Source: Antic – May 1985

Antic was one of the major 8-bit Atari magazines published in the U.S. It also covered the Atari ST though it is better known for its 8-bit coverage. The May 1985 issue includes:

Features

• Antic Bookshelf – Revews of Atari related books including Book of Adventure Games, Atari Graphics & Arcade Game Design, Atari Color Graphics, and 1 2 3 My Computer & Me! A Logo Funbook for Kids, Logo Fun.

• Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – A review of this classic interactive fiction game from Infocom based on the Douglas Adams book of the same name.

• Gem of Atari – A look at the OS of the new 16-bit Atari ST.

• Paper Clip – A detailed look at what turned out to be one of the best word processors for the Atari 8-bit.

• Meet the 68000 – A look at the 68000 CPU which was at the heart of the Atari ST and its effect on assembler and BASIC programming.

• Manipulating Strings – A tutorial on manipulating strings in Atari BASIC.

• Lazy Loader – A type in utility for allowing you to load your BASIC programs via a menu.

• Mode Mixer – A type in utility that allows you to display multiple graphics modes on one screen.

• Beer Party Atari – A type-in application program designed for rating beer.

• Son of Infobits – A type-in database program that is an expansion of a program published in a previous issue.

Departments

• Communications: TScope Autodialer – A type-in add-on for the public domain communications program TScope that allow automatically dialing and logging in to a BBS.

• Game of the Month: Area Racer – A type-in game in which you race your “Huntercraft” through caverns while avoiding laser fire.

• Toolbox: Handy USR Routines – A collection of short machine language routines that you can use in your own programs. Functions range from evaluating boolean expressions to playing music and much more.

• Bonus Game: Amazing – This type-in maze chase game requires the Action! cartridge.

• Assembly Language: Fader II – A type-in program that implements a dot-by-dot picture dissolve effect.

• Edtorial – A reflection of Antic’s history as it begins its fourth year of publication.

• I/O Board – Letters from readers about Broderbund, repairing the Trak disk drive, the Sears Performance TV/Monitor, and more.

• Product Reviews – Reviews of Ghostbusters (Activision), Spy Vs. Spy (First Star Software), MAC/65 Toolkit (Optimized Systems Software), U.S. Adventure (First Star Software). 50 Mission Crush (Strategic Simulations Inc.), and Beyond Castle Wolfenstein (Muse Software).

• New Products – A brief look at new Atari related products including Hush 80 thermal printer, Bounty Bob Strikes Back, Masteri 8 BASIC ng Your Atari Through 8 BASIC Projects (book), U-Print A64 printer interface, Smartmodem 2400, Print Shop, and the Homewriter 10 printer.

…and more!

Source: ANALOG Computing – November 1984

ANALOG Computing was probably the most popular Atari 8-bit computer magazine published in the U.S. It covered all of Atari’s 8-bit computers through its life including the Atari 400, Atari 800, Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 1200XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE and more. It also occasionally had Atari ST coverage though it was always primarily an 8-bit magazine. The November 1984 issue includes:

Features

• AtariCon Report – A report on the first international Atari users convention which was held August 24th and August 25th 1984 in Southfield, Michigan.

• Bopotron! – A type-in platform game in which you must control a robot running around a spaceship trying to keep all of the power packs charged.

• Circuit Database – A type-in program designed to store and organize circuit diagrams.

• XL-DOS – A type-in modification of Atari’s DOS 2.0S for XL computers to make it faster and more efficient.

• Cassette Compressor – A type-in program for compressing programs on cassette and making them load faster.

• BOFFO! – A type-in program that will convert object code into data statements.

• Bopotron Construction Set – A type-in construction set for the Bopotron game above that allows you to create your own levels.

• Race in Space – A type-in machine language game for one or two players in which you race through an asteroid field.

• An Interview with Free Fall Associates – An interview with Jon Freeman and Anne Westfall of Freefall Associates. They were known for games such as Archon, Archon II, and Murder on the Zinderneuf.

Reviews

• A Software Cornucopia – Reviews of Pengo (Atari), Infidel (Infocom), Mr. Robot and his Robot Factory (Datamost), Flak (Funsoft), and Questron (Strategic Simulations, Inc.).

• Archon II: Adept – An in-depth review of Archon II: Adept, from Electronic Arts.

Columns

• Rader Comment – Letters from readers about the Ape-Face printer interface, Micro-Puzzler, plotting 3D images, and more.

• Griffin’s Lair – Reviews of educational programs including Seastalker from Infocom, Dragon’s Keep: Troll’s Tale from Sierra On-Line, and Tonk in the Land of Buddy-Bots from Mindscape.

• New Products – A brief look at new Atari related products including the Hush 80S printer, Gumball from Broderbund, Getting Started with the Atari 600XL (book), the Anchor Signalman Mark XII 1200bps modem ($399), Pitfall II and H.E.R.O. from Activision, Quest of the Space Beagle from Avalon Hill, and more.

• Ask Mr. Forth – A FORTH tutorial with demo code.

• BASIC Training – A continuing series on how to write a game in BASIC which uses a Battleship clone called High Seas as the game to be written.

…and more!