When I was a kid in the pre-NES days, vertical shooters were a large part of my gaming diet, as they were a huge part of the gaming landscape. Since my family had home computers, I played clones more than I did the arcade originals or their official home versions on consoles like the 2600. These games generally fell into one of three major categories: Space Invaders clones, Galaxian clones, and Centipede clones. In this blog I will talk about the games that spawned the third type of shooter - Centipede and Millipede.
Games of the Decade: Expansion Pass #1/Extra Blog a Day #30
Games of the Decade: Expansion Pass #07/Blog a Day #24
Games of the Decade: Expansion Pass #20/Blog a Day #11
WORST. YEAR. EVER. I think we can all agree that 2020 has been one of the worst years in our lifetime, what with the Coronavirus, quarantines, riots and looting, politics, and much more. And it doesn’t seem to be getting any better, as I just found out my mom has breast cancer (keep us in your prayers). Some days I wonder if we’ll EVER get through this. 2020 can just suck it! But at least we’ve had some good video games come out to help keep our minds off of this dumpster fire of a year. So here’s my Best Games of 2020 Awards Show! But keep in mind that this is my list and my picks only, no outside opinions and whatnot. And if a game isn’t on my list, it either just didn’t appeal to me or I haven’t played it yet. Can’t play ‘em all, you know! But with that out of the way, let’s take a look at my picks.
WORST. YEAR. EVER. I think we can all agree that 2020 has been one of the worst years in our lifetime, what with the Coronavirus, quarantines, riots and looting, and much more. Some days I wonder if we’ll EVER get through this. But there is one good thing about this year so far. We’ve had quite a lot of really good games come out the first half of this year! Normally I like to write a blog this time of year with my favorite games of the year so far, because the holiday titles and E3 announcements usually take precedence by the end of the year. Of course, because of the Coronavirus there was no E3 this year, and as of this writing we still don’t know what big games will be out for Christmas. Just another reason why this year sucks. So I don’t know how much different my list will be by the end of the year. But keep in mind that this is my list and my picks only, no outside opinions and whatnot. And if a game isn’t on my list, it either just didn’t appeal to me or I haven’t played it yet. Can’t play ‘em all, you know! But with that out of the way, let’s take a look at my picks.
Launch into a new adventure!
So, as Rick Dalton has his moment of crisis and doubt and overcame it, I did the same with Super Mario World, as far as the main road to Bowser's Castle was concerned. The last 2 areas leading to the castle (Chocolate Island and Valley of Bowser, if memory serves correct) were the hardest of the journey, harder than I remember. Trying to make it through Larry Koopa's castle was so maddening (Magikoopa, eat shit and die, you fucking fuck) but I eventually powered through. SMW also has one of the great end credit sequences in a video game; the music, the character roster, the long trek back through all the worlds (at least as depicted through the background).
I really need to blog more. Actually, I need to game more so I'll have more to blog about. But anyway...
One of my favorite games of the early 80s, Oil's Well, was a computer game made for early 80's 8-bit computers by Sierra On-Line. Its premise was that you had discovered oil (conveniently in the form of pellets), and you were trying to drill it before big-name oil barons pirated it from you.
In the first part of my 3DS tribute blog, we looked at my favorite downloadable games. Now we’re going to look at my favorite physical cartridge games. Now of course, you could download many of these games, too, but I had them in cartridge form so they’re going here. There’s a lot to cover so let’s get started!
Welcome to my last review of Nintendo's portable consoles. Today, I'll be talking about the 3DS, the little portable that could. It's been a wild ride with this system. From its not-so-humble beginnings to its numerous incarnations, and now, its slow walk into the sunset, it's had a good 8 years now. I'll be honest, the last time I bought a game for the thing was in 2014. Still, I did have a lot of fun with the system. It just felt like to me that it burned bright for only a short time. Developer support for 3rd party kind of dropped off. Plus, Nintendo's offerings felt more like afterthoughts because they were busy trying to push forward with the Wii U, and the versions of games offered were often watered down experiences from its big brother counterpart after the first few years. Still, I recognize that the market was strong even after I stopped playing it, and the target audiences were those that could not afford a home console. So let's get to it. But first, a meme:
Well it looks like Nintendo's handheld systems are ending. With the announcement of the Switch Lite and no new games for the 3DS, I'm afraid that we are nearing the end of an era. So, I have decided to take a look back and see what made them so great, pick out my favorite games for each system, and pay some respects to all the great memories I have had with them.
So we've just had E3, and the year is half over. We have the PS5 and the Xbox Scarlet on the horizon, as well as rumors of a Switch hardware revision. But there are a lot of games coming down the pipeline, including some games which finally havs a release date after God knows how many years. So here is what I'm looking forward to.
So another E3 has come and gone, and it’s another year where I was denied a press pass. Ever since 1996, I was going to E3 pretty regularly, but for some reason a few years ago, they stopped letting me in. And yet somehow I was able to get a press pass last year. But not this time! They may say it’s because the numbers of the site I write for are too low, but I’m beginning to wonder if it’s really because I’m just too weird for E3. And if that statement has you intrigued, then please read on for my unique reactions and commentary on things I read and watched about this year’s show.
My Hype for E3 is Over 9000!!!