Category Archives: One-Shots

One-off articles about games, cultural phenomena, anime and anything else that isn’t getting the Cover Game treatment.

Pete Plays Dragon World: The Real Treasure is Love

And now the epic conclusion of the Dragon World saga!

Back when we played this in the classroom, you were doing really well if you made it to Part 2, which wouldn’t allow you to even start playing without a password. (“ogweb”, if you’re too lazy to deal with Part 1’s nonsense)

Part 2 takes you on a surprisingly unforgiving treasure hunt through the aptly-named Town of Treasures… so let’s see if we can find something to make all dragonkind happy!

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Pete Plays Dragon World: A Friday Night Well-Spent

If you’re British and of a certain age, you probably have… well, if not fond memories of the BBC Micro, then certainly memories of it.

A fixture in classrooms across the whole nation, the BBC Micro played host to a variety of software packages, many of which were specifically designed to be used in the classroom.

One specialist of such software was 4Mation, best known for a funny little quasi-educational adventure called Granny’s Garden. But I have much more vivid memories of one of their lesser-known works…

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What’s in the Box: Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal Bountiful Beauties Edition

Senran Kagura is a longstanding favourite here at MoeGamer, so there was no way I was going to miss out on a shiny new limited edition for a reimagining of the game that started it all.

Marvelous Europe’s limited editions have been consistently good quality in my experience, and they’ve really outdone themselves with this one. The overall packaging quality is excellent, and there’s a variety of really cool goodies in the box just waiting to be enjoyed.

Without further ado, then, let’s take a look inside.

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Magical Diary: Wolf Hall – A Wolf in Wizard’s Clothing

Those of you who have been following my work for a while may recall a good few years back now I was rather enthusiastic about a game called Magical Diary: Horse Hall.

This unusual game, developed by Hanako Games and Spiky Caterpillar, blended elements of visual novel, life sim and first-person dungeon crawler to create something very interesting indeed — and something that was clearly intended to be the start of a series.

That was back in 2012. Now, in 2019, we’re finally getting a follow-up — so let’s take a first look at what the sequel, Magical Diary: Wolf Hall, has to offer, and how Hanako Games and Spiky Caterpillar will be making use of crowdfunding to realise their goals.

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Atari Flashback Classics: Know Your Roots

Atari A to Z Flashback features playthroughs of all the games in this collection, with new episodes every Saturday until we’re done! Click here to subscribe on YouTube or watch the playlist above.


Atari may be a shadow of a shadow of a shadow of its former self considering the number of hands the brand has passed through since the ’90s… but it’s fair to say that it still has a hold of my heart.

The Atari 2600 was just slightly before my time — I grew up with the Atari 8-bit home computers before moving on to the ST — but I’ve always been interested in and respected the deep roots video gaming laid down in the late ’70s and early ’80s. Consequently, I’ve jumped on board with most Atari 2600 compilations that have been available for platforms over the years… and had a great time with them.

The latest to appear is Atari Flashback Classics for Nintendo Switch. Boasting 150 games that were originally distributed across three separate releases for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, it certainly seems to offer astounding value for money on paper. But how is it in execution?

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Honey Select Unlimited Extend: More Bang For Your 60 Bucks

Well, the Honey Select Unlimited expansion is here, courtesy of prolific hentai localisers Fakku!

Honey Select Unlimited Extend, as the expansion is known, combines both of the expansions previously available for the original Japanese version of Honey Select. At $59.99, it’s quite pricey — that’s what the main game costs by itself — so doubtless you want to know if it’s worth a punt.

Since I’ve already written extensively about developer Illusion’s history and what Honey Select is all about previously — along with trying my best to break the Studio application — I figured the best thing to do today would be to take an extremely NSFW tour of the software with the expansion installed with you in tow, dear reader, and we can see what’s new together. So join me after the cut if you’re ready to strip off and get sweaty.

Note: This should already be obvious, but there will be boobs, fannies and knobs after the jump. If you read this at work and end up on the receiving end of a stern talking to and/or disciplinary action, I accept no responsibility. Save the filth for when you get home!

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Seasonal Smashing

I like Super Smash Bros. I think. I’m never quite 100% sure.

I do know for a fact I’ve purchased each and every one at launch (with the exception of the N64 original) and, in fact, still own my copies of both Brawl on Wii and …for Wii U on, uh, Wii U. Melee? No, unfortunately; while I’m rebuilding my GameCube collection now I’ve got my original (GameCube-compatible) Wii hooked up to my TV once again, Melee is not a title I’ve particularly prioritised re-acquiring.

Anyway, fact is, I’ve always at least made an honest-to-goodness attempt to like Super Smash Bros. And I’m very much looking forward to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for Switch, which, at the time of writing, is launching in just over a week. And I intend to spend most of the holiday period playing it!

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Digitiser: The Show – The “Gaming Show Broadcasters Are Too Scared to Make”

Before the mess that is today’s Internet, gaming fans were a bit more limited in where they could get their information from.

There were a variety of gaming magazines that came and went over the course of the ’80s, ’90s and early ’00s… but one of the most enduring and memorable publications in British gaming wasn’t even printed on paper.

I’m talking about Digitiser, which ran from 1993 to 2003… and now it’s back as a joyfully chaotic show on YouTube.

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Goodbye, Ruby

It’s a personal post today. I’m not going to apologise for that, because it’s important to me, and I’m sure all of you reading this understand that too.

Today, we suffered a great loss in our family: our beloved cat Ruby was in an accident, and passed away. Thankfully we were able to say our goodbyes to her, and now she is resting peacefully.

I wanted to take the opportunity to leave a permanent (well, as permanent as anything on the Internet ever is) record of how much we loved her, and how much she will be missed. Please, join me in celebrating how much this beloved companion — no, this member of our family — meant to us.

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Taiko no Tatsujin Drum ‘n’ Fun: Plastic Drums and Music Most Definitely Mix

A little while ago, I offered my first impressions on the demo version of Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum ‘n’ Fun! for Nintendo Switch.

I came away from the experience less than enamoured with the game’s motion controls, but starting to understand the appeal of the game when I switched to playing with buttons.

Despite my slightly tepid response to the demo, I came to the conclusion that this was still a game I wanted to support a Western release of… so I splurged on the £90 game-and-drum bundle which comes with a standard copy of the Switch game, and the HORI-made USB drum accessory. Let’s take a closer look!

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