20
Years of
Atari Demos
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The ATARI ST has recently reached its mature age, namely the more than decent
age of 20 years old, what I would dare call a record in computer sciences !
Yes it was born in 1985 and if it doesn't mean that much compared to the span
of humanity, it DOES mean a LOT more in a digital world where computers are
now called obsolete less than 6 months after release.
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It was supposed to display everything in a 320x200 window, 16 colors only and
could only replay basic tunes thru the incorporated YM chip... But years have
shown us so many wonders ! Overscan or even fullscreen, up to 4096 colors at
once (and surely more) and so many unforgettable tunes ! The ST has lived up
way above the expectations of his makers and surely today if they knew it they
would have a heart attack !
So, it's now time to have a good look back at these demos that will always be
remembered and watched endlessly. Unfortunately since I only came in touch
with this field in the early 90s I cannot tell you about earlier tries :(
Digging thru my demo shoebox, I watched an awful lot of demos... Some got me
bored some enough and I was pretty disappointed from the memories I hold.
Others still looked and sounded great and that the reason why I'm now trying
to give you a view on my very personal selection.
1991 : THINGS ARE GETTING SERIOUS NOW
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Yes 14 years ago ! THE LOST BOYS released "OH CRICKEY WOT A SCORCHER" while
ULM unveiled the "DARK SIDE OF THE SPOON". When watching these demos again
they surely look oldschool, quite natural indeed but have you ever seen a main
menu with poly landscape or such a treat as ULM's fullscreen main menu plus
parallax AND sample ? Most screens included look very "old" now but still
enjoyable thanks to cool gfx, opened borders, rasters and tunes we all know by
heart !
1992-94 : ENJOY THE POWER OF 8MHZ !
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I am not too sure about some release dates here though I've been watching the
following demos a lot. Here we find the first pretender, namely the hugely
praised FLIP'O demo ! It still looks great thanks to gfx from true legends
including Spiral who left this world about one year ago :( Sound and code are
awesome and the overall quality is still top notch ! Among my favourite you'll
also find FROGGIES OVER THE FENCE which features the same qualities with a lot
more like that slideshow of 4096 colored piccies + soundtrack on a bare ST but
also their version of the "Another World" cinematic, greatly enhanced tho, not
to forget a huge demopart wich gathered a LOT of talented French sceners !
Another demo that rings to me is ANOMALY. Codewise it's no sky rocket imho but
the marble madness main menu added to many cool screens make it a very nice
demo worth another watch here and there.
Last but not least, SYNERGY brought us their own megademo with so many things
to be seen from the furious intro to their unique 3D trip inside the demo.
Above all I've always loved Scavenger's tunes and we're given so many of them
here ! Not to forget the great Crapman game with 2 players and the zen lyrics
to be read in various screens, including 'Pajaro', aka the "inside story of
Synergy".
APPENDUM : Tho not running on ST, there's one demo from that time that no one
can decently put away, it's BRAIN DAMAGE by AGGRESSION. I don't think any
other STEonly demo has ever carved its signature in the Atari demoscene. Sure
sometimes they enjoyed soundtracks, as in the IMAGINA series, or offered STe
palette or used Blitter. However imho BRAIN DAMAGE managed to bring the best
of STe features, all in one ! From the prerendered introduction to the final
light shaded tunnel, it's all good !
1995 - 1998 : NO MAN'S LAND
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Surely the empiest years in the ST demos history... At that time the true star
was the Falcon, some natural evolution as you could say. We saw newcomers from
Eastern Europe but except for a couple of intros by SYNTAX, there wasn't so
much to feed on... If I remember well BACK IN FRANCE was the only "big" demo
released at that time tho I doubt it will be remembered as one of the best :)
I'm trying to find more demos released back then but there are not, unless my
brain suddenly refuses to remember...
1999 - 2003 : REBIRTH !
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Then it all happened at once and surely the great ERROR IN LINE party played a
huge part in this rebirth ! It gave us several great demos like SWEETIE by DHS
or BREATH by MYSTIC BITES but above all SURETRIP by CHECKPOINT which pushed
the ST FAR FAR away from written specs ! Even today, this demo enjoys a great
"woh" effect on everyone I guess. In 1999 we were also offered DO THINGS by
CREAM, one of my favourite demos and the so long awaited VIRTUAL ESCAPE by
EQUINOX, definitely the BEST 'oldschool' demo of all times imho !
2000 : one year later Leonard of OXYGENE released a very nice 3D trip simply
called STNICCC 2000, something that looked a lot like some known Falcon demo
but on the wrong platform :)
2001 : This second edition of ERROR IN LINE brought quite a bunch of Falcon
demos but the ST was almost starving then... Fortunately SECTOR ONE had taken
ODD STUFF with them on their trip to Dresden ! Technically speaking it's not
breaking any limits BUT the overall quality is almost PERFECT will neat gfx,
lots of cool transitions and many great ideas. Quotation from ST Ghost : "I'll
never do that again !" :)
2002 : We had to wait till 2002 before Grazey brought us his amazing UMD 8730
compil ! Surely not a milestone demowise, except for the 21 minute long intro
but above all it gathered thousands of ST chips from all known composers.
2003 : As another edition of ERROR IN LINE was hold more ST demos were dreamt
of. DHS brought us MOVING INTO DARKNESS, a perfect combination of code, gfx
and msx while RESERVOIR GODS took us by surprise with GRIMEY which is still
unique in my heart ! And once again CHECKPOINT made the earth tremble with
POSH, showing that the ST was pretty good at breaking limits, even 18 years
later. Also CHECKPOINT brought us the most amazing 4Kb simply called 4STER and
featuring not only msx but also 4 or 5 different fx !
In the same year, DUNE fully came back to life after a couple of intros. First
they managed - courtesy of ST Ghost - to get ILLUSION assembled and bugfixed 9
years after it was planned to be out !! On xmas eve they also delivered a very
nice demo called FANTASIA which perfectly mixes old and newschool stuff with
cool gfx by master Mic. A really gift for demo lovers !
2004 - 2005 : GROWING OLDER AND SLOWER
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Peacefully heading for its 20 years, the ATARI ST demoscene is also getting
slower tho it can easily be explained : we are all getting older, busy with
life and have understood that no new generation would come and support the
old monkeys we are :) Tho the pace has gone very slow, supporters are still
here and taking their time to polish their babies before release.
2004 was a quite empty year since I cannot find any big release, only intros
here and there...
But in 2005, the STe lovers of PARADOX brought the good old vibe back with
PACEMAKER ! Dunno if it'll be remembered as a milestone, still it's a fully
enjoyable STe experience with neat fx, cool gfx, great sound and many
polished details which are imho the most important thing to try and reach
perfection. A demo I'll run again and again for sure !
And of course I couldn't end this article without mentionning the 20 YEARS
megademo : we go back to the roots with the wellknown character moving from
one door to another to run independent screens. Maybe not a sky rocket but
surely a GREAT cooperation involving about 60 hardcore sceners ! A great
gift for a birthday and for Xmas too !
2005 AND LATER ? :
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The Atari ST has had its share of great demos and if you have missed some of
them, well you still have enough time to download them under the xmas tree :)
Naturally many releases haven't been mentioned here because of their "minor"
impact on the Scene what doesn't mean in any way that they weren't any good !
Now it's up to you to dig up these demos and watch them again to make your own
opinion :)
Of course the latest BIG demo released on the ST is the 20 Years Anniversary
megademo released some weeks ago and it truly rocks ! Now the last demo I wish
I could see someday is HEFTIG... Do you hear me Santa ??? Come on, I've been a
nice ATARI kid for 15 years now ! :)
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