Cover Games, Senran Kagura

Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal: The Pairing of Sword and Shield

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senran-kagura-header-9065113This article is one chapter of a multi-part Cover Game feature!
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We live in an age where remakes and reboots are very popular. Exactly how that came to be is anyone’s guess — improving technology leading creators to believe they can better realise the original intention of a work, presumably — but regardless of the reasoning, here we are.

Senran Kagura, a series which turned eight years old on Sunday, September 22, 2019 — the Sunday just gone at the time of writing — has been no exception to this, with its most recent “mainline” release in the series being Burst Re:Newal, which first hit Japanese shelves in February of 2018, and followed just under a year later in the West.

Burst Re:Newal, as the name suggests, is a reimagining of the first game in the series — or, more accurately, the expanded second release of that first game, Senran Kagura Burst — and it brings the beginning of the saga to a whole new audience. Let’s take a closer look.

Continue reading Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal: The Pairing of Sword and Shield →

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z: Fantastic Voyage

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Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE–

Better get used to that sound! It’s Fantastic Voyage, an extremely timely 1982 release from Sirius Software that adapts the 1966 movie (or possibly Isaac Asimov’s novelisation) about injecting tiny submarines into scientists to blast health problems from within.

It’s actually a very enjoyable shooter — albeit one that isn’t going to blow your mind with its visuals, being barely distinct from its Atari 2600 counterpart. It plays well, though… and you’ll be hearing that beep-beep-beep in your sleep!

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

Podcast

The MoeGamer Podcast: Episode 29 – The Happenings

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Greetings, lovelies, and welcome once again to The MoeGamer Podcast, featuring me and my fine friend Chris Caskie of MrGilderPixels.

The MoeGamer Podcast is available in several places. You can subscribe to my channel on YouTube to stay up to date with both the video versions of the podcast and my weekly videos (including the Atari A to Z retro gaming series); you can follow on Soundcloud for the audio-only version of the podcast; you can subscribe via RSS to get the audio-only version of the podcast in your favourite podcast app; or you can subscribe via iTunes. Please do at least one of these if you can; it really helps us out!

Or you can hit the jump to watch or listen to today’s episode right here on MoeGamer.

Continue reading The MoeGamer Podcast: Episode 29 – The Happenings →

Announcements, Community

Around the Network

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Late again! Apologies. But I was up until 11.30pm last night editing the newest episode of The MoeGamer Podcast (coming later today!) so hopefully you’ll forgive me.

It was an interesting week last week, for sure! A lot of people were very keen on my article about respecting one another’s tastes, and this was really gratifying and encouraging to see. I know I’m not the only one who’s absolutely sick of low-effort reviews wasting everyone’s time; small-scale, niche-interest titles deserve respect as much as big-budget triple-A stuff — more so in many cases, in my experience — so it’s always depressing to see when a big, usually respectable publication shits out something as distasteful as what we saw this week.

But oh well. We can but try to make the world a better place by being the change we want to see in it. That’s certainly what I strive to do, so please, pull up a chair and check out what you might have missed in the last week!

Continue reading Around the Network →

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z Flashback: Air-Sea Battle

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An all-time classic of the Atari 2600’s library is launch title Air-Sea Battle, a simplistic but enjoyable fixed shooter with a variety of different ways to play.

Air-Sea Battle is an excellent example of what you could expect from early 2600 titles that promised “27 video games” or similar. Those “27” video games would be a lot of variations on the same theme — but there’d sometimes be some surprising and enjoyable differences between them!

Air-Sea Battle shines as a two-player game, even today, but it’s still an enjoyable high score-chaser solo. Which is your favourite of the 27 variations?

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: Mt. Gulg and the Big Rooms of Nothing – Final Fantasy I #12

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In today’s episode of Final Fantasy, the Warriors of Light finally get back on track and delve into the fiery depths of Mt. Gulg.

Marilith, one of the Four Fiends, is waiting for them far beneath the surface, but first they have lots of exploring to do. And the floor is literally lava. It’s a good job they packed plenty of potions, but you’d think they’d have brought more sensible shoes for such an excursion.

Of course, before they even get to Marilith, they have to face one of their biggest challenges yet: the seemingly endless Big Rooms of Nothing!

Essentials, Shmups, SNES

Star Fox: All Ships Check In!!

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“You should see this. It’s just like having an arcade machine connected to your television.”

Those were the words my brother, ten years my senior, said to me one time he came home from his job on a ’90s gaming magazine, pulling a Super Famicom out of his bag.

While the system didn’t quite live up to those lofty expectations in some regards — particularly as it got a bit older — there were certain games that, once I had my own Super NES and some games for it, reminded a younger me very much of those words. And Star Fox was one of them.

Continue reading Star Fox: All Ships Check In!! →

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari ST A to Z: Yogi’s Great Escape

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Licensed games have been around for a long time… and they’ve gotten quite a bit better over the years. For the most part!

Back in the 16-bit home computer era, publisher Hi-Tec had the license to produce video games based on Hanna Barbera cartoons, including properties such as Hong Kong Phooey and Yogi Bear.

Today’s game is one of several Yogi Bear games that Hi-Tec put out at a budget price point. It’s a competent, if fairly unremarkable platformer — which, not coincidentally, is a descriptor that can be applied to 90% of licensed games on the Atari ST!

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

Waifu Wednesday

Waifu Wednesday: Homura

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Homura, leader of the Crimson Squad and former elite shinobi of Hebijo Clandestine Girls’ Academy, has stood out throughout the whole Senran Kagura series, and she’s also a character that has undergone some of the most interesting and significant development over the course of the various games’ narrative arcs.

Whether it’s her early appearances as a strong and seemingly deadly rival to Asuka or her later incarnations as a comedic “genius” trying her best to keep her ragtag “family” of the Crimson Squad together and safe, Homura is a widely beloved character with good reason.

Let’s take a closer look at what makes her… her.

Continue reading Waifu Wednesday: Homura →

Videos, Warriors Wednesday

Warriors Wednesday: Filthy Garbage – Warriors Orochi #56

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Following his long-expected rebellion against his Crazy Snake Guy overlord, Cao Pi sets out to rescue his wife Zhen Ji from servitude to the Big O.

We’re getting very close to the absolutely, positively, definitely end of Warriors Orochi now! There are just a few more episodes in the Wei campaign left to go, and then we’re done.

Of course, once you’ve played through all the stories once, there’s still a lot to do, including collecting weapons and unique items, levelling up all the characters, challenging harder difficulties… I think this game will keep me busy for quite some time, even long after this “season” of Warriors Wednesday ends!

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