Around the Network

Hello everyone! It’s the end of another week, or the beginning of another one, depending on how you look at it, and thus it’s time for the weekly roundup!

I’ve got one more week of the day job before a blissful week off. Hopefully my Evercade retro gaming handheld from Blaze will arrive in time for that, because you can expect a bunch of in-depth coverage on that system and its games once it’s in my hands! The Atelier MegaFeature will, of course, continue, but my intention is to provide detailed writeups on each and every one of the games available for Evercade — because in all cases, they’re relevant to all enthusiasts of gaming, not just those picking up the new system.

Anyway, that’s something to think about when we get to it. For now, we’ve got a week’s worth of happy funtimes to get through. So hit the jump and let’s get started!

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MoeGamer

Streets of Rage 2: Everyone’s Favourite – The Streets of Rage series as a whole is very fondly regarded by most people these days — but Streets of Rage 2 in particular stands out as one of the most beloved beat ’em ups of all time.

Why I Don’t “Review” Games – A discussion online prompted this opinion piece from me, expressing the reasons I approach things in the way I do and not, for example, putting a big ol’ numerical rating on everything.

short;Play: G-LOC Air Battle – A quick video tour of the Sega Ages release that finally reunites me with my favourite arcade game of all time.

Waifu Wednesday: Iris Fortner – Iris is a narrative device in the first two Atelier Iris games, but in Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm, she’s a fully playable character and critical part of the narrative. She is, however, a different Iris to in the first two games.

Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon – Enhanced Nostalgia – Inti Creates’ NES-style spinoff of Koji Igarashi’s Castlevania-like takes all the things that the 8-bit era of Castlevania established, then makes them all better.

Final Fantasy Marathon: Give Me Strength (Final Fantasy II #20) – It isn’t easy being dead. It really isn’t easy being dead if some stupid hairy idiot didn’t level you before you died.

Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm – Narrative, Themes and Characterisation – It’s time to look at what makes the third Atelier Iris game tick from a narrative perspective — including its lovable characters, its well-established setting and its exploration of some interesting themes.

Atari A to Z

This week we’ve got a “space nightmare” shooter, an incredibly difficult licensed game, and a 2600 title that tends to get a bit of a raw deal these days.

Patreon and SubscribeStar

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Don’t forget that over on Patreon I post a daily behind-the scenes personal blog that is, effectively, a resurrection of my old #oneaday blog I used to host over at angryjedi.wordpress.com. At the present time, this also includes exclusive patrons-only weekly vlogs and Let’s Plays at the weekends! If you’d like to get to know me a bit better, be sure to sign up; just $1 a month (about 80p) can get you in the club, and it also provides you with access to the MoeGamer Discord as well as helping to fund and support the things I do here on the site.

Find out more and sign up to Patreon here!

I’m also in the process of getting SubscribeStar rolling for those who don’t wish to or aren’t able to use Patreon for whatever reason — I’ve had a few requests for this, so I thought I’d actually get it done. Once that’s up and running and some people have signed up, I’ll offer all the same benefits there for the same price as Patreon.

Find out more and sign up to SubscribeStar here!

Cool Stuff By People Who Aren’t Me

First up, Patreon goodness! Right now, I’m supporting chaotic “old men attempt to talk about games, usually fail” collective Digitiser 2000, the ever-grumpy (and always hilarious) Cheap Show Podcast, gaming and gaming culture commentator Liana Kerzner, independent games writing collective The Well-Red Mage, fountain of retro computer gaming knowledge Rob “Hellfire64” Caporetto, alternative fountain of retro computer gaming knowledge Kim Justice, and blogger/YouTuber Megan Marie, all of whom you can find out a bit more about by clicking through to their profiles.

Here’s a selection of YouTube and podcast goodness from several of this lot:

And with that, it’s time to delve into the WordPress Reader to see what the blogging community has been up to this week.

More Pointing and Clicking Wanted (Later Levels) – Kim’s a big fan of point-and-click adventures, so here are some of her favourites.

Artbook Review – FF DOT: The Pixel Art of Final Fantasy (daiyamanga.com) – Krystallina takes a look at a lovely-looking artbook that specialises in close-up pixel art, but finds it a little lacking in a few areas.

Beyond: Two Souls – A Stunningly Cinematic Interactive Drama with an Outstanding Character-centric Storyline (BiblioNyan) – Yon Nyan shares some thoughts on her experiences with David Cage’s supernatural thriller — a game which it isn’t at all fashionable to like but which I, of course, enjoyed a great deal. Dedicated follower of the opposite of fashion and all that.

A review of The Expression: Amrilato (PC) (Everything is bad for you) – AK jumps into a game that we explored in depth here on MoeGamer as a Cover Game feature a while back — the yuri visual novel with built-in Esperanto education, The Expression: Amrilato.

100 Babies Challenge: Introduction (Mel in Anime Land) – The Sims has always been great for emergent narrative and self-imposed challenges, so here’s a great example of the latter from Mel: give birth to a hundred babies in as few generations as possible. And, presumably, with minimal soreness.

That’s your lot! I’m off to bed now to try not to drool too much at the prospect of a week off from the day job… and maybe even to get some sleep, you never know.

Thank you as always for all your support, and I hope you’re all doing well in these strange and less-than-wonderful times in the world. Hang in there; your waifus and husbandos have your back, as do I!


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