Defend the Arcade – With Playing Cards!
Let's say it's 1983. You're at the arcade, about to drop your last quarter into your favorite game when everything shakes. The quarter slips from your fingers, rolls across the floor, out the open arcade door and stops on the sidewalk. You run outside to pick it up...
A Closer Look at Nintendo’s Official NES Peripherals: NES Advantage
When the Nintendo Entertainment System hit the U.S. gaming scene in late-1985, the arcade scene was still burgeoning. So it was that around the same time as the NES Max, Nintendo released another alternative input device for their runaway hit console. The NES...
Get Your Kicks From QIX By Michael Thomasson
The screen flickers “Your marker controlled with joystick. To draw stix press fast or slow. Claim areas by joining walls with stix.“ Or so the first three simple sentences of the original Qix attract mode boldly stated. It continues, “Scores based on area. Fast score...
Keep Calm and Insert Coin: “Molo Ram! Prepare to meet Kali…in hell!”
There are hundreds and thousands of video games out there. And when you look at the list, it is almost a 50/50 split in the games that keep going and the games that have an end. Back in the 80's though, finishing a game was not only a milestone in someones life, but...
The Need for Speed (3DO)
The Need for Speed, or it’s official long winded title, Road & Track Presents The Need for Speed, is the first entry in the long running 3D car racing franchise that got its start on the 3DO. Developed by Electronic Arts Canada and released for the console in...
Video Game Trading Card Spotlight – Alexis Crowley
Our next Trading Card Spotlight features Alexis Crowley, who is displayed on card number 2721, from the Superstars of 2017. Alexis is a collector of all things Nintendo. He also collects arcade machines which were made by Nintendo. You can see Alexis on his...
Downright Bizarre Games: I Want My Mommy
I Want My Mommy Atari 2600 1983 If the box featuring a crying teddy bear on the cover doesn’t pull on your heartstrings, you’re a cruel individual indeed! Teddy has had a bad dream, a nightmare actually, and he wants the comfort that only a mother can offer. To reach...
Switch Games You May Have Missed in 2017 That Retro Fans Will Love
With 2017 in the books, it’s easy to look to the future and what games are slated for release in 2018, but in the case of the Nintendo Switch, there are too many great games you may have missed. In this exclusive Old School Gamer list, we give you a hearty handful of...
Mutant Football LeagueTM Will Be Coming to PlayStation 4 and XBox One January 19th
MORTON GROVE, Ill. - Jan. 5, 2017 - After receiving heaps of threatening letters, angry late-night phone calls, and one unmarked box of manure (wrapped in holiday paper, natch), indie game developer Digital Dreams Entertainment has finally relented and will release...
Kombat Kon at Galloping Ghost Arcade
On Saturday August 23,2017 the Galloping Ghost Arcade hosted it’s annual Mortal Kombat convention called the Kombat Kon! The event originated as Shang Tsungs Fight Night but after five years grew from being held at the arcade to a bigger venues. Now in its seventh...
Legendary Gaming Hardware Brand Returns, with New Management, New Ideas, and a New Range of High-Quality Gaming Products
Kowloon, Hong Kong – January 4t h 2018, – Mad Catz Global Limited, the legendary brand, leading innovation in gaming hardware for almost three decades, announced today a surprise return to the international gaming scene. Less than a year after the much-loved brand...
Clean Footage of Super Mario 64 from Its Earliest Days
The early days of the fifth generation of console hardware was a little bit of a rough one for Nintendo fans. While SEGA and Sony launched their entries into the market in May and September of 1995, respectively, fans of Mario would hear about Nintendo's Project...
Unreleased Dreamcast Game Agartha to be Launched
When Sega pulled the pin on the Dreamcast unforgivably early in 2001, plenty of in-development games sunk with it. One such title was called Agartha. Coded by French developer, No Cliché (of Toy Commander fame) from 2000 until the news of the discontinuation surfaced,...
Multirotor: A 80’s style tabletop arcade game
You have only 5 days left to get your chance to be a part of a great idea. Kickstarter has always been known for creating original and outstanding ideas. This is no exception. The game is called Multirotor. It is an 8-Bit style game that will be available in...
Keep Calm and Insert Coin: HE’S ON FIRE!!!
Ok, before this blog gets going, I have a disclaimer: I hate basketball!!!! There's just no other way to say it. No disrespect to the professionals that make millions in the industry, but I just hate it. I hate the squeaking of the sneakers going back and forth on...
Super Gamepad for Super NESTM Classic Edition is Out Now
TORRANCE, CA (Dec. 28, 2017) - The highly-anticipated wireless solution for the Super NES™ Classic edition is now available on Amazon and the My Arcade website! My Arcade's Super Gamepad allows gamers to revisit the SNES classics with the functionality of today's...
Race Drivin’ for Game Boy Review
Originally released in the Arcades by Nintendo in 1990 (and being notable at the time for the 3D graphics used) Argonaut Software (of the SNES's Super FX fame) managed to pull off a conversion for the humble Game Boy - 3D graphics and all. While quite a short game,...
Gene Medic – A Homebrew Edutainment Game for the Atari 2600
I've always liked being edutained. As a kid I'd keep an eye out for interesting episodes of Nova to watch instead of whatever the family TV would normally be tuned to that night. I even played the educational video games my parents bought for me. Some of them anyway....
Downright Bizarre Games: Shaq Fu – No balls!
Shaq Fu Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo, Sega Game Gear and Nintendo GameBoy 1994 Professional basketball player Shaquille O’Neal is sightseeing in Tokyo before his all-star charity game. During a chance encounter, he meets Leotsu, an elderly martial arts grand master at...
BurgerTime (Arcade, Colecovision, Intellivision)
Data East’s BurgerTime was one of my go-to arcade games as a kid. I dug the concept of controlling the frantic and portly chef Peter Pepper, moving up, down and left and right across the stages, or dropping ingredients (buns, lettuce, tomatoes, burgers, etc.) down...
The Many Identical Faces of Fast Eddie
No ones blames you for not giving Fast Eddie much of a chance. After all, it looks like what you'd get if you asked a four year old to make a Donkey Kong game. Its combination of crude graphics, garish colors and grating sound effects assaults your senses from the...
Phoenix IV: The Jaguar
Meanwhile, the oldest videogame company was also making its plans for 1993. Unlike 3DO, gaming pioneer Atari initially was highly secretive about its forthcoming Jaguar. In an early 1992 press release, Bob Schuricht, Atari’s National Sales Director, claimed that the...
Limbo Ported to the C64 by Original Developer
Limbo, if you’re not aware, was a fantastic platform puzzler released for a glut of platforms in 2010 by a studio called Playdead. It’s one of my personal favourite indie games of the era, involving a boy travelling through an eerie and treacherous environment....
Billy & Walter Go To The Library of Congress By Walter Day
I once calculated that I had spent more than 1,000 hours writing the 1st edition of the Twin Galaxies’ Official Video Game & Pinball Book of World Records. I started on Thanksgiving Day 1996 and worked diligently until the 984- page volume was finished in October,...
Review: Arcade Archives Vs. Super Mario Bros. for Nintendo Switch
Arcade Archives Vs. Super Mario Bros. is not the same game as the one you grew up with on the Nintendo Entertainment System. Arriving in arcades the year after that version sent shockwaves throughout the video game industry, this version of the game will challenge...
Keep Calm and Insert Coin: Old As Pong
So I will admit, there have been a small handful of women I have dated. And sometimes I like to see if they share the same interests as me. Be it video games, movies, Legos, etc. I mean, my current wife and my kids love Legos. That really makes me kick myself when...
Recognition from Free Play Florida
Just received a nice picture from our friends at Free Play Florida, recognizing us for best Retro Gaming Magazine. We look forward to seeing you all in Orlando again next year in November!
Galloping Ghost Arcade in Chicago and Phoenix IV
For this inaugural issue of Old School Gamer, I went to the what must be the largest single collection of arcade machines in the world... Galloping Ghost Arcade in Brookfield (Chicago area), Illinois. Bursting at the seams with over 600 games operating at one time...
Downright Bizarre Games: Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee – He won’t say a word
Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee Sony Playstation and Nintendo Game Boy 1997 Abe was a simple and content Mudokon janitor and “Employee of the Year” for the biggest meat-processing plant on Oddworld. That was, until he accidently stumbled upon a disturbing revelation while...
System Spotlight Christmas Edition – Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
I am not going to bore anyone with previously well documented historical details, facts, stats and the like for Nintendo's first home gaming console, the Nintendo Entertainment System. There are hundred of blogs, webpages, YouTube channels and even hardcover books...
Phoenix IV: Mario Meets Sonic
Sega released a Wii game on November 6 that received much more exposure. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games marked the first pairing of the iconic characters from Nintendo and Sega in a game together. The two companies had worked together previously in 2001, when...
An Atari 8-bit Home Computer Review: Tensor
Tensor is a new logical puzzle game for the Atari 8-bit home computer platform which was released at the Ironia Party that took place in Wysoka, Poland, the weekend of August 11th through 13th, 2017, where it won first place in the game competition. Professor...
Classic Game Fest and the National Video Game Museum Coverage in Old School Gamer
Classic Game Fest - Members of the Old School Gamer crew (even before we were the Old School Gamer Crew) drove 14 hours for the Classic Game Fest in Austin TX. We had previously gone to Midwest Gaming Classic, CES and other events but never another classic gaming...
Old School Gamer Exclusive: Inside ‘We Got Dungeons’
Old School Gamer Magazine chats with Mega Cat Studios’ Milosh, the lead developer behind the developer’s nifty rogue RPG on the Sega Genesis, “We Got Dungeons.” Detailing the creative process and why the game was created on Sega’s iconic 16-bit console, Milosh lets us...
A Closer Look at Nintendo’s Official N64 Peripherals: Controller Pak
The fifth generation of video game consoles was an interesting time in the medium's history. Games were becoming larger, not only in the size of their data, but also in their scope, and the days of completing a title in a single sitting were quickly fading. This led...
Snail Against Squirrel for the Atari 2600
Something like 400 games were released for the Atari 2600 in North America during its commercial life. Another 50 or so, at least officially, weren't. Bizarre games with thought-provoking titles like Hell Driver, Dead Ray, Hole Hunter and Square Game. While these...
Retro-Bit Strikes Deal with Sega to Manufacture Official Retro Accessories
Retro-Bit, who make lots of nice stuff, have signed a deal with Sega of America to manufacture officially licenced accessories for (but not limited to, it’s pointed out) the Genesis, the Saturn and the Dreamcast. While no specific products have been announced yet, a...
Old School Gamer Issue #1 with Midwest Gaming Classic and Hyperkin!
Old School Gamer Issue #1 came out in October/November and is available for free digital access by clicking here! Thanks to our advertisers who help to bring Old School Gamer Magazine to you, including the Midwest Gaming Classic -April 14th and 15th, 2017 -...
Stunt Race FX for SNES Review
Super FX games on the SNES (which have rudimentary 3D graphics thanks to the dedicated chip) have always been an interest of mine and this is the 4th game of which I've reviewed. Stunt Race FX is a racing game, but also includes a few extra modes including...
Video Game Trading Card Spotlight – Mitch Meerman
Our next Trading Card Spotlight features Mitch Meerman, who is displayed on card number 1587 from the Superstars of 2014 Collection. An avid arcade player at Star Worlds Arcade in DeKalb, IL, Mitch is a true contender at the arcade games such as Avalanche and...