Ahh, SNK Sunday. My favourite day of the week. Twenty-four hours dedicated to one of the most prolific and entertaining video game companies on the planet. A day for celebrating and enjoying titles that deliver immediate amusement to the hobbyist armed with good spirits and a controller in hand. For the past five years or so (gee, has it really been half a decade already?), I have anticipated SNK Sunday's weekly arrival, eager to dust off any one of the day's namesake consoles and dive into virtually unlimited fun. As I type this, I've already completed a healthy round with the ..read more

Reading through old issues of EGM2 has offered me a trip back in time. Subpar weather always makes for an exemplary time to gab, blab and yak. Alas, here we are, the premier issue involving the aforementioned and more; Hobby-Talk, the title I've chosen for the cause. "The cause?," you say. "More like the excuse!" I won't contest it, I love chewing over all things related to the items and activities that I, and most of you, seem to enjoy. So as the rain robustly falls in my neck of the woods, I'm enticed to rattle on about all of my most recent video game romps and antics on this ..read more

What is it that makes for a truly exceptional gaming console? As the decades have crawled past, carrying with them a total of eight different generations of video games, dedicated hobbyists have witnessed the arrivals and departures of machines that have promised everything from undistorted, lifelike graphics, to economically priced games stemming from immeasurable libraries. In specific cases, the aforementioned touts have certainly been delivered upon, whereas others have been aggressively lobbied within advertisements, only to remain locked within the commercial realm, ultimately failing t ..read more

Sega DreamcastHitmaker / Sega2000   For no other reason than that it’s still just as awesome now as it was when it released, I’ve been playing a ton of Crazy Taxi lately. The arcade legend turned Dreamcast hit is famous within retro gaming circles for having some of the most addictive gameplay ever conceived, paired with stunning graphics and a killer soundtrack, Crazy Taxi would continually climb the Dreamcast’s sales charts to become the third best selling title for the system in North America. Released at the tail-end of January, 2000, Crazy Taxi only added to its console’s short but s ..read more

Neo Geo CDADK1996   Unbeknownst to some, the Neo Geo family of consoles sports some serious street sprinting action with a handful of titles that are curiously entertaining. Considering that SNK’s systems were heavenly for fighting game fans and seemingly nobody else, the idea of the machines possessing small, yet impressive catalogs of racing games may come as a surprise to those who would simply write them off as purely scuffle systems. Over Top was the last racing release to hit the Neo Geo CD. Following the likes of Rally Chase, Riding Hero, and Neo Drift Out, Over ..read more

Neo Geo CDSNK1994   When it comes to SNK hardware, it is an absolutely cemented fact that the company’s console and arcade cabinets were developed with the fighting game enthusiast in mind. From Fatal Fury to The King of Fighters, the Neo Geo brand of systems became (and remain) synonymous with a genre that revolves around beating the tar out of your opponents. Eager to take some new competition to hamburger hill? One needn’t look far when surveying the Neo Geo catalog, as out of the 98 officially released Neo Geo CD games that exist, a substantial 38 of them stem from ..read more

PC Engine CAProduction / Hudson Soft 1995   To state things lightly, the retro video game scene has grown over the past few decades. To state things realistically, the retro video game scene has grown exponentially over the past few decades. Gone are the rare and unconventional days that held niche opportunities to strike up conversations with others about titles you used to play as a kid, wherein old time questions such as “Hey, remember Donkey Kong Country for the Super Nintendo?” are now much less likely to receive those teary eyed, nostalgia ridden responses ..read more

PC Engine  Namco 1990   Rick Taylor, Jennifer Willis. Two university students studying the mystifying subject matter of parapsychology. Two students captivated with the subject, and each other. Apparitional and near-death experiences… the themes that provoke their swotting. Alas, on this night, as Rick and Jennifer seek sanctuary from the abominable thunderstorm that currently plagues them, they have seemingly selected doom as their pit stop. For on this night, these two students have found themselves trapped… within the Splatterhouse.   Everyone in town had heard the rumours ..read more

Nintendo SwitchFunsolve Limited / Outright Games2019   Throughout the decade of around 2006 to 2016, I was on cloud nine when it came to playing and collecting video games. My enthusiasm for the medium had skyrocketed as I found myself more interested than ever in games and consoles that I’d always been curious about, but had never possessed. While fanatical about my powerful new Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Wii systems, practically salivating over prodigious releases such as Halo 3, Super Mario Galaxy and Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools ..read more

Neo Geo CDSaurus / SNK1996   Within the compact closet that contains the mythically miniature handful of Neo Geo CD exclusivities lies treasure. Time and time again, I’ve spoken of the all too unknown gems that were solely dedicated to the home market by way of SNK’s awesome disc based console. Sure, there aren’t an absolute ton of titles to choose from that only called the NGCD home, but stellar games such as Crossed Swords II and Oshidashi Zintrick more than make up for the lack of selection when it comes to seeking out some of the console’s most coveted. F ..read more