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OpinionAsk KotakuHave You Ever Lost An Important Saved Game?
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: Have you ever lost an important saved game? Fahey Perhaps you are familiar with a story I wrote in 2017 called “My Beautiful, Perfect Child Deleted…
By Alexandra Hall Published October 19, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicI Wanna Live In Burning Force‘s Gorgeous ’80s Anime Future
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 Burning Force, a 1989 Namco arcade shooter with an amazing sort of bubblegum sci-fi slash Dirty Pair aesthetic. While Namco’s 3D vehicle shooter Burning Force (playlist / longplay / VGMdb) was no…
By Alexandra Hall Published October 19, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicCreaky Monkey Ball Ancestor Tama Sounds Whimsical AF
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. I’m dialing up the obscure-o-meter a bit today with a weird 32-bit launch title from 1994. It’s Tama! Japanese players who ponied up ¥44,800 to own a Sega Saturn on its November 22, 1994 launch met…
By Alexandra Hall Published October 15, 2020 -
OpinionAsk KotakuWhat’s Your Preference: Japanese-Style RPGs Or Western-Style RPGs?
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 preference: Japanese-style RPGs or Western-style RPGs? (Note that “JRPGs” are not necessarily RPGs made in Japan but RPGs in the Japanese console-game style. And…
By Alexandra Hall Published October 12, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicThere’s Nothing Fishy About Darius Gaiden’s Incredible Space Opera
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we’re going to get a taste of Zuntata, Taito’s legendary in-house music team, by way of one of its most distinctive talents. Taito’s long-running, horizontal shmup series Darius has always been a little strange, depicting…
By Alexandra Hall Published October 12, 2020 -
OpinionAsk KotakuDo You Usually Buy Consoles Near Launch?
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: Do you usually buy consoles near launch? Ian As a kid, new consoles were a rarity in my household. It’s funny telling people that I basically…
By Alexandra Hall Published October 5, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicBehold, My Three Favorite Resident Evil Tracks
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today, maybe because Zack’s already reminded me several times that his favorite spooky holiday’s comin’ up, I wanna share some standout Resident Evil music. At this point in my life I’ve spent a lot more hours…
By Alexandra Hall Published October 5, 2020 -
OpinionAsk KotakuWhich Next-Gen Console Would You Rather Sit On: PlayStation 5 Or Xbox Series X?
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’s Ask Kotaku is more serious than usual… even potentially divisive. The question of the day is: Which next-gen console would you rather sit on: PS5 or Xbox Series X?…
By Alexandra Hall Published September 28, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicLunar: The Silver Star Was One Good Argument For The Sega CD
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today let’s give a listen to Lunar: The Silver Star, the marquee Sega CD RPG which kicked off the long-running series. The Sega CD gets a lot of criticism, and it’s mostly on point: Sega and…
By Alexandra Hall Published September 28, 2020 -
OpinionAsk KotakuDo You Prefer Couch Or Desktop Gaming?
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: Do you prefer couch or desktop gaming? Zack If I can help it, I prefer my couch and my big TV. I work on a computer…
By Alexandra Hall Published September 21, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicSoul Blade Had Three Damn (Beautiful) Soundtracks
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 Soul Edge, which kicked off the Soulcalibur series and, with a total of three built-in soundtracks, may be the most deluxe arcade-to-home port Namco ever produced. One of the joys of the…
By Alexandra Hall Published September 21, 2020 -
OpinionAsk KotakuIs 512GB Enough Storage For The New Xbox Series S?
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: Is 512GB enough storage for Microsoft’s just-announced, next-gen console Xbox Series S? Ethan I am very lazy at loading the dishwasher. When I finish, it kind…
By Alexandra Hall Published September 14, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicRevenge of Shinobi Fused Dance Beats With Ninjas
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s new, daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today’s subject of inquiry is Yuzo Koshiro’s very first soundtrack on the hardware that’d make him famous in the West, The Revenge of Shinobi 1989’s The Revenge of Shinobi (The Super Shinobi in Japan /…
By Alexandra Hall Published September 11, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicSuper R-Type‘s Space Funk Goes HAM From Stage One
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s new, daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we’re checking out Super R-Type, a first-year SNES shooter that sounded like pretty much nothing else. Super R-Type (longplay), that weird not-quite-port of R-Type II (longplay), has a mixed reputation owing to its massive…
By Alexandra Hall Published September 10, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicAlien Crush Made Pinball Weird, Squishy, Gross
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s new, daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we’ll hit our first PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16 chip soundtrack, the brief but memorable Alien Crush. Weird pinball! (That was my nickname in high school.) In theory video games and pinball are a great…
By Alexandra Hall Published September 9, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicGate of Thunder Had A Weird Duran Duran Connection
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s new, daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we’re checking out one of the more acclaimed CD shmup soundtracks of the 16-bit(ish) era, which has a surprising connection to ‘80s superband Duran Duran. Red Company’s 1992 PC Engine Super CD shooter Gate…
By Alexandra Hall Published September 8, 2020 -
OpinionAsk KotakuWhat Is Your Favorite Gaming Handheld Of All Time?
It’s Monday and time for Ask Kotaku, the weekly feature in which Kotaku-ites assemble to deliberate on a single burning question. Sometimes a serious one, other times less so; mostly it’s just a nice opportunity to talk more about video games. You down? This week we Ask Kotaku: What is your favorite gaming handheld of…
By Alexandra Hall Published September 7, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicPilotwings’ Mellow Jazz Showed SNES Had A Sound All Its Own
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s new, daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today our ears will take flight with one of the very first soundtracks composed for the Super Nintendo. It was not a banger. Pilotwings (longplay) was one of the very first games for the Super…
By Alexandra Hall Published September 4, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicVVVVVV’s Old-School Chiptunes Are Flippin’ Fantastic
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s new, daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. VVVVVV was one of the top indie games of 2010, and its tremendous soundtrack played no small part in elevating the already-great material. VVVVVV (longplay / VGMdb) is hard to pronounce, but easy to play:…
By Alexandra Hall Published September 3, 2020
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