by William Schwartz | Feb 24, 2026 | 1990s, 2000s, 2020s, Console/Handheld, Gaming
For almost as long as there have been puzzle games, there have been puzzle fighters. The two-player version of games like Tetris and Puyo Puyo generally work by having garbage pieces added to the other player’s screen whenever one player clears a lot of...
by Matthew Owen | Feb 23, 2026 | 1980s, Console/Handheld
Nintendo has no shortage of franchises that have broken past the barrier of video games and have become a staple of pop culture in their own right, and next to Super Mario Bros, that’s no clearer than with The Legend of Zelda. Originally released in Japan on...
by Marcus Albers | Feb 18, 2026 | 1980s, 1990s, Arcade, Console/Handheld
During my college years, I transitioned from exclusively gaming on computers like the Commodore 64 and Amiga. In so doing, I found myself drifting toward the underdog systems of the time, like the Sega Master System and, eventually, the Atari Jaguar. Another underdog...
by Todd Friedman | Feb 18, 2026 | 1980s, 1990s, Console/Handheld
The next controller to explore and to me the most recognizable and perfect controller ever made; The Nintendo Entertainment System or NES controller. This is the controller I grew up on as a kid in the mid 1980’s. Before the NES there were a few dull years of the...
by Matthew Owen | Feb 17, 2026 | 1990s, Console/Handheld, Retro Computing
Before they were known as Rockstar North, the creators of a little game called Grand Theft Auto, the studio was known as DMA Design. A small team that would go on to change the video game industry forever, the beginning of DMA Design was scrappy, fueled by dreams of...
by William Schwartz | Feb 14, 2026 | 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, 2020s, Console/Handheld, Gaming, Reviews
The newest entry in the Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Cultures Series, The Legend of Zelda and Philosophy does pretty much exactly what you’d expect. It explains broader philosophical ideas from the perspective of the Legend of Zelda games. But don’t...