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This is a machine I have never played outside of emulation so I would love to hear any opinions people have on it.
If I were to buy an Atari ST, what are all the parts I would need?
Can it connect to a television or does it require a monitor?
What games are good on it that aren't available on the Amiga(another computer I would like to buy eventually)?
I have an Amiga. The Atari ST was pretty close to the Amiga, in the graphics department, but the sound chip could'nt even compete with the one found in the Amiga. I'd even go so far as to say, that the Amiga sound chip was better than the one found in the Super Nintendo.
The Atari ST sound chip was crap, yes, but it did have MIDI support. It's no surprise that electronica became such a dominant sound in the UK and elsewhere in Europe during the late 80s and 90s, because the Atari ST was so popular there. This allowed people to make their own electronic music quickly and cheaply.
Back on topic...I don't think you need to find much to get an ST working. Just plug the computer in and you're good to go. You may need a special monitor, though. Check one of the many ST online resources for more info.
Game-wise, you need to track down a copy of Starglider and Time Bandit. The former might also be available on Amiga, but the latter was an Atari ST exclusive. It's one of the most unique games of the period, kind of like Temple of Apshai mixed with Shamus with a bit of text adventuring thrown in. Brilliant, brilliant game.
Star Raiders ST (or whatever it was called) is another must-have. It's basically a graphically enhanced version of the original 8-bit Star Raiders, with more enemies and a much higher difficulty level.
Time Bandit came out on IBM PC as well, I'm pretty sure. But considering how badly the PC sucked for gaming back then, I'm sure the ST one is much better.
Quote:
Originally posted by sleeveboy
The Atari ST sound chip was crap, yes, but it did have MIDI support. It's no surprise that electronica became such a dominant sound in the UK and elsewhere in Europe during the late 80s and 90s, because the Atari ST was so popular there. This allowed people to make their own electronic music quickly and cheaply.
Back on topic...I don't think you need to find much to get an ST working. Just plug the computer in and you're good to go. You may need a special monitor, though. Check one of the many ST online resources for more info.
Game-wise, you need to track down a copy of Starglider and Time Bandit. The former might also be available on Amiga, but the latter was an Atari ST exclusive. It's one of the most unique games of the period, kind of like Temple of Apshai mixed with Shamus with a bit of text adventuring thrown in. Brilliant, brilliant game.
Star Raiders ST (or whatever it was called) is another must-have. It's basically a graphically enhanced version of the original 8-bit Star Raiders, with more enemies and a much higher difficulty level.
The Atari ST had it's niche market in Europe, but the Amiga had a more worldwide acceptance. The Amiga also had MIDI support and the more powerful Amiga 3000/4000 could be used as a video studio, with applications like Video Toaster. Disney even used the Amiga to do cells for one of their movies, back in the day. The once infamous Battle Tech center, ran on Amiga's and brought on of the first mega multiplayer games of it's time.
The Amiga also had the best version of Super C, to be available in the home. Populous, Powermonger and Lemmings, were also developed on the Amiga computer, and later brought to PC. The Amiga also hosted such greats as, Defenders of The Crown, Thunderhawk, Strike Force, and F-16 Fighting Falcon.
Arcade greats included: Marble Madness (Arcade Perfect) Gauntlet(Arcade Perfect), Bionic Commando, Operation Wolf (Arcade Perfect), MKII, Toobin, R-Type, R-Type 3, Bad Dudes, and Rainbow Stars.
The Atari ST peaked at the ST 2048 (2 Meg Ram), the Amiga peaked at the Amiga 4000 (8 Meg of Ram). Both were great computers for their time, but I'd have to give the advantage to the Amiga, with it's superior sound chip and larger RAM, and bigger library of software.
Unlike the ST, I have played a lot of Amiga games and I love the machine. When I eventually get an Amiga I will get IK+, Walker, Barbarian 2 and many other games.
The Atari ST was my first ever system. I loved it back then: Rick Dangerous, Parasol Stars, Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands, Newzealand Story, all the Dizzy games, Dynamite Dux etc were the main games I liked although i'm probably forgetting some.
The sound chip ruled!! I get all nostalgic when I hear Atari ST music, the closest recent example is the NGPC but ST music is truly unique.
Quote:
Originally posted by NeoZeedeater
Unlike the ST, I have played a lot of Amiga games and I love the machine. When I eventually get an Amiga I will get IK+, Walker, Barbarian 2 and many other games.
If you do decide to get one, look for an Amiga 600. It has 2 Meg of Ram, and supports most of the periferals that were available for the 500 (SCSI Hard-drive and such. The Amiga 3000 and 4000 are still quite expensive, for their age. The Amiga 2000 has around the same Ram as the 600, but supports Ram upgrades, and internal hard-drives, and is a little more expensive than the 600. Avoid the Amiga 1000 at all costs. It requires kickstart (On Disk) and only has 512K. The system is not expandable, like the other Amiga computers.
Damn, there are more Amiga models than I thought.
So the 600 will play most of the best games, right?
Quote:
Originally posted by NeoZeedeater
Damn, there are more Amiga models than I thought.
So the 600 will play most of the best games, right?
It sure will, and it's the best bang for the buck, of all the Amiga computers. It came out after the Amiga 3000, and was a cheap alternative, to the more expandable 2000, 3000, and 4000 models.
Cool.
Thanks for the Amiga and ST info guys.
NeoZeedeater,
Today, I was thinking about the Amiga computers I listed. I forgot the Amiga 1200, which is a superior computer to the A600. It has the 68020EC processor (32-bit) while the 600 uses (I'm going to say) 68020 which is 16-bit. The Amiga 1200 features a 14.19 MHZ processor and 2MB of ram. The A600 comes with 1MB of RAM standard. The 1200 is probably the best bang for the buck.
The Amiga 4000 features the 68040 with 6MB of RAM, 24-bit video slot, up to 50MHZ clock speed, expandable RAM up to 18MB and a hefty price tag, even to this day.
I've seen some great deals on the A600 on Ebay, some even boxed. I have'nt really looked into the 1200 model though, but I'v seen the A4000's selling in the $600 range, as it is capable of becoming a Video/music studio.