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CultureTotal Recall
Solving The Mystery Of Perfect Dark’s Hidden Passwords
The 2000 Nintendo 64 game Perfect Dark was full of secrets. There were cheat codes to find, hidden pieces of cheese scattered around levels, and special modes to unlock. One mystery remains, nearly two decades later, with only a few hidden passwords hinting at its existence. Unfortunately, even the game’s developers were not able to…
By Heather Alexandra Published April 24, 2017 -
CultureTotal RecallA Dire Warning About Final Fantasy’s Black Magic
Let’s go back. To a time before Jack Thompson, before age ratings. Back to 1980s Canada, when the most pressing concern with video game content—and how it was destroying the youth—was the black magic found in Final Fantasy. “And once again, it’s about how you can get in touch with your wizard”. If you’re short on…
By Luke Plunkett Published April 5, 2017 -
CultureTotal Recall
Old Games Catalogues Are Fun
Growing up in Australia in the 80s/90s, I have a very weird emotional attachment to these old retailer catalogues, because in the days before the internet—or even reliable games mags—they were the only real way to get info on what games were coming out and, more importantly, when Via Kotaku Australia, here’s a back catalogue…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 19, 2017 -
CultureTotal RecallThe Mario Bros. Music Has Official Lyrics
You’ve been hearing the ditty for decades, both in games and on the internet, but did you know that the original Mario Bros. theme—from the games, not the TV show’s intro—has official lyrics to go with it? Anyone who has heardthe excellent Mario & Zelda Big Band Live recording from 2003 (or, if you haven’t,…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 27, 2017 -
CultureTotal RecallThat Time Some Players Thought Mew Was Under A Truck In Pokémon
The original generation of Pokémon had 150 special monsters to find. One of the most elusive was the legendary psychic type Mewtwo. But if there was a Mewtwo, that left a question: where was the original Mew? Little did people know, Mew was already in the game. Near the end of the game’s development cycle,…
By Heather Alexandra Published February 24, 2017 -
CultureTotal RecallJapanese Company Made Consoles For Girls, And Also Cute Toys
Epoch is a Japanese video game company, which in the 80s and 90s made a number of consoles and handhelds. They’re also the guys responsible for the disgustingly cute Sylvanian Families (or Calico Critters) toy line. The company, founded in 1958, is a bit like Nintendo, in that it made its name not just in…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 14, 2017 -
CultureTotal RecallTwo John Hurt Video Games That Couldn’t Be More Different
Tender Loving Care was an experiment in interactive cinema while Privateer 2: The Darkening was an ill-fated Wing Commander spin-off. They were the only two games actor John Hurt ever performed in, but even the rich, rumbling tones of his English voice could do little to save either one. In 1996, two years prior to…
By Ethan Gach Published January 28, 2017 -
CultureTotal Recall
The Gun Game That Nearly Broke Nintendo
Nintendo’s first arcade video games were, to be honest, pretty terrible. Way more interesting were the machines that came before those, starting with 1973’s Laser Clay Shooting System, an elaborate entertainment offering that nearly sunk the company (but also led to one of its most famous video games). The first of seven amusement machines that…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 24, 2017 -
CultureTotal Recall
That Time Some Players Thought Luigi Was In Super Mario 64
Super Mario 64 was a watershed moment for our favorite video game plumber. Mario made the leap into the third dimension and brought a colorful array of characters with him but a major ally was missing: his brother Luigi. Was he just hiding the whole time? Mario’s brother Luigi has always had his back ever…
By Heather Alexandra Published January 20, 2017 -
CultureTotal RecallThe Story of Sega’s First Console, Which Was Not The Master System
On July 15, 1983, the Famicom was released in Japan. The console, later rebranded in the West as the Nintendo Entertainment System, would go on to change video games forever. Did you know, though, that the Famicom wasn’t the only gaming system released on that day? It was joined on shelves by the SG-1000, the…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 19, 2017 -
CultureTotal RecallSex Programs Have Come A Long Way Since 1986
Did anyone get you a computer program for Christmas? I bet it wasn’t as saucy as Interlude II, the hottest computer program of 1986 Note how the poster above says program instead of game. Despite appearing to be some kind of romantic Mills & Boon-ish adventure, and being sold an advertised alongside other games, this…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 2, 2017 -
CultureTotal Recall
The Man Who Worked On The Original Game Boy Explains Why Nintendo Created The DS
Satoru Okada, who was General Manager of Nintendo Research & Engineering before he retired in 2012, said in a recent interview with Retro Gamer Magazine that no one on the handheld team liked the idea of the DS when it was first proposed. If some folks had gotten their way, Nintendo would have produced a…
By Ethan Gach Published January 1, 2017 -
CultureTotal RecallA Close Look At A Prototype Nintendo DS
You may not know Evan Amos by name, but you’ve certainly seen his work: he’s responsible for many of the clean product shots of video game consoles that you see on Wikipedia (and by extension everywhere else). Today, he’s shared something very cool for fans of old Nintendo hardware These are nice, clear shots of…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 22, 2016 -
CultureTotal Recall
1992 Miyamoto Interview About Zelda Is Great
In 1992, Shigeru Miyamoto sat down for an interview with Famicom Tsuushin magazine, mostly to talk about Zelda, but also to shed some light on what it was like working at Nintendo at the time. It’s a very good read. We’ve actually written about this interview previously, though that was apparently an incomplete translation; this…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 21, 2016 -
CultureTotal Recall
That Time A Player Claimed Final Fantasy VI‘s Gogo Was The Governor Of Illinois
The identity of Gogo, Final Fantasy VI’s secretive mime, is one of the game’s best kept secrets. Over the years players have surmised that Gogo was Daryl, the dashing airship pilot who crashed without a trace, or Emperor Gestahl, looking for redemption after Kefka destroyed the world. But there’s a wild theory, based on false…
By Heather Alexandra Published December 12, 2016 -
CultureTotal RecallUnreleased Akira Game Found For The Game Boy
There has never been a good Akira game. There have been bad ones, however, and more interestingly, there have been cancelled ones like this Game Boy effort, the remains of which were recently bought by a video game collector and are somewhat playable. Patrick Scott Patterson managed to get his hands on not one but…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 11, 2016 -
CultureTotal RecallOne Game, Many Versions
Defender of the Crown, first released in 1986 on the Amiga, was at the time one of the best-looking video games ever released. Or, at least it was on the Amiga. Some of the game’s ports to other systems weren’t quite so hot, yet in today’s world of YouTube nitpicking they remain useful as examples…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 5, 2016 -
CultureTotal RecallThe History Of Gaming Balloons In The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
Since 1927 the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has been filling the skies of New York with colorful balloon representations of pop culture icons. Video games didn’t enter the picture until 1993, and only three gaming icons have made the cut so far. This piece originally appeared 11/26/14. Some updates have been made for the…
By Mike Fahey Published November 24, 2016
