Hi Guys,
I thought I would take some time out to write this post and see if anyone else shares my memories…..
A quick recap of my (non-arcade) gaming life so far. 1st computer, Commodore 16, 2nd computer Atari ST, 3rd computer full blown PC, followed by lots of other PC’s. In between these computers came a variety of consoles, NES, SNES, PS1, XBOX, XBOX360, PS4 and on top of all these a load of handhelds, Gameboy, some Game & Watches, GameGear,
Lynx.
Now whilst I type all that down it seems like a lot and I guess it was, but I only ever had one of these at any time, especially in the early days. Trading up the previous model for the newer incarnation, desperate to keep bang up to date with the latest developments.
Fast-forward to present day and my up-to –date PC plays little other than arcade classics via MAME, my PS4 hardly gets touched unless the kids are on Minecraft and through my time on the forum, I seemed to have shunned the latest and greatest in favour of a longing for a time when things were, well simpler, but better.
Does this mean that I am now old !?!
So now I find myself playing arcade classics, reading Retro Gamer and wishing I hadn’t sold my wares back in the day. So, what’s an (old) man to do? Start collecting of course……
Looking back over the list I started this thread with, there are two standout models for me to start with, the Atari ST and the SNES. But for the purpose of this thread, and there is a purpose, honest there is, I want to focus on my beloved ST, and I just wanted to share some of my memories of having owned one and invite any other’s to share their thoughts and memories of the Atari St.
For me, Atari really nailed the styling and colour over the Amiga which my pal had. As a son of a music teacher the midi ports also got a lot of use in our house, hooked up to a couple of keyboards and synths.
But of course the real memories are in the games themselves, but whilst games will always be made to this day and beyond, the one thing that I really miss are the boxes the games were sold in. They were part of the purchase for me, those big sturdy cardboard boxes, emblazoned with at times, outstanding artwork, with a couple of blue floppy discs floating around inside. I remember my wardrobe being stacked with these boxes and me copying the artwork onto paper and wrapping my school jotters (remember those too?) with this.
And so to finish up, the games, man there seemed so many, and a quick flash through Google brings loads of memories flooding back. Some absolute standout ones for me, (but I will have forgotten far more than I have remembered), are written below with a statement reason as to why it’s in the list. These were good times for me as a teenager and I shared some great gaming moments, although the real highs of multiplayer were still to follow in the guise of Nintendo’s SNES, but that’s a different story.
Here’s the list, in absolutely no order what-so-ever, remember these are games I actually had, not necessarily the all time best releases and I have deliberately not included the conversions that were spawned across all platforms, (Outrun, etc);
Xenon – Quality vert shooter. But damn it was hard.
Damocles – The advent of sandbox gaming for me, a whole new world (and another 8 planets) to explore.
Microprose F1 GP – Still love racing games and this raised the bar – considerably.
The Spy Who Loved Me – I love Bond and this nailed a load of genres in one box.
Killing Game Show – I remember being blown away by the rendered intro from Psygnosis.
Nebulus – Addictive platform/puzzler, I had to beat this, but never did.
Future Wars – My first visit to the Delphine Studio. I was hooked and returned many times.
Lemmings – True classic. Played it to the end, then never played it again.
Kick Off – The basic graphics belied one of the most playable games I ever loaded onto my ST.
Another World – One of the most cinematic games I had played. Still holds up well on the 20th edition.
Stunt Car Racer – Another Geoff Crammond classic. Man, he knew how to code.
Super Cars II – Always loved Super Sprint in the arcades and this was the next best thing. With guns!
Operation Stealth – Massive fan of point and click bitd, pairing the
genre with James Bond, was always going to end well.
Cadaver – I don’t know why I liked this, but it’s always one I remember, so it must’ve been good.
Flood – This was one of my most played and replayed platformers. Check it out.
Rodland – Bubble Bobble clone with the cute levels ramped right up!
And that’s it folks, all that’s left is to find a non-yellowed one in working order and buy back a piece of my childhood.
Neil.
I thought I would take some time out to write this post and see if anyone else shares my memories…..
A quick recap of my (non-arcade) gaming life so far. 1st computer, Commodore 16, 2nd computer Atari ST, 3rd computer full blown PC, followed by lots of other PC’s. In between these computers came a variety of consoles, NES, SNES, PS1, XBOX, XBOX360, PS4 and on top of all these a load of handhelds, Gameboy, some Game & Watches, GameGear,
Lynx.
Now whilst I type all that down it seems like a lot and I guess it was, but I only ever had one of these at any time, especially in the early days. Trading up the previous model for the newer incarnation, desperate to keep bang up to date with the latest developments.
Fast-forward to present day and my up-to –date PC plays little other than arcade classics via MAME, my PS4 hardly gets touched unless the kids are on Minecraft and through my time on the forum, I seemed to have shunned the latest and greatest in favour of a longing for a time when things were, well simpler, but better.
Does this mean that I am now old !?!
So now I find myself playing arcade classics, reading Retro Gamer and wishing I hadn’t sold my wares back in the day. So, what’s an (old) man to do? Start collecting of course……
Looking back over the list I started this thread with, there are two standout models for me to start with, the Atari ST and the SNES. But for the purpose of this thread, and there is a purpose, honest there is, I want to focus on my beloved ST, and I just wanted to share some of my memories of having owned one and invite any other’s to share their thoughts and memories of the Atari St.
For me, Atari really nailed the styling and colour over the Amiga which my pal had. As a son of a music teacher the midi ports also got a lot of use in our house, hooked up to a couple of keyboards and synths.
But of course the real memories are in the games themselves, but whilst games will always be made to this day and beyond, the one thing that I really miss are the boxes the games were sold in. They were part of the purchase for me, those big sturdy cardboard boxes, emblazoned with at times, outstanding artwork, with a couple of blue floppy discs floating around inside. I remember my wardrobe being stacked with these boxes and me copying the artwork onto paper and wrapping my school jotters (remember those too?) with this.
And so to finish up, the games, man there seemed so many, and a quick flash through Google brings loads of memories flooding back. Some absolute standout ones for me, (but I will have forgotten far more than I have remembered), are written below with a statement reason as to why it’s in the list. These were good times for me as a teenager and I shared some great gaming moments, although the real highs of multiplayer were still to follow in the guise of Nintendo’s SNES, but that’s a different story.
Here’s the list, in absolutely no order what-so-ever, remember these are games I actually had, not necessarily the all time best releases and I have deliberately not included the conversions that were spawned across all platforms, (Outrun, etc);
Xenon – Quality vert shooter. But damn it was hard.
Damocles – The advent of sandbox gaming for me, a whole new world (and another 8 planets) to explore.
Microprose F1 GP – Still love racing games and this raised the bar – considerably.
The Spy Who Loved Me – I love Bond and this nailed a load of genres in one box.
Killing Game Show – I remember being blown away by the rendered intro from Psygnosis.
Nebulus – Addictive platform/puzzler, I had to beat this, but never did.
Future Wars – My first visit to the Delphine Studio. I was hooked and returned many times.
Lemmings – True classic. Played it to the end, then never played it again.
Kick Off – The basic graphics belied one of the most playable games I ever loaded onto my ST.
Another World – One of the most cinematic games I had played. Still holds up well on the 20th edition.
Stunt Car Racer – Another Geoff Crammond classic. Man, he knew how to code.
Super Cars II – Always loved Super Sprint in the arcades and this was the next best thing. With guns!
Operation Stealth – Massive fan of point and click bitd, pairing the
genre with James Bond, was always going to end well.
Cadaver – I don’t know why I liked this, but it’s always one I remember, so it must’ve been good.
Flood – This was one of my most played and replayed platformers. Check it out.
Rodland – Bubble Bobble clone with the cute levels ramped right up!
And that’s it folks, all that’s left is to find a non-yellowed one in working order and buy back a piece of my childhood.
Neil.
