“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.

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“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.

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"What have I become?"

I’m a big fan of Star Fox. The name of this site, “WingDamage”, and our podcast, “Barrel Roll!“, are both references to the series. But when I say I’m a big fan of the franchise, what I really mean to say is that I’m a big fan of about two and a half of its games.

Today, I’d like to take you down memory lane and discuss the high points, what went wrong, and what Nintendo could do to save the series.

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The first thing that you notice when Conker walks into a room is the smell. It like wet dog and stale beer. This is a video game icon and, let’s face it, the guy stinks. He slides up casually to sit across from me at the pub where we are conducting our interview. It is a rule in England that all interviews have to be conducted at the local watering hole.

He lights up a cigarette and offers me one. His eyes have that feral look you sometimes see in animals on those world’s wildest home video shows. They are bloodshot and wild reflecting back more light than a human’s eye. The entire effect is disturbing. He motions a waitress over and orders himself a bottle of whiskey. He calls her <redacted>. She doesn’t seem to mind. Conker is a regular from what I hear, so I guess she’s used to it.

He begins pouring himself shots of whiskey.

I pull out my notepad and the interview begins.

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