“Friday Old Games” is a series of articles in which we review a game from the older generations of consoles, share why we picked it, and whether or not it holds up with time.

Back in 1992, id Software set the world (of PC gaming nerds) on fire by making the first in a new genre called “First Person Shooters”. The best part: Wolfenstein 3D was shareware, so it was not only legal, but encouraged that you give the first episode of the game to your friends.

(more…)

“Friday Old Games” is a series of articles in which we review a game from the older generations of consoles, share why we picked it, and whether or not it holds up with time.

Soul Blazer is a member of the prestigious Quintet Quintet, five cult games created by Japanese studio Quintet and published by Pre-Squared Enix. Around the era of Final Fantasy VI, Secret of Mana, and WingDamage’s beloved Chrono Trigger, Quintet was slaving away at creating some of the most creative games of the SNES era.

In a time where Publishers were the face of gaming, Quintet stood out as one of the few developers who had complete control over their body of work.

(more…)

"This is your Daddy's Crack Down"

“Friday Old Games” is a series of articles in which we review a game from the older generations of consoles, share why we picked it, and whether or not it holds up with time.

In the days when our household only had a Genesis, we almost exclusively rented our video games. There were several we would see in magazines that we thought looked interesting, or would see the cover art in stores, but could never find to rent.

This is not one of those games. Until recently, I didn’t even realize there had been a Genesis game that shared the Crack Down name. I found it purely by accident when searching for information on the first Xbox 360 game, Crackdown. Had I seen any version of the game’s box art, I would have more likely pointed to laugh at the monocled baddie on the Mega Drive cover, or the fake Stormtrooper on the US version.

(more…)

“Friday Old Games” is a series of articles in which we review a game from the older generations of consoles, share why we picked it, and whether or not it holds up with time.

One of the coolest parts of playing video games as a kid was the feeling of exploration. Sure, back on the NES it was still in a pretty abstract way, but a well designed adventure could really suck you in. Even back then, when passing the controller back and forth with my friends to work our way through a game (old school co-op), we felt like we were there.

Never was this truer than of the original Metroid. It totally blew us away that we were free to explore the game’s world in whatever order we wanted. Sure, you needed to find new abilities to progress past certain obstacles, but that only added to the challenge and fun. But there weren’t nearly enough of this style of game. We were surprised and delighted to find there was a sequel to one of our favorite movies in game form, and it was in the Metroid style.

That game was The Goonies II.

(more…)

“Friday Old Games” is a series of articles in which we review a game from the older generations of consoles, share why we picked it, and whether or not it holds up with time.

Back in the glory days, when companies would send out VHS tapes to promote their games, there was Donkey Kong Country. Rare took the series from its arcade roots and transformed it into a platformer, boasting revolutionary 3D graphics without the need for additional hardware.

The premise is simple. The Kremlings, a group of reptilian creatures, have stolen Donkey Kong’s giant banana hoard. With the help of his friend, Diddy, they must go through each stage, defeat a boss, and get more bananas back.

(more…)

“Friday Old Games” is a series of articles in which we review a game from the older generations of consoles, share why we picked it, and whether or not it holds up with time.

I was looking through the rack of PS1 games and saw a title I had never seen before, Skeleton Warriors. There was no booklet and no back. All I had to go on was the CD itself, which featured a Skeleton Warrior. Assuming it was some sort of terrible fighting game, I grabbed it in the hopes of making fun of it in a FOG Review. I popped it into my PS3 and watched the barely comprehensible CG cutscene at the beginning and felt more confident than ever that I had grabbed a mediocre fighting game.

Instead, I had apparently left with a mediocre, side-scrolling beat-em-up.

(more…)

“Friday Old Games” is a series of articles in which we review a game from the older generations of consoles, share why we picked it, and whether or not it holds up with time.

In Electronic Arts’ Genesis classic, Road Rash, you take on the roll of a street biker who has to punch, club, and speed his/her way to victory.

You aren’t racing on a giant circle completing laps – you are competing in illegal street races for stacks of cash.

(more…)

"Back when Captain Falcon was known more for his racing than his punching."

“Friday Old Games” is a series of articles in which we review a game from the older generations of consoles, share why we picked it, and whether or not it holds up with time.

When the Super Nintendo released in North America, it launched with a mere five games. It may not seem like a lot, but these games were no slouches. The lineup consisted of Super Mario World, Pilotwings, Gradius III, Sim City, and F-Zero. Quite a strong launch, I’d say.

F-Zero in particular went on to have numerous sequels, as well as play a very influential role in the racing genre. But before all that, there was the original; a launch game for a system now two decades old.

(more…)

“Friday Old Games” is a series of articles in which we review a game from the older generations of consoles, share why we picked it, and whether or not it holds up with time.

BurgerTime is the kind of game that sounds ridiculous on paper, looks ridiculous on your screen, but is somehow completely addictive.

In an era where most games involved shooting aliens or ripping off Pac-Man, BurgerTime is about Hamburger construction.

(more…)

“Friday Old Games” is a series of articles in which we review a game from the older generations of consoles, share why we picked it, and whether or not it holds up with time.

A lot of racing games came out for the NES, from Excitebike to Rad Racer and everything in-between. There was a surprisingly wide variety of them.

In 1988, Rare threw their hat into the racing ring (OK, that one got away from me) with R.C. Pro-Am, a racing game that revolved around remote controlled cars.

(more…)