Tag Archives: gameplay

Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny – The Fight for Eden

cropped-atelier-megafeature-header-1-8868334This post is one chapter of a MegaFeature!
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The Atelier Iris subseries is, as we’ve already seen with Eternal Mana, something of an outlier in the Atelier series as a whole.

While all of the Atelier games involve RPG-style combat to varying degrees, the Iris subseries places a particular emphasis on what many would think of as a more “conventional” RPG-style structure: the protagonist goes on a journey, explores dungeons, acquires allies, seeks out wondrous treasures… there just happens to be some alchemy involved on the side.

Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny has a particularly strong emphasis on its combat and progression mechanics, making it a satisfying game for those who like making numbers get bigger. Let’s take a closer look at this aspect today.

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Final Fantasy Marathon: For the Emperor – Final Fantasy II #13

Could Firion and company’s quest finally be coming to an end?

Today, the crew dive right into the deadly Cyclone that is hovering menacingly just outside the walls of Fynn — and discover an ominous-looking fortress within. Is the Emperor inside?

Yes, of course he is — and no, of course their adventure isn’t over yet. But that doesn’t mean they can’t spend a little time celebrating a job well done… at least, until…

Atari ST A to Z: Zany Golf

Electronic Arts has become a bit of a dirty word these days, gaining notoriety for, among other things, predatory microtransactions and taking over beloved studios, only to shutter them shortly afterwards.

But there was a time when EA was a label that stood for high-quality, unusual and interesting software — a time when it really did feel like they were pursuing electronic art. One great example of a title like this that they released in the 16-bit era was Zany Golf, a fun and highly creative physics puzzler masquerading as a golf game.

You’ll never look at hamburgers the same way again…

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Warriors Wednesday: Return of the Hungry Caterpillar – Warriors All-Stars #23

In today’s episode of Warriors All-Stars, we once again discover that The Alchemist of Kick-Ass still isn’t quite ready for Chaos difficulty. Give it time!

One thing you’ll find on multiple playthroughs of Warriors All-Stars is that you’ll encounter the same battles, but perhaps approach them under different circumstances. This can also end up leading the plot in different directions depending on the combination of characters that end up in your party.

Today, we once again recruit hungry, hungry Horo to our cause… will she help lead Tamaki’s forces to victory?

Atari A to Z: F*ck Man

Modern programming competitions on classic systems often throw up some really interesting results… particularly when there are some creative restrictions put in place.

F*ck Man is the product of a competition where programmers of various 8-bit computers were allowed just 10 lines of the BASIC dialect of their choice to put something together. It was actually the work of the competition’s organiser, and came in fourth place.

As for the game itself… well, it’s understandably simplistic, but it’s actually a surprising amount of fun, and a creative twist on a classic formula. Also it has an entertaining name.

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Tengai: The Return of the Samurai Aces

If there’s one thing that becomes clear from looking at Psikyo’s shoot ’em up output over the years, it’s that they love a sequel.

The Strikers 1945 series saw two sequels, for example: one which built on the original formula, and another which transplanted the action into the modern day. They all played fairly similarly to one another in terms of their core mechanics, though each with their own unique features to enjoy.

The Samurai Aces series shook things up a bit more with each new installment. So after the straightforward, no-nonsense, enjoyable fun of the original Samurai Aces, we come to the second episode: Tengai. Let’s take a closer look.

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Atari A to Z: Crystal Castles (2600)

Back in the ’70s and ’80s, players of home consoles weren’t looking for “arcade perfect” — mostly because the home systems of the time weren’t up to it.

Rather, they were looking for a roughly equivalent or perhaps complementary experience to that which could be had in the arcades. This meant that sometimes games underwent a few changes in the transition from the arcade to the home.

A good example of this is Crystal Castles for the Atari 2600, which provides a surprisingly authentic-feeling approximation of the arcade classic, while working within the constraints of its host hardware.

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Final Fantasy Marathon: A Complete Waste of Time – Final Fantasy II #12

We all make mistakes. And when you do, it’s best to own them, learn from them and try to see the best of the situation.

Like today, when I completely forgot where the place Firion and company needed to go next was, and thus spent nearly an hour doing entirely the wrong thing. I acknowledge that I did a stupid thing, but I can also draw a positive from it. I now know where the mirror is, and I had the opportunity to level Ultima a bit.

Although given my subsequent discovery that Ultima is a white magic spell and I gave it to my black mage… well, that’s a story for another day, I guess.

Samurai Aces: A Strong Debut

It’s always fascinating to see a developer’s first game, because it often represents a combination of the new company’s staff bringing their past experience to the table and an attempt for that new company to truly define themselves as something unique.

Psikyo kicked off a prolific few years of shoot ’em ups with Samurai Aces (also known as Sengoku Ace: Tengai Episode I), originally released to arcades in 1993. As the company’s first game, it certainly helps set the mould for their subsequent games, but it remains a solid shoot ’em up in its own right, and can easily be experienced today as part of the Psikyo Shooting Stars Bravo compilation for Nintendo Switch.

A lot of that is probably down to the fact that it was designed by Shin Nakamura of Aero Fighters fame, so Psikyo was always set up to get a good start. But let’s take a closer look anyway, and see what makes this game truly tick.

Continue reading Samurai Aces: A Strong Debut

Atari ST A to Z: Yomo

While it’s primarily the 8-bit home microcomputer era that is associated with the “bedroom programmer”, thanks to the fact that most systems came with the programming language BASIC built into ROM, some of this still went on in the 16-bit era.

A popular platform for independent game development on Atari ST was STOS (short for ST Operating System). This was a BASIC-like language with a lot of features specifically geared towards game development: things like sprite handling, scrolling, music and sound generation, all that sort of thing.

STOS’ publisher Mandarin Software collected a bunch of impressive efforts from talented developers and bundled them together in a commercially available showcase compilation called Games Galore. One of those games was Yomo, which is the subject of today’s video!

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