Atari ST - Atari Corporation - 1989
Atari 520STfm Power Pack
- Genre
- Various
- Year
- 1989
- Language
- [unknown]
- Publisher
- Atari Corporation
- Controls
- -
- Distributor
- Atari Germany
- Players
- -
- Developer
- [n/a]
- Resolution
- Low
- Licensed from
- -
- Programmer(s)
- [various]
- Country
- Graphic Artist(s)
- [various]
- Software
- English
- Game design
- [various]
- Box/Instructions
- German
- Musician(s)
- [various]
- License
- Compilation - Commercial
- Sound FX
- [various]
- Serial
- —
- Cover Artist(s)
- —
- ST Type
- ST, STe / 0.5MB
- MIDI
- —
- Version
- —
- Dump
- Missing dump(s)
- Number of Disks
- —
- Dump format
- —
- Protection
- —
OTHER VERSIONS WITH THE SAME TITLE (1)
OTHER VERSIONS WITH A DIFFERENT TITLE (1)
COMPILATION (23)
Includes: After Burner, Black Lamp, Bomb Jack, Bombuzal, Double Dragon, Eliminator, FirST BASIC, Gauntlet II, Music Maker, Nebulus, Organiser, Out Run, Overlander, Pac-Mania, Predator, R-Type, Space Harrier, Star Goose!, Starglider, StarRay, Super Hang-on, Super Huey, Xenon.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
In german version Predator was replaced by Winter Olympiad '88.
INSTRUCTIONS (29)
ADS (3)
ARTICLE (1)
Noticias
TRIVIA (3)
Origins
Introduced at Atari Show 1989 at the West Hall, Alexandra Palace, London
News
<br>Handing sales lead over to Commodore
In Atari UK's marketing manager Darryl Still interview at the retrovideogamer.co.uk he explained why Atari's most succesful ST sales booster ever became one of their biggest mistakes in European home computer history:
"Well, for a long time we were well ahead of the Amiga regarding UK sales and distribution. In the early days, developers were using ST as their main platform and just porting to the Amiga, so not taking any advantage of the extra few features the Amiga offered them. This meant there was no difference between an ST game and its Amiga port, meaning it came down to price, placement and promotion, which we were pretty good at.
"Well, for a long time we were well ahead of the Amiga regarding UK sales and distribution. In the early days, developers were using ST as their main platform and just porting to the Amiga, so not taking any advantage of the extra few features the Amiga offered them. This meant there was no difference between an ST game and its Amiga port, meaning it came down to price, placement and promotion, which we were pretty good at.
Because there were more ST games, we had a distinct advantage for some time. In hindsight, and as a complete paradox, our most successful piece of marketing also became a complete present handed to Commodore. The STFM pack we put together with 20 odd free games was an amazing package and sold by the truckload.
What we had not thought through fully was the impact it had on developers. There was quite a backlash. Secret meetings and the like (which were never that secret!). They were unhappy that, us giving so many great games away with the machine meant there was no real incentive for the consumer to go out and buy any more ST games for some time after purchase…
What we had not thought through fully was the impact it had on developers. There was quite a backlash. Secret meetings and the like (which were never that secret!). They were unhappy that, us giving so many great games away with the machine meant there was no real incentive for the consumer to go out and buy any more ST games for some time after purchase…
So as a group they decided to support the Amiga more and started to use the extra features that could make Amiga games look 15% better than their ST versions. That really gave Commodore a leg up and was all our own making.
It was a big lesson for me. I believe that, much more than the often quoted STFM/STe incompatibility issues, was key point we handed the advantage over. The incompatibility thing was actually quite minor. We had thoroughly checked the top 100 or so games leading up to release, what none of us expected was for a small indie game from Kent called Kick Off to come from nowhere and be number 1 on day of STe release. That was unfortunate, but quickly and easily fixed compared to the earlier issue, which was a ride we could not turn back.
Source: https://www.retrovideogamer.co.uk/rvg-interviews-darryl-still/
Source: https://www.retrovideogamer.co.uk/rvg-interviews-darryl-still/