Tempest Posted September 6, 2005 Share Posted September 6, 2005 Ok odd question, but does anyone have a list of games for the Atari ST that came in the gray and blue boxes from Atari? They were all part of the Entertainment Series and I think mostly arcade ports. I know of Joust, Crack'ed, Moon Patrol, and Battlezone, but I assume there are more. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted September 21, 2005 Author Share Posted September 21, 2005 Bump? Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geosteve Posted September 24, 2005 Share Posted September 24, 2005 It looks like your post got as many answers as this similar one... http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=48428 I've never seen any other than Battlezone so I'd like to know the answer to this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draugr Posted September 24, 2005 Share Posted September 24, 2005 I have Star Raiders and Missile Command Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted September 26, 2005 Author Share Posted September 26, 2005 Here's a list of possible titles. I have no idea which were released in the gray/blue box though: Asteroids Deluxe Battlezone Crack'ed Crystal Castles Final Legacy Joust Millipede Missile Command Moon Patrol Moonbase Robotron Star Raiders Super Breakout Super Sprint Tempest Whitewater Madness Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted October 8, 2010 Author Share Posted October 8, 2010 Ok a little necro-bump. I'm still curious as to the answer to this question, but I can confirm that these games came in the blue/gray Atari box: Battlezone Crack'ed Joust Missile Command Moon Patrol Robotron Star Raiders Not sure about these, anyone know? Asteroids Deluxe Crystal Castles Final Legacy Millipede Moonbase Super Breakout Super Sprint Tempest Whitewater Madness Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oky2000 Posted October 14, 2010 Share Posted October 14, 2010 Ok a little necro-bump. I'm still curious as to the answer to this question, but I can confirm that these games came in the blue/gray Atari box: Battlezone Crack'ed Joust Missile Command Moon Patrol Robotron Star Raiders Not sure about these, anyone know? Asteroids Deluxe Crystal Castles Final Legacy Millipede Moonbase Super Breakout Super Sprint Tempest Whitewater Madness Must be a USA thing, I have Star Raiders (I am in the UK) and it is in a standard shape/size two part box in red. Pretty crap looking compared to all those beautiful silver boxed VCS carts! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major Havoc 2049 Posted October 19, 2010 Share Posted October 19, 2010 (edited) Ya, these were only released in the US. Asteroids and Crystal Castles also came in the blue/grey Entertainment Series ST boxes. Tempest was an Atari UK only release. Super Sprint was a Tengen (Atari Games)/Domark release. There was also a bunch of productivity software released in the blue/grey boxes. Edited October 19, 2010 by Major Havoc 2049 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted October 19, 2010 Author Share Posted October 19, 2010 Ya, these were only released in the US. Asteroids and Crystal Castles also came in the blue/grey Entertainment Series ST boxes. Tempest was an Atari UK only release. Super Sprint was a Tengen (Atari Games)/Domark release. There was also a bunch of productivity software released in the blue/grey boxes. So was Crystal Castles an official release then? I've never been able to tell. Yeah there are tons of productivity stuff, but I don't really care about that (unless someone has a list handy). NeoChrome was one of them for sure. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major Havoc 2049 Posted October 19, 2010 Share Posted October 19, 2010 I could swear I have seen an official blue/grey Entertainment Series release of Crystal Castles (99% sure ;-p). Bravo Sierra Computers has them for sale is you want to pay $20 for a new copy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted October 19, 2010 Author Share Posted October 19, 2010 Eventually. I want to get all the gray/blue releases boxed (B&C has most of them). Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solidcorp Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 Ok a little necro-bump. I'm still curious as to the answer to this question, but I can confirm that these games came in the blue/gray Atari box: Battlezone Crack'ed Joust Missile Command Moon Patrol Robotron Star Raiders Not sure about these, anyone know? Asteroids Deluxe Crystal Castles Final Legacy Millipede Moonbase Super Breakout Super Sprint Tempest Whitewater Madness I co-wrote Whitewater Madness with Ed Schneider. It was the first game I worked on at Atari. It was STe only. I think it had a silver box, maybe it was grey. I still have the master disk of the game. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted October 28, 2011 Author Share Posted October 28, 2011 I co-wrote Whitewater Madness with Ed Schneider. It was the first game I worked on at Atari. It was STe only. I think it had a silver box, maybe it was grey. I still have the master disk of the game. Really? So it actually was released? And it was STe only? Interesting. Anything else you can tell us about it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solidcorp Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 Really? So it actually was released? And it was STe only? Interesting. Anything else you can tell us about it? Yea, I think it was released. So, um, well, I don't think it's a very good game... It was my first project at Atari and I co-authored it with Ed Schneider who wrote Lynx TurboSub and RoboSquash and later was a co-founder of NuFX which became EA Chicago much later. Ed had a long list of games he had made on several platforms and I hadn't shipped a title yet. We were originally hired to write games for the Tomahawk. That was the name that Sega gave their new MegaDrive system for North America. From what I know, Atari VP Larry Siegel had been brokering a deal where I believe Atari would be the North American (possibly worldwide) distributor for the system and its games. Sega was looking for an "aggressive American" name for the console, that's what led to the name Tomahawk, but we didn't like it very much. We had an office contest to see who could come up with a better name, I think the prize was a steak dinner. Steve Ryno came up with the name Genesis, either "as the console that would redefine gaming", or after the effect in the Star Trek 2 movie, either way it stuck. The deal later fell through and I don't know if Steve ever got his prize, but that's is seriously how the Sega Genesis got its name. Anyway, I was getting ready to write games on the 68000 and when the deal fell through. The STe was in development and we were asked to make a game for it. I had done a lot of ST programming but had not written any complete games yet. I started with the technology and tools, making the tiled character graphics, sprite blitting, sound, input, etc. Ed guided me, told me what he needed, and wrote the AI code for all the enemies and their projectiles. Later I wrote the ship control, river currents, shooting and collision code. The STe had more advanced blitter and sound capabilities than the ST I recall. I also got the spectrum 512 kernel working for the 512 color title screen - not that it looked like it really was full color or anything, we were a new team and we were getting used to working with each other and the new tools. We kind of made it up as we went, I don't remember any concept art or even a design document. There were plans to port the game to the 2600, 7800, and 400/800/XL, but I don't think that ever happened. Is was a vertical scrolling shooter where you drove your ship/boat around on a river and shot at things that were on the shore while avoiding hazards in the river and things being thrown or shot at you from land. There were also river currents and powerups, but pretty basic stuff. I drew the first ship frames which looked like an egg painted to look like a Porsche 928. I also did all the HUD art, which looks terrible - which isn't so bad for "programmer art". I got the digitized sound drivers working early but we didn't have anyone to do the sound for a long time so the game was totally full of samples of all of us in the office saying words like "pow", "zoom" "pew", "bang", etc. I loved it that way, it cracked me up. The other thing I remember about working with Ed was that he was a chain smoker and we shared an office. I swear he ALWAYS had a cigarette and I NEVER saw him use a lighter. I swear he lit each one with the butt of the last. I don't smoke and I remember feeling sick when I left every day. I guess he was inhaling the good part of the cigarette, and I was breathing the part he didn't like . Bob Nagel, Craig Ericson and I chipped in and bought him a smokeless ash tray which was only marginally helpful. Unfortunately, decades of chain smoking ended up costing him his life only a few years later. Ed was my mentor at Atari, we traveled to Dusseldorf to show Whitewater Madness and the STe at an Atari trade show together, and we stayed in touch even after we both left the company. I still miss him. Before coming to Atari,Steve Ryno was a professional coin op video game player out of southern California who had competed all over the country and held several world records, most notably on what I think was his favorite game, 720. He always signed high score lists with the initials UKN for unknown, which you can see in the jewel of the crown of the thing looking at you on the title screen if you look carefully. Title and gameplay screenshots here: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-st-whitewater-madness_10837.html http://www.atarimania.de/detail_soft.php?MENU=S&VERSION_ID=10837 LGD (little green desktop) used to have the executable and it worked in STEAM. I see that LGD is now Atari.st.com and that site is apparently closed or locked up or something. Like I said, I have the original release master floppies somewhere but probably not the source code. IDK, I've been rambling a long while, and as much about the history of the people in the Atari Lombard IL, office as the Whitewater Madness game itself. Is there anything else you'd like to hear about it? 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christos Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 Thanks for the information. I don't believe I ever heard of Whitewater Madness and can't find. What did you think of the STE by the way? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solidcorp Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 Thanks for the information. I don't believe I ever heard of Whitewater Madness and can't find. What did you think of the STE by the way? I think it shipped. IDK. The STe was not revolutionary, it had a blitter, 4096 colors, and better sound, but was the same machine with some backward compatibility issues. The new multimedia features were neat but not necessary, not enough in my opinion to drive everyone who already had ST's out to buy new STe's. I didn't have an opinion at the time, I was just excited to be working at Atari on a game. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted October 30, 2011 Author Share Posted October 30, 2011 Yeah White Water Madness was advertised for a ton of systems, but I didn't think it was ever started for any of them. I didn't even know that there was an ST/STE version planned until a few years ago, much less that it was the original version. Very cool. Do you have any other interesting stories about your time at Atari? I'm finding all of this to be fascinating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solidcorp Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 Yeah White Water Madness was advertised for a ton of systems, but I didn't think it was ever started for any of them. I didn't even know that there was an ST/STE version planned until a few years ago, much less that it was the original version. Very cool. Do you have any other interesting stories about your time at Atari? I'm finding all of this to be fascinating. I probably could go on forever, but I will leave you with this... We got an ST video digitizer in the office and had a lot of fun with it. It wasn't terribly useful for games because it took low framerate video and low resolution black and white pictures, but it was really cool. You have to remember that VCR's were just becoming commonplace, camcorders were new, thousands of dollars, and as big as a scuba tanks. This thing was solid state, small, and portable ~ well as long as you could plug an ST into the other end of the 12 foot cord. When I restored all the files from my 20 year old ST drives last year I found a bunch of stills from the office. This is what I looked like around 1991 at my desk at Atari in Lombard with my bulletin board and equipment behind me. The entire album is here and has pictures of a lot of the people from the office, as well as earlier low and high color versions of the WhiteWater Madness title screen being edited in Neochrome and Spectrum 512. There's also some other pictures of my Atari ST desktop and drives from work. The only person in the pictures that wasn't an Atari employee is JoAnn Vasbinder, my then girlfriend and now wife of 19 years. Feel free to look at the rest of my picasa web albums. The making of my Atari 2600 Star Castle cartridge is up there as well as a lot of recent (post 2008) non videogame projects. There's nothing too personal up there so feel free to look around. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_ Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 Great story. I really want to get this game and play it. I found info that says it is on Vectronix disk 297 and Stratagem disk 297. I downloaded the images at thegamearchive.com but they get errors when I try to put them on real disks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solidcorp Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 I think you are going to be soooooo disappointed LOL Good luck though, and if you do get it up and running, be sure to tell me and the rest of the world what you think. Seriously... I'm sure I've had worse critics. Remember, it's an STe game, I don't remember if I had to do anything special in STEAM, I probably just selected the platform, region (US), and ROMs for the machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjlazer Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 It's on Vectronix #297 Had a quick play of it on STeem and it's a fun game. Kinda reminds me of Toobin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted October 31, 2011 Author Share Posted October 31, 2011 Kinda reminds me of Toobin. That's how it looks to me (haven't played it yet). I'll have to fire up my Mega STE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marakatti Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 (edited) Hi Scott, I'm one of the Atarimania ST database builders. Could you help us to fill the gaps in the record. I would like to know who did the rest of the graphics, sound-fx and music. Also whatever combination of RAM and TOS versions I boot it in STeem.emulator I can't get the high-colour title screen. Do you know if it was included in the release version at all? Thanks Edited October 31, 2011 by marakatti Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solidcorp Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 It was like Toobin, but not quite as creative and with more direct controls. Here are the credits extracted from the DISK A image binary, special characters and all. PROGRAMMERS .. D. SCOTT WILLIAMSON & .. ED SCHNEIDER .. .. GRAPHICS ....H BOB NAGEL .. .. MUSIC .. DAVID TUMINARO .. STAN HOOVER & ....H CHUCK STENECK OF .. MUSIC COMP INC .. .. DESIGN .. JOHN,CRAIG,ED,SCOTT,BOB ....H LARRY,STEVE, AND STEVE. .. .. John must be John Scrutch out of Sunnyvale CA Craig is Craig Ericson, producer or director of product development Larry is Larry Siegel VP of Atari Steve is Steve Ryno The other Steve is Steve Harris. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solidcorp Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 I think I just found the WWM source. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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