MiSTer FPGA Forum

Start your engines, it's time for Stunt Car Racer on the Atari ST. A true classic.

Stunt Car Racer on AtariMania
Stunt Car Racer on Youtube

Play however you'd like! The point is to enjoy and have fun, but if you would like to compete on high scores, please let us all know how you played (as in, with a arcade control panel, gamepad, etc.). We're on the honor system here for reporting high scores, so if you used cheats, fess up!

Please share with us your thoughts, jokes, frustrations or anything else related to this game that you may discover (i.e. if you discover the game itself was featured or visible in some other form of entertainment like a movie or TV show).

Games like this definitely show me why some PC gamers would often deride home consoles back then. The ST came out in 1985 while the SNES didn't gain similar 3D capability until 1993's release of the Super FX chip on Star Fox / Star Wing! The NES was just hitting the international markets when the ST was available. Clearly from a computational power standpoint, the ST was far more advanced than the NES.

Obviously this situation is still true today with PCs being able to do far more than a current-gen console, but I feel like the practical difference is smaller (unless you consider VR capability). The huge jumps in video game graphical quality throughout the 80s and the early 00s don't seem to be as much of a thing anymore.

This looks like a good resource for help with setting up the ST core: viewtopic.php?t=13

I played some of this game today after getting the core setup (follow the link in my previous post that in turn links you to a YouTube video. Look in the video description text for a download and follow the video's instructions).

I like it! It's more "bouncy" than I expected. The car really gets a lot of hang time in the air when you land after jumping, so you have to plan out your route with this in mind. It's going to take some practice before I'm good at it, but it's different, and I'm glad I got the ST core setup.

I also tried an Adams Family game included in the setup files, and that was surprisingly fun too.

This is my first experience with any kind of Atari computer. I am definitely interested enough in it that I will be exploring more games in the future. I'm very grateful for the community software packs that get us up and running so quickly with these cores!

Ok, finally had a chance to sit down with Stunt Car Racer. I did it after a long session of Gran Turismo 7 so that felt a bit weird. But after a while everything came back to me. I've never played the Atari ST version before but as far as I can tell it felt pretty much like the Amiga version. Maybe some differences that I couldn't spot.

This game is just super impressive. Even if the framerate is not up there it feels really good. And I like the fact that there aren't that many tracks, it makes it easier to focus on getting the best possible result on each one.

Great game!