Tag Archives: retro games

Data East Collection 1, Evercade, Racers

Burnin’ Rubber: Let’s Bump ‘n’ Jump

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Data East may be a slightly lesser-known company than the big hitters of the 8- and 16-bit era, but they still put out some cracking arcade games during this period, many of which got home ports.

One fine example is Burnin’ Rubber, which is also known, depending on where you are in the world and what platform you played it on, as either Bump ‘n’ Jump or Buggy Popper.

It’s a top down racer that predates Bally Midway’s better-known classic of the genre Spy Hunter by a full year, and you can play an official modern rerelease of the NES version right now on the Evercade retro gaming handheld as part of its third cartridge, Data East Collection 1. Let’s take a closer look!

Continue reading Burnin’ Rubber: Let’s Bump ‘n’ Jump →

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z Flashback: Gravitar

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It’s another Atari 2600 port of a classic arcade game! This time around we’re taking a look at Gravitar, one of the most legendarily difficult games of all time.

Its Atari 2600 incarnation is arguably somewhat more accessible than the challenging arcade version, since it has a variety of different ways to play that affect the number of lives you have and even whether or not you have to deal with the titular gravity.

It’s still a beefy challenge, though — but if you have the patience, there’s plenty of rewarding gameplay to be found here. Enjoy the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more.

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Mana Khemia

Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis – Narrative, Themes and Characterisation

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cropped-atelier-megafeature-header-1-8868334This post is one chapter of a MegaFeature!
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The two Mana Khemia games are sometimes unofficially regarded as a continuation of the Atelier Iris trilogy.

It’s fairly easy to see why: the overall presentation is very similar to Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm in particular; the setting, in which human alchemists cooperate with elemental beings known as Mana to Do Alchemy, fits right in with its immediate predecessors; and thematically, there’s a lot in common, too.

Specifically, Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis follows the mould of its precursors by contemplating how alchemy, an inherently neutral power by itself, can be used for both good and ill depending on the individual. But this time around, the whole thing is on a rather more personal scale than the world-saving narratives of Atelier Iris. So let’s explore further!

Continue reading Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis – Narrative, Themes and Characterisation →

Evercade, Namco Museum Collection 1, Shmups

Star Luster: Namco Does Star Raiders

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One of the great things about the Evercade retro gaming handheld is its unofficial mission to bring a variety of overlooked, underappreciated or unlocalised retro gaming titles to a worldwide audience.

The publishing partners who have signed up to distribute their games on the platform are seemingly more than happy to jump on board with this philosophy too — and this is especially evident with the two Namco Museum Collection cartridges, which not only provide the classics we expect to always see on such compilations like Pac-Man and Dig-Dug, but also some lesser-known titles, some of which never officially left Japan on their original platforms.

Part of the reason for this is the Evercade’s initial focus on retro home consoles, whereas Namco’s own Namco Museum releases have historically tended to focus on the arcade side of things. And so, we come to Star Luster, a 1985 release for the Famicom that never came West. Until now!

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Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari ST A to Z: Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge

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There are some games that, when they release, you just know they’re going to be all-time greats, forever regarded as classics.

Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge from Gremlin Graphics was definitely one of those games. It pushed the “vanishing point” racer formula massively with its split-screen two-player action and its variety of interesting courses, and its presentation and gameplay were immaculate.

It would go on to form the basis of the widely beloved Top Gear for Super NES, which would go on to inspire more recent works such as Horizon Chase Turbo. And it still plays like a dream today. So please put your hands together and give it up for a true racing legend.

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Waifu Wednesday

Waifu Wednesday: Pamela Ibis (Again)

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Yes, yes, yes, I know we technically “did” Pamela already last year, but as you’ll know if you’ve played more than a couple of the Atelier games… one can never really claim to truly know Pamela.

Specifically, knowing just one form of Pamela — her (re)incarnation that appears in the Arland series, in the case of that previous article — doesn’t necessarily mean that you know everything there is to know about Pamela. I mean, she may or may not be the same person at all. Probably not, given that the various Atelier subseries are regarded as unfolding in completely separate continuities. Unless…?

Enough justification. Today we’re looking at Pamela Ibis from Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis. Don’t you dare make her cry.

Continue reading Waifu Wednesday: Pamela Ibis (Again) →

short;Play, Videos

short;Play: Descent

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The mid ’90s was a great time to be playing PC games. It was a time when the platform was really starting to find its feet, and it saw a variety of innovations in lots of different genres that we’re still feeling the effects of today.

Enter Descent from Parallax Software, then — a fully texture-mapped, polygonal, 3D, six-degrees-of-freedom first-person shooter that plonked you in the cockpit of a spacecraft and taskes you with blowing up a series of mining installations from within. There really was nothing quite like it at the time.

It’s a game that’s held up extraordinarily well over the years and is still a ton of fun in the 21st century. Check out the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!

Atari Collection 1, Evercade

Alien Brigade: The 7800’s Crown Jewel?

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We’re all about the Evercade here on MoeGamer, so where better to kick off our exploration of all the games available on this retro wonder-device than with the first game on the first cartridge in the library?

Alien Brigade is a rail shooter originally released for Atari 7800 in 1990. It’s regarded by many Atari 7800 enthusiasts as one of the best games on the system — and certainly one of the finest titles that is completely unique and exclusive to the 7800. It’s also quite hard to find a copy of these days, so in keeping with the Evercade’s unofficial mission to resurrect a variety of somewhat lesser-known retro titles for the modern collector, it’s entirely appropriate that this is where the whole library opens.

Is it actually any good, though? Well, read on.

Continue reading Alien Brigade: The 7800’s Crown Jewel? →

Videos

Atari A to Z: Rainbow Walker

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Today we pay another visit to a beloved publisher of the Atari 8-bit days: Synapse Software — and one of the company’s most well-regarded games.

Rainbow Walker isn’t an especially original premise — it’s a Q*Bert-style game in which you have to hop on all the squares to change them to the correct colour — but the remarkable thing here is the incredibly slick presentation, featuring a gorgeous 3D effect, smooth movement and some fancy special effects. It’s not hard to see why the game is regarded as one of the finest in the Atari 8-bit’s library.

Enjoy the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more.

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Podcast

The MoeGamer Podcast: Episode 39 – Gentlemen, Start Your PC Engines

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Sorry it’s been a while, but we’re back again with a big bowl of podcast for you to enjoy — as always, featuring both my good self and Mr Chris Caskie of MrGilderPixels!

The MoeGamer Podcast is available in several places. You can subscribe to my channel on YouTube to stay up to date with both the video versions of the podcast and my weekly videos (including the Atari A to Z retro gaming series); you can follow on Soundcloud for the audio-only version of the podcast; you can subscribe via RSS to get the audio-only version of the podcast in your favourite podcast app; or you can subscribe via iTunes and listen on Spotify. Please do at least one of these if you can; it really helps us out!

Enjoy the podcast in video and audio formats below:

Hit the jump for show notes!

Continue reading The MoeGamer Podcast: Episode 39 – Gentlemen, Start Your PC Engines →