#retronaissance

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Mega Menagerie II: Electrical (Communication) Boogaloo

It’s December 17th, 2023 – the 36th anniversary of the original Rockman’s Japanese release – and you know what that means. It’s time for another one of my yearly Mega-Rants. Since that oft-rumored new game in the series still has yet to surface, I’ve decided to push back the final retrospective again. And honestly, considering all of the other projects I’ve been working on in the background, it’s…

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Armchair Dev: Mighty No. 9-2

Armchair Dev: Mighty No. 9-2

I’ve often mentioned that I have an aversion to games that are so beloved, that their reputation precedes them. What I mention far less often is that I also find myself fascinated by games that generally have poor reputations – especially the ones that could be called “overhated”. Even since the retro boom began, I’ve wanted to examine games with poor reputations and even dissecting ones that…

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MegaMan Retrospective Gaiden: Keiji Inafune & Inti Creates – Part 2

MegaMan Retrospective Gaiden: Keiji Inafune & Inti Creates – Part 2

You know, when I originally decided to tackle the topic of Keiji Inafune and Inti Creates’ MegaMan-“inspired” projects after their respective departures from Capcom, I was worried that perhaps I was covering the topic too quickly. After all, it’s been less than a decade since Mighty No. 9’s Kickstarter was first announced to the world… and it took nearly 3 years for it to release to the public.…

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Lather, Rinse, Die, Repeat

Last year, around this time, I wrote an article where I finally delved into just why I’ve always had a chip on my shoulder about open-world games in general. But if you’ll recall, I hinted at turning that article into a trilogy, one that would tackle two other trends in the industry that always seem to make my eyes glaze over whenever they’re brought up. Originally, I intended to tackle all three…

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Into the Wild Blue Wander

It’s funny. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve tried to become more open-minded about the kinds of games I’m willing to play. Any long-time readers should be able to attest to the fact that I went from being utterly repulsed by turn-based JRPGs to enjoying a fair number of them. That being said, there are clearly still various genres and descriptors that immediately kill whatever interest I have in any…

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Think Inside the Box: A PC Gamer's Vague Recollection of the Pre-Digital Landscape

Originally, I had planned on finally tackling the subject of the emerging “handheld gaming PC” market this year. While it’s certainly become more established since last year, there are still far too many rumors and unknowns at play for me to feel confident about making any sort of salient point regarding the Steam Deck and the challengers to its throne. After all, either Valve’s long-teased…

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What to Expect When You're Speccing: A PC Gaming Field Guide for Newbies

What to Expect When You’re Speccing: A PC Gaming Field Guide for Newbies

It’s funny, this will be my third guide revolving around PC gaming and for once, I’m not writing one out of anger. The first guide about PC ports was written as a reaction to a port that I’d been waiting a long time for that was incredibly shoddy (and has since been fixed) and the secondrevolved around the various major PC gaming storefronts written due to an utterly repugnant service trying to…

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Generation Gap

We’re steadily approaching the ninth generation of video game consoles… and yet, I feel nothing. This is to be expected: after all, I tend to think of myself as more of a PC gamer these days, so all a new set of consoles often means for me these days is that it’s time to get ready to build a newer, more expensive computer. But usually, there’s at least a little glimmer of hope, typically in the…

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