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Review – Onimusha: Warlords (2019 Remaster)
Around the time of Onimusha Warlord’s release, I was still firmly a Nintendo Fangirl. It would be a few years before I finally branched out and embraced all games, regardless of what filthy console they’re played on. I saw Onimusha’s commercials frequently enough at the time that it stuck in my mind, but I never played it. Years later, I…
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Review – Sonic the Hedgehog
My relationship with Sonic the Hedgehog is… complicated. I was an SNES child, so my mentor growing up was Mario, but my cousin had a Genesis, and I spent many mornings over there diving into his games. It was the 90’s, and we were told that Sonic was cool, so I was, of course, obediently enamoured. I don’t recall when…
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Review – Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
While the Game Boy was released in 1989 to near-instant popularity, it would take developers a few years to actually come to grips with the little grey brick’s eccentricities. Early games on the handheld tended to be either single screen puzzle or arcade games, and attempts at porting the gameplay of existing NES licenses. This resulted in games like Castlevania:…
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Review – Monster Party
It doesn’t feel like I’ve been collecting retro games for that long, but I guess it has been a little over 10 years. Those were the days. It seemed like there was an unending supply of gems to discover hidden behind every rock. These days, it feels like I’ve only got sports games left to collect Monster Party was one…
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Review – Pilotwings
When the Super Nintendo finally landed on Western shores in 1991, it brought with it three games. Super Mario World and F-Zero have gone on to be legends in their own rights, but the third game is a little more obscure. Pilotwings may seem like the less exciting choice when stood up next to a Mario game and a hyper-fast…
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Review – Snatcher
I can’t say I have the best relationship with Hideo Kojima. On one hand, I respect him as a creative force. On the other hand, he’s an excruciatingly awful storyteller. The Metal Gear series can, at the best of times, be an entertaining experience, but then it stops, lurches in your direction, and vomits exposition directly on your shoes. And…
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Review – Mega Man X8
I could not have predicted things would turn out this way. I count Mega Man X as one of my favourite games, and to see the series take a gradual slide into atrociousness has been hard to experience. The SNES trilogy was fine, and the Playstation trilogy started out decently enough, but by the time I hit X6, my spirits…
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Review – Ganbare Goemon: Karakuri Douchuu
Konami has had a severe fall from grace in recent years. In actuality, they’ve been in steady decline for a long time, but only recently have they demonstrated an actual derision of the video game market. It’s hard to believe that back in their Famicom heyday they were a machine, churning out great games at an unbelievable pace. A lot…
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Review – Gargoyle’s Quest II
In the twilight years of the NES, Capcom made what are arguably some of the best action platformers of the time. Using lessons learned from their time designing Mega Man, games like Duck Tales and Yo! Noid were tight games that felt solid and satisfying. Even on their worst days, Capcom typically came along with something at least playable. Gargoyle’s…
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Review – Gargoyle’s Quest
Nintendo’s first cartridge based handheld, the Gameboy, was many things. It was influential, popular, long-lived, and absolutely ubiquitous. It was not, however, a very powerful system. Consider that the Atari Lynx was released later in the same year — a handheld with a full colour display and better graphical capacity — and you’ll see that the Gameboy lagged behind in…
