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Review – Never Stop Sneakin’
I have a pretty severe distaste for Metal Gear Solid, but I will readily admit that it is stylish, which is probably a big factor in its lasting popularity. It copied its MSX predecessors’ palette of cool blues and greys, giving it a cold and sterile appearance, then bloated it out into full 3D. It really owned its blocky, pixelated…
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Review – Army Men: World War: Land Sea Air
Years after writing this review, I had convinced myself that I accidentally played Land Sea Air on hard mode and wasn't able to change it back. So, I tried it again, making sure it was on Medium. Nope, this game really is so unfair that it's painful to play.
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Review – Ghostbusters (NES)
Out of the small handful of non-gaming franchises that I can claim to be a fan of, Ghostbusters is easily the one that I’m most enamored with. I built my own replica proton pack in high school, I’ve donned a flightsuit for many Hallowe’en nights, and my apartment is littered with related merch. I’ve read the comics, watched the cartoons,…
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Read-only Memories – Animal Crossing
Lost in the mists of gaming trivia is the useless fact that Animal Crossing and Star Fox Adventures were released for Gamecube a week apart in 2002: September 15th and 23rd, respectively. I don’t recall what day it was that I found myself in that Zellers, playing the demo kiosk for Star Fox Adventures. I was a young teen at…
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Review – Metal Gear (NES)
Metal Gear on the NES seems to have suffered the strange fate of a tarnished reputation. It was once unquestionably considered a classic, and while to some it still is, it’s simply not held up in the same light. This may be due to the growing awareness that the NES version of Metal Gear is a port of a game…
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Review – Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders
One of the first genre journeys I recall embarking on as a retro gaming hobbyist was an exploration of the LucasArts adventure catalogue. During that time, I dug through a scattered assortment of titles, but burned out earlier than I would have liked. I found new favourites in games like The Secret of Monkey Island, but have still yet to…
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Review – Maniac Mansion
Whenever I explore a new facet of video games, I have a tendency to go in hard. If there’s some revered series or sub-genre that I’ve yet to touch, I’ll dive right in from the beginning and blow through as many titles as possible before my endurance is expended. So of course I had a point-and-click adventure phase, what (formerly)…
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Console Command – Famicom Disk System
The Nintendo Entertainment System was a landmark console in North America. It revitalized a faltering marketplace following the video game crash of 1983, and it created the console ecosystem that we enjoy today. Without out it, the industry would be a very different place. At least on this side of the pond. In Japan, the NES was known as the…
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Review – Rad Racer
If you asked me to name ten games that helped define the NES, there’s a chance that I’d drop Rad Racer into that list, but probably not for the reason you’d expect. Sure, it sold somewhere around 2 million units and established itself as the preeminent racing game on the console at the time of its 1987 release. It came…
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Review – Outrun 2019
It’s the unimaginably distant future. The year: 2019. The streets have been overrun by insufferable people who adhere to the speed limit. The death of recreational driving has pushed the Ferrari to the brink of extinction. It’s up to you to bring speed back to the people and remind them of the joy that reckless driving can bring. It’s up…
