Around the Network

It’s the end of another week as we head onward into springtime, and I hope you’ve had a good one!

This week has seen the release of Konami’s Castlevania Anniversary Collection on various platforms, which I’ve been very excited about for some time now. I wish there was a packaged release of it, but I can’t complain too much at the value the download version offers. Watch out for some Castlevania-related articles in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, let’s have a look back over the week that was and see what you might have missed.

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MoeGamer

The MoeGamer Podcast: Episode 22 – A Crafted World – Chris and I reconvene for another in-depth discussion of a specific aspect of gaming that fills us with joy. This week, it’s the turn of games that have a deliberately “hand-crafted” aesthetic in various ways.

Delving Into Kirby’s Dream Course #1I continue my early exploration of the Kirby series with a look at one of his more unusual games: Kirby’s Dream Course for Super NES, an isometric minigolf game with that distinctive Kirby flair.

Warriors Wednesday: Scantily-Clad Barbarian Ladies – Our Warriors Orochi playthrough continues as the Shu forces come face to face with Masamune Date and his relentless whining.

Waifu Wednesday: Tatiana Alexandrovna Sharapova – Tanichka from Our World is Ended is a good old-fashioned loli, which of course makes certain people throw up their hands in outrage and bemoan the filthy degenerate nature of visual novels. But who knew? She’s actually an interesting, cool character in her own right, too…

SNK Essentials: Athena – Do you like chubby ’80s anime girls in bikinis? Then have I got the game for you. Of course, I hope you also like frustration, mechanics that need a bit of refinement and a level of difficulty that will quickly kill even the most towering of erections.

Our World is Ended: First Impressions are Lasting Impressions – A core theme of the current Cover Game is how people choose to represent themselves, and how that might differ from the first impressions they set. Here, we take a look at how the main cast comes across early in Our World is Ended’s story.

New Game Plus: Night’s Domain – Our girl Rorona takes on a dragon and a demon in a single expedition. Now that’s New Game Plus tough for you!

Atari A to Z

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This week, we’ve got one of the earliest ever “music games” on Atari 8-bit, an excellent adaptation of a classic board game on Atari ST, and a longstanding favourite of everyone from the golden age of arcade games.

Cool Stuff By People Who Aren’t Me

I am a proud Patron of Paul “Mr Biffo” Rose, the Cheap Show podcast and The Game Chasers, because all of them put out great content that is worth your support. The Game Chasers are working on a movie, too; be sure to check out their Kickstarter if you’re a fan.

Check out some examples of what these fine folks have been up to here:

Might be jiggling my pledges around a bit soon just so I can give a bit of love to some other creators that I enjoy the work of. If you know anyone you think I should check out and consider supporting, please be sure to let me know!

In the meantime, here’s a fresh-picked batch of posts from this week around the WordPress community:

Don’t Diss Fans of the Original Work (Mechanical Anime Reviews) – Scott urges people who enjoy a new version of something to not look down on those who enjoyed the original — even if it’s “inferior” in your eyes. A sentiment I can wholeheartedly agree with!

Behind the Games: Jaime Scribbles (Blerdy Otome) – I always enjoy having the opportunity to pick the brain of a developer, publisher or localiser, and likewise it’s always interesting to read an interview by someone else — both because it exposes me to creators I might not have otherwise stumbled across, and because they might think of things to ask about that hadn’t occurred to me!

Now I’m motivated! (Kimimi the Game-Eating She-Monster) – In probably the most interesting thing I’ve read about Devil May Cry 5 since it released, Kimimi provides a spoiler-filled breakdown of how the game builds a fantastic and unusual climax by subverting the typical expectations of video games.

Optimism in Book Girl (deluscar) – Kai’s breakdown of the core themes in light novel and manga series Book Girl manages to be intriguing without providing any spoilers whatsoever. I’m definitely interested!

Glad Topographies: Finding Abundant Optimism in the World Around Us (Normal Happenings) – If you’re yet to check out Normal Happenings, be sure to stop by; it’s one of the most pleasantly positive places on the Internet, which is a refreshing change from much of today’s online landscape! Here’s a bit about a new project Matthew has been working on over on Instagram — be sure to check it out!

And that’s that for another week. Hope you have a pleasant onward journey — and, where applicable, look forward to the bank holiday weekend!


The MoeGamer Compendium, Volume 1 is now available! Grab a copy today for a beautiful physical edition of the Cover Game features originally published in 2016.

Thanks for reading; I hope you enjoyed this article. I’ve been writing about games in one form or another since the days of the old Atari computers, with work published in Page 6/New Atari User, PC Zone, the UK Official Nintendo Magazine, GamePro, IGN, USgamer, Glixel and more over the years, and I love what I do.

If you’d like to support the site and my work on it, please consider becoming a Patron — click here or on the button below to find out more about how to do so. From just $1 a month, you can get access to daily personal blog updates and exclusive members’ wallpapers featuring the MoeGamer mascots.

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