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
On Christmas morning of 1999 I received a Game Boy Color (GBC) and a copy of Pokemon Yellow. Leading up to that fateful morning, I'd been watching other kids play Pokemon Red and Blue and listening to their conversations about the games. Pokemon was everywhere: on the playground, in the neighborhood, and in every kids' … Continue reading I Finally Found My Lost Childhood Game Boy Consoles
Back in January 2019 I was enjoying my SNES Classic and decided I should investigate games I'd never played before. I mashed Right on the D-Pad in a kind of "Retro Roulette" I'd made for myself. I landed on Super Ghouls n' Ghosts. I booted it up, died about 20 times without even finishing the … Continue reading How to Make Difficult Video Games Fun
Last week I talked about the Game Boy Advance, and today it's time to gush about the GameCube. The GameCube launched in November of 2001. Like in my last post, this was a time before I had regular access to the internet and so could only find out about games through TV ads, store demo … Continue reading The GameCube: Finally Appreciated After 20 Years
In the summer of 2001, Nintendo released the 32-bit successor to the Game Boy: The Game Boy Advance (GBA). It lived for only a brief period, a little over 3 years, but they were very successful years, and they defined an important era of my life. Allow me to indulge in my memories of the … Continue reading The Game Boy Advance: A 20th Anniversary Celebration
Super Metroid sits on a golden pedestal, inside a sacred chamber, deep within the revered temple of Retro Video Game Classics. To approach, one must meditate for seven days, chanting the ancient mantra: atmosphere, exploration, powerups, backtracking... atmosphere, exploration, powerups, backtracking... once you've cleansed yourself from the impure, hand-holding world of Modern Gaming, you may … Continue reading Super Metroid: A Critical Second Look
Hideo Kojima's Instagram bio states, "Game Creator: 70% of my body is made of movies." As we've recently learned, Kojima's love for movies runs deep into his childhood. It has stayed with him through difficult times like when his father passed away, or when he was striving to make it as a game designer. They … Continue reading Hideo Kojima, Part 1: How a Film Geek Makes Video Games
So you saw the E3 trailer for Metroid Dread and you're interested in trying it out, but you've never played a Metroid game before. Allow me, a long-time Metroid fan, to help! Metroid is one of Nintendo's oldest and most important franchises. Among critics, it stands proudly on Nintendo's podium of their best video game … Continue reading A Newcomer’s Guide to the Metroid Series
This weekend I took a leap of faith into a new aspect of gaming: going to an actual meeting. We were in Seattle for my wife's work and she noticed Renton City had this retro gaming convention. As she was working, I went in by myself. My older brother has a substantial video game collection, … Continue reading My First Retro Gaming Convention
Hookshot, Charge Beam, Revive 