The Brilliant 16-Bit JRPG About The Death And Rebirth Of The World

Considered part of the Quintet Creation Trilogy, Terranigma was the culminating tour de force from the Japanese studio behind 16-bit games like Actraiser, Illusion of Gaia, and Robotrek. It was never released in North America (though it received a translated version in PAL), explaining why most of us here in the States, including myself, never…

7 PS4 Horror Games That I Hope Get PS5 Sequels

The PS4 had some great horror games. The best had a way of creeping into my mind subconsciously, lingering until a vulnerable moment and striking terror when I least expected. It’s interesting that with the increase in graphical power, the games that scared me most last gen weren’t necessarily the best looking ones; sometimes, that…

The Video Game Music That Helped Us Through 2020

2020 was tough. There were nights we wondered where and how this year would end. Just when things seemed like they couldn’t get worse, they did time and again. On every level, it was difficult just to get through the day. One of the things that helped us through was music. Specifically, video game music.…

How A Dark Time-Traveling Fantasy Game Became the Original Fallout

The end of the world was both darker and more humorous than anyone could have imagined, and in the original Fallout, released for the PC in 1997, gamers got to experience the apocalypse firsthand. The iconic, “War, war never changes,” introduction set the somber mood, which was written, strangely enough, during an episode of The…

Ys VIII’s Compelling Story Makes You Care About Every NPC

I always approach classics with a certain sense of trepidation, especially if I’m playing them outside of their original release window. Games that might have truly been remarkable in their day and age might come across antiquated and difficult to endure in the present, especially with how much game design has changed over the years.…

An Ode To The Games It Took Us Forever To Finish (Or How It Took Me Over Twenty Years To Finally Finish The First Suikoden)

Hi Kotaku! The last time I was a weekend editor for Kotaku was way back in February and honestly, that seems like a lifetime ago. So much has happened since then that even looking back at my old articles feels like I’m peeking at a time capsule from a different age. I’m honored, as always,…

Ari’s Top 10 Games Of 2020

The past year has been one endless, pitch-black night with a single burning, incandescent star: video games. I mean, can you imagine what 2020 would’ve been like without video games? I, for one, cannot. Better yet, it’s not like the annual release calendar was a dry spell, either. From tip to tail, the hits kept…

CD Projekt Red Faces Investor Lawsuit Over Cyberpunk’s Messy Launch

Two weeks after the troubled launch of Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt Red is facing a class action lawsuit. But the filing isn’t on behalf of players who may feel burned over a pre-release cycle that hid the state of the game on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Rather, it’s on behalf of investors. Yesterday, the…

I Went On Vacation And Ended Up In A Video Game

On a trip to a state park, I’m pretty sure my partner, my dog, and I stumbled into a video game. My own personal isekai Last weekend, my partner Travis and I took my dog and traveled three hours south to the Hocking Hills area of Ohio, where we stayed in a rented cabin for…

The Biggest Video Game Disappointments Of 2020

God, this year sucked. Video games were supposed to be a reprieve from that, and in many ways they were. But in other ways they were just as messy, ill-fated, and broken as the year itself. Some of 2020’s big video game disappointments were minor setbacks or run-of-the-mill annoyances—the type of thing that might loom…

John Walker’s Top 10 Games Of 2020

The eternally burning tire fire that is 2020 hasn’t exactly been a laugh riot. And yet, as I reflect on what have been some of the most gruelling times I can remember, it’s interesting how much video games have played a part in getting me through. As pure colorful distraction, or even daily pursuits completed…

I Wanna Be The Guy Has Been Remastered

A group of fans have remastered I Wanna Be the Guy, improving the notoriously difficult platformer’s performance for those still willing to subject themselves to its dastardly tricks. “This is a mostly faithful remaster of the original I Wanna Be the Guy, trying to balance the spirit of the original game with the desire for…

Cyberpunk 2077’s Latest Patch Resolves The PC Save File Size Limit

It’s no secret that Cyberpunk 2077 is plagued by a raft of technical issues, particularly on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Today, CD Projekt Red released another hotfix for the troubled game, aiming to address some of those issues, including the seemingly arbitrary filesize limit placed on PC save files. As Kotaku Australia reported,…

20 Years Later I’m Still Thinking About The Bouncer

Sometimes a piece of pop culture worms its way into your brain, builds a comfortable, cost-efficient home in your cerebral cortex, and lives there happily for decades on end. My own tenant is The Bouncer, an odd beat ‘em up by Square Soft, which came out in Japan 20 years ago today before fading into…

The Biggest Video Game Surprises Of 2020

Every year, we run down the best annual surprises from the world of video games. Needless to say, 2020 was not like previous years. That’s why, this year, we’re reorienting our annual tradition to focus on the biggest—not necessarily the best—ones. 2020 was full of shockers. This was the year Sony held a virtual event…

Happy Holidays, Everyone

Here’s a 12-hour, 4K yule log in the style of Hades, courtesy of Supergiant Games: Happy holidays.

Ian Walker’s Top 10 Games Of 2020

This is the first time I’m doing one of these…well, professionally, at least. I was hired at Kotaku right before the world went to shit, and despite a tumultuous year, I’m still here. I broke news. I reviewed the PlayStation 5. I wrote about a digital dog’s butt Here are my favorite games of 2020,…

Fatal Fury: First Contact is now available on Switch. This is the latest entry in the Neo Geo Pocket Color Selection, a group of formerly handheld, old-school fighting games re-released by SNK throughout 2020.