Category Archives: Videos

Videos

Atari ST A to Z: E-Motion

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The “E” is for “Einstein”. So says The Assembly Line, anyway, in this curious physics-based puzzler for Atari ST featuring “ray-traced” graphics.

E-Motion is the predecessor to Vaxine, which you may recall from our first time around the ST’s A to Z. This time around it’s all about bouncing balls around rather than blasting away viruses, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less hectic! The world of subatomic particle physics is, it seems, rather dangerous.

E-Motion drew praise at the time of its original release for its colourful visuals, digitised sound and unusual premise. Today, it’s still an enjoyable — if rather frustrating — experience, and a charming, technically impressive highlight of this era of gaming.

Find a full archive of all the Atari A to Z videos on the official site.

Warriors All-Stars, Warriors Wednesday

Warriors Wednesday: Furry Politics – Warriors All-Stars #2

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Having established that we are well and truly in isekai territory, Arnice, Christophorus and Rio appear to have a lot of work ahead of them.

For now, it seems, their best course of action is to go along with the furry inhabitants of this other world. These strange individuals appear to not only be trying to restore the life and colour to their broken world, but also are locked in a war for outright supremacy and dominion.

The struggle for the throne begins with a skirmish on Zack Island, of Dead or Alive Xtreme fame, and sees Arnice and co getting to know their rival forces a little better.

Videos

Atari A to Z: Kangaroo

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The ’80s were a strange time, particularly for Atari, who, it seems, were never quite sure how to release or market things properly.

One of their well-received arcade games received an official port to the Atari 2600 and 5200, and the latter version then ended up on the 8-bit Atari computers. Unusually, however, this was published via the Atari Program Exchange or APX, which more commonly published consumer-submitted games rather than licensed ports.

That game was Kangaroo, and it’s an enjoyable single-screen platformer with lots of monkey-punching and fruit-grabbing. It also used to terrify me as a kid and I can’t remember why…

Find a full archive of all the Atari A to Z videos on the official site.

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z Flashback: Astroblast

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Mattel’s “M Network” label brought over a variety of classic Intellivision titles to Atari’s 2600 platform.

One of these games that seems to have always proven quite popular is Astroblast, originally known as Astrosmash on its original host platform.

It’s a fairly simple fixed shooter in which you blast space rocks into smithereens while attempting to protect your planet… but hoo boy, is it ever addictive!

Find a full archive of all the Atari A to Z videos on the official site.

Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy Marathon, Videos

Final Fantasy Marathon: To the Heavens – Final Fantasy I #17

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After successfully making takoyaki out of Kraken last time around, there’s just one more crystal for the Warriors of Light to, err, light.

It’s not going to be easy to get to, however; it’s guarded by the fearsome Tiamat, who has taken up residence in the Flying Fortress, the former home of the Lufenian people. And, what with the Flying Fortress being… flying, even reaching Tiamat is going to be a bit of an ordeal.

Thankfully, all the things the Warriors of Light have done up until this point have prepared them adequately for this moment… so it seems the only way is up. Baby.

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari ST A to Z: Damocles

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It takes guts to show up for a job you were hired for several months late… particularly when that job is saving an entire planet from destruction by a comet.

Unfortunately, your considerable tardiness (thanks largely to a delay on the planet Targ, as depicted in the original Mercenary) means that there are just three hours and ten minutes before the planet Eris is obliterated by the eponymous comet, and of course the solution to this rather pressing problem is anything but straightforward.

Along the course of your journey through this spectacular polygonal 3D open-world solar system, you’ll have to deal with the aftermath of eccentric professors having a spat with the head of state over a chess game, a severely incompetent post office, an overenthusiastic prison service and that most fearsome foe of all: British parliamentary politics. Damocles is a classic, and in this video I fuck it up completely. Enjoy!

Find a full archive of all the Atari A to Z videos on the official site.

Warriors All-Stars, Warriors Wednesday

Warriors Wednesday: Starting Life in a New World – Warriors All-Stars #1

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With Warriors Orochi finally down for the count, it’s time to start a new game!

Warriors All-Stars came out in 2017 and was originally intended as another Warriors Orochi game, but subsequently grew into its own standalone project that de-emphasised the Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors characters in favour of… well, an all-star line-up drawn from a variety of different Koei Tecmo games.

And what a cast! We’ve got Sophie from Atelier Sophie; Arnice and Christophorus from Nights of Azure; Kasumi, Honoka and Marie Rose from Dead or Alive; and many more besides. With 15 possible endings ahead of us, we’ve got to start somewhere… so where better than with my favourite lesbian vampire (half-)demon, who seems a lot more cheerful than the last time we saw her?

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z: Jane’s Program

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Sometimes when you sit down in front of your 1980s microcomputer, you don’t really want to do anything particularly productive or meaningful.

If you’ve ever found yourself in this situation, you have long been well catered to, since both interactive and non-interactive demos and software toys have been part of the public domain software landscape pretty much since the earliest days of computing.

A great example of something that is fun to play with but has no real “meaning” to it is Jane’s Program, an addictive exploration of sound, colour and rudimentary physics that might be just the thing if you’ve had a hectic day!

Find a full archive of all the Atari A to Z videos on the official site.

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z Flashback: Asteroids (5200)

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Hey look everybody, it’s Asteroids! Again. You’ll be pleased to hear that this is the last time Asteroids appears in the Atari Flashback Classics compilation, at least.

Today we’re looking at the Atari 5200 version of the game, which didn’t actually see a commercial release despite originally being intended as a launch title for the platform. It’s based closely on the version released for Atari 8-bit computers, and is a solid adaptation of the formula for 1-4 players simultaneously.

I didn’t like this all that much when I was kid (primarily because I was bobbins at it) but nowadays I find its chunky shooting action rather satisfying!

Find a full archive of all the Atari A to Z videos on the official site.

Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy Marathon, Videos

Final Fantasy Marathon: Topless Mermaids – Final Fantasy I #16

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Two more crystals to go, and the next is deep beneath the waves in the Sunken Shrine!

But what’s this? A choice of paths to go? It seems one way leads to topless mermaids while the other leads to a slobbering tentacle monster, and never the twain shall meet — doubtless much to some people’s disappointment.

Which way will the Warriors of Light go? I mean, obviously it’s both, but which way will they go first? Find out today, only on the Final Fantasy Marathon, and along the way we can have a nice chat about my leaky roof.