Split/Second, Sunday Driving, Videos

Sunday Driving: Rigged to Blow – Split/Second #1

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I fancied a bit of a change from OutRun this week, so I present to you one of my all-time favourite arcade racers: Split/Second, developed by Black Rock and published by Disney.

Split/Second is a tragic tale, really; it was a spectacularly good game that came out at a bad time, had no marketing whatsoever and consequently flopped so badly that Black Rock had to close down and Disney stopped doing anything interesting like unusual cinematic arcade racers ever again. Booo.

Still, at least Split/Second still exists, and we can still enjoy it for ourselves, so let’s do just that!

Continue reading Sunday Driving: Rigged to Blow – Split/Second #1 →

Announcements, Community

Around the Network

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Everyone back to work now? Me too. Booooo.

Still, that means getting back on a normal schedule again, and it also means the beginning of a new year of Cover Game features, kicking off with the Atelier Arland series starting this month. From there… well, there’s a whole bunch of stuff I’m excited about covering in the near future!

There are also developments in the world of Atari A to Z, and I’ll be getting the ball rolling on Videopac Games again this week now that I’m in a good “rhythm” again. But for now, hit the jump to see what you might have missed!

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Videos

Atari A to Z Flashback: Asteroids

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Asteroids is a longstanding classic with good reason: it made a solid impact on the early video games industry, and it has influenced a great many subsequent games over the years ever since.

There’s a beautiful simplicity to the sparse black and white vector graphics of the original arcade game, and it’s still enjoyable and playable today… so long as you can get your head around the whole “turn and thrust” movement system, which is something I’ve always struggled a bit with over the years!

Still, if you want to play early era space games, it’s a mechanic you better get used to pretty quick… and there’s no better place to practice than the original never-ending field of space rocks.

Follow Atari A to Z on its own dedicated site here!

Essentials, NES

NES Essentials: Mighty Bomb Jack

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I’ve always enjoyed games that subvert your expectations in one way or another — be it narratively, mechanically or both. And Tecmo’s Mighty Bomb Jack from 1987 is nothing if not charmingly fast and loose with the definition of what you might expect from a NES-era platform game.

I wasn’t familiar with Mighty Bomb Jack back when it was “current”, but I did have a soft spot for Elite’s solid Atari ST port of the 1984 original arcade game. That was a much simpler game; what Mighty Bomb Jack does is take the base mechanics from its predecessor and apply them in an interesting and unusual new way.

Let’s take a look, shall we?

Continue reading NES Essentials: Mighty Bomb Jack →

Project Zero, Videos

New Game Plus: Eat Paralysey Camera Death – Project Zero #9

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No more fleeing children!

That doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods in our Nightmare mode playthrough of the first Project Zero on PlayStation 2, however. There are still plenty of hostile ghosts just waiting to cover us in ectoplasm and have their wicked incorporeal way with us. Perhaps not necessarily in that order.

Hit the jump to see how Miku’s continuing adventures proceeded today…

Continue reading New Game Plus: Eat Paralysey Camera Death – Project Zero #9 →

Atelier Arland Trilogy, Cover Games

Atelier Arland: Introduction and History

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cropped-atelier-header-3938584This article is one chapter of a multi-part Cover Game feature!
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Atelier is one of the more long-running, prolific series in the canon of Japanese gaming.

First launching in 1997, the franchise has seen 19 mainline releases since its inception (with a 20th on the way at the time of writing), plus a variety of spin-offs, side stories, ports, expanded adaptations and guest appearances from its characters in various other games over the years. Although we didn’t see our first Western localisation of the series until its sixth mainline game (Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana for PlayStation 2) in 2005, it is, by this point, firmly established as a mainstay of Japanese role-playing games — and, in the nicest possible way, developer Gust’s cash cow.

With that in mind, before we delve into the Arland trilogy in detail, let’s take a look at the history of the series as a whole up until Atelier Rorona’s initial release in 2009. Join me on a trip into totally-not-Renaissance-Germany, and let’s get crafting!

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Videos

Atari ST A to Z: Operation Thunderbolt

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It wasn’t unusual to see lightgun shooters adapted to the 16-bit computers of the late ’80s and early ’90s. However, you didn’t tend to see a lot in the way of lightgun peripherals.

You did, however, see a lot of these games making use of mouse control to simulate aiming a gun. Some of these made use of a clear, obvious mouse cursor, allowing for precise aiming, albeit at the expense of a certain feeling of “authenticity”. Meanwhile, some, like Ocean’s solid adaptation of Taito’s Operation Thunderbolt, provided the interesting twist of making where you were aiming invisible until you fired — much like a “real” lightgun would behave.

While the ST struggles to provide a completely authentic arcade experience — particularly in the sound department, as always — Operation Thunderbolt is actually a pretty solid port, and its unusual aiming mechanics make it surprisingly satisfying and addictive to play, even today.

Follow Atari A to Z on its own dedicated site here!

Hundred Honeys, Waifu Wednesday

Waifu Wednesday: The Hundred Honeys Project Clearly Needs a New Venue

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Good grief, it’s getting crowded in there… wherever I decide to take them.

It’s actually got to such a stage now that it’s seemingly impossible to get everyone in shot, so you’ll just have to take my word for it that there are now 47 Honeys in place. And they’re getting a bit rambunctious.

Hit the jump to see the latest additions to the harem…

Continue reading Waifu Wednesday: The Hundred Honeys Project Clearly Needs a New Venue →

Videos, Warriors Wednesday

Warriors Wednesday: The Mail Must Get Through – Warriors Orochi #20

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Warriors Orochi is definitely getting easier the further I go through it.

Today’s mission is done and dusted in under 20 minutes — including the obligatory “upgrade and fusion” time before we actually get into the hackin’ and a-slashin’. This is keeping things fun and interesting, however; the sense of “power creep” is very satisfying indeed, and I’m looking forward to seeing how powerful my warriors are by the time I get to the final story campaigns!

For now, hit the jump to see how remarkably smoothly today’s rescue mission went.

Continue reading Warriors Wednesday: The Mail Must Get Through – Warriors Orochi #20 →

Announcements, Community

Planning for 2019

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Happy new year, everyone! I hope you all had a suitably tolerable New Year’s Eve. I spent most of mine editing and preparing videos, but to be honest, this is the sort of thing I’d rather do these days anyway!

Today I thought I’d take a moment to look forward to 2019, make a few plans and inform you of what my intentions for MoeGamer and my other projects are for the coming year. None of said projects are going anywhere, I hasten to add — I am, however, expanding on or rethinking a few things here and there.

Let’s get right into it then!

Continue reading Planning for 2019 →

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