Beam Software’s Shadowrun is a hot summer night you can stick in your SNES
The world of the Shadowrun tabletop RPG is the best, stupidest, most tantalizing mash-up ever. High fantasy meets cyberpunk. Elves,…
Review: Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World
Wonder Boy is a bit of a wonderful mess. The series never seems to stick to one style, developer, or…
Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) was an embarrassing 15th birthday present
This may sound peculiar, but I don’t necessarily pick games for this column and expect to hate them. Spelunker, for…
Review: Biomutant
The open-world genre gives me hesitation these days; it’s almost a bad word. I blame Ubisoft. Not another waypoint! Not…
Rewire the entire United States in Kemco’s Electrician
For Famicom Friday, I cover a lot of obscure titles because I find it more fulfilling than regurgitating games that…
How a tiny robot convinced me to visit Japan
It was pouring down rain on Akihabara. The girls dressed as maids had an extra layer of transparent raincoat on,…
Get out some of that pent up aggression against pedestrians in Courier Crisis
Nineteen ninety-five was a rough time for games. The market was transitioning to 3D graphics, and there was a lot…
Get acquainted with Konami’s Getsu Fuuma Den before playing Undying Moon
The announcement of GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon caught me off guard. It’s like running into your human wreckage of an ex.…
Duke Nukem Forever proves the worst part of Duke Nukem is Duke Nukem
Does Duke Nukem Forever really need an introduction? It was announced before I hit puberty. It spent 15 years in…
Learn Japanese using the power of love and violence in Nintendo’s Popeye no Eigo Asobi
We’ve been friends for a while now, right? And after all these Famicom articles, you’re probably thinking, “gee, that lady…
Smile for Me is a delicious joy-maker that you may have missed
One particular facet of video games that has always fascinated me is games where you attempt to make someone happy.…
Learn to plant bears in the ground in Koneko Monogatari
Do you remember the film The Adventures of Milo and Otis? I don’t. It was based on a 1986 Japanese…
Review: Perfect Gold
My interest in romantic fiction really only blossomed after I was married. That may sound a bit backwards, but I…
Mind your manners and hold the door in Enix’s Door Door
The official release date of the Nintendo Entertainment System was October 1985, but in truth, that was a test launch.…
Abandon your individuality in EA’s The Urbz: Sims in the City
In 2000, while humanity was crawling from the wreckage and trying to rebuild after the devastation of Y2K, The Sims…
Brush up on your suplexes for Tecmo’s Tsuppari Oozumou
I don’t have much to say about the sport of sumo. It’s really old and has held onto many of…
Review: Shadow Man Remastered
Nightdive Studios does important work. Sure, there are a lot of companies out there that are all about remaking and…
If you were hoping for Twisted Metal III to be mediocre, your wish is granted
Twisted Metal was an institution on the PlayStation. Much like the landmark titles Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and Resident Evil, it exploded…
Travel to the 32th zone in Sunsoft’s Atlantis no Nazo
Part of what draws me to Famicom games is the fact that I missed out entirely on the culture around…
What games do you relax with?
Life is stressful, which is a phrase I hate saying because it reminds me of all the stressful things in…
Let’s relive the unspeakable horrors of high school with Mary-Kate and Ashley: Crush Course
There’s a method to my madness when picking kusoge. A lot of the time, I go by reputation. I may…
Uncover the block moving secrets of the Rapa Nui in Konami’s Moai-Kun
I love Moai. It’s an interesting aesthetic; huge, monolithic humans with warped proportions. But do you know who loves Moai…
Review: Spacebase Startopia
Spacebase Startopia is a bit of a weird thing. On the surface, it is definitely some sort of remake/reimagining/remaster of…
Join me on my quest to see nipples in BMX XXX
BMX XXX sounds like a terrible idea on paper. It’s technically a perversion of the Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX series,…
Review: Record of Lodoss War-Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth-
I can’t claim to be intimately familiar with Record of Lodoss War, but then, it’s a little scarce in the…
Nazo no Murasame-Jou deserves to be remembered alongside Metroid and Zelda
Nineteen eighty-six was a transformative year for Nintendo. Super Mario Bros. had released at the end of the previous year…
Climbing stairs is your greatest obstacle in Ghostbusters for the NES
It’s impossible to understate the impact Ghostbusters has had on my life. I was fanatical about it when I was…
Review: Evil Genius 2: World Domination
The evil genius archetype is one that fascinates me. It’s not that outlandish that an eccentric megalomaniac could gather a…
Revisiting Rule of Rose and its sad, depressing world of torment
I’m not sure if this is unusual since I don’t typically discuss “emotions” with other “humans,” but I generally play…
Hit the courts with your fists and slam a dunk on the top net with Nekketsu Street Basket
River City Ransom was an important game in the development of my retro appreciation. My early attempts at familiarizing myself…