Author: Masamune The more video games I play, the more I can see how developers like to borrow ideas from each other. Take the original Super Mario Bros. for example. It’s the classic paragon of what a platformer should be. Off the top of your head think of some…
Author: John Legendoffzelda With its studio glitz, its recurring bodybuilder characters who called themselves the Gladiators, and its playground environment of red, white, and blue gym pads, the syndicated TV series American Gladiators made sports into a heightened form of escapism. Audiences could tune into an episode and see folks exert…
Author: John Legendoffzelda How much moving around is there in the Super Nintendo video game of Animaniacs? The Warner brothers (and the Warner sister) go into their idle animations, a dance where they shake their behinds in unison, not two seconds after the player leaves them still – that’s how…
Author: jrsupermoore The theme song to the 90s classic sitcom “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” perfectly captures the whimsical thrill I feel whenever I reach back to the third installment of the NBA Jam series on SNES, NBA Hang Time. While it rarely gets mentioned in the same breath as NBA…
Author: Masamune I consider myself an intermediate to advanced video game player. I like challenge in my games … as long as it’s fair. Not in many years have I experienced such a frustratingly difficult game as I have with Jim Power. The saddest part is that it could…
Author: merlinfunk The first wave of Super Nintendo games to hit shelves held some giants whose gameplay, sound, and graphics raised the bar for all titles to follow. The Legend of the Mystical Ninja was just such a game: its 1992 release was the first of many confirmations for Nintendo’s…
Author: John Legendoffzelda Super Valis IV, Atlus’ port of the fourth installment in the overlooked Valis franchise, suffers the most from a lack of context. It’s named like a sequel, and it’s the continuation of a magical-girl fantasy about a girl named Yuko Ahso, who inherits a magic sword and…
Author: jrsupermoore If you’ve ever been the author of what you thought to be a brilliant, one-of-a-kind concept only to be told “hey, that’s our idea, copycat!”, you know what it was like for DMA, the geniuses behind Uniracers. It turns out that being accused of idea theft was a double blow, because…
Author: John Legendoffzelda Jeopardy!, perhaps the best game show after The Price is Right, has such a strong concept that it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t work as a video game. The most famous trivia contest in popular culture, the show has carried itself on the lasting thrills of both…
Author: jrsupermoore All the team at EA Sports did in 1991 for the game of golf was what they accomplished for a host of other sports: introduce a well-rounded title at the onset of the Super Nintendo’s life. While this may not seem like such a tall feat, by…