FIGHT!… Oh , Wait! – ATARI ST ON AMIGA

FIGHT!… Oh , Wait! – ATARI ST ON AMIGA

The future is here — or is it? Back in the late ’80s and early ’90s, the Amiga really had only one serious rival: the Atari ST. It was a machine that, compared to the Amiga 500 and upward, felt pretty underwhelming. Still, it had a few standout features that earned it a loyal following. The big one, of course, was its built‑in MIDI support and the legendary Cubase music software series. For musicians, that alone made the ST a star.

The worst part for us Amiga users was how similar — yet painfully different — the ST hardware was. Because of that overlap, we ended up with a flood of Amiga/ST dual‑platform ports, meaning games were often designed to fit the limitations of the ST first. The result? Crappy sound, restricted hardware effects, barely any sprite usage, and no proper blitter or copper magic. In other words, we got ports of games that were already compromised before they even reached the Amiga.

Thankfully, this trend didn’t last. As the Amiga surged ahead in sales, support, and sheer capability, developers shifted focus. Once big Amiga‑exclusive franchises started appearing, we said goodbye to the ST — and yes, we laughed while loading games the Atari could only dream of running.

Time heals all wounds, though. The fanboy wars faded, the battlefield moved to consoles, and both retro communities mellowed out. While neither platform sees massive game output today, they still receive new releases every year. Amiga users even enjoy three operating systems in active development, which naturally keeps a few friendly flame wars alive — especially between fans of AmigaOS 4 and MorphOS.

This year has already brought a handful of quality commercial releases and some fantastic shareware titles. All things considered, we can’t complain. In the end, it’s up to us — the community — to keep these beloved platforms alive with new ports, new creations, and the same passion that kept them going for decades.

This ATARI love started late last year where one (Philippe Guichardon (Meynaf)) guy decided to try and port/reverse engineer some ATARI ST game to the Amiga, the game he tried to do this with was Gauntlet, a game that was announced in 1987 for the Amiga, reviews were posted in magazines along with screenshots and so on but the game never surfaced and it was eventually confirmed that it was only for the Atari ST…

GAUNTLET…

Amazingly enough he managed to reverse engineer quite fast and the game turned out to be very smooth and very good work, he also went as far as supporting the game with more features, sadly some users was sad because his game required more memory and a faster CPU than expected (020 and 2mb ram if i remember correctly) but as it most people either use an upgraded Classic or an AGA or even RTG/UAE setup today..well that wasn’t too much of a problem.

JOUST…

Philippe Guichardon (Meynaf)‘s second game was Joust, another solid port of an already hugely popular Arcade and Atari ST classic. But no matter how well it was converted, this was always one of those titles that annoyed me on every platform it landed on. It’s undeniably iconic, but for me personally, it’s always been a game I disliked — clunky, frustrating, and never fun for more than a few minutes.

SUPER SPRINT…

Philippe Guichardon (Meynaf)‘s third game was Super Sprint, a title I’ve always had a massive soft spot for. I must have spent several hundred pounds on it over the last 25 years — not just Super Sprint itself, but the whole family of top‑down racers like Championship Sprint, Super Sprint, Indy Heat, and the rest. This port is another well‑executed one, and easily the one I’ve played the most out of Meynaf’s releases.

After these three games, though, Meynaf suddenly went quiet. Had he lost interest in reverse‑engineering old Atari ST titles? The forums certainly thought so — worried threads popped up, speculation ran wild, and people started assuming the project was dead. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. He eventually resurfaced and confirmed he was still working, even taking requests for new ST games to port.

Months passed with no updates… and then, out of nowhere, a massive surprise dropped. Meynaf was back — and this time he brought a huge game with him.

INTERNATIONAL KARATE…

Philippe Guichardon (Meynaf)‘s fourth game was International Karate, and the forums absolutely exploded when it dropped. I was super excited myself — the C64 version of International Karate was fantastic, and IK+ is still one of the most iconic fighters of the era. But the moment I fired up the ST port… yikes. What a letdown.

And to be clear, the disappointment wasn’t because of the port. The port itself was fine. The problem was the game — bad graphics, awful sound, and gameplay so clumsy it made even the worst early Amiga beat ’em ups look and feel like AAA productions. It was one of those moments where you realise nostalgia can’t save everything.

After that release, Philippe Guichardon (Meynaf) went quiet again. Had the lukewarm reception to International Karate drained his motivation? Was he done reverse‑engineering ST games for good? As of now, that remains his last port — no new releases, no updates, just silence.

SOLOMON’S KEY…

A while back, a new name appeared on the scene: Asman, known for his work on WHDLoad. His first release was Solomon’s Key, a game that carries a lot of fond memories for me from both the Arcades and the C64 era. The Amiga port he delivered was genuinely well done, but the original Atari ST version he worked from was a bit of a mixed bag. It felt stiff, a little slow, and some of the charm — especially in the music — didn’t quite survive the transition.

Still, it’s far from a bad game. In fact, it’s absolutely something every retro geek should check out. Even with its quirks, Solomon’s Key remains one of those timeless puzzle‑action titles that manages to pull you back in, no matter how many years have passed.

A small update from 2015: Solomon’s Key 2 eventually received an Amiga conversion as well — though this time it wasn’t an Atari ST job. Instead, it came from the NES version, making it a completely different kind of project compared to the earlier ST‑based ports. It was a fun surprise for fans of the series and a nice reminder that even decades later, new conversions can still pop up for our beloved platform.

METRO-CROSS…

Asman has been — and still is — very active in the Amiga community. He continues to take requests and suggestions for new games to port or reverse‑engineer, and luckily that enthusiasm led to yet another absolute classic: Metro‑Cross. It’s a splendid port of a splendid original ST game. I had only played the C64 version before, but even so, this one hit me right in the nostalgia. It’s fast, colourful, weird in all the right ways, and honestly? I still think the C64 version is probably the best… but who cares — I’ve got it on the Amiga now! Weeeeeee!

So there you have it: six Atari ST games in less than a year, quietly released into the Amiga scene. Most people probably don’t even know they exist, which is exactly why I decided to write this article. With any luck, the community will keep asking for more ports and keep the Amiga flame burning — even if it’s “just” ST conversions for now. A living platform is a living platform.

As a final note, both ASMAN and Meynaf have worked on other reverse‑engineering projects too — including Heroes of Might and Magic II, which is a wild undertaking in itself. I might do an article (or three) about those later, once I know how far along they are and whether they’re realistically possible to complete.