Atelier, Atelier Dusk

Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky – Corporate Alchemy

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After the emotional journey that was Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk, Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky followed a year later. This time we were promised a pair of playable protagonists — something we hadn’t seen in the series since Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy.

This time around the two “paths” through the game are less noticeably different from one another than they were inΒ Mana Khemia 2, due to the fact that the two protagonists spend most of their time alongside one another. It’s still worth playing both routes, however, as not only do you get to “hear” the innermost thoughts of each protagonist in their own respective route, there are some endings that can only be seen by one protagonist or the other.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves! What exactly isΒ Atelier Escha & Logy,Β and how does it fit in to theΒ AtelierΒ series as a whole? Read on and let’s find out together.

Continue reading Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky – Corporate Alchemy →

Evercade A to Z, Videos

Evercade A to Z: Claymates

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Interplay put out a fair few “claymation” games in their time, of varying degrees of quality!

One that was on the slightly better end of things wasΒ Claymates,Β an inventive and enjoyable side-scrolling platformer with some interesting level design and some peculiar mechanics.

Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari ST A to Z: Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles

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Heroes in a half-shell! Turtle power! But only in a form friendly to the delicate eyes of the Great British Public, thank you very much, none of that “ninja” nonsense here.

Image Works’Β Teenage Mutant Hero TurtlesΒ for Atari ST was a port of Konami’s NES game — and a title that made a fair few people mad when it first came out andΒ wasn’tΒ a port of Konami’s classic arcade game. Still, it’s an interesting title in its own right — even if the ST version perhaps isn’t the best way to experience it!

Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!

Atari A to Z

short;Play, Videos

short;Play: Mighty Gunvolt Burst

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Inti Creates, as you’ll know if you’ve read my feature on them, read my many words on Gal*Gun Double Peace and Gal*Gun 2, and listened to our Inti-centric podcast episode, make fantastic games.

One of my favourite games of theirs that doesn’t haveΒ Gal*GunΒ in the title isΒ Mighty Gunvolt Burst,Β a game which is essentially nothing but Inti Creates fanservice. Dripping with the “enhanced retro” aesthetic the team are such masters of, this is a challenging platform adventure with satisfying progression mechanics.

Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z: Zone X

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Gremlin Graphics was a developer who lasted a long time — from the early 8-bit days right up until the early 2000s, when the company was swallowed by Infogrames, and then folded. Today the Gremlin spirit lives on in the developer Sumo Digital.

Zone XΒ is a classic Atari game from Gremlin Graphics I remember playing back in the day and never being able to get very far with. Turns out I still can’t get very far with it, but it’s an interesting game nonetheless!

Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!

Atari A to Z

Announcements

An Important Update

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Hello everyone, just a relatively quick one today, as I wanted to update you on a few things.

As you’ll know if you’ve been paying attention recently, I have a new day job working over at Rice Digital as the editor. It is, not to put too fine a point on it, a dream job. I spend my days getting paid to write things, make videos and go through other people’s work with a virtual red pen. I hope those of you who have stopped by have enjoyed what I’ve been doing over there — there’s plenty more to come!

Taking on that role has led me to think carefully about a few things, though, so I wanted to outline exactly what I’ve been pondering recently — and let you know what that means for my “passion projects” around the Internet.

Continue reading An Important Update →

Fatal Rewind

Formula 1 97: Racing, Refined

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A year after the well-received Formula 1 hit the PlayStation, Bizarre Creations proved that their apparent skill in creating great racing games wasn’t just a fluke — because they made another Formula One game, and it was even better.

Formula 1 97Β hit store shelves in September of 1997, a month before the 1997 racing season came to a close. While development ran fairly smoothly — and apparently legendary commentator Murray Walker was so impressed with the game that he signed an exclusive agreement with Sony to provide commentary for another two years — Psygnosis and Sony ran into legal issues with the sport’s various governing bodies after the game launched, and ended up having to repackage, rename and rerelease the game.

Thankfully none of that matters now, andΒ Formula 1 97Β still provides an enjoyable racing experience for both arcade racer fans and more dedicated petrolheads. So let’s take a closer look!

Continue reading Formula 1 97: Racing, Refined →

Announcements, Community

Around the Network

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Sunday evening, and the living is eas– wait, that’s not how that goes.

I’m sleepy! I haven’t had a particularly busy weekend but I did have a fairly packed working week, and thus it’s been nice to just have a fairly laid-back weekend where I didn’t need to worry about anything in particular. So I didn’t. We had a nice Chinese takeaway, I played someΒ Atelier andΒ Final Fantasy,Β and life is good.

So with a comfy air of satisfied tiredness about me, let’s look back over what you might have missed in the last week.

Continue reading Around the Network →

Atelier, Atelier Dusk

The Music of Atelier, Vol. 10: Atelier Ayesha – The Alchemist of Dusk

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It’s that time once again: time to celebrate the sterling work of Gust’s sound team, and the distinctive soundscape they have created over the years from the Atelier series.

As you might expect with the change in artist, overall aesthetic and tone, the sound of theΒ DuskΒ series is a little different from theΒ ArlandΒ trilogy before it — but it’s still recognisably “Atelier”.

This time around, the music is the work of Gust regulars Daisuke Achiwa and Kazuki Yanagawa as well as Yu Shimoda; the latter worked with Inti Creates on retro revival titlesΒ Mega Man 9Β andΒ 10, and joined Taito’s ZUNTATA sound team in 2017. Series mainstay Ken Nakagawa, meanwhile, stepped aside from Atelier compositions from hereon, though he returned for contributions to both Atelier LuluaΒ andΒ Nelke and the Legendary Alchemists’ soundtracks.

Continue reading The Music of Atelier, Vol. 10: Atelier Ayesha – The Alchemist of Dusk →

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z Flashback: RealSports Tennis

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We’re nearly there! We’re nearly there! We’re so nearly through the RealSports gauntlet! Just a bit of friendly Tennis action to get through, followed by some beach volleyball, and then we’re done!

RealSports TennisΒ for Atari 5200 is a decent tennis game that suffers a bit from an awkward control scheme — an awkward control scheme which hasn’t been emulated particularly well inΒ Atari Flashback Classics, as it happens. Consequently, it’s best treated as more of a curiosity than something you can really spend a lot of time with — but it’s worth acknowledging, at least!

Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more.

Atari A to Z

The best of overlooked and underappreciated computer and video games, from yesterday and today