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This week's game is Musya: The Classic Japanese Tale of Horror, an atmospheric action platformer with a bit of a misleading name. It's a slow-paced game that doesn't ease players in, but if you like beating the odds, there's satisfaction in learning its tricks:
https://ephemeralenigmascom.wordpress.com/2026/10/13/musya-the-classic-japanese-tale-of-horror/
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This week's game is Battle Monsters, a fighting game that sometimes gets mistaken as a "Mortal Kombat clone", but is actually much different and far more interesting. Silly characters, grimy aesthetics, and even a bit of platform fighting made this a pleasant surprise:
https://ephemeralenigmascom.wordpress.com/2026/10/06/battle-monsters/
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This week's game is Cheese Chase, arcade maze action from Art & Magic, makers of the Amiga owl shmup Agony. You can see glimmers of potential with the focus on turnstiles and manipulating hazards, but the zoomed in camera and slippery movement really let it down:
https://ephemeralenigmascom.wordpress.com/2026/09/29/cheese-chase/
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This week's game is Janggun-ui Adeul, a beat 'em up for the Sega Master System and one of two games based on the influential South Korean movie General's Son. The game does little with that, but it's a fascinatingly janky experience with a solid presentation:
https://ephemeralenigmascom.wordpress.com/2026/09/22/janggun-ui-adeul/
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This week's game is New Legends, an OG Xbox exclusive made by former employees of LucasArts. The first half promises a breezy martial arts adventure across China, but it's let down by a second half that leans harder into gunplay and ridiculously oversized levels:
https://ephemeralenigmascom.wordpress.com/2026/09/15/new-legends/
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This week's game is Warriors of Might and Magic... for the Game Boy Color! This unique take brought to you by the developer of Sudeki offers a different story and 2D gameplay closer to that of Zelda. Weak combat and instant death pits do ruin the fun, though
https://ephemeralenigmascom.wordpress.com/2026/09/07/warriors-of-might-and-magic-gbc/
#blog #gaming #gameboycolor #videogames #retrogaming #writing #MightAndMagic
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This week's game is Lone Soldier, an early PS1 title that looks like a 3D run and gun, but is best played with as little running as possible. You could easily call this "Kusoge", but if you're willing to look past the presentation, some silly fun can be had:
https://ephemeralenigmascom.wordpress.com/2026/08/31/lone-soldier/
#blog #gaming #PS1 #retrogaming #videogames #writing #playstation
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Nintendo 64 Month ends with Automobili Lamborghini, a racing game brought to you by Titus, the name everybody loves to see on N64 games. It also got a Japan-only re-release with a new name and Taito's help, and that's just so odd I couldn't resist taking a look:
https://ephemeralenigmascom.wordpress.com/2026/08/25/automobili-lamborghini/
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Nintendo 64 Month continues with Doraemon: Nobita to Mittsu no Seireiseki, the first of three Doraemon games for the platform. This first entry is a 3D platformer with a slightly nonlinear structure and multiple playable characters. It's very simple, but pleasant!
https://ephemeralenigmascom.wordpress.com/2026/08/18/doraemon-nobita-to-mittsu-no-seireiseki/
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This week's game is 64 de Hakken!! Tamagotchi: Minna de Tamagotchi World, a pre-Mario Party board game about raising Tamagotchis and playing minigames. It's slim on features, but rich in visual delights and has a soundtrack by ACE long before they did Xenoblade!
#blog #gaming #retrogaming #nintendo64 #writing #videogames #tamagotchi
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This week's game is Knife Edge: Nose Gunner, an often overlooked N64 rail shooter that looks bland at first glance, but is actually very distinct within the console's library. It's atmospherically compelling, mechanically competent, and it even has 4-player co-op!
https://ephemeralenigmascom.wordpress.com/2026/08/04/knife-edge-nose-gunner/
#blog #gaming #n64 #videogames #retrogaming #writing #nintendo64
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This week's game is Ballistix, which is kinda like evocative fantasy ice hockey but if the Shadow of the Beast team made it and put in a whole lotta balls instead of a puck.
It's also the only game that shares box art with both a novel and a Judas Priest album!
https://ephemeralenigmascom.wordpress.com/2026/07/28/ballistix/
#blog #gaming #amiga #turbografx16 #writing #retrogaming #videogames
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This week's game is Nyorols, a mysterious MSX maze game from 1983 that approaches the genre in an unusual way. Instead of pure evasion, you rely on a combination of summoning clones and kicking your enemies, both of which have positive and negative consequences:
https://ephemeralenigmascom.wordpress.com/2026/07/21/nyorols/
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This week's game is On the Tiles, a C64 game about a cat in a dark and dangerous city. Its unique structure and nice graphics do it some favors, but one very persistent enemy and some randomness drag things down
No relation to Franky, Joe and Dirk: On the Tiles for the Game Boy!
https://ephemeralenigmascom.wordpress.com/2026/07/14/on-the-tiles/
#blog #gaming #c64 #commodore64 #retrogaming #videogames #writing
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This week's game is Blue Fencer Resurrection, an expanded version of a doujin game that takes inspiration from Castlevania and goes kinda wild from there. One look at this and you'll find a truly unusual art style!
It's also on sale on Steam for $1.99 right now!
https://ephemeralenigmascom.wordpress.com/2026/07/07/blue-fencer-resurrection/
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This week's game is Black Hole Assault, the sequel to the much maligned Heavy Nova. This game's faster, more polished, and is purely a fighter, but all the tweaks and choices come at the cost of some of Heavy Nova's silly quirks that I personally enjoyed.
You still can't block, either!
https://ephemeralenigmascom.wordpress.com/2026/06/30/black-hole-assault/
#blog #gaming #segacd #videogames #writing #retrogaming #PCEngineCD
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This week's game is Night Raid, an experimental and aesthetically buck wild shoot 'em up brought to you by Takumi, the makers of Giga Wing and Mars Matrix.
Like those games, Night Raid values scoring, but goes even further by letting you get negative points!
#blog #gaming #shootemups #arcadegames #playstation #writing #videogames
https://ephemeralenigmascom.wordpress.com/2026/06/23/night-raid/
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This week's game is Samurai Sword, Capcom's first foray into the adventure genre. You can see some neat ideas like combat scenarios and a swordsman/mage dynamic that's used to solve puzzles, but extremely obtuse progression and a lacking story really hold it back:
https://ephemeralenigmascom.wordpress.com/2026/06/15/samurai-sword/
#blog #gaming #famicomdisksystem #adventuregame #retrogaming #writing #videogames
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This week's game is Running Battle, a Master System action platformer in which you cannot attack and run at the same time despite the name. This is an odd game where nothing really feels right, but it ends up being fun in its own weird way. That's the good stuff!
#gaming #blog #mastersystem #videogames #retrogaming #writing
https://ephemeralenigmascom.wordpress.com/2026/06/09/running-battle/
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This week's game is Coaster Works, the Dreamcast roller coaster simulator that managed to make construction focused and (mostly) intuitive on a controller in 1999. It also served as the start of a long, ongoing journey for a humble yet impressive solo developer:
https://ephemeralenigmascom.wordpress.com/2026/06/02/coaster-works/