Tag Archives: retro games

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z Flashback: Air-Sea Battle

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An all-time classic of the Atari 2600’s library is launch title Air-Sea Battle, a simplistic but enjoyable fixed shooter with a variety of different ways to play.

Air-Sea Battle is an excellent example of what you could expect from early 2600 titles that promised “27 video games” or similar. Those “27” video games would be a lot of variations on the same theme — but there’d sometimes be some surprising and enjoyable differences between them!

Air-Sea Battle shines as a two-player game, even today, but it’s still an enjoyable high score-chaser solo. Which is your favourite of the 27 variations?

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

Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy Marathon, Videos

Final Fantasy Marathon: Mt. Gulg and the Big Rooms of Nothing – Final Fantasy I #12

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In today’s episode of Final Fantasy, the Warriors of Light finally get back on track and delve into the fiery depths of Mt. Gulg.

Marilith, one of the Four Fiends, is waiting for them far beneath the surface, but first they have lots of exploring to do. And the floor is literally lava. It’s a good job they packed plenty of potions, but you’d think they’d have brought more sensible shoes for such an excursion.

Of course, before they even get to Marilith, they have to face one of their biggest challenges yet: the seemingly endless Big Rooms of Nothing!

Essentials, Shmups, SNES

Star Fox: All Ships Check In!!

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“You should see this. It’s just like having an arcade machine connected to your television.”

Those were the words my brother, ten years my senior, said to me one time he came home from his job on a ’90s gaming magazine, pulling a Super Famicom out of his bag.

While the system didn’t quite live up to those lofty expectations in some regards — particularly as it got a bit older — there were certain games that, once I had my own Super NES and some games for it, reminded a younger me very much of those words. And Star Fox was one of them.

Continue reading Star Fox: All Ships Check In!! →

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari ST A to Z: Yogi’s Great Escape

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Licensed games have been around for a long time… and they’ve gotten quite a bit better over the years. For the most part!

Back in the 16-bit home computer era, publisher Hi-Tec had the license to produce video games based on Hanna Barbera cartoons, including properties such as Hong Kong Phooey and Yogi Bear.

Today’s game is one of several Yogi Bear games that Hi-Tec put out at a budget price point. It’s a competent, if fairly unremarkable platformer — which, not coincidentally, is a descriptor that can be applied to 90% of licensed games on the Atari ST!

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

Videos

Atari A to Z: Electrician

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Video games don’t always have to be about blasting aliens and/or terrorists.

The idea of games that are based around fairly mundane activities and professions is something that is associated with the creativity of today’s indie scene, but developers were experimenting with this idea back in the early ’80s too.

And so it was that we got David Bunch’s Electrician from Synapse Software — a surprisingly enjoyable game about rewiring a bunch of houses.

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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Another week has passed us by! It’s been a pretty good week for me; I’ve been on holiday from the day job, and I’ve been using the time to get ahead of schedule on a bunch of projects.

Specifically, I’ve managed to get ahead of schedule on pretty much all of my video series, providing me with ample time to focus on written stuff in the meantime. I’ve got a Senran Kagura feature to finish, and then we’ll be moving on to something a little unusual that I’ve been looking forward to tackling for a while.

In the meantime, though, there is of course plenty that you might have missed in the last week — so let’s take a look at that!

Continue reading Around the Network →

Videos

Atari A to Z Flashback: Air Raiders

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Let’s check out what is regarded by some as one of the best flight simulators on the Atari 2600!

To be fair, this isn’t a particularly high bar to clear or anything, but Air Raiders is a solid, enjoyable enough game, so long as you pay attention to its unusual structure and mechanics. It’s also historically noteworthy as one of the only “M Network” Atari 2600 releases from Mattel that wasn’t a port of an Intellivision title.

It’s also nowhere near as well-known as some of the more established classics of the Atari 2600 canon, so that’s as good a reason as any to give it a bit of time and attention, hmm?

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

Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy Marathon, Videos

Final Fantasy Marathon: The Wrong Dungeon – Final Fantasy I #11

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After a bit of farting around getting lost, the Warriors of Light finally find themselves in front of their next dungeoneering challenge.

Okay, it’s the wrong dungeon, but they’re there now, so they might as well dive in and have a bit of an explore. What could possibly go wrong, after all?

Mindflayers, dear reader; mindflayers are what could possibly go wrong.

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari ST A to Z: Xybots

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Do you like dungeon crawling? Do you like shooting things? Do you like games that begin with the letter “X”, which are in unsurprisingly short supply? Then do I have a treat for you!

Atari Games’ Xybots — originally envisioned as a sequel to Gauntlet but reskinned to sci-fi because someone in a suit figured that a sequel to one of the company’s most popular games of all time would not, in itself, be popular — is an interesting game. And, moreover, one that was probably ahead of its time; turns out that making it sci-fi didn’t make it popular either!

It also features one of my least favourite mechanics from Atari Games releases of this era, but it’s not quite enough to spoil the rest of the experience. This ST port is remarkably true to the arcade version, warts and all…

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

Videos, Warriors Wednesday

Warriors Wednesday: Watch Me Whip, Watch Me Nene – Warriors Orochi #55

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By popular request, I present Nene! All right, one person asked if I could unlock Nene and play as her for a bit, but on a channel as small as mine that counts as “by popular request”.

Turns out the suggestion was a good one, mind, as Nene is a ton of fun to play, and manages to make herself useful to Cao Pi’s cause even though she’s considerably lower level than everyone else. But I shouldn’t be surprised really; ninja girls are the best girls, after all.

Having successfully captured Da Ji in a previous sortie, Cao Pi declares Wei’s independence from Orochi and continues growing his army in preparation for the final assault. Today he sets his sights on Nagamasa Azai, who is hanging out in the Chen Cang area… so this seems like as good an opportunity as any to throw Nene in at the deep end and see what she’s made of!