Tag Archives: Let’s Play

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari ST A to Z: Shadowgate

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Thou art dead! Again. Yes, it’s time for Shadowgate, a fairly notorious point-and-click adventure from the “Macventures” series — rebranded, of course, to “Atariventures” for its ST release.

Like its stablemates Deja Vu and Uninvited, Shadowgate is a challenging adventure that is rather fond of killing off the player in a variety of cruel and unusual ways. The game is always fair, though; you just need to learn the rules it’s playing by in order to make a little more progress with each save you reload!

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

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short;Play: Heretic

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It’s often a good idea to revisit games that were dismissed for one reason or another back when they were originally released; they’re often great experiences in their own right.

Raven Software’s Heretic is a great example; while it didn’t exactly receive a negative reception per se, it was considered to be little more than a Doom clone by many people, despite the innovations it added to the mix. Revisit it today, divorced of that original context, and you’ll find there’s lots to enjoy — and there are many more games like this out there!

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

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z Flashback: RealSports Tennis

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We’re closing in on the home straight of the RealSports collection in Atari Flashback Classics! Only two more to go after this one!

RealSports Tennis for Atari 2600 is a fun game for one or two players that… doesn’t really offer much of a realistic game of tennis, but does provide a rather prettier take on the Pong format, with a couple of interesting twists. It’s simple and straightforward, but it’s also speedy and fun — particularly with a friend.

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

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Evercade A to Z, Videos

Evercade A to Z: Desert Falcon

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Today’s Evercade game is a cross-platform Atari title — it’s Desert Falcon, which was primarily designed for the Atari 7800, but which also got a 2600 version.

Desert Falcon is an isometric perspective shoot ’em up in which you take control of a majestic bird who has a real grudge against Sphinxes. By collecting combinations of hieroglyphs, you’ll be able to equip yourself with a variety of special powers — or, sometimes, hindrances — to make your task a little more interesting and unpredictable.

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: Rogue

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It’s time for a biggie! A truly genre-defining game, at that — although its real influence perhaps wouldn’t become truly known on the mainstream side of gaming until quite some time after its original release.

I’m talking about the legendary Rogue, of course, which has an interesting story behind its original creation — and whose Atari ST version is one of the best ways to play out there. This edition, published by Epyx and put together by one of the game’s original creators, is an accessible and friendly way to enjoy some dungeon crawling — and a great way to kick off a roguelike addiction if you don’t already have one!

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

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Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z: Xagon

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Today’s Atari 8-bit game is a bit of a mystery! It looks as if it was originally released as a public domain title, but there are a couple of different versions floating around the Internet, both attributed to different people or groups.

Xagon itself is a fun take on the “jump on all the things” genre popularised by Q*Bert. This time around, though, you’re hopping on hexagons, and there are a number of interesting mechanics going on, such as platforms that “balance” one another out, the ability to hop on the spot and all manner of other things. It’s a very competent game that wouldn’t have looked out of place as a commercial release.

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

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Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z Flashback: RealSports Soccer

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Yes, it’s yet another RealSports game! We’re nearly done, though. Hang in there!

This time around, we take a look at RealSports Soccer for the Atari 5200 which, like its American Football counterpart, offers a somewhat more realistic, in-depth experience, perhaps at the expense of some accessibility. It’s still a much more approachable game than either incarnation of RealSports Football, however!

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

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Evercade A to Z, Videos

Evercade A to Z: Boogerman

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Boogerman: A Pick and Flick Adventure is a game I was prepared to write off as yet another ’90s mascot platformer filled with grossout humour.

And to be fair, it certainly is that, but it’s actually a pretty solid game, too. With strong animation, good quality music and sound effects and some responsive controls, it’s a surprisingly good platformer — albeit one that has a bit of trouble with its overall pacing.

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: Questron II

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Several years after the original Questron, Strategic Simulations Inc. put out a sequel. This time around, it made it to Atari ST rather than the Atari 8-bit — but fundamentally, there was a lot that was quite similar about it.

Trouble is, the computer role-playing game genre had been developing at a rapid pace in the years between the two Questron titles; most notably, the Ultima series on which it was very obviously based had become much more complex and elaborate — particularly with regard to storytelling, and in incorporating more diverse, interesting objectives for the player to accomplish.

Questron II is still worth a look, though — particularly as its ST port is a very early title from the well-loved Westwood. Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more.

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short;Play: Tokyo Highway Challenge

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Tokyo Highway Challenge for Dreamcast is an interesting game, as we’ve previously talked about. On paper, it sounds like it should be really boring — all you do is race around the same stretch of Tokyo highway night after night after night — but in practice, it’s a really enjoyable and interesting twist on the racer genre.

At least part of this is due to its unusual race structure, which takes some cues from fighting games, of all things. Rather than simply beating your opponent to a set destination, you need to defeat them by emptying their “Speed Points” bar. You achieve this by staying in front of them and, essentially, proving your superiority at this whole racing thing.

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