• Tag Archives 65XE
  • Antic (December 1985)

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    Source: Antic – December 1985

    Antic was one of two popular magazines in the U.S. dedicated to the Atari 8-bit line of computers (the other being ANALOG). Antic also had some coverage of the Atari ST at various times. The December 1985 issue includes the following:

    Features

    • Video Star Atari – This article covers software and hardware to digitize images from video cameras or other anaglog sources. The emphasis is on Computereyes though other products are mentioned.
    • Behind the Scenes at Lucasfilm – Antic goes behind the scenes at Lucasfilm Games to, among other things, get previews of The Eidolon and Koronis Rift.
    • DiskIO Plus – A type-in utility program that provides keyboard shortcuts for almost all DOS functions and works with most software.
    • 4th Annual Shoppers Guide – A holiday shopping guide for those interested in Atari hardare and software. Products include the Atari 130XE, Atari 800XL, Atari 520ST, Atari 1050 disk drive, Indus GT disk drive, various printers, the Commodore 1702 monitor, Atari 850 interface module (mostly for printers), Atari 1030 modem, Ballblazer, Rescue on Fractalus, M.U.L.E., Spy vs. Spy, Great Cross Country Road Race, F-15 Strike Eagle, Wiztype, Halley Patrol, Homepak, BBS Construction Set, BASIC XE, Mac/65 Assembler Editor, Paper Clip, and much more.
    • Proburner Review – Antic calls this EPROM burner from Thompson Electronics the best one on the market.
    • Antic Catalog Goes to U.K. – Antic makes the magazine and their catalog of softare available to U.K. users.

    ST Section

    • 1st Annual ST Shoppers Guide – Another holiday shopping guide, this one specific to the Atari ST. Items listed include the Atari CD-ROM drive, SF354 Single-side disk drive, SF314 Double-sided disk drive, the SM124 Monochrome Monitor, the SC1224 RGB Color Monitor, 4xForth Programming Language, Easy-Draw, VIP Professional, Chat (terminal program), A Mind Forever Voyaging, and much more.
    • 4XForth Review – A review of this FORTH programming language implementation for the Atari ST.
    • Introducing 520ST Assembly Language – Primarily this means 68000 assembly language. I never programmed much in assembly but I did do a little 68000 assembly in college.
    • ST Logo Exploration – Logo was the only programming language initially included with the Atari ST. This type-in program and tutorial hepls you to map memory.

    Departments

    • BBS Crashbuster – This type-in program helps to prevent BBS crashes by stripping out non-standard ATASCII characters from input strings. In other words, it prevents users from crashing your BBS with bad input.
    • Build Your Own EPROM Burner – Parts list and instructions for buildin an EPROM burner for $30.
    • Box-In – In this type-in strategy/arcade game, you must move boxes around to trap the monster before he gets you.
    • I/O Board – Letters from readers about Atari 800 problems, BBS lists, Trip Hawkins and Atari, Blue Max and the 130XE, Print Shop, and more.
    • Help – Help with downloading large files with ProTerm, Supra contact info, and a correction for ST Sound, a previous type-in program for the Atari ST.
    • Antic Online – Not on the web but on Compuserve.

    …and more!


  • Rescue on Fractalus! (Atari XE) – Strategy

    Strategy guide for Rescue on Fractalus! for Atari XE based systems (Atari 130XE, Atari 65XE and Atari XEGS) from the October 1989 issue of Atarian.

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    Source: Atarian – Issue Number 3 – September October 1989

    This is a strategy guide for Rescue on Fractalus for Atari XE based systems, including the Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE and Atari XEGS from the October 1989 issue of Atarian.

    The first thing you may notice is that they spelled the name of the game wrong. It is supposed to be “Fractalus” not “Fractulus”. It is spelled fine in the body of the article, just not in the title. This does not bode well for the rest of it…

    But actually, the rest of it does give a good overview of the game. I remember trying to figure this game out on my Commodore 64 without instructions and I never could. While it doesn’t tell you what buttons to press, this article does tell you what actions you need to take and gives you a couple of strategies to be reasonably successful at it.

    There are a number of interesting things about this game. It was first released in 1984 for a number of systems, including the Apple II, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit computers, Commodore 64, Tandy Color Computer 3, and others. At first this would seem like a pretty late guide for the game but the Atari XE version was an enhanced version that came out in 1987 on cartridge that was specific to only Atari XE based computers and the XEGS video game system. It had thirty levels to choose from instead of the sixteen of the original release. Even at that, this was a pretty late guide.

    The graphics were generated using fractals, hence the name of the game. An Atari 7800 version was under development but never released that would have used the more advanced capabilities of that system for smoother game play. An unreleased prototype was discovered in 2004.

    Finally, George Lucas had some personal input into this game, suggesting that some of the pilots to be rescued should really be the enemy in disguise. This actually added a pretty significant element and a scare factor to the game.