Tag Archives: video games

Fatal Rewind

Formula 1: Bizarre Creations’ True Beginning

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So far here on Fatal Rewind: A Bizarre Creations Retrospective, we’ve seen how Martyn Chudley and, subsequently, a team of able assistants, commanded a solid technical mastery over the hardware they were working on, producing beautiful looking games that played well.

Today, we reach a significant milestone in the history of the company and their games, because it marks the point at which Chudley and his team became Bizarre Creations, the name under which they worked up until their untimely demise in 2011.

It also marks the first time they worked on a type of game that would come to be seen as their particular specialism: the accessible but realistic racing game, straddling the line between arcade game and simulation. Let’s look at Formula 1, released for PlayStation in 1996.

Continue reading Formula 1: Bizarre Creations’ True Beginning →

Community, Q&A

Q&A: January 2021

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Welcome to the third monthly Q&A session, in which I milk you mercilessly for “Content” and then provide you with a video for your troubles.

This month, we talk classic arcade games, a dream “next-gen”, favourite aesthetics and more. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Enjoy the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more. If you’d like to be part of the next Q&A, sign up to become an S-Rank Patron at my Patreon page here: https://patreon.com/petedavison

Announcements, Community

Around the Network

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And so, another week draws to a close — and with it, the January of what will hopefully be a better year for everyone.

My 2021’s got off to a thoroughly nice start with a new job that is full of lovely people and work that I enjoy, though the wife and I are still going a little stir crazy at being stuck in the house all the time. It’d be nice to see friends, but then it is also nice to be able to breathe and not die, so there’s that.

Anyway, all that aside, it’s that time again — let’s see what you might have missed in the last week!

Continue reading Around the Network →

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z Flashback: RealSports Tennis

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We’re closing in on the home straight of the RealSports collection in Atari Flashback Classics! Only two more to go after this one!

RealSports Tennis for Atari 2600 is a fun game for one or two players that… doesn’t really offer much of a realistic game of tennis, but does provide a rather prettier take on the Pong format, with a couple of interesting twists. It’s simple and straightforward, but it’s also speedy and fun — particularly with a friend.

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

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Atelier Dusk

Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk – Bonds of People

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cropped-atelier-megafeature-header-1-8868334This post is one chapter of a MegaFeature!
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As we’ve already discussed to a certain extent, Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk kicks off an Atelier subseries with a noticeably different feel to its predecessors.

While the Arland series was, on the whole, very positive in tone — the more melancholic aspects of Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland aside — the Dusk series emphasises the feeling that all is not well in this “world that is heading for destruction”, as Gust themselves put it.

And that feeling doesn’t just extend to the overall worldview of Atelier Ayesha, either; it infuses the core narrative and provides it with a very distinctive, highly emotional and deeply memorable feel. Let’s take a closer look.

Continue reading Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk – Bonds of People →

Evercade A to Z, Videos

Evercade A to Z: Desert Falcon

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Today’s Evercade game is a cross-platform Atari title — it’s Desert Falcon, which was primarily designed for the Atari 7800, but which also got a 2600 version.

Desert Falcon is an isometric perspective shoot ’em up in which you take control of a majestic bird who has a real grudge against Sphinxes. By collecting combinations of hieroglyphs, you’ll be able to equip yourself with a variety of special powers — or, sometimes, hindrances — to make your task a little more interesting and unpredictable.

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

Atari Collection 1, Evercade

Aquaventure: The Game That Deserved a Release

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One of the nice things about modern, curated compilations of games from old platforms is that they provide an opportunity for “lost” classics to finally get an audience.

In many cases, “lost” classics were completed and reached a full prototype phase, but just never ended up getting duplicated and distributed to the public. Sometimes this is understandable; at other times, it’s a bit of a mystery.

Aquaventure for Atari 2600, which you can play not only in Atari Flashback Classics but also as part of the Atari Collection 1 cartridge on Evercade, definitely falls into the latter category. This game is good, so why didn’t it get released?

Continue reading Aquaventure: The Game That Deserved a Release →

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari ST A to Z: Rogue

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It’s time for a biggie! A truly genre-defining game, at that — although its real influence perhaps wouldn’t become truly known on the mainstream side of gaming until quite some time after its original release.

I’m talking about the legendary Rogue, of course, which has an interesting story behind its original creation — and whose Atari ST version is one of the best ways to play out there. This edition, published by Epyx and put together by one of the game’s original creators, is an accessible and friendly way to enjoy some dungeon crawling — and a great way to kick off a roguelike addiction if you don’t already have one!

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

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short;Play, Videos

short;Play: Dungeons and Dragons Heroes

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Brenda Romero’s gonna make you her bitch! Well, probably not, but she did design this game — and a very solid, enjoyable action RPG it is, too. She made several Wizardry games, don’tcha know.

Dungeons and Dragons Heroes was an exclusive title for the original Xbox, and offers hack-and-slash action loosely based on the then-new Dungeons and Dragons Third Edition ruleset for up to four players. There’s drop-in, drop-out local multiplayer, multiple difficulty modes and hordes of enemies to fight. Sounds good to me!

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

Game Boy

Alice in Wonderland: Curiously Entertaining

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When I’m tired, bored, depressed or, most commonly, a combination of all three, there’s something that I occasionally like to do.

Once I’ve cleaned up the mess from doing that, I like to delve into what I will euphemistically refer to as my vast collection of digitally preserved retro video games and pick something at semi-random. I’ll scroll through a platform I typically don’t give a lot of attention to, pick out something that I probably wouldn’t typically make the choice to play under normal circumstances, and then give it an honest go.

And so it was that as last week drew to a close and Friday evening became Friday night, I found myself playing Digital Eclipse’s official Game Boy Colour adaptation of the classic Disney movie Alice in Wonderland. A couple of hours later, I’d accidentally beaten the damn thing, and I didn’t feel the slightest bit sorry.

Continue reading Alice in Wonderland: Curiously Entertaining →