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CultureMorning MusicNothing Takes Me Back To 1987 Like The Legend Of Zelda
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today’s object of aural inquiry requires no introduction, so what am I even writing here? Let’s get to it. Sometimes I’ll think back to a fascinating music/gaming/cultural scene and think, “damn, I wish I had been…
By Alexandra Hall Published December 3, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicTempest 2000 Was The Rare Jag Game Worth Crankin’ The Volume For
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we’re listening to the Atari Jaguar game that sounded like a rave at a llama ranch, Jeff Minter’s psychedelic retro update Tempest 2000 Since 1993’s ill-fated Atari Jaguar was billed as a 64-bit Interactive Multimedia…
By Alexandra Hall Published December 1, 2020 -
OpinionAsk KotakuWhat Do You Do With Your Retired Consoles And PCs?
It’s Monday and time for Ask Kotaku, the weekly feature in which Kotaku-ites deliberate on a single burning question. Then, we ask your take. This week we Ask Kotaku: What do you do with your retired consoles and PCs? Fahey I used to be the first guy in line at GameStop to trade in my…
By Alexandra Hall Published November 30, 2020 -
OpinionAsk KotakuWhat’s Your Least-Favorite Console You’ve Ever Owned?
It’s Monday and time for Ask Kotaku, the weekly feature in which Kotaku-ites deliberate on a single burning question. Then, we ask your take. This week we Ask Kotaku: What’s your least-favorite console you’ve ever owned? Stephen I was going to say the Wii U, because that system and its slow, chugging menus was such…
By Alexandra Hall Published November 23, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicI Don’t Actually Play Melty Blood, I Just Listen To It
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. The other day I mentioned to someone that I was going to write up Melty Blood, and they replied, “wtf is ‘Melty Blood,’ that’s such a metal name!” Well. It’s a good thing you don’t have…
By Alexandra Hall Published November 23, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicSega CD Silpheed Was Largely Just Spectacle, But That’s Okay
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. I was hoping to write a quickie today, but Silpheed is so interesting that wouldn’t have done it justice. Ready to blast off? (Spaceship metaphor.) When I was a kid my shit-filters weren’t yet calibrated, so…
By Alexandra Hall Published November 17, 2020 -
OpinionAsk KotakuDid You Have A Gaming Buddy Growing Up?
It’s Monday and time for Ask Kotaku, the weekly feature in which Kotaku-ites deliberate on a single burning question. Then, we ask your take. This week we Ask Kotaku: Did you have a gaming buddy growing up? Ash I’m lucky in that I’ve had a lot of close friends I can call up to hop…
By Alexandra Hall Published November 16, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicBlaster Master’s Composer Wrote Sheet Music For Sunsoft’s ‘Performers’
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we’re checkin’ in on one of the great sleeper hits of the early NES library, a little ditty called Blaster Master Quiz for any capitalists who might’ve stumbled in here: It’s 1988. How do you…
By Alexandra Hall Published November 16, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicPhil Collins, Leonard Nimoy, “Sugar Tit’s,” And A Kick-Ass Double Dragon II Vocal
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. So, you want a kick-ass Double Dragon II arrange album? Got you one right here. Plus, uh, some other things. Buckle up. 1990’s NES version of Double Dragon II: The Revenge (playlist / longplay) was a…
By Alexandra Hall Published November 13, 2020 -
OpinionAsk KotakuWhat’s Your Game Of Choice For Spacing Out From Reality?
It’s Monday and time for Ask Kotaku, the weekly feature in which Kotaku-ites deliberate on a single burning question. Then, we ask your take. This week, in light of current happenings, we Ask Kotaku: What’s your game of choice for spacing out from reality? Fahey In order for me to free myself from reality’s brutal…
By Alexandra Hall Published November 9, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicThe Best Guile Theme Isn’t Actually In Street Fighter II
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we’re checking out a little off-brand Street Fighter series that was far better than it had any right to be. 1996’s Street Fighter EX marked the first attempt to translate Capcom’s 2D fighting moneymaker into…
By Alexandra Hall Published November 9, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicSquare’s Awful PS2 Racer Had Good-Ass Music, At Least
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we’re looking at a terrible driving game you should never play, only listen to. Early PlayStation 2 was rough, no doubt. Even the PS1 royalty at SquareSoft had issues adapting to Sony’s hard-to-program new console.…
By Alexandra Hall Published November 6, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicI’m Finally Playing Phantom Dust To Avoid *Gestures Broadly At Everything*
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today…well, you know how it’s been going. Ugh. And I’m playing Phantom Dust to try and think about something else for little stretches. Yep, Phantom Dust (playlist / longplay / VGMdb), 2005’s late-release Xbox fan favorite…
By Alexandra Hall Published November 5, 2020 -
OpinionAsk KotakuWhat PS5 Or Xbox Series X Game Are You Anticipating Most?
It’s Monday and time for Ask Kotaku, the weekly feature in which Kotaku-ites deliberate on a single burning question. Then, we ask your take. This week we Ask Kotaku: What PS5 or Xbox Series X game are you anticipating most? Brian I’ve often felt like the Gran Turismo games were a good way to kick…
By Alexandra Hall Published November 2, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicLunar’s Beloved Composer Scored A Game About Angels Fighting Alien Dicks
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we’ll fly with angels, which in Gynoug is far, far grosser than it sounds. Early Sega Genesis was weird Sega Genesis, at least until Sonic raised the system’s profile in mid-1991. Western development, particularly from…
By Alexandra Hall Published October 30, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicGet Equipped With Pretty Good Mega Man 9 Arrange Album
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today’s object of aural inquiry is not Mega Man 9, which I didn’t really care for. Its arrange album, however… Yeah, I bounced off Mega Man 9 (playlist / longplay / VGMdb). In my defense(?) I…
By Alexandra Hall Published October 29, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicLet’s Petition The Galactic Federation To Declare Galactic Pinball An Honorary Metroid Game
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today I’m seein’ red: Virtual Boy red, as we’re checking out a soundtrack of unusual provenance on Nintendo’s misbegotten 1995 misstep. (Hey, that was also my nickname in high school!) Galactic Pinball (playlist / longplay) stands…
By Alexandra Hall Published October 28, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicRayons de l’Air’s Gorgeous Remixes Retroactively Justify RayCrisis’ Existence
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we’ll check out a game I respect more than like. But its remix album…yeah, that’s the good stuff. Musically speaking, Taito’s mid-’90s arcade trilogy of “Ray” shooters—RayForce, Raystorm, and RayCrisis—was a one-woman show, scored in…
By Alexandra Hall Published October 27, 2020 -
OpinionAsk KotakuWhat’s A Game That Really Scared You?
It’s Monday and time for Ask Kotaku, the weekly feature in which Kotaku-ites deliberate on a single burning question. Then, we ask your take. This Halloween week we Ask Kotaku: What’s a game that really scared you? Alexandra In a prior Ask Kotaku I revealed that I was a mark who purchased an Atari Jaguar,…
By Alexandra Hall Published October 26, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicU.N. Squadron Has Some Great Tunes, Which Is A Boring Headline But
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today set your wayback machine to the dawn of the SNES when Capcom delivered an early shoot ‘em up classic, U.N. Squadron U.N. Squadron (YouTube / longplay / VGMdb), which hit just a month after the…
By Alexandra Hall Published October 26, 2020
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