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.
At a glance: Nintendo Switch (also PS4/PS5, Xbox, PC) · Publisher: ININ Games · Developed with Tozai Games · Released: 2023 · Three games, multiple versions · Genre: vertical and horizontal shoot ’em up · Players: 1–2 · Price at…
At a glance: Nintendo Switch · Publisher: ININ Games · Released: 2023 · Ten arcade games (1984–1992) · Players: 1–2 · Price at launch: $39.99 The first Taito Milestones was an easy collection to shrug at: ten early-eighties coin-ops, solid…
RayForce, RayStorm and RayCrisis together at last: Taito’s lock-on shooter trilogy gets a beautiful, faithful compilation. Our review.
The Lost Vikings, Rock n’ Roll Racing and Blackthorne, preserved with museum care: Blizzard’s 16-bit beginnings have never looked better.
32 Capcom arcade classics inside a virtual arcade: Final Fight, Strider, Ghouls ‘n Ghosts and more, reviewed as a place as much as a package.
Team Coria’s assembly-coded island adventure proves the Game Boy still has new worlds to explore — demo, design and cartridge ambitions examined.
Sunsoft’s 1990 Batman is the Game Boy’s great licensed game: tight run-and-gun platforming, a Batmobile stage, and a soundtrack worthy of the cape. Our review.
From the DVD-fuelled launch to GTA III, the slimline peak and the longest goodbye in gaming: the four moments that made PlayStation 2 special.
The Emotion Engine, the DVD trojan horse and a 4,000-game library: why the PS2’s 160-million reign still defines what a console is.
Final Fantasy Adventure was really Seiken Densetsu — the founding chapter of Mana. Our review of Square’s bold, melancholy Game Boy action-RPG classic.