Chasing Ghosts: One Quarter at a Time

When the Saturn was cool: Playing X-Men: Children of the Atom.

In the early summer of 1996, I was obsessed with getting a Sega Saturn.

Like, I couldn’t eat, sleep or breathe without thinking of this system from the same folks who brought me Sonic the Hedgehog and a sorely underrated X-Men game on the Genesis. More than likely I was being brainwashed by the good people at Sega Visions magazine, who made no mention of the Sega’s blunders in debuting the Saturn in the United States. They just made sure I knew all about this fantastic machine and the amazing games it could play.

1 More Podcastle

127 – RO-BARD: the Singing Robot

WE GONNA ROCK DOWN TO
ELECTRIC AVENUE
AND THEN WE'LL INCREASE IN ALTITUDE
OH OH

The Retro Critic

Alfred Chicken

His name is Alfred.

And he is, indeed, a chicken.

Today, I’ll be talking about his game: Alfred Chicken on the NES.
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Playing Blind

Playing Blind: The Zoo Race!

Does 2007 game count as retro? No? Well what if it looks like it was made in 2001 and plays like Atari 2600 shovelware?

Raising a Gamer

Ecco Jr.

Saturday mornings and retro games go together like bacon and, well…everything. We have been preparing for a new addition to our family recently and have had to schedule our gaming time very carefully and Saturdays are perfect for us. There is something about cereal and pajamas that just makes retro games a little more fun. Our past few Saturdays together resulted in some really great Sega moments. The Genesis may not be the best console out there, but it’s ability to bring people together makes it really special. Earlier in this series I had discovered that at one point Sega had a small collection of games branded “Sega Club” that were specifically targeted at 3-5 year olds. My track record for choosing games that fit my daughter’s skill level has been pretty poor lately so I thought I would let the professionals over at Sega Club help point me to age appropriate games. So far we have only had a chance to play one other Sega Club game, Sesame Street Counting Cafe, and thought that it was fun; yet somewhat bland. I finally got my hands on Ecco Jr., another Sega Club exclusive. The game features two adorable dolphins and an orca whale that go on an adventure to meet their hero, Big Blue…why yes you’re right, that does sound delightful. Read More

1 More Countdown

Top 10 Most 90s Games of the 1990s

You know what’s really fun? Redoing a list after getting about 75% done! That’s what happened to this list and that’s why it’s a week late. Honestly, I was about ready to give up and repost an old list from ScrewAttack, but I decided to redo it anyway.

Why?

Because I’m a sadist.

GMZ

GMZ #2-9 – Pac-Man and Extinction

Dig Dug Charged with Directly Causing the Extinction of Several Galapagos Species and Worse

By P. Watson
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1 More Podcastle

126 – Maxis is Dead

In an astoundingly poor decision, EA chiefs opted to not destroy the Maxis building with hurricane, earthquake, giant lizard, alien invasion, or meteor strike.

Retro Power

Retro Power: Issue 4

Greetings once again, true believers. This month we’re writing to you from the far side of the galaxy, somewhere close to the Delta Quadrant. There may have been some interference with our communications, and as such we have not received any reader submitted answers to our question of the month. We realize that the process for submitting answers has been a bit cumbersome in the past, and that is changing. From here on out we will be using a Google Form to take answers. What this means for you is that you may now submit an answer more quickly. The link to the form will be at the end of the article, and we’ll be tweeting it out periodically. Of course it’s still ok to email in your answers, or to leave them in the comment section. We’d really like to keep this a community-oriented project, and cannot do that without you.
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Pixel Gallery

Flicky

Retro Platforms: Arcade, FM-7, MSX, NEC PC-8001, Sega Genesis, Sega SG-1000, Sharp X1

Platform Reviewed: Sega Genesis

Many people seem to know about Sonic the Hedgehog, the side-scrolling franchise that features everyone’s favorite anatomically incorrect hedgehog. Less discussed, however, are the little birdies who this apparently two-legged mammal rescues from the mechanical innards of bizarrely shaped robots; most of them being known as Flickies, these winged beasts may be critters of distress in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, but one of them actually starred in an arcade game before the fastest thing alive was even a concept. Tasking the player with rescuing a bunch of chicks from a mall-like area, all whilst avoiding vicious cats and pesky iguanas, Flicky has some intriguing gameplay mechanics, but the game isn’t without its ups and downs. Read More

RetroGears

Grab Man

Finally finished another Retrogears video and guess what! It’s about another Pac-Man clone. I know, I know, I should really make some videos about something that isn’t Pac-Man… and I will… I promise! I just had to do one more, because this is another game I owned as a kid and I just felt a need to revisit this game to find out why I played it so much back in the days.

N64 Connoisseur

Remastered Review: N64 Review #3 – Cruis’n USA

Man, I gotta tell ya. Sometimes being a reviewer is tough. You see, as a reviewer, it is my sworn duty to be objective. I can’t let personal feelings or affiliations get in the way of my responsibility, nay, my duty to you the reader. The quest to reunite my first eight reviews with the rest of the project continues with a game I love in a nostalgic sense. Unfortunately, I had to face the reality about the quality of this game. On May 25, 2013, I was forced to tell the truth about Cruis’n USA. Read More

Playing With Power

Playing With Power – Nintendo Power #6

T-U-R-T-L-E POWER! By the middle of 1989, we were in the middle of a turtle craze that would last for arguably the next 10+ years. Originally seen in an ad in the last issue of the Nintendo Fun Club News, the first video game based on the Teenage Muntant Ninja Turtles had released and was the cover feature of the magazine. Looking back now it is definately the most unique of the games bsaed on the licence but at the time this was the only way to play out the characters we watched every Saturday morning. Read More

Playing Blind

Playing Blind: Japanese Fever Dream

Playing Blind debuts on 1morecastle.com with a two-part fever dream! Ivan and Christine meander through Bakushō Yoshimoto no Shinkigeki (爆笑吉本新喜劇).

The Retro Critic

Hatris

Games like Hatris are like purple space dolphins.

They’re rare.

They’re beautiful.

They’re purple.

And they totally exist.
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Retro News Roundup

Retro News Round Up – March 2015

This month’s episode includes overpriced cartridges, the lesser spotted Commodore 65, and Doom selfie sticks.

Game Overkill

Game Overkill – Wild Arms

I was very pleased to see Wild Arms make the cut. Ever since I played it for a dozen or so minutes over a decade ago, where I spent most of my time bombing chickens, I’d been waiting for a chance and a reason to play it again. I just wish I could say it met my expectations.

The Gamer Chronicles

The Gamer Chronicles Ep: 31 He-Man and the Masters of the Universe on GBA

Hello Gamers!
This week I am reviewing a game that really should have been reviewed a LONG time ago! This game is He Man and the Masters Of The Universe : The Power of Grayskull for the Nintendo GBA.

1 More Podcastle

125 – What does Oodelally even mean?

Oh

Live Long and Prosper: Leonard Nimoy and Gaming

Leonard Nimoy is someone I thought would outlive us all. The wisdom of Spock didn’t seem to end when Nimoy was off-camera. Rather, it seemed that the character was an extension of this kind-hearted actor. Even if you weren’t a huge Star Trek fan (I like it more than Star Wars but I’m far from a hardcore fan), you could at least appreciate the life Nimoy led, maybe with the exception of Three Men and a Baby (he directed it, and that’s the worst thing I can say about the man). He was a beautiful soul, and I’ll miss him dearly.