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Reviews
Posted: 08/30/13, 21:41 by 
 
Some of you may not be familiar with Disney's DuckTales, but when I was a kid it was one of my favorite cartoons. So imagine my surprise when my dad drove me and my sister to Erol's to rent a movie and a video game for the weekend and I saw DuckTales on the NES. Of course I snatched it up and beat it over the weekend, but I enjoyed it enough as a kid that I went on to rent it two more times and eventually buy it. It remains one of my favorite pick-up-and-play NES games of all-time. So imagine my surprise when I saw this video in early 2013... (more)
Posted: 08/02/13, 18:41 by 
 
When I was a young boy, my older brother used to tell me stories of secret arcades hidden in the oddest places around our house that him and his friends would visit to play the latest and greatest games. I didn’t exactly believe him, but I didn’t not believe him either, and I’d search for these phantom arcades, because really, why take the chance on missing out on something that sounds so amazing? As I got older, my concept of the nature of reality became a bit more concrete (sort of), but I will never forget the feelings that I had as a youth, when reality was fluid and just about anything seemed, if not probable, at least possible... (more)
Posted: 07/11/13, 05:15 by 
 
Nintendo does not have much of a history in the world of Downloadable Content (known here on out as DLC). In fact, it was only a few years ago that Nintendo began offering any DLC at all. It is even more recently that Nintendo has offered the less-preferred kind of DLC known as 'Paid DLC'. There are gamers who are hesitant to spend extra money on titles they have already purchased. This I would think is a rather natural reaction. You really need to prove to your audience that the bonus content is worth their time and money. There's a saying, "Go Big or Go Home"… and I can proudly proclaim that with New Super Luigi U, Nintendo has gone big... (more)
Posted: 06/24/13, 01:05 by 
 
I first came across EarthBound in the June 1995 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly in a two page review. I had never heard of the game before and despite the review not being particularly great it did the job of intriguing me. At this point in time I was not an RPG fan at all. Sure I had played bits and pieces of games like Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior but for the most part my then 12 year old self spent most of his time playing platformers, fighters and brawlers. The closest I really got to playing RPGs were games like Crystalis and The Legend of Zelda. Despite my general complacency towards the genre, something about EarthBound; whether it was the graphical style, the modern setting or the promised humor it really made me want to play it. When I finally got my chance to do just that, I was pretty much drawn in completely and almost beat it in the rental period. Since then I have bought two copies of the game and it is one of my most beaten games ever in the range of more than 20 times since when I got my first copy (my second one was to replace the copy that was given away behind my back). I will do my best to balance my love of EarthBound with some honest criticism of the game. It will be tough, but I think I can do it... (more)
Posted: 06/23/13, 22:01 by 
 
Keiji Inafune has had a lot to say about the state of the Japanese video game industry in recent years, and little of it is positive. His biggest complaint is that Japanese developers are afraid to evolve, instead trying to live off of their past glories, and he feels that fresh new concepts with a global appeal are what Japan needs. This viewpoint led to Inafune’s departure from Capcom and the creation of comcept, a brand new development house dedicated to pursuing his vision. Bugs vs. Tanks! is one of comcept’s first games, and to be quite honest, it is not exactly what I envisioned when I first heard Inafune’s strong words. But is it any good?.. (more)
Posted: 06/18/13, 19:59 by 
 
WayForward Technologies has built a reputation for themselves as a quality purveyor of 2D titles, both with their own IPs (the “Mighty” series, Shantae, etc.) and as a go to developer for licensed products (A Boy and His Blob, Contra IV, etc.) Sure, they release a few bombs, especially in the licensed arena, but the sheer amount of quality 2D games that they have developed over the years has put WayForward on the radar of most fans of the second dimension. Their loosely connected “Mighty” series has particularly stood out with some of the most consistently high-quality games on the Nintendo download services, including games on the DSiWare service (Mighty Flip Champs!, Mighty Milky Way), the 3DS eShop (Mighty Switch Force!), and a Wii U port (Mighty Switch Force! Hyper Drive Edition.) Mighty Switch Force! 2 is the first sequel in the esteemed “Mighty” series; does it live up to the legacy of the name?.. (more)
Posted: 06/13/13, 23:38 by 
 
Writer's Note: Since writing this EarthBound Zero was finally released on the VC as EarthBound Beginnings on June 14th, 2015... (more)
Posted: 05/31/13, 18:14 by 
 
A young woman, dressed in an ornate costume, appears to be singing and performing before a massive crowd of people on an outdoor stage. The camera focuses on one particular individual in the crowd, a young man of importance, when suddenly chaos erupts and a billowing cloud of smoke appears near the stage. A large beastly figure appears to loom from within. Suddenly we see the young man leading the performer away at a frantic pace, fleeing to an unknown destination as their captors pursue them. A third person appears, an old woman whose appearance is almost non-human. We soon find out the young woman, Elena, has been cursed and will become a beast if the hero, Aeron, doesn't help her... (more)
Posted: 05/30/13, 05:11 by 
 
Nintendo is making 2013 a good year for strategists. Between the highly enjoyable Fire Emblem: Awakening and the soon-to-be-released Pikmin 3 is an eShop game that includes a heroic Armadillo, rocks that love eating ham, and an untamed western frontier inhabited by an eclectic community of animal citizens. Dillon's Rolling Western: The Last Ranger is a highly accessible, yet mechanically rich real-time strategy game that boasts personality, challenge, and plenty of content... (more)
Posted: 05/18/13, 08:29 by 
 
I boarded The Starship Damrey with all the knowledge of the game the creators wished for me to have. This game does not hold your hand, and it is expected of you to explore and discover on your own. With persistence and a smidge of patience, you will solve the mystery aboard the Starhip Damrey; the problem lies not in the story, but rather how abruptly you will have unraveled this mystery... (more)
Posted: 05/17/13, 19:45 by 
 
Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move (Nintendo Software Technology) is a game with some serious lineage. It all began with a tight little platformer named Donkey Kong that released in the arcades way back in 1981, when I was just a wee young lad. Years later (1994, to be precise), Nintendo would release a Game Boy game named, once again, Donkey Kong (generally referred to as Donkey Kong ‘94 to avoid confusion), which took the basic premise of the original Donkey Kong and expanded it with over 100 stages of platforming brilliance, throwing in some puzzle elements for good measure. 2004’s Mario vs. Donkey Kong for the Game Boy Advance was a pseudo-sequel to this game, and it introduced the “Minis”, small mechanical Mario toys that, in certain stages, Mario would have to lead to the exit. In 2006 Nintendo changed up the formula completely with Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis, focusing solely on the Minis themselves with some Lemmings-esque puzzle platforming gameplay. A few sequels using this new Mini-focused gameplay formula followed in 2009 and 2010 on DSiWare and the DS respectively, and that brings us up to date. It’s 2013, and apparently Nintendo Software Technology felt that yet another formula shift was necessary. Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move is indeed a shift, and the result is what happens when you take the previous Minis-focused 2D games and use them as inspiration for a full 3D game, creating a brand new experience in the process... (more)
Posted: 05/14/13, 02:29 by 
 
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy is a rhythm game for the Nintendo 3DS console. It blends characters, cutscenes, locales, enemies, items, and most importantly, music, from all of the mainline Final Fantasy games (I-XIII) into a complete package that's a sort of timeline/scrapbook of the series' long and illustrious history. If you have a favorite Final Fantasy track, chances are you'll find it here, whether it be on the cart from the start or you augment your song choice with the wide variety of DLC available for the title. RPG fans be warned-- though the game boasts some rather interesting RPG elements, they are used entirely to augment the rhythm-based gameplay. This is not a traditional Final Fantasy title!.. (more)
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