Featured Posts
Penn & Teller’s Desert Bus
A few weeks ago, I was reading the remarkable short story collection “Press Start to Play”, edited by Daniel H. Wilson and John Joseph Adams. The book centers around the world video games and gaming. One of the stories, “Desert Walk” by S.R. Mastrantone, particularly...
The Last Official Release: 3DO – Creature Shock (1996)
Following on from the last instalment of The Last Official Release in which the Panasonic CD-i was featured, I thought it would be fitting to delve into another facet of Panasonics gaming endeavours. While Panasonic did manufacture the console known as the 3DO...
Video Game Trading Card Spotlight – Dan Wolfe
Our next Trading Card Spotlight features Dan Wolfe, who is displayed on card number 738, from the Superstars of 2014. Dan is currently second on the NES game Bubble Bobble with a score of 1,747,020. Dan is a super fan of the classic console systems such as Nintendo...
Daze Before Christmas: Claus and Anti-Claus
Outside of his work delivering toys to the children of the world, it is fairly common knowledge that Santa Claus is something of a superhero. Don’t believe me? Then clearly you’ve never seen 1964’s classic film “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.” Stop everything you...
What if Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Was Made for the Game Boy Color?
When past and future collide.
Strong Museum of Play/International Center Center for the History of Electronic Games – By Ryan Burger
The Strong Museum of Play in downtown Rochester, NY was opened originally in 1982 housing toys, dolls, games and more, starting with the collection of Margaret Woodbury Strong. It is the home of the National Toy Hall of Fame and the International Center for the...
The Odd Release History of Metal Gear
Nintendo entered the home console market amidst the Video Game Crash of 1983. Two years later, they found themselves dominating the market with their Nintendo Entertainment System. Feeling justifiably cautious at the time, quality control was a cornerstone of...
Jazz Jackrabbit: Holiday Hare
The holidays are a special time, a season for family, warm fires, and (as we explored last week) lemmings. However, lemmings are not the only small, fuzzy animal to be featured in a holiday video game. Far from from it! The jackrabbit is also a member of that elite...
Old School Gamer Retro Holiday Shopping Guide
Hungry to get the retro game fanatic a gift this holiday season they won’t soon forget? Check out this handful of goodies hand-crafted just for them. Wasteland 2: Director’s Cut (Switch Edition): Although there are some hiccups visually while playing on the go,...
Happy Meal Toys and Fast Food Tie-Ins – By David Oxford
Since the dawn of video games, there have been seemingly endless efforts made to bring the pastime we all enjoy to a more mainstream audience: television, comic books, movies, music, and more. But one method that’s been around for nearly as long as the medium itself...
Video Game Trading Card Spotlight – Jim Schelberg
Our next Trading Card Spotlight features Jim Schelberg, who is displayed on card number 284, from the Superstars of 2012. Jim is also featured on cards 739 and 1714. Jim is the editor and publisher of “PinGame Journal”. He has a passion to spread the news and...
Christmas Lemmings!
It’s the holiday season and I haven’t written about a Commodore game in a bit, so let’s mash the two things together, shall we? When you think of beloved holiday traditions, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Directing a herd of lemmings to safety through a...
How Contagious Was Pac-Man Fever? – By Michael Thomasson
Gary Garcia and Jerry Buckner were grade school friends in the early sixties who formed a local band known as Wild Butler. “We were writing songs, playing in bands, and, like most guys at the time, musicians trying to get by -- trying to make it,” states Buckner. He...
Versus Mode: Contra vs. Contra
Each version has their up ups, as well as their down downs.
RIP Joel West
Bezerk Champion, Star of Chasing Ghosts, and a dear friend of mine passed away today. I will miss his kindness and love for the gaming industry. He was a huge help in the Walter Day Trading card project as well as helping sell merchandise for charity and other...
An Overview of Special-Colored Game Cartridges
Video game cartridges have a long and interesting history. It’s hard to say how long that history will ultimately be, given that Nintendo will likely make cartridges for the Switch over the next several years. Today, I would like to examine one of my favorite aspects...
Limited Edition Ghostly Super Nt Announced & Available Effective Immediately
Yes, that title is deliberately alarmist. This is not a drill – if you’ve been thinking of purchasing Analogues excellent Super Nt and are also a fan of the record label, Ghostly, then you better line up $249.99US pretty darn quick. They’ve just collaborated to create...
Video Games Live, Tommy Tallarico and the Intellivision – By Michael Thomasson
Video Games Live features video game music performed by a complete live orchestra presented in tandem with various video game content including gameplay footage, dynamic stage lighting, and over-the-top special effects. There is nothing that adds more POP to...
Soundtrack Review: Dungeon Explorer (TurboGrafx-16, 1989)
Dungeon Explorer, released in 1989 for the TurboGrafx-16, is a multiplayer-capable action RPG (one of the first, in fact) with an excellent soundtrack. It garnered generally positive reviews, which cited its clever puzzles and fun gameplay mechanics (borrowing heavily...
Video Game Trading Card Spotlight – Derek Sorrells
Our next Trading Card Spotlight features Derek Sorrells, who is displayed on card number 832, from the Superstars of 2014 Collection. Derek is also featured on cards 1280, 2158 and 2254. Derek is an old school gamer who loves arcade machines. He grew up in the...
The Last Official Release: CD-i – Solar Crusade (1999)
Here we are, back again, for The Last Official Release. Welcome. Within these words, we delve into the world of the last official games released for your favourite consoles. I’ve long since run through the major players from the 5th generation and downwards, so as the...
Ji-Wen Tsao and Shark! Shark!
A few years ago, Sprout Games published Feeding Frenzy. In 2006, a sequel was released by PopCap Games (the company behind games like Plants Vs. Zombies and Peggle). In the game, you played as a fish feeding on other fish. The more you ate, the larger you got. Of...
Review: Arcade Archives Urban Champion for Nintendo Switch
“Don’t let the bully of the block push you around. Fight for your right to walk the street.”
Crazy Controllers – The Super Pad 64
Games have to be controlled with something, whether it’s a mouse and keyboard, a good old joystick, or a modern, two-stick gamepad. In the first of a new series, we’ll look at some of the weird, unwieldy, or just plain bad controllers used by gamers both young and...
This Day In Video Game History
