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Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows (PC/Steam)
(Review archived from April 15, 2023) Shovel Knight is one of the finest examples of what I’d consider to be ‘the golden age of modern retro-style games,’ a period of time I’d loosely bound as being between the years of 2010 and 2015. These days you practically can’t even skip a loose Super Metroid cart…
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Arcade)
(Review archived from April 13, 2023) The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade title was hot in arcades during the time in my life when I was the exact target demographic for arcade patronage. Coupled with the fact that it tapped into the cultural zeitgeist of rampant turtle-mania at the very pinnacle of the phenomenon, it’s…
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Ninja Gaiden Shadow (GB)
(Review archived from April 8, 2023) Ninja Gaiden is another in a long line of popular 8-bit franchises to have tested the waters with a Game Boy release. My past experience with Game Boy franchise installments has been rather excellent! Legend of Zelda made an incredibly solid transition to Nintendo’s portable system. Mega Man retained…
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Super Mario Bros. 2 (FDS)
(Review archived from April 5, 2023) I had previously played (and reviewed) Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels as it appeared on Super Mario Bros. Allstars for SNES, but I had never played the original Super Mario Bros. 2 release for Famicom Disk System. So much of what I said about the Allstars version applies…
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Medal of Honor: Underground (PS1)
(Review archived from April 2, 2023) I have a soft spot for the ubiquitous WWII FPS for largely the same reason (among others) that I enjoy the Assassin’s Creed series; the gamification of historical events is something that appeals to me. And it tends to work both ways really. Having some fore-knowledge of the historical…
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The Scheme (PC-88)
(Review archived from March 30, 2023) I’m always on the hunt for quality system exclusives, and because I’m the type of nerd who tends to enjoy such things, the more obscure they are, the better. Being as the PC-88 is itself a bit of an obscure early home computer in the West (albeit quite popular…
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Fantasy Zone (SMS)
(Review archived from March 28, 2023) Pixy Stix: paper tubes filled with what is essentially fruit flavored sugar. This insidious sugar-based narcotic disguised as children’s candy was basically a rocket ship to the stratosphere of sugar highs. These things always felt like they were on the ‘hardcore’ side of candy consumption to me, ingested by…
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Romancia: Dragon Slayer Jr. (Famicom)
(Review archived from March 26, 2023)(English Translation by DvD Translations) Charitably it needs to be said that Romancia was easily the most “modern feeling” iteration of Dragon Slayer at the time of its release. Among other things it has the distinction of being the first Dragon Slayer game in which your sword attack has a…
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Super Mario Bros. (NES)
(Review archived from March 18, 2023) I mean … it’s Super Mario Bros. for the NES. On one hand it’s hard to understate the extent to which this game almost single handedly kicked off a revolution in console gaming. This is the bedrock upon which a decade or more of 2D gaming was built upon.…