In 1959, the jazz trumpet player Miles Davis recorded the album Kind of Blue. It was a collaboration between other legendary musicians such as John Coltrane on saxophone and Bill Evans on piano. In the album Miles Davis experimented with Modal Jazz, a free-floating departure from jazz's typical style of improvisation based on tight chord … Continue reading The Debate Over Video Game Remasters and Remakes
The Nintendo Switch is now 6 years old. With the recent February Nintendo Direct completed, fans and journalists have ramped up in their speculation about the hybrid console's future. Some think that the Switch's successor may be announced at the end of the year and that 2024 may see the arrival of Nintendo's next console. … Continue reading The Nintendo Switch’s Legacy
When you're a fan of less popular video games, you feel a special mix of joy and frustration. Having the game acknowledged or celebrated feels like a special gift. But it's often a gift that no one else understands. Once I said to some friends that my favorite 3DS game was Metroid: Samus Returns, and … Continue reading The Highs and Lows of a Metroid Fan
I stand amid the roarOf a surf-tormented shore,And I hold within my handGrains of the golden sand—How few! yet how they creepThrough my fingers to the deep,While I weep—while I weep!O God! can I not graspThem with a tighter clasp?O God! can I not saveOne from the pitiless wave?Is all that we see or seemBut a dream within … Continue reading The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening and the Art of Overanalyzing a Video Game
Two weeks ago I talked about Super Mario World, the first video game I ever played. Last week I talked about Crash Bandicoot 2, the first video game I ever owned. Let's backtrack to a time between those two major events. When I was about six years old, our family moved from Indianapolis to the … Continue reading Tetris and the Art of Making the World Make Sense
Christmas, 1998: my brother and I unwrapped a Sony PlayStation, and it became one of the best gifts of my childhood. My brother and I had spent months deliberating over what should become our first video game console: the Nintendo 64, or the Sony PlayStation. At the time, both consoles seemed equally matched. The Nintendo … Continue reading An Ode to the Sony PlayStation and Crash Bandicoot 2
Super Mario World: the most iconic video game on the Super Nintendo, and a staple of 16-bit nostalgia. It was a part of many gamers' childhoods, including my own. I was maybe 3 or 4 years old when I got my first passport to the Mushroom Kingdom. In fact, Super Mario World is the first … Continue reading Super Mario World and the Art of Play
Every year I participate in National Novel Writing Month. It's a writing challenge where you try to complete a novel (at least 50,000 words) in the span of just one month. Obviously, there's not enough time to polish the material; all you end up with is a very rough & disorganized first draft of a … Continue reading 2023 Will be a Year of Change For This Blog
Welcome to 2023, everyone! As is tradition, I start every new year by looking back and taking stock of last year's experiences. I played many games in 2022, and they're all very different from each other. Some games were from familiar franchises like Splatoon 3 and Xenoblade Chronicles 3. However, for most of 2022, I … Continue reading My 2022 in Gaming
Holy moly, it's already the end of 2022. I just got in the habit of writing the correct year down whenever I sign something! At the end of every year I write a series of paragraph-long reviews of the rest of the games I played this year. It's not that I think these games aren't … Continue reading Mini Review Marathon 2022
Hookshot, Charge Beam, Revive 