Tag Archives: video games

Gaming on a Schedule

Should you enjoy gaming as a hobby to a schedule?

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Let me tell you a couple of things about myself — the me that exists as of 23:35, July 27, 2023.

Firstly, I have a brain that, when presented with a sufficient number of options to freely choose between, refuses to make any sort of decision whatsoever and simply shuts down, melting into an unproductive goop and causing me to stare at a wall for a good half hour at least before finally being able to achieve anything.

This situation, which is not uncommon, is colloquially referred to as “analysis paralysis”.

Continue reading Should you enjoy gaming as a hobby to a schedule? →
One-Shots

The joy and despair of loving things that others don’t care for

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If you’ve been reading MoeGamer or any of my other work for any length of time, you’ll know that I’m a strong believer that anyone should be able to enjoy what they want (assuming it’s not outright illegal or harmful) without fear of being shamed for it.

By extension, I also tend to believe that anyone who enjoys something should have the freedom to talk about the thing they enjoy — again, without fear of being shamed for it, and with others showing them at least some basic courtesy and understanding, even if they don’t share the same tastes.

It’s this latter bit that the world today seems to struggle with — and it’s an aspect of life that, with increasing frequency in the modern age, leaves me feeling desperately lonely and frustrated, even surrounded by these things I love so much.

Continue reading The joy and despair of loving things that others don’t care for →
One-Shots

Idea Factory deserves your respect

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I am not a game designer.

I have attempted to make games at various points in the past, making use of toolsets ranging from Atari BASIC through STOS: The Game Creator, Klik & Play, The Games Factory, RPG Maker (of various flavours) and all manner of other things — but one thing has been constant: I’ve never gotten anything finished. And, as such, I have developed a good understanding of quite how much work goes into even the most seemingly simple project.

With that in mind, I always find myself gritting my teeth a bit any time I see people being unnecessarily disparaging about certain game developers. Whether it’s an entitled prick on Steam calling an indie dev “lazy” for not building their passion project to one ungrateful gamer’s specific expectations, or targeted campaigns of harassment against larger companies for one reason or another, I can never get behind that sort of behaviour.

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Announcements

I’m back, baby

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Hello there, everyone! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? There have been some interesting changes in my professional life that mean I’ll likely be posting here a little more from hereon — and with those changes in mind, I’m probably going to also make some tweaks to how I do things around here, too.

So let’s talk about those things in turn, if you’ll indulge me for a moment or two.

Continue reading I’m back, baby →
Evercade A to Z, Videos

Evercade A to Z: Double Dragon II – The Revenge

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The two Double Dragon games on NES are markedly different from their arcade counterparts — and a great deal of fun in their own right.

Double Dragon II: The Revenge plays up the platform game elements quite considerably — and also introduces the simultaneous two-player mode that was absent from the original NES game. It’s a great brawler well worth spending some time with today.

Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari ST A to Z: Nigel Mansell’s World Championship

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When I was a kid, Nigel Mansell occupied a curious position in popular culture. He was, without a doubt, respected for his solid performance in motorsports — but he was also regarded as an enormously boring man.

Thankfully his official video game adaptation by Gremlin certainly wasn’t boring. Building on the tech used for the Top Racer and Lotus Turbo Challenge series, Nigel Mansell’s World Championship provides plenty of fun arcade-style thrills in a Super Monaco GP sort of way.

Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!

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Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z: Up’n Down

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Up’n Down is not an arcade game I’m especially familiar with — and I’ve also learned it’s one that people often get confused with Data East’s Bump ‘n Jump, for reasons that are probably obvious.

The Atari 8-bit version here is not a bad port at all — though it does suffer from a few glaring technical issues that make it a little tricky to truly enjoy at times.

Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!

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Evercade A to Z, Videos

Evercade A to Z: Top Racer

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Top Racer (originally known as Top Gear in the west) has a long and proud tradition — and it’s a classic vanishing point racer that still holds up super-well today.

When it originally released on Evercade as part of the Piko Interactive Collection 1 cartridge, you could only play it in single-player against the computer. With the advent of the Evercade VS, though, split-screen funtimes are yours for the taking!

Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!

Retro Select, Videos

Retro Select: Front Line

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Every genre needs to start somewhere, and in the top-down run-and-gun shooter’s case, it pretty much started with Taito’s Front Line.

By modern standards, Front Line might look a bit laughable — particularly when it comes to its animations. But give it a bit of time and you’ll find a thoroughly playable — and very hard! — game to enjoy in the mix here. Without this game, we likely wouldn’t have had SNK classics like TNK III and Ikari Warriors!

Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari ST A to Z: Moon Patrol

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Moon Patrol is a great arcade game, and it’s had some excellent ports over the years. The Atari ST one was quite late, but it certainly nails the visuals.

The gameplay, however, is another matter; there’s something about Atari ST Moon Patrol that just doesn’t quite feel right. Still, if you want a game that looks like Moon Patrol but provides a slightly different challenge to the versions you may be more familiar with, it might be worth a look — it’s not a bad game, after all!

Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!

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