Features
The Best Sega CD RPGs: The Little Library That Punched Way Above Its Weight
Ask somebody what the Sega CD was for and they’ll say Night Trap. Sewer Shark. Grainy full-motion video of actors who needed…
Author: Sal Benedetto
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.
Features
The 25 Best Sega CD Games of All Time
Ask the internet about the Sega CD and you’ll get the same joke within ten seconds: grainy full-motion video, Night Trap, a…
Features
The Amiga Demoscene: The Wildest Art Form Nobody Paid For
At a glance Era: Golden age 1987–1995 — and it never actually stopped The machine: Commodore Amiga 500 — 7 MHz Motorola 68000,…
Features
The 16-Bit RPGs That Still Outclass Modern Games
Every few years I sit down with a modern blockbuster — some gorgeous, hundred-hour epic with a map the size of a…
Features
The Only Way Is Up: Why Castlevania’s Staircases Still Terrify
The 1987 NES box art. Forty years on, the castle keeps its reputation — and its staircases. Photo: Konami / Wikimedia Ask…
Features
One Coin, No Continues: Gradius, R-Type and the Lost Art of the One-Credit Clear
Konami’s 1985 flyer promised a war. It did not mention you would be fighting it on a single coin. Photo: Konami /…
Features
Are Retro Game Prices Finally Cooling Off?
For the better part of a decade, the retro game market only knew one direction: up. Common games became expensive, expensive games…
Features
The Game Boy Mods Worth Doing in 2026
The original Game Boy turns 37 this year, and the modding scene around it has never been better. What started with backlights…
Reviews
Chrono Trigger (SNES)
SNES · RPG · REPLAY REVIEW Some games you replay out of nostalgia. Chrono Trigger you replay out of suspicion — the…
Reviews
Contra, Metal Slug and the Run-and-Gun Hall of Fame
Some genres age gracefully. The run-and-gun did not need to — it was perfect from the start. One soldier, one gun, an…