Final Fantasy II, Videos

Final Fantasy Marathon: Pandaemonium – Final Fantasy II #18

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Today, we beat Final Fantasy II once and for all! Well, apart from the Soul of Rebirth story added in the GBA version, of course, but we’ll deal with that when we come to it.

We have a couple of significant obstacles in our path though: the Jade Passage and Pandaemonium dungeons! The latter in particular is quite easy to get lost in, as I find out to my great cost… but it does at least have some rather tasty treasure to enjoy if you happen to stumble across it.

Pack a lunch, sit down and enjoy, as we take the fight to the Emperor and attempt to save the world from invasion by Hell itself!

Sega Ages

Sega Ages G-LOC Air Battle: Wish Fulfilment

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Sega’s G-LOC Air Battle is my favourite arcade game of all time — not that I had that many opportunities to play it as a child, sadly.

We don’t really “do” arcades here in the UK anywhere other than the seaside, you see, and thus, growing up in a small village that was a considerable distance from the nearest seaside resort, I only ever got to play a lot of arcade games when we went on holiday. This, naturally, led to me judging a lot of domestic holiday destinations based on what arcade machines were readily accessible.

G-LOC is a game that immediately caught my attention on a family trip to Newquay in Cornwall. I dropped a quid in it for three credits, sat down and prepared for action. And from that moment on, I was in love.

Continue reading Sega Ages G-LOC Air Battle: Wish Fulfilment →

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari ST A to Z: Enduro Racer

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Back in the early days of home computing, you couldn’t rely on arcade game companies to provide official ports of their own games.

Nope; they tended to be farmed out to other publishers and developers who had more experience with working on the 8- and 16-bit platforms of the era. One such example of this was the relationship between Sega and Activision; this resulted in a number of Sega arcade classics getting ported to systems like the Atari ST.

Here’s Enduro Racer, one of several products of this partnership. Can the humble ST stand up to the might of this Super Scaler classic?

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Announcements, Community

It’s Our Birthday!

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Yes, it’s April 29 once again, which means that I am a year older — 39 this time around — and so is MoeGamer!

Yep, this happy little nook tucked away in a corner of the Internet is six years old today, and over the course of those six years it’s been a gradual process of learning, growing, changing and adapting until you have what you see before you today. And doubtless the next six years will continue to see gradual change and evolution here without undermining the fundamental mission of the site: to celebrate our fantastic hobby of gaming, and particularly those parts of it that go overlooked or underappreciated.

For those interested in the story of how the site came to be in the first place, I invite you to enjoy this retrospective that I penned on the site’s third birthday. For today, some musings on why I do what I do, and why I feel independent creators like me continue to do important work.

Continue reading It’s Our Birthday! →

short;Play, Videos

short;Play: Snack World – The Dungeon Crawl Gold

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Welcome to a new video series! I give you short;Play, which, all being well, I will put out on Wednesdays.

The idea behind short;Play is similar to my Atari A to Z videos, only for more recent games and not on specific platforms. I’ll give you a brief rundown of the context and history of the game, then a guided tour of what to expect from the game. It’s not a full playthrough or a multi-episode Let’s Play — it’s just a quick look at what a typical session with the game is like.

We kick off with Level-5’s Snack World: The Dungeon Crawl Gold, and once I’m a bit deeper into this game the video will be complemented by a full writeup here on MoeGamer. For now, please enjoy the first episode of short;Play, and I hope you continue to enjoy what I have lined up for the next few Wednesdays!

ADK Damashii, Neo Geo

Ninja Combat: From a Distance

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One cool thing that we’ve started to see in the last couple of console generations is publishers bringing formerly Japan-only releases to the West — not necessarily fully translated, but simply providing us access to games that were previously difficult or impractical to get hold of.

One such example is ADK Damashii, a compilation of Neo Geo games that was released for PlayStation 2 back in 2008. It was ported to PlayStation 4 in 2015 for Japanese players — then, two years later, it got a surprise Western release via digital download, followed by a limited packaged release courtesy of Limited Run Games at the tail end of 2019.

ADK Damashii features five games to enjoy, all developed by former SNK partner Alpha Denshi Kabushiki Gaisha, also known as Alpha Denshi Corporation or, you guessed it, ADK. Let’s begin with a look at the rather literally titled Ninja Combat.

Continue reading Ninja Combat: From a Distance →

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z: Knicker Bockers

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You probably have no idea what to expect from a game with a title like “Knicker Bockers”. I didn’t really know either.

What we actually get is a surprisingly fun, if challenging, maze game that combines elements of Lock ‘n’ Chase, Pengo and a teeny tiny bit of Drelbs. It’s a good time!

Well, okay, the narrative setup for the game — which features a guy named Knick playing in a door factory while being pursued by the local toughs — perhaps needs some work… but it was the 8-bit era and no-one cared about narrative if the game was enjoyable!

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Delving Into..., Super Castlevania IV

Super Castlevania IV: Playing A Game “Right”

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I’ve been continuing to explore Super Castlevania IV recently, and a few things about my experiences have got me thinking.

Specifically, it’s got me thinking about whether or not the concept of playing a game in the “correct” way really exists — and if that’s the same thing as experiencing the game in the same manner and the same context as its original release.

This is a question that is particularly relevant to modern rereleases of retro titles such as Super Castlevania IV, so let’s ponder it together today!

Continue reading Super Castlevania IV: Playing A Game “Right” →

Announcements, Community

Around the Network

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Hello everyone! Hope you’re all staying home, staying safe, protecting the NHS, mixing drinks and saving lives like we’re all supposed to be doing right now.

I have, of course, been continuing to beaver away at the various things I’ve been working on, and indeed later today I’m recording some more videos for you to enjoy in the next couple of weeks.

In the meantime, though, let’s catch up on what you might have missed in the last week!

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Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z Flashback: Double Dunk

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I don’t “get” sports games at the best of times, but throw in the need to select “plays” before you can do anything and my comprehension of what is going on goes right out the window.

Enter Double Dunk, then; one of the latest games to be officially released for the Atari 2600, and a game which takes the “playbook” approach to two-on-two basketball.

I do not fare well with this game. I do not fare well at all. But I try, very hard!

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