John has been documenting video games since 2005. Former staffer at Imagine Publishing and Retro Gamer magazine. Author of The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers series of books. Its amalgamated hardcover, Japansoft, was translated and published in France, Russia, and mainland China. Has interviewed over 150 people. Keynote speaker at academic symposiums. Hobbyist programmer. Licensed RYA dayskipper. Not a fan of social media.
"When I next woke up, I was temporarily blind"
The Making Of Ride To Hell, The Open-World Epic That Became One Of The Worst Games Of All Time
"I believe the potential was definitely there"
"I believe I still have a lot to learn"
Feature Bitmap Books Celebrates 10th Anniversary, And We Were There
Industry celebrities, veteran writers, an open bar, and a lot of off-the-record conversations
The Making Of Suikoden II, A JRPG To Match 'Game Of Thrones' In Intrigue And Impact
"I did not intend to force my own personal views on players"
The Making Of Suikoden, Yoshitaka Murayama's PS1 RPG Masterwork
Following the passing of Murayama, we look at one of his most famous games
The Making Of Nintendo Adventure Books, Mario's 'Fighting Fantasy' Period
"They shipped me a Super Famicom and a copy of Mario"
News This Game Preservation Group Wants To Archive LaserDisc Games Before They're Lost Forever
"This project needs international cooperation"
Feature Is Quintet's Robotrek The Most Underrated SNES JRPG Ever?
Too many people passed on this 16-bit gem
Feature We Sat Down With Legendary Irem Devs To Talk Game Design, Pixel Art And Sekaikan
"Some of my colleagues called me the 'dark lord of perverts'"
The Making Of Chandragupta: Warrior Prince - The Indian 'Prince Of Persia' Published By Sony
"I wrote the entire design, but the implementation was catastrophic"
The Making Of Steel Battalion, The Ultimate Hardcore Mecha Experience
"I felt this anger against the entire industry. You're all just making the same old shit"
Feature I Spent $75,000 Documenting Japan's Gaming History, And It Was Quite The Ride
A wild adventure of tropical typhoons, insane litigation, and fish testicles
The Making Of John Romero's Daikatana, The Game Boy Zelda Clone That Outscored Its Big Brother
"The plan to turn an FPS into an action-RPG like Zelda was a challenge"
Feature Do Kyoto's Turtle Stepping Stones Have A Connection To Mario?
Life imitating art, or the other way around?
Feature The Legend Of The "Lost" Zelda Games
Board games, books, Barcode Battler cards and more...
Feature I've Just Resurrected This Zelda Scratch Card Game From 1989
Preserving 'Nintendo Game Pack' cards for a new generation
"There was no connection between Game Yaroze and Net Yaroze"
Feature Celebrating The SG-1000, Sega's First Console And One-Time Famicom Rival
"As for the performance, there is no doubt that SG-1000 and SC-3000 were better"
Feature Pixelthesia: Why We See Things In Video Games
Without pareidolia, would video games even exist?
The Making Of Popful Mail, The Game That Nearly Became Part Of The Sonic Series
"I was the only programmer left and I had no graphics to work with"
The Making Of Clock Tower, The SNES Horror That's Getting A Second Chance To Scare
"Sticking to your own ideas in the face of market expectations can result in good games"
