Manga

Plus-Sized Elf, Vol. 1: Fantasy, Fries and Fitness

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There seems to be something of a trend for anime and manga with a certain degree of “aspiration” about it these days.

Whether it’s the explicit gym instruction provided by How Heavy Are The Dumbbells You Lift?, the survival advice that hopefully none of us will ever have to use from Are You Lost? or the crash course in biology that Cells At Work! gave us, it seems that Japanese popular media is on something of an “edutainment” binge right now.

Plus-Sized Elf, first released in October of 2018, falls into this category to a certain extent, presenting the seemingly absurd juxtaposition between traditionally beautiful fantasy species and the distinctly modern problem of obesity. Settle down with a big bag of fries and let’s explore the first volume.

Continue reading Plus-Sized Elf, Vol. 1: Fantasy, Fries and Fitness →

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari ST A to Z: I, Ball

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Telecomsoft, a division of British phone provider British Telecom, was a pretty prolific software publisher throughout the 8- and 16-bit home computer eras.

The brand was split into several parts: “Firebird” released big-name, high-profile games designed to have broad appeal; “Rainbird” released games intended for more mature audiences such as adventures, strategy games and simulations; and “Silverbird” provided budget-price experiences, usually in the form of arcade-style games.

One title released on the latter label was I, Ball, a game which was particularly well-received on the 8-bit home computers for its Rob Hubbard soundtrack; sadly, this is absent from the Atari ST version, but it’s still a solid — if monstrously difficult — shoot ’em up with some entertaining sampled sounds to enjoy!

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

Waifu Wednesday

Waifu Wednesday: Sword and Shield’s Pokégirls

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With Pokémon Sword and Shield next on the agenda for some in-depth exploration here on MoeGamer, I thought we might as well kick things off with a look at some of the delightful ladies you’ll run into in Galar.

Interestingly, Sword and Shield have a few instances throughout the game where the specific gym trainers you encounter vary between the two versions, providing further distinction beyond the usual exclusive monsters. In this way, those who elect to play both games can have a slightly different experience beyond the Pokémon they encounter in the wild.

Unsurprisingly, there’s been a wealth of fanart of most of the prominent female characters, so let’s dive in and see what we can find!

Continue reading Waifu Wednesday: Sword and Shield’s Pokégirls →

Videos, Warriors All-Stars, Warriors Wednesday

Warriors Wednesday: The Mysterious Book – Warriors All-Stars #6

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Rio’s back in the leading role today as we take on a series of new challenges, culminating in the recruitment of Plachta from Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book.

Today’s missions provide a good example of how Warriors All-Stars’ quick, snappy pace and structure give it a markedly different feel from Warriors Orochi. Rather than long, drawn-out battles all the time, you can enjoy plenty of smaller-scale challenges to acquire specific goodies for your team, then take on more substantial missions when you want to advance the plot or unlock new characters.

I’m really enjoying this game so far… and there’s a lot of game to explore here, so I think we’re going to be here a while!

One-Shots

Summer Daze at Hero-U: Corey Cole Talks Kickstarter, Characters as Puzzles and More

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While the idea of the “gaming auteur” is a relatively recent concept thanks to modern creators such as Hideo Kojima, Taro Yoko and Goichi Suda, those of you who have been gaming for as long as I have will doubtless be able to name some “big names” from much earlier in the evolution of the medium.

Many of these names were associated with Sierra, a company established at the very dawn of computer gaming history in 1979 that became primarily known for its adventure games — though this was far from the only type of software they put out.

One of Sierra’s most beloved franchises from “back in the day”, was Quest for Glory, a series of five games that offered an engaging blend of point-and-click adventuring, role-playing game mechanics and a pun-tastic sense of humour. These were the creation of Lori Ann and Corey Cole, a married couple who, between them, displayed considerable flair for both game design and entertaining writing.

In 2018, the Coles brought us Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption, a long-awaited spiritual successor to Quest for Glory that featured the pair’s iconic blend of good humour and solid design. Now, in the year of Quest for Glory’s 30th anniversary, development has begun on a new Hero-U title, so I took some time to chat with Corey about its influences, what the pair learned from the previous game, and how we can expect to be enjoying our Summer Daze at Hero-U.

Continue reading Summer Daze at Hero-U: Corey Cole Talks Kickstarter, Characters as Puzzles and More →

Videos

Atari A to Z: Orc Attack

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Orcs used to be a popular, even clichéd, fantasy foe to encounter in both video and tabletop games, but I feel like their prevalence has declined somewhat over the years — perhaps in a concerted effort for modern fantasy to move away from Tolkien.

Fear not, though, because this 1983 release from Thorn EMI Video has absolutely hundreds of the little buggers just waiting to make your life an absolute misery — climbing up ladders, shooting arrows directly into your eye, chipping away at your wall and pulling your head clean off. What’s a humble guard to do?

Fight back, of course! Preferably by hurling heavy objects and boiling oil, but as a last resort there’s always the option of a bit of slicing and dicing…

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

Essentials, One-Shots, Switch

Old School Musical: Tapping Through Time

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We devoted an episode of The MoeGamer Podcast to the idea of “homage” — specifically, games that deliberately adopt both aesthetic and mechanical conventions of titles from the past in order to pay tribute to them.

There are other ways you can show your appreciation and respect for the influence old games continue to have, though, and a powerful means of doing that can be through the use of pastiche and parody.

Old School Musical, a rhythm game from indie developer La Moutarde, very much falls into this category; it may not play like the old-school games it’s paying tribute to — but few could say that it isn’t still a wonderful homage that demonstrates a comprehensive understanding of gaming history from the 8-bit home console era onwards.

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Announcements, Community

Around the Network

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Hello everyone! It’s nearly the end of November; hard to imagine that we’re nearly in to a new decade already, isn’t it?

Still, keep tackling things one week at a time and we’ll get there eventually. As much as it feels like we might not want to sometimes. Remember, as bleak and shitty as the world might be, there are always video games, anime, manga, music and all manner of other wonderful forms of art and creative expression to escape into when it all gets a bit much.

And if you’re in the mood for a bit of escapism right now, why not delve into what you might have missed in the last week or so? Let’s take a look.

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Videos

Atari A to Z Flashback: Basketball

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Sports games have always been a staple of video gaming. In fact, in the earliest days of the medium, they were a good source of basic rules and mechanics for designers to rely on.

Basketball for Atari 2600 was a noteworthy example of one of these early sports games for being an early title that didn’t require two human players. In fact, the single-player mode even claimed to offer an adaptive difficulty of sorts, with the computer player supposedly playing “better” if the scores were closer.

In practice, this mostly equates to the computer player running the wrong direction if he’s winning too much, but it was 1978… give them a bit of credit!

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

Manga

Interspecies Reviewers, Vol. 1: Don’t Pretend You’ve Never Thought About It

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Manga is an incredibly broad, rich and diverse medium with a lot of benefits for the modern busy weeb.

It’s affordable, it’s portable, it’s easily consumed in short, digestible chunks and, perhaps best of all, at this point there’s something out there that will appeal to pretty much everyone. And as such, I thought it high time we start taking an occasional look at some manga here on MoeGamer.

We begin with the first volume of Amahara and Masha’s Interspecies Reviewers, a series about fucking monster girl prostitutes. I figured it was probably best to establish the tone sooner rather than later.

Continue reading Interspecies Reviewers, Vol. 1: Don’t Pretend You’ve Never Thought About It →

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