August 2025
•August 2025 Edition•
NOTE: Due to circumstances beyond his control, SPACE President Michael Current could not get the President’s Corner ready for this month. He will be back with his famous article for September. Thanks for understanding and reading!
More than anything this SPACE Birthday Party seemed relaxing. Having my wife to help with everything was a load off for me. We had seven people present with six members, and my wife being the only non-member in attendance. Steve thought he wouldn’t be able to make it because of his ride situation, but Glen came through and picked him up so he could join us and partake in the party. The food was delicious and once again Glen came through with the root beer float fixings, even though we didn’t have a freezer available. He figured a way to keep the ice cream cold enough to make it work. It’s always been the best part of the meal for me. So, thanks Glen! We had an extended review of the DOM and (once again thanks to Glen) he found demos, music files and games to fill up the DOM. He actually found an arcade version of Centipede which Roger killed and would be hard for anyone to beat his high score. This DOM helped to sell nine DOMs total and added to Lance’s renewal of his membership we took in a total of $42.00. $27.00 in DOMs and $15.00 for the membership. We started the month of July with a bank balance of $677.03 and before I deducted the cost of the food for the party we had a balance of $719.03. We spent $91.77 on the Cane’s chicken and $23.00 on the two salads for a total of $114.77. So the $677.03 plus $42.00 minus the $91.77 brought our bank balance to $604.26. Not a bad balance in the end. It looks pretty good for funds to be available for a nice Christmas Party in December! We have three more months until then to replenish our bank account balance. The meeting room is working out well for us and we are getting a good turnout for our SPACE meetings.
Message from Captain Irata: “Go play Atari today! TA-RA-RA-BOOM-DEE-AY!”
Don’t forget that the August 2025 SPACE meeting is very early in the month. It lands on August 8th which is the earliest it can be in the month. So please mark it on your calendars and I will see you all in August!
HELLO WORLD! What a night! The SPACE Birthday Party was, again, a complete success. We had a great demonstration of the July 2025 DOM, and the Centipede Arcade game looked great. I am grateful for the help in getting to the Meeting from Glen. Again, my heartfelt thanks and gratitude for that. MEETING COMMENCES: The SPACE Party started around 6:30 PM on Friday, July 11, 2025. Obviously, it wasn’t a regular SPACE Meeting because of the Party, so we just had a great time. The food was great and I am glad to have attended. I will extensively cover the last two DOMs in the Atari 8-bit DOM Review. It’s going to be a big Review because of that, so keep reading. MEMBERSHIP COUNT: We are back up to ten members with July’s membership renewal payments (I believe there were two of them, if I recall). At least, I know of the one I paid for. WEBSITE REPORT: The SPACE website seems to be in good working order. I understand the Google indexing issues Michael has been having with the site, but things are accessible on there anyway. Aside from that, there wasn’t an official Website Report for July. NEW AND OLD BUSINESS: Since it wasn’t a traditional Meeting, there was nothing really to report concerning old and new business. MEETING ADJOURNS; The SPACE Birthday Party ended around 8:00 PM. Well, this concludes the SPACE Secretary’s Report for July 2025. I will be beck with yet another Secretary’s Report for August and I will have the A8 DOM Review as well later in this Newsletter. Thanks for reading! In the words of the late, great Stan Lee... EXCELSIOR!
HOO-RAH!
TABLE OF CONTENTS Page One: The President’s Corner Treasurer’s Report Secretary’s Report Page Two: Atari 8-bit DOM Review
TRIVIA TIME! It is believed that in 1908 in the Tunguska region of Siberia in Russia, an asteroid collided with Earth. This is because there was a massive explosion there that levelled 830 square miles of forest and registered 8 on the Torino scale. The Torino scale measures the hazards arising from impact with Earth by near-Earth objects, especially asteroids.
The next file on this disk is called “Line Runner-24,” a game by Peter Hinz. You play a character running across a landscape where you have to avoid certain obstacles and try to get things to increase your energy and keep running. Colliding into obstacles takes away your points.
Welcome back to the Atari 8-bit DOM Review! We have two DOMs to review this month. We are going to review the DOMs for June and July of 2025 in a double-DOM Review in this month’s SPACE Newsletter. With that said, let’s get started on the Review!
You are granted a few hundred hit points in this game If you lose all your hit points, the game is over. There are four selectable difficulty levels, with the easiest game being called “Mommy,” and the difficulty levels get harder from there. It is really a cool game and well thought out.
June 2025 DOM - Side One The first file on the June 2025 DOM is a 256-byte file called “Realtime Mirror,” by Marek Cora. It shows faces of people in the picture with a mirror image of some of those faces with a message saying “. RTIME . PARTY . MIRROR .” on the bottom of the TV screen.
I like this game, and it is a good strategy running game. I admit I still need to learn a little more about this game, but it is a fun game to play. In fact, I enjoyed it. It needs more graphics in it, but I understand it would take a lot more memory and coding, which makes it bigger and harder to fit onto a disk or cartridge. It is a neat game nonetheless, and I think it would go over well. I like the cartoony look of the images. It looks comical and funny. It’s cool at the same time as well. It’s busy but in a pleasant way. I think it represents the Atari parties that congregate frequently in Europe, especially in Poland. I like it. It looks fun. I know it is only 256 bytes, but I think it could have been more, however it still looks pretty good. It shows a jubilant bunch of people with the least amount of bytes possible. I get that. It’s well-rendered and looks great. Let me score this file now. SCORE:
8/10 (80%)
The next file is another tightly-coded file, but this time it is 260 bytes in size. It is called “Kitt256,” by Krzysztof Rogowski. It shows the speech patterns of the famous car from the show “Knight Rider,” KITT. It is animated and set to the theme music of the show. It’s interesting.
I will score this file now. SCORE: Graphics; Animation: Gameplay: Music/Sound FX: SCORE:
8 9 9 8 34/40 (85%)
The next file is a text adventure called “The Atomic Cathedral,” a reprogrammed game by Zdenek Burian and originally programmed by Miroslav Mzik. Originally programmed in Atari BASIC, the game code was lost to time. However, it seems it was reclaimed by Mr. Burian. It looks like he took a lot of time to resurrect this game. In the game, you have to stop a nuclear reactor from detonating on Venus in the 22nd Century. An alien race in 2115 attacked the planet and damaged the reactor. If it explodes, it would destroy several hundred kilometers. Interesting premise for a text adventure. You know the drill with these types of games. You have to enter the commands on the keyboard and basically imagine your way around. Since it is all text, there are no graphics on the screen, so it leaves a lot to the imagination.
If you are into text adventures, this looks like an interesting one to play. It certainly has intrigue, considering you have to stop the meltdown of a nuclear reactor from happening. That would be quite harrowing for anybody who has a sound mind. It’s a well thought-out story. The premise is pretty good and, if you like text adventures, you might like this one. Let me score this now. TOTAL SCORE:
10/10 (100%)
The next file is a game called “Avery Breakout,” created by P. Kalinowski. You know the drill: deflect the ball into the wall to break the bricks. It’s a cool take on Breakout, but I noticed that the playfield was too big for my TV screen. It was pretty difficult to play because of that. It’s definitely a challenge, but it is easy to see the ball on the screen. I think I need to adjust the screen to make it smaller on my TV to see everything next time I play this game. That is my only peeve about the game that I have.
A fascinating example of tight code. It isn’t much, but it is impressive for 260 bytes. I am impressed by the fact that these programmers use very little code to exemplify what they are trying to do. It’s actually quite an intelligent way of doing it and shows problem-solving skill to the max. Outstanding work. I will score this now. SCORE: Graphics: Animation: Music/Sound FX:
8 8 8
TOTAL SCORE:
24/30 (80%)
Animation: Music/Sound FX:
9 10
TOTAL SCORE:
39/40 (98%)
The next file is an intro called “Fujiyama 2024,” by Dirk Troeger. It shows a young girl wearing a T-shirt with the name of the intro on the shirt. She is standing in front of a bunch of retro computers and there is an animated text ticker on the bottom of the screen. It looks very nicely rendered and it has great music and the text ticker is animated in real time. Very nicely done. I like the presentation. It is excellent. When I was playing, the score and the paddle were cut off, but I saw it on my computer screen where I get screenshots from capturing video for the Review. So, I still saw everything in the game. I guess to play it, you would need to condense the screen somehow.
I like the colors. They compliment each other quite well. Also, it’s got a funny name. I can see the astronaut’s frustration in this picture. He looks forlorn. Nice rendering.
However, it is a challenging game. It has the fun factor and it looks good. It’s easy to see the ball because it trails on the screen. It looks like a comet with its tail. I will score this game now.
TOTAL SCORE:
I will score this now. 10/10 (100% perfect score)
Now, onto Side Two of this DOM, in which only one file encompasses the entire side. It’s going to be good.
SCORE:
Side Two
Graphics: Gameplay: Animation: Sound/FX:
7 9 10 9
I don’t know if this was scanned or drawn on the computer, but I like the artwork. It’s really well done. Great job! I will score this intro now.
TOTAL SCORE:
35/40 (88%)
SCORE:
The next file is called “DMD Jewlz,” a game by Christian Duesterhoeft. It’s a game that looks like you need to match like-colored jewels on the screen. You move the cursor with the joystick and select the jewels. I tried doing that, and I could remove the jewels.
Graphics: Animation Music/Sound FX:
10 10 10
TOTAL SCORE:
30/30 (100% perfect score)
I do admit I need more instruction on this game, so I will give that situation I had with the controls the benefit of the doubt. It’s a good-looking game and it seems to be a lot of fun. I need more practice, I guess.
The next file is a music track called “Second Chance,” composed by Zdenek Eisenhammer. It sounds pretty good. It has a lot of pep in it and is pleasant to listen to. I like this tune. It shows a lot of talent.
The entire side of this DOM is one file, called “Jigsaw Mania,” brought to us by Fandal and his team. The game has simple rules. You have to put a 176-piece jigsaw puzzle together. You pick a puzzle piece and you have to try to put it in the right place. That’s the hard part. However, if you are in the right place for the piece, the piece will change color showing the right position for the piece to be put down. There are different puzzles to be put together. The game has instructions, so it is explained on how to play. You can select any piece you want to play the game from a choice of 176 pieces in each puzzle. It does take practice to understand how to play this game. Fortunately, the instructions are thorough. Once one person gets the hang of it, it’s really fun.
I will score this track: TOTAL SCORE:
10/10 (100% perfect score)
The next file is called “Music Box,” by Tchapsoftware Corporation. It is an interactive file with a plethora of music tracks to select from. You need to press Select to listen to the music you want to hear. There are various genres to listen to, from disco to psychedelic.
I like the choices. It would be great at parties because of the choices of music tracks that are on the file. It really works out nicely that way. Very innovative. I will score this file now. I am not sure yet how many jewels I need to select at one time to clear them from the screen. I guess I plea ignorance there. But, I can see the potential of the game being really addictive and great. It looks fun. Let me score this game now. SCORE: Graphics: Gameplay:
10 10
SCORE: Graphics: Animation: Music/Sound FX:
9 10 10
The trick is to get the puzzle done in the least amount of time. You get points for correctly getting the pieces in the correct places. It’s a cool game. Difficult, but cool. I will score it now.
TOTAL SCORE:
29/30 (97%)
SCORE:
The next file is a picture called “Ain’t Gonna Fly Today,” by R. Szczytko. It shows an astronaut sitting by a crashed spaceship. It looks really well-rendered.
Graphics: Gameplay: Animation:
10 10 10
Music/Sound FX:
10
TOTAL SCORE:
40/40 (100% perfect score)
Now, onto the DOM for July 2025! July 2025 DOM, Side One The first file on this DOM is called “Glitsy,” by Marek Oglodek. It shows patterns of swirls in the demonstration. It is 262 bytes in size, tightly coded. It looks really good and quite artistic. It reminds me of screensaver programs, which can be quite technical as this file is.
Nice execution and a great job of rendering. I like this picture and the animation in it. I will score it now. SCORE:
I like the execution of this file. It’s detailed and fun to look at. Relaxing. Pleasing to the eyes. Great job. I will score this file now. SCORE: Graphics Animation:
10 10
TOTAL SCORE:
20/20 (100% perfect score)
Graphics: Animation: Music/Sound FX:
10 10 10
TOTAL SCORE:
30/30 (100% perfect score)
The next file is the game “Mieyen,” by Inufuto. In the game you have to stop ghostly creatures from eating hamburgers in a maze. It’s like Pac-Man in that sense, but you have to defend the hamburgers by shooting the ghosts, who can become invisible. It’s fun and challenging. It’s also easy to understand. It’s a platform game of sorts. Once you stop the ghosts, and save the burgers, you advance to another level. It’s just keeps going from there.
The next file is called “przy jeziorze,” created by Zdenek Eisenhammer. It is a 266-byte animated cityscape scene. The name of this file means “By the Lake” in Polish, as it is next to a lake, and it has animated ripples. It looks really nice. Well-rendered and detailed for tight code. It uses the colors well, especially the sunset (or sunrise, for that matter). I like the image. It’s a great-looking file. Nice job. I will score this file now.
This game also reminds me of another RPG I played called “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.” It was for the Apple II at the time I was in high school. It was an interesting game, and so is “Hero’s Fantasy: The King’s Sword.” For a simple RPG, this game is quite detailed. It may be in black-and-white, but it’s still fun. I enjoy it. Here’s my score. SCORE:
SCORE: Graphics: Animation:
9 9
TOTAL SCORE:
18/20 (90%)
The next file is a demo called “Lenny the Ninja,” by Ralf Patschke. It is a scanned file showing a “kid in a ninja suit with animated sprites on the bottom of the file, showing Lenny doing different things like running and throwing shurikens (the sharp star-like weapons that ninjas throw). It looks very detailed and it is great to look at. I wonder if there will be a game made from this demo soon. I thought I heard that there was a game soon to be produced from this, but I might be wrong.
It took me a few minutes for me to figure it out, but once I did I was having a ball. Cool game! Simple graphics, but fun premise. I will score this game now. SCORE: Graphics: Gameplay: Animation: Music/Sound FX:
8 10 7 7
TOTAL SCORE:
32/40 (80%)
The next file on this DOM is an RPG called “Hero’s Fantasy: The King’s Sword,” by Offgame. You play a knight who fights skeletons and bats to retrieve life hearts, armor and magic potions. It kind of reminds me of something like “Ultima I” with the overhead view.
Graphics: Gameplay: Animation:
8 10 6
TOTAL SCORE:
24/40 (80%)
The next file is a demo called “Lorien,” by Zax. It has an animated text ticker and has some interesting graphics. I think it has a PAL signal problem, because the text doesn’t come in correctly on my machine, and I think that’s because my machine is NTSC. It is from Europe, after all, but I overlook this. It really is a great technical demo. I like the text effects, although they are distorted on my machine. But, you can still read the text. It isn’t a killer. Cool demo, by the way.
I also like the contrast in the color and the look of the car with the shine on it. It looks like it’s a brand-new car. I will score this file now TOTAL SCORE:
10/10 (100% perfect score)
The next file is yet another picture called “Space Rock,” commemorating SillyVenture 2024 Winter Edition, by Christian Duesterhoeft. I like the typography and the look. It looks like a nice logo from the design of it.
There is artefacting throughout this file. I tried to brighten the image and sharpen to improve its look, but you can see the signal issue in it. It is interesting, but I would like to see more from it. It’s good, but could be better. I will score this file now. SCORE: Graphics: Animation:
8 10
TOTAL SCORE:
18/20 (90%)
The next file is an RPG by Bocianu called “Rogul.” You have to fight myriads of monsters and find keys, gold, scrolls and potions to fight off a demonic tyrant called Amolotolos. It looks really cool and is challenging to play. I need to practice more at this to figure it out. But, it’s a nice little RPG and it’s quite challenging. I like this game and would like to try to figure it out in the future. I have a soft spot for fantasy RPGs.
The gradients look nice as well. It’s very well done. I will score this file now. TOTAL SCORE: The text is the big thing in this demo, as it expands and contracts while it is traveling across the screen. I like this demo. Very technical. I will score it now. SCORE: Graphics: Animation: Music/Sound FX:
8 10 10
TOTAL SCORE:
28/30 (93%)
9/10 (90%)
Now onto Side Two, with more interesting files! Side Two The first file on Side Two is called “Attractor,” by Pawel Matusz. It is a 262-byte demo showing animated gradient patterns that change colors. It looks pixellated, but it’s very good. I like the effect and it’s fun to look at.
The next file is a music track called “Fall of Sky Cross (Nuclear Fire Remix),” by Marek Pesout. It is a cool tune with dynamic and dramatic sound. It’s very nicely done, and I wonder if it was done through the POKEY chip. It’s really that good. It sounds like music from a desperate situation, and by the name I assume it is desperate. It’s also pulse-pounding and has a nice tone to it. I will score it now. TOTAL SCORE:
10/10 (100% perfect score)
The next file is called “Highlander Janosik Plays the Trombita.” It is another music track by Foster/Zelax. It has very nice tones and a lot of range. It reminds me of dance tunes. It has a beat to it, that’s for sure. But, it’s very nicely rendered. The musician knows what he is doing.
The animation is very fluid and nice to view. It I is a dynamic effect and I enjoy it. This is very technical work and it’s a great job. I will score this now.
I will score this track now.
Graphics: Animation:
10 10
TOTAL SCORE:
20/20 (100% perfect score)
TOTAL SCORE:
10/10 (100% perfect score)
The next file is a picture called “Speed,” by Maciej Hauke. It is a well-rendered picture showing a speeding car. It even has the effect of the car going by. It shows speed lines from the car driving past. It’s very nicely rendered.
SCORE:
The next file is an interactive 262-byte file called “Flappy Space Ship,” by Tomasz Majewski. You can control a space ship flying around obstacles. However, it has a PAL problem and doesn’t display correctly.
This is a fascinating and neat RPG. It should satisfy the most seasoned RPG players. I think you would enjoy it, too. I will score this game now.
It’s amazing stuff to look at. It’s also in English and Czech languages, so you can’t go wrong with reading it. I will score this file.
SCORE:
SCORE:
Graphics: Gameplay: Animation:
9 10 6
Graphics: Animation: Music/Sound FX:
10 10 10
TOTAL SCORE:
25/30 (83%)
TOTAL SCORE:
30/30 (100% perfect score)
The next file is called “Centipede Emulator,” ported over by Norbert Kehrer. It is almost exactly like the arcade “Centipede.” Just the graphics look different from its arcade counterpart. But, differences aside, it’s a great game in play and appearance. It’s pretty cool.
The next file is a music track called “Richie Rizz,” by Filip Golewski. It’s a neat little tune. It’s got a fast tempo with some tonal range. Nice drum beat as well. It’s fun to listen to and nice to hear. I will score this tune now. TOTAL SCORE:
9/10 (90%)
The next file is another music track called “Light Summer Breeze,” by Christian Duesterhoeft. It’s light and airy. It has a nice beat to it and it has a medium tempo. Pleasant to listen to. I like the tune and it’s fun. So, let me score it now. TOTAL SCORE:
8/10 (80%)
The final file on this DOM is the last file reviewed in this DOM Review. It is called “The Lost Summoners,” by Robert Smolinski. It shows two women and they look like they are summoning a large demon, and it looks really good. I like the way it was rendered with solid colors.
It is a faithful representation of the 1980 arcade classic. Ed Logg and Dona Bailey would be proud (the creators of “Centipede,” by the way). I will score this file. SCORE: Graphics: Animation: Gameplay: Music/Sound FX:
10 9 10 10
TOTAL SCORE:
39/40 (98%)
The next file is a intro called “Intro68,” by Flop68. It shows an animated text ticker and a black hole in the intro. It looks excellent. It’s well animated and fun to look at. It really shows what the A8 can do with graphics and music. Very nicely done. I quite enjoy it.
I like the complimentary colors in this rendering. It gives the rendering a sinister look and, overall, it looks splendid. Great work! I will score this demo now. TOTAL SCORE:
10/10 (100% perfect score)
Well, that takes care of the Atari 8-bit DOM Review for August. If all goes well, I will be back with yet another A8 DOM Review for September. See you later. Thanks for reading, and Carpe Diem, fellow Atarians!
WHEN YOU ARE BORED AND YOUR DOWN TIME SEEMS LAME, JUST SIT BACK AND ENJOY AN ATARI GAME.
THe next SPACE Meeting and Birthday Party will commence on Friday, August 8, 2025, from 6:00 - 8:30 PM. We hope to see you there! Thanks for coming!