Tag Archives: video games

Whip! Whip!: Smells Like Taito

I have a major soft spot for single-screen “kill everything” platformers. Every day I mourn that Rod-Land isn’t more readily available to play on modern platforms… and it’s not just because I have a thing for Rit.

No, I’ve always been a fan of this kind of game, ever since Bubble Bobble, and if anyone was the absolute master of this subgenre, it was Taito. As such, the two Taito Legends collections on PlayStation 2 make frequent appearances in my game rotation, just so I can enjoy games like the aforementioned Bubble Bobble and its sequel Rainbow Islands at any time.

What if someone were to make a new game like this, though? How might that turn out? Well, wonder no longer!

Continue reading Whip! Whip!: Smells Like Taito

Atari ST A to Z: S.T.U.N. Runner

The futuristic racer subgenre tends to mostly be attributed to Nintendo’s F-Zero series these days, but there were a number of other companies experimenting with the formula too.

One such company was Atari Games, who put out the arcade version of S.T.U.N. Runner in 1989, a good year before F-Zero hit the Super NES. Running on a variation of the Hard Drivin’ hardware, its polygonal graphics and blistering speed impressed anyone who was lucky to come across a machine.

Its home ports… well, they did their best, and despite the ST version being what can politely be called “barely passable” I had a surprising amount of fun with it…

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

Waifu Wednesday: Rin Takato

Before we leave The Expression: Amrilato behind, I wanted to show a particular bit of appreciation for its protagonist Rin.

Rin is the player’s eyes and ears over the course of the narrative, and as the game progresses you develop something of a mutually beneficial relationship with her as a player; she, more often than not, acts as the face of the game’s “study sessions” and as such becomes someone you associate with the act of learning the language of Esperanto… sorry, “Juliamo”.

But she’s a pretty great character in her own right, too. Let’s take a closer look at why she’s such a great central character.

Continue reading Waifu Wednesday: Rin Takato

Warriors Wednesday: Mystical Ninja – Warriors Orochi #50

Cao Pi and friends have a tough battle ahead of them today: they’re up against Nene and her ninjutsu!

It seems our “hero” is still biding his time before unleashing his inevitable betrayal of Da Ji and Orochi, however, but we get closer and closer with every mission. It’s not a case of if, it’s a case of when.

Oh, and if you ever were wondering what I thought of Japanese denpa group PASSPO, you can find out, exclusively in this, the forty-ninth episode of Warriors Wednesday. Don’t say I never give you anything.

Custom Order Maid 3D 2: Sex, Sommeliers and Song

It’s time to pay The Empire Club another visit after our initial look at what went down on its first day of business.

Today, we meet the other two maids who stayed on after our uncle decided to leave us with a crippling debt, start to get to know our staff a bit better and finally begin making a bit of money.

It seems at least one of them has an ambition, too… Let’s check in with them and see how things are going!

NSFW images ahead!

Continue reading Custom Order Maid 3D 2: Sex, Sommeliers and Song

Atari A to Z: Yahtman

Yahtman is a game that hails from simpler times; a time when a video game about rolling a few dice a few times was enough to keep people occupied for… ooh, a good few minutes, at least.

It was also a time where there were plenty of people making software based around popular board and tabletop games — some licensed adaptations, others… less so.

Yahtman skirts the usual copyright-infringing tendencies of the era by providing us a game of “dice poker” or “yacht”, and absolutely, positively not Yahtzee, you hear me?

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

Atari A to Z Flashback: Tempest

Dave Theurer, creator of the beloved Missile Command, is back once again with another all-time classic: “tube shooter” Tempest.

Tempest featured Atari’s then-new multi-coloured Quadrascan vector graphics display, plus an interesting feature whereby you could start later in the game based on how far you (or the previous player) had managed to progress on the previous credit. This later became a standard fixture in many Atari Games releases.

I’ll level with you, Tempest is one of those games I’ve always respected greatly but never really liked all that much… can spending a bit of time with it this weekend change my mind?

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

Final Fantasy Marathon: The Mystic Key – Final Fantasy I #5

After last week’s little… mishap, the fifth episode of our Final Fantasy playthrough sees the Warriors of Light taking full advantage of the mysterious Time Magic known as “Load”.

From thereon, we proceed to track down the wrongful owner of the Crown we found in the Marsh Cave, kick his head in, then set off in search of the mysterious, magical Matoya, who has been feeling a bit left in the dark recently.

We then proceed to spend considerably longer than I intended finding all the locks that the Mystic Key fits. Because treasure.

Custom Order Maid 3D 2: First Day at the Empire Club

Something a little different for today’s Waifu Wednesday!

With the long-awaited English language release of KISS’ Custom Order Maid 3D 2 on both Steam and Nutaku, I wanted to give this game some coverage as, if you didn’t already know, the Custom Maid series in general is an important part of MoeGamer: the site’s mascots were all made in previous game Custom Maid 3D 2.

I’ll be checking out this game over the long term as there’s a surprising amount more to it than I realised, but what better time to kick things off than on Waifu Wednesday? Let’s knock on the door of the Empire Club and see what awaits us…

Some very NSFW gubbins ahead. You have been warned!

Continue reading Custom Order Maid 3D 2: First Day at the Empire Club

Warriors Wednesday: Chasing the Sun – Warriors Orochi #49

Cao Pi is definitely up to something… and he’s starting to get bolder.

In today’s mission, the Wei leader and his friends are tasked with putting down a rebellion by Sun Ce — the same rebellion, you may recall, that we helped instigate back in the Wu campaign.

We’re getting closer to the time that Cao Pi inevitably betrays Da Ji and Orochi… but for the moment he’s just biding his time.