Tag Archives: retro games

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z: Yogi Bear & Friends in The Greed Monster

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Licensed games were a real mixed bag in the 8- and 16-bit eras, because mechanical genres were still being defined and refined — and it was sometimes tricky to relate an established style of game to a particular property.

Hi-Tec was one company that got a bit experimental with their various licensed games. They had the rights to all the Hanna-Barbera cartoons, after all, and to their credit, rather than simply churning out various reskins of the same game, they tried lots of different ways of doing things — even between multiple games featuring the same character.

Yogi Bear & Friends in The Greed Monster is an example of a game where they got it right. It’s an interesting and enjoyable game, even today, and distinguishes itself by being just that bit different from other licensed games of the period.

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

Announcements, Community

Around the Network

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Happy Sunday evening everyone! One of the worst parts of the week, when you know Monday is just around the corner, thereby meaning that you can’t really justify staying up all night playing video games or something.

Still, if you want something to take your mind off the impending drudgery of the working week, I’ve got you covered as always. There’s been some really great stuff this week that I’ve been delighted and excited to cover, so I hope you enjoy them.

So, then, without further ado, let’s review! That rhymes.

Continue reading Around the Network →

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z Flashback: Circus Atari

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Today’s Atari Flashback Classic is Circus Atari, an interesting and challenging twist on the Breakout formula.

The origin story of this one is quite interesting, too; it began life as a third-party spin-off of the Breakout arcade hardware, then was subsequently ported by Atari itself to the 2600 platform. Original developer Exidy, who were struggling to compete with Atari at the time, must have been real pleased about that!

Anyway, if Breakout wasn’t hard enough already for you, Circus Atari challenges you to bounce two little clowns on a see-saw and pop a bunch of balloons. Good luck; you’ll need it!

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

Final Fantasy II, Final Fantasy Marathon, Videos

Final Fantasy Marathon: Leila, Warp! – Final Fantasy II #5

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The early Final Fantasies are interesting to return to, as they show the origins of various things that have become series mainstays over the years.

Today in Final Fantasy II, we see the first mention of the Dragoons in the series; while you can’t actually be a Dragoon in Final Fantasy II, you do learn a little bit about them and their companion Wyverns. We also see the Lifestream for the first time; this concept hasn’t been in every Final Fantasy, but it does play a prominent role in both Final Fantasy VII and, of all things, the CG movie Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. Bet you’d forgotten about that, hadn’t you?

Maria also spends a lot of time training her Scourge spell, and we get into a real mess trying to get back out of a dungeon. Because, well, we’ve set a certain amount of precedent at this point, haven’t we?

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari ST A to Z: Rod Land

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Ah, Rod Land! I frigging love Rod Land, as I believe we’ve previously discussed elsewhere.

Turns out the Atari ST version is a very, very good port indeed — and a game that I absolutely coveted back in the day. I never had my own copy though, so I had to satisfy myself with the short demo I had from a magazine cover disk.

Thanks to Patron Ken, however, I was able to secure myself my own copy after many years! Time to enjoy; I’ve got a lot of catching up to do!

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

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z: Xmas House

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It’s Christmas! Well, okay, no it isn’t. It’s quite a while after Christmas, but whatever. I needed a game for “X”.

And so here we are with a type-in listing from ZONG Magazine. Not just any old type-in listing, though; this one is written in Turbo Basic XL, a popular programming language that followed the principles of Atari BASIC while increasing its speed dramatically and adding all manner of cool new functions.

The game itself is a bit… well, type-in listing-y, but it’s not a bad effort at all. I’ve certainly seen far worse Christmas-themed games!

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

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z Flashback: Championship Soccer

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I detest most real-life sports, but I’ve been known to have a bit of fun with digital recreations of sporting activities over the years; they make great, easily understandable competitive affairs, after all.

My favourite sporting games are those that don’t try too hard to be realistic simulations; those that simply make use of straightforward, abstract mechanics that provide a rough approximation of the basic rules of the sport. Games that you can just pick up and play without having to worry about the more complex side of things.

As it happens, Championship Soccer for Atari 2600 is a great example of this. It resembles football in only the most cursory of ways — but it’s actually quite an enjoyable competitive game of skill, even for those of us who don’t really like sports!

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

Final Fantasy II, Final Fantasy Marathon

Final Fantasy Marathon: The Dreadnought Factor – Final Fantasy II #4

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After last week’s intensive mage training, Firion, Maria and Guy are just about ready to take on their most significant challenge yet: destroying the Empire’s superweapon, the Dreadnought!

Of course, it won’t be an easy task. First they have to find the damn thing, and navigation, it seems, is not their strong suit. Then they need to remember all of the reasons they went there, not just the one that involves a big, exciting explosion. Memory, it seems, is also not their strong suit.

But what is an adventure without a few mishaps along the way? Join our friends of the Wild Rose rebellion as they do their best to make the world a better place…

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari ST A to Z: QBall

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You like pool? Reckon you’re good at pool? Well, how about if it was in an antigravity cube with pockets in the corners and customisable air friction?

Those are the questions that the unusual QBall for Atari ST attempts to answer, presenting a simple but impressively slick 3D view of the playfield in question, detailed controls and a stiff challenge for even those who think they have a fine command over the laws of physics.

QBall was the work of Adam Billyard, who is perhaps best known for his 8-bit 3D racer Elektra Glide; QBall represents a rare 16-bit appearance for both him and publisher English Software.

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

Videos

Atari A to Z: Warhawk

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The shoot ’em up is a genre of gaming with a long and proud history. While the best shoot ’em ups tend to be associated with arcades and consoles, home computers played host to some right crackers too.

One such example is Firebird’s Warhawk, a vertically scrolling shooter with big, chunky sprites and smooth, slick gameplay. It’s an immensely satisfying but challenging shooter — and one that still holds up really well today.

Plus the Rob Hubbard soundtrack on the title screen is absolutely iconic… but hang on, doesn’t it sound a bit familiar…?

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