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    1980s,  NES,  Review

    Review – Dragon Warrior III

    For quite a long while, I couldn't stomach JRPGs at the best of time. However, in order to acquire a taste, I jumped in at the deep end with the Dragon Warrior (Quest) games on NES. Dragon Warrior 3 was the one I heard the most praise for, so I was very curious.

  • Review,  Video Games

    Review – Legacy of the Wizard

    The NES library is rather cluttered with obscure, Metroid-like sidescrollers contained within interconnected worlds, from Goonies 2 to Rygar, and I’m still surprised by how often I turn over a rock and come across a new one. Legacy of the Wizard was something I bought years ago with the intention of playing immediately, only to have it languish on my…

  • Review,  Video Games

    Review – Yume Penguin Monogatari

    While we got some decent Konami games over here in North America, we didn’t get to see the sort of brand unity that they had in Famicom. We really got ripped off, not seeing a hair of the Ganbare Goemon series until the SNES, never really getting a look at Parodius, and even getting snubbed for Gradius II. I’d have…

  • Review,  Video Games

    Review – Super Dodgeball

    I absolutely love the Kunio-Kun series. Over here, we got about 5 titles on the NES, all confusingly branded differently, whereas over in Japan, they got about a dozen, all confusingly branded differently. The unified artstyle, the cartoonish violence; the Kunio-Kun series is a special series for me for quite a few reasons. Super Dodgeball is also pretty special to…

  • Review,  Video Games

    Review – Silent Hill

    I think this was, like, my third attempt to complete Silent Hill. I was, for a time, a giant wuss when it came to horror games, but a few years ago, something clicked and now I find that games can’t frighten me. I’ve had a sudden craving to play old horror games, so I thought it would be a good…

  • Review,  Video Games

    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…

  • Review,  Video Games

    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…

  • Review,  Video Games

    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:…

  • Review,  Video Games

    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…

  • Video Games

    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…