vintage
What's old is new again; rediscover retro video games and explore vintage-inspired reboots of the all-time classics.
My Top 25 Lynx Games
The Atari Lynx was a notable also-ran in the original handheld console war. The Game Boy dominated the market, the Game Gear trailed behind in second. Of the original three main competitors, the Lynx came in a distant third. I think it did a little better in the UK than in most places, though. I know a few people in the early-to-mid-forties age bracket who have fond memories of it. My flatmate, who is much smarter and cooler than I, was a Lynx girl, and still champions the cause. I knew at least one kid who had a Lynx back in the day, and got the chance to play on it a few times. I can’t for the life of me remember who they were, but I do remember the console. In retrospect, it was way too big and unwieldy for a handheld, but to the small me the size and weight of it just made it seem more impressive. This was a grown-up’s machine.
By Daniel Tessier2 months ago in Gamers
You Don't Survive Twenty Years by Accident
I am going to level with you. I can count on one finger how many hours I've spent in the expansive, pixelated fantasy realm of Azeroth. I spent a lot of that hour fucking about with the controls and trying to pick fights. Fights I could never win.
By Paul Stewart2 months ago in Gamers
My Top 25 Game Gear games
While the Mega Drive/Genesis was Sega’s major console success story, and the Master System was a hit everywhere except North America and Japan, the Game Gear was a serious contender for the handheld market. While it never came close to meeting the Game Boy’s sales, the Game Gear achieved a respectable market share, and was a big hit in the UK. I knew a lot of kids who owned Game Gears, particularly friends’ older brothers and sisters, and much like the Mega Drive it was the cooler, grown-up rival to Nintendo’s consoles. Sega leaned into this, of course, with the sleek black design, and even the name, which deliberately made the Game Boy sound like the kids’ version.
By Daniel Tessier3 months ago in Gamers
My Top 25 Master System games
The Sega Master System is one of those consoles that was either a huge deal or a mere also-ran, depending on your age and where you grew up. It was Sega's first true international release, arriving in different regions between 1986 and 1989, followed by the cheaper, more streamlined Master System II in 1990. In North America and its native Japan, it hardly made a dent. In the UK, Australia, New Zealand and much of Europe, it was a huge hit, outselling the NES for several years. In Brazil, it was even bigger, with local manufacturer Tec Toy releasing Master System variants well into the 21st century.
By Daniel Tessier3 months ago in Gamers
The Worst, Uninteresting NES Game I've Ever Played
For nearly 40 years, I've been playing retro games. I'm a huge sucker of nostalgia and basically live and breathe it daily. My first love was the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and while I loved and enjoyed the many games I've played, one in particular was so boring that I never played it again. That game was Knight Rider. Games based on movies or television shows aren't always received positively by critics. While Knight Rider received favorable reviews, yours truly thought otherwise. Also known as Naito Raidā (ナイトライダ) in Japan, this game was released in the former in September 1988 and then in North America in July 1990. The television series lasted a total of four seasons on NBC from September 1982 to April 1986, airing 90 episodes. I'll probably do a list of my favorite episodes in a later story. Going back to the game, there were two things wrong with it. I've watched every episode of this show at least a hundred times, but having a video game based on that was a terrible idea.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 5 months ago in Gamers
My Top 25 SNES Games
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System went by many names. In Japan, it was the Super Famicom. In Korea, Hyundai sold it as the Super Comboy. In the West, it was the Super Nintendo, the Super NES... in our house it was always just the SNES. (That's pronounced “snez” by the way. None of that “ess-enn-ee-ess” here.) When we got our own second-hand SNES in the mid-90s, it was a revelation. Our first home console, with full colour games to play on our terribly modest TV screen. Some will favour the Mega Drive/Genesis, others the PlayStation; but for me, the SNES was the great console of the 1990s. Don't worry, I'll get to those other two.
By Daniel Tessier6 months ago in Gamers
The Video Game Problem
Anyone who has spent time inside a well-designed game recognizes the sensation immediately. Effort is rewarded quickly. Progress is visible. Feedback is constant. Even failure is structured to feel informative rather than discouraging. Time passes, attention narrows, and a sense of momentum builds. When the session ends, there is often a lingering feeling of having done something, even if nothing outside the game has changed at all. That feeling is not accidental. It is engineered.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast6 months ago in Gamers
