The Simpsons
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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…
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Collecting retro Nintendo doesn’t have to be expensive, actually.
Greedy doodoo-heads seem determined to make my favorite hobby unaffordable. It’s been a little while since DKOldies started popping off on social media, but their legacy of severely overpriced retro games still lives on. For now, at least. Astute readers already know where I’m headed. Yes, this post exists in large part to promote the…
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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,…
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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.
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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…
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What happened with Bart vs the Space Mutants?
It’s hard to explain to young people just how much of a phenomenon The Simpsons was back in the 80s. These days, (newfangled) adult cartoons are everywhere (consarn it)! Naughty cartoons like Southpark, Archer, Family Guy and Rick and Morty are all rife with adult references and raunchy humor. But back in 1988, cartoons were…
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Couch Co-op Peaked with Bubble Bobble
When it was originally released to arcades in 1986, developer Taito wanted to create a co-op game with the pacing and quarter-munchability of games like Galaga and Xevious. They succeeded at that, but they also managed to make it pretty darn cute. Bubble Bobble enjoyed great initial success in arcades, and was a subsequently ported…
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Top 10 Must-Have NES Games for Every Collector
Are you a certified old head and/or super into retro gaming? Well, I’m old and into retro gaming, which makes me pretty qualified to throw down a list of the top 10 must-have NES games for every collector. These games were literally everywhere back in the day, so you’re bound to get a nod of…
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Blaster Master is the first best metroidvania
These days, developers have pretty much perfected the metroidvania. It’s completely insania. But I can’t complnainia. I’ve quite enjoyed the genre since its earliest iterations on the NES—talking about the original Metroid and Simon’s Quest—even though they were rough around the edges. There are a handful of other proto-vania games on the NES, too. I’d…
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Excitebike Belongs in a Museum
In 1985, Excitebike was released in the US as a “black label” launch title. It didn’t *look* all that impressive, but it was technologically notable as well as being generally well-received as fun and easy for all ages to pick up and play. The game’s simple mechanics let you accelerate, brake, boost, and reorient your…
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Shadowgate: A Dark and Deadly NES Adventure
Originally created by the now-defunct developer, ICOM Simulations, Shadowgate is one of the most iconic adventure games of all time. This brutally tough point-and-click title was initially released in 1987 for Apple Mac computers, but its legacy was cemented in 1989 when it was ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System. Grim, immersive, and unabashedly challenging,…
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15 NES Games that Still Hold Up Today
Nearly 40 years after its release, the NES is still one of the most popular gaming consoles in the world! Much of that is due to nostalgia–which is a legitimate aspect to retro gaming–but few can deny the charming simplicity of the NES. Two buttons, four directions. What else do you really need? And while…
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Unexpected, Bizarre, and Oddball Ports for the Classic Gameboy: Part 2
Though composed of hardware considered limited even at release, it didn’t stop the Game Boy from becoming a force who’s lifespan would overtake many of its more powerful big brothers. In our last adventure, we explored some of the unusual and/or unexpected ports to hit the humble gray brick. Games whose very ideas, graphical stylings,…
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NES Speedrun Games: Pushing the 8-Bit Limit
Over the past decade, speedrunning has exploded in popularity, starting as a small community within gaming and bursting into the mainstream thanks to events like the Games Done Quick marathons. NES speedruns are viewed as some of the most pure and challenging of them all, commanding mastery of precise mechanics in addition to the baseline…
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35 Best-Selling NES Games
In the U.S., the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) absolutely revolutionized video gaming. Atari’s boom and bust had left the industry scrambling and Nintendo was a bit scared to come blazing into the west. Distributors were nervous as well, and some of them flat out refused to sell video games. But the folks at Nintendo were…