This is by far and away the best version of Rick I have seen, given that it's also the one I've played the most. It's the one that I found first, that contained the "waaaaaa!" effects that I thought were so great.
A handful of emulators exist for the Atari ST. My latest recommendation is Steem v3.1, now favoured as it is as customisable as I have ever wanted an emulator to be, and offers a vastly improved save-snapshot feature over my previous recommendation, WinSTon. Steem runs on Windoze 95, 98, ME, 2000 and XP; there is also a Linux version, XSteem.
Steem will read MSA, ST and DIM disk images, and stand-alone PRG program files. It uses the STS format for save-game snapshots, which, to the best of my knowledge, is intended to be the standard format transportable between emulators. One of its key features is definable shortcut keys; I recommend defining F9 and F10 to start and stop the emulation, and F7 and F8 to load and save snapshots. Some disk menus require the function keys to load different games, but I know of none that will require F7 and above to select a game.
WinSTon v0.4 was my previous emulator of choice. Version 0.5 was the last, which I never tried, before it morphed into STew, which is out there somewhere, but I never found a working copy! The major problem with WinSTon v0.4 was the dreadful reliability of the save-snapshot feature, which used MEM files, designed as a snapshot of the entire memory and hence, in STE emulation mode, would be a megabyte each. Continuous failure of these snapshots to load led me to find an improved emulator.
Once the mainstay of ST emulators, DOS-based PaCifiST is now ancient, and much harder to use, unless you read the manual thoroughly and get used to it. If you have to use PaCifiST, choose version 0.46, which tends to be more reliable than 0.48.
Finally, there are two emulators I have never tested: SainT, developed in part by Arnaud Carré, who coded the 32KB version of Rick 1 in the remakes section; and STonx, designed specifically for Linux. Whether it is a competitor for XSteem or not is beyond me, as I am not running Linux.
Steem recommends the UK TOS images over the US versions. Both Rick games, as with most games, work best with UK TOS 1.02. Since any site containing TOS ROMs will be shut down on a regular basis, the only link I can think of that will be of any assistance is the one in the table.
The Little Green Desktop is regarded as the central core for ST information, but now offers no downloads, directing the user to the ST forums to look for FTP servers. Fortunately, there is an FTP server I found where all the Automation, D-Bug, Medway Boys and Flame Of Finland disks can be found, so I've included a link here so all you Atari fans can play Rick the way you want to. The Atari Archive is even more extensive.
Various disk images contain the two Rick games; the features of each have been highlighted.
| EMULATORS | ||
| Steem v3.1 for Windoze 98, ME, 2000, XP: | Go to the site | Direct download |
| Steem v3.0 for Windoze 95: | Go to the site | Direct download |
| XSteem v3.1 for Linux: | Go to the site | Direct download |
| UK TOS images for Steem: | Go to the site | Direct download |
| USA TOS images for Steem: | Go to the site | Direct download |
| WinSTon/STew emulator: | Go to the site | |
| PaCifiST emulator: | Go to the site | Direct download |
| SainT emulator: (untested) | Go to the site | |
| STonx emulator: (untested) | Go to the site | |
| Other TOS images: | Try this | |
The game file links below use the following codes for the cheatmode features implanted by the various crack teams. Some cheats are availavle independently of each other (e.g. "press F1 for infinite lives, F2 for infinite shots..."), others are included in an all-or-nothing package (usually "press T for trainer").
| GAME FILES | ||
| Rick 1 page on the LGD: | Go to the site | |
| Rick 2 page on the LGD: | Go to the site | |
| Rick 1: Automation #120 (recommended)
with: Thunderbirds, Beam Separate IL, IS, IB, SL |
Go to the site | Direct download |
| Rick 1: Fuzion #2
with: Beyond The Ice Palace, Thundercats, Skweek, Kick Off All-in-one trainer (IL, IS, IB, SL) |
Go to the site | Direct download |
| Rick 1: Fuzion #12
with: Chase HQ, Super Sprint, Quartz All-in-one trainer (IL, IS, IB, SL) |
Go to the site | Direct download |
| Rick 1: Medway Boys #28
with: Rodeo Games All-in-one trainer (IL, IS, IB, no SL) |
Go to the site | Direct download |
| Rick 1: Medway Boys #30
with: Indiana Jones, Balance Of Power 1990 In-game cheat keys to add extra lives, bullets, dynamite, and toggle invulnerability. Game runs slower than normal! |
Go to the site | Direct download |
| Rick 1: Pompey Pirates #1v2
with: New Zealand Story, Gridrunner, Head Over Heels, Stack-Up Separate IL, IS+B, Inv, SL Use level (n-1) to select; 4 = direct end sequence |
Go to the site | Direct download |
| Rick 2: Automation #362
with: Magic Fly, Yolanda All-in-one trainer (IL, IS, IB) |
Go to the site | Direct download |
| Rick 2: Flame Of Finland #49
with: (a game which I will not mention!) Separate IL, IS, IB, 8/16 (press left & right at level select menu) |
Go to the site | Direct download |
| Rick 2: Medway Boys #93
with: Microprose Soccer 2 In-game cheat keys: add zaps, bombs, lives; toggle invulnerability and Medway Mode (invulnerability and infinite everything), SL5. |
Go to the site | Direct download |
| Rick 2: Pompey Pirates #57 (recommended)
with: TV Sports Football, Hardball Separate IL, IS, IB, Inv, SL5 |
Go to the site | Direct download |
The Atari ST version uses a joystick only; there is no keyboard option. Joystick emulation is definable in Steem, WinSTon and PaCifiST, and I'd assume it to be available in the others. Don't ask me about using a real joystick with an emulator, I haven't got one.
See the "How to play Rick Dangerous" page to see how to use Rick's arsenal of weapons.
The crackers & hackers that regularly packaged and pirated Atari ST games usually included a cheat menu during the loading process, nullifying the need for any cheat codes. The various options on the cheat menus are highlighted in the table above.
This said, for the traditionalists among you, typing POOKY on the high score table will let you start on the level you died on - although this is no use until you can clear South America. It is better to use Steem's save-snapshot facility instead.
Hit the thumbnail to see a full-size version of the screenshot.
| RICK 1 TITLE SCREEN | SOUTH AMERICA | EGYPT | SCHWARZENDUMPF CASTLE | MISSILE BASE | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| RICK 2 TITLE SCREEN | HYDE PARK | THE ICE CAVERNS OF FREEZIA | THE FORESTS OF VEGETABLIA | THE ATOMIC MUD MINES | THE FAT GUY'S HEADQUARTERS |
|
|
|
|
|
|
