Review: Pixel Ripped 1978 (Quest 2)

If you're reading this on my blog, then you're likely aware of my profound love for retro games. But I still love new games too. And new games that play off of my nostalgia for retro games, when done right, are some of my favorites. One stellar example that immediately comes to mind is the original Retro Game Challenge on the Nintendo DS. This gem transports players to the 80s, where they embark on a series of brand-new games meticulously designed to emulate the spirit of that era. These "new old games" not only evoke the essence of playing timeless classics but also offer tighter controls and a fairer gameplay experience than what we might recall from those early days. Retro Game Challenge goes beyond mere visual emulation, as it ingeniously captures the essence of gaming in the 80s, from the nostalgic scenes of characters sitting on the carpet in front of the TV to the need to scour the latest gaming magazine for invaluable tips and tricks. It successfully rekindles that cherished childhood gaming sensation.

Yesterday certain parts of the internet were going crazy when the news dropped that McDonald's had made a new game as a marketing tie-in for their Grimace birthday shake. While brands making games for the internet is not new and has been going on since the days of Flash, for whatever reason it was decided that their game should be in the form of a new Game Boy Color game. It's free and completely playable on their web page here, but people quickly ripped the ROM and loaded it up on original hardware to discover that it is indeed a true Game Boy Color game.

Jammin Honey is a hombrew NES game that scratches a nostalgic itch that I'm not sure too many people besides me have. There was a game in the 1980s on Commodore 64 called Jumpman, and my best friend and I loved the heck out of that game. The graphics were simple, but readable, the music was sparse, but catchy, and the action was frantic. It was a series of single screen levels where you had to collect these orby things while robots and other enemies tried to kill you. What made the levels really fascinating was that sometimes when you collected an orb, it would change something in the level, like a platform or ladder might appear enabling you to get to places you couldn't before.

Welcome to the second Nintendo Power review. Looking through issue one was a lot of fun, but to be honest I've looked through that issue a ton of times. I'm kind of looking forward to the next few issued because I'm a lot less familiar with them. It's September/October 1988, the NES is the hottest thing around, so let's see what the pages of Nintendo Power had to tell us. Read along on Archive.org.

As I was looking around Archive.org recently for Nintendo Power magazines, I stumbled upon this gem of a video that instantly transported me back to my early teens, browsing the Toys R Us video game aisles. It's the Nintendo Power Previews 1994 laserdisc!

With each passing year, it seems Nintendo has less and less interest in continuing the adventures of the Star Fox crew and their never ending quest to rid the Lylat System of the influence of Andross. The last time we say Fox and friends was in 2015's Star Fox Zero for the Wii U, a game that I enjoyed despite the unique controls which saw you having to pay attention to flying your arwing on the TV screen while also aiming with gyroscopic controls all around using the Wii U gamepad.