Video Game Trading Card Spotlight – Ed Fries
Our next Trading Card Spotlight features Ed Fries, who is displayed on card number 365, from the Superstars of 2012 Collection. Ed has been in the gaming scene since the early 1980’s. He ahs been part of some historic gaming revolutions and games. After working on...
Time Splitters – by Bill Donohue
By now, many people know that down on the 40 Deuce, Super Bomberman 2 was the game of choice. I’ve written about how the game took over our spare time like a vampire does young, good looking women. It was the only game we knew, the only game we needed to know... IT...
Craig Broadbrooks: NHL Faceoff ’98 – by Patrick Hickey Jr.
After the monumental successes of the original NHLFaceOff and its successor, NHL FaceOff 97, Craig Broadbooks and his team at Killer Game proved, at least for the time being, that its hockey franchise could hold its own with the likes of EA Sports NHL series on the...
To Mod Or Not To Mod? That Is The Question.
Being able to customize your things is really cool. Putting your own personal stamp or improving something you love can be a good thing, however it can also devalue the item if you want to sell it later down the line. What may seem priceless and worth hundreds of...
It Figures : A Sephiroth story – by Michael Mertes
It's not uncommon in today's world to walk down the toy aisle of any big box store and see action figures from games like Halo, Super Mario Bros., Sonic the Hedgehog, Pokemon, Street Fighter, and Mindcraft. Before the late 1990s, any action figures related to video...
The Nostalgia Dollar – paying the price for our emotional connection to childhood favourites
By Brandon Keenen, Chief Marketing Officer for Antstream Arcade. 2020 was a financial success for the games industry, but nowhere has this expressed itself as uniquely as in the retro gaming space, where prices spiked thanks to a wave of renewed interest in the...
Video Game Trading Card Spotlight – Justin Pursell
Our next Trading Card Spotlight features Justin Pursell, who is displayed on card number 3530, from the Superstars of 2021 Collection. Justin is one of the most talented artists I have seen in a long time. His artistic precision makes all his artwork look realistic...
Clock Tower – by Michael Mertes
The blood-curdling scream of one of your friends tears through the halls of the Barrows mansion like a sonic boom. The sound startles you so bad that you lose your footing and smash face-first into the mansion floor. Fearing that you could be the next person...
Atari 2600 Encyclopedia: Do you know Gyruss?
Release Date: 1984 Publisher: Parker Brothers Controller: Joystick Players: 1 Genre: Shoot’em Up Alternate Title: N/A Model #: PB5080 Rarity: 4 Programmer: N/A This port does a pretty good job emulating the arcade title. You are marooned just outside of Neptune and...
Crocodile Hunter : Lights, Lava, Action – by Patrick Hickey, Jr.
Nintendo is often considered the king of video games, mainly because their original characters have endured for decades. Mario, Luigi, Link, Bowser, Donkey Kong and the rest of Nintendo’s crew are timeless. However, the brand is far from perfect. Their infamous...
Five Nintendo Games That Deserve a Sequel
The Nintendo Switch is a force of nature, but there are several notable holes in the console’s library. Old School Gamer’s Patrick Hickey Jr. shares his thoughts on what old first-party titles from Nintendo could be brought back to make millions of gamers happy....
Video Game Trading Card Spotlight – Van Burnham
This week we look back at an interview I did June 16th, 2017 with Van Burham. Van has gaming in her blood and decided to write a book about the histroy of gaming from 1971-1984. The book called Supercade" was a smash hit. She is now in the process of publishing the...
Atari 2600 Encyclopedia: Do you know Congo Bongo?
Release Date: 1983 Publisher: Sega Controller: Joystick Players: 1 - 2 Genre: Arcade - Platformer Alternate Title: N/A Model #: 006-01 Rarity: 4 Programmer: Steve Beck / Phat Ho What causes a normal everyday hunter on a jungle safari to be pushed over the edge? Two...
Atari Jaguar: Food for the Worms – by Michael Mertes
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is acquiring one of the last games released for the Atari Jaguar... Worms. Worms was released in 1998, just two years after Atari pulled the litter box out from under its black cat console and discontinued further...
The Super Mario Bros. Game & Watch: A Neat Little Nostalgia Trap
The Super Mario Bros. Game & Watch system is really neat. As someone who grew up mostly playing the Tiger electronic handhelds this new device pays a great homage to the Game & Watch titles from decades ago. So why am I talking about it now than way back in...
Just 4 Qix – Quake – by Michael Thomasson
Back in 1998, a small California cabinet making company called LAZER-TRON partnered with computer software developer id Software to bring high-end PC gaming into the arcade. Teaming up with Opus Entertainment and LBE Systems, the troop attempted to stir up the arcade...
E3: 25 Years of Gaming – by Todd Friedman
E3, short for the “Electronic Entertainment Expo”, is the largest computer and video game show in the United States. Almost every name in the industry is present during this convention. There are leading pub-lishers, developers and manufacturers represented at this...
Atari 2600 Encyclopedia: Do you know Centipede?
Release Date: 1982 Publisher: Atari Controller: Joystick Players: 1 Genre: Shoot’em Up Alternate Title: N/A Model #: CX2676 Rarity: 2 Programmer: N/A This is a surprisingly solid port of the arcade classic. You take control of a magic wand wielding elf who must...
Video Game Trading Card Spotlight – Sam Tuff
Our next Trading Card Spotlight features Sam Tuff who currently is displayed on card number 3538, from the Superstars of 2021. Sam, from the North East of England, is a World Record Tetris player. He holds over 60 world records on the Twin Galaxies Scoreboard for...
Pokemon Disasters – by Michael Thomasson
Certainly it is doubtful that Pokémon creator Satoshi Tjiri knew when he started up his hand-written and stapled video game fanzine, Game Freak, that his creation would cause such a fuss! The avid insect collector and video game hobbyist became enthralled with...
The Resident Evil Trilogy – by Michael Mertes
Back in 1996 PlayStation players were introduced to the survival horror world of Resident Evil. Trapped in a mansion and armed with limited resources to defend themselves, players would fight for their lives against the biological atrocities that infested the halls of...
ISSUE 20 – iiRcade News Flash
Sometimes great news about an industry member comes in after the magazine has already been laid out and needs to get into the magazine's next issue. iiRcade, a great supporter of Old School Gamer Magazine, had some releases that were announced in November and early...
Atari 2600 Encyclopedia: Do you know Hangman?
Release Date: 1978 Publisher: Atari Controller: Joystick Players: 1 - 2 Genre: Education Alternate Title: Spelling Model #: CX2662 Rarity: 2 Programmer: Alan Miller This simplistic education title recreates the spelling game that has taught generations of children to...
An Interview with Joel Billings – Founder of SSI
OSG: Hi Joel. You’ve been very generous with your time over the years, sharing the history of SSI, including an Antic magazine interview (Antic Vol. 4, No. 3 July 1985), a Matt Chat YouTube channel interview (#181, #183, #184, and #188 from 2013), and a Video Game...
Strategic Simulations from Board to Console – by Bill Lange
Fight it out with your trusty six-shooter in the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Lead the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte’s grand armies across the European landscape. Hold the line against Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg. Sink the mighty Bismarck. Command the...
Game Boy Advance: Handheld Gaming Perfected.
To say that the Game Boy Advance (GBA) is the best of the entire Game Boy family may be a tad rhetorical. It was the more powerful system, it eventually had a backlit screen and the clamshell design made the whole system easier to fit inside a pocket. You also...
The Official “40 Deuce” SB2 Glossary – by Bill Donohue
Yeah, I live on 42nd street, but for me, it will always be 40 Deuce. That was the name that Ray Gilligan, my former drummer and all-around crazy guy, gave to the street we both lived on. At one time, there was a magical period on the 40 Deuce: Ray was the official...
Video Game Trading Card Spotlight – Warren Davis
Our next Trading Card Spotlight features Warren Davis, who is displayed on card number 239, from the Superstars of 2012. The designer and programmer of Q*Bert, Warren has been around the gaming industry for decades. He has worked at such companies and Gottlieb,...
An Interview with Ed Logg – by Kevin Butler
Atari was a corporation that was “born” in 1972. The first arcade game released by this fledgling company was Pong. After that, Atari released games such as Breakout, Sprint (both 2 and 4), Night Driver, and Firetruck to name a few. In 1977, Cinematronics released a...
Atari 2600 Encyclopedia: Do you know Enduro?
Release Date: 1983 Publisher: Activision Controller: Joystick Players: 1 Genre: Racing Alternate Title: N/A Model #: AX-026 Rarity: 2 Programmer: Larry Miller Get behind the wheel of a souped up race car and compete in an all day race against several hundred other...
The Beercade Project – by Michael Thomasson
OLD SCHOOL GAMER MAGAZINE • ISSUE #1934War is as old as time itself. Since the beginning, factions of men have argued and battled over such things as fire, food, love, land, peace, justice, and frankly just about anything else. With the introduc-tion of The Last...
The Atari 2600 Encyclopedia – by Ryan Burger
Derek Slaton has done what no one else has ever done: chronicle every release for the Atari 2600 console during its original run in the marketplace from 1977, with Combat as part of the original nine games, through Klax in 1990 (the Atari 2600 was formally...
SNK VS. CAPCOM: THE MATCH OF THE MILLENNIUM Review
While many say that Marvel VS Capcom is the ultimate experience in fighting game crossovers, I have to disagree. As someone who frequented the arcades regularly, I spent plenty of time split between my favorite Capcom fighters like Street Fighter Alpha 2 and SNK...
End of Days – Virtual Boy and 3D Tetris – by Michael Mertes
Released in March of 1996, 3DTetris was the last North American title to be released for the Virtual Boy. True to its title, 3DTetris attempts to take the 2D premise of falling Tetris blocks and place them into a three-dimensional square well. Both the well and Tetris...
Atari 2600 Encyclopedia: Do you know Bachelor Party / Gigolo?
Release Date: 1982 Publisher: Playaround Controller: Joystick/Paddles Players: 1 Genre: Adult Alternate Title: N/A Model #: 205 Rarity: 5 Programmer: Joel H Martin This adult title brings lots of laughs, and a surprising amount of gameplay. Bachelor Party is a simple...
The Future is now! Amico Special Review – by Michael Mertes
On Wednesday, August 5th, 2020, Tommy Tallarico and many other vital members of the newly reformed Intellivision company held a special web event to give the world the latest news on their brand new Amico console. The broadcast kicked off with a well-produced video...
Atari 2600 Encyclopedia: Do you know Death Trap?
Release Date: 1983 Publisher: Avalon Hill Controller: Joystick Players: 1 Genre: Shoot’em Up Alternate Title: N/A Model #: 50010 Rarity: 8 Programmer: Jim Jacob This is one of the more infuriating shooters on the 2600. You are a cadet fresh out of the academy who is...
Diary of an Arcade Employee – by Ryan Burger
Vic Sage has produced podcasts since 2013. His signature podcast (that I enjoy), “Diary of an Arcade Employee”, began in 2015. Since then, he has changed from the Retroist, to his own Pop Culture RetroRama site, and has since brought the podcast out of the mothballs...
iiRcade to Add Five New Titles from Data East – Including Karnov
iiRcade Inc., the ultimate connected arcade machine that allows gamers of all ages to play their favorite retro and modern games in arcade style at home, is pleased to announce the addition of 5 popular Data East titles that are officially licensed by Paon DP Inc.,...
Gamemaster Classified: A Howard Phillips Tell-All Book Hits Kickstarter!
Armed with an NES controller and his signature bow-tie, Howard Phillips isn't someone you can easily forget, especially if you grew up during the spectacular rise of the Nintendo Entertainment System. Like many others, I first came to know of Howard Phillips through...