Development of Nitro for the Atari ST, started in 1989. It was largely inspired by arcade racing games such as Super Sprint and Hot Rod. You collect money and gas as you play each race, and between each race you could upgrade your car. You could also play solo, or multiplayer with up to 3 people.
There were some key differences between the Atari ST and Amiga versions, due to hardware limitations, the Atari ST version only had vertical (up and down) scrolling, while the Amiga version scrolled in all directions.
Nitro was published by Psygnosis for the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST, in 1990.
Hi Jamie, I have fond memories of Nitro on my A500. I was 14 years old in 1993 when I had the privilege to play it.
Nice GFX, smooth action, very playable. Quite an achievement for the time it was released.
The night races had this very cool light effect (reminiscent of Sega’s ancient Monaco GP, another top down racer I loved years before, this time in the Arcade) that made the action more varied an challenging.
Smooth learning curve. You would get better and better with every game. I managed to finish it at the time. I do remember vividly having lots of fun in doing so, even though in the long run it got a bit boring (maybe too long or too easy). Basically after I finished it one time, I never really picked it up again. Still, in the following years I thought Nitro hold up very well when compared with games that came after,
Overdrive from Team 17 for example, even though I kinda liked it and completed it as well, IMHO could not hold a candle to Nitro, what with all the bends 90 degrees and just 2 opponent cars. Nitro has several opponents, very varied tracks. Overdrive had faster gameplay, but all style and no real substance after the initial excitement.
As for ATR, I did not like it, first and foremost I still greatly dislike the GFX style (I think the artist was the same of Body Blows) and find it distracting. Especially in the snowy tracks, I had a hard time figuring out the way. I also remember I just did not like the way the car handled. too responsive perhaps. Anyway, at the time I was in awe with Skidmarks, but that was a different kind game (just pure racing, no powerups, shops, etc).
MicroMachines never did anything for me, either. Turbo Trax seemed mediocre from reviews.
So in my opinion Nitro on the Amiga 500 was surpassed only by Super Cars II.
Today I find the playability of Retro Racing is very reminiscent of Nitro. Looking forward to play the sequel 🙂
Thank you for your kind comments! Hopefully RR2 will be the best yet, it’s taken long enough!
One of the best games I had ever played on the ST!
Having just ran this on an Amiga emulator and seeing how much better it was on Amiga blew me away!! Truly an awesome game! I would love to read a technical article about Nitro on either / both platform(s). I wasn’t able to find anything online.
Thank you for so many countless hours of fun and for all the inspiration that this game provides!!!