Leaderboard, Atari ST

For a while, in the mid Eighties, Access Software‘s Leaderboard hung on to the title of “best golf game on the planet”. Starting on the Commodore 64 and ending here on the Atari ST (and Amiga) in 1986.

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Frontier: Elite II, Atari ST

While all the other space exploration and combat games on 16-bit home computers flail around in their own mucky diapers, Frontier: Elite II makes a mockery of everything else in its class by not only being a staggering piece of programming, but also a damn fine, playable game too.

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Hard ‘N’ Heavy, Atari ST

Hard ‘N’ Heavy was created either as a sequel to The Great Giana Sisters, or was originally a Giana Sisters game itself, such is the similarity between it and the aforementioned game.

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The Great Giana Sisters, Atari ST

The Atari ST version of the infamous The Great Giana Sisters is as good-looking as the original Mario game it is ‘satirising’. It is chunky and colourful and characterful, although gameplay wise it is not a patch on the Mario Bros. games.

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Where Time Stood Still, Atari ST

Where Time Stood Still is a conversion of a classic ZX Spectrum game made by Denton Designs. The Atari ST version was publish by Ocean Software in 1988.

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Simulcra, Atari ST

Simulcra is a cool third-person 3D shooter set on a complex series of colourful courses. The game was developed by legendary coding team Graftgold and is one of their least well-known releases, but also one of their best.

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Atari ST Special

The Atari ST was a 16-bit home computer that was a great breeding ground for video games in the ’80s and ’90s. Many original classics were born on the ST (Dungeon Master, Simulcra, and Frontier to name but a few), and many older classics were ported to the ST to give them a new lease of life.

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Sinistar, Arcade

People forget how early Sinistar was – 1983. Which was a hell of a year for old arcade shooters!

Of the first colour arcade shooters, the class of 1983 were definitely second or third generation – in terms of ideas, patterns, movement, challenge, and sophistication. Graphically they were becoming a great improvement over early shoot ’em ups.

Sinistar is a good example of this. The graphics are much more detailed and colourful than the old arcade shooters of 1980/81.

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Tron, Arcade

The 1982 arcade version of Tron is well-remembered by many gamers. It was developed by ENCOM International and manufactured and distributed by Bally Midway.

It features a four-stage video-gaming challenge via some of the scenes from the famous film (ironically, about video games).

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