Atari Demos

The demo scene in the computer field reached its peak in the 16- bit era.

There were forming groups of computer enthusiasts and crackers who tried to exploit the full potential of their system and to demonstrate with demo programs. The crackers began to incorporate small intros and business cards in the programs broadcast. Through the platform competition between Atari ST and Amiga was also a motivation to emphasize the superiority of their own system by cleverly programmed demos.

The Atari demo scene can be (known under the short form TEX) attributed to the group The exceptions that from 1987 a series of music demos published, spiced up with graphic effects and Textscrolling. The music was largely an adaptation of chiptunes of the C -64 time. Especially music by Rob Hubbard was ported from TEX musician Jochen Hippel. After publication of the milestone BIG Demo 1988 always formed new groups and the scene was getting bigger and more diverse. The Union Demo 1989 was the first ST- demo, to which several groups were involved. Through clever programming and use of undocumented hardware capabilities and bugs could be considerable retrieved from the computer: for example, Scrolling though the ST does not support Hardwarescrolling, representation of the entire color palette at the same time ( usually only a maximum of 16 simultaneously ), precalculated sprites or graphics to the screen edges.

Some groups also dealt with soon the programming of games. For example, the company has emerged Thailon software. Due to the dominance of the PC began in 1993, the downturn in the demoscene. However, groups and individuals throughout Europe are still active, who meet regularly to scene parties.

Atari demos (selection)

Many of these demos can be run with an emulator on the PC.