• Review,  Video Games

    Review – Metroid Prime

    After an eight year haitus, Metroid returned in a big way. On the same day in 2002, Metroid Fusion for the Gameboy Advance and Metroid Prime for the Gamecube were released in North America. Fusion was a traditional sidescroller developed internally at Nintendo and closely follows the gameplay of Super Metroid. Prime, on the other hand was given off to…

  • Review,  Video Games

    Review – Mega Man X4

    There were six games of the classic Mega Man series released on the NES, the last one arriving as late as 1994. That’s pretty far past the launch of the SNES and even came after the release of the inaugural Mega Man X game. So was Capcom going to pull the same thing with the SNES and release up to…

  • Review,  Video Games

    Review – Calculords

    In writing, Seanbaby has been one of my biggest inspirations. A long time ago, I always looked forward to his “Rest of the Crap” column in EGM, and would read them out loud to my mother while gripping my sides to prevent them from splitting. He also once imparted advice in an article that has resonated with me to this…

  • Review,  Video Games

    Review – Spider-man (PS4)

    When I was in grade 8, following the removal of my appendix I developed a sudden obsession with Spider-Man. It kicked off a stint of collecting comics, even hitting the convention circuit with my father, picking up rare back issues. I don’t really keep up to date with the webslinger anymore, though I occasionally do deep dives into backissues, primarily…

  • Review,  Video Games

    Review – Mega Man X3

    I often regard the six original Mega Man games as sort of one single game. They were all basically the same title, with small tweaks and additions made throughout. You get a power-slide in 3, a chargeable buster in 4, and so on and so forth, but otherwise they were essentially interchangeable. This ended when Mega Man X hit the…

  • Review,  Video Games

    Review – Mega Man Legends

    Playing through the entire Mega Man X Legacy Collection was difficult. Not in the sense that I had difficulty surmounting the games, though there were some challenging moments, but because some of those games are just terrible. The latter half of the series was taking its toll on me and affecting my mood. It was disheartening, but I slogged through.…

  • Video Games

    Saturday Morning Scrutiny – The Legend of Zelda

    It’s funny to think that there was once a time when video games were looked at more as something for the kiddies, rather than the “serious business” it is today. It was yet to be seen as a medium ripe for storytelling, and I can only imagine that few people thought their works would blossom into the titanic franchises they…

  • Review,  Video Games

    Review – Mega Man X2

    The Mega Man series left a sizeable footprint on the NES after 6 titles in total were released on it. That’s pretty extreme. What amuses me is that they were all essentially the same game. Each had similar graphics and spritework, minutely improving after each title, and each had the exact same framework. Not that I’m complaining, Mega Man is…

  • Video Games

    Console Command – Turbografx-16

    In North America, the 16-bit console wars had two clear competitors: The Super Nintendo Entertainment System and the Sega Genesis. On the playground, we bickered about which system had better games or were more powerful. Or, I guess some did, I don’t recall doing that. I was playing Super Mario World on my SNES and Sonic the Hedgehog on my…

  • Review,  Video Games

    Review – WarioWare Gold

    A gentle nudge from a high school buddy sent me to the original WarioWare on the GameBoy Advance. I remember the day I bought it pretty clearly; from picking it up in the mall to trying it out at a table at Red Lobster with my mother. It started a love affair with the series which, judging by the excitement…