One of my favorite things about the original Splatoon was that while you were waiting for an online match to start, you could play a little 8-bit arcade style game. I even wrote an article about them here. I missed having them in the sequels, but I can understand why they took them out. I think most people would rather play in a practice arena doing what they’ll actually do in the match while they wait, and I think some of the extra arcade games were locked behind amiibo figures anyway. But I still liked them because I’m weird I guess. So I was pleasantly surprised that the arcade games made a return in Splatoon Raiders! I don’t even remember anyone talking about them in previews or reviews, so it was a surprise to me! So I’m going to talk about them here!
In console gaming, there is a legend known as the Third Console Curse. Most consoles are not successful enough to receive a follow-up. If they are, then a third console is still not guaranteed. It is a hard industry not only to break into, but sustain a market share in. Yet something happens with the third console every time. It fails to meet the company's initial goals. Maybe it still sells fine, maybe the console has a wonderful library of games. Even if that is the case, the company loses market share and is in a worse spot at the end of the console's life than they were going into it. It could be arrogance from success. It could be a lack of perspective from being too used to success. Maybe it's just rotten luck. But it's consistent.
Happy Halloween. Today I took a look at an umderappreciated entry in the Castlevania series. I also tried to pattern this show after Count Gregore, who hosted TV horror movies in Oklahoma that I used to watch with my dad.
Recently, I livestreamed an (almost) complete playthrough of Richard "Lord British" Garriott's 1982 RPG, Ultima II: The Revenge of the Enchantress. These videos were originally simulcast on my Twitch and YouTube channels.
Did you know that Bally/Midway, the company behind Defender, Joust, and Mortal Kombat, once had its own console? This video takes a brief look at the Bally Astrocade and what is widely considered to be its best game, The Incredible Wizard. This is a near-perfect conversion of Midway's arcade game, The Wizard of Wor.
The Texas Intstruments TI-99/4a was the second, more successful iteration of the world's first 16-bit home computer. Here's a look at one of its most iconic games. Tombstone City is a multidirectional shooter set in a futuristic Arizona, where you must attract new residents by battling aliens spawned by mated pairs of saguaro cacti.
