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Atlantis Software Budget Gaming Gems for the Atari 8bit Computers and Atari 400 mini
Atlantis Software was a London-based budget game house that delivered 16 games for the Atari 8bit‚ 6 of which I think are hidden gems that many Atari 8bit owners‚ especially in the USA‚ have never heard of.Â
Almost all 16 Atlantis Atari 8bit titles were released after the XEGS sold out it’s entire 1987 Christmas run of 100‚000 UK units‚ which provided an incentive for budget houses that had previously ignored the Atari machines‚ to then start producing 2 and 3 pound cassette titles to place on the “other micros” shelf next the to racks and racks of C64‚ Speccy and CPC software.
It’s unlikely that everyone will like all of these games as much as I do‚ but I feel there is a title for pretty much everyone in this bunch‚ so let’s get started with a 1989 Arkanoid clone that was probably much more line with budget conscious 8bit owners than the Full Priced official Imagine Port from 2 years earlier.
Crack-Up&;#33; Is a 1989 Simon Leck game who also crafted Death Race‚ another title on this list.Â
This is a relatively simple game that provides joystick controlled Breakout game play with added drop down power-up pills‚ like Arkanoid‚ but with no enemy ships in the way at the top of the screen like the Taito arcade title.Â
The power up are as followsÂ
B – Or Bonus Level Will take you to next of the 32 levelsÂ
C – Gives you the ability to catch and then release the ball
D- Gives the player double balls
E- Extends your bat. Note That the little E is light blue like viagra‚ which was kind of prophetic in 1989.
L- Gives the player laser fire but unlike Arkanoid its a single shot at a time and I feel like I did better without it‚ but it’s a welcome additions anyway
S slows the ball down
And X gives an extra life
The Atari Mania Audience gives Crack-UP a 71% which is pretty high for a budget game‚ and I agree with them. It’s well made‚ but very difficult even on level one. Still‚ this type of game needs to be challenging to be fun‚ and the challenge doesn’t come from poor control or collision detection‚ but from honest difficult levels
Paul Rixon in Page6 Magazine agreed that while it’s a budget title that is not outstanding in any respect‚ it will appeal to anyone looking for an updated version of breakout at a budget price.
1988’s Dawn Raider is a nicely crafted Budget Super Cobra style shooter with the difficulty turned up pretty high.Â
You control your helicopter with the joystick and can fire missiles straight ahead with the fire button and bombs by pushing down and doing the same. Because of the tight corridors‚ bombing is tricky and a huge challenge.
You need to bomb and shoot the F and A icons for extra Fuel and Ammunition which again is tricky‚ but those will both run out soon if you don’t
I find Dawn Raider to be a nice looking‚ pretty nice playing budget title that again‚ like Crack-Up‚ isn’t challenging because of poor control or cheap deaths‚ but because of its game design. Atarimania users agreed and have given it a hefty 83% so far‚ which is higher than some full priced Atari 8bit classics.Â
Paul Rixon‚ again in Page 6 Magazine‚ loved it‚ calling $1.99 a ridiculously low price for the quality of the game and one to certainly check out.
Simon Leck‚ who authored Crack Up and Cop’s ‘n Robbers‚ a game that just barely missed this list‚ gave Atari users a Turbo Arcade clone with 1987’s Death Race. This game consists of a simple but fun and nice looking slalom course with no curves‚ where the players are given 5 lives to pass a certain number of cars within a time limit which will then extend the race further.Â
Death Race’s fun simplicity reminds me of a hand-held electro-mechanical racing game I got for Christmas in 1981‚ it’s not complicated‚ but it is well done. Atarimania users didn’t quite give it the parise I have with a 60% rating which was the minimum score a game had to have to make it on this list.Paul Rixon‚ again‚ with a great review of this first Atlantis released for the Atari 8bit machines‚ called it a commendable effort that he hoped showed the Atlantis was going to make more good Atari 8bit games‚Â
1989’s Gunfighter is unique here as I am not quite as taken by it as the Atarimania audience seems to be‚ but its score was high enough to be considered here as a at least a minor hidden gem.Â
Gunfighter is a little bit of an action adventure puzzler where the player is tasked with searching for outlaws in an old west town and capturing them to return stolen property deeds back to the townsfolk.
As mentioned before‚ the Atarimania audience score for this one is a nice 73%‚ which is much higher than the current 60% for Death Race‚ so I pushed myself to include it here. I like the idea and the depth‚ but the execution‚ to me at least‚ leaves a lot to be desired. There were no Atari reviews that I could find‚ but because Atlantis ported a lot of their budget titles to multiple platforms‚ I found a Your Sinclair review where they liked the graphics but called it tedious and boring. I’ll leave it up to you guys to let me know if you find the Atari 8bit version more fun than I did.Â
Periscope Up&;#33; Is a 1988 release where the player must progress though under sea caves using a submarine and its more maneuverable gun toting mini sub to solve puzzles and explore. The mini sub is needed to collect keys‚ items and numbers in the passcode needed to complete the quest‚
The caves are tight and the sub is not as controllable as a player might like‚ but the mini sub‚ deployed with the fire button‚ can fit in tight spaces but also zips along at a quicker pace‚ making it even more dangerous in the tight undersea caves.Â
I really had fun‚ but a HUGE challenge trying to play Periscope Up as it reminds me of a budget version of what could have been a Synapse Software classic if it had a bigger budget and more time to work out a few of the bugs.Â
As it is though‚ the Atarimania audience have it 70% and our old friend Paul Rixon in Page 6 magazine said that it was Atlantis Software’s best release to date.Â
Because I love shooters so much‚ Titan‚ the last game on this list is an obvious favorite. In this thinking man’s blaster‚ the player is tasked with protecting 5 planets and destroying 3 formations of bad aliens all accessed from a Galactic map. Â There are numerous weapons upgrades and the two different types of game play offer enough variety‚ especially for a game that arrived in 1990 for 2 quid.Â
The Atarimania audience gives Titan a humble 63%‚ but the Southon Brothers‚ Berry and Brian‚ who coded this and also classics Joe Blade and Arcade Fruit Machine deserve more credit than that score indicates. We’ll leave it again to our old Pal Paul Rixon of Page 6‚ who liked everything about it‚ only noting that the slow pace of the scrolling might frustrate some players‚ but that it included most if not all of the ingredients of a high-class shoot ‘em up. That’s enough for me to give it a few more tries myself.
OK‚ that’s all for this time‚ only 6 games‚ but a variety that I feel can satisfy the taste for most if not all Atari 8 Bit fans and Atari 400 Mini owners‚ Next time were are going to tackle the library of Zeppelin games in their 20 budget releases for the Atari 8bit Machines. So until then‚ have fun playing your favorite budget computer game titles on the machine of your choice in the Vertical Blank
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