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EAT MY BOLLOCKS...er... BALLS!
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While real ST intros got quite seldom after the big releases over the last years
the humble ST users have to fight with a new epidemic, that made a unsuspected
comeback from the old and dark days of ST demo coding... SPRITE RECORDS!
In fact the ST demo lovers were tormented again with such intros, that were
build up around the same topic, to show up as much sprites as possible in the
same way, with the same music, same surroundings on the screen and same
technical rules. I didn't loved those screens that much already in the past, as
the most released megademos contained such a screen with limited sprites and
every coder who thought to belong to the elite guys, tried to beat the records
set by other bands... Beat this... do you remember this slogan?!
Somehow with the dead of big parts of the old ST demo scene in the middle 9o's
also sprite record screens seemed to belong to the past as well and over years
not one single "I kick your balls" screen was released anymore... if... yes if
Leonard of Oxygene wouldn't have re-invented that record run again, and, if he
hadn't found a wave of willing coders to try to beat his records... and so we
got flooded again, with always the same looking screens, some times changing a
colour and the scrolltext...
LEONARD of OXYGENE - 268 balls (512k)
released - o7/2k4
Leonard did it again... what?! Starting the challenge for new sprite records!
Ok, his screen is a bit funny at the moment as you have to type in a password to
watch the screen, if you did so, a sampled tune is replayed while the real
screen is loading. This intro screen features the usual blabla about the techs
that have to be included for record hunters... The screen itself, well, it
brings 268 2plane sprites in 16 x 16 pixels, some 2 plane background logos and a
5 pixels horizontal one plane scrolly with the usual blabla... Not to forget
Count Zero's nerve eating beeping chip tune... Erm... tell me, do we really need
that stuff again?!
PHANTOM - 25o balls (1meg only)
released - 1o/2k4
After a black screen saying "code by Phantom" we get yellow/orange Phantom logos
in the background, 25o blue balls and a text displayer, not the usual scroller
and so it surely matches into this competition, but... tell me, does really
someone care about this?! Not to forget the Count Zero beeeping tune... Arf! So
this screen not kicked the record and doesn't matches to the rules...
PHANTOM - 221 balls (512k)
released - 11/2k4
Arf... Phantom did it again, he brings us 221 blue balls now with grey-green
Phantom logos in the background, Count Zero chips and the usual scrolly with the
how to do of this record... Boring, boring, boring... At least he is in the
compo again... even though Leonard is far far away...
UNLIMITED MATRICKS - 238 balls (512k)
released - 11/2k4
Hu? What? The Unlimited Matricks striking back over 10 years after they suddenly
disappeared fronm the scene?! Hum, it seems so, self procedure as in every
record screen, balls, logos, chip tune... scrolly... but, this one features some
light sign as they at least announced to finish a vanished demo from 1993... Ok,
we all know, words are easy to give, but bytes are are hard to follow... but for
this one, I wouldn't say I believe every scrolltext, but it made me, let me say,
a bit more happy... Erm...
SCUM OF THE EARTH - 269 balls (512k)
released - o2/2k5
Ok, here we go for another comeback... Scum Of The Earth, shortly, S.O.T.E. did
it, kicking finally Leonards record with one glorious sprite... S.O.T.E.? you
might ask... yes, an old swedish band that appeared in the very early nineties
here and there with a screen, if I remember right also in a Delta Force demo...
In fact this new appearance isn't that kicking as it looks, smells and sounds
like the screens before... Yurk...
PHANTOM - 27o balls (512k)
released - o3/2k5
And then Phantom striked back, with even one sprite more and... wow... a similar
intro as Leonard did before, sampled music in the loader/intro screen.... The
rest... aaah.. I won't loose much more words here...
PHANTOM - 28o balls (512k)
released - o3/2k5
This screen by Phantom comes again with a fast looped sample tune in the intro
screen, not that bad but I wait for more ideas ;) Ofcourse the rest of the thing
is the usual crap and I can tell you, my ears are quite tormented after all
those beeping screens as well as my eyes are bored to death...
LEONARD of OXGENE - 312 balls (512k)
released - o3/2k5
This one was the last in the wave of sprite record screens that overflooded the
Atari scene within the last months.
And this one is a special one as it features a nice small intro with sampled
rocking sound and a big flying rastered Atari bee sprite, the record screen
itself offers a load of the usual balls in brown (shitty) colours, the usual
scroller, the usual chip tune by Count Zero and a nice Oxygene logo in the
background... Hey, it works! Hu? What?
To make those boring screens a bit more digestible for normal demo consumers
that want to have their eyes teased as well. Well done, Leonard!
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Conclusion... At last, those Sprite record screens seem to lose a bit of their
boring attitude and it is really time for this as the constant
bombing with new records is only interesting for hardcore coders
but not for the "normal" demo consumers. Those "Try to beat this"
things were over and belong to the past, and honestly at least I
see no sense in reanimating this boring tradition again as this is
a big step backwards in the Atari demo culture that happily has
left all that oldschool boringness already over 13 years ago... So
please, lovely record breakers, add a few bits to your screens to
take away their boringness! A little intro would be always nice,
and is, as Leonards latest attempt shows, always possible...
______________________________________________________________moondog_o3/2k5____
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