Nearly 20 years ago, three household names in Nintendo gaming took a shot at drawing Kirby inside the official strategy guide for Kirby’s Adventures. Masahiro Sakurai, the game’s creator (and creator of the Super Smash Bros. series); Shigeru Miyamoto, who really needs no introduction, and Satoru Iwata, who doesn’t either, unless you don’t know who Nintendo’s current CEO is.
Today, Rockstar was kind enough to send me a copy of Max Payne 3, along with some very (but cool) promotional swag. A bullet keychain, a t-shirt with some bullets on it, another bullet in a box and… a pill container. Also, a nifty ashtray that I could probably melt down and make into bullets.
We’ve heard all of the Super Mario Bros. themes performed by an orchestra. Simon Viklund’s blood-pumping update of the Bionic Commando soundtrack is still on my workout playlist. And this version of Tecmo Super Bowl‘s opening cinematic makes me eat lightning and crap thunder. The great NES chiptunes of the past have all had great instrumental covers by now. Except one.
From left to right. It’s a staple of platforming video games since the dawn of time. From the original Mario to Limbo, it’s been the preferred direction for travel for generations of our favourite characters.
My Dad dusts off a vinyl record. Gently he unsheathes it from its sleeve. I sift through old video game boxes and smile. But there will be a time when these sensations mean nothing, an entire generation with new ‘things’ to fetishize. Maybe they won’t be ‘things’ at all. Maybe they won’t care at all. Maybe that’s a good thing.
Editor-in-chief’s note: I was annoyed when I heard that ‘an exhibition exploring fascinatingly bad games‘ being held at New York University on Friday would include GoldenEye a Nintendo 64 game I loved when I was in college. Earth Defense Force and Big Rigs I could understand. They’re so bad, they’re good. But GoldenEye? WTF?
Though hundreds of thousands of gamers swear by Amazon.com when it comes to ordering new releases or old favourites, I’ve never once ordered a video game from the popular online marketplace. Despite the allure of free launch day delivery and bonus credit, I’ve limited my game spending to local retailers. I didn’t realise why until I finally caved and purchased SoulCalibur V online.
Coming soon to iOS-powered devices from the wonderfully named and logo’d Mighty Rabbit Studios, Saturday Morning RPG might be the only turn-based role-playing game in which the protagonist can transform into a truck and ram faux Cobra troopers. Colour me intrigued, but not the official colours so I don’t get sued.
There’s something weirdly nostalgic about these two videos, which are a compilation of every boot screen for every console ever to have one, going back to the Sega Master System (the Mark III in Japan) of 1985.
