Post for: #video games ^{(30 Posts)}

In the 80s and 90s, Nintendo was firmly against video game rentals. Big name video rental places like West Coast Video and Blockbuster were stocking NES, and later, SNES games, and so were all the mom and pop rental places of the day. It was big business, and I don't know of any video rental place that didn't carry at least some video games, no matter how small the store. And that's saying something, because video rental places were absolutely everywhere back then, especially before Blockbuster came along and put all the independent ones out of business. According to a 1994 article from Billboard, Nintendo was finally ready to talk business with rental places, allowing them to buy direct and save some money. They were still planning on going to Congress to push for making game rental illegal, however. But in just a year, they would partner with Blockbuster to make the Blockbuster Video Game Championships. And a year later, with the Blockbuster Video Game Championships II, they would even have a custom-made Donkey Kong Country game made for the tournament (Okay, so they didn't make this JUST for the Blockbuster tournament, I believe this was reused from Nintendo's 1994 PowerFest)! And when I heard about that championship, with a game that I considered myself to be quite good at, I decided I had to enter, and I had to win!

Like I wrote about with my post on playing Little Nemo on NES, I was inspired by a video Hungry Goriya posted on YouTube about 9 NES games you should play. I've made my way through the 2nd of the 7 I plan to tackle (as two of them I'd already played through). This time I tried out The Guardian Legend, and boy was I in for a surprise. When it came to Little Nemo, I had played that through rentals a few times as a kid, and had tried it again a few times through emulation as and adult. This one though, I was playing for the first time ever. And I've got to admit, I was blown away.

So after about 120 hours or so I finally finished Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. It was a fantastic game and there was a lot to love about it, but it was also very intense and afterwards I felt like I needed a change of pace, something that I could sit back and relax while playing. Luckily right around that time there was a Steam sale going on (or maybe it wasn't luck, isn't there pretty much always a big Steam sale going on?) so I grabbed two wholesome games that had been on my wishlist, Smushi Come Home and Mail Time. I believe these were both featured in the Wholesome Games Direct 2023, and charming 3rd person platforming games in a lush forest sounded right up my alley after traipsing around, above, and below Hyrule for so long! And coincidentally, they both featured mushroom protagonists! Okay, one is a mushroom, the other is a small person that wears a mushroom cap, but still!

I'm always on the lookout for an interesting new rom hack of a Super Mario title. Some of them give you new levels with some graphical changes and it makes it feel like you found some DLC for a classic game, while others make big changes like new powerups and abilities that make it seem like this could almost pass for a sequel that just never got released. Celeste Mario's Zap & Dash! is another category, in which so much as been changed that it's not even a sequel to Mario 1, it's an entirely different game!

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.