Atari Bomber Man Clone Page!


Er... yeah, hi, recently in Atari Computing (the monthly Glossy larger than A4 publication) I noticed a review of a new (yes new, July 1998!) game. That game is known as Bombaman v1.0 and it is written by Kevin Callahan, and it's STE 1Mb only! So I went to the web address and downloaded it! Does it live up to the almighty DYNABUSTERS+ (which would like 1Mb or more memory in your STE!)


In the good old days of the Atari ST (and family) and even now you still only need one meg of memory to run a game, or even serious software, and it is very rare for a game (i.e. DYNABUSTERS+) to need more than one meg. But that's beside the point. Today I played Bombaman, admittedly on my own to start with as my brother was in Manchester, and the review in Atari Computing is pretty accurate in what it has to say about the game. I think at only £5 to register, it's a bargain! One thing that I did find off putting was that you have to make an adapter to use more than the two joysticks, and you can't use the keyboard, it seems a waste that the keyboard wasn't used because it's already there!

One thing that is impressive is the use of more than the standard screen area, rather than being 320 by 200, it is probably something like 320 by 240 or more, as it uses the bottom border of the screen. As well as this it uses the STE sound hardware to play some cool samples, one of my favorites being the classic "turn up the bass". It's very colourful and the way the sprites move is really cool, coz', unlike the Bomber Man clone "Frying Friends" which, I think, moved you to a set position in a block fashion, you can move feely, pixel by pixel.

Realistically though, unless you have a passion for soldering wires or tracking down someone who'll do it for you, you're very unlikely to solder the cables to enable you to play with more than two players, which is a shame, because it deserves to be played more. This is one of the strong points of DynaBusters+ that made it so great, the ability to play with all your friends, more than just two people! If you want to check out this game for yourself, which I highly recommend you do then click this word coming up here GO BOMBAMAN!

DYNABUSTERS+ for the Atari STE, which was released some time in 1994 has to be one of the coolest Bomber Man clones ever, breaking the mould through using characters that didn't all where space-helmets, and strange suits! It has some cool stuff on the credits screens that I have only seen in Amiga demos, and is one of the most original Bomber Man clones I have ever seen. If I knew how to I would include the files so you could download it for use on your STE of Falcon, coz' these tripod people say I've got 11Mb free for some reason. I think it would take me my entire life to fill 11Mb! Hey try clicking on that thing at the bottom that says Dynaplus.zip and see what happens, I've zipped it up and if you don't have an unzipper for your ST, do it on a PC, or Mac, or something that has an unzipper and put it on a DD 3.5" Floppy. :o)

On the subject of games, in the most recent Atari Computing, there is an add for Sim City for the Atari, which I thought I'd get, but my brother in New Zealand said he'd get it for me for the PC, which he did. And it's okay, it's for DOS and it only runs in EGA and stuff but, I even borrowed an Amiga just to play this game coz' I didn't know anywhere I could get it for the ST. So I was wondering whether anyone out there knows where I can get Sim City for Windows from, not 2000, I'd like to try the classic first! I know it exists coz' I saw a review in some old PC mag.

And on the subject of PCs, I just re-installed Windows 95 on one of my computers, and do you know what the default for the scrolling marquee screen saver is set at? It says "Where do you want to go today?" - Anywhere away from you buddy! No but seriously, Windows 95 is pretty useful,, coz' I was using Windows 3.1 for a while, but couldn't run lots of software, coz' it all needs Windows 95 now. Anyway, the best thing about having Windows 95 on all PCs, rather than mixed Windows 3.1 on one and Windows 95 on another, is the option to install Direct Cable Connection (DCC), which lets you use a Parallel cable (i.e. through your printer port) and link machines, much like Interlnk for DOS, which is useful when the different PCs, don't have the same COM ports, or they do but you're using it as a serial mouse port, or don't have the right cable. Coz' what you can do is link them up through DCC and tell Doom that you're using an IPX/Network connection and DOOM will let you play this linked up game!

Which is real cool... does anyone know how to link up SubStation? (Not that I've got that game, but I'd love to have it!) - This page messily (sorry) created on the 5th of September 1998. Email me.


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