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Ephemeral Enigmas @ephemeralenigmas.bsky.social · 5h

Yeah, doesn't seem like a great practice for them to have allowed!

Though I i admit it's hard to imagine anyone wanting to buy a copy of these games sealed or otherwise lol

Ephemeral Enigmas @ephemeralenigmas.bsky.social · 5h

Back when I knew someone who worked at a Gamestop, they were allowed to "rent" used games that nobody cared about, so I had the oh so genius idea of finding the worst Xbox 360 games and beating them

Turns out, that rabbit hole goes really deep and is filled with the worst shooters you can imagine!

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Ephemeral Enigmas @ephemeralenigmas.bsky.social · 7h

Me too, even if this wasn't perfect, I'm just very happy to see it exists at all! I'd love to see them either do another go at this or turn one of their other arcade games into something as weird as this

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Ephemeral Enigmas @ephemeralenigmas.bsky.social · 7h

I'd say that's fair, things get better once you have the air dash and double jump, but there's always a bit of stiffness and the game has a few really punishing platforming gauntlets that don't feel fun to do

The maze controls are also really weird since you only jump in specific trajectories

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Ephemeral Enigmas @ephemeralenigmas.bsky.social · 7h

79. Shadow Labyrinth

Definitely the most interesting game I've played that came out this year! While it's a really slow burn, it does deliver on the overall weirdness of the concept. It's a solid Metroidvania too, though it does go on for way, way too long and the Pac-Man maze stuff isn't so great

A cutscene in which Puck asks these bug-looking humanoids if they're Bosconians

In a maze, Puck evades a large number of green ghosts

One cave features freaky, monstrous versions of Pooka and Fygar. You defeat them by inflating them with your grappling hook just like Dig Dug

The protagonist (a cloaked person) and Puck sit near a campfire inside a large tree. There are a bunch of purple spores scattered around.

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Ephemeral Enigmas @ephemeralenigmas.bsky.social · 18h

Thank you for bringing this to my attention, it's great to finally have a proper answer for the whole Grampa thing!

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Reposted by Ephemeral Enigmas

GDRI @gdri.bsky.social · 18h

This was originally supposed to be published by Sunsoft. Then one of the designers, Richard Robbins, took it with him when he left and started his own company, TNT Games. Then he joined Atari Corp. Robbins was able to license the rights to "Grampa" directly from Al Lewis. bsky.app/profile/ephe...

Ephemeral Enigmas @ephemeralenigmas.bsky.social · 1d

New blog post time!

This week's game is Midnight Mutants, the Atari 7800 swan song with everyone's favorite vampiric Grandpa. It's well worth recognizing its impressive ambition relative to other games on the 7800 and it's also the closest thing to Fester's Quest on there, so take that as you will!

Midnight Mutants

Midnight Mutants is ultimately a game that’s mostly about friction, so if you’re one of those people who likes to brag about how much they enjoy friction on social media, your time has come! Said f…

ephemeralenigmascom.wordpress.com

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Reposted by Ephemeral Enigmas

Ephemeral Enigmas @ephemeralenigmas.bsky.social · 1d

New blog post time!

This week's game is Midnight Mutants, the Atari 7800 swan song with everyone's favorite vampiric Grandpa. It's well worth recognizing its impressive ambition relative to other games on the 7800 and it's also the closest thing to Fester's Quest on there, so take that as you will!

Midnight Mutants

Midnight Mutants is ultimately a game that’s mostly about friction, so if you’re one of those people who likes to brag about how much they enjoy friction on social media, your time has come! Said f…

ephemeralenigmascom.wordpress.com

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Ephemeral Enigmas @ephemeralenigmas.bsky.social · 1d

Definitely, could have made the console a proper competitor right away!

Ephemeral Enigmas @ephemeralenigmas.bsky.social · 1d

For sure, it's nice to have something like this on the 7800 for a bit of variety! Also makes you wonder what could have been if the 7800 lasted longer or got more frequent support

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Ephemeral Enigmas @ephemeralenigmas.bsky.social · 1d

That's a bummer, a costly one too since you have to start the whole thing over each time!

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Ephemeral Enigmas @ephemeralenigmas.bsky.social · 1d

New blog post time!

This week's game is Midnight Mutants, the Atari 7800 swan song with everyone's favorite vampiric Grandpa. It's well worth recognizing its impressive ambition relative to other games on the 7800 and it's also the closest thing to Fester's Quest on there, so take that as you will!

Midnight Mutants

Midnight Mutants is ultimately a game that’s mostly about friction, so if you’re one of those people who likes to brag about how much they enjoy friction on social media, your time has come! Said f…

ephemeralenigmascom.wordpress.com

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Ephemeral Enigmas @ephemeralenigmas.bsky.social · 2d

A screenshot from the MSX game Golvellius in which a fairy tells the player "Playing with a keyboard is admirable. Admirable indeed!"

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Ephemeral Enigmas @ephemeralenigmas.bsky.social · 3d

78. Alone in the Dark

This was an... interesting experience, but one I quite enjoyed! Despite being survival horror, it's extremely goofy (especially with combat), but even nowadays it's easy to appreciate the environment design, (usually) great use of camera angles and overall unpredictability

Carnby fights against a zombie pirate wearing a purple coat and wielding a sword. They're in a long red room

Near a library, Carnby says "This room is in the dark!" even though he's not currently in the dark

A room with various things to find and black balls on the ground uses a camera angle that looks up at Carnby from the ground

Carnby kicks at an approaching zombie in a bedroom

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Ephemeral Enigmas @ephemeralenigmas.bsky.social · 3d

I'm honestly enjoying it! This part was just very confusing and also made me laugh because I could barely tell where I was lol

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Ephemeral Enigmas @ephemeralenigmas.bsky.social · 4d

What is this, survival horror for ants?

A section in Alone in the Dark has you walking over narrow bridges above water. If you fall in, a monster comes out, and the camera is zoomed out so far for some reason that seeing where you are is extremely difficult

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Ephemeral Enigmas @ephemeralenigmas.bsky.social · 4d

I have and I remember quite enjoying it! Felt like the kind of sequel to River City Ransom that I was hoping for and I dig what it did visually too

The Kunio games are some of the beat 'em ups that click the most for me, so I've been gathering them to eventually work my way through

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Ephemeral Enigmas @ephemeralenigmas.bsky.social · 4d

On this #RandomGameSaturday, I have River City: Rival Showdown, a port of a remake of River City Ransom, which has already been ported and remade before.

This remake does a lot that's new, such as timed events and multiple endings depending on how you spend your time. Honestly sounds really cool!

A copy of River City: Rival Showdown for PS4

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Reposted by Ephemeral Enigmas

morning sensibilia 🔆 @loveshy.icu · 4d

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Ephemeral Enigmas @ephemeralenigmas.bsky.social · 4d

It was indeed the PC-Engine CD version, so you remember correctly! Dying makes you lose all your upgrades except I think the types of magic you've unlocked if I recall correctly, so yeah even one death sets you back to basic slashes

The final level has no item pickups until the very end, too!

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Ephemeral Enigmas @ephemeralenigmas.bsky.social · 5d

That's absolutely true! I'm used to some shmups being like that, but it certainly pops up elsewhere too

Like when I played through the first Valis earlier this year, I died on the last level and it became so hard that it probably would have been faster to restart but I pushed through anyway lol

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Ephemeral Enigmas @ephemeralenigmas.bsky.social · 5d

You're welcome!

Makes sense, if you're enjoying a game enough, then it just comes naturally with time, that's how mine have shaken out as well. All comes down to finding the right vibe with the right game at the right time, I suppose!

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Ephemeral Enigmas @ephemeralenigmas.bsky.social · 5d

The ones I've seen you post are really impressive!

I have some 1CCs and no-deaths under my belt, but nothing I'd call special and I do them very sporadically, so I definitely want to make it a more consistent thing

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Ephemeral Enigmas @ephemeralenigmas.bsky.social · 5d

Couldn't hurt to mix in some newer releases if you're feeling it!

I think your current approach is what I wanna do more next year, I've been getting the urge to grind out some shmups or arcade 1CCs or something but I've been so preoccupied with bigger games this year that I've been putting it off

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Ephemeral Enigmas @ephemeralenigmas.bsky.social · 5d

Breaks are a good idea, honestly! It's better to take longer to finish if it keeps things fresher and Seven totally does give you a very good spot in the middle to do so

I have a bad habit of focusing hard on new games and long RPGs, which sometimes makes me wonder if I'm doing them a disservice

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