Metroidvania

  • One Man’s Quest to Review Every 16-Bit Game

    One Man’s Quest to Review Every 16-Bit Game

    I’ve played, reviewed, and documented my thoughts about every single game that was released in North America during the 16-bit era. Crazy, right? That’s 716 Super Nintendo, 704 Sega Genesis, and 95 TurboGrafx-16 games, for a grand total of 1,515 fourth-generation titles. Obviously, this begs two questions: Why would you do such a thing? My…

  • 16 Underrated NES Games

    16 Underrated NES Games

    The Nintendo Entertainment System is one of the most successful and most enduring video game consoles ever invented. Following the North American console crash, the NES emerged not only as the dominating force in home gaming, but as a pop culture icon so ubiquitous as to be almost unmatched in its ubiquitatious ubiquitosity! Mario, Metroid,…

  • Final Fantasy vs Dragon Warrior pt 1: A deep dive into JRPGs for the NES

    Final Fantasy vs Dragon Warrior pt 1: A deep dive into JRPGs for the NES

    …in the Japanese version…a woman offers to sell puff-puff – a Japanese onomatopoeia for a girl rubbing her breasts in someone’s face, or juggling her own breasts. In the North American version, the woman sells tomatoes.

  • The 15 Best Sega Dreamcast RPGs

    The 15 Best Sega Dreamcast RPGs

    Sega’s systems have had plenty of great RPGs, but like Rodney Dangerfield, they get no respect.  Sega Dreamcast was a very intriguing system that never lived up to its full potential. Despite having internet connectivity and good graphics, the Dreamcast lacked the sales to keep up with the competition.  Remember, the system suffered from the…

  • Not Everyone Loves Animal Crossing’s Summer Update

    Not Everyone Loves Animal Crossing’s Summer Update

    Nintendo spiced up island life this July by adding a brand-new area to explore right off your own island’s coast. Like so many others stuck in quarantine this year, I found myself in dire need of a distraction, and since I was already in the market for a new console, I treated myself to a…

  • Why Phantasy Star III is Better Than You Remember

    Why Phantasy Star III is Better Than You Remember

    I believe Phantasy Star III deserves more praise for the unique elements it brought to gaming back in 1990. I’m not just saying this out of a sense of fanboy nostalgia, either. There’s none of that for this title.

  • Every Legend of Zelda Game, Ranked by Sales

    Every Legend of Zelda Game, Ranked by Sales

    Nintendo’s follow-up to Phantom Hourglass probably sold poorly because… well, because it was the follow-up to Phantom Hourglass. You know what they say: fool me once, shame on you. Or whatever. Point being: Legend of Zelda fans were not excited to revisit the format of Phantom Hourglass. And like so many other Zelda fans, I…

  • The Final Fantasy Fighting Game/RPG You Missed on PS1- Ehrgeiz!

    The Final Fantasy Fighting Game/RPG You Missed on PS1- Ehrgeiz!

    What do you call it when you take a fighting game, slap an RPG on it, give it a healthy dose of anger-inducing mini games, and release it to the public? Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring. 

  • Why Super Mario 64 Still Holds Up Today – A Retrospective Review

    Why Super Mario 64 Still Holds Up Today – A Retrospective Review

    The camera can sometimes get in the way of what you’re doing. Another thing that I noticed during my recent playthrough was that some of the levels were actually very small in size. Maybe they seemed bigger when I was younger, guess that’s the Mandela effect for you.

  • Why is Retro Gaming on the Nintendo Switch Such a Hit?

    Why is Retro Gaming on the Nintendo Switch Such a Hit?

    …nothing can beat playing the original, 8-bit Legend of Zelda. Games like that, or Super Mario or Metroid or many of the others, having grown into such successful franchises with such loving fanbases, have enormous sentimental value to millions of adults in the gaming world.

  • Opinion: Publishers Won’t Quit Until Mobile Gaming is Legitimate

    Opinion: Publishers Won’t Quit Until Mobile Gaming is Legitimate

    Mobile gaming—for better or worse (I’m guessing worse)—is the future. But make no mistake. Publishers are determined to make the mobile-pocalypse real.

  • Former Nintendo Power Employee Spills the Beans

    Former Nintendo Power Employee Spills the Beans

    I worked at Nintendo Power during the second half of 1996 and for the last three months they gave me Player’s Pulse. That was definitely the highlight of my time on staff. I got to pick letters to include, write responses to those letters, and pick the envelope art that was displayed on those pages.     

  • Beginner’s Guide for Magic: the Gathering Arena

    Beginner’s Guide for Magic: the Gathering Arena

    Let guest writer Jesse Cramer be your Demonic Tutor in the fantastic world of MTG: Arena. If you’ve shied away from Magic: the Gathering because physical card games aren’t for you, it’s time to rethink your hesitation. This beginner’s guide for Magic: the Gathering Arena will give you every detail about playing the world’s most…

  • Deus Ex 20th Anniversary Album Announced

    Deus Ex 20th Anniversary Album Announced

    Today Seattle-based Materia Collective announced Conspiravision: Deus Ex Remixed, an upcoming album featuring remixes by Alexander Brandon and Michiel van den Bos, composers for the original Deus Ex soundtrack.

  • Hands-On with PowerA’s Fusion Fightpad

    Hands-On with PowerA’s Fusion Fightpad

    After a long hiatus from fighting games, I recently got back into Street Fighter V and Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite. I had just upgraded my ghetto PC with a new GPU and liquid cooler and was looking to test it out on games that push high-end graphics as fast as possible. I figured these fit…

  • This Game is Not Fun – Little Adventure on the Prairie Review

    This Game is Not Fun – Little Adventure on the Prairie Review

    Little Adventure on the Prairie is a hack and slash adventure game where you follow a young man with an insatiable appetite for destroying anything that gets in his way. Little Adventure on the Prairie was developed and published by Infinite Madaa. I believe this was Infinite Madaa’s first game and it shows. It was…