Category Archives: Articles

All the non-Cover Game articles and features in one place.

Waifu Wednesday

Waifu Wednesday: Shina Ninomiya

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One of the more interesting things about Death end re;Quest, as we’ll discuss in more depth when we talk about its story in detail, is its dual-perspective narrative.

The “real world” unfolds from the perspective of main male protagonist Arata Mizunashi, while the “game” side of things is the domain of trapped director and lead heroine Shina Ninomiya, who initially has absolutely no recollection of how she found herself in a virtual reality game so realistic it’s difficult to distinguish from “reality”.

Shina is an excellent lead for the “in-game” side of things, for reasons that will become apparent shortly. Let’s take a closer look!

Continue reading Waifu Wednesday: Shina Ninomiya →

Essentials, Shmups, SNK

SNK Essentials: Sasuke vs. Commander

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Ozma Wars isn’t the only very early SNK title to feature in the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection — we also have an unusual fixed shooter from a year later: Sasuke vs. Commander.

Like Ozma Wars before it, Sasuke vs. Commander is another game of possible “firsts” in gaming — and also a game that doesn’t get much acknowledgement today, thanks to a lack of home ports until it got a PlayStation minis release for PS3, PSP and Vita in 2011.

SASUKE READ ON FOR LEARN MORE. YES  SHOGUN.

Continue reading SNK Essentials: Sasuke vs. Commander →

Essentials, Shmups, SNK

SNK Essentials: Ozma Wars

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Well now. Here’s one that doesn’t get talked about all that much: one of SNK’s earliest games, and a title believed to be the second ever fixed shoot ’em up, after Taito’s genre-defining classic Space Invaders.

In fact, Ozma Wars, developed by Logitec (no, not that one) and published by SNK in 1979, ran on the same Taito 8080 hardware that powered Space Invaders, was available as a conversion kit for Space Invaders machines, and even made use of the same coloured overlay on its black and white display to bring a bit of vibrancy to the visuals.

What’s more, it provides a thoroughly interesting early shoot ’em up experience that is markedly distinct from Taito’s title. Let’s take a closer look.

Continue reading SNK Essentials: Ozma Wars →

Announcements, Community

Around the Network

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And so another week draws to a close and we all slide inexorably onwards towards our inevitable deaths.

We may as well enjoy the intervening days, weeks, months and years then! This month I’ve been doing just that with a fine selection of SNK shoot ’em ups plus my continuing adventures in the world of Death end re;Quest.

Let’s take a look at what you might have missed.

Continue reading Around the Network →

Essentials, Shmups, SNK

SNK Essentials: World Wars

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The loose “trilogy” of vertically scrolling shoot ’em ups from SNK’s early days that began with Alpha Mission and Bermuda Triangle finally concludes with 1987’s World Wars.

Sometimes erroneously described as a reskin of Bermuda Triangle, World Wars offers an interesting blend between the gameplay elements of its two predecessors, and manages to carve out an identity for itself as an enjoyable, addictive shoot ’em up in its own right in the process.

Alpha mission start! Launch all ZIG!

Continue reading SNK Essentials: World Wars →

Waifu Wednesday

Waifu Wednesday: Sumika Tokiwa

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Being a Compile Heart game, Death end re;Quest is, naturally, overflowing with colourful, interesting and delightful female characters.

In fact, women make up the majority of the cast… though, again, this is nothing unusual for a Compile Heart game. What is a little unusual this time around is the fact that the game unfolds across two discrete “worlds” — the “real” world and the “game” world.

For today’s Waifu Wednesday, we’re taking a look at one of your companions during your time in the “real” world, as you attempt to uncover the conspiracy that has led to heroine Shina Ninomiya — and possibly others — becoming trapped in the virtual reality massively multiplayer online game, World’s Odyssey.

Continue reading Waifu Wednesday: Sumika Tokiwa →

Essentials, Shmups, SNK

SNK Essentials: Bermuda Triangle

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A couple of years after Alpha Mission, SNK put out a follow-up of sorts — if not a direct sequel. (That would show up in the Neo Geo era!)

That game was Bermuda Triangle, and much like Alpha Mission before it, it’s a very creative and unusual take on a genre that, even as early as 1987, was heavily saturated with very similar titles of varying quality.

In order to stand out in such a situation, you need to do something distinctive — even unique. And, well, there are definitely a number of features in Bermuda Triangle that I haven’t seen attempted since!

Continue reading SNK Essentials: Bermuda Triangle →

Essentials, Shmups, SNK

SNK Essentials: Alpha Mission

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SNK is primarily known for its fighting games these days, but in its earlier years it was known for a number of solid (and influential) shoot ’em ups.

While Alpha Mission (also known as ASO: Armored Scrum Object in Japan) isn’t the company’s first shoot ’em up by any means, it is an important one and forms the first in a loose “trilogy” of titles that we’ll explore over the course of the next few articles.

Drawing inspiration from Western RPGs, of all things, this is a fun but challenging vertically scrolling shoot ’em up that any fan of the genre owes it to themselves to become intimately acquainted with.

Continue reading SNK Essentials: Alpha Mission →

Announcements, Community

Around the Network

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Another week has passed! This one seems to have gone by quite quickly for some reason. I’m not complaining; I have a couple of weeks off from the day job at the beginning of April, and I’m very much looking forward to using that time for a bunch of MoeGamer and YouTube stuff.

In the meantime, though, things have been continuing as usual around here, with plenty of things to read, watch and listen to.

So let’s take a look at what you might have missed this week!
Continue reading Around the Network →

Essentials, One-Shots, SNK

SNK 40th Anniversary Collection: (Almost) Perfect Preservation

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As the years advance and old gaming hardware and media gets more expensive, harder to find and even more difficult to maintain, the matter of gaming preservation is of increasing importance.

I’ve previously talked about how emulation and ROM archives have an important role to play in all this — in spite of interference from certain quarters — but of arguably greater importance are companies’ own efforts to preserve their respective histories and portfolios.

I picked up the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection for Nintendo Switch recently, and I’ll be covering the individual games in it over the next indefinite period of time in an “SNK Essentials” column (and perhaps some videos) — but today, I wanted to talk about this package as a whole, what it gets right, and what I wish it had done slightly better.

Continue reading SNK 40th Anniversary Collection: (Almost) Perfect Preservation →