Steg the Slug (Atari ST)
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- čas přidán 8. 09. 2024
- Welcome to The Joy of Sticks! Today we are playing a Codemasters platform puzzle game called Steg the Slug that I discovered on a Zero demo disk.
Don't forget to like and subscribe but most importantly comment down below. What did you think of the game?
Intro music by midierror: / midierror
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As ever, a huge thank you to everyone at Atarimania and Atari Legend for their amazing work:
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Recorded at 50fps using a real Atari 1040 STe (4mb, TOS v1.62, PAL), RGB SCART, a Micomsoft X-Sync1 and a Startech PexHDcap capture card.
Marc's out here bringing us Steg instead of Cover Girl Poker from the same disk
That's on my other channel The Joy of Sticks After Dark.
Never played this one back then, thanks for the discovery
All part of the service! 😉
Love that you are revisiting playable demos, love this take. I did a short interview with Terry a few years back (It is on AL website), met him at the STOS facebook group. For a minute I thought Steg was a STOS game, but guess my mind is playing tricks on me.
Thanks for the video.
I've seen it listed as a machine code game, which would be consistent with other Codemasters games.
Thanks for the feedback. I've often thought of doing something based around cover disks. Not sure what yet, but watch this space!
Oh yes I remember having a demo of this too, ST Action I think (a few issues after they had swallowed my beloved ‘The One for ST Games’). (I remember playing both Pete Sampras and Big Red Racing round at a friends a little later.) Typically great cartoon graphics from the Codemasters. I was never really one for “fiendish puzzlers” to be honest but the cutesy platform interface would have appealed to me more than the likes of say, Pipemania, at least until it got frustrating.
I wasn't much of a puzzle.game fan either. I think it took Tetris and Columns and then Puyo Puyo to convert me, really. There are plenty of puzzlers on the ST I need to explore.
What could have also helped with the controls was another button for "dislodge" or "jump" from a surface. I can't imagine how frustrating it is when you want to turn the corner, but instead, fall off the wall.
Extra buttons can help for sure, but good control design can be even better. Just be more forgiving: if I'm a few pixels from the ceiling and I press left, just get Steg to keep going up until he can attach to the ceiling and go left. Like good platform games do with ladders. Then, if you are going to detach, do a little squelchy, stretch animation and hold it for a frame or two, so the player can stop, or continue to hold to get him to pop off the wall.
Bit of everything here like lemmings, Flood, Hoog, etc .. really like this game. Nice one Marc 👍🏻
Yes. It's a nice mishmash of ideas. Very original for a budget release.
I remember getting this game from Macro back in the day for DOS. I was so excited to play it and was basically bouncing around in the car all the way home. Sadly we couldn't get it to work on the old 286.. One of childhood's big disappointments :(
Gutted! So many times I got back from WhSmiths, heart-pounding, palms sweaty only for a game to refuse to load. I feel your pain!
Great that you have a look on the later ST games. Maybe not the genre I like most, but there seems to be a lot of different mechanics in the game. Good to know about it.
Most of my games came from a certain window of time during the ST's peak, so I have a lot of early and late games to explore. Fun!
@Mark have a wonderful Sunday afternoon mate and thanks for the video 💯👍😉
Cheers mate! You too!
It looks better here than when I last gave it a go....got frustrated and gave up. Now I know what to do I'll have to revisit Stef one day. Cheers Marc
It is a bit frustrating for sure. But once you know what to do you can make progress. It's just a bit naff that the cadence of the later game is to fail Nd then "Oh! Now I know what to do!" Type in the password, rinse it and then repeat for the next level.
Couriously, when I tried to find this game for download, I accidentally discovered 2 great games with also the same name: Slug (the ST user one, there are 2 games with exactly the same tittle for ST) and Slug 2092, a great (but difficult) Smash TV style game.
Arthropod game tier list coming soon! 🤣
Loving the regular uploads now, Marc. Hope to see that longplay of Thundercats on the channel you promised me years back. I suffered, now you must too lol
Well, I'm hoping to have a video up every Sunday from now until the foreseeable. I'm a creature of habit and making it a part of my routine is working well.
Oh, and the Thundercats video... ermm... its on the, you know... 'backburner'? 👀
I remember playing the demo of this game loads haha, I like the little RIP skeletons that gradually appear if you are to slow.
Its one of the games that I clearly recall the graphics, but wow I had forgotten the gameplay.
One game I would love to see you play is Space Crusade, an absolute classic turn-based game.
Those RIPs remind me of how Spidey's health is shown in The Amazing Spider-Man.
Space Crusade is great on the ST. It's such a good representation of the board game. I'll add it to the list, for sure.
the grubs are like lemmings you're guiding to the exit. not sure if it would fix anything, but i'd've maybe tried miniaturising everything down so you don't have to travel as much. get a good portion of each level on one screen. might rob it of too much character.
first time i'm really seeing this, IIRC. was a very late release on the ZX when the mags were starved for new releases. a demo turned up on one of the covertapes, but i don't remember playing it.
Yes, Lemmings is definitely a big influence here, but it's cool that you are not just a floating cursor, but an actual character in the game world. Good shout about getting more on screen. There were a couple of occasions when I completed a level without realising it, because all the success was happening off screen!
@@thejoyofsticks
> all the success was happening off screen!
ugh, yep. could've implemented a separate overall level scroll, or an automatic inset pop-up as the grubs near the exit...
Great idea!
Interesting you would give it 80% but it seemed doubtful you would want to play it again! I would expect better replayability from such a highly rated game; certainly makes me contemplate selling my original copy!
🤣 That was a bit mixed messages, wasn't it!? It's a decent game, and I did go back to it to play some more. It has a slightly frustrating rhythm. Fail a level, figure it out, type in the password, get to the next one, fail it, repeat.
cute game
I never really got into this game. It’s original and innovative in some ways, and the graphics are cute and colourful, but I don’t know… after a few levels I found it repetitive, a bit boring, maybe it needs more variation. And now, watching your video I think I should give it another try .
It's decent, but when you've got.so many other games to play, I'm not sure it can hold your attention. Progress is slow because of how unforgiving the starving mechanic is. I'd have preferred not to have a time limit/hunger and have the game provided difficulty through hazards to keep the grubs safe from along the way.
Really nice graphics and a pretty solid idea. But as you say, it's a bit wonky game play wise. Think I will have to give this one a try anyway though...
It's well worth a try, just for how unique it is. And hey, maybe the level design gets a bit better further on.
I like this game its cute looking and has nice graphics and as annoying as it is it can be quite addictive :)
It certainly has its charm. You could do a lot worse in the budget section of Softspot.
I hate the disgusting theme of this game 😦 but it's actually really nice looking. The style of the graphics reminds me of Flood from Bullfrog, but with a few more primary colours. It's sort of like Flood mixed with Bubble Bobble and Lemmings. A very distinctive game. I can see why people say it's one of Codemasters best titles for 16-bit computers. Nice one, Marc 👍
Disgusting? Molluscs are an essential and beautiful part of our ecosystem, young fellow me lad! 🤣 It's an interesting game for sure and I like he way it has a lemmings style puzzle, but placing you into the world as an avatar, rather than just getting you to click with a cursor as some weird abstract influence.
@@thejoyofsticks OK... you've convinced me to appreciate our sluggy friends. 🤣