Tag Archives: gameplay

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari ST A to Z: Knights of the Sky

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’80s and ’90s MicroProse was most well-known for its jet fighter sims, but now and again they branched out into something a bit different.

Knights of the Sky was an ambitious attempt to simulate rickety old World War I biplanes rather than high-tech jet fighters — something that only became possible due to improving technology and mastery over the available hardware.

It’s a cool game, for sure — but be prepared to live without a bunch of modern conveniences you might have come to take for granted in more recent aircraft!

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

Videos, Warriors Wednesday

Warriors Wednesday: Never Let Zhao Yun Tank – Warriors Orochi #42

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Orochi’s armies are growing in strength in an attempt to counter the growing confidence of the Shu forces.

Zhao Yun can practically smell his master Liu Bei now — not literally, ’cause that’d be weird — and his friends are relieved to know that victory is within sight.

There are still a few challenges left to overcome, though… and as we’ve seen numerous times up until now, complacency can be a Warrior’s worst enemy!

Videos

Atari A to Z: Quadromania XL

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It’s another “mystery game” today!

Quadromania XL appears to have originated as a type-in listing for a German Atari magazine, but beyond that there doesn’t seem to be a lot of information out there online aside from the name of its creator — one T Meyer — and the person in charge of Loesungsalgorithmus (“solution algorithm”, apparently), A Blohm.

It’s a simple but enjoyable puzzler based on a straightforward concept: pick a block to swap the colour of, and all the blocks surrounding it will also swap colours. Repeat until the whole screen is one colour or you run out of moves. Easy, right?

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

Delving Into..., Dream Course, Kirby

Delving Into Kirby’s Dream Course – #2

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Minigolf is, to borrow a phrase from a completely different sport, a funny old game.

Typically implied to be a rather silly, chaotic affair rather than something to be taken seriously, your average minigolf course nonetheless tends to include a variety of fiendish obstacles to negotiate, many of which will tax even the most skilled putters among us.

Kirby’s Dream Course, being a minigolf game that takes place entirely in a digitally rendered dreamworld, is free to do even more ridiculous things with its course design than would be possible in reality. And herein lies its main appeal.

Continue reading Delving Into Kirby’s Dream Course – #2 →

Videos

Atari A to Z Flashback: Pool Shark

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It might be hard to imagine now, but there was a time in gaming history when it was considered to be a seriously impressive technical achievement to get more than two or three things moving simultaneously on a screen.

Atari’s 1977 release Pool Shark is an early example of the company continuing to push the fledgling medium of video games forward. Not only was it a game that demonstrated the power of microprocessor-based hardware rather than the earlier transistor-to-transistor logic technology, but it also had, like, a whole mess of balls flying everywhere.

And like many of these early Atari arcade games, it’s simplistic… but really rather addictive! Be sure to give it a try.

Atelier Arland Trilogy, New Game Plus, Videos

New Game Plus: The Essence of Alchemy – Atelier Rorona DX #19

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We’re nearly there! Rorona just has one final assignment to do: demonstrate what she has learned over the course of the preceding three years.

On this New Game Plus run, said demonstration is perhaps not what was originally intended by the assignment, but hey, whatever works, works!

Just one more episode to go after this and our run is complete… hopefully with at least one ending I haven’t seen before!

Essentials, Neo Geo, Puzzlers

Puzzler Essentials: Money Puzzle Exchanger

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If there’s one thing the Neo Geo is good at, it’s… well, it’s fighting games, but if there’s more than one thing the Neo Geo is good at, puzzle games are definitely in the mix too.

Money Puzzle Exchanger is a 1997 release from Japanese developer Face that began its life on the Neo Geo MVS system before later being ported to Game Boy and PlayStation. These days, it’s pretty easy to get hold of in its initial incarnation thanks to it being part of Hamster’s Arcade Archives series, whose various releases have found their way to numerous platforms over the last few years.

And that’s fortunate, because Money Puzzle Exchanger is a great game that is well worth your time and… well, money.

Continue reading Puzzler Essentials: Money Puzzle Exchanger →

Videos, Warriors Wednesday

Warriors Wednesday: One-Woman Army – Warriors Orochi #41

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The Shu gang still hasn’t quite tracked down Liu Bei, so Zhurong and Meng Huo decide to sneak off for a bit of independent investigation.

Along the way, they encounter Jude from Tales of Xillia Musashi Miyamoto and decide to lend a hand, as he and his swordsmen friends appear to be struggling a bit.

Hell hath no fury like a bored barbarian lady, it seems…

Videos

Atari A to Z: Pastfinder

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Ah, Activision. What a wonderfully creative variety of games you put out in the 8-bit era. What a hollow shell of yourself you are today.

Ahem, sorry, got a bit nostalgic there for a moment. Anyway, here’s Pastfinder, one of my favourite shoot ’em ups on Atari 8-bit, and one of the most peculiarly interesting ones to boot. You take on control of a little jumping bug of a spacecraft as you attempt to track down alien antiquities.

Better be careful, though; the whole planet is irradiated, so time is of the essence if you want to keep all your hair and/or internal organs intact to enjoy your loot.

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

Videos

Atari A to Z Flashback: Pong

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It’s Pong! The grandaddy of them all. Well, okay, not the absolute first ever computer game ever EVER, but it was certainly the first widely successful one.

If you have the slightest familiarity with gaming, surely Pong needs little to no introduction, but you might be surprised to know that it actually still holds up rather well today. It’s gaming stripped down to its bare essentials, both in terms of graphics and mechanics — and it still works wonderfully as a competitive game.

Fortunately, with how well-known it is and how easy it is to program a convincing clone (even I could probably do it if I tried hard enough!) there’s no shortage of ways to play it these days… but if you really want the true experience, you gotta go Atari.

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