The unusually named XOR from Atari promises a game with no random elements, and a focus on logical thinking rather than twitch reflexes.
One could also describe it, as someone did to me the other day, as a curious blend of Boulder Dash and heraldry, in which the main obstacles to your success will be fish and chickens. Yes, it’s a rather odd game — but if you enjoy some tricky puzzles it’s worth a look!
Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!
While The Temple of Apshai is the most well-known of Epyx’s “Dunjonquest” games, there were actually quite a few games released under this banner.
Not all of them were massive, sprawling affairs intended to be played over the long-term, either. The Datestones of Ryn is a great example of this, offering a short, twenty-minute quest with a fixed player character and a rather arcadey focus on high scores and replayability.
Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!
Back in the early ’90s, people were just getting to grips with falling block puzzlers such as Tetris and its numerous imitators.
Which makes it quite a shame that Save Mary, an interesting and original twist on the formula, never made it to release back in the day — because it’s a really fun puzzler. Still, at least we can enjoy it today as part of Atari Flashback Classics!
Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!
The public domain and shareware sector of the 8- and 16-bit era was often a great place to find unofficial adaptations of popular board, card and TV game show formulae.
Today’s Atari ST game is a great example of this, providing a solid (if graphically unremarkable) adaptation of the classic game show Wheel of Fortune for two or three players — and including all the tools you need to build your own custom puzzles, too.
Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!
We take them for granted today, but scrolling platformers were quite an unusual sight back in the early ’80s.
One fun example is Cosmi’s Caverns of Khafka, a game developed by Aztec Challenge creator Robert T. Bonifacio. While the game is by no means perfect — it has some fairly severe issues with collision detection at times! — it’s a fun treasure-huntin’ adventure that is worth a play or two.
Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!
Howard Scott Warshaw is a legendary name in video games — not always for the reasons he might have hoped, thanks to his involvement in the notorious E.T. for Atari 2600.
One of his games that never got released was Saboteur, an interesting multi-phase game that acted as something of a spin-off to Yars’ Revenge. The reason it never got released? Atari wanted to turn it into a game based on The A-Team, then got cold feet at the last minute, so it languished in obscurity until it was recovered for collections like Atari Flashback Classics.
Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!
This post is one chapter of a MegaFeature!
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While, as we’ve already seen, much of Escha and Logy’s time in their own game is spent living the corporate life and doing things that other people tell them to do, there are times when the pair of them have to take their own initiative.
We’ve already looked at how this works inside their workshop; today it’s time to take a closer look at their work out in the field, and particularly at how they fend off the foes they encounter during their investigations.
Yep, it’s combat time again; make sure you’ve got a basket full of bombs, ’cause we’re going to be out for a while!
Continue reading Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky – Battles at the End of the World
Gremlin Graphics were known for putting out great games, right from the 8-bit era up until their disappearance in 2003.
Venus the Flytrap was a great title from the 16-bit era, featuring an inventive take on arcade-style shoot ’em up gameplay combined with platforming. It looked great, too, even on the Atari ST — in fact, some people even prefer the ST version to the Amiga incarnation of this game, which is a rare occurrence!
Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!
Access Software’s Bruce Carver definitely had a “formula” — one that he successfully refined over the years.
It’s interesting to go back to Beach-Head, one of his earlier games, and see one of the first successful examples of the minigame-centric action strategy his games became known for. Plus it’s just a fun game in its own right, too!
Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!
One of the cool things about the classic gaming scene is that there are always people out there keen to try and built on old favourites.
Return to Haunted House, for example, not only acts as a follow-up to the classic Haunted House, but also builds on the delightful Adventure to provide a rather different experience for those looking for some spooky fun!
Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!
