The Original Street Fighter II Is Still My Favorite

I recently picked up the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection and started playing through all the different games in the series. The original Street Fighter II alone had multiple updates that added new characters, abilities, and balance tweaks. I’ve always enjoyed the prequel to the series, Street Fighter Alpha, with its anime aesthetic, super combos,…

The First Suikoden Is An Underrated Gem For The PS1

If there’s one series I wish more gamers knew about, it’s Suikoden. A Japanese role-playing game with tactical strategy elements, it was developed by Konami and released on the original PlayStation. I’d actually played Suikoden II and III first, really enjoying both. Suikoden II was one of the best JRPGs on the PS1, a game…

Track: Naeem | Artist: Bon Iver | Album: i,i

From December 13 to 25, a 19.6-foot tall Lapras will go up in Kotodai Park in Sendai, Japan. This is actually taller than the in-game version, which clocks in at 8.1-feet tall. It also appears to be inflatable.  

GeekOn! is currently running a Kickstarter for a whole range of board game travel/transport accessories, some of which I’ve tried out previously (the portable dice tower + nesting tray is great). Things are a bit pricey individually, so the bundles are where it’s at.

Midnight Diner’s “Chicken Fried Rice” Episode Combines Good Food, Video Games, And Family

Midnight Diner is one of those shows I approach like a late night snack; I save it for special occasions, wait until I’m in the right mood, then savor its company. The new season just released on Netflix and as the first episode centered around a game director, I thought it was the perfect episode…

What Games Are You Most Thankful For?

This has been an interesting year for me personally with lots of ups and downs. I’ll be honest; I’m looking forward to saying goodbye to this year. Through it all, I’m grateful for the amazing games I got to play and revisit. The remasters of classic games for the latest generation of consoles makes it…

Gradius III Was Fun And Hard As Bullet Hell

I grew up thinking space was infested with monsters, massive killer plants, and Easter Island Heads thanks in large part to the classic shmup (shoot em’ up) series, Gradius The Gradius games were spacer shooters developed by Konami that also made space faring hip with its retro tunes and vibrantly deadly depictions of space battles.…

Pokémon Games Can Be Strange If You’ve Never Played One Before

For the longest time, I’ve wanted to dive into a Pokémon game. I thought the recent release of Sword and Shield would be a good place to start. I’ve played about five hours of Shield, collected a bunch of Pokémon, and beat three gyms. I’m having a lot of fun, but I’m also baffled by…

10 Favorite Meals In Gaming

Thanksgiving means lots of food and lots of sweets. Last time we covered Thanksgiving, we went over 9 of the strangest foods in gaming. Here’s 10 new gaming meals that made us salivate. The Witcher 3 Hunting noonwraiths, becoming the fisticuff Champion of Champions across Skellige, Novigrad and Velen, and choosing the right choices to…

Clash At Demonhead Is Like Playing A Ridiculously Fun 8-Bit Anime

Clash at Demonhead is 8-bit gaming at its most charmingly eclectic. Developed by Vic Tokai and known as Dengeki Big Bang! in Japan, Clash is a metroidvania-style game with open-world platforming and nonlinear progression through its quirky world. Unlike many of the earlier metroidvania games, it has an anime aesthetic and an intricate plot with…

An Ode To Weird Dreams Inspired By Videogames

Happy Thanksgiving! My name’s Peter Tieryas and I’m your guest writer for the next three days. I covered Thanksgiving two years ago and I’m excited to be back. I’ll be writing about retrogames like Clash at Demonhead and Final Fantasy VIII, ponder the existential meaning of Gradius III and Pokémon, then explore some of our…

Track: Shonen Jidai | Artist: Utada Hikaru | Album: 20-dai wa Ikeike! (DVD)

After an 8-month maintenance period, free-to-play smartphone game Disgaea RPG is resuming service. The announcement notice apologized for the wait and offered gratitude to players. At launch in Japan, there were server issues, so hopefully, the lengthy maintenance has that fixed.