We’re closing in on the end of Split/Second now; only a few more episodes to go!
Today’s episode, Boneyard Rush, takes us out of the city and into a few areas rather devoid of life… the desert, the canyon, the industrial zone. Bring on the Bridge of Death!
Hit the jump to see how things went today… and to admire a stupid gag that took me probably more time and effort than it really deserved.
Continue reading Sunday Driving: Boneyard Rush – Split/Second #10
As we’ve previously seen with Canyon Bomber, sometimes all you need to make an addictive, enjoyable game is a simple concept… and perhaps some gimmicky controls.
Such is the case with Destroyer, a game that featured some satisfyingly clunky physical controls on its original arcade release, which are obviously lost somewhat in this home translation. Interestingly, this never got a home port of its own prior to the release in Atari Flashback Classics; it was instead incorporated into the Atari 2600 port of Canyon Bomber, which was developed by David “Pitfall” Crane.
It’s a simple idea, but an effective one… and one that really does not like being captured at 30fps, so if you can’t see the depth charges for part of this video… uh, sorry! Such are the limitations of my hardware!
“It’ll be a short episode,” he says, then proceeding to play for an hour and a half. I was having fun, though!
Yes, this week’s episode of New Game Plus runs a little longer than intended, but, well, there were important things to do. Very important things. Like the cabbage competition in the annual festival!
Hit the jump to see just why everyone is calling Rorona “Cabbage Girl”…
Continue reading New Game Plus: Cabbage Girl – Atelier Rorona DX #6
The Bitmap Brothers were a force to be reckoned with in the 16-bit computer era.
Across a wide variety of different game styles, they demonstrated their absolute mastery over not only the technical aspects of programming for these popular home computers, but also how to make a thoroughly enjoyable game, too.
Although relatively straightforward by modern standards, the original Xenon remains a great time, and is absolutely worth checking out if you’re a fan of classic vertically scrolling shoot ’em ups.
Find a full archive of all the Atari A to Z videos on the official site.
It’s that time again… time to face down Crazy Snake Guy and decide the fate of ancient China and/or Samurai-era Japan once and for all.
Yes, our playthrough of the Wu campaign in Warriors Orochi has finally reached the final mission (aside from the last side mission, which we’ll take on next week) and thus, there’s just one thing left to do, having reunited the Sun family beneath the banner of the tiger…
Hit the jump to see how the Sun bros (and sis… err, and dad) got on with this one last challenge…
Continue reading Warriors Wednesday: Wu Warriors vs Orochi – Warriors Orochi #29
Towards the end of our first cycle of Atari A to Z, we came across an interesting little first-person maze game called Way Out, developed by Paul Edelstein and published by Sirius Software.
That game got a sequel! And like all good sequels, it provides more of the same, but better. Specifically, it provides split-screen competitive two-player action (with an optional AI-controlled computer opponent) and an unconventional but nonetheless effective control scheme that provides us with one of the earliest ever examples of “strafing” in 3D.
It’s also a very early example of a game that George “The Fat Man” Sanger contributed to; his distinctive music was a mainstay of ’90s PC gaming and beyond, so it’s interesting to see where his “roots” lie!
Find a full archive of all the Atari A to Z videos on the official site.
Well over the halfway point through Split/Second now, and we’re starting to unlock some of the top-notch cars.
There are still some significant challenges ahead of us, but today’s installment goes strangely smoothly… perhaps it’s down to the amount of gas I fill myself with before getting underway properly.
Whatever the reason, hit the jump to see how things went… and beware of the flatulence.
Continue reading Sunday Driving: Scorching Rubber – Split/Second #9
Do you know what “trimetric projection” is? If not, take a good look at Atari’s Crystal Castles. That, dear reader, is trimetric projection at work.
This 3D perspective take on the Pac-Man formula is a popular game from Atari’s early days, and enjoyed numerous home ports over the years, particularly on Atari’s own platforms. It’s a fun — if challenging — game, and remains noteworthy from a historical perspective for being one of the first arcade games out there that it’s actually possible to “beat”. Although good luck with doing that.
Also, if you score first place on the high score table, you get to enjoy your initials presented in 3D trimetric projection for everyone to admire on the first level of each new playthrough!
Find a full archive of all the Atari A to Z videos on the official site.
Get out your ancient tool, boys and girls, because Rorolina Frixell is most certainly going to replicate it good and proper!
Yes, in today’s episode of New Game Plus, in which we are presently enjoying a second playthrough of Atelier Rorona DX on Nintendo Switch, we take on the poor overworked girl’s third assignment, which is somewhat vague on the specifics but nonetheless proves not to be too much of a problem for her.
Hit the jump to see how we got on today!
Continue reading New Game Plus: Replicating Ancient Tool – Atelier Rorona DX #5
Hello, dear reader, and thank you, as ever, for continuing to support MoeGamer and my other projects with your generous, kind eyes — which, by the way, are looking beautiful this evening.
I’ll level with you, I have a busy evening ahead of me and nothing in particular planned to write about after a stressful couple of weeks in which I haven’t had nearly enough time to do everything I want… so in the interests of providing you with some sort of Content™ that you might find vaguely interesting, I thought I’d collect together some YouTubers I’ve been very much enjoying of late. Besides myself, I mean. Obviously my own channel is very good indeed and you should definitely go and subscribe. But what about other people, for when you get tired of my delightfully rich and fruity voice?
Join me beneath the fold and we’ll explore a bit… with a particular emphasis on slightly smaller, retro gaming-centric YouTubers that you may not have heard of, particularly if you’re in the States.
