Tag Archives: gameplay

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari ST A to Z: OutRun

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Ah, OutRun. A true classic of the “vanishing point” racer genre. A fine example of Sega’s “Super Scaler” technology at work. And, apparently, recipient of an absolutely terrible Atari ST port by Probe and US Gold.

I’ve always been a believer in giving things a fair chance on their own merits, though, and I never played the ST version of OutRun back in the day. I played Turbo OutRun, which was terrible, but never the original.

Time to rectify that, then! Check out the video below to see how I got on, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!

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Waifu Wednesday

Waifu Wednesday: Maiden in Black

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I’ve been playing a bit of Demon’s Souls recently. I’ll talk more about my experiences specifically very soon, but I thought I’d devote today’s Waifu Wednesday to one of the most striking figures in the game: the Maiden in Black.

If you’ve never played Demon’s Souls, the tutorial will almost certainly kill you, at which point you will encounter the Maiden in Black for the first time. She will helpfully inform you that it’s now your job to ensure that the “world be mended” and that she can help you get stronger — but not until you’ve gone and beaten a big slobbering horrible demon in the game’s first stage.

Well, I guess there’s nothing like a woman who sticks to her principles, huh?

Continue reading Waifu Wednesday: Maiden in Black →

short;Play, Videos

short;Play: Teleglitch

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As wonderful as true teleportation technology would be, I think we’ve probably had enough cautionary sci-fi tales by now to make anyone very wary of actually pursuing research in this field.

One that I’m rather fond of is Teleglitch, a charmingly lo-fi roguelike-inspired action game that takes a number of cues from classic first-person shooters and survival horror games. In it, you play a scientist at a military research installation with rather questionable ethics where, unsurprisingly, work on both teleportation and genetic engineering has gone horribly wrong.

Enjoy my gameplay in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!

Evercade, Technōs Collection 1

Renegade: Birth of the Brawler

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It’s always interesting to return to the very earliest examples of a particular genre, just to see how things got off the ground in the first place.

As you’ll know if you’ve read my feature on the history of the beat ’em up, which formed part of the Senran Kagura: Estival Versus Cover Game feature here on MoeGamer, Renegade is where the fine art of punching things in the face really got started so far as video games are concerned. But how well does that original brawler hold up today?

With equal parts trepidation and curiosity, I slid my Technos Collection 1 cartridge into my Evercade retro gaming system, and prepared for what would hopefully be some button-mashing fun.

Continue reading Renegade: Birth of the Brawler →

Evercade, Mega Drive, Piko Interactive Collection 1

Switchblade: Living on a Knife Edge

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The 8- and 16-bit home computer eras played host to some fantastic games — but when we’re talking about gaming history, most people tend to focus on the home consoles of the era.

This means that a lot of interesting games tend to fall by the wayside and run the risk of being forgotten. One inventive way to address this, then, is to take one of those beloved 8- or 16-bit home computer games and produce a modern port for a classic console system. Problem solved! Kinda.

Well, either way, that’s what happened with Switchblade, a game that began life as an Atari ST game in 1989, and which ended up ported to Sega Mega Drive a full thirty years later. And now you can enjoy the latter version as part of the Piko Interactive Collection 1 cartridge for the Evercade retro gaming system!

Continue reading Switchblade: Living on a Knife Edge →

Videos

Atari A to Z Flashback: Haunted House

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It’s time to once again enter the world of survival horror with one of the earliest examples of the genre: Atari’s Haunted House.

Haunted House can be seen as an evolution of the Adventure formula in that it involves navigating a preset map, manipulating objects and avoiding enemies. The twist this time around is that you’re in a spooky old mansion full of locked doors, tarantulas and a rather annoyed old ghost. Oh, and it’s dark. Very dark. Except on the first difficulty level, but only babies play Game 1 on Haunted House.

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

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Mana Khemia

Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy – Back to School

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cropped-atelier-megafeature-header-1-8868334This post is one chapter of a MegaFeature!
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After the Atelier Iris subseries marked a period of dabbling with a more “traditional” RPG-style structure, Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis demonstrated a clearly defined shift back towards Atelier’s roots. And Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy continues that trend.

Indeed, while the three Atelier Iris games are largely unrelated to one another — aside from some long-term lore connections between Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana and Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny — Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy returns to the series’ original model of installments in the same subseries standing by themselves as self-contained narratives, but unfolding in the same world about 5-10 years later.

As the title suggests, time has not been especially kind to the world of Mana Khemia, but that’s part of what makes what’s going on here so interesting. Let’s take a first look!

Continue reading Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy – Back to School →

Final Fantasy III, Final Fantasy Marathon, Videos

Final Fantasy Marathon: That Bit Everyone Hates – Final Fantasy III #4

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How many games have you come across where the reputation of a notoriously annoying or difficult section has put you off exploring further?

For Final Fantasy III, that section is featured in today’s episode: it’s a dungeon and boss fight where you’re forced to inflict the status effect Mini on your entire party for the duration, and as such it makes melee characters almost entirely useless.

Still, the mages can probably save the day, right? Find out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more.

Videos

Atari ST A to Z: No Second Prize

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It was an exciting time when racing games moved from sprite-based “fake 3D” visuals to full polygonal 3D — and one gets the distinct impression that a lot of developers found the changeover a blessing, too.

For one, we started to see lots more attempts to simulate the experience of racing things other than cars; and many of these developers elected to explore a more “sim-like” approach, too, taking some cues from the well-established flight simulation genre.

One fine example that I hadn’t come across previously is No Second Prize, an impressively speedy motorcycle racing game. Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!

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Evercade, Mega Cat Studios Collection 1, NES, Puzzlers

Multidude: One-Player Co-Op

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Have you found it difficult to get together with friends lately, perhaps due to a global virus pandemic? Are you missing the joy of cooperating with your fellow dudes, and open to an electronic surrogate? Then do I have the game for you.

Multidude is a short puzzle adventure by Russian developer RetroSouls. It was originally released for ZX Spectrum in 2014, then subsequently ported to NES the following year, at which point it was picked up by Mega Cat Studios for a packaged release.

It’s also part of the Mega Cat Studios Collection 1 for the Evercade retro gaming system, and that’s the version we’ll be looking at today. Bring on the dudes!

Continue reading Multidude: One-Player Co-Op →