Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari ST A to Z: Borrowed Time

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“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.

Waifu Wednesday

Waifu Wednesday: Miyabi

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It occurs to me that in previous installments of this column, I have given some time and attention to three of the four main “faction” leaders in Senran Kagura — Homura, Asuka and Yumi — so it probably behooves me to devote today to Miyabi.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t begrudge her a moment in the spotlight, of course, but of all the Senran Kagura girls, she’s one that doesn’t seem to get a ton of fan attention. Which is a shame, because she’s a fascinating character with some cool backstory. Actual backstory, not… you know what I mean.

So let’s rectify that and give Miyabi some love, shall we?

Continue reading Waifu Wednesday: Miyabi →

Videos, Warriors Wednesday

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

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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!

Cover Games, Senran Kagura

Senran Kagura Peach Ball: Bump ‘n’ Bounce

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senran-kagura-header-9065113This article is one chapter of a multi-part Cover Game feature!
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There’s a convincing argument to be made that a long-running video game franchise has only seen true success when it’s had a video pinball spinoff on a Nintendo platform.

I jest, obviously, but there are a number of fun examples from over the years — primarily direct from Nintendo, it has to be said, what with Metroid, Kirby, Pokémon and Super Mario all getting the bouncing balls treatment.

Senran Kagura is a series about ninja girls, though, so how on Earth could that possibly… oh, you know they’ll find a way. Let’s take a closer look.

Continue reading Senran Kagura Peach Ball: Bump ‘n’ Bounce →

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z: Hijack!

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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.

One-Shots

The Secrets We Keep: A Modern Love Story

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I’ll level with you, dear reader: as a heterosexual man, I’ve never really made checking out boys’ love (BL) media a particular priority — though I must also admit that I’ve been curious for quite a while to see what it’s like.

My past experiences with otome games aimed at heterosexual women have been universally positive, after all (play Sweet Fuse, it’s amazing!) so there’s absolutely no reason why I shouldn’t be able to enjoy a BL title, too. As I’ve discovered since leaving the mainstream side of gaming behind, keeping an open mind and stepping outside of what you might typically think of as your “comfort zone” pretty much always pays off with some memorable experiences.

And thus, when independent developer Studio Senpai reached out and asked me to take a look at their work-in-progress visual novel The Secrets We Keep, I thought this would be a good opportunity to take my first steps into a brave new world. Also, the concept of the novel sounded highly intriguing, too, so that definitely helped! So let’s explore together.

Continue reading The Secrets We Keep: A Modern Love Story →

Announcements, Community

Around the Network

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Hello everyone! It’s the end of another week, so time for another one of them thar roundup type posts.

I’ve been ill this week, but I’ve been doing what I can to keep things ticking along. I think I’ve mostly mended now; a particularly fiery portion of noodles yesterday and a Chinese takeaway this evening have helped a great deal. Back on the straight and narrow with the diet tomorrow!

All right, enough about me, let’s check out what you might have missed this week.

Continue reading Around the Network →

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z Flashback: Armor Ambush

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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.

Essentials, One-Shots, Puzzlers, Switch

Cubixx: White Lines Blowin’ Through My Mind

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Over the years, numerous classic arcade games have been remade, recycled and reimagined in various different ways. Some get this treatment more than others.

While Taito’s line-drawing action puzzler Qix has been by no means immune to this phenomenon — indeed, on more than one occasion by Taito themselves — it’s not a formula we see experimented with quite as much as, say, the classic space shooters of yore — or the twin-stick blasting of Robotron 2084 in particular.

It’s even rarer that we see a reimagining quite as inventive as what we have in Laughing Jackal’s Cubixx, a game that began its life as a PlayStation Mini in 2009, subsequently got HD-ified in 2011, and which has now been resurrected once again for everyone’s favourite “I wish every game was on this platform” console, the Nintendo Switch. Let’s take a look.

Continue reading Cubixx: White Lines Blowin’ Through My Mind →

Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy Marathon, Videos

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

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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!

The best of overlooked and underappreciated computer and video games, from yesterday and today.