Atelier Meruru: The Apprentice of Arland – Building a Legacy

cropped-atelier-megafeature-header-1-8868334This post is one chapter of a MegaFeature!
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Atelier Meruru: The Apprentice of Arland concludes what was the original Arland trilogy for PlayStation 3 with another twist on the formula that makes it a very distinct game from its predecessors.

Blending elements of the game structure from both Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland and Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arlandit was a fitting conclusion to the series — at least until Atelier Lulua: The Scion of Arland put in a surprise appearance, anyway, but that’s a story for another day.

In this part of the Atelier MegaFeature, we’ll take a look at these things Atelier Meruru has in common with its predecessors — and how it manages to stand out as its own distinctive experience through its own additions to the formula. Let’s jump in!

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Evercade A to Z: Dig Dug II

Everyone knows and loves Namco’s Dig Dug — it’s an all-time classic of arcade gaming’s golden age. But not so many people know about Dig Dug’s official sequel.

This is partly due to the fact that it didn’t leave Japan until pretty late in the 8-bit home console era, several years after its original launch — and as such, it got rather overshadowed by most of its contemporaries.

Now, though, we can enjoy it in all its glory on the Namco Museum Collection 2 cartridge for the Evercade retro gaming system. Take a look in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more.

MotorPsycho: The 7800’s Best Motorcycle Racing Game

When contemplating video games from years gone by, it’s all too easy to focus exclusively on the “classics” — those defining experiences that went on to have a huge amount of influence on everything that came afterwards.

But the highly influential and historically significant nature of these games means that, by this point in time, most of the things which can be said about them have probably already been said. These days, I personally find it much more interesting to dive into the dustiest of dusty archives and dig out some stuff that, while perhaps not as well-regarded as the “greats” from over the years, might do some unusual, experimental and creative things with established formulae.

One of the best things about Blaze’s Evercade retro gaming platform is that the people behind it clearly understand this. And so, while the Evercade’s Atari Collection 1 cartridge contains established, all-time early ’80s classics like Asteroids and Centipede for Atari’s monstrously popular 2600 console, it also features 1990’s MotorPsycho — a double-whammy of overlooked goodness in that it is 1) a game that will likely be largely unfamiliar to a lot of people today, and 2) it came out on the Atari 7800, a console no-one bought. So let’s take a closer look!

Continue reading MotorPsycho: The 7800’s Best Motorcycle Racing Game

Atari ST A to Z: Electronic Pool

For quite a while, games that ostensibly simulated “real” sports and activities weren’t necessarily concerned with realism — they were concerned with being fun video games first and foremost.

A good example of this is Electronic Pool for Atari ST by Microdeal. This game resembles real-life pool but doesn’t follow many of its rules — and in doing so it manages to create an entertaining arcade-style experience. (One might argue that it’s quite similar to Data East’s Side Pocket, but this certainly isn’t an official adaptation of that…)

Rack ’em up and join me in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more.

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Waifu Wednesday: Keina Swaya

Every self-respecting princess needs a good maid to tend to her needs — even when the princess in question is as determined to do things her own way as Merurulince Rede Arls is.

In such situations, it pays for the maid in question to have a longstanding relationship with the princess in question, as that means the princess might actually listen to the maid at those times when she finds herself frustrated enough to accidentally call a parent a “poopyhead” to their face.

Keina knows how to handle Meruru, in other words. And witnessing their relationship with one another is one of the most heartwarming parts of Atelier Meruru: The Apprentice of Arland.

Continue reading Waifu Wednesday: Keina Swaya

short;Play: Mad Rat Dead

I love Nippon Ichi Software. Over the years they’ve provided some fantastic games, and they rarely stick to what’s “safe”; their games are, in many cases, some of the most joyfully experimental, mechanically rich titles out there.

A great example is new release Mad Rat Dead, which combines electro swing-fuelled rhythm action with tricky platforming, a surprisingly dark narrative and a colourful, punky aesthetic. It’s a lot of fun, but looks like being a pretty stiff challenge in the long term!

Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more.

The Coma: Recut – Extracurricular Horror

Good horror, as we’ve previously talked about on The MoeGamer Podcast, is about more than just spooky scary skeletons and gallons of gore. And good modern horror games tend to be a natural evolution of the narrative-centric adventure game genre.

A good example of this is The Coma from Korean developer Devespresso games, which originally released for PC in 2015 before getting a “Recut” version for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch two years later. This is a game that challenges players to solve a seemingly supernatural mystery while on the run from a ruthless killer — and without any means of fighting back.

At the same time, there’s some interesting narrative content designed to get you thinking, too. It’s a fine use of your time this spooky season — so let’s take a closer look.

Continue reading The Coma: Recut – Extracurricular Horror

Atari A to Z: Kaboom!

One of Activision’s most fondly regarded games from the Atari 2600 library is Kaboom! — a simple affair that gratuitously rips off Atari’s own Avalanche, because apparently Atari had very little interest in porting that themselves.

Kaboom! also got a port to Atari 8-bit, and it’s a good ‘un. The enhancements over the original 2600 version may be fairly subtle, but they all add to the experience, making for a straightforward but enormously addictive little game that you’ll find yourself spending a surprising amount of time with if you let it get its claws in.

Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more.

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Super Robin Hood: Feared By the Bad, Loved By the Good

The Oliver Twins are an important part of British gaming history, and Super Robin Hood is a particularly noteworthy title — its original incarnation on the Amstrad CPC was the duo’s first commercially successful game, and the first of many games Codemasters would publish for them.

The version of Super Robin Hood we find on the Oliver Twins Collection cartridge for Blaze’s Evercade retro gaming system is a substantial reimagining of this game rather than a note-for-note remake. The original Amstrad CPC version came out in 1986 while the twins were still at school, whereas the NES incarnation found on the Evercade cart hit the market in 1992. This was after the boys had decided to do this programming thing full time — and after they’d really figured out a few things about what makes a solid game from a design perspective. At least their poor old CPC didn’t have to work 23-hour days any more!

While the twins’ myriad Dizzy titles are their more well-known work, there’s a lot to like about Super Robin Hood — particularly this later reimagining. So let’s take a closer look!

Continue reading Super Robin Hood: Feared By the Bad, Loved By the Good

Around the Network

Happy weekend, everyone! Hope you’ve all had a fine time. I’m just coming off a week off from the day job so I’ve got lots of things I actually want to do done, which is a nice feeling. Back to the daily grind tomorrow, though… boo.

There’s been some interesting stories this week, probably the most notable of which is the sordid history behind the Golden Axed prototype Sega put up on Steam for a limited period. But let’s also not forget the guy from the Google Stadia team who thought telling Twitter that streamers should pay licensing fees for the games they stream would be in any way a good idea. He’s been very quiet ever since.

Anyway, that aside, let’s check out what you might have missed in the last week!

Continue reading Around the Network

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