Category Archives: Videos

Atari ST A to Z: Crack’ed

Errant apostrophes aren’t just for fantasy RPGs any more; sometimes they show up in the most unexpected of places… and inconsistently, to boot.

No, I have no idea what the apostrophe is doing in Crack’ed’s title, or indeed why it isn’t present on the actual spine of the box it comes in, but… well, there you go.

The game itself is classic Atari arcade funtimes — simple but addictive gameplay, some good use of the ST’s graphical capabilities and mouse control… and hairy poo monsters!

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

Warriors Wednesday: Grand Finale – Warriors Orochi #60

We made it, everyone! After 60 weekly(ish) episodes, we finally made it all the way through Warriors Orochi from start to finish.

The funny thing is that there’s still actually a bunch more of this game I could continue to play if I wanted to, and I might just do that off-camera. There are harder difficulties to challenge, hidden items to discover, weapons to collect and even more characters to unlock.

But for now, this particular “season” of Warriors Wednesday is over. Next week, we’ll be kicking off a look at something a little different: Warriors All-Stars, which brings together characters from a variety of different Koei Tecmo games to save a fantasy world from destruction. Please look forward to it.

And if you’ve watched any or all of this series… a sincere thank you! I hope you enjoyed it. But our job here is far from over!

Glutton for punishment? Watch the whole thing here and admire my gradual progression of confidence in both making videos and editing them!

Atari A to Z: Illinois Smith

You’re probably familiar with various methods of software distribution from over the years.

In the Atari 8-bit era, we had a lot of public domain software that was freely distributable, often sold for the cost of a disk or two from user groups, local software outlets and national publications. But “Begware”, a twist on public domain that literally begged you to pay what you thought the game was worth according to some specific criteria, is a new twist on the formula I’ve not seen in quite this form before.

Illinois Smith, possibly the first (and last?) Begware game, is a mildly entertaining if simplistic romp through a maze as you hunt for treasures. Would I pay up in support of creator Greg Knauss’ unashamed (and rather amusing) begging? These days, sure. Back in the ’80s? Don’t be ridiculous, no-one paid for software back then!

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

Atari A to Z Flashback: Asteroids (2600)

It’s that time again: the time when we strap ourselves into a small triangle and blast some space rocks into increasingly smaller space rocks until they disappear.

Yes, it’s Asteroids again, this time in its Atari 2600 incarnation. This was a well-regarded port at the time of original release, and noteworthy from a historical perspective for being one of the first games to make use of “bank-switching”, allowing for higher-capacity cartridges that made use of more data. Asteroids for 2600 is twice the size of earlier 2600 games at a mighty 8K!

It also offers “66 video games”. Can’t say better value than that, can you? Even if there’s actually only 33 video games, and they’re all very similar to one another…

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

Final Fantasy Marathon: I Love Having Legs – Final Fantasy I #15

Freshly minted as full-on heroes after Bahamut’s ministrations, the powered-up Warriors of Light resume their quest to illuminate the four crystals and save the world from the Four Fiends.

But the path onwards isn’t terribly clear; some investigation is obviously required, beginning with a strange town on the northern continent that appears to play host to people who are very excited about having legs.

Hmm! What could it all mean?

Atari ST A to Z: Borrowed Time

“Sam, you’re a dead man.” And how; Activision’s Borrowed Time, an “illustrated text adventure” from 1985, really, really, really wants you dead.

An early game from Interplay with involvement from Brian “Wasteland” Fargo, Borrowed Time is an early attempt to break out of the pure text format of adventure games with a graphical, mouse-driven interface. It’s not quite a full-on point and click adventure just yet, but it’s a first step in that direction.

It’s also a monstrously difficult game, fond of murdering its protagonist at regular intervals right from the very outset. You’re doing well if you manage to survive just leaving your office for the day…

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

Warriors Wednesday: Wei Warriors vs Orochi – Warriors Orochi #59

This is it! Almost, anyway. The forces of Wei (and friends) are finally ready to take the battle to Orochi.

Each of the final battles in the four Warriors Orochi campaigns unfold similarly, but with various differences in the small events that occur during the battle itself. Ultimately, though, the goal is always the same: open the way to Orochi, then beat his ass down once and for all. Or at least until the next game, anyway.

Will the power of Wei prevail? Of course it will, but humour me, at least… next time around it’s the grand finale!

Atari A to Z: Hijack!

We’ve come across English Software a few times previously on this series; they were a real mainstay of the Atari 8-bit scene throughout the ’80s.

Over their lifetime, they released a wide variety of games — some of which, like Elektra Glide, have an enduring legacy of being well-regarded, even if their flaws are all the more apparent from a modern perspective.

And then they also released stuff like Hijack!, which isn’t a bad game so much as it’s a relatively unremarkable one. It’s still fun for five or ten minutes at a time, though, so let’s take to the skies and rescue some VIPs!

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

Atari A to Z Flashback: Armor Ambush

With a few exceptions, Mattel’s “M Network” label was established to port a number of well-received Intellivision titles to Atari’s 2600 platform.

Due to the disparity in capabilities between the two platforms, however, this porting process wasn’t necessarily completely straightforward. The Atari controller had considerably fewer buttons than the Intellivision’s weird monstrosity, for one thing — and the system itself was much less powerful.

Still, while technically inferior to its Intellivision counterpart, Armor Ambush for Atari 2600 (known as Armor Battle in its original incarnation) is an enjoyable take on the two-player tank battle genre — and offers a few interesting twists not seen in Atari’s classic Combat.

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

Final Fantasy Marathon: Proof of Courage – Final Fantasy I #14

There really is no rest for a Warrior of Light, is there? “Go and bring me proof of courage,” says Bahamut, without any sort of indication of what the bloody hell he means.

Fortunately, some of this subordinates were a little more forthcoming with the information we needed, and so it was that we found ourselves standing outside the Citadel of Trials, ready to find that which would prove our courage once and for all.

All we knew was that it would take a form that we probably wouldn’t expect… and that there was an annoying teleporter puzzle between us and it!