And oh, oh, I did. I really did learn through pain. Intense, burning, repeated pain.
We have a long journey ahead of us, dear friends, but it’s a worthwhile one. In front of us stands the seemingly undefeatable Tadakatsu Honda, and beyond? The path to Orochi.
When I say “seemingly undefeatable”, I… well, you’ll see. Hit the jump to see how badly things went.
Continue reading Warriors Wednesday: Learn Through Pain – Warriors Orochi #28
You know me, I love an arcade racer. And while the Atari 8-bit era was very much a time where this genre was just starting to define itself, there were still some fun, interesting games to enjoy.
Baja Buggies from Gamestar is a game from the early days of the system that I didn’t play that often back in the day, primarily because it was on cassette, and who has time to sit around waiting for those things when you have a US Doubler-equipped 1050 disk drive for high-speed floppy loading goodness? (Said drive died recently, please raise a glass in memoriam. Thank you.)
Anyway. It’s an interesting racer that eschews the Pole Position timers-and-checkpoints formula in favour of an endurance race format: pass 80 opponents before you wreck your buggy or cross the finish line. The desert awaits!
Find a full archive of all the Atari A to Z videos on the official site.
What could possibly make a Split/Second race more exhilarating? Why, the prospect of getting covered in poo in the process, of course!
That appears to be the unique selling point the announcer gives us for today’s races, some of which unfold in the city’s storm drains. Lovely!
Hit the jump to see how these potentially filthy events unfolded…
Continue reading Sunday Driving: Cleaning Up – Split/Second #8
Not every retro game has stood the test of time quite as well as others. But one I think we can all agree remains just as fresh today as it was back in the day is Centipede.
Developed as a specific attempt to appeal to a broader audience than just the stereotype of young male gamers, Centipede’s bright colours, energetic gameplay, trackball controller and relatable concept made it a big hit with male and female players, both young and old.
This game was a favourite of my whole family growing up… and my mother was nigh-unbeatable at both this and its sequel Millipede!
Find a full archive of all the Atari A to Z videos on the official site.
You know who you are.
In today’s episode of Warriors Wednesday, I finally catch up with my other video series technology- (and confidence)-wise and show my face! How exciting.
Anyway, now we have The Wild Man on our side, let’s take him for a spin, shall we? BWAHAHAHAHA!
Continue reading Warriors Wednesday: Some People Are Into Weird Feet – Warriors Orochi #27
That’s a title and a half, isn’t it? Even thirty-five years after its original launch, “Attack of the Mutant Camels” is still a delightful piece of titling prowess that just rolls off the tongue.
Attack of the Mutant Camels is one of the most well-known games put out in the 8-bit era by the hairiest man in games, Jeff Minter. Based quite obviously on the Atari 2600 adaptation of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, it’s a real showcase game for what the humble Atari 8-bit was really capable of when in the hands of someone who very much knew what he was doing.
Combining Minter’s love of underappreciated animals, sci-fi, prog rock and psychedelia, Attack of the Mutant Camels may be simplistic in structure and mechanics, but it remains a beloved part of many Atari 8-bit collections with very good reason.
Find a full archive of all the Atari A to Z videos on the official site.
Well, after a disastrous morning of my computer pretending to be dead… I finally managed to get an episode of Sunday Driving recorded!
Our Split/Second adventures continue as we progress through the game’s “Season” mode, the challenges growing ever more severe as we reach each new episode.
Hit the jump to see how today’s automotive mayhem went…
Continue reading Sunday Driving: Threshold Break – Split/Second #7
Time after time in gaming, we’ve seen that the simplest concepts can be some of the most effective and addictive.
Atari’s Canyon Bomber, originally released to arcades in 1977, is a prime example of this. You only need one button to play, and that button drops bombs. The concept is so simple anyone — even someone not at all familiar with video games — can understand and enjoy it. Drop bombs, hit things, score points. Whoever scores most points, wins.
And one of the best things about this game when compared to some of its contemporaries is that the simplistic concept means that it was very straightforward to implement a “computer-controlled” opponent to compete against if you didn’t happen to have a friend handy. So even those of us with no friends can still enjoy this game… and end up playing it a lot longer than you might expect!
Find a full archive of all the Atari A to Z videos on the official site.
When returning to a game for a second playthrough, it’s always incredibly satisfying when you manage to complete an objective well ahead of “schedule”.
Despite only certain things carrying over to a New Game Plus run in the various incarnations of Atelier Rorona, you can still bash out a lot of the early game content very easily, leaving you with plenty of time to make money, grind for experience, build up your relationship values and just generally have a good time in this pastel-coloured world.
Hit the jump to see just how quickly I managed to satisfy the second assignment…
Continue reading New Game Plus: Creating Explosives – Atelier Rorona DX #3
If you thought games journalists wringing their hands over “problematic” subject matter in games was a new phenomenon… well, I got news for you, my dear reader.
U.S. Gold’s home computer conversion of Capcom’s arcade title U.N. Squadron (originally known in Japan as Area 88, after the manga it was originally based on) drew criticism from UK computer magazine ST Format in December of 1990 for being “self-righteous”, “crass” and even “propaganda”. Why? Because you shoot enemies in an obviously Middle Eastern-inspired setting — at least in the first level, anyway — and in 1990 the Gulf War had just broken out in full force.
Of course, Area 88 first came out in 1979, but let’s not let facts get in the way of a good bit of outrage, shall we? Sigh. Some things never change. Anyway, this is a reasonably solid shoot ’em up, though unsurprisingly not a patch on the awesome SNES version…
Find a full archive of all the Atari A to Z videos on the official site.
