The Retro Critic

Quartet

I love my Sega Master System, I really do.

It introduced me to so much joy back in the day from Alex Kidd to that Simpsons game where you’re jumping over hats or whatever that one was about.

What it didn’t quite excel at sometimes, though, was transferring arcade games to a console format. Usually, minor changes would occur both with the graphics and the gameplay itself which would either ruin the original or create an ok, if rather different, game.

Quartet was one of those which, luckily, didn’t fatally suffer from that transfer but which certainly ended up looking, sounding and feeling pretty different.
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My Two Gils

The Tetris Book of Design

Some of you might remember last Review A Great Game Day (2014). Well, most of you I hope, unless you have serious memory problems which would probably handicap your retrogaming interests… Anyway, you may also remember that I wrote a review of Tetris (while trying to make as many Russian puns as I could and failing horribly…). Needless to say, I absolutely adore Tetris and could come close to agreeing that its design stands inches away perfection. However, I’m not here to discuss game design. I’m here to help you achieve your perfect self. Become a staggering wall of knowledge that extends beyond the communist motherland!
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Duke Nukem: Endangered Species Screenshots Released

After buying 3D Realms in March of this year, Interceptor Entertainment have been digging through the archives to see what they could find. To our surprise, they’ve found screenshots of the unreleased Duke Nukem: Endangered Species and released them to the public.

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Review a Bad Game Day Approaches!

It is that time once again! To change the battery in our smoke detectors? To swap out the baking soda in the fridge? To dust off our collections of Pez dispensers? NOOOOO! Ok, well maybe but I am speaking to the greatest spectacle on the internet today. That’s right. It is that time of year once again when Review a Bad Game Day rises from its slumber to feed on the despair caused by the worst games the world has to offer.

Every year, 1 More Castle hosts Review a Bad Game Day. Gamers from all over the internet combine to post reviews of games that are totally offensive to one or more senses. It doesn’t matter whether you contribute to 1 More Castle, your own personal blog, another gaming website, or nowhere at all. This is an open invite to all gamers everywhere. Options will be available to link to your work elsewhere or post directly on the site. Also, your game does NOT have to be universally accepted as a bad game. If it is bad to you, tell us about it.

Review a Bad Game Day will be held this year on August 8, 2014. That means that you have less than a month to get to reviewin’. Go pick your games, force your way through them, and prepare to warn all of us of their horror on August 8. When the time comes, we will open up the submission forms on reviewabadgameday.com. In the meantime, go check out the site to see reviews of horrible games from the previous years. It is your privilege, NAY, your duty to warn us all of these relics from the underworld. The citizens of Earth are counting on you.

Interview with the creator of Atlantic Canada: The RPG

As someone who grew up on the East Coast of Canada playing RPGs like Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy on the NES, when I heard that a game called Atlantic Canada: The RPG had been created, and by a band from my hometown, I knew I had to try and get an interview with the person behind it. On a sunny afternoon in downtown Moncton, I met up with Don Levandier, the main person behind the game and lead singer and guitarist of The Motorleague, at The Laundromat Espresso Bar. We had a chat about the game, games in general, nerdom, and how it all relates to the band.
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1 More Podcastle

96 – Eagle Knievel

…and one day, he went off a jump that was too ambitious, too extreme. He launched off the ramp, and ascended into the sky. No one saw Eagle Knievel ever again, but we know he’s watching over us.

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Activate Broken Age’s Retro Mode

Are you a fan of Double Fine’s Broken Age? Are you eagerly appreciating the second half of the game, but are wanting to play more now? Did you perhaps want the game to be a little more retro? If you answered yes to those question, head on after the break to see how to activate the games “Retro Mode”.

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BITBITJam 2014

BITBITJam, an online event where people create games for old hardware in only a week, wrapped up last month and the games are now available for your downloading pleasure.

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N64 Connoisseur

N64 Review #13 – Paper Mario

Mario and paper, paper and Mario. How someone came up with the idea to combine these two things is beyond me. Alas, here we find ourselves with Paper Mario, a rare N64 RPG that is a refreshing break from your normal Mario fare. As opposed to the 3D platforming introduced in Super Mario 64, the Mario you play as here is well, paper. A 2D sprite in a 3D world sounds weird and it is. Beautifully, wonderfully weird.
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Game Overkill

Game Overkill – The Update

So a few weeks ago, I announced my new project, Game Overkill. As of today, you officially have 3 weeks left to send me your lists. For those of you unfamiliar with what I’m talking about, I have asked everyone who wishes to participate to send me a list of every single video game they think everyone should play at least once to create a kind of retro gamer-sourced greatest games list. Here are the rules: Read More

The Retro Critic

The Terminator

Sticking with the theme of robots for now, I thought I’d review a Terminator game.

Oh sure I could have picked one of the few Terminator games I grew up with like that classic arcade shoot ’em up or that one on the Sega Genesis with its absurdly hard first level I could never get through.

Hell, I don’t even mind re-reviewing RoboCop vs The Terminator! It’ll give me an excuse to play it again.

Nah, let’s go with what makes the most sense: The Terminator.

The Tiger Electronics game.
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1 More Countdown

Top 10 Politicians in Video Games

As I’m sure you’re all aware, last Friday was Independence Day or as the Internet has dubbed it, ‘Muricah Day! Many other list writers are celebrating by counting down the most Patriotic games, best video game fireworks, or most ‘Murican video game character (#1 is always Guile). However, I decided to use this holiday to honor those who really deserve it… politicians.

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GMZ

GMZ #17 – Earthworm Jims, Pop-Punk, Genocide, and Tony! Toni! Tonay?

Interplay Announce Earthworm Jim Reboot, Celebrity Partnerships, No Involvement for TenNapel

By Bim Benders

Last night’s Vapor Conference event highlight was definitely Interplay announcing their plans to reboot Earthworm Jim. They revealed that several games are already in production, each with a different celebrity endorsement. 6 games were mentioned, with more expected to be announced in the coming year.
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RetroHate

Role Playing Grind

Greetings retro ladies and old-school gents, have you ever played an RPG? Of course you have, probably Final Fantasy or Dragon’s Quest or possibly a Phantasy Star. Anyway, if you’ve played any old RPG you’re familiar with the concept of “grinding” or repeatedly battling and killing lower-level enemies in previously explored areas simply to gain extra experience/skills, money or weapons. You typically do this if you need some cash for new/extra equipment or if you need some random item drops to craft something or if you just need an extra skill level or two to make your current destination a little easier. This, this “game mechanic” is complete and utter bullhockey. Why? BECAUSE SO MANY FRELLING RPGS REQUIRE YOU REPEATEDLY DO THIS TO BEAT THE SODDING GAME!!!
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Retro News Roundup

Retro News Round-Up – July 2014

Welcome to the exciting second installment of the Retro News Round-Up on 1 More Castle, a series which takes a quickfire look at all of the June’s retro gaming going ons – including the latest ports and remakes, hardware and accessories, homebrew, fan translations, and a bit more besides.

This month’s episode includes E3 2014, some hidden arcade treasure, and a load of fan translations.

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The Retro Critic

Rise Of The Robots

How do you follow a game like J.J. & Jeff?

With robots, that’s how!

And with the new Transformers movie out, it seems fitting to be looking at a silly game in which some well-rendered CGI robots awkwardly punch each other in the face.

Rise Of The Robots is a Street Fighter-style fighting game (I’m being generous) in which you’re a cyborg who goes around fighting various robots who get increasingly more challenging in order to eventually defeat artificially super-intelligent robot antagonist The Supervisor.
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