@JackGYarwood I mean, that it’s aping the style really heavily. There’s a scene in the trailer where the characters are unrolled from a tongue in a man’s mouth and it looks straight up like it’s a scene from Ren and Stimpy. Some of the imagery is so Kricfalusi in tone and style, it almost feels like they had him consult on the game.
I agree with the comment above. This is a wholesale copy of Ren and Stimpy artwork in parts. I’m still interested, but I wish it wasn’t so obvious in its homage
@leogames i agree. Just this past weekend, I cancelled all my entertainment subs outside NSO and Amazon Prime in the continual pursuit of cutting costs. We don’t know if Joe had to shut things down, so that he could afford the rising cost of gas and food or some other emergency expense. It looks like he was asking for help and didn’t get it in time. It’s a shame that so much was lost, but many of us have been forced to make cost cutting procedures in our day to day lives and its heartbreaking to see its continued impact on our community at large.
@Damo While this doesn’t pertain to this article in particular, I will admit that I’m disappointed the recent AI article’s comments were disable. When I saw your response, I was looking forward to continuing with a dialectical exchange. I can understand your rationale for closing the comments, of course. I’m sure responding en masse can be time consuming to moderate. However, I’d be remiss if I didn’t express that I was looking forward to further friendly discussion on the topic. Perhaps in a future article of similar themes.
@slider1983 I agree. And honestly, if you have a job in 2026 that hasn’t integrated AI in at least some capacity, I’d be surprised. Why wouldn’t artists do the same thing?
As someone that uses AI to make music for fun too, I feel that there’s a clear misunderstanding of what Gen AI is and what it does by people that don’t have any experience utilizing the tools due to the slop that’s out there. As someone who has composed music since I was 17, I can now compose a song, write the lyrics, arrange the song, and then AI can synthesize professional grade performances right away. It’s really quite incredible. It allows someone to be able to have a greater sonic palette than ever before and I feel I’ve created some unique pieces with these tools. It does require effort, passion, and time to sculpt sound with Gen AI too, and I think people are quick to discount that without understanding the tools that are out there right now. I can make crude personal recordings for my own amusement or I can make studio grade synthetic tracks for my music and I appreciate being able to hear them in that fashion.
I think people might be surprised too how much music right now has particles of gen AI in it. I’m surprised the witch hunt has been largely in video games when the professional music industry is using Gen AI a lot. There’s definitely very popular songs on the radio that are using it.
I think people are being entirely too critical of Miller with regards to his AI use. He’s a talented artist that utilized a current generation of toolsets. I understand that people want real human products and don’t want AI slop, but this isn’t slop. It’s a talented artist using tools, being honest about it, explaining the process, and then being besmirched for it. Let’s be real: video games are a crossroads between tech and entertainment and I’m sure a lot of generative AI is being used across the board. Just because AI is used doesn’t mean that there’s no artistry involved.
You CAN create compelling artistry with Gen AI tools that is mostly human and then fleshed out with the assistance of AI. I think Gen AI is a scapegoat for all the job losses right now rather than the reality that the billionaires are using it as an excuse to cut costs and push smaller teams to work harder out of fear they could be next. Gen AI is a tool and does not have a mind of its own. They’ve given us an enemy to shield themselves from a stockpile of goods and have made us resent the very tools that could enable the average person to do things they may have been unable to do before, whether for lack of skill or from a belief that they may only deserve scarcity.
Let us not forget the most negative impacts of Gen AI in our current society have largely been through a human decision. Not typically by artists that are experimenting with new technology, but by corporate suits that continue to push for unsustainable growth
I’m not saying that Gen AI should be a crutch, just that it’s a tool, just the same as other things have been a tool. Lou Reed made an album out of amp feedback and while it’s not something many would listen to, it’s a unique application of technology and an expression in and of itself using the tools of its time. Computational and algorithmic music and art has been genres for decades and were considered high art before recently. Are we turning on people like Brian Eno for his procedural music? It just feels like a double standard now that anyone is able to have access to cutting edge tools and experiment with their own creative vision.
We hear about how AI is draining our resources, but if the wealthiest people in the world could share, we may all be living in abundance. Sorry for the rant, but I just don’t feel someone’s life should be potentially ruined for using perfectly legal technology in a reasonable way, especially when that person is clearly talented.
Man, that’s a total bummer this wasn’t in the Western Direct. I’m tired of all the old games being peddled onto Switch 2 like they’re new, but, given that these games haven’t seen the west, they’d actually feel new. A real shame. Good for those folks in the East though.
Honestly, I think it might have to do with regional bias. I only knew one person that had a PSP out of my friend group, but plenty that had a N64, you know? If I’d not known sales numbers, it would’ve felt like Nintendo steamrolled Sony and Sega until the PS2 got a stride and then Xbox popped up and took to dominance, but that’s not accurate at all. Regions used to vary wildly and I think that colors a lot of bias.
The last level in this game is gross. I’ve beaten it. Once. I never wanted to play the game again. I actually enjoy the first half of this game quite a bit, and think the dam level might be one of the most underrated levels in the NES catalog because it’s actually more fun than difficult, but the second half is insufferable and cheap. The constantly spawning jetpack guys are ludicrous to punch through. Shredder’s cake after those tight corridors.
Mildly interested in that New Zealand Story remake. I like the NES original, but not quite enough for it to make my personal top 50 NES games list… Sometimes I talk or write something down and think I’ve played too many games. Lol.
Aaaannnyyywaaaay, it is quite a solid game and I hope it finds an audience, it’s a unique game and deserves more exposure to the world at large, sort of like what’ll likely happen to Little Samson in a few months with that one getting ported to modern consoles. I know remakes are more of thing than ports, but I love overlooked NES games getting a second chance in the sun. There are some days that the NES may be my favorite library of games outside the modern era.
@timp29 NES TMNT has a ludicrous difficulty spike towards the end. How people complain about the electric seaweed part so much just goes to show that they haven’t gotten past that. The Technodrome is absolutely gross in its difficulty, even though Shredder’s a fairly simple boss fight. The amount of enemies that spawn in later levels is simply poor level design. I’ve beaten NES TMNT one time and I don’t think I’ll ever play it again after that. I couldn’t beat it as a kid though. It wasn’t until the TMNT Collection came out on Switch that I actually figured out how to use the rope. Lol.
With regards to Battletoads, I didn’t ever play the NES version of the game, but I had it on Gameboy and I think they’re basically the same game. I’m pretty sure I’ve beaten the bike level because the whole thing looks like an old memory when I watched that video of it and I looked up the next level to see if it was familiar and it was. I never beat the Battletoads game though because, as a kid, the persistent difficulty in the game past that point just wasn’t very fun to me. I had a friend maybe 15 years back that beat the game and I remember thinking he was crazy for it.
That said, I always felt that Toxic Crusaders NES was far more challenging than Battletoads for games in this style and genre.
@BulkSlash Agreed. E33 was a total 7/10 type of experience for me and the consistent overindulgent praise for the game last year has led me to sort of dislike it. It may be the worst game to have ever won GotY. I largely liked the game when I played it, but I can’t believe so many people are impervious to finding something to criticize about the game, especially in this era where practically every game is torn to shreds minutes after launch.
The original GameCube game was the first one for me, though I never owned a GameCube, so I’m not sure when I played it, but I distinctly remember playing it on GameCube in my childhood home. My mom has a copy of it now, so maybe we played the GameCube version on Wii? ‘Twas a long time ago now. I was never really into Animal Crossing so much myself, as I sort of peaked with my interest of that style of game on SNES with Harvest Moon, but my sisters loved it and my wife and children are very excited for the Switch 2 version.
Playdate looks so unique and fun. I wish they’d demo these things in stores or something. I want to support it, but I just don’t know because I’ve never tried it!
… and that one’s wishlisted… Can’t wait, honestly. It looks like such a genuinely fun game.
It’s funny to look at my previous comments too, as I’ve gone back to PC gaming now after ages of being away from it and I didn’t realize that was a home I was missing.
His top 5 list is better than most of the ones I’ve seen from editorial publications this year. I really sync up with his taste in games, so honestly could be why I’m happy with Atari is doing these days. I mean, the new Bubsy game legitimately is one of my most hyped games coming in 2026.
Thank you for sharing this @Damo! With the way the industry has been the last couple years, it’s good to see some interest in quality gaming from one of the guys at the top.
@N64-ROX I miss the era of auteurs like Molyneux. In his prime era and a little after, it felt like we got to know developers and their vision and it was a really cool time. Gaming felt like entertainment equipped with new and unique ideas. It was a special time. Honestly, I miss that. Even if Molyneux overpromised, the majority of his games were quite high quality and at the very least interesting. I’ll take that over the live service slop the industry is spiraling into as corporatizes and consolidates.
@Santar It’s almost as if they have a Phantom Pain, as it were, and that gaming has had a Phantom Pain with the series being effectively over, and that David Hayter had it for not being Snake, etc, etc, etc. Kojima’s philosophy of betraying his audience was never so successful as it was in the MGSV/PT era. For me, it’s perhaps my favorite era of the Kojimaverse, though I do prefer Death Stranding and Metal Gear Solid 2 as games. The well runs deep with analysis and interpretation on those games, their parallels, and deeper meanings.
I actually think it’s the lack of the game being on modern consoles that have hurt sales the worst for Legends. Put it out today and all friends and I will buy it today
I’ve got a couple friends that I play online with every once in a while, but we’ll sometimes get together and play multiplayer all together. The same friend group minus one that was an addition later to the group used to do LAN parties for Halo and play games all together in our younger years. We used to have long story driven “campaigns” in the WWE games too, just because it was silly as well. In the olden days, we’d even play single player games all together, but that time has sort of passed, even though we talk about doing that again and it never really happens.
That said, I play games now mostly with my wife and kids. My most memorable multiplayer experiences are probably playing Puyo Puyo Tetris against my wife on Xbox One before my son was born. She ordered me a Japanese copy of the game since it didn’t release in the west and we played A LOT when she was pregnant. And then we played a lot of Cuphead together immediately after the birth. My wife and I play games together semi-frequently. My son and I have played some games co-op as well.
And my parents and sisters and their significant others, we’ll get together for Mario Party, Mario Kart, or Jackbox once in a while and we all enjoy that. I used to force my sisters to play Goldeneye with me and such, but we don’t do that anymore.
I used to have a cousin that I played a lot of games with too, but we don’t talk so often anymore. On the rare occasion we do talk or get together though, we sometimes fall back into our childhood together and become best friends for an evening, doing all the things we used to do, including playing games, playing guitar, etc, only for us to lose contact again shortly afterward, likely due to the fact that we live relatively distant from each other now.
Based on people I know, the retro console usage seems a bit inflated, but probably not ridiculously so.
My mom has the N64, Wii, and PS2 hooked up in the basement and still plays an odd assortment of games on there. The NES and SNES are there too, but not plugged in, probably because she’s not looked for adapters to plug them in and honestly I think she prefers the N64/Gamecube era games. She uses the Wii for GameCube games rather than Wii games, oddly enough. Most wouldn’t expect that my mom plays games every so often, and I think gamers similar to her are more common than people expect. The gamers that were left behind after the Wii…
My grandma had an Atari 2600 hooked up to her TV too (she passed away in the 90’s, so not quite applicable to the survey in stats but concept. One of my last memories of her was that we played Dr Mario together a week before she passed too). I remember thinking adults 20, 30 years ago hid their gaming hobbies because it wasn’t culturally acceptable like it is now.
@Razieluigi I was thinking the same thing. What type of game is this? I guess we’ll have to wait to see some videos because the description of a 3v3v3 fighting game doesn’t quite make it make more sense just yet. I like the team though.
@poyo_pie There’s been a bunch of successful crowd funded games. I mean, yeah, Bloodstained (though Curse of the Moon > Ritual of the Night for me), Yooka Laylee, Thimbleweed Park, Hollow Knight, I mean the list goes on… I still invest in Kickstarter games personally. There’s been a lot of hits, in my opinion. There was like a renaissance of crowdfunded games for a bit, even if Mighty No 9 flopped.
@X68000 That’s funny. I remember paying in full for a preorder of the Last Guardian during the PS3 era at GameStop and I totally forgot about it. I ended up going through a phase where I didn’t go to GameStop for a long while and my wife ended up taking me to one in 2019, and they apologized that they didn’t have a copy available and I was sort of confused, as I totally forgot about it. I had bought the game for like $8 a few months before that. Maybe things like your story and mine are why preorders are starting to vanish?
@poyo_pie It was sort of the first big one, but unfortunately there’s been many more that have had similar scale and ended up worse, but you’re right about the hype. Mighty No 9 had hype unlike any of these Kickstarters before it, and summarily… none of them have had hype again after it.
What a different world the industry was in when Mighty No 9 launched. It wasn’t nearly as bad as some had said, even if it’s definitely not a great game. It’s X8 tier-ish. Certainly not another X7, you know? But, as a trainwreck, it’s quaint by today’s standards, even if it’s more widely remembered than worse launches (including Infafune’s own Megaman Legends successor that never materialized). Can’t believe the saga is finally over.
Man, do I love the art in Wipeout. I’m not the hugest fan of the games since I’m not big on racing games, but I would love for anything to get inspired by that fantastic look.
I’d love to see what today’s Capcom could do with a Disney license. Love what Capcom did back on the NES and SNES with the license. Fantastic read, this article. Thanks, as always, for this website and the gems you guys publish
@NatsuKaze Awesome, looking forward to wishlisting and happy to support. I love the art style. I wish you the best with your launch. Hope to see it soon!
@NatsuKaze Just visited the Kickstarter myself and it looks stunning. Are you planning a simultaneous console version of the game along with PC? Also, will there be merch post-launch. I’m not fancy enough to be able to afford the higher tiers right now, but if I like the game, I’m a sucker for merch and happy to be a billboard in my free time.
It’s sort of strange that NES Tetris has been such a big thing the last 2-3 years. What made this one suddenly a gaming zeitgeist after decades of hibernation?
Looks the way it should have been all those years ago. Megaman X8 isn’t bad, but its visuals have aged like milk. Now maybe some people will be able to see the game is at least as good as X6.
@Daniel36 is Dwarf Fortress decent as a mobile app? I’ve not had a gaming PC in a few years now, so I’ll admit I’m not as much in the PC gaming space now.
Yes, there are still auteurs out there. Kojima’s got Death Stranding 2 on the way, Ken Levine’s got Judas cooking, and there’s a few indie auteurs, but it does feel like things have shifted. From Geoff Keighley rushing people off the stage during the Game Awards to mass layoffs to a lighter release schedule that is so much more driven by GAAS titles, it does often time feel to me that the industry was once a place of possibilities and now things are made to be safer in the broad spectrum. The industry still has plenty to love for sure, but I do miss some of the excitement.
I know he’s obnoxious, but I miss the era of gaming auteurs. We’re not in an industry of creators anymore, but of franchises and products. There was a fun, an enormity, a magic in games back in Molyneux’s time. I mean, you always knew he was full of it, but it was also an age of singular visions that weren’t afraid to buckle against the corporate overlords. Above everything, it was a time of impossible ideas, of dreams. After all, the visionaries like Molyneux, Kojima, Will Wright, etc… they had the ideas that made millions of dollars when millions of dollars was a lot. They made a fledgling industry into the mammoth it became… until those dreams turned into avatars and skins. I sort of like that he’s trying again, even if I know the game won’t be an iota of his promises.
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Re: 'Oh My Doug!' Is A Hand-Drawn Metroidvania Set Inside A Human Body With Ren & Stimpy-Style "Gross-Ups"
@JackGYarwood I mean, that it’s aping the style really heavily. There’s a scene in the trailer where the characters are unrolled from a tongue in a man’s mouth and it looks straight up like it’s a scene from Ren and Stimpy. Some of the imagery is so Kricfalusi in tone and style, it almost feels like they had him consult on the game.
Re: 'Oh My Doug!' Is A Hand-Drawn Metroidvania Set Inside A Human Body With Ren & Stimpy-Style "Gross-Ups"
I agree with the comment above. This is a wholesale copy of Ren and Stimpy artwork in parts. I’m still interested, but I wish it wasn’t so obvious in its homage
Re: "Thanks For Destroying Your Own Legacy" - Quarter-Century Of Online Gaming History Vanishes As Digital Press Forum Goes Dark
@leogames i agree. Just this past weekend, I cancelled all my entertainment subs outside NSO and Amazon Prime in the continual pursuit of cutting costs. We don’t know if Joe had to shut things down, so that he could afford the rising cost of gas and food or some other emergency expense. It looks like he was asking for help and didn’t get it in time. It’s a shame that so much was lost, but many of us have been forced to make cost cutting procedures in our day to day lives and its heartbreaking to see its continued impact on our community at large.
@Damo While this doesn’t pertain to this article in particular, I will admit that I’m disappointed the recent AI article’s comments were disable. When I saw your response, I was looking forward to continuing with a dialectical exchange. I can understand your rationale for closing the comments, of course. I’m sure responding en masse can be time consuming to moderate. However, I’d be remiss if I didn’t express that I was looking forward to further friendly discussion on the topic. Perhaps in a future article of similar themes.
Re: "You Cannot Claim Ignorance" - Myst Co-Creator Under Fire For Using GenAI Art In Riven Soundtrack Release
@slider1983 I agree. And honestly, if you have a job in 2026 that hasn’t integrated AI in at least some capacity, I’d be surprised. Why wouldn’t artists do the same thing?
As someone that uses AI to make music for fun too, I feel that there’s a clear misunderstanding of what Gen AI is and what it does by people that don’t have any experience utilizing the tools due to the slop that’s out there. As someone who has composed music since I was 17, I can now compose a song, write the lyrics, arrange the song, and then AI can synthesize professional grade performances right away. It’s really quite incredible. It allows someone to be able to have a greater sonic palette than ever before and I feel I’ve created some unique pieces with these tools. It does require effort, passion, and time to sculpt sound with Gen AI too, and I think people are quick to discount that without understanding the tools that are out there right now. I can make crude personal recordings for my own amusement or I can make studio grade synthetic tracks for my music and I appreciate being able to hear them in that fashion.
I think people might be surprised too how much music right now has particles of gen AI in it. I’m surprised the witch hunt has been largely in video games when the professional music industry is using Gen AI a lot. There’s definitely very popular songs on the radio that are using it.
Re: "You Cannot Claim Ignorance" - Myst Co-Creator Under Fire For Using GenAI Art In Riven Soundtrack Release
I think people are being entirely too critical of Miller with regards to his AI use. He’s a talented artist that utilized a current generation of toolsets. I understand that people want real human products and don’t want AI slop, but this isn’t slop. It’s a talented artist using tools, being honest about it, explaining the process, and then being besmirched for it. Let’s be real: video games are a crossroads between tech and entertainment and I’m sure a lot of generative AI is being used across the board. Just because AI is used doesn’t mean that there’s no artistry involved.
You CAN create compelling artistry with Gen AI tools that is mostly human and then fleshed out with the assistance of AI. I think Gen AI is a scapegoat for all the job losses right now rather than the reality that the billionaires are using it as an excuse to cut costs and push smaller teams to work harder out of fear they could be next. Gen AI is a tool and does not have a mind of its own. They’ve given us an enemy to shield themselves from a stockpile of goods and have made us resent the very tools that could enable the average person to do things they may have been unable to do before, whether for lack of skill or from a belief that they may only deserve scarcity.
Let us not forget the most negative impacts of Gen AI in our current society have largely been through a human decision. Not typically by artists that are experimenting with new technology, but by corporate suits that continue to push for unsustainable growth
I’m not saying that Gen AI should be a crutch, just that it’s a tool, just the same as other things have been a tool. Lou Reed made an album out of amp feedback and while it’s not something many would listen to, it’s a unique application of technology and an expression in and of itself using the tools of its time. Computational and algorithmic music and art has been genres for decades and were considered high art before recently. Are we turning on people like Brian Eno for his procedural music? It just feels like a double standard now that anyone is able to have access to cutting edge tools and experiment with their own creative vision.
We hear about how AI is draining our resources, but if the wealthiest people in the world could share, we may all be living in abundance. Sorry for the rant, but I just don’t feel someone’s life should be potentially ruined for using perfectly legal technology in a reasonable way, especially when that person is clearly talented.
Re: This Long-Awaited Mega Man-Inspired Metroidvania Is Getting Its Own Free Tie-In For Game Boy
Sounds good! Hopefully we’ll see both games this year!
Re: Japanese Switch Owners Are Getting A Ganbare Goemon Collection, And We've Never Been More Jealous
Man, that’s a total bummer this wasn’t in the Western Direct. I’m tired of all the old games being peddled onto Switch 2 like they’re new, but, given that these games haven’t seen the west, they’d actually feel new. A real shame. Good for those folks in the East though.
Re: Future Knight Is A Frantic New Run 'N Gun Shooter That Is Keeping The Spirit Of The Game & Watch Alive
That looks outstanding. I love when developers find a way to utilize nostalgia in unique ways. Hope this one is in tomorrow’s Partner Direct.
Re: Apparently, The PSP Counts As A Failure To Some People Now
Honestly, I think it might have to do with regional bias. I only knew one person that had a PSP out of my friend group, but plenty that had a N64, you know? If I’d not known sales numbers, it would’ve felt like Nintendo steamrolled Sony and Sega until the PS2 got a stride and then Xbox popped up and took to dominance, but that’s not accurate at all. Regions used to vary wildly and I think that colors a lot of bias.
Re: Community Challenge: Can You Overcome Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' Deadly Technodrome Level?
The last level in this game is gross. I’ve beaten it. Once. I never wanted to play the game again. I actually enjoy the first half of this game quite a bit, and think the dam level might be one of the most underrated levels in the NES catalog because it’s actually more fun than difficult, but the second half is insufferable and cheap. The constantly spawning jetpack guys are ludicrous to punch through. Shredder’s cake after those tight corridors.
Re: Konami's Yie Ar Kung-Fu Is Being Unofficially Ported To Sega Genesis
One of my favorite fighting games ever. Might honestly see what this is all about!
Re: Retro Recap: All The Classic Gaming News From The Past Week (January 18th 2026)
Mildly interested in that New Zealand Story remake. I like the NES original, but not quite enough for it to make my personal top 50 NES games list… Sometimes I talk or write something down and think I’ve played too many games. Lol.
Aaaannnyyywaaaay, it is quite a solid game and I hope it finds an audience, it’s a unique game and deserves more exposure to the world at large, sort of like what’ll likely happen to Little Samson in a few months with that one getting ported to modern consoles. I know remakes are more of thing than ports, but I love overlooked NES games getting a second chance in the sun. There are some days that the NES may be my favorite library of games outside the modern era.
Re: Community Challenge: Can You Beat Battletoads' Most Notorious Level?
@timp29 NES TMNT has a ludicrous difficulty spike towards the end. How people complain about the electric seaweed part so much just goes to show that they haven’t gotten past that. The Technodrome is absolutely gross in its difficulty, even though Shredder’s a fairly simple boss fight. The amount of enemies that spawn in later levels is simply poor level design. I’ve beaten NES TMNT one time and I don’t think I’ll ever play it again after that. I couldn’t beat it as a kid though. It wasn’t until the TMNT Collection came out on Switch that I actually figured out how to use the rope. Lol.
With regards to Battletoads, I didn’t ever play the NES version of the game, but I had it on Gameboy and I think they’re basically the same game. I’m pretty sure I’ve beaten the bike level because the whole thing looks like an old memory when I watched that video of it and I looked up the next level to see if it was familiar and it was. I never beat the Battletoads game though because, as a kid, the persistent difficulty in the game past that point just wasn’t very fun to me. I had a friend maybe 15 years back that beat the game and I remember thinking he was crazy for it.
That said, I always felt that Toxic Crusaders NES was far more challenging than Battletoads for games in this style and genre.
Re: Random: The Fact That This Terrible Nintendo DS Game Could Top Metacritic Is Proof That Democracy Was A Mistake
@BulkSlash Agreed. E33 was a total 7/10 type of experience for me and the consistent overindulgent praise for the game last year has led me to sort of dislike it. It may be the worst game to have ever won GotY. I largely liked the game when I played it, but I can’t believe so many people are impervious to finding something to criticize about the game, especially in this era where practically every game is torn to shreds minutes after launch.
Re: Random: The Fact That This Terrible Nintendo DS Could Top Metacritic Is Proof That Democracy Was A Mistake
I’d rather see this top the charts than E33, personally. At least that’s funny.
Re: Talking Point: What Was Your First Animal Crossing Game?
The original GameCube game was the first one for me, though I never owned a GameCube, so I’m not sure when I played it, but I distinctly remember playing it on GameCube in my childhood home. My mom has a copy of it now, so maybe we played the GameCube version on Wii? ‘Twas a long time ago now. I was never really into Animal Crossing so much myself, as I sort of peaked with my interest of that style of game on SNES with Harvest Moon, but my sisters loved it and my wife and children are very excited for the Switch 2 version.
Re: A Fool's Errand Is The Kind Of Addictive Brilliance You Can Only Find On Playdate
Playdate looks so unique and fun. I wish they’d demo these things in stores or something. I want to support it, but I just don’t know because I’ve never tried it!
Re: Peter Molyneux's "Last Game", Masters Of Albion, Finally Has A Release Date
… and that one’s wishlisted… Can’t wait, honestly. It looks like such a genuinely fun game.
It’s funny to look at my previous comments too, as I’ve gone back to PC gaming now after ages of being away from it and I didn’t realize that was a home I was missing.
Re: "The World Needs More Games Like This" - Atari CEO's Best Game Of 2025 Proves He Has Impeccable Taste
His top 5 list is better than most of the ones I’ve seen from editorial publications this year. I really sync up with his taste in games, so honestly could be why I’m happy with Atari is doing these days. I mean, the new Bubsy game legitimately is one of my most hyped games coming in 2026.
Thank you for sharing this @Damo! With the way the industry has been the last couple years, it’s good to see some interest in quality gaming from one of the guys at the top.
Re: This New NES Game Mixes Arkanoid With Castlevania To Create A Genre We Didn't Know We Needed
Looks sort of like Wizorb. I’m definitely interested!
Re: Mariachi Legends Is A Super Stylish New Action Platformer That's Giving Us Major Castlevania Vibes
Aaaaand there’s another game on the wishlist!
Re: The SNES And Game Boy-Inspired Action RPG 'Maple Forest' Smashes Initial Kickstarter Target
@NatsuKaze Hey there! Just curious to see how things are shaping up and if we’ll see an update soon? Looking forward to seeing more. 😁
Re: Peter Molyneux Thinks It Could Be "Wonderful" To Revisit One Of His Most Infamous Projects With Today's Tech
@N64-ROX I miss the era of auteurs like Molyneux. In his prime era and a little after, it felt like we got to know developers and their vision and it was a really cool time. Gaming felt like entertainment equipped with new and unique ideas. It was a special time. Honestly, I miss that. Even if Molyneux overpromised, the majority of his games were quite high quality and at the very least interesting. I’ll take that over the live service slop the industry is spiraling into as corporatizes and consolidates.
Re: "None Of Them Matter" - There's Only One Donkey Kong In Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson's Life
I mean, he listed Madden as his favorite, so he’s probably not playing on a Nintendo console…
Though you’ve got to wonder how often he plays as himself when playing a WWE game…
Re: Anniversary: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain Is 10 Years Old Today
@Santar It’s almost as if they have a Phantom Pain, as it were, and that gaming has had a Phantom Pain with the series being effectively over, and that David Hayter had it for not being Snake, etc, etc, etc. Kojima’s philosophy of betraying his audience was never so successful as it was in the MGSV/PT era. For me, it’s perhaps my favorite era of the Kojimaverse, though I do prefer Death Stranding and Metal Gear Solid 2 as games. The well runs deep with analysis and interpretation on those games, their parallels, and deeper meanings.
Re: Can't Decide Between Shinobi And Ninja Gaiden? This Steam Bundle Should Help
Cool image. Love both games!
Re: Turns Out Monkey Island Creator Ron Gilbert's Zelda-Style RPG Is The Rogue-Like 'Death By Scrolling'
@N64-ROX I, for one, rescind my comment made last year.
Re: You Can Now Play The Japan-Exclusive PS1 Cult Classic 'Jingle Cats' In English
If only Sony published such greatness as this in the PS5 era… I miss weird Sony.
Re: Capcom Is Keen To Make More Of Its Fighting Games Available On Modern Systems
Why not Megaman Legends though? And more NES era games too…
Re: Random: Keiji Inafune Believed "Arrogance" & Overconfidence Led To Mega Man Legends' Poor Sales
@Quick_Man I know. I just really want Legends on modern consoles badly. It’s my #1 most wanted retro game.
Re: Random: Keiji Inafune Believed "Arrogance" & Overconfidence Led To Mega Man Legends' Poor Sales
I actually think it’s the lack of the game being on modern consoles that have hurt sales the worst for Legends. Put it out today and all friends and I will buy it today
Re: Death Stranding 2's Cover Is Yet Another Callback To Metal Gear Solid
Ruse confirmed.
If you know, you know. 🤣
Re: Please, Please, Please Treasure Your Offline Multiplayer Buddy
I’ve got a couple friends that I play online with every once in a while, but we’ll sometimes get together and play multiplayer all together. The same friend group minus one that was an addition later to the group used to do LAN parties for Halo and play games all together in our younger years. We used to have long story driven “campaigns” in the WWE games too, just because it was silly as well. In the olden days, we’d even play single player games all together, but that time has sort of passed, even though we talk about doing that again and it never really happens.
That said, I play games now mostly with my wife and kids. My most memorable multiplayer experiences are probably playing Puyo Puyo Tetris against my wife on Xbox One before my son was born. She ordered me a Japanese copy of the game since it didn’t release in the west and we played A LOT when she was pregnant. And then we played a lot of Cuphead together immediately after the birth. My wife and I play games together semi-frequently. My son and I have played some games co-op as well.
And my parents and sisters and their significant others, we’ll get together for Mario Party, Mario Kart, or Jackbox once in a while and we all enjoy that. I used to force my sisters to play Goldeneye with me and such, but we don’t do that anymore.
I used to have a cousin that I played a lot of games with too, but we don’t talk so often anymore. On the rare occasion we do talk or get together though, we sometimes fall back into our childhood together and become best friends for an evening, doing all the things we used to do, including playing games, playing guitar, etc, only for us to lose contact again shortly afterward, likely due to the fact that we live relatively distant from each other now.
Re: 14 Percent Of North Americans Still Play Gaming Systems Released Before 2000
Based on people I know, the retro console usage seems a bit inflated, but probably not ridiculously so.
My mom has the N64, Wii, and PS2 hooked up in the basement and still plays an odd assortment of games on there. The NES and SNES are there too, but not plugged in, probably because she’s not looked for adapters to plug them in and honestly I think she prefers the N64/Gamecube era games. She uses the Wii for GameCube games rather than Wii games, oddly enough. Most wouldn’t expect that my mom plays games every so often, and I think gamers similar to her are more common than people expect. The gamers that were left behind after the Wii…
My grandma had an Atari 2600 hooked up to her TV too (she passed away in the 90’s, so not quite applicable to the survey in stats but concept. One of my last memories of her was that we played Dr Mario together a week before she passed too). I remember thinking adults 20, 30 years ago hid their gaming hobbies because it wasn’t culturally acceptable like it is now.
Re: Random: Star Fox Character Designer Explains How Fox McCloud Was Shaped By Miyamoto's "Essence"
Can someone make a side-by-side, so we can compare the Fox team to the dev team? 😅
Re: Street Fighter, Resident Evil And Xenoblade Veterans Are Making A "Plunder Battle Game" For Cave
@Razieluigi I was thinking the same thing. What type of game is this? I guess we’ll have to wait to see some videos because the description of a 3v3v3 fighting game doesn’t quite make it make more sense just yet. I like the team though.
Re: After What Feels Like A Lifetime, Amazon Is Cancelling Mighty No. 9 3DS And Vita Pre-Orders
@poyo_pie There’s been a bunch of successful crowd funded games. I mean, yeah, Bloodstained (though Curse of the Moon > Ritual of the Night for me), Yooka Laylee, Thimbleweed Park, Hollow Knight, I mean the list goes on… I still invest in Kickstarter games personally. There’s been a lot of hits, in my opinion. There was like a renaissance of crowdfunded games for a bit, even if Mighty No 9 flopped.
Re: After What Feels Like A Lifetime, Amazon Is Cancelling Mighty No. 9 3DS And Vita Pre-Orders
@X68000 That’s funny. I remember paying in full for a preorder of the Last Guardian during the PS3 era at GameStop and I totally forgot about it. I ended up going through a phase where I didn’t go to GameStop for a long while and my wife ended up taking me to one in 2019, and they apologized that they didn’t have a copy available and I was sort of confused, as I totally forgot about it. I had bought the game for like $8 a few months before that. Maybe things like your story and mine are why preorders are starting to vanish?
@poyo_pie It was sort of the first big one, but unfortunately there’s been many more that have had similar scale and ended up worse, but you’re right about the hype. Mighty No 9 had hype unlike any of these Kickstarters before it, and summarily… none of them have had hype again after it.
Re: After What Feels Like A Lifetime, Amazon Is Cancelling Mighty No. 9 3DS And Vita Pre-Orders
What a different world the industry was in when Mighty No 9 launched. It wasn’t nearly as bad as some had said, even if it’s definitely not a great game. It’s X8 tier-ish. Certainly not another X7, you know? But, as a trainwreck, it’s quaint by today’s standards, even if it’s more widely remembered than worse launches (including Infafune’s own Megaman Legends successor that never materialized). Can’t believe the saga is finally over.
Re: Japanese Gamers Just Picked The 30 Best PlayStation Games Of All Time
FF11 above most of that list is suspect, and I say that as a Final Fantasy diehard
Re: Backyard Soccer '98 Is Available Now On Steam
Wasn’t this coming to consoles too?
Re: Copies Of WipEout: Futurism Are Arriving With Customers Now
Man, do I love the art in Wipeout. I’m not the hugest fan of the games since I’m not big on racing games, but I would love for anything to get inspired by that fantastic look.
Re: The Making Of: The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse, Capcom's SNES Classic
I’d love to see what today’s Capcom could do with a Disney license. Love what Capcom did back on the NES and SNES with the license. Fantastic read, this article. Thanks, as always, for this website and the gems you guys publish
Re: The SNES And Game Boy-Inspired Action RPG 'Maple Forest' Smashes Initial Kickstarter Target
@NatsuKaze Awesome, looking forward to wishlisting and happy to support. I love the art style. I wish you the best with your launch. Hope to see it soon!
Re: The SNES And Game Boy-Inspired Action RPG 'Maple Forest' Smashes Initial Kickstarter Target
@NatsuKaze Just visited the Kickstarter myself and it looks stunning. Are you planning a simultaneous console version of the game along with PC? Also, will there be merch post-launch. I’m not fancy enough to be able to afford the higher tiers right now, but if I like the game, I’m a sucker for merch and happy to be a billboard in my free time.
Re: History Has Just Been Made On NES Tetris
It’s sort of strange that NES Tetris has been such a big thing the last 2-3 years. What made this one suddenly a gaming zeitgeist after decades of hibernation?
Re: Review: UFO 50 (Steam) - An Indie Masterpiece Bursting With Fictional NES Nostalgia
I can’t wait for this one to come to consoles!
Man, I hope it comes to consoles!
Re: Mega Man X8 Has Just Got A Free 16-Bit Fan Demake
Looks the way it should have been all those years ago. Megaman X8 isn’t bad, but its visuals have aged like milk. Now maybe some people will be able to see the game is at least as good as X6.
Re: Peter Molyneux Reunites With Ex-Lionhead Staff To Create 'Masters Of Albion'
@Daniel36 is Dwarf Fortress decent as a mobile app? I’ve not had a gaming PC in a few years now, so I’ll admit I’m not as much in the PC gaming space now.
Yes, there are still auteurs out there. Kojima’s got Death Stranding 2 on the way, Ken Levine’s got Judas cooking, and there’s a few indie auteurs, but it does feel like things have shifted. From Geoff Keighley rushing people off the stage during the Game Awards to mass layoffs to a lighter release schedule that is so much more driven by GAAS titles, it does often time feel to me that the industry was once a place of possibilities and now things are made to be safer in the broad spectrum. The industry still has plenty to love for sure, but I do miss some of the excitement.
Re: Peter Molyneux Reunites With Ex-Lionhead Staff To Create 'Masters Of Albion'
I know he’s obnoxious, but I miss the era of gaming auteurs. We’re not in an industry of creators anymore, but of franchises and products. There was a fun, an enormity, a magic in games back in Molyneux’s time. I mean, you always knew he was full of it, but it was also an age of singular visions that weren’t afraid to buckle against the corporate overlords. Above everything, it was a time of impossible ideas, of dreams. After all, the visionaries like Molyneux, Kojima, Will Wright, etc… they had the ideas that made millions of dollars when millions of dollars was a lot. They made a fledgling industry into the mammoth it became… until those dreams turned into avatars and skins. I sort of like that he’s trying again, even if I know the game won’t be an iota of his promises.