SNES

Look, my chums, it’s Raya Systems! They’re the ones who brought us Packy & Marlon and Rex Ronan: Experimental Surgeon; everyone’s favorite health-related edutainment games. This time, I’m finally sticking a finger into Captain Novolin to check the temperature. Back in the youthful days of the internet, when making fun of bad video games was still considered a thing done by cool people, Captain Novolin was often a target of ridicule. I’ll admit that the concept is definitely a weird one, but I’d argue that Rex Ronan…

Some intrepid fans have been able to reproduce the lost tracks from the BS F-Zero Grand Prix 2 Satellaview SoundLink event and have created BS F-Zero Deluxe, a patch to incorporate them into the SNES game. The Satellaview was a digital satellite delivery (or broadcast) add-on for the Super Famicom. Like many prototypical digital distribution platforms, data retrieved from the service was only stored temporarily and could be overwritten whenever you downloaded something else. As such, if someone wanted to preserve a game,…

Retro-Bit has announced that the next in their line of retro reproductions/reissues/special editions is 1995’s Majyūō (sometimes translated as Majuu Ou). Previously only released in Japan on the Super Famicom, Retro-Bit will be localizing the game for the first time in an official capacity. It’s being localized as Majyūō – King of Demons, which feels pretty appropriate. This is perhaps Retro-Bit’s raddest deep cut yet. You play as Abel, who is trying to save his daughter from demons. He starts off as this regular-looking…

I feel that the SNES was the last major console that had a sound of its own. That’s not to say that later consoles don’t have great music. It’s just that the limitations of the 8 and 16-bit eras gave their platforms a unique voice. After the shift to CD, that was lost. The Nintendo S-SMP, created by Ken Kutaragi, was one of the most sophisticated console sound hardware at the time. But while that didn’t necessarily give it an advantage over the PC-Engine/Turbografx or Sega Genesis/Megadrive, it did give it a unique sound…

Umihara Kawase is a weird game to explain, but I’m going to try to anyway. It looks and sounds like an amateur production put out by some unknown publisher and created by some unknown developer, and maybe it is. But it’s also one of the best games on the Super Famicom. I first heard about it on GameCenter CX (season 5, episode 1), and that was around the time that the series was finally making it stateside with Yumi’s Odd Odyssey (Sayonara Umihara Kawase). I finally jumped into the series in 2020 with Umihara Kawase…

One of my oldest memories is of a time when my sister wouldn’t let my Ghostbusters action figures bust ghosts in her Barbie doll house. The exclusion was my only major exposure to the toy. I did watch the hit 2023 movie, which I enjoyed. I think it was a fun idea to focus on the generational impacts the toy had on women rather than try to contrive some sort of hero’s journey out of it. Wait… it was a hero’s journey! That structure shows up in the strangest places. Anyway, that’s not the reason I bought 1993’s Barbie…

How’s your week been? Mine? Horrible. Worse than normal. So, it’s time for some self-care. Get in your pajamas, order some pizza, and let’s get into some Super Smash T.V. Smash T.V. was originally released in arcades in 1990. It was designed by the legendary Eugene Jarvis, the guy behind 1981’s Defender. More importantly, he created 1982’s Robotron: 2084, which is the godfather of twin-stick shooters. Smash T.V. was built as a spiritual successor to that game, so it has all the features you’d expect, which is to say, it…

When the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) launched, it was an instant success following some of the legendary Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Nintendo sold out of the system of the initial shipment of 300,000 systems within hours, making it one of the most successful console launches in history. Given the time of the system’s release, the SNES gave us a groundbreaking chance to play video games at home relatively inexpensively. The system offered now-classic games and follow-ups to some of the best NES…

Say hello to the bad guy If you’ve played the Ghosts ‘n Goblins series, you probably know Red Arremer, even if the name doesn’t ring a bell. The red gargoyle was a memorable addition to the classic arcade title, as their AI was extremely cruel. They would hover just outside of range, then swoop down at opportune moments to trip you up. At a time when most enemies did little more than move from right to left and maybe bounce if they were feeling sassy, Red Arremer stood out as a worthy (and vexing) foe. You can scarcely…

Remarkably unremarkable I find scrolling shoot-’em-ups to be one of the most difficult genres to talk about, right up there with puzzle games. It’s a formula that has been utilized many times, and frequently the changes are very small. Most of the time, you maneuver your spaceship, unicorn, or spaceship with boxing gloves around on an automatically scrolling background until a much larger boss shows up. I can’t say that Axelay is much different. The formula could be described as a close companion to Life Force or Abadox…