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• Watcha Listening To? Retronauts Episode 48

  In lieu of actually playing video games this week, I've spent most of my time contacting local landlords to determine if it's actually possible to live in America on the salary of a teacher/freelance writer <SPOILER>It's not</SPOILER>. So outside of wondering which nearby dumpsters offer the most headroom, I've been filling my mindless travel time with god's gift to commuters: podcasts. And I'll be damned if the latest Retronauts isn't the best one I've heard in quite some time. Read More... Posted Aug 22 2008, 06:30 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: 1up, nes, retro, bob mackey, famicom

• Chiptune Friday: Bionic Commando - A New Breed of Hero

  I have to admit, I kind of got used to John's daily posts about the majesty of Bionic Commando, and while Rearmed has been keeping my DualShock3 rumbling with delight since then, I still feel something missing when I'm away from the game for too long. Thankfully, this little gem from the 1988 NES version was around to keep my headphones warm with hot lead. Read More... Posted Aug 22 2008, 01:00 PM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with no comments Filed under: derrick sanskrit, bionic commando, nes, chiptune friday, pitchfork, reformat the planet

• Watcha Playing: Kororinpa Marble Mania

  Way back in the day, I played a quirky little game called Marble Madness. It was a game where you controlled a marble and had to safely roll it through mazes filled with marble eating tube worms and other obstacles, all while trying not to fall off the edge. This was back on the NES so you didn't tilt the maze, you controlled the marble directly, though it still had pretty darn good weight and momentum as you directed it through the M.C. Escher-esque mazes. That's one nifty thing about 2-D. You can use it to draw 3-D looking objects that defy three dimensional reality. Read More... Posted Aug 21 2008, 11:00 AM by Amber Ahlborn with | with no comments Filed under: marble madness, wii, nes, amber ahlborn, watcha playing, marble mania, kororinpa, super monkey ball

• Overworld: Friday the 13th

  Overworld examines how one game or series establishes a unique sense of place. Buzz for EA Redwood Shores’ Dead Space has gone from indifference to genuine excitement in the weeks since E3. Now that people have actually played the interactive paean to Cameron-Carpenter-styled horror, they’ve found that its forbidding atmosphere, sound, and HUD-free presentation are hype-worthy and legitimately scary. I haven’t gotten to try it out myself but I’m anxious to get my hands on it. Redwood Shores have taken the essential road to designing quality interactive horror; Dead Space is, at its core, a game about confinement, about being trapped in a hostile environment with limited means of survival. Videogames lend themselves to this method of creating tension and anxiety because their environments are, naturally, closed. System Shock’s dilapidated space station, Resident Evil’s mansion, and even the more expansive town of Silent Hill are perfectly closed spaces, places that simultaneously create dread and a functional goal: how do I get out? It’s far rarer to see a game take the opposite route. After all, it isn’t easy to make a game that makes you feel lost. If a game forces you to lose yourself in its environment, by way of randomly generated environments or trick passages that lead to incongruous locations (as in Zelda’s Lost Woods), it risks frustrating the player – this is especially bad if the game’s intent is horror, since frustration can easily replace anxiety. It’s equally difficult to create a closed environment that is delicately constructed to confuse the player. The original Metroid and its Game Boy sequel are two of the only games that manage to successfully pull this off thanks to its series of identical hallways and dead ends. Another is Friday the 13th. Read More... Posted Aug 14 2008, 03:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, overworld, metroid, nintendo, ea, resident evil, silent hill, nes, dead space, Friday the 13th, ljn

• Alternate Soundtrack: StarTropics vs. Islands

  Some of our readers may recognize this pairing, as it was suggested by Rob waaaaaaaaaaay back in May. Yes, StarTropics holds a special place in the hearts of many Nintendo fans. Conceived as a western sister game to The Legend of Zelda, StarTropics was a linear adventure about an American teenager (he was a Seattle high school baseball star!) exploring the monster-filled caves of tropical islands in order to rescue his archeologist uncle from aliens. Proving how very western the game was, neither it nor its sequel Zoda's Revenge were ever released in Nintendo's native Japan. Read More... Posted Aug 12 2008, 10:30 AM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: nintendo, alternate soundtrack, derrick sanskrit, the legend of zelda, nes, startropics, islands

• Chiptune Friday: Little Nemo: The Dream Master PLUS Bonus Music Video!

  Capcom are responsible for several of the most well established franchises in video game history, but it wasn't too long ago that that they were also known for decidedly non-sucky games based on licensed properties. In 1990, Capcom gave NES owners a new reason think about sleep while they were awake with Little Nemo: The Dream Master, a surprisingly challenging platformer loosely based on the animated film Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland, which itself was loosely based on Winsor McCay's classic Little Nemo in Slumberland comic strips. In 8-bit Capcom tradition, the game featured lush graphics, vibrant sound, and tight gameplay. Here now, the music from the second "dream" (stage) in the game, Flower Garden, a personal favorite of mine because you got to control both the gorilla and the bee! Read More... Posted Aug 08 2008, 12:00 PM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with no comments Filed under: derrick sanskrit, capcom, nes, chiptune friday, truckasauras, little nemo, pitchfork

• The End Has No End

  I recently played through Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction and, while I had a long list of problems with the game, the conclusion cinema was certainly a troublesome concern. More than anything else, the massively disappointing finale made me realize how intensely narrative-driven the game was, even more than the New York Times' claim that the game was an interactive Pixar movie (which, for the record, it totally is not). Ever since games first became produced on discs rather than cartridges the focus on cinema-centric storytelling has been undeniable, most notably with early Playstation games like Final Fantasy VII and Metal Gear Solid. Read More... Posted Aug 07 2008, 01:30 PM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with no comments Filed under: metal gear solid, nes, Playstation, final fantasy vii, cinematics, endings, ratchet &amp, clank

• Yahtzee On E3: Are We Gaming in an Age of Uncreativity?

  Like clockwork, the latest Zero Punctuation showed up on Wednesday afternoon. I think the gaming world shall go mad if Yahtzee misses a week. How are we ever to know that it's Wednesday? Australia's grumpiest gamer weighed in on this year's E3 with a pretty hilarious ejaculation(!) of mild outrage: seeing as E3 2008 was as exciting as discount hamburger, Yahtzee had the right to punch the event in the solar plexus. He did bring up one point I've been thinking about: with the surge of sequels we've been seeing for established franchises, it almost seems as if no one's had an original game idea for a long time. Yahtzee makes mention of crazy old NES games that starred French chefs "riding on stickbugs and armed with guns that shot velociraptors." It's a common complaint and it seems as if we're hearing it more than ever these days. It's not like there's reason to dismiss it as hyperbole, either. When the most unusual title at a big name trade show is a Mega Man title, it's time to descend into Hell and thaw out poor Satan. I haven't decided if I'm totally in agreement with Yahtzee. I remember the NES very well, especially my family's weekend trips to rent games. My two brothers and I took turns with the weekly rentals. Pity the fool who picked up a second-rate platformer game because s/he wasn't renting anything else for three weeks. I quickly learned how not to become a victim. It was a painful journey full of disappointment, floaty controls and terrible tinny music because boy howdy, there was a lot of crap on the shelves of those Mom n Pop video stores. Read More... Posted Jul 31 2008, 07:54 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: yahtzee, zero punctuation, nes, mario, zelda, 8-bit, retro, ideas, bad games

• Fifty-Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right

  It’s hard to overstate our love for Kurt Kalata’s Hardcore Gaming 101. Every time HG101 runs a new series retrospective, it makes me punch myself directly in the forehead while wondering either a) why didn’t I think of this or b) why have I never heard of this game before? Option b was the dominant thought while I was checking out the most recent update. HG101 contributor Jave has a look at the unlicensed Genesis and NES monstrosities known as Action 52. I’ve never heard of Active Enterprises’ Frankenstein Monsters before reading the piece, but now it’s a moral imperative I seek them out. Unlike the myriad bootleg NES and Genny game cartridges that jammed variable numbers of existing games into a single package, Action 52 is a collection of fifty-two originals, all of them apparently awful. The retrospective is a great read on its own but particularly interesting is the theory Jave floats in his introduction: terrible games lead to good games. Read More... Posted Jul 29 2008, 02:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, nes, hg101, gears of war, genesis, dark sector, kill.switch, action 52

• Double Dragon Double Dragon Double Dragon!!

  It's a comfort to know that Double Dragon still lives on in the hearts of (man)children. Billy and Jimmy Lee team up in this awesome video to show the world that they can still kick ass. Phonebooks pose no challenge. Muffins get squashed. Cabbages get punted and cars get exploded with special moves. (Wait, the Lee twins didn't throw Hadokens, did they?) As for the women...well, no female in her right mind can resist the pull of an unemployed karate master. Especially karate masters in pink and baby blue gis. (Note: Billy and Jimmy Lee advise you not to use the cheapest clothing dye available at Wal-Mart or else your fire-reds might turn out a little calm and your royal blues might end up a little feminine.) Enjoy your weekend. Read More... Posted Jul 25 2008, 03:11 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with no comments Filed under: nes, double dragon, retro, billy lee, karate, jimmy lee, fan video

• Chiptune Friday: A Test of Island Courage!

  As a lifelong coast-dweller, I am well aware of the fact that hurricane season is upon us. With this in mind, I feel that it's the right time to bring out my favorite island-hopping adventure game, StarTropics from Nintendo. Here's the happy little ditty that plays in Chapter 6: Reunion when your young adventurer finally finds his missing archeologist uncle, Dr. J: Read More... Posted Jul 25 2008, 01:15 PM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: nintendo, derrick sanskrit, nes, chiptune friday, twilight princess, punch out, startropics

• The Nerd Needs You!

  If you thought the Angry Video Game Nerd probably pulled something or lost some vital part of his soul while reviewing the truly wretched Superman 64...you'd be right. That's why he needs us all to chip in, ease him onto his crutches and help him review another digital terror: Deadly Towers for the NES. How does a mortal gamer even begin to describe Prince Myer's wack adventure? Let's turn to Seanbaby. Seanbaby is not a mortal, but actually a demigod and the all-purpose warrior that arts and crafts booklets are referring to when they tell you not to turn on the oven or use scissors without an adult present. Because Seanbaby's intestines are lined with lead, he was able to play Deadly Towers and place it at its deserved #1 spot in his list of The 20 Worst NES Games Of All Time: "Deadly Towers. This game was originally called, "Shitty Towers," but when seventeen play testers went on a homicidal rampage, its name was changed to remind us all of that cold, bloody morning. "Don't try to make sense of it. Just do everything in your power to not play this game." Read More... Posted Jul 22 2008, 07:33 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: angry video game nerd, nes, superman 64, bad game, seanbaby, deadly towers, prince myer, audience participation

• Alternate Soundtrack: Mighty Final Fight vs. Radio 4

  Conceived as a sequel to the original Street Fighter, Capcom's Final Fight was an admitted take-off of Technos' Double Dragon side-scrolling beat 'em ups. Already a hit in the arcades and 16-bit consoles, Capcom took the next logical step with its new gang violence franchise: rebuilding it with super-deformed style anime graphics for the 8-bit and obsolete Nintendo Entertainment System in 1993. Comically playing through the story of a city under siege by roving street gangs and the three dudes who fight it (including the burly bodybuilder mayor), Mighty Final Fight plays wonderfully with Radio 4's 2002 sophomore LP, Gotham!, a post-punk opus to a ravaged and dilapidated New York City. Read More... Posted Jul 22 2008, 10:30 AM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with no comments Filed under: alternate soundtrack, street fighter, derrick sanskrit, capcom, nes, final fight, double dragon, mighty final fight, radio 4, dfa

• Revenge of the Port: Dead Rising Shuffles, Moans on Wii

  The true death of the arcade came at the beginning of this decade. It wasn’t when gamers started opting for the comfort and value of playing at home; it was when home consoles finally started equaling (and surpassing) the technological heft of the arcade cabinets themselves. Sega, one of the only surviving arcade giants, signed the death warrant themselves when developing the Dreamcast and its arcade-motherboard-twin, Naomi. Games at home and games in the arcade, identical for the first time. The move may have had the negative effect of killing off the already declining amusement center population across the Western world, but it also had a significant silver lining: the death of the shoddy arcade port. Approximations of more technologically demanding games have been a staple of gaming in the home since the 1970s, but, with the exception of stray PC-based ports, downgraded game experiences have largely disappeared since 2000. Today, in 2008, the fracturing of the console space seems to be bringing them back in force. Read More... Posted Jul 16 2008, 01:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, nintendo, xbox 360, resident evil, wii, capcom, nes, PC, pokemon, sega, grand theft auto, dreamcast, port, koei, Naomi, dead rising, dynasty warriors

• Underpowered Cave Story "Ports"

  I've already done some mouthing off about how much I love Cave Story, the one-man miracle game that looks great, sounds great and plays better. Not surprisingly, Cave Story has a significant fandom. In fact, a member  at the Way of the Pixel forums recently posted a relevant challenge: whip up "screenshots" of what Cave Story might look like if it were ported to less-powerful systems. The results are amusing, especially the Spectrum ZX mock-up. I'd like to see something done in the style of the Apple ][ or better yet, the Commodore 64. Read More... Posted Jul 11 2008, 09:21 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: fan project, nes, commodore 64, adventure games, cave story, master system, fans, mock-up, spectrum zx

• Up All Night: Trojan

  Capcom’s early NES games had pretty clear premises. Commando tapped the throbbing Stallone-Schwarzenegger vein of the one-man army shooting faceless baddies on a foreign battlefield, Section Z was the same thing in space, and Ghosts ‘n’ Goblins was the same thing but with, um, ghosts and goblins. Then there was Trojan. Twenty-two years after it’s release and I still have no idea what the hell was going on with Trojan. You’re a guy wearing overalls who, I suppose, is named Trojan. Despite the fact that Trojan is carrying a sword, he is not a soldier of the ancient city, Troy. He is also not a spokesperson for male contraception. Read More... Posted Jul 07 2008, 03:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, up all night, nes, commando, ghosts 'n goblins, section z, trojan

• Progress Quest: Playstation 3 Growing Up and The General Beauty of Firmware Updates

  The much discussed 2.40 firmware update for the Playstation 3 was officially announced today. It will be available for download this coming Wednesday, July 2nd. If you’re reading this blog, chances are you know what a firmware update is, but for anyone out there not familiar with the language, it’s no different than updating your computer, iPod, or Blackberry’s operating system. It cleans up any bugs, improves digital security, and adds new features to whatever device you happen to be updating. The PS3’s firmware update brings a host of new stuff to the system that users have been clamoring for since the system’s launch in November 2006. The improved feature list includes access to the cross-media bar, or XMB, while playing a game. The XMB is the system’s handy row-and-column interface, organized into multimedia (stored video or audio), game saves, and community stuff like a friends list, etc. The update also ups the number of friends you can have on the Playstation Network to one-hundred. The other new feature is Trophies, Sony’s answer to Xbox 360’s Achievements. These are preset goals in games that signify play milestones for a user’s profile (Score a million points? Get a trophy.) The 2.40 update is a big moment for the PS3, yet another olive branch from the once haughty corporation to a slowly growing user base; Sony’s saying they’re listening and delivering. Read More... Posted Jun 30 2008, 02:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, playstation 3, xbox 360, nes, sony, firmware

• Don’t Call It Retro: Mega Man 9 and Design Resurrection

  As 61 Frames Per Second’s newest team member Nadia pointed out earlier today, Mega Man 9 is a reality. Revitalizations of long-dormant franchises have been a mainstay in the gaming business since the Playstation 1-era, trading on nostalgia and brand recognition to push new designs. But the past few years have seen a growing trend of proper numerical sequels releasing a decade or more after their predecessors. Games like WayForward and Konami’s Contra 4 and Taito’s Legend of Kage 2 are not only sequels in name; play in these games is built on the same archaic fundamentals as their ancestors. Both Kage 2 and Contra 4’s only real advancements are slight visual upgrades and mechanical tweaks (both games, being designed for the Nintendo DS, introduce skills that necessitate play on both the system’s screens.) Mega Man 9, however, is unique. It is being made using the exact same tools and in the same style as it was twenty years ago. The decision to build Mega Man 9 as an NES game is not mere retro pandering. Series creator Keiji Inafune has said numerous times that he’s kept making (and remaking) 2D Mega Man games (alongside teams like Inticreates, the team helming 9’s development) because it’s important to continue refining and rediscovering what made a simple design successful in the first place. With the freedom offered by digital distribution venues like WiiWare, creators like Inafune no longer need to ensure their games will be modern enough to succeed on store shelves. They can also utilize outmoded hardware, like the NES, to make their games. Read More... Posted Jun 26 2008, 02:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, nintendo, wii, capcom, nes, mega man, contra, genesis, keiji inafune, mega man 9, turbo-grafx, legend of kage

• Chiptune Friday: Do the Monster Mash!

  Written by Derrick Sanskrit It's Friday the 13th, which means its time for a super-spooky edition of Chiptune Friday! Here's the ever-popular "Bloody Tears" from 61FPS favorite Castlevania II: Simon's Quest: Oh yeah, that gets me in the mood to dance with some cute vampire girls before I have to go reclaim chunks of Dracula's body from five different castles... Read More... Posted Jun 13 2008, 02:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: derrick sanskrit, nes, castlevania, chiptune friday

• Chiptune Friday: Helix Nebula

  Written by Derrick Sanskrit It's friday, which means it's time for chiptune! It's also June, which means that the summer concert season has officially begun! Summer may not officially begin for another two weeks, but the sun is beating down on NYC, so let's go outside and rock out with our joysticks out! To get you in the summer spirit, here's a track by one of my favorite chiptune bands, Anamanaguchi. This Brooklyn trio (sometimes quartet) uses a modified Nintendo Entertainment System to build their beats, then kick the bits up from 8 to 11 with electric guitars and bass (and sometimes a drum set for their live shows). Anamanaguchi's music is exciting and lively, full of warm square waves and fuzzy guitars with crunchy blips and beats. It simultaneously calls to mind the best 8-bit shooters and platformers with its aggressive playfulness. Makes me feel like running around the elementary school playground, hopped up on Pop Rocks, kicking the butts off radioactive goblins that only I can see. Read More... Posted Jun 06 2008, 03:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: derrick sanskrit, nes, chiptune friday, anamanaguchi, 8bitpeoples

• Personal Firsts: My Gaming Scrapbook, From A to Wii

  Written by Amber Ahlborn At some point in the 1980s, the year nebulous in my memory, my mom bowled with her team every Thursday night. I loved Thursday nights because dad let me stay up late to watch M.A.S.H. and Benny Hill. Sometimes he and I would hop in the car and go visit mom at the alley, and that was the best. Dad would sit and watch mom bowl. Me? I would squeeze every last quarter I could get out of him. With a fist full of change and dollars soon to be converted into change, I’d walk down to the alley’s hamburger bar, snag a stool, and drag it through the glass doors into the arcade. Without deviation, I’d position my stool in front of the “Ostrich Game” and stay planted there until I ran out of money. I’m speaking of Joust of course, but at that age I could neither reach the controls without a stool to sit on nor read very well. Read More... Posted Jun 02 2008, 01:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: pac-man, metroid, wii, legend of zelda, snes, nes, ico, mega man, atari, gamecube, amber ahlborn, kaboom, katamari damacy, chrono trigger, firsts, pikmin, Playstation, joust, pitfall, star fox, ps2, frogger, super mario bros, ds

• Chiptune Friday: 8bit bEtty Tastes the Rainbow

  Written by Derrick Sanskrit It's common practice at this point on the internet to have Dance Party Friday. Don't let us stop you. Its been a long week, you shake your groove thing. Please, allow us to contribute to your booty-shaking. Here on Chiptune Friday, we will spotlight one of our favorite chiptune tracks every week, embracing our primitive gaming past while looking to the very sexy future so you can wiggle while you work it. This week, 8bit bEtty's cover of the classic Reading Rainbow theme song. bEtty uses the soundchips from the NES, Gameboy, and Commodore 64 alongside Pro Tools to craft these retro nuggets. Enjoy: Reading Rainbow - 8bit bEtty Read More... Posted May 23 2008, 02:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: game boy, derrick sanskrit, nes, chiptune friday, reading rainbow, commodore 64

• Periphery: Angry Video Game Nerd Edition

  I like to think, in my more ponderous moments (read: stoned), that gods are born constantly. It was probably the steady diet of British fantasy I consumed while being an ornery Catholic school student during my formative years that led to this continuing line of speculation. Working on the internet every day, I’ve started to spot the reigning deities of the Web 2.0 pantheon. The Angry Video Game Nerd is one of them. I’m not wholly convinced James D. Rolfe was ever a human being at all; he was born straight from the net, a spiritual conjuring made of Youtube users, fandom, and nostalgia addictions. His followers are legion too. Just look at the sheer number of blatant imitators sacrificing their dignity at his altar, the numerous acolytes playing his theme song across Myspace and Facebook. Read More... Posted May 15 2008, 01:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, nintendo, wii, mario kart, periphery, angry video game nerd, nes