Magazine Preview Archives - Old School Gamer Magazine https://www.oldschoolgamermagazine.com/category/magazine-preview/ Dedicated to you...the old school/retro gamer from the arcades to your home! Mon, 24 Aug 2026 00:21:03 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.10 https://i0.wp.com/www.oldschoolgamermagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/cropped-PacMan-Navicon.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Magazine Preview Archives - Old School Gamer Magazine https://www.oldschoolgamermagazine.com/category/magazine-preview/ 32 32 133814826 Marvel vs. Capcom 2 – by Brett Weiss https://www.oldschoolgamermagazine.com/marvel-vs-capcom-2-by-brett-weiss/ Thu, 10 Sep 2026 10:18:20 +0000 https://www.oldschoolgamermagazine.com/?p=113081 Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes is one of the greatest games of its genre, and as a longtime fan of superheroes and fighters, I love it. Some of my earliest comic- reading memories were at two of my cousins’ houses—one stocked with funny animal and cartoon titles, which were fine, and the […]

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]]> Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes is one of the greatest games of its genre, and as a longtime fan of superheroes and fighters, I love it. Some of my earliest comic- reading memories were at two of my cousins’ houses—one stocked with funny animal and cartoon titles, which were fine, and the other filled with Spider- Man, Captain America, Fantastic Four, and the like, which were much cooler. I watched anything related to superheroes on TV, including The Incredible Hulk and even The Electric Company, just for its Spider-Man segments.

I grew up immersed in the work of Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, and John Romita on The Amazing Spider-Man, and as a teenager binged on Frank Miller’s Daredevil and Chris Claremont and John Byrne’s The Uncanny X-Men, to name a few. Years later, I played Street Fighter II: Turbo with my wife repeatedly until we got too competitive and…

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]]> 113081 Modern Fighting Game Collections – by Brian Lesyk https://www.oldschoolgamermagazine.com/modern-fighting-game-collections-by-brian-lesyk/ Tue, 08 Sep 2026 12:15:05 +0000 https://www.oldschoolgamermagazine.com/?p=113079 Most of us would generally agree that the 1990s represented the golden age of fighting games. The quality and quantity of fighting game titles that emerged during that decade was unprecedented, to say the very least. Of course, there were some notable duds, but in a time when every developer was striving to solidify themselves […]

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]]> Most of us would generally agree that the 1990s represented the golden age of fighting games. The quality and quantity of fighting game titles that emerged during that decade was unprecedented, to say the very least. Of course, there were some notable duds, but in a time when every developer was striving to solidify themselves as a viable fighting game maker, there were bound to be missteps. Still, it was the decade that brought us such legendary franchises like Mortal Kombat, Killer Instinct, Virtua Fighter, and Tekken. And, of course  the catalyst for this uprising of the fighting game genre was due in no small part to the stratospheric critical and financial success of Street Fighter II (Capcom, 1991). It’s probably safe to assume that for most of us old…

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]]> 113079 Mortal Kombat – by Patrick Hickey, Jr. https://www.oldschoolgamermagazine.com/mortal-kombat-by-patrick-hickey-jr-2/ Sun, 06 Sep 2026 09:11:19 +0000 https://www.oldschoolgamermagazine.com/?p=113077 The road of Mortal Kombat, from arcade juggernaut to iconic home console title, is a long one. The brainchild of John Tobias and Ed Boon was developed before Capcom’s Street Fighter II hit the arcade scene, so Tobias and Boon were working with a tabula rasa. Although both teams were redefining what a fighting game […]

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]]> The road of Mortal Kombat, from arcade juggernaut to iconic home console title, is a long one. The brainchild of John Tobias and Ed Boon was developed before Capcom’s Street Fighter II hit the arcade scene, so Tobias and Boon were working with a tabula rasa. Although both teams were redefining what a fighting game could or should be, Mortal Kombat was using an entirely different brush. The combination of realistic graphics and wild attacks like fireballs, lightning, and ice shards made it accessible to both kids and adults. This is what made it iconic…

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]]> 113077 The Rise of Primal Rage – by Todd Friedman https://www.oldschoolgamermagazine.com/the-rise-of-primal-rage-by-todd-friedman/ Mon, 31 Aug 2026 12:46:58 +0000 https://www.oldschoolgamermagazine.com/?p=112988 Released in 1994 by Atari Games, Primal Rage emerged during one of the most competitive eras in arcade gaming history. Fighting games dominated arcades in the early-to-mid 1990s, fueled by the massive success of titles like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter II. Into this crowded arena stepped a bold and unusual contender, one that replaced […]

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]]> Released in 1994 by Atari Games, Primal Rage emerged during one of the most competitive eras in arcade gaming history. Fighting games dominated arcades in the early-to-mid 1990s, fueled by the massive success of titles like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter II. Into this crowded arena stepped a bold and unusual contender, one that replaced human fighters with towering prehistoric beasts and infused the genre with a distinct visual identity and brutal tone. At its core, Primal Rage is a one-on-one fighting game set on a post-apocalyptic Earth known as “Urth.” After a catastrophic meteor strike wipes out modern civilization, humanity regresses into primitive tribes. From beneath the Earth’s crust emerge seven massive creatures, dinosaurs and giant apes, each worshiped as gods by surviving humans. These beasts battle one another for dominance over the planet.

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]]> 112988 The Bloody History of MK finishes – by Matt Owen https://www.oldschoolgamermagazine.com/the-bloody-history-of-mk-finishes-by-matt-owen/ Sat, 29 Aug 2026 12:43:24 +0000 https://www.oldschoolgamermagazine.com/?p=112986 It’s no secret that Mortal Kombat is violent by and large the most graphic fighting game series ever created. Full of blood and gore, it pushed the limits on what was acceptable for video game violence in the ‘90s, eventually leading to the formation of the ESRB ratings board. For a perfectly apt representation of […]

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]]> It’s no secret that Mortal Kombat is violent by and large the most graphic fighting game series ever created. Full of blood and gore, it pushed the limits on what was acceptable for video game violence in the ‘90s, eventually leading to the formation of the ESRB ratings board. For a perfectly apt representation of Mortal Kombat’s excessive nature, you need only look to the “fatality”; a gloriously gory finishing move that is as infamous as the franchise itself. Today, we’re taking a look at the history of Mortal Kombat finishing moves, how they came to be, the many modified versions of the fatality, and how they affected the gaming landscape right from their inception.

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]]> 112986 Super Smash Siblings – by Noah LaPointe https://www.oldschoolgamermagazine.com/super-smash-siblings-by-noah-lapointe/ Thu, 27 Aug 2026 12:39:58 +0000 https://www.oldschoolgamermagazine.com/?p=112984 It’s strange to think about now, but for a long time, nobody really knew what to make of the Super Smash Bros. series. Not regarding critical reception—the games were beloved practically from day one—but in how to classify them. Nowadays, no one bats an eye if you call Smash a fighting game. But this distinction […]

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]]> It’s strange to think about now, but for a long time, nobody really knew what to make of the Super Smash Bros. series. Not regarding critical reception—the games were beloved practically from day one—but in how to classify them. Nowadays, no one bats an eye if you call Smash a fighting game. But this distinction used to be so hotly debated that some gatekeepers rejoiced when Nintendo themselves defined Super Smash Bros. Brawl as an “action” game on its official website. That settles it, right? It’s an “action” game, not a “fighting” game—whatever that means.

Of course, that’s not how things ended. Unlike a climactic best-of-three bout, culture develops incidentally. People gradually stopped resisting Smash’s place in the fighting game pantheon, possibly due in part to its regular representation at the world’s premier fighting game competition EVO, but that’s neither here nor there…

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]]> 112984 The Many Faces of Street Fighter II – by Marcus Albers https://www.oldschoolgamermagazine.com/the-many-faces-of-street-fighter-ii-by-marcus-albers/ Sun, 23 Aug 2026 12:36:13 +0000 https://www.oldschoolgamermagazine.com/?p=112982 When Street Fighter II: The World Warrior came to arcades in 1991, it turned the 1-on-1 fighting genre on its head. It added so much to the fighting games that had come before that it became a genre unto itself. With the massive runaway success of the game, it was only natural that sequels would […]

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]]> When Street Fighter II: The World Warrior came to arcades in 1991, it turned the 1-on-1 fighting genre on its head. It added so much to the fighting games that had come before that it became a genre unto itself. With the massive runaway success of the game, it was only natural that sequels would ensue. But instead of giving us Street Fighter III ‘(which we wouldn’t get for 6 years), we got a number of seemingly iterative versions of the original. Each of these new versions would add to the original’s formula, some more than others. Let’s take a look at the versions released to the arcade before Capcom moved…

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]]> 112982 Kings & Vagabonds – by Noah Lapointe https://www.oldschoolgamermagazine.com/kings-vagabonds-by-noah-lapointe/ Fri, 21 Aug 2026 12:32:12 +0000 https://www.oldschoolgamermagazine.com/?p=112980 SNK fought alongside their greatest rival Capcom to define the “traditional” 2D fighting game. The King of Fighters (KoF) and Fatal Fury are as classic as Street Fighter, but SNK was more willing to walk on the wild side than Western audiences may realize, often placing their iconic characters in more absurd scenarios than Capcom […]

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]]> SNK fought alongside their greatest rival Capcom to define the “traditional” 2D fighting game. The King of Fighters (KoF) and Fatal
Fury are as classic as Street Fighter, but SNK was more willing to walk on the wild side than Western audiences may realize, often placing their iconic characters in more absurd scenarios than Capcom ever did. SNK published some of the strangest spinoffs to ever be associated with the fighting genre, many of which have been forgotten due to some combination of regional inaccessibility and lacking an audience.

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]]> 112980 The History of Fighting Games – by Matthew Adams https://www.oldschoolgamermagazine.com/the-history-of-fighting-games-by-matthew-adams/ Wed, 19 Aug 2026 12:26:48 +0000 https://www.oldschoolgamermagazine.com/?p=112977 The fighting game genre dates back about five decades. It has been a major pillar in the gaming industry for much of that time. The genre is built on a simple premise: two opponents fight in close-quarter, one-on-on combat. They battle across (typically) best- of-three rounds until one emerges victorious. High-stakes combat and a unique […]

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]]> The fighting game genre dates back about five decades. It has been a major pillar in the gaming industry for much of that time. The genre is built on a simple premise: two opponents fight in close-quarter, one-on-on combat. They battle across (typically) best- of-three rounds until one emerges victorious. High-stakes combat and a unique culture have defined the genre. Over the decades, fighting games have evolved by pushing technological boundaries.

This is the story of how fighting games became one of the most compelling and influential video gaming genres in history. Early Fighting Games
The history of fighting video games began during the 1970s when SEGA released Heavyweight Champ in 1976. Heavyweight Champ was a technically simple arcade game that pitted two boxers in a boxing ring to slog it out against each other.

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]]> 112977 Thrilling Machine – by Noah LaPointe https://www.oldschoolgamermagazine.com/thrilling-machine-by-noah-lapointe/ Tue, 07 Jul 2026 11:37:42 +0000 https://www.oldschoolgamermagazine.com/?p=110667 When imagining the environmental sounds George Gomez must be used to, it may explain why he doesn’t rest: the erratic flicking of a pinball table’s flippers, the raucous ricocheting of a metal ball desperately trying to escape its containment, and electronic symphonies cheering players on to their next high score. That’s only part of the […]

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]]> When imagining the environmental sounds George Gomez must be used to, it may explain why he doesn’t rest: the erratic flicking of a pinball table’s flippers, the raucous ricocheting of a metal ball desperately trying to escape its containment, and electronic symphonies cheering players on to their next high score. That’s only part of the chaos that’s accompanied Gomez through his diverse career from the ‘80s arcade scene, to the home market, and now, back to where it all began. An industrial designer by trade, not resting on one’s laurels may as well be part of Gomez’s job description. He’s carried his penchant for game design and hardware innovation to the modern day, recently applying his mind to..

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