Top Ten Tetris Clones¢---------------------¢¢I am a big fan of Tetris and have come across a number of Atari 8-bit versions, both commercial and PD, over the years. I have used only 'traditional' versions of Tetris or variations on the theme and not included games like Chromatics, Trix and Ultra Tetris.¢ See if you can guess which game didn't make it into my Top Ten!¢*¢10) THINKING MAN'S VIDEO GAME¢¢A PD version of Tetris written in ACTION! The blocks move smoothly enough but there's nothing to lift it out of the ordinary and the title screen is a simple, boring Mode 0.¢*¢9) HOT BLOCKS¢¢Originally published in Page 6 magazine and written by Paul Lay, this is an uninspiring version of Tetris. The blocks are extremely jerky and the sound isn't very good. Nice title screen though.¢*¢8) LUNACY¢¢A Shareware version of Tetris, but not a very good one with jerky blocks, blurry text and bad music letting it down. The title screen is probably the best thing about this game. There is a high-score save feature.¢*¢7) WARSAW TETRIS¢¢Nice music (at first) in this commercial offering from overseas. There is a shape counter and a high-score feature but the game isn't very special and the music soon becomes monotonous; you can switch it off though (the musix AND the game!).¢*¢6) TETRIX¢¢Another PD version that isn't brilliant. The blocks are black and white and the shapes move a little jerkily. There is a high-score save feature.¢*¢5) ATARTRIS II¢¢Nice version of Tetris with a simultaneous two-player option putting it above the ordinary. There's a host of features but whether any ever get used, I don't know. There's also a high-score save feature.¢*¢4) BLOCKABOO!¢¢A commercial offering from the States and an excellent version of Tetris. There are a number of different levels, a simultaneous two-player option and a high-score save feature.¢*¢3) TIGRIS¢¢Another commercial offering from Europe which oozes class! There are a host of different shapes, more than any other game in this top ten. Also a high-score save feature.¢*¢2) VALGUS 2¢¢Brilliant variation on the Tetris theme written (surprisingly) in BASIC and compiled using the ABC Compiler. The pieces do move a bit jerkily but I promise your attention will be elsewhere. High-score save feature and progressing difficulty levels make this one of my favourites. Totally frustrating at times!¢*¢1) FORTRESS¢¢In my opinion the best Tetris clone on the Atari 8-bit and it's shareware! High-score save feature, choice of music (or not!), shape counter and lots of options make this game something special.¢*¢So, there's my Top Ten. A number of these titles are available in past issues of TGR, so get hold of them if you can.¢ If you can submit a Top Ten Anything then please do. Don't let this series go the same way as the 'Your Page' seems to have, I implore you. It's too good to let it go to waste.¢¢John E. (TEBSF)¢¢P.S. It was Dredis that didn't make it!¢*¢Top Ten Games - Nostalgia Version¢---------------------------------¢¢Playing games on my 8-bit is something I hardly do any more. There are plenty of bigger and better games on my ST which are vying for my attention (and usually getting it!).¢ However, once upon a time, before a disk drive was a twinkle in my eye, I played games quite a lot. Here are the games that bring a loving smile to my lips.¢*¢10) NINJA MASTER¢¢Not a very good game at all but it has the undoubted privilege of being the first game I ever loaded on my Atari.¢ Reading the manual stated that to load tapes you typed in CLOAD and pressed RETURN twice. This we (we being my father and I) did without any headway. What did ERROR- 21 actually mean?¢ Anyhow we saw the light when looking at the actual tape for this game which told us to hold START whilst turning on the computer and then pressing RETURN. This we did and the rest is history.¢*¢9) OLYMPIC SKIER¢¢Thinking about it, most of the games in this Top Ten are 'family games'. By this I mean games which were extensively played by my father, my sister, my cousin and I. All of us trying to beat the others, but I usually came out top!¢ The best memory I have of this game is that the Ski Jump section completely destroyed my long Atari stick.¢*¢8) LEAPER¢¢Another 'family' game. I remember getting my dad totally jealous because I managed to light up all the letters of 'Leaper' and he couldn't!¢*¢7) CIRCUS¢¢I used to spend a lot of time playing adventures and the Mysterious Adventures were my favourites. I used to obtain (illegally I'm afraid) all these adventures from El Diablo as he didn't like adventures.¢ It was hard to choose which adventure which was ultimately 'special' but I suppose it had to be 'Circus' - it's great.¢*¢6) PREPPIE¢¢My father's favourite game but it brings back horrible memories for me because I could never get near the computer when this was on!¢ It's still a great game though and very addictive.¢*¢5) KILLA CYCLE¢¢Part of the 'Four Great Games vol. 1' from Micro-Value this is one of the most under-rated games for the Atari 8-bit.¢ I remember that I couldn't understand it at first but that was because I had a black & white TV!¢ Whenever I see this game I remember the phrase 'Chock-a-Block' which was what my cousins and I called it when you made your 'cycle' run parallel to a line you had just left behind.¢*¢4) POLE POSITION¢¢Another Atari classic which had more than its fare share of playtime in my bedroom! I remember that we used to really push it to qualify but a simple look at the instructions would have told us that pulling back on the joystick changed gears to HI - we used to run the whole race in LO gear!¢*¢3) KIKSTART¢¢Another game where the instructions were completely discarded. If we'd taken five minutes to actually read them then we would have realised that we had a choice of more than 3 tracks! We happened across this about 3 months later - it did allow us to master tracks 1, 2 and 3 though!¢*¢2) NINJA!¢¢The best memory I have of this game is excitedly playing it and being stopped in my tracks by my father, demanding I go and have a bath. I didn't want to, of course, and I didn't think it was fair that my cousin could continue playing it whilst I was in the bath.¢ Fortunately it all turned out fine though because when I returned to the computer my cousin had found out about the opening in the ceiling, completely by accident.¢*¢1) SPY HUNTER¢¢Not one of the games my family enjoyed but I really loved it. It was extremely difficult having to use two joysticks but I persevered and remember getting an incredible score. Unfortunately I didn't write it down and so it was forgotten forever!¢ I also remember playing the arcade game in Blackpool, in a pub on one of the piers. I loved that too.¢*¢I hope you haven't minded too much about my 'Nostalgia Boost' only these games fundamentally shaped my Atari 8-bit world and I owe them lots.¢¢John E. (TEBSF)¢¢(c) King Software (sorry - another blast from the past!)¢
