Zoey made up for her mundane childhood by playing video games. Now she won't shut up about them. Her eclectic tastes have worried many. Don't come to close, or she'll shove some weird indie or retro game in your face. It's better to not make eye contact. Cross the street if you see her coming.

  • Cool Riders Header
    1990s,  Arcade,  Bakage,  Review

    Review – Cool Riders

    If you don’t look too closely, it looks like a bunch of thrown-together digitized sprites trying hard to look cool. Like Pit Fighter; exactly like Pit Fighter. But upon closer inspection, you realize that it isn’t just some ill-advised, thrown-together racing game. It knows exactly what it is. I still do not know what chaotic ritual conjured this game, but…

  • Bonze Adventure Header
    1980s,  Arcade,  Review

    Review – Bonze Adventure

    The best part of playing Bonze Adventure is probably learning what a bonze is. I'm not sure I'll ever use that knowledge, but at least it's there now. And knowledge is power. Unfortunately, Bonze Adventure is has some great character design within, but not much else going for it.

  • DuckTales 2 cover
    1990s,  NES,  Review

    Review – DuckTales 2

    DuckTales is pretty great. Not just the cartoon, but the first NES game which I usually point to as a baseline for licensed platformers. It has unique mechanics partially informed by the subject matter. Duck Tales 2 is more of that. More of that and not much else.

  • Header Black Bird
    2010s,  Review

    Review – Black Bird

    Yoshiro Kimura and his cohorts have my eternal gratitude for Chulip. So, I don't think there's any situation where I wouldn't be willing to try something new from them. Black Bird is a pretty far cry from promiscuous smooching, but that's okay. At least in this case.

  • Pu-Li-Ru-La Header
    1990s,  Arcade,  Bakage,  Review

    Review – Pu-Li-Ru-La

    The beat-'em-up series is a varied as you can get when it comes to putting fists into faces and faces into concrete, but Pu-Li-Ru-La stands apart in its cartoon art-style. It's just too bad that it can't live up to the intense, wall-to-wall weirdness of its third stage.

  • Image via Monomi Park
    2010s,  Review

    Review – Slime Rancher

    Slime Rancher is among the most successful cozy games in the niche, and for the most part, I love it. However, it's like a glass of milk; it's very enjoyable at first, but if you sit with it too long, it starts to smell and you don't want to drink it.