!

 

(Note that that embed is a playlist -- we go well beyond Aztec Challenge )

[pjedavison]

3 hours ago, TheNightOwl said:

Hi Pete - nice seeing you here! 😀

I've been here a while, but have failed to make checking in part of my daily routine. That changes now!  

[Mclaneinc]

Enjoying the video's Pete, great work and a welcome as well..

 

Paul..

[pjedavison]

12 hours ago, Mclaneinc said:

Enjoying the video's Pete, great work and a welcome as well..

 

Paul..

Thank you for the kind welcome! Plenty more to come

[Mclaneinc]

My pleasure, the more in the community the better, thank you for producing the video's we all need a cheer up in these difficult times.

[pjedavison]

Good morning you fine people! Today's Atari 8-bit video is up, exploring Loco from Alligata. Hope you enjoy!

 

 

[pjedavison]

Good morning everyone! Thank you for all the kind support from AtariAge members I've had over on YouTube recently -- it really does mean a lot.

 

Here's this week's 8-bit video, featuring a type-in listing from the latter days of Atari User. It's Maniac Mover!

 

 

[Hwlngmad]

While I have taken a pretty good dive into the ST content you have (BTW the episode on Oids was great as it was essentially a Choplifter/Lunar Lander love child), I will need to explore your 8-bit stuff here soon enough.  Meanwhile, take care and keep up the great work.

[pjedavison]

Morning Atarians! Forgot to post this for you all on Tuesday when I released the video, so here it is now. This week's video is on Nightmares from Red Rat, a game that nearly fell victim to the "Satanic Panic" when several distributors refused to stock it on the grounds it might be "harmful to children". Fortunately, good old Page 6 stepped in to save the day!

 

 

[Hwlngmad]

5 hours ago, pjedavison said:

Morning Atarians! Forgot to post this for you all on Tuesday when I released the video, so here it is now. This week's video is on Nightmares from Red Rat, a game that nearly fell victim to the "Satanic Panic" when several distributors refused to stock it on the grounds it might be "harmful to children". Fortunately, good old Page 6 stepped in to save the day!

 

 

Good stuff as always.  Keep up the great work.

[The V-Man]

@pjedavison Great fun to watch, keep them coming.

[pjedavison]

7 hours ago, The V-Man said:

@pjedavison Great fun to watch, keep them coming.

Thank you so much!

[pjedavison]

Afternoon all! On to "O" this week, with Omidor, a game which bears a certain resemblance to a certain game...

 

I found this one interesting because it was distributed as part of an on-disk magazine from what appears to be a German retailer. There's an impressive amount of stuff crammed on that disk, too; my GCSE German isn't quite up to fully understanding it, but I definitely appreciate and respect the time and effort that obviously went into it. And the game is fun too!

 

 

[pjedavison]

G'day folks! This week we've got an all-time classic for the Atari 8-bit -- it's Russ Wetmore's legendary Preppie!

 

I was a big fan of this one back in the day -- and judging by the comments I've had so far, so were a lot of other people!

 

 

[mimo]

1 hour ago, pjedavison said:

G'day folks! This week we've got an all-time classic for the Atari 8-bit -- it's Russ Wetmore's legendary Preppie!

 

I was a big fan of this one back in the day -- and judging by the comments I've had so far, so were a lot of other people!

 

 

Watched it earlier and commented, one of my all time fave games. Were you using an emulator? speed seemed to speed up and slow down in places 

[Hwlngmad]

1 hour ago, pjedavison said:

G'day folks! This week we've got an all-time classic for the Atari 8-bit -- it's Russ Wetmore's legendary Preppie!

 

I was a big fan of this one back in the day -- and judging by the comments I've had so far, so were a lot of other people!

 

 

Always nice to see another venture into the Atari 8-bit library, even though this title doesn't offer too much interest for me personally.  Still, love the series and keep up the great work.

[pjedavison]

Morning everyone! It's Atari time again. Well, it's always Atari time, but it's time for a new video anyway. This time around I take a look at Questron, a game I was too terrified to play back in the day because it looked complicated, but playing it now (and having a good knowledge of how RPGs work) I think I would have probably gotten along with this just fine. It's simple, it's primitive by modern standards (or even by the standards of later RPGs on the A8) and I get precisely nowhere after killing myself in the local cathedral, but I had a good time nonetheless.

 

 

[Hwlngmad]

5 hours ago, pjedavison said:

Morning everyone! It's Atari time again. Well, it's always Atari time, but it's time for a new video anyway. This time around I take a look at Questron, a game I was too terrified to play back in the day because it looked complicated, but playing it now (and having a good knowledge of how RPGs work) I think I would have probably gotten along with this just fine. It's simple, it's primitive by modern standards (or even by the standards of later RPGs on the A8) and I get precisely nowhere after killing myself in the local cathedral, but I had a good time nonetheless.

 

 

Very good episode and very clearly was a rip-off of the Ultima games.  But, then again, SSI did it right and got the rights legally from Lord British, so its all good.  Still, I think the game is very much worth a play and harkens back to a much earlier time for Western RPGs and when SSI was a major publisher.  Take care and keep up the great work.

[pjedavison]

Howdy all! Forgot to post this on Tuesday so you get it today alongside this week's Atari ST episode.  This week's A8 game surely needs no introduction. (walks off)