Atarian Video Game Magazine (May/June 1989)

Atarian Video Game Magazine, May/June 1989
While most companies that have produced video game consoles have tried their hand at an official magazine for that console, no one ever quite had the success of Nintendo with Nintendo Power. At the opposite end of the scale, we have Atarian which was only produced for a few issues. It wasn't that the magazine was especially horrible, it's just that at this time, Atari was mostly pushing games that had been published years in the past. The first issue from May/June 1989 includes: Interview

• Nolan Bushnell - Whye the "Father of Video Games" came back to Atari.

Reviews

• Secret Quest
• Tower Toppler
• Summer Games
• Fight Night
• Impossible Mission
• Double Dunk
• Crime Buster
• Karateka
• Water Ski
• Super Baseball

Departments

• Mailbag - Some of the many letters you've sent us
• Top 30 - Your favorite 10 games for the 2600, 7800, and XE
• Tips & Tricks - Short tips for playing 9 of your favorite games
• Adventures of Atari - Our new superhero battles Ninja-Endo and his vile schemes
• Puzzlers - Paper and pencil puzzles for a break from the joystick

Features

• Previews - Check out these 8 hot new titles coming soon to a store near you
• Sports Superstars - To relax, Doug Williams, Ozzie Smith, and Spud Webb all play Atari video games
• XE Game System - Spectacular graphics, power, expandability, and an extensive game library for under $100

Playing Strategy

• Necromancer
• Donkey Kong Jr.
• Desert Falcon

...and more!

Rescue on Fractalus! (Atari XE) – Strategy

Source: Atarian - Issue Number 3 - September October 1989

This is a strategy guide for Rescue on Fractalus for Atari XE based systems, including the Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE and Atari XEGS from the October 1989 issue of Atarian.

The first thing you may notice is that they spelled the name of the game wrong. It is supposed to be "Fractalus" not "Fractulus". It is spelled fine in the body of the article, just not in the title. This does not bode well for the rest of it...

But actually, the rest of it does give a good overview of the game. I remember trying to figure this game out on my Commodore 64 without instructions and I never could. While it doesn't tell you what buttons to press, this article does tell you what actions you need to take and gives you a couple of strategies to be reasonably successful at it.

There are a number of interesting things about this game. It was first released in 1984 for a number of systems, including the Apple II, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit computers, Commodore 64, Tandy Color Computer 3, and others. At first this would seem like a pretty late guide for the game but the Atari XE version was an enhanced version that came out in 1987 on cartridge that was specific to only Atari XE based computers and the XEGS video game system. It had thirty levels to choose from instead of the sixteen of the original release. Even at that, this was a pretty late guide.

The graphics were generated using fractals, hence the name of the game. An Atari 7800 version was under development but never released that would have used the more advanced capabilities of that system for smoother game play. An unreleased prototype was discovered in 2004.

Finally, George Lucas had some personal input into this game, suggesting that some of the pilots to be rescued should really be the enemy in disguise. This actually added a pretty significant element and a scare factor to the game.