Albert

@Monk. This is not the first time you comment about the 130XE needed for a program to run. While I can understand we all want most software to run in a classic 64Ko configuration, the 130XE (and its 128Ko RAM) was available for 7 years from mid-1985 to late 1991 / mid-1992 depending on territories. My dad got one for me on sale from Nasa Electronics in Paris in early 1989 and it truly changed how I programmed the architecture and was a big help with utilities (Transdisk for instance). The 800XL only lasted 2 years on the market when the XE line lasted much longer. The funny thing is that, while Tramiel's own ATARI Corp. did nothing to advance the architecture, it manufactured it for a lot longer than Warner's ATARI Inc. who produced it in the first place! It's just pathetic that, year after year, the Tramiels didn't bump the memory of the XE line. Maybe not to 512Ko like the 520ST but at the very least 256Ko like the ill-fated 260ST. There would have been no competition anyway due to the difference in architectures. And let's be honest, Jay Miner's 8-Bit line was revolutionary at launch and still amazes to this day, the Commodorish ST wasn't and it took several revisions for it to get better. BTW- I love ALBERT and I welcome more outstanding programs to run in 128Ko mode.

I wonder why people make platformers. There are SO many of them, and yet people keep making more. How many is enough?

There are so many wonderful game genres that do not get many games - Spy Hunter wasn't cloned much, Maniac Mansion could possibly be made on the Atari 8-bit (and hopefully 64k machines, most people probably don't have 130XE), various shooter and combined genres, etc. Think about Dropzone-style game where you can land on the ground on some levels and explore some caves or structures (R.I.S.K. on the C64 did this in a very limited way, you can walk around in bases), for example. Or Moonstone-style adventure where you fight on a separate screen, but you explore on a map-style screen.

If you're going to make another platformer, why not do it with some style, like Impossible Mission? That game never feels like a platformer, because the setting is unique and interesting, and there are also other things you can do but 'typical platform stuff'.

But all we get is these generic platformers. Was Super Mario Bros. really the epitome of gameplay, or could there possibly be other interesting genres as well?

I wish people would make games for the 64k 8-bit computers, as requiring 130XE seems a bit excessive and it means I can't play on my Atari 800 XL. In essence, the developers are saying that Atari 800 XL is useless, and I don't believe that.

The title and inbetween-level graphics are good, the style is very pleasing to the eye, and the cartoony impact is strong. However, it looks like shading is always black, which diminishes the feel a lot. Even when multiple colors are used, they're never used for shading, so it's like someone drew everything in monochrome and then just splashed some color here and there, instead of fully drawing, designing and shading with colors instead of just black.

Sadly, that's the only criticism I can really give on this game, as I can't play it on my Atari.

The reason why I may sound a bit bitter here, is that the Atari 8-bit scene is really high quality and has produced amazing games, like the Time Pilot, Scramble, Yoomp! and Major Blink / Berks ports/games. I even like the LSquadron (Terra Cresta-style), in many ways, it's more fun to play than C64 Terra Cresta, and has more colorful enemies.

I would like to see more games I can actually play on my Atari, but I guess developers prefer to have more memory over making games for the more common 8-bit Atari computers so everyone can have fun.

To me, this is like making 'C64 games' that only work on Commodore 128. What's the point?