Category Archives: Articles

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

Waifu Wednesday

Waifu Wednesday: Ekoro

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As we’re about to launch headlong into a month of Inti Creates sidescrollers for February’s Cover Game(s) features, what better waifu to pick for this week than someone who is rapidly becoming the company’s mascot?

First introduced in 2015’s Gal*Gun Double Peace, Ekoro is a third-year student at the Angel Academy, and one of the catalysts for the events that unfold over the course of that game.

Inadvertently causing protagonist Houdai to become irresistible to women by shooting him with an angel’s arrow 32 times more powerful than she intended, Ekoro spends most of Double Peace demonstrating that, just like anyone, angels are neither infallible nor squeaky clean at all times.

Continue reading Waifu Wednesday: Ekoro →

One-Shots

Altering Content and Self-Censorship Pleases No-One

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Yesterday, DRM-free digital distribution platform GOG.com posted a lengthy interview with localisation producer Tom Lipschultz and team leader Ken Berry from XSEED Games, whose most recent localisation project Zwei has recently been released on GOG’s storefront.

Lipschultz in particular has been known up until the time of writing as someone who claims to hold a “zero-tolerance” policy towards content edits made during localisation of Japanese titles for Western audiences, but a number of his comments throughout the interview gave a few people pause.

And it’s worth talking about those points in detail, because some of what Lipschultz says unfortunately appears to demonstrate a fundamental misunderstanding of where his priorities should be as part of a successful and prolific localisation company that has brought a number of beloved franchises to the West.

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Essentials, Neo Geo

Neo Geo Essentials: Neo Turf Masters

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It’s honestly kind of surprising how many times the sport of golf has been adapted to the arcade format.

On the surface, you wouldn’t think the two things are particularly compatible; golf is a terribly sedate, polite sort of sport that takes all day to play, whereas arcade games are typically noisy, spectacular and, in many cases, over and done with in five minutes or less.

And yet that hasn’t stopped a number of developers trying their best to adapt it to a quarter-munching format, with one of the very best examples being Nazca’s Neo Turf Masters for Neo Geo, a game which has had a bit of a resurgence recently thanks to numerous ports to PC and console.

Continue reading Neo Geo Essentials: Neo Turf Masters →

Community

Blogger Recognition Award

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Community is important. I’ve known this for a while, of course — I think most people know it on one level or another — but I want to make more of an effort to be part of something bigger with MoeGamer here.

I started this process towards the end of last year with some more active engagement with a number of other WordPress bloggers who are passionate about similar things to me, and, of course, I have a love-it, hate-it relationship with Twitter. I’d like to take things a little further, though, so expect more Community-themed posts here on MoeGamer going forward as I give some love and acknowledgement to the many talented people out there working hard on their own creative endeavours, just like I am with this little corner of the Internet.

A good place to start, I feel, would be by responding to the Blogger Recognition Award that Arthifis of Arthifis’ Place nominated me for earlier today, so let’s do just that!

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Essentials

Namco Essentials: Pac-Man Vs.

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One of the most interesting inclusions in the Nintendo Switch release of Namco Museum is Pac-Man Vs.

Originally released for GameCube in 2003, it’s an unusual title for Namco in that it wasn’t developed in-house as an arcade game; rather, it was designed by the legendary Shigeru Miyamoto and developed by Nintendo specifically for the GameCube, which perhaps explains why we haven’t seen it rereleased for anything other than Nintendo DS (via that platform’s own Namco Museum release) and, most recently at the time of writing, Switch.

It’s also noteworthy as one of the first examples of asymmetric multiplayer gameplay, which makes the fact it never got a release on Wii U somewhat baffling. But, well, it’s a bit late for that now!

Continue reading Namco Essentials: Pac-Man Vs. →

Waifu Wednesday

Waifu Wednesday: IF and Compa

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I can’t in good conscience separate these two, so it’s a two-hander for this week’s Waifu Wednesday as we give thanks for the lovely IF and Compa.

Recurring characters in the Neptunia series since its very inception, IF and Compa are the personifications of developer-publisher Idea Factory and subsidiary developer Compile Heart respectively. They’re an inseparable pair — a reflection of the fact that you never see a Compile Heart game without Idea Factory branding, for obvious reasons — and, between them, popular choices for series waifus.

They’re also an interesting contrast to the main cast of goddesses, for numerous reasons.

Continue reading Waifu Wednesday: IF and Compa →

One-Shots

Chaos Dunk Advisory: 10 Year Warning

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A very important game in the cross-cultural canon turns 10 years old today: Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden, or, to give it its full title, Tales of Game’s Presents Chef Boyardee’s Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden – Chapter One of the Hoopz Barkley SaGa.

One of the most interesting, unusual and genuinely good freeware projects out there in the wild, Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden, as we shall refer to it hereafter, is a JRPG-inspired game that every fan of the genre owes it to themselves to spend some time with… and that even people who don’t find themselves typically into JRPGs can also have a great deal of fun with, too.

Positioned as a sequel to both the 1993 Mega Drive sports game Barkley, Shut Up and Jam and the 1996 live action/Looney Tunes hybrid movie Space Jam, Barkley, Shut Up and Jam Gaiden is a highly creative sci-fi parody that pokes fun at a whole ton of things over its relatively short runtime, but manages to do so without ever feeling mean-spirited or like it’s “trying too hard”. And that, if nothing else, is reason for celebration.

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Essentials, Puzzlers, Taito

Taito Essentials: Cameltry

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What a glorious name for a video game: Cameltry. Say it to yourself a few times. Cameltry. Cameltry. Cameltry.

So far as I can determine, there is no meaning to the word beyond “a 1989 arcade game by Taito”, which is sort of a shame, but, well, a game having such a peculiar name is at least one way to ensure it is memorable.

Fortunately, Cameltry is also a highly enjoyable if often overlooked installment in Taito’s arcade back catalogue, and well worth your time if you enjoy fiddly puzzle games and obstacle courses.

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Essentials, Shmups

Namco Essentials: Sky Kid

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While I was familiar with most of the other games in the Namco Museum collection for Switch, one that I hadn’t come across before was Sky Kid.

First released in 1985, Sky Kid is a horizontally scrolling shoot ’em up based on the company’s Pac-Land hardware introduced the previous year. Indeed, this fact is fairly obvious, as the two games have a similar aesthetic, and in a later mission there is even a billboard where Pac-Man in his Pac-Land incarnation (sporting arms and legs) makes a cameo appearance.

It’s the first of Namco’s games to support two players simultaneously, and aside from all that, it’s an entertaining, interesting take on the arcade shoot ’em up.

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Waifu Wednesday

Waifu Wednesday: Blanc

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It’s Waifu Wednesday, and a popular request over the last few weeks of Neptunia-themed Waifu Wednesdays has been Lowee’s goddess Blanc. So this week I’m granting that wish!

Blanc is quite a contrast to the other goddesses of Gamindustri in quite a few ways, but she’s a popular character in her own right — and, like Noire and Vert, is an excellent personification of the company she is supposed to represent.

Hailing from the magical, wintery land of Lowee, Blanc personifies Nintendo, both as a representation of the company’s hardware from the Wii era onwards, and a number of aspects of the company from over the years.

Continue reading Waifu Wednesday: Blanc →