Want to find classic gaming computer with games similiar to the Atari St?

[Richter Belmount]

I heard theres alot of underrated classics on the Atari St , but I feel like most of the games are exclusive to the pal market or am I wrong? Was there a classic gaming computer in the united states with a similiar library of games?

[j_factor]

Atari ST was very much around in the US. There are quite a few European exclusives, especially late in its lifespan, because it had more longevity there. But it's not like it was only popular in Europe. Also, I'm pretty sure European games will play fine, there will just be a speed difference.

But to answer your question, the ST shares a very large number of games with the Amiga. As the Amiga had a higher color palette and a better sound chip, the Amiga versions are usually a tad better. I would recommend Amiga over Atari ST myself. But I'm sure some Atari fan will chime in.

[Soviet Conscript]

Atari ST was very much around in the US. There are quite a few European exclusives, especially late in its lifespan, because it had more longevity there. But it's not like it was only popular in Europe. Also, I'm pretty sure European games will play fine, there will just be a speed difference.

But to answer your question, the ST shares a very large number of games with the Amiga. As the Amiga had a higher color palette and a better sound chip, the Amiga versions are usually a tad better. I would recommend Amiga over Atari ST myself. But I'm sure some Atari fan will chime in.

i think the atari acually had the better sound capabilities, not 100% sure though. amiga versions did look slightly better imho though

[phreakindee]

Both Amiga and ST are extremely close, as many games were just ported between them. For the first several years, many games originated on the Atari ST and only got ported to the Amiga. Once some really talented people started coding for the Amiga first, you got some games that really blew the ST away (lots of games from '91-'94)

[Bojay1997]

Both Amiga and ST are extremely close, as many games were just ported between them. For the first several years, many games originated on the Atari ST and only got ported to the Amiga. Once some really talented people started coding for the Amiga first, you got some games that really blew the ST away (lots of games from '91-'94)

Actually, very few games started on the ST and got ported to the Amiga. It was almost always the other way around. In addition, there are almost no ST exclusives outside of some very early games and some Atari released stuff.

[tom]

Yes, in UK and Germany, many titles originated on ST and got later ported to Amiga (The ST was almost popular from the beginning, the Amiga 1000 was not (too expensive). So the ST did have an almost 3 year headstart until the A500 arrived on the scene, which only became really popular in 1989 with the introduction of the Batman pack-in). Of course, past 88/89 once the A500 gained popularity, things changed and it was then the other way around. So you could say, the first 3 years the ST games were all 16-bit exclusives.

Personally, I didn't like the ST (I'm A8 man), as the ST was done by Commodore people and the Amiga was done by Atari people, so for me, the Amiga was the computer of choice.

Anyway, in answer to your question, the PC has had a simular library of games for the US market from early on.

[Cantaloup]

In addition, there are almost no ST exclusives outside of some very early games and some Atari released stuff.

This raises a question I've been thinking about: what (good/notable) games were available on the ST but not the Amiga, or were superior on the ST?

The only one I can think of right away is FTL's excellent space trading game SunDog, which I don't think was on the Amiga. There was also an ST remake of the classic Star Raiders, but I don't remember it being that amazing.

[Soviet Conscript]

This raises a question I've been thinking about: what (good/notable) games were available on the ST but not the Amiga, or were superior on the ST?

The only one I can think of right away is FTL's excellent space trading game SunDog, which I don't think was on the Amiga. There was also an ST remake of the classic Star Raiders, but I don't remember it being that amazing.

Captain Blood is superior on the ST. its the only version with all the alien languages/sounds or something to that effect.

[Bojay1997]

This raises a question I've been thinking about: what (good/notable) games were available on the ST but not the Amiga, or were superior on the ST?

The only one I can think of right away is FTL's excellent space trading game SunDog, which I don't think was on the Amiga. There was also an ST remake of the classic Star Raiders, but I don't remember it being that amazing.

I'd love to see a list myself. I have been searching for exclusives and superior versions for the ST for the past couple of years and I can't really find more than a handful of exclusives and really no superior versions as in those cases where the game originated on the ST, it was almost always upgraded in some way for the Amiga release.

[j_factor]

Ultima V is better on ST. The Amiga version only has one tune that plays throughout the entire game.

[Bojay1997]

Yes, in UK and Germany, many titles originated on ST and got later ported to Amiga (The ST was almost popular from the beginning, the Amiga 1000 was not (too expensive). So the ST did have an almost 3 year headstart until the A500 arrived on the scene, which only became really popular in 1989 with the introduction of the Batman pack-in). Of course, past 88/89 once the A500 gained popularity, things changed and it was then the other way around. So you could say, the first 3 years the ST games were all 16-bit exclusives.

Personally, I didn't like the ST (I'm A8 man), as the ST was done by Commodore people and the Amiga was done by Atari people, so for me, the Amiga was the computer of choice.

Anyway, in answer to your question, the PC has had a simular library of games for the US market from early on.

This information is just not accurate. I spent quite a bit of time in Europe in the 80s and at one point knew more about the UK and European games market than the US in the mid to late 80s. The ST wasn't really released in most of Europe until late 1985 and development was somewhat delayed because Atari didn't get tools and development hardware out until early 1986 to most developers. Please also remember that most UK software houses at that time were small 8-bit focused operations or publishers that bought finished product from developers. There were a handful of larger publishers, but they were slow to support the ST. The Amiga 500 was released in 1987 and took off almost immediately, at least in the UK (although taking off is relative considering that the C64, Amstrad and Spectrum were still outselling both the ST and Amiga well into 1988/89). The ST maintained some market share because of its focus on music and productivity applications. As such, there was maybe only a year total where the ST was dominant and almost every major title I am aware of received an Amiga port within a short period of time if it had been ST exclusive to begin with. The heyday of 16-bit Amiga games was from 1987 - 1991 and frankly, almost every game in that time period originated on the Amiga and was ported after the fact to the ST.

The PC did not have the vast majority of Amiga or ST games in its library and for those in which it did, they were far superior on the Amiga and ST. Obviously, once SVGA, CD-Rom and audio cards became standard in the early 90s, the typical PC was on par or more capable than the average Amiga or ST, although still less user friendly and less elegant.

[tom]

well there you go, I lived in UK for 20 (mid 80s -2005) years and ran 8/16 The Atari fanzine, visited numerous computer trade fairs in London Earls Court, Olympia London, even Alexandra Palace, I also was a regular visitor to Atari SLough UK and own the COMPLETE C&VG (excellent resource) and numerous (approx 2000) other UK gaming magazines. Spending a vacation is one thing, but being there living, working etc, it's quite a different matter.

The only thing you're right about is actually the C64 and Spectrum outselling ST/Amiga.

Anyway, another absolute classic on ST is Dungeon Master, the Amiga version was just....not good.

The PC did have a vast gaming library along with ST/Amiga, just take a look at Microprose, Origin, Sierra, EA, US based mostly (with EA and Microprose opening offices in UK too), but of course, these companies started to drop ST first, then Amiga and continuing on IBM.

[Bojay1997]

well there you go, I lived in UK for 20 (mid 80s -2005) years and ran 8/16 The Atari fanzine, visited numerous computer trade fairs in London Earls Court, Olympia London, even Alexandra Palace, I also was a regular visitor to Atari SLough UK and own the COMPLETE C&VG (excellent resource) and numerous (approx 2000) other UK gaming magazines. Spending a vacation is one thing, but being there living, working etc, it's quite a different matter.

The only thing you're right about is actually the C64 and Spectrum outselling ST/Amiga.

Anyway, another absolute classic on ST is Dungeon Master, the Amiga version was just....not good.

The PC did have a vast gaming library along with ST/Amiga, just take a look at Microprose, Origin, Sierra, EA, US based mostly (with EA and Microprose opening offices in UK too), but of course, these companies started to drop ST first, then Amiga and continuing on IBM.

Well, perhaps you can fill us in on which ST games were exclusive to the platform then. The only ones I can find are Oids, Sundog, Midi Maze and Star Trek Rebel Universe and several of the Atari UK released titles in the blue boxes. Even then, all of those games but the Atari UK ones were either ported to other consoles or computers (Oids and Midi Maze) or ports of pre-existing 8-bit versions (Star Trek Rebel Universe and Sundog). I still strongly disagree with you that ST to Amiga porting occurred for more than a year or so. It almost immediately reversed and finally got to the point where there could be a delay of over a year for the ST port to be released if ever. In fact, every game I can find from 1987 on was either simultaneously released on both platforms or released on Amiga first and ST later. The ST to Amiga ports appear limited to 1986 and late 1985 is the only time I can find any games that were ST only on 16-bit, but still not exclusive to the ST.

The PC had a large library in its own right, but many, many, in fact most of the Amiga/ST games were never ported as PC sales were significantly stronger in the US for gaming than in Europe and therefore many of the larger Amiga/ST publishers didn't bother with PC versions. Based on what the OP was asking about, the Amiga fits the bill perfectly as it did enjoy some success in the US and many US Amiga shops imported European titles well after the major US developers stopped supporting the Amiga.

[Jorpho]

Sundog is apparently a truly splendid game.