Tag Archives: retro games

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Atari ST A to Z: Zany Golf

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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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Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z: F*ck Man

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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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Psikyo Shooting Stars, Shmups, Switch

Tengai: The Return of the Samurai Aces

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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.

Continue reading Tengai: The Return of the Samurai Aces →

Announcements, Community

Around the Network

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Good morning and REMAIN INDOORS! Not that I’m sure that will be a problem for a lot of us, but regardless… stay safe, everyone.

As many people are discovering, a global pandemic is a fine time to hole up in your place of residence with lots of snack foods and a large stack of video games, and enjoy them to your heart’s content. I’ve been doing just that — not that it’s a big change from my usual existence — and coping all right. Just remember to say hi to your nearest and dearest now and again

And of course, you can always come and hang out on your favourite site about overlooked and underappreciated games from around the world and through the ages. So with that in mind, let’s check out what you might have missed in the last week.

Continue reading Around the Network →

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z: Crystal Castles (2600)

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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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Atelier, Atelier Iris, Cover Games

Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny – Alchemy Evolution

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cropped-atelier-megafeature-header-1-8868334This post is one chapter of a MegaFeature!
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Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana was very clearly an attempt to do something different with the Atelier series… and also a bit of a playground for the development team to experiment with a wide variety of ideas.

This much becomes obvious almost from the moment you boot up 2005’s Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny, which takes many of the things that worked from Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana, fixes the things that almost worked and ditches the things that didn’t.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at how Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny builds on its predecessor, and how this becomes clear over the course of the game’s early hours.

Continue reading Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny – Alchemy Evolution →

Final Fantasy II, Final Fantasy Marathon, Videos

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

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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.

Psikyo Shooting Stars, Shmups, Switch

Samurai Aces: A Strong Debut

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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 A to Z, Videos

Atari ST A to Z: Yomo

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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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Waifu Wednesday

Waifu Wednesday: Leila

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The Final Fantasy series has, over the years, played host to some of the most well-known and beloved female characters of all time.

And this isn’t a recent thing, either; if you believe the fan theory that the White Mage in the original Final Fantasy is female (a theory which I can’t help but feel Square Enix leaned into somewhat with the sprite design in the remakes for PS1, GBA and PSP) they’ve been there since the very beginning.

And even if you don’t subscribe to that theory, Final Fantasy II certainly brought us some fine leading ladies, such as today’s spotlight character, Leila. Let’s take a closer look!

Continue reading Waifu Wednesday: Leila →