Pull up a chair and let's learn about classic and modern games alike.
Here you'll find a variety of video game funtimes, including both retro and modern titles. My work includes both off-the cuff videos where we explore games together, and pre-scripted shenanigans, and has an unashamed bias towards Atari home computers, 'cause I grew up with them.
I'm a self-professed amateur gaming historian and longtime gaming enthusiast. For the day job, I write manuals and digital content for the Evercade retro gaming platform by Blaze. I've written for publications including Page 6, The UK Official Nintendo Magazine, PC Zone, GamePro, USgamer and Rice Digital. You may know me by my full name, Pete Davison.
Check back through the channel archives for older series that have concluded or which are on hiatus!
This channel is a hobby project, so videos are not released on a set schedule.
Occasional strong language, flashing lights and unedited belching. Plus sometimes there are cats.
So fun to watch this...I was a bit better than you in the day. Slow down when enter an enemy sector. Get close and wait for them to walk into you so you get the first kill shot.
Gotta say this game on the collection didn't do it for me. Though, it doesn't have anything to do with the quality of the game as the aesthetics and gameplay are well done. Take care and looking forward to more videos yet to come.
LX Action and and LX Power both gave this 77% while LX USER said ",the most brilliant platform game we've played so far" with 91%. The German magazines gave it an average score of 41% while the LEMONLX users mostly think it is derivative of the earlier titles and adds nothing new to the genre. I founds it a joy to play and didn't care thst you received no score for shooting the enemy.
I happened to get the VCS right when Yars Rising was released so it was my first title (other than the included Vault). It has been an enjoyable game, but I’m approaching the end. I hope more titles like this come out, especially if mixed up with different genera’s.
Definitely this is a very solid title, for me anyway, for UFO 50. I really enjoyed it, though it isn't easy by any means. Still, it is a good game as I still can't believe you get 50 complete games for just $25 or less. Truly an amazing deal. Anyway, take care and I look forward to seeing more videos yet to come.
This is an amazing find! My late Dad created this game and I never knew anything about it until someone sent me the link to your review. Thanks so much!
No problem at all! Hope it brought back some happy memories of your Dad. Sorry to hear of his passing -- I remember several of his contributions to Page 6 rather fondly.
The sound of dropping out of hyperspace into an enemy-occupied sector and getting the Red Alert siren is like Proust's madeleines to me. None of the attempts to re-imagine this game into something substantially different from the 1979 original has really been successful. Just adding a few minor interface enhancements while basically keeping it the 5200 game (which, itself, basically was the 8-bit computer game with only minor enhancements) seems like the best way to play it.
The 400 Mini is available on Amazon! You can also get the C64 version on the C64 mini/maxi models (also on Amazon), or on the Evercade cartridge TheC64 Collection.
Enjoyed watching a playthrough of various games in this collection, though I wish you had covered a bit more. Still, I always enjoy your looks into the world of video games as well as the insights you bring. Take care and I look forward to many more videos yet to come.
Personally, I want to see what else Atari can reboot in order to put themselves on the map again. I was thinking that IPs like Crystal Castle should become a 3D platformer or something.
UFO 50 is incredible, I've played about 30%~ of the games so far to varied amounts of time and found quite a number of them very very enjoyable. Barbuta is not really my style so I appreciate your video
I felt like Yars Rising had a lot of really great things going on for it (especially the music) but there were some issues I had with it. Namely the momentum abilities having start and end lag was frustrating, and some plot elements being swept under the rug (will not be specific about it for spoiler reasons, but they have to deal with certain bosses.)
It's great to see UFO 50 finally came out and is getting great reviews. I admit I had written if off a while back. I guess it explains why Derek Yu hasn't been very prolific over the last few years.
I picked up UFO 50 myself. Definitely it looks to be an interesting faux game compilation. Needless to say I am looking forward to playing the various titles it offers as I have only spent 10 minutes only playing Barbuta thus far.
Barbuta!? I hardly know her! Good review. I still need to go back to this one, but there's at least 4,000 other games in this collection by my count, and I'm exploring those first.
I was on the fence about this game myself. Not because of any spunky anime girl though (frankly gaming needs more of those!), but I wasn't sure if I would enjoy this game. Now thanks to your video I might give it a shot.
I must admit, I was a bit skeptical when I saw the announcement for Yars Rising, but this video has won me over by demonstrating what the team is trying to do with it. Quite frankly, this looks amazing, and I'm definitely going to pick this up. :)
It looks like a quintessential Wayforward game to me: a nice premium presentation with an emphasis on animation, but gameplay that leans on familiar tropes and tends to be a bit sluggish and padded out (to better show off that animation). That studio has a formula, they've used it for decades now and it seems to work for them and their audience. I enjoyed the last one of theirs I picked up(River City Girls), although I'm on the fence about this one as an Atari fan. They are a pretty good pick for reviving an old IP and making something consumable out of it.
You're the second person to perceive it being "sluggish" and, having played it extensively, I don't really understand where that's coming from. The controls are responsive and tight, which is what you want from a platformer. There's no waiting around for animations to finish; you push left, she goes left. You let go, she stops, immediately. In terms of movement speed and pacing, it's akin to an Iga-era Castlevania, which are benchmarks for the genre. It's not a game about charging around at full tilt, it's about exploring and taking your time to be thorough. I certainly didn't feel it was sluggish at any point during play!
It's very refreshing to see such a positive opinion and overall demeanor in a space that's so often full of, as you called them, grumpy old Atari fans.
I demoed this on Steam Deck and enjoyed pretty much everything minus some of the dialogue. Between this video and the demo I think I'm ready to go buy the thing. Good video!
A superb game, and I'm loving the hacking game. There's a limited edition Yars Rising 2600 cart being sent to lucky ATARI fans right now. This ATARI is the most ATARI that ATARI have been since the 70s and 80s.
