Clueless Gaijin Gaming: Atomic Robo-Kid Special

post from Gaming After 40 on 19 March 2010 04:00:00 PM. © Gaming After 40

This week, we're taking a look at another Japanese game I sorely wished had made it to the States back in its day: Atomic Robo-Kid Special for the PC Engine, published by UPL Company Limited in 1989. It stars a cute, heavily-armed robot, who is out to destroy various other robots for no reason that really matters once the game is underway. Suffice it to say that the fate of robot civilization is at stake, and no knowledge of Japanese is required:

The game was adapted from the coin-op original for a number of home computer and videogame platforms, although none of the conversions were particularly faithful to the arcade game. The PC Engine version retains the look of the main character and most of the enemy sprites, but the level designs are quite a bit different. The multiplane scrolling parallax of the coin-op is replaced by banded layers, changing the look of many levels, and the order of the levels has been rearranged. There's a fair amount of repetition in the graphics as well -- this fan boss appears in almost every level that isn't a boss battle in and of itself:

The difficulty has also been toned down -- I didn't have much problem making it through the first six stages, with the Act 3 boss battle over before I realized it was such. But the action is still pretty frenetic, and the design has a sort of super-deformed H.R. Giger look about it that manages to be cute and cybernetically creepy at the same time.

This great-looking Act 5 boss provides more of a challenge, as we have to circle him constantly, whittling down his extra heads and dodging his shots before hitting his core body enough to take him down:

Act 6 resembles Act 1 of the arcade game, with R-Type-esque robot worms that Atomic Robo-Kid must battle in tight quarters:

The action does become repetitive after a while -- the difficulty ramps up, but the basic premise doesn't really change. Like most arcade games of the late 80's, it was originally designed to extract another token from the player's pocket as often as possible; the continues are limited to three here, so the player does have to develop a bit of skill, but it's not nearly as challenging as the coin-op.

Everything's in English, and the graphics look lovely in stills, so this is yet another game NEC mysteriously chose not to pursue for release on the American TurboGrafx-16. A Sega Genesis version did come out in the States, courtesy of small publisher Treco, but while the parallax scrolling was preserved, it didn't look, sound or play quite as nicely as it did on NEC's little white box.

Ah, well. You can't win 'em all, Atomic Robo-Kid.

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GamingAfter40/~3/fu3LOKUvZxw/clueless-gaijin-gamin
g-atomic-robo-kid.html

Digg this

Lack of Twilight Game Has Cost Industry Millions

post from The Escapist : Latest News on 19 March 2010 03:46:00 PM. © The Escapist : Latest News

A financial analyst said that videogame publishers are missing out on a potential windfall from Twilight fans.

Comment | View Article

Read The Full Article:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/99268-Lack-of-Twilight-Game-Has-Cost-In
dustry-Millions

Digg this

Support US Troops by donating your used games at
PAX East

post from Gaming Nexus on 19 March 2010 03:36:00 PM. © Gaming Nexus

by: Charles Husemann
NEWS - If you're going to PAX East next week and have a few extra games lying around your house you might want to bring them with you to donate them to troops overseas. The folks at the Gamers Outreach Foundation are going to be set up next to the Tritton/Gunnar booth and will accepting games from all eras which will then be shipped over to our troops fighting overseas.

I'm going to scour the house but I'm pretty sure I can come up with five to six games to donate to the troops and hopefully you can as well. If you're not going and want to mail some in leave a comment and we'll see if we can arrange something to help get your games to the Outreach folks.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.gamingnexus.com/FullNews/Support-US-Troops-by-donating-your-used-games
-at-PAX-East/Item16840.aspx

Digg this

Dream Day Wedding: Bella Italia Walkthrough

post from Gamezebo: Casual Game Reviews, Previews, Cheats, Tips, Forums, Free Games, and More on 19 March 2010 03:15:36 PM. © Gamezebo: Casual Game Reviews, Previews, Cheats, Tips, Forums, Free Games, and More

Welcome to the Dream Day Wedding: Bella Italia walkthrough on Gamezebo. Dream Day Wedding: Bella Italia is a hidden object game created by I-play for PC. This walkthrough includes tips and tricks, helpful hints, and a strategy guide to how to complete Dream Day Wedding: Bella Italia.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.gamezebo.com/download-games/dream-day-wedding-bella-italia/walkthrough

Digg this

Nintendo Lets You Walk With Nothing but Pikachu

post from The Escapist : Latest News on 19 March 2010 03:15:00 PM. © The Escapist : Latest News

If you're fond of the ubiquitous yellow mouse that is the iconic mascot of Pokemon, Nintendo is offering a special Pokewalker route all through April that will let you catch special Pikachu - and nothing but Pikachu.

Comment | View Article

Read The Full Article:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/99267-Nintendo-Lets-You-Walk-With-Nothi
ng-but-Pikachu

Digg this

PAX East is now sold out

post from Destructoid on 19 March 2010 03:00:00 PM. © Destructoid

PAX East is now sold out screenshot

Were you waiting until the last minute, trying to decide if you were going to go to PAX East or not? LOOK WHERE PROCRASTINATION HAS GOTTEN YOU.

As of this afternoon, PAX East is entirely sold out. This means you can't get a badge to the show online, and that there will be no badges at the door. Sorry!

If you were really looking forward to hanging out with Dtoid, though, you still can! Not having a badge doesn't mean you can't just hang around Boston during the day and party with all the cool kids at night. If you're going to be in Boston from March 26th to March 28th, regardless of if you're hitting up the show floor or not, check out the Dtoid PAX Google Group for info on how you can meet up with other Dtoiders.

Read The Full Article:

Digg this

Contest: Add an iPhone user review, win The Lost
Cases of Sherlock Holmes!

post from Gamezebo: Casual Game Reviews, Previews, Cheats, Tips, Forums, Free Games, and More on 19 March 2010 02:50:04 PM. © Gamezebo: Casual Game Reviews, Previews, Cheats, Tips, Forums, Free Games, and More

Legacy Games? popular hidden object series for the PC The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes has recently made its way to the iPhone, and we have 10 copies to give away to celebrate!

Read The Full Article:
http://www.gamezebo.com/news/2010/03/19/contest-add-iphone-user-review-win-lost-c
ases-sherlock-holmes

Digg this

Switzerland to Ban Violent Videogames

post from The Escapist : Latest News on 19 March 2010 02:33:00 PM. © The Escapist : Latest News

The Swiss National Council has enacted a law that will allow it to ban violent videogames.

Comment | View Article

Read The Full Article:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/99266-Switzerland-to-Ban-Violent-Videog
ames

Digg this

Miyamoto reminds us that Pikmin 3 is still in
development

video details and more

Not much has been said about Pikmin 3 in quite a while now. Nintendo has stated that they're working on a new entry to the Pikmin series for the Wii, but that's all they've ever really said.

The BAFTA Video Game awards ceremony took place in the United Kingdom tonight where Shigeru Miyamoto was in attendance and gave the Official UK Nintendo Magazine a status update on the highly anticipated third entry. Nintendo is still working on the project and development is "well under way."

Rejoice! Okay, so that's not really much to go on still, but it is better than nothing, right? Maybe Nintendo will actually reveal Pikmin 3 at E3 this year. Just maybe.

ONM is at the BAFTAs! Miya ... [@onm_uk, via Joystiq]

Read The Full Article:

Digg this

Korean Government Wages War On Gaming Addiction

In order to combat the growing trend of internet addiction among the populace, the South Korean government is releasing a free program that will limit the hours Korean gamers can spend on the internet.

Comment | View Article

Read The Full Article:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/99262-Korean-Government-Wages-War-On-Ga
ming-Addiction

Digg this