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Retro Game Challenge is Out Today. You Will Buy It.

It seems that, outside of a few very specific outlets, we retro game fans don't get nearly enough love. Sure, most modern franchises will occasionally throw us a bone or a little steaming nugget of fan service, but we're mostly left to our own outdated devices. This is why we should thank our lucky stars (yes, all of them) that companies like XSEED (who I respect for bringing over interesting B-Grade RPGs like Wild Arms 4 and Shadow Hearts: From the New World) recognize our need for attention and seek to remedy this problem with the release of games like Retro Game Challenge--which, if you couldn't tell from the title of this post, is out today. And I would like you to buy it. Please.

The interesting thing about Retro Game Challenge is that shows no guilt about tapping into the purest roots of nostalgia; through the framing device of the game, you're basically re-living a childhood narrative of electronic entertainment.

Trailer Review: Retro Game Master

You know, not to be glib, but this is some meta shit right here. Follow me down the rabbit hole of abstraction, won’t you? Game Center CX is a show about a comedian pretending to be Japanese middle-manager who plays NES games in marathon sessions, with typically hilarious results. The show’s Americanized name is Retro Game Master, though the show currently has no distribution in the United States. XSEED games, a fairly new US game publisher that specializes in Japanese quirk, is publishing Retro Game Challenge, an English localization of GameCenter CX: Arino no Chōsenjō, a videogame made up of pretend NES games based on a show about a pretend man who plays real NES games. It boggles the mind!

Game Center CX is Charming as Hell

61 Frames Per Second took a field trip to the IFC Center yesterday morning to catch the New York Asian Film Festival’s final screening of a localized Game Center CX. For anyone not up on the Japanese pop-culture, Game Center CX, renamed Retro Game Master for us yanks, is a strange mix of Jackass, classic Iron Chef, and videogames. Comedian Shinya Arino is “The Kacho” (midde-manager) and each episode finds him marathon playing (sometimes for well over eight hours straight) classic games from the 8 and 16-bit eras. Sitting in an all but empty theater at 11:30am and watching a middle-aged Japanese funnyman lose at Ghosts 'n Goblins for six hours might sound like a strange way to have a good time, but, let me tell you, it’s a blast.

about the blogger

John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Nerve, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.