Tag Archives: Capcom

Ace Attorney, Capcom

How Ace Attorney does so much with so little

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We live in an age where, at the upper end of the market, video game budgets are spiralling out of control in a relentless pursuit of movie-like photorealism.

And yet, a series of games that first appeared just under 25 years ago (at the time of writing) has pretty consistently been doing such a great job of telling its stories with minimal tech that its publisher, Capcom, still regards it as one of its most valuable intellectual properties.

I am, of course, talking about the Ace Attorney series, and I thought it might be fun to look at some aspects of how these games present their stories to the audience — something that has remained fairly constant over its complete run, despite spanning several hardware generations. So let’s do just that!

Continue reading How Ace Attorney does so much with so little →
Capcom, PS1

One Piece Mansion: the puzzle of stress management

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One Piece Mansion is not a Capcom game I had any familiarity with whatsoever prior to receiving a surprise copy of it from a YouTube viewer a little while back.

I’ve spent a bit of time with it this evening, and there’s definitely some appeal there. It’s an exceedingly peculiar game, to be sure — and I’m all for exceedingly peculiar games at the best of times.

Thankfully One Piece Mansion backs its exceeding peculiarity up with some solid gameplay and original ideas, making it a worthwhile addition to your PlayStation library. Let’s take a closer look!

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Ace Attorney, Capcom

Ace Attorney: evolving the Japanese adventure game formula

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Playing through the two Famicom Detective Club games got me well and truly in the mood for some more adventuring. And so it was that I finally booted up the Nintendo Switch version of the first Ace Attorney Trilogy that I’ve had on my shelf for quite some time.

I’ve previously played all the Ace Attorney games except for the sixth one (and The Great Ace Attorney, and Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney… and the unlocalised second Ace Attorney Investigations game) so I already know the series quite well, but it’s been a good few years since I sat down and gave them some proper attention.

Moreover, I’ve somehow gone this long without ever writing about them here on MoeGamer, so today’s the day we fix that. Perhaps not for the last time, either.

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Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari ST A to Z: LED Storm

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LED Storm is not an arcade game I played back in the day, but after spending some time with the Atari ST version here, I’m kind of curious to.

If you like Data East’s classic Bump ‘n’ Jump, you’ll probably get along with LED Storm, since it’s a similar sort of idea: drive fast car from top-down perspective, hop over obstacles and onto the heads of enemies, yell at the inherently and deliberately unfair design of ’80s and ’90s arcade games.

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

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short;Play, Videos

short;Play: Dead Rising

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We’ve been in the “HD era” for a while now — so long, in fact, that titles from the early days of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 probably count as being “retro”.

An all-time classic from this early period — a dark time when developers apparently didn’t know what VSync was — was Capcom’s Dead Rising, an ambitious quasi-open world affair that saw you battering your way through hordes of zombies in an attempt to solve the mysterious outbreak in a sleepy Colorado town. There are better ways to play this today, but I’ll always have a soft spot for the original Xbox 360 version — particularly with how cheaply you can acquire a copy today.

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

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari ST A to Z: U.N. Squadron

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If you thought games journalists wringing their hands over “problematic” subject matter in games was a new phenomenon… well, I got news for you, my dear reader.

U.S. Gold’s home computer conversion of Capcom’s arcade title U.N. Squadron (originally known in Japan as Area 88, after the manga it was originally based on) drew criticism from UK computer magazine ST Format in December of 1990 for being “self-righteous”, “crass” and even “propaganda”. Why? Because you shoot enemies in an obviously Middle Eastern-inspired setting — at least in the first level, anyway — and in 1990 the Gulf War had just broken out in full force.

Of course, Area 88 first came out in 1979, but let’s not let facts get in the way of a good bit of outrage, shall we? Sigh. Some things never change. Anyway, this is a reasonably solid shoot ’em up, though unsurprisingly not a patch on the awesome SNES version…

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

Auto Modellista, Sunday Driving, Videos

Sunday Driving: I’m At My Limit – Auto Modellista #5

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Well, it’s been a fun ride, but I think I’m going to call time on my Auto Modellista career… for now, anyway.

I’ve reached a point in the game where I just don’t seem to have the right combination of cars, parts and raw skills to be able to pass the challenges I’m presented with. And so after today’s attempts, in which I experiment with a few different cars to see what difference they might make to my performance, I think it’s time to move on.

Hit the jump to see exactly what led me to this conclusion… and if you know this game well and have any suggestions on how I might be able to progress, I’ll gratefully hear them!

Continue reading Sunday Driving: I’m At My Limit – Auto Modellista #5 →

Auto Modellista, Sunday Driving

Sunday Driving: If You’re Not in First Place, You’re Not Gonna Win – Auto Modellista #4

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Who’d have thought it, eh? It’s amazing the kind of inane stupidity that spills out of one’s mouth while attempting to concentrate on something else.

This week we continue our attempts to master Capcom’s visually arresting arcade racer Auto Modellista, and start to encounter some serious resistance. And, it seems, overcoming that resistance isn’t as simple as just picking the car with the best stats from the list…

Hit the jump to see how things went in this week’s races.

Continue reading Sunday Driving: If You’re Not in First Place, You’re Not Gonna Win – Auto Modellista #4 →

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari ST A to Z: Ghouls ‘n’ Ghosts

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We all have games that we enjoy a bunch, but are absolutely no good at whatsoever. For me, one of those games is Ghouls ‘n’ Ghosts… in pretty much any incarnation.

The Atari ST version was a pretty great port that offered a convincingly “console-style” experience on home computers that were never quite able to match up to dedicated gaming hardware. I may have never seen beyond about halfway through the first level (including in today’s video) but I’ll still always have fond memories of it.

Join me as I wax lyrical on the game’s excellent use of the ST’s meagre sound chip, the novelty value of platform games with undulating landscapes and, once again, my brother’s girlfriend’s father.

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

Auto Modellista, Sunday Driving, Videos

Sunday Driving: More Faster Than I Was – Auto Modellista #3

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AUTOOOOO MODELIIIIISTAAAAA!

Yes, it’s that time when we strap in and go for a bit of a drive, once again in Capcom’s beautiful 2002 “Gran Turismo lite” affair, Auto Modellista.

Today we take on some tougher challenges, and either start to hit the limits of what my dear little Yaris has to offer… or perhaps my own skill ceiling. Hit the jump to see what happened.

Continue reading Sunday Driving: More Faster Than I Was – Auto Modellista #3 →