• Ben Bero Beh Header. Image via FlyerFever.com.
    1980s,  Bakage,  Review,  The Quarterhole

    Review – Ben Bero Beh

    I have a confession to make: I’m attracted to weird Japanese arcade games. There’s a word for it: Bakage (Ba-kah-gey, not ba-cage). It means stupid game. It’s not to be mistaken for kusoge (koo-so-gey) which means crappy game. I have made the mistake before, but merely because I didn’t know there was a name for bizarre games. 1984’s Ben Bero…

  • Sparkster Cover with the eponymous character hurtling toward the viewer.
    1990s,  SNES

    Review – Sparkster (SNES)

    Rocket Knight Adventures remains my favourite game on the Genesis, so it’s heartening to see that Limited Run Games has a collection on the way. I preordered the Ultimate Edition because sometimes you have to spoil yourself. I love RKA, and what other opportunities will I have to really express that in the form of consumerism? But while I’m happy…

  • Streets of Rage Header
    1990s,  Genesis

    Review – Streets of Rage

    My household as a child was ruled by the Super Nintendo. That is to say, my childhood console was an SNES. But I had a cousin who lived nearby with a Sega Genesis. He didn’t have many games, but we rented a lot when we spent time together. However, he also had the Sega 6-Pak. It had games like Sonic…

  • Psycho Dream Header 2
    1990s,  Review,  SNES

    Review – Psycho Dream

    The opening credits showed the director, Kenichi Nishi. “I know that name,” I thought to myself. I initially believed it was maybe because he had something to do with Valis, but I knew it was something more significant than that. No, wait. Kenichi Nishi was at Love-de-Lic before he co-founded Skip. The dude helped create Chibi-Robo!

  • Image via Mobygames
    1990s,  Bakage

    Review – Harvester

    Harvester haunts me. It's incredible that this game came out in '96, because even the seediest, most experimental side of the indie and alternative markets would struggle to conjure something even nearly as evocative and bizarre as the dark, twisted, and disgustingly effective world that Steve finds himself in.