exxos

Exxos is pretty much a hardware genius who is always thinking of new ways to make our favourite computer even better. He has rescued old websites like Atari Music, UVK and also hosts ST Format coverdisks along with the entire FloppyShop archive.

Yep, he never seems to stop and will certainly be the only guy I'll trust to upgrade my Atari ST. Chris is a genuine guy with technical knowledge of the internal workings of Atari computers so I thought it was time that we got to know a little more about this soldering-iron geek. Now, this is a pretty big interview so go and grab yourself a coffee, sit back, relax and read. I hope you all enjoy this as much as I have?

My thanks to Chris for taking the time to write (waffle on!) and produce one heck of an interview! Don't forget that coffee and enjoy reading about one of the biggest players on the scene.

Mr Exxos, please tell us about yourself.

Hello Steve :) Well my real name is, as most know, Chris Swinson aka exxos. I should point out that I am not the company EXXOS who some confuse me for :) My handle is all lower case as not to confuse ;) I used to work in electronics repair for about 10 years. This was the leisure industry, So all kinds of fruit & arcade machines to jukeboxes I have repaired over that time.

My main area was Audio systems, From CD players to higher power amplifiers to electromechanical jukeboxes. I also ran the company BBS system, which was a dial-up network for depot's to download software updates. That system sucked, so I re-wrote the software in VB6.

Which Atari computers are you using?

The odd thing is, I don't actually use any working Atari at least currently anyway. I just don't have the time :( My trusty STFM had a video fault a year ago, so its been in bits. That was really 1MB RAM and my 1.44 floppy upgrade. It was a really old machine. Though once I get some time I plan on updating it and bringing it back to life. That machine was at my girlfriends were we mostly played games.

What is your own Atari hiSTory?

I got a 2600 way back, it was my first "computer". I loved that thing. I still have it with 4 or 5 games I think. I remember playing pole position to the point that it wasn't so much what score I could get, but how many times I could loop back around to 0000000. After while I wanted something better. I was probably around 14 at the time. I saved like crazy to buy an STFM. I found it was on offer at a local computer shop, so managed to buy it. Thanks to my father for putting the last few quids!

Later I brought my Falcon 030 and that was pretty much it, I think. A long time after buying my STFM, I got distracted into wanting to do hardware for it. My first design was a 1.44 floppy kit. Basically, it resulted in me killing that machine. Though as ST's were flooding onto eBay I could buy machines for less than 10quid and fiddle that way. That's pretty much what I still do all these years later :)

Are you a gamer?

I used to be years ago. Not so much lately as all my time is taken up with work or hardware development. I loved games like, Super Cars 2, Termodroid, Squareoff, Starquake, Xenon, Vroom, Chuck Rock, Castle Master. That game took me 25 years to finish, my girlfriend helped a bit ;) Back in the day, games were expensive and cash was limited, so mostly I was doing swaps with menus like automation. Though I had very few games back then and a lot were on cover disks.

Your website is huge!

STOS is the main section on my site, I try to keep everything STOS related all in one place. The games, I could do more pages, but with larger indexes and others hosting them, then I don't think it's worth taking up the drive space with re-hosting the same stuff. My site is around 35GB!

I wrote the Floppyshop site as a searchable index where people could search and download PD. Almost everyone will have a copy of the collection, but just having a copy isn't using the stuff. I felt a lot of PD was simply "lost" so The Floppyshop page was born. Recently, I hosted the UVK2000 site and took over atarimusic.net which was a mess and I barely got it running on my server. Its a wonder it ever worked at all, I spent much time debugging that site, getting it in some form of working order.

Why the STOS fascination?

The main reason I wanted a computer was to write my own games. I remember looking through Argos, seeing a few pages of Atari ST's in various "packs". I went for the discovery pack as it had STOS "the game creator" so its the one I went for. Oddly there were only 1 Am*ga for sale, which looked a bit "dull" software-wise so I never went into Am*gas. So you could say if Argos never had the discovery pack with STOS included, then I may not have stayed with Atari's.

I did do some programs. Though they got rejected by the PD houses, basically because there was too many typos or spelling errors in stuff. They were programs like "Data Card" which was an address book program. The only stuff which saw light was MEGA Diskzine where I did 4 issues, with help from a few others. When STOSSER vanished, I wanted to do my own zine and keep the programming aspect in STOS, but also add Tesla coil type stuff, sci-fi or anything odd strange or cool. So, MEGA was born. I barely got issue 4 out and contributions were next to zero. I was doing most of the work myself and about that time I had started full-time work, So I simply didn't have time to do the coding or write articles. I have an epic amount of STOS projects I started but never finished.

Do you have a favourite upgrade?

I think my favourite must be the 1.44 floppy kit. It marks the first kit I designed and got working and it's even still produced today. While most of my work is in the boosters, I of course like the V2 for example. But once something is designed and finished, I somehow start to hate the thing. It's old, I could do better, I want to add more features. So Its design pretty much goes out the window and I am always thinking 2 or 3 steps ahead into the future.

As many know, I am still working on the CPU boosters. I recently went into production with the V1 STE booster which runs at 32MHz. I've basically hit the limit speed wise of the 68000. So I have drifted over to the 020 and 030 CPU now. Ultimately I want something along the lines of a 50MHz 030 CPU, with 32bit access to ROM & Fast-RAM.

England's own Jookie/Lotharek?

I don't really know why I do this stuff lol. I guess I love to design stuff and seeing it working on a computer just gives me a warm fuzzy feeling. I think it's an addiction. Like when I produce the first 16MHz booster, I though yayyyy I've done it, now onto 32MHz... It never ends. Just seeing those benchmark results pushing up higher and higher just wants me to push them up evermore.

I'd like to get the super speed hard drive working properly that I have been working with PPera for a while. Also the STE booster going into production along with the new PSU's. The V2 booster sales funded the ST PSU project, The ST PSU funded the Falcon PSU etc. So you can see how it all works. If it wasn't for those guys buying my items, then likely I would have given up and closed shop a long time ago. So big thanks to those customers as they really help fund more productions which at the end of the day, helps more people and gives me motivation to continue.

Your girlfriend deserves a medal!!

How many Atari ST's are dismembered?

Well, I don't live with my girlfriend, it's why I am not around on weekends. I've taken over her space with all the Atari stock, she doesn't mind one bit. She has the stock which is for sale, and she packs the orders and posts them for me. No surprise I just don't have enough time to pack orders and make trips to the post office. So everyone in Atari land should be thankful she posts the stuff for me.

I'm not sure how many ST's I have. Probably about 10 STE's, maybe 30 STFM's and then about 30 various motherboards. In general, it seems to cost about £35 for each machine as a general figure. So around £2,500 probably in machines alone. If you priced up all the upgrades as well, that would be tough. Things like the V2 booster, they are about £65 each, If I have 20 of them its £1,300 worth of stock. Similar to the 4MB MMU RAM upgrade kit, they are about £65 as well. I think I totalled that stock to over £2,000 a while ago. So if you factor in I have on sale around 40 different items, some are not expensive parts though, then you could probably take a guess of what the stock is worth In total. I would guess somewhere around £15,000 of current stock.

Where did Atari go wrong?

Oh gosh. I think this has been a huge debate for a long time. Lack of expansion seems to be popular. Though the ST did have the cartridge port which could do a fair few things. Atari knew expansion was needed as they produced the MEGA with an expansion port. While the ST wasn't born with PCI slots to easily update it (PCI wasn't invented for some years later aka sarcasm) I think Atari limited the ST's design too much. Everything is just so tangled up that if Atari had some forethought and built the ST with the idea that one-day people might want a faster CPU, then maybe there would have been a lot more hardware add-ons produced by 3rd parties such as Fast-technologies etc.

I think Atari fell into a type of "trap" which is something I try to avoid myself actually. Why do an ST 030 booster when we can have a whole new machine? Why stop at that, let's spend more time on updating the video hardware. Why stop at that? Let's add a DSP to help those audio guys out, let people play tracker tunes on it without taking up CPU time. Let's updated this, and that and take several years doing so until we get an awesome machine that we want. The fundamental problem is, waiting too long to produce hardware, and producing hardware on an "as perfect as possible" basis.

Overall, the Atari couldn't easily be upgraded which was the first nail in the coffin. Then, when Atari did start with the 030 CPU, the second nail was that they never produced it as an add-on kit. I think the geeks of the day would have loved to hack in a 030 into their ST's. Nobody has a crystal ball as to what will sell and what doesn't. Atari made the best choice they could probably make back then. They gave us the ST line of computers and they are still around even today. If you asked an STE user do they want a “super STE” with an 030 CPU and no other upgrades or a Falcon with lots of enhancements, but this would take 10 years longer, then you can probably bet people would want the “super STE” as they could always upgrade to a Falcon at a later time anyway.

What do you think of the current scene?

I think The Atari world hit a bit of a slump until fairly recently. There has always been a community, though it's not like the peek of the computer boom in the 80s kinda thing. There are more hardware guys about today like jookie developing hard drives for us. I think that has helped as people can download games images and play thousands of games.

I think websites like AtariCrypt are good to have. Review games on there, there is like a billion games to which who knows what they are or if they are any good. So games being reviewed with videos and images I think really will help people out in the long run. For me, I have seen some interesting games which at some point I would like to have a go at. (Wow!! I never expected to read that. Thanks - Steve)

I think as people buy their First Atari ST if the first couple games they play are just random, and the chances are they will be, let's just say bad games. Just not enjoyable to play. It's likely going to put that person off and they may not bother with the Atari ST again. Though if there are sites reviewing games, good ones which are fun to play, then chances are those new Atari people will keep coming back for more and more games. But it's not just games, there are music people out there using MIDI stuff. I'm not sure if people would bother to do word-procession or print letters out these days, so I think Games and Midi are what people would most likely to use their machines for.

Does the Atari ST have a future?

I started a thread on just that on a forum not long ago. My concern is: as the ST's are failing, due to bad PSU's etc, in 10 years time there is not going to be any working Atari ST's. If they are maintained, then the machines life is greatly extended. I think it's important to keep these machines running, which is why I build things like new PSU's as its one of the most common things to fail.

The Atari community needs new blood, new young blood that is to keep going. Gamers shouldn't need fancy high resolution 3D graphics to have fun. The Atari ST has a huge games list and I think there is far more variety than on today's PCs. Most games just seem to be running around shooting things but on the ST we have Pushover, Chuck Rock, Xenon and so many more which are still fun to play even after 30 years. I think the younger generation needs to see that they don't need a powerhouse to have fun gaming. Somehow think the Atari games will live on for a long time yet :)

- THE LINKS -

- I'm sure you all want to check out his website right now!
- Itching to see what he sells and is currently developing? I bet you are, then clickety-click right here.
- Take a look at his FloppyShop website which is simply an AMAZING resource!!
- Don't forget to keep your Atari ST clean and free of those horrid virus' with the latest UVK!
- Here is a TV appearance which nicely follows up on the amazing interview with Chris Swinson!
- my MEGA ST thanks to Chris for this interview and we have many more to read right here. :-)

UBESWITCH

My best purchase ever?

After more than two years, I can finally update our hardware section with my latest Atari ST purchase. Yep, I dumped my old monitor switch box for a Ubeswitch by Urban Jonsson, which I bought off the Exxos Web Store.

It's amazing how fantastic this thing works: plug it in and power on your Atari ST (mine defaulted to high resolution but that can be changed by holding the top button for a couple of seconds). Changing resolution is simple, just tap the same button to send a signal to the ST that you wish to switch resolution - and you can easily flip between colour/mono at any time. I'm using an NEC 1970NXp multisync which works very nicely.

STOP!! You should first check that your monitor is fully compatible and listed here:

Best-Electronics
Atari-Forum Wiki
15khz.net
Wikidot

What a cracking piece of hardware and with an incredible design that makes using it so easy to use. If you have a monitor that can support the ST's awkward 15Khz display demands, then head over to the Exxos web store and get this adapter bought. Fascinating witchcraft and I wish I'd have bought one of these years ago!!

Forgive my handy camera skills! Click it for a bigger view of my Ubeswtich love.

Bold / Wiliness III

 

 

BeST laid plans...

I recently came upon an unreleased shoot 'em up called Bold, by Laurent Kermel which I instantly liked. But I then did something most guys don't normally do - I read the documentation!! This listed his website - which still works - and that linked through to an Atari ST section that detailed lots of unfinished ST games. Just look at these pictures of Slug, Dragoon Twins, Tenesis, and Empire. Impressive STuff I'm sure you will agree? O_o

I contacted Laurent to thank him for Bold and another game I download - a Dungeon Master clone called Wiliness 3. I've only just started to play that, but boy is it a cracker. Laurent is a really nice guy who I enjoyed talking with - I urgently suggest fans of either shooters or RPGs, should play Bold and Wiliness 3.

Here's the link to the Atari ST section of his current website along with his superb YouTube video.

- B O L D -

Lazy programmers say the ST can't scroll

Bold is fantastic, albeit unfinished, shoot 'em up for the Atari ST/e and is influenced by a number of other games. I personally feel it's a cross between Zynaps or R-Type with fast and frantic gameplay as every enemy zooms onto the screen like they're on steroids. Quick reactions are the order of the day.

I love the graphics but it's a shame there's a large part of the screen unused - probably meant for a status panel? Bold isn't controlled using a joystick but instead the mouse and, I admit that the thought of this failed to impress me, at first. I changed my mind after the first play because it's perfect for sharp manoeuvrability.

Any model of ST is compatible but Bold plays better (and smoother) if you have a Blitter chip. Of course, all Atari STe computers are fine but others may need to shop with exxos to fill that empty socket inside their STFM. Sadly, those really old pre-1987 STs might not even have an empty socket so I imagine an extra cost?

Although unfinished, Bold is furiously great with precise mouse control I loved. A thrilling shooter!!

The Bold web page has the download and a nifty walkthrough of each level.

I made a video but I hate YouTube so advise you don't watch and instead PLAY the game :-)

A cheat code is mentioned in the interview with Laurent within Alive Magazine #09.

Chris Swinson, aka Exxos, sells Blitter chips but I've now exhausted my hardware knowledge...

- W I L I N E S S  III -

Grab a flask and sword, we're going in!!

Laurent developed a Dungeon Master clone called Wiliness 3 which is shockingly professional and certainly on par with the FTL classic and another favourite of mine, Walls Of Illusion. The RPG experience is amazing with a familiar user interface as we crawl through another creepy dungeon. Of course, it's unfinished but 6 levels are playable plus I liked the control system and those eerie sound effects. Wiliness had the potential to be a winner. It really did...

This is something I need to spend a weekend on sometime very soon. Brilliant dungeon crawler!

The Wiliness web page has the download and a BUCKET load of help and information!!

Finally, check out Walls Of Illusion and the newly updated Dungeon Master games for the Atari STe.

 

Ultimate Virus Killer

Ugh, bugs!

Since getting my UltraSatan, I've been stuffing the SD card with lots of Atari ST files (okay, I mean games!!). Now, I don't wish to compromise my collection of ST goodies so I check for errors and viruses quite regular.

There's only one real Atari ST virus killing program worth its salt and that's Ultimate Virus Killer by legend Richard Karsmakers. Well, thanks to Chris aka Exxos, we have the complete and last edition freely available to download but is it still worth it after all these years? Surely the dreaded ghost virus is now extinct?

Sadly, I feel this program is still needed because most ST software is now archived online which means there's a chance so are the various nasties. It's like they're frozen in time just waiting to thaw and inflict their curse all over again. So let's kill 'em all using this amazing program which I highly recommend, even today!!

Waste no more time and get Ultimate Virus Killer downloaded right now :-)

Crash Time Plumber

New game alert!

Crash Time Plumber is a conversion of the Gamopat original which was released at Silly Venture demo party. The Atari game was developed by none other than Sebastien Lucas of Cerebral Vortex and it will work on any Atari computer with a Blitter Chip: check the Options screen in GEM but all late models of STfm, Mega ST, Atari STe, and Falcon should be a-ok. Many STfm computers have an empty socket just waiting to be used:

* Many newer STFMs have an empty Blitter Chip socket so head over to the EXXOS webSTore.

At first, I wasn't sure how this was gonna go as we've been burnt by so-called 8-bit conversions before. However, this booted up great with a neat intro and looks the business! Based on Donkey Kong with a dollop of Popeye, it's set in 1983 as the gaming industry crashed (which I was completely unaware of being a Spectrum kid then!)

Anyhow, an Italian plumber has teamed up with an angry-looking monkey and kidnapped ten gaming heroes: Pac-Man, Pitfall Harry, Q-Bert, Frogger, and others. They are all preparing for a hideous death at the hands of these criminals from the East so go and rescue them all to foil Mario's plan and stop this invasion.

Sounds cool, right? It is and so is the intro too which begins in Alamogordo (I've been here!)...

The intro is sweet and tells a good story. Also, I've been to Alamogordo, NM. #tidbit

Hang on, this looks familiar?

Taking place on the donkey kong construction site, we run along girders collecting love hearts given away by a damsel in distress. She floats by in her hot air balloon and, when enough are collected, we begin a steroid-jumping rescue to the top of the screen and save a trapped hero. Once he's free, we can move on to the next level.

This isn't easy because, not only is Mario rolling barrels downhill, but King Kong is hanging about throwing deadly killer bananas at us with annoying accuracy! Some levels have weather conditions affecting your movement and there's even a harsh 120 seconds time limit. This makes things quite difficult after a few levels!

The game ends once each and every gaming hero has been rescued. Easier said than done...

Watch out for angry monkeys throwing their killer bananas or you're DEAD!!

One smooth looker!

The graphics are fantastic! A gorgeous 80s retro theme with cute sprites and the Blitter delivers a smooth 50fps display. Heck, the Atari STe even adds enhanced colour fading and Falcon owners get to witness a huge Zeppelin flying by - which I cannot help but wonder why that's missing on the STe? Ignoring that moan, this game is ace!!

The audio is also superb with lovely sound effects and a simple chiptune that is also totally suited to the ye olde style. A lot of effort has gone into both the visuals and sounds and I dare that jingle not to stay in your head all day!

Everything is just dandy and perfect in with a retro and comical design...

Beautiful girl blowing kisses? Come back, my love!

The CryptO'pinion?

Don't be fooled by the humble 8-bit appearance. From the start, you're tricked into thinking this is going to be easy but the combination of fantastic controls and tough mechanics will catch you out. I'm sick of being smacked in the face by a killer banana... but I keep on being dragged back for more of this torment... Am I insane, no this game is!!

Crash Time Plumber is extremely hard but it manages to drag you back for more - kicking and screaming.

Download for FLOPPY / HARD DISK

Worm

I got worms!

Every so often, I come upon something so ridiculous it's weirdly enjoyable. Well, today I found an absurd game called Worm which I can imagine was made for kids. Oddly enough, the big kid within me still found it very amusing. Worm was developed by Craig Graham of Data Uncertain Software and is a public domain release (shocker). The title screen says it was released in 1991 but the game files are time-stamped 1989 on my floppy disk so who knows... Maybe a default?

The story is, we're a worm called Ooey Gooey who is on a mission to save the world from an unnatural disaster. Yep, we have been invaded once again by monsters that threaten our very existence. These nasty creatures have they've taken all the worm's eggs so it's our job to rescue those before it's too late (hey, do worms actually lay eggs?).

Wow, I've just googled it and worms do indeed lay eggs!! On that note, I think we better see some screenshots...

The title screen oozes a professional presentation easily on par with the Bitmaps ;)

There is a designer used to create your own levels. Look what I've started making...Hmm!

Let's play

There are 25 whacky levels and each is displayed side-on like many platformers. Using the joystick, Ooey can crawl along the ground, ledges, and other objects looking for eggs. This isn't exactly mind-blowing but there are some located in high areas and worms cannot fly so how can we grab 'em? Well, it's a good job Ooey has a hidden gadget - a helicopter pack! This is actually pretty cool and he uses it to reach those dizzy heights no worm was ever designed to see.

Don't be too quick to rush off and collect the eggs because there are other items for points and helicopter fuel. Also, there are power-ups like extra lives, invulnerability, and ice - used to freeze both enemies and everything else. Once all the eggs are collected, we are automatically whisked onto the next room to repeat the task on a slightly tougher level.

Interestingly, the main menu has a scroller but it's incredibly lame!! However, it does mention about a possible cheat code "Craig Loves Andrea". Perhaps it's for the high score table or maybe a key combo? I didn't have any luck but YMMV. If anyone's still reading this review, then let me know in the comments below.

And that's about all there is to this bizarre game. It's dead simple to play and quite enjoyable in a terrible way...

Leave the title screen alone and you get to view the instructions.

The evil eyeball looks drunk!

The CryptO'pinion?

To be honest, there's not a whole lot to this game and its design feels very amateur with crude aesthetics. Weirdly, I actually found the concept humorous, and enough to warrant writing about it. I really admire what Craig was trying to achieve but sadly, the sprites are far too big and this also comes with a bunch of truly dreadful collision detection too.

Sadly, this spoilt what might have been a silly and childishly enjoyable game. Regardless, it's worth downloading especially if you have kids - who might need punishing for spending all your money and ruining your life. Whaaaat?

You can find this game and lots more over at Exxos' excellent Floppyshop archive (GAM-3341)

Atari ST magazines

( my Atari Falcon w/ MiNT desktop and three PDF magazine being displayed using zView )

 The Atari ST had some of the best magazines the world has ever seen and I still find it helpful in referring back to old issues for their features, reviews, and other information. Thankfully, there are many websites that have scans of this golden era covering ST Action, ST Format, Atari World, ST User, etc... So enjoy the read and cover disks!!

Go on, grab yourself a cool mag!

AtariMania is always a great resource and they also have a fantastic magazine section.

Here is a wonderful website dedicated to Atari ST Review, including their ace coverdisks.

Kiwis World seems has bucket loads of Atari ST magazines.

Exxos has a page for ST Format and Atari World with coverdisks.

The Zogging Hell website has a great collection of various magazine coverdisks.
Of course, there's always the newest Atari ST magazine on the block - AtariCrypt!!

Persistence Of Vision

Menu Disk #099

POV was one of the best demo-packer groups for the Atari ST. They made 165 compilation disks, most programmed by Mac Sys Data, with fellow members including Ozymandias, Boris, Gonzo, Aly, and Dr Syne. Numerous disks featured music by Tao, Lotus, An Cool, David Whittaker, Ben Daglish, and many more.

I admire POV because they brought multiple demos, intros, and more to users like me who couldn't afford to buy, or freely source, everything flooding the ST world back in the 80s and 90s. Plus their compilations were professionally produced and crammed with loads of goodies I would probably never have got to see otherwise.

I've chosen to record their 99th menu because it's a great screen and also marked the end of an era, but not the end of the group, who continued on for years. Along with their copier, the disk features four demos: Life's A Bitch by TLB, The New Year Demo by X-Troll, Stuffy's Demo, and TSB/Adrenaline Intro by Kids Ghost Brothers.

Okay, it's not the greatest measure of what made the POV menus so appealing - there are far better - but I am sure that the infamous sampled soundtrack from Life's A Bitch more than makes up for the rest. So funny!!

Credits for Menu #099

Boris - Code & Graphics

Ozymandias - Graphics

Count Zero - Music

 

Links and a bundle of other POV Menu screenshots

Persistence Of Vision are on YouTube!

Exxos has a great POV section on his website.

Demozoo has a section dedicated to POV.

If you think this is all, boy, you're so wrong! [AtariCrypt]

 

 

 

 

 

Substation

You'll need a 25MHz PC for this one...

I remember the days when the ST was getting on a bit and, ahem, the Falcon didn't quite cut it. Not only that, but all my mates had left behind their Atari STs and Amigas for overly expensive PCs. They were bulky and incredibly ugly but I also remember how gutted I felt when I saw Wolfenstein (I almost died of shock the first time I saw Doom!!).

Anyhow, we still had our moments, and the Atari ST had a decent selection of first-person shooters by the mid-90s. In 1995 along came a company called Unique Development Sweden, who decided that our old 16-bit computer wasn't quite dead yet. They graced us with Substation which was about to change everything we thought possible. Read on...

The story goes that Mitushi Industries has developed a type of new energy that can be extracted from under the seas. All seemed well until communication was lost with their underwater substation base. Oh no... So, they contracted the help of a Multi-Environment Marine from the American government. In case you are wondering - yes, this is you!

Righto, that's the basic storyline that wasn't really needed so let's take a gander at the first screenshot...

The mission update screens are superb with tons of information.

When a 1989 computer blows you away!

Upon starting your first game, it's a good idea to ditch the knife - hit key "2" which switches to a rather effective pistol. Now, collect all the goodies you see lying on the floor and open the door; outside, is access to more goodies but there's also a couple of ghouls lurking! Will you risk a fight or run away scared down that seemingly empty corridor?

Movement is actioned with the keyboard: arrow keys are used to walk/turn around with Insert and Clr Home keys for convenient sidestepping - this works so brilliantly using a real computer!! Control key fires any weapon, the Spacebar opens doors, and punching the TAB key drops a bomb. Don't forget to make use of the map located at the bottom of your screen: this automatically tracks your movements and the keypad can be used to examine the explored areas.

The baddies are an intelligent bunch who won't stupidly head straight for you. Nope, expect some to use evasive tactics as they shoot a few rounds and then run away and take cover! So use that pistol to protect yourself, remembering to sidestep oncoming fire! Other weapons can be found and the chain gun is absolutely amazing - Arnold Schwarzenegger would be proud to carry it. In fact, each of the weapons is superb - I only wish it didn't take so long to find them all.

Tell me you aren't excited to stop reading and play this baby for yourself? Wait, come back I've not finished...

I know what you're thinking and no, there isn't anything wrong with the colour!

16 Colours are enough!

Graphically, I'm both impressed and unimpressed - in equal measure. Firstly, let me say that Substation has a freakish amount of atmosphere! This game is scary with something nasty around most corners. Anxiety levels will be high thanks to its superb design using amazing visual effects - like the use of light-sourced sprites. The frame rate needed to be smooth for a game like this to be playable and the basic 8MHz Atari STe zooms along at 25fps - which is outstanding!!

Sadly, the walls lack texture mapping because UDS opted for Gouraud shading to maintain the smooth framerate. This is understandable but also disappointing because games like Destruction Imminent and Wolfenstein 3D prove the ST is actually capable. I feel UDS missed an opportunity to allow for optional textures on faster computers.

The audio is spot-on perfect. And I do mean perfect. Substation utilises the enhanced hardware so we're able to hear distance and directional effects. This helps to identify where the baddies are lurking surprisingly well. Equally impressive are the tunes played at 25Khz - excellent quality. You're gonna love it so crank up the volume!

LOL I love this screenshot that I managed to take just as he was getting blasted!!

The CryptO'pinion?

Technically speaking this is one of the most impressive games for ye olde Atari STe. Think about it, an 8MHz computer capable of running a first-person engine that maintains a brisk 25fps. Not only that but it features distance and directional stereo sounds! There are 30 on-screen colours, light source sprites, and intelligent enemy AI. Heck, you can even play against others over a network and those with faster Atari computers will support smoother framerates.

Substation is superb - a fantastic shooter with great weapons, challenging AI, and interesting maps. It's not an easy game but each mission is as tough as they are enjoyable. However, if you're expecting Substation to be "our" Doom then you will be disappointed because it's more like Wolfenstein. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a criticism. Just understand that fact.

Oh yeah, this is one seriously awesome first-person shooter so pick up your guns and have yourself some fun!!

- ESSENTIAL SUBSTATION LINKS -

Download on floppy or best of all for your hard drive.

ST Format featured a basic preview level on cover disk #72.
They also held a competition and the winning game is on cover disk #75.
Fancy a trainer? ST Format cover disk #76 has all the answers!
[ all ST Format coverdisks can be downloaded off Exxos ]

Substation tips and maps can be found in ST Format issues #74 / #75 / #76 / #77.

We all love cheat codes and to get all weapons just type "PUNK"
"NIRVANA" gets you extra health and "PFLOYD" unlocks doors.
"SKRAPAN" credits extra bombs and "FALUKORV" allows extra time.

Whirligig

Spinning in space

Whirligig was developed by Maelstrom Games of Midwinter fame for Firebird and I've recorded a short video which I thought might be fun to share. Why? Simply because I cannot play Whirligig for love nor money - zipping about in space without ever being able to properly control my direction is agonising. If I happened to kill one of the baddies, it was pure luck because I usually end up killing myself instead!! This is a good game but could so easily have been great with a bit of thought...

Technically, Whirligig is incredibly impressive and I know I could have dug my heels in and mastered the controls. However, I couldn't be bothered which is my mood today. Enjoy my video recording and I promise to try harder next time :o)

* Floppy disks can be nabbed off Exxos [Automation #10] and via Stonish [Klapauzius #1].

* AtariMania has links to reviews and the manual. In hindsight perhaps I should have read that? lol

a real wallpaper!

Look at what came in the post today from Chris Swinson (aka Exxos). Designed by Darren Doyle for the release of AtariCrypt Magazine and today it's in print and on my bedroom wall like I'm 15 again! There are some ace ST folk in our community - thank you so much, Chris. I'm wondering how long the wife will allow this to remain...

Regardless, I LOVE IT!!! :-)