Buggy Boy (Atari ST Version) - North Course Longplay
3Buggy Boy (Atari ST Version) - North Course Longplay -
All courses completed!!!
Below is the game description...
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Buggy Boy, developed by Tatsumi and released in arcades in 1985, is an off-road racing game where you drive a dune buggy through five unique courses—Offroad, North, East, South, and West—each filled with obstacles like boulders, fences, tunnels, and brick walls. You're racing to beat a tight time limit, with the Offroad course needing five laps around a closed circuit while the others are point-to-point races.
You score points by zooming through gates worth 100, 250, or 500 points, snagging colored flags for 30 points each (with a 1000-point bonus for grabbing five in the right order shown on-screen), and hitting objects like soccer balls for 2000 points. Time gates add two seconds to the next leg's timer, which is vital to keep going.
The game's charm lies in its fun mechanics—hitting logs or stumps to jump obstacles for extra points, tilting the buggy onto two wheels for more scores, and navigating jumps and varied terrain. You steer, accelerate, brake, and toggle between high and low gears, making Buggy Boy arcade racing that's easy to pick up but takes skill to master.
The Atari ST version, released in 1987 by Elite Systems, serves as the foundation for the home computer ports that followed. Using the ST's 16-color palette, it delivers vibrant graphics that, while not quite matching the arcade's brightness, still capture the game's colorful charm effectively.
The five courses retain their arcade layouts with all the varied obstacles intact, and every core gameplay element—flag collecting, score gates, jumps, and two-wheel driving—is faithfully reproduced, making it highly addictive and replayable.
This is an excellent port with enjoyable arcade quality and faithful recreation. Its nostalgic charm just screams 80s, and it's high on my list of games that bring back the best memories. While the Amiga version that derives from this ST code is my actual favorite due to being slightly more playable - the lower frame rate actually making it feel more comfortable and controlled to play - this original version deserves credit as the solid foundation it's built on.
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