You know what’s funny about coming to retro gaming late? I missed all the “you had to be there” moments that define most people’s gaming memories. Like, I never experienced the cultural earthquake of certain games hitting at exactly the right time. But sometimes I stumble across something that makes me wish I’d been paying attention back then, and the Beavis and Butt-Head game for Genesis is definitely one of those titles. Found this one…
I’ve been gaming since 1982, and I’ve watched how racing games evolved from pure arcade simplicity to serious simulations. Gran Turismo is the moment console racing games proved they could be serious simulations. Over 150 cars with distinct handling characteristics. Dozens of tracks. A career mode spanning 60+ hours. This is racing design that respects the driver’s skill and understands racing as a complex discipline. The driving physics are weighty. Cars respond to input with…
I came to Crash Bandicoot completely fresh expecting a charming but dated 3D platformer. What I found was a masterclass in how tight controls and brilliant level design create engagement that transcends graphics quality. Coming from construction, I understand something about how systems need to work within constraints. Crash Bandicoot understands constraint-driven elegance perfectly. You’re a bandicoot running through colorful levels collecting fruit and avoiding obstacles. The controls are immediately responsive. Every jump is precise.…
Here’s the thing about Final Fantasy VII that people who didn’t live through 1997 don’t understand – this game was a cultural moment. Not just in gaming. In mainstream culture. People who’d never played a video game heard about FFVII. Cloud became iconic. Aerith’s death scene had people genuinely devastated. The marketing was everywhere. This wasn’t just a game – it was a phenomenon that proved gaming was ready for mainstream acceptance. I teach history,…
Look, there’s not much to debate here – PlayStation won the console wars of the 1990s. Sega and Nintendo had brilliant games and brilliant hardware, but PlayStation had games. Across every genre. RPGs that made the west care about JRPGs. Stealth games that redefined game design. Platformers that proved 3D could work. Racing games with depth that arcade games couldn’t touch. Fighting games that made arcade players buy consoles. Horror games that created an entire…
Coming to Pokemon Stadium at age 40 was like walking into a conversation everyone else had been having for twenty years. I’d missed the whole Pokemon craze when it first hit – was too busy working construction, raising my daughter, generally being an adult when all this pocket monster business was capturing kids’ imaginations. But diving into retro gaming meant I couldn’t ignore one of the most significant gaming phenomena of the late 90s, so…
Right, let me set the scene properly here. It’s 1991, I’m twelve years old, and I’m standing in Argos clutching a crumpled catalog page with the Mega Drive circled in red biro. I’d been saving up for months – paper round money, birthday cash from my nan, the lot. My mate Dave had one already and every time I went round his house I’d end up glued to the telly watching him play Streets of…
My mate Steve turned up at my fifteenth birthday party in ’96 with this knowing smirk and a Mega Drive cartridge hidden in his jacket pocket like he was smuggling state secrets. “Right, forget whatever else you’ve got planned,” he announced, which was exactly what you wanted to hear when you’d been politely enduring my mum’s friends asking about my GCSE choices for the past hour. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 wasn’t just another fighting game—it…
Here’s something I teach in my history classes – sometimes understanding why something failed teaches more than understanding why something succeeded. The Dreamcast’s failure is more instructive than its success because it proves that making excellent games isn’t enough to win console wars. Sega created a brilliant console, supported it with genuinely excellent software, built an online infrastructure years ahead of competitors, and still lost completely. Understanding why requires understanding that console dominance isn’t determined…
I spent fifteen years in IT management understanding that sometimes the best systems are the ones that embrace constraint rather than fighting it. Rez is a system that embraces its constraints – abstract visuals, minimal gameplay mechanics, heavy musical integration – and creates something that’s more engaging because of those constraints rather than despite them. Rez is a rail shooter in an abstract cyberspace environment. You’re flying through geometric shapes and fighting abstract enemies by…