Before the emergence of online stores, if you wanted to play old video games and they weren’t available locally, there was simply no way to buy them. But you could download them, and one of the biggest and most important sites around was Home of the Underdogs.
One of Nintendo’s most important innovations in video games has been the invention of the d-pad, which is still used prominently on controllers today. To get there, though, they had to go through some less successful prototypes. Some with stupid names.
Earthworm Jim first released on the Sega Genesis today in 1994. The strange side scroller married offbeat humor and experimental level design. The result was a hodgepodge of a game that was frustrating but engaging.
Say the words “Jet Set Radio” to a fan and, once they stop smiling, they’ll tell you all about the game’s “vibe”, its music, its eccentric cast, the way it let them dabble in a little virtual tourism of the Japanese capital. On acid. Which is funny, because the game isn’t actually about any of those things. It’s about…
Happy Fourth of July, Americans. Time to spend the day playing Sid Meier’s Colonization, the quintessential game about American independence, over and over until you pass out.
Hideo Kojima is famous for being the driving force behind stuff like Metal Gear and Snatcher. But today, we’re going to talk about another of his games: Boktai, a quirky little Game Boy Advance title that asked the player to go outside and get some sun.
Years before Sega did what Nintendon’t the two gaming giants briefly went head to head in the newly discovered market of 3D gaming. It didn’t go very well for either of them.
While most of Mario’s adventures through 1980s animation have been preserved on YouTube, not everything has managed to find its way online. Like 1989's Super Mario Traffic Safety, which for the first time we’re now able to watch (well, at least some of it).
The Innoventions pavilion at Epcot is still around, but it’s a bit blergh in 2017. In 1994, though, it was the future, and a big part of that was getting to enjoy Sega in its prime.
When Street Fighter II hit the big time in the early 1990s, it spawned a lot of competition. Some of these rivals emerged as beloved fighting game series in their own right, and would live on for years. Others, like World Heroes, couldn’t quite escape the crush of the bandwagon.
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.
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.
“I was torn between the irrational fear that someone else would stumble on and publish my 40 year old discovery before me, and the very real fear that when I did, no one would care.” Former Microsoft developer Ed Fries went on one heck of a journey to try and recreate one of the earliest easter eggs in video game…
Far off in the distance, beyond the murky arctic waters, the vague silhouette of a tower can be seen through the mist. You raise your sniper rifle for a closer look. A solitary island is nestled away from all the chaos. What secrets does it hold?
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.
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?
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?
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.
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.
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).
