retro review
Retro Review: River City Ransom (NES)
Release Date: April 25, 1989 Developer: Technos Japan Corp. Publisher: Technos Japan Corp. When I wanna wind down from a day of stress, I often look to video games to help me unwind. Recently, I’ve been using The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on my Wii U. I have a review coming up on it. Here’s a small spoiler: it is AWESOME! Back in the day, I would turn to beat-‘em-up games to soothe my fr...[Read More]
Retro Review: Final Fantasy III (SNES)
Release Date: April 2, 1994 Developer: Square Co., Ltd. Publisher: Square Co., Ltd. This Retro Review felt like a cop-out when I decided to write this. I love this game, and it is one of my all-time favorite games. But it’s also a game many 16-bit JRPG lovers already hold in high regard. I had to write it, though, because Final Fantasy XV stuck it in my head. Because of the newer game, I re...[Read More]
Retro Review: Castlevania Bloodlines (GEN)
Release Date: March 17, 1994 Developer: Konami Publisher: Konami Sorry for not posting anything recently. You know, life and such. I touched on this subject once before with my review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist for the Genesis, but it’s worth repeating again. Nintendo revived the video game market in the mid-to-late 80s. But while the NES was getting all the love from co...[Read More]
Retro Review: Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six (PC)
Release Date: August 21, 1998 Developer: Red Storm Entertainment, Inc. Publisher: Red Storm Entertainment, Inc. This past weekend, I was bombarded by Tom Clancy in effigy. My son gifted me a key to the closed beta for Ghost Recon Wildlands. Around the same time, I found out that Ubisoft set Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege, a game I do not yet own but enjoy, to be free to play for the weekend. For ...[Read More]
Retro Review: Dragon Warrior (NES)
Release Date: May 27, 1986 Developer: Chunsoft Co., Ltd. Publisher: Enix Corporation Sometimes, nostalgia clouds reality for me. The dawn of the JRPG hit me relatively early. It hit me in the form of Dragon Warrior, a game for the NES that was as surprising as it was confusing. I only discovered it when I asked the guy at the video rental store where I rented NES games from if they had any role-pl...[Read More]
Retro Review: Baldur’s Gate (PC)
Release Date: 1998 Developer: BioWare Corporation Publisher: Interplay Productions, Inc. My love for role-playing games began with tabletop Dungeons & Dragons campaigns with some like-minded friends in the early 80s. It was a fleeting experience, since the DM ended up moving a couple of weeks after he introduced me to it. But I seriously enjoyed the experience. Fast forward nearly 20 years, an...[Read More]
Retro Review: SimCity (SNES)
Release Date: August 23, 1991 Developer: Maxis Software, Inc. Publisher: Nintendo of America, Inc. The Super Nintendo officially launched on August 23, 1991 in North America. It launched with a measly five games, but the games were noteworthy. Super Mario World was, of course, the heavy hitter and a pack-in title. F-Zero and Pilotwings were the system’s tech mules, showing off the SNES’s “Mode 7”...[Read More]
Retro Review: Final Fantasy Tactics (PS1)
Release Date: June 20, 1997 Developer: Square Co., Ltd. Publisher: Square Co., Ltd. (EDIT: the artwork was changed after several astute gamers noticed – and I didn’t! – that the artwork I originally used was for Final Fantasy Tactics Advance for the GBA, not the original. I blame laziness – and plus, the artwork was pretty. Thanks to Daniel Monserrat form The Gaming Experie...[Read More]
Retro Review: Golgo-13: Top Secret Episode (NES)
Release Date: 1988 Developer: Vic Tokai Corporation Publisher: Vic Tokai, Inc. This article is late. I apologize for the delay. Sometimes, life gets in the way. Anime has been a big influence in gaming for years. Anime staples like Dragon Ball Z and Pokémon have been the basis for very successful video game franchises. Moreover, games with anime aesthetics have seen acclaim. One needs to go no fur...[Read More]
Have You Seen…Death Becomes Her?
Release Date: July 31, 1992 Director: Robert Zemeckis Starring: Goldie Hawn, Meryl Streep, Bruce Willis, Isabella Rossellini Favorite quote: “You’re a fraud, Helen! You’re a walking lie and I can see right… THROUGH YOU!”– Madeline Ashton, looking through a hole in Helen Sharp’s abdomen I’ve been wanting to write about Death Becomes Her for about a month. For one reason or another...[Read More]
Retro Review: SoulCalibur (DC)
Release Date: September 9, 1999 Developer: Project Soul Publisher: Namco There sure have been a lot of notable anniversaries in the last couple of months that conspire to make me feel even older. The most recent anniversary to add to the gray in my beard is the 20th Anniversary of Bandai Namco’s Soulcalibur series. The series pioneered true 8-way 3D, weapons-based combat and has been a staple of t...[Read More]
Retro Review: Solstice: The Quest for the Staff of Demnos (NES)
Release Date: June 1990 Developer: Software Creations, Ltd. Publisher: GSC Imagesoft Inc. As I mentioned in my Adventures of Lolo Retro Review, I have a special place in my low-res heart for puzzle games. From Tetris to Portal to Braid and everywhere in between, puzzle games have kept me occupied way more than RPGs and racing games, my other two favorite genres. On the NES, the aforementioned Lolo...[Read More]