Do you remember the trend in the mid 90s where games included a ‘big head mode?’ I sure do. Back then I was young enough that I found the trend hilarious. I loved it. Have I ever thought that this feature should be a standalone game? In short, no. This is the idea Sega had however with Virtua Fighter Kids. Personally I think this game came to be just to fill out their release schedule. Based on Virtua Fighter 2 this ‘kids’ edition gave us big headed characters duking it out with the same combat system but with a new over-the-top flair. Was it enough to justify an entirely new release or should ..read more

Do you remember how annoying underwater stages were back in the 2D era? I sure do. These were typically awkward, and more difficult than the rest of the game in which they were contained. Sometimes these would bog down the entire adventure. Well how about a video game based entirely around underwater antics? That’s what Sega brought to the table with Ecco the Dolphin on the Sega Genesis. This was one of their attempts to focus less on video game violence (in the 90s this was a hot button issue). I remember Ecco the Dolphin being a big deal when it was released. Even now I see it referenced oft ..read more

Hey, I get it. Capcom largely mishandled the Street Fighter franchise throughout the years. I am in complete agreement with that sentiment. As a fan of the series I kept waiting for Street Fighter 3 to come out. It felt like it was never coming. I remember checking the video game rack and one day seeing Super Street Fighter II. It just had to be on the way, right? I was disappointed but as a huge fan of the franchise I had to see what was new. At least each new rendition added characters and that was what I was most interested in at the time. So I picked it up, and eagerly slapped the cartridg ..read more

Sega failed their fans with the Sega Saturn. I say this despite it being my second favorite console of all time. They had a whole slate of amazing looking titles in development for years. When they finally came out Sega either did low run prints of them or didn’t bother with localization at all. Shining Force III was a heavily anticipated game for the console. This game released with three different scenarios in Japan, all in different packages, but North America only received the first. Here it was just known as Shining Force III. There were only a limited number of discs printed but I manage ..read more

Before the Sony PSP no other handheld console was able to compete in any way against Nintendo’s own line of portable consoles. The company was in their prime coming off of the ultra popular PlayStation 2. Sony could do no wrong, and the PSP had everything going for it. For the most part it succeeded. Sure it didn’t dethrone Nintendo in the portable market, but it still sold quite well especially at launch. One of the best moves Sony made was ensuring the system had a quality puzzle title at release. The original Tetris showed that this was integral to the success of a handheld. Lumines from Q ..read more

I’m one of those people who loves failed video game consoles. Most of these have at least some exclusive gems to be gleaned from their library. The Atari Jaguar CD however is the one I really struggle to defend. The base console sold horribly and had one of the most infamously bad libraries of software of all time. Why did they decide expensive add-on hardware was necessary? The world may never know, but here we are. The Atari Jaguar CD only had thirteen commercial releases for it and I’m proud to say I not only own the hardware, but also the entire library. This may come as a surprise but the ..read more

The Adventure Island series was in my opinion one of the most underrated of the 8-bit generation. Parts two and three are at least as complex and nearly as well designed as Super Mario Bros. 3, and these released even earlier than that. By the time the Super Nintendo hit I was absolutely pumped for a 16-bit sequel. Then, one day, I saw it on the shelves. I just had to play Super Adventure Island. Unfortunately I could only rent it, but I cared little because this was the first significant update to one of my favorite franchises. Within minutes I was overwhelmed with disappointment. What shoul ..read more

I remember when the Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask was first announced. Back then it went by the moniker of ‘Zelda Gaiden’ and for good reason. From the get go it was intended to be a side story to Ocarina of Time taking place in a new world with original baddies. At the time I wasn’t super hyped. New consoles were on the horizon, and I just wanted to move on from that generation. I still picked it up and enjoyed it, but played through just once. This was unusual in a time when I didn’t have a lot of disposable income and had to get a lot of mileage out of each purchase. Recently I was curiou ..read more

F-Zero was the franchise largely responsible for popularizing futuristic racers. The Nintendo 64 sequel had a lot of pre-release hype, and developers were eager to cash in on this with their own take on the genre. Aerogauge from ASCII Entertainment was one of these efforts. I remember following it fairly closely in previews before it came out and I was hyped. Aerogauge had style, and it looked downright fun. When it did I lost all interest because review scores were middling. Since then I’ve taken less stock in reviews from major publications. So many games I skipped because of low or average ..read more

The original Bloody Roar came completely out of left field for me. Admittedly I wasn’t very interested in fighting games at the time so I wasn’t following it closely. It’s not like Hudson Soft was particularly known for their fighters. My first exposure was via a demo disc, and I instantly fell in love. Years later I finally picked it up, and loved it just as much as I did in the bite sized sample I spent so much time with. It wasn’t until the next generation that I fully jumped in to the franchise. This means I also skipped out on the first sequel, Bloody Roar II. Well I’ve finally righted t ..read more