Good afternoon everyone! How are you all doing? I’m sweltering in the predictably toasty British summer we’re currently experiencing — and to be honest, I’m actually quite grateful that we’re all supposed to be staying indoors, because I have no desire to go out in that!

I’ve just had a week off from the day job in order to rest, relax and get caught up on a few things. I haven’t got especially “ahead of schedule” on anything, but it’s been nice to just be able to take a fairly leisurely approach to everything and not have to wake up for pointless conference calls that hold precisely zero value to me.

All being well, next week I should have the Evercade retro gaming handheld in my, err, hands, so expect some in-depth, long-term coverage of that device and its numerous games from thereon. In the meantime, hit the jump to find out what you might have missed this week!

MoeGamer

Streets of Rage 3: The Most Notorious Localisation – Classic beat ’em up Streets of Rage 3 is notorious for having one of the most heavy-handed localisation jobs of all time upon its Western release. Is it still actually worth playing though? Read on…

Sega Ages Phantasy Star: Classic Dungeon Crawling, Modern Conveniences – With Phantasy Star Online 2 just around the corner at the time of writing this, I decided to pen some thoughts on the original Phantasy Star — specifically the excellent Sega Ages version for Switch.

short;Play: A Valley Without Wind – One of the most unusual games I’ve ever played, A Valley Without Wind is a gloriously experimental combination of open-structure 2D platforming, strategy, action RPG and shoot ’em up. See it in action here.

Waifu Wednesday: Nicole Mimi Tithel – With Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis our next stop on the Atelier MegaFeature train, it’s only fitting we celebrate some of its lovely ladies, beginning with Nikki.

Phantasy Star Online 2: Day 1 as an ARKS Operative – Phantasy Star Online 2 is here after eight long years of waiting… what’s the experience like now for an English-speaking new player?

Final Fantasy Marathon: The Great Escape (Final Fantasy II #22) – We discover a little too late that Teleport doesn’t work in the Unknown Palace — so this leads to a frantic and rather dangerous escape sequence as we run out of supplies!

Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis – The Ninth Atelier – And so we come to the fourth game in the Atelier MegaFeature, and the ninth overall. Here’s a first look at Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis.

Atari A to Z

This week, we’ve got an excellent Atari 8-bit adaptation of a classic Nintendo Game & Watch handheld, an early polygonal 3D open-world adventure from Psygnosis on Atari ST, and one of a few frog-themed games for Atari 2600.

Patreon and SubscribeStar

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 for some highlights from around my WordPress Reader this week. I’ll be honest, I haven’t spent a lot of time reading anything over the last week or so, but I’ve still managed to pick out some things that caught my attention, so here you go!

I Dislike That I Like Likes (Pinkie’s Paradise) – Pinkie reflects on how social media sees many of us undertaking an endless, futile quest for validation.

On making “good” content (Lethargic Ramblings) – Some eminently sensible reflections from Leth here on how you should approach the apparent choice between being “good” or being “prolific”.

Evolution of My Gaming Space (In Third Person) – Jett shares some pictures of his gaming setup from over the years. How has your gaming space changed over time?

Can Horror Anime Ever Be As Scary as Live Action? (I drink and watch anime) – Irina takes a look at whether or not horror needs to be “realistic” in order to be scary — or if the heavily stylised nature of anime can suffice in giving you the heebie-jeebies.

Rediscovering Wacky Races on Game Boy Colour (Retro Arcadia) – stvnorman rediscovers a Game Boy Colour title that often goes underappreciated or overlooked.

—

And that’s yer lot for this week. I’m going to melt into a puddle on my sofa now. And/or possibly play some Phantasy Star Online 2. Maybe both.

Have a great week, and thank you as always for your support; I hope I provide some entertainment and distraction in these trying times we’re living in.

---

If you enjoyed this post, please consider supporting the site via any of the services below! Your contributions help keep the lights on, the ads off and my shelves stocked up with things to write about!