We’ve made it! The final battle… for this campaign, anyway.
Yes, today we reach the climactic final showdown of the Samurai campaign in Warriors Orochi and face the snake god himself in single combat.
Well, okay, we bring along all our friends and pound on him so much he can’t fight back. Even the great warriors of history weren’t above using schoolyard tactics.
Continue reading Warriors Wednesday: Samurai Warriors vs Orochi – Warriors Orochi #14
Kick, punch, it’s all in the mind! Pushing diagonally backwards and up while holding the fire button to swing your sword, however? Somewhat less intuitive…
Enter Mastertronic’s Ninja from 1986. This was a game developed by Steve Coleman (who was previously responsible for Pharaoh’s Curse, which we’ll be coming to in a few weeks) that combines open-world 2D adventuring with a fusion of one-on-one fighting and beat ’em up mechanics to produce something altogether unique.
Ninja was a game of “firsts” for me growing up. It was the first time I saw a ninja and learned what it was. It was the first time I saw (and learned the name of) a lot of pieces of traditional Japanese architecture such as torii gates. And it was one of the first games I played where fighting mechanics were a little more complex than simply mashing the fire button to do a single type of attack. It’s still pretty fun, too… though it puts up a lot more of a fight than I remember!
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Well, it’s been a fun ride, but I think I’m going to call time on my Auto Modellista career… for now, anyway.
I’ve reached a point in the game where I just don’t seem to have the right combination of cars, parts and raw skills to be able to pass the challenges I’m presented with. And so after today’s attempts, in which I experiment with a few different cars to see what difference they might make to my performance, I think it’s time to move on.
Hit the jump to see exactly what led me to this conclusion… and if you know this game well and have any suggestions on how I might be able to progress, I’ll gratefully hear them!
Continue reading Sunday Driving: I’m At My Limit – Auto Modellista #5
Today we continue to test my point-and-shoot skills as we crack on with Project Zero’s postgame.
Having cleared ten of the challenges in Mission Mode, things are starting to get a whole lot more difficult now… and we have a destined encounter with the Himuro Family Master to look forward to.
Will I survive an encounter with the Headless Priest? How does Blinded seem to be able to pinpoint my location so accurately without eyes? Will I ever get anything better than a “C” rank? Hit the jump to find out the answers to all these pressing questions and more…
Continue reading New Game Plus: Don’t Call Him “Daddy” – Project Zero #2
Sometimes you feel nostalgia for something not because it was “good”, but because you associate it with happy times.
One such example of this from among the library of Atari ST games I’ve played over the years is Eidersoft’s public domain title Haunted House, a pretty terrible platform game that is essentially a take on the Jet Set Willy formula. Explore, collect things, try not to die.
Atrocious collision detection, the worst run cycle you’ll ever see and the fact it might not even be possible to actually finish the damn thing doesn’t stop me thinking quite fondly of it, however, because I will forever associate it with pleasant memories of childhood. Ahh, simpler times…
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We’re nearly there! On the Samurai Warriors campaign, that is.
Yes, it’s the penultimate mission of the first phase of our Warriors Orochi playthrough, meaning that next time around we get to wail on ol’ snake boy himself for the first time.
After a bit of off-camera unlocking of passive abilities, things are going pretty well for the crew. Hit the jump to see how today’s mission went.
Continue reading Warriors Wednesday: The God of War’s Windmill Blade – Warriors Orochi #13
“Platforms and ladders”. That’s what we used to call platformers before the more well-established, compact term we use today really took off.
Actually, there is a bit of a distinction; when one is referring specifically to a “platforms and ladders” game, one tends not to be referring to a side-scrolling title like a Super Mario Bros. game, but instead something that unfolds a single screen at a time, usually tasking the player with reaching a specific point or visiting every part of the level at least once.
Bill Hogue and Big Five Software’s Miner 2049’er is a great example of this format — and a game that remains one of the most enduringly popular titles in the Atari 8-bit’s library to this day.
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Who’d have thought it, eh? It’s amazing the kind of inane stupidity that spills out of one’s mouth while attempting to concentrate on something else.
This week we continue our attempts to master Capcom’s visually arresting arcade racer Auto Modellista, and start to encounter some serious resistance. And, it seems, overcoming that resistance isn’t as simple as just picking the car with the best stats from the list…
Hit the jump to see how things went in this week’s races.
Do you beat games? I do.
Speaking to a lot of game-playing friends in person and online, it transpired that relatively few people I know seem to start a game and see it through to completion in the same way as I do — either playing a bit and then endlessly starting again to try different character builds or starting conditions, or simply hopping from new game to new game as they’re released without ever really getting anywhere in any of them.
One of the things you miss out on if you don’t beat games is the fact that many of them have plenty more stuff to do after you see the credits roll for the first time. So, well, I figured given that my YouTube channel is settling into a nice rhythm with its Atari A to Z, Warriors Wednesday and Sunday Driving videos… why don’t we take the time to explore that aspect of gaming specifically?
Continue reading New Game Plus: That One Perfect Shot – Project Zero #1
We all have games that we enjoy a bunch, but are absolutely no good at whatsoever. For me, one of those games is Ghouls ‘n’ Ghosts… in pretty much any incarnation.
The Atari ST version was a pretty great port that offered a convincingly “console-style” experience on home computers that were never quite able to match up to dedicated gaming hardware. I may have never seen beyond about halfway through the first level (including in today’s video) but I’ll still always have fond memories of it.
Join me as I wax lyrical on the game’s excellent use of the ST’s meagre sound chip, the novelty value of platform games with undulating landscapes and, once again, my brother’s girlfriend’s father.
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