From the Vault columnist. Grew up feeding quarters to the Ms. Pac-Man machine at his uncle's pizza place; still owns his childhood SNES and every Nintendo Power he ever begged his mother for. Writes the retrospectives and the hidden-gem hunts.
Doug Neubauer, creator of Star Raiders, put a whole galactic war on the ageing 2600 in 1986. Solaris is the late era’s technical masterpiece — reviewed.
No credit, no royalties, one infamous towel comparison: how David Crane, Larry Kaplan, Alan Miller and Bob Whitehead left Atari in 1979 and changed games forever.
Demon Attack, Cosmic Ark, Atlantis and more: the ten essential games from Imagic, the brilliant third-party publisher the crash took too soon.
John Van Ryzin’s 1984 rescue masterpiece gave the 2600 a helicopter pack with real weight and caves that keep inventing themselves. Our review of a late-era classic.
A mutated housefly, a nibbled shield and the Zorlon Cannon: Howard Scott Warshaw’s Yar’s Revenge is the best-selling original game on the 2600 and its strangest. Reviewed.
Carol Shaw’s procedurally generated river, its fuel depots and its perfect speed control make River Raid the 2600’s most elegant shooter. Our full review.
255 screens, 32 treasures and a twenty-minute clock: David Crane’s 1982 Activision classic turned the platform game into an expedition. We run the jungle again.
Warren Robinett’s Adventure invented the action-adventure — and hid the first famous Easter egg — on a cartridge from 1980. Our review of the dragons, the bat and the little square hero.
Power-up bats, cartoon home runs and pick-up-and-play perfection. SNK’s 1992 classic is still the most social baseball game ever made.
Arcade-first economics, enormous ROM counts and tiny print runs: the full story of why Neo Geo cartridges cost a fortune in 1991 — and a fortune again today.