Podcast

The MoeGamer Podcast: Episode 12 – Halloween Horrors

3 Comments

WoooooOOOOOooooOOOOOO it’s SPOOKY OCTOBER or something.

Well, it is nearly Halloween at the time of writing, and thus Chris and I thought it would be a good opportunity to have a chat about all things horror! It’s a good complement to the current Cover Game feature on the Project Zero series, after all.

Don’t forget that you can subscribe to my YouTube channel to stay up to date on new episodes of the podcast as well as all my other videos, follow the show on Soundcloud to subscribe to the audio-only episodes, or subscribe via RSS if you like to do that sort of thing. Or you can just hit the jump for the latest episode in both video and audio formats!

Continue reading The MoeGamer Podcast: Episode 12 – Halloween Horrors →

Auto Modellista, Sunday Driving

Sunday Driving: Fear the Mighty Yaris – Auto Modellista #2

2 Comments

I enjoyed Auto Modellista so much when I tried it for the first time last week that I felt it deserved another look or two. So that’s what we’re up to today!

For the unfamiliar, Auto Modellista is a 2002 release from Capcom that, alongside Monster Hunter and Resident Evil Outbreak, was supposed to be Capcom’s big break into online gaming. That, uh, didn’t quite work out — indeed, the initial Western release of Auto Modellista didn’t have any online modes at all — but it didn’t stop it being a cool, immensely stylish game.

Hit the jump for the latest video to see what I mean!

Continue reading Sunday Driving: Fear the Mighty Yaris – Auto Modellista #2 →

Announcements

Around the Network

4 Comments

Hello everyone! It’s been a hectic week for me this week, to say the least.

My wife Andie was rushed into hospital with suspected appendicitis early in the week, and then I came down with… something or other as a result of the stress of the whole situation combined with regular visits to A Place Full of Ill People.

Thankfully, Andie’s back home now and I think I’m mostly on the mend… so let’s take a moment to review what’s been going on this week!

Continue reading Around the Network →

One-Shots

Xenon Valkyrie+: 16-Bit Procedural Platforming

2 Comments

You might think the “roguelike” subgenre is oversaturated (it is). You might think the term “roguelike” is widely misused (it is). But that’s not to say there aren’t still good examples of games with roguelike elements being released.

One such example is Xenon Valkyrie+, a game originally developed by Spanish coder Daniel Fernandez Chavez (aka “Diabolical Mind”) and enhanced for its PlayStation 4 and Vita release by solo French developer Fabrice Breton of Cowcat Games. If that pairing sounds familiar, you may recall we looked at their previous collaboration Riddled Corpses EX a while back.

Riddled Corpses EX impressed me a great deal, so when Limited Run Games offered a physical release of Xenon Valkyrie+ a few months ago, I thought I’d jump on it and see what else this dream team could come up with.

Continue reading Xenon Valkyrie+: 16-Bit Procedural Platforming →

One-Shots

Taiko no Tatsujin Drum ‘n’ Fun (Demo): Motion and Music Don’t Mix

5 Comments

As regular listeners of The MoeGamer Podcast will know, I greatly enjoy music games, but I’ve never had a chance to play the Taiko no Tatsujin series to date.

Well, I figured, it’s probably time I rectified that situation, isn’t it? Various installments in the series are often held up as all-time classics in the genre, after all. Plus it’s hard to resist that super-cute artwork — which, if you didn’t know, is the inimitable work of Yukiko Yoko, wife of the man who brought the world the Nier series. How’s that for a weird-ass twist?

So it was with some excitement that I downloaded the newly released demo of Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum ‘n’ Fun, one of two parallel games which mark the first time the series has ever officially come to Europe. And… well, read on.

Continue reading Taiko no Tatsujin Drum ‘n’ Fun (Demo): Motion and Music Don’t Mix →

Videos

Atari ST A to Z: Eliminator

1 Comment

Today’s Atari ST game is a good example of the sort of technically impressive titles that came from the development company Hewson.

Probably best known for their impressive platformer Nebulus (known on some platforms in some regions as Tower Toppler), Hewson was a company that became renowned for its visually striking games, making use of a variety of techniques to provide the illusion of pushing the hardware “beyond its limits”.

Eliminator sees the company turning its hand to the quasi-3D effect of late ’80s racing games… and then layering a brutally challenging bit of shoot ’em up action atop it. I also have fond memories of it for admittedly strange and anecdotal reasons that are little to do with the game itself…

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

Waifu Wednesday

Waifu Wednesday: Kathryn Lapucelle

4 Comments

Well, we’ve covered all the other “main” waifus Ramius, Riche and Gurigura from Evenicle so far, so it’s only fair we give Kathryn some love too!

Kathryn is the last playable character to join protagonist Aster’s family, and she is, for sure, an interesting one — both from a narrative and a mechanical perspective.

Let’s just say that you should probably approach with a certain degree of caution.

Continue reading Waifu Wednesday: Kathryn Lapucelle →

Videos, Warriors Wednesday

Warriors Wednesday: First-Time Clear – Warriors Orochi #10

2 Comments

I did it! For the first time in quite a while… I cleared a Warriors Orochi battle without messing it up even once.

This is surely cause for celebration… at least partly because it almost certainly won’t happen again, as the challenge factor continues to ramp up with each new mission.

Hit the jump for the latest video and admire my… skills?

Continue reading Warriors Wednesday: First-Time Clear – Warriors Orochi #10 →

Essentials

PS2 Essentials: Auto Modellista

3 Comments

Even today, Capcom’s 2002 racing game Auto Modellista stands out as a bold and striking experiment.

By combining relatively conventional arcade-style racing gameplay with an eye-catching cel-shaded visual style, the game successfully distinguished itself from many of its peers — though sadly, relatively mediocre reviews, mostly focusing on the game’s handling and its attempts to straddle the line between deep simulation and arcade racer, meant that it sold fairly poorly.

That doesn’t mean it’s not worth checking out by any means, however — particularly if you are someone who, like me, enjoys the customisation aspect of deep sims but hates “realistic” handling. Let’s take a closer look — and keep an eye on Sunday Driving for the next few weeks to see the game in action for yourself!

Continue reading PS2 Essentials: Auto Modellista →

Videos

Atari A to Z: Juice!

2 Comments

It was pretty common in the Atari 8-Bit era for games to offer a bit of a new twist on established formulae. You had to make your games stand out, after all!

In Juice!, a game developed by Arti Haroutunian and published by Tronix, you take on the role of “Edison, the kinetic android” who is essentially a mechanised electrician. It’s up to you to connect all the wires on the board to get things up and running again while avoiding the unwanted attention of various electrical-themed enemies.

If you watch the video, it probably won’t take you long to notice that the game bears an uncanny resemblance to Q*Bert in some ways — but there’s enough different here to keep things interesting, and this remains a great, highly playable game for Atari 8-bit computers.

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

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