The time has come to embark on a new journey, whether you like it or not. Yes, this month, we begin a survey of a new library, Epoch's Super Cassette Vision, perhaps the most successful of the failed Famicom-era competitors to emerge in Japan betw...
2023-03-12 11:50:39 +0000 UTC View Post
Well, geez. Look at these games. Then, look at them side-by-side with what was happening on NES in early 1987—Pro Wrestling, Track & Field, BurgerTime. Fine games on NES, but this duo on Master System feels practic...
2023-03-08 12:37:50 +0000 UTC View Post
This episode actually made me regret my decision to cover Japan-only (and never-released-in-America) Mark III titles for the Segaiden series. As interesting as things like Galactic Protector, Bubble Bobble, and Alex Kidd BMX Trial promise to be, f...
2023-03-01 12:59:05 +0000 UTC View PostGreetings to all! I am pleased to upload and present to you, exclusively, the digital version of the SG-1000 Works book, which launches in print form this summer. (I have locked in the names of patrons who will be receiving the book once ...
2023-02-24 13:22:04 +0000 UTC View Post
I guess you could call this one Segaiden Gaiden, if you were inclined to do horrible things to the English (and Japanese??) language. I don't recommend doing that, though. It will make people dislike you.
This episode is one of roughly...
2023-02-22 12:50:15 +0000 UTC View Post
I was a little nervous going into this one, because I know Alex Kidd in Miracle World has become one of those touchstones for cultural differences: No one in America likes it, while several European countries have collectively voted Alex ...
2023-02-15 12:49:35 +0000 UTC View Post
Some of you will be happy to know that I've finally dunked on the box art of a Master System game. I mean, come on. Pro Wrestling has one of the finest "what were they thinking?" packages of all time. Of. All. Time.
However, that du...
2023-02-08 12:29:59 +0000 UTC View Post
My Master System journey so far has been quite eventful and remarkably interesting in surprising ways, but every once in a while (read: probably most of the time now that we're out of the launch window) we'll arrive at episodes where the games don...
2023-02-01 13:11:07 +0000 UTC View Post
And with that, the Cassette Vision retrospective series is now in the bag. Whew, a daunting 11 games. Amazing I made it through alive.
I hope you've enjoyed this break from the usual—I have a few more pre-NES Japanese consoles lined up (or...
2023-01-27 15:48:51 +0000 UTC View Post
I've figured out how you're supposed to read the titles of Sega's "Great" sports series. It's not "what a great ice hockey game" but rather "oh, great... ice hockey."
Anyway, the star of this week's episode is not a game (both of which...
2023-01-25 13:02:20 +0000 UTC View Post
I am quickly finding the early Master System library to be a lot better than I expected! Take this week's entries as a case in point: I figured Action Fighter (a massively retooled arcade port) and Black Belt (a Kung Fu ...
2023-01-18 12:38:56 +0000 UTC View Post
This episode didn't quite turn out as expected! I thought I was mostly going to talk about TransBot. Yet fully half of this episode's run time covers F-16, a game that I did not enjoy playing at all. However, as I dug deeper and ...
2023-01-11 12:37:02 +0000 UTC View Post
2023 kicks off here with, yes, more Master System. You may as well settle in and enjoy the ride, because there's a LOT of Master System on the way. It's gonna be one of THOSE years.
This episode feels nicely emblematic of the Master System e...
2023-01-04 13:12:48 +0000 UTC View Post
And we're off to the races. If this episode offers any indication of the future, you can expect me to (1) have plenty to say about Master System and (2) never show footage of the back half of games. Sega sure didn't believe in going easy on us bac...
2022-12-28 12:29:05 +0000 UTC View Post
Please enjoy this holiday treat: The beginning of Master System coverage on Segaiden, beginning with an overview of the console and its context, along with its two, er, three pack-in and built-in games. Having experienced the Master System for mys...
2022-12-21 12:33:47 +0000 UTC View Post
Good news! This is it for NES Works Gaiden 1985, and I won't be pursuing the Famicom library into 1986 and beyond except to point out interesting releases here and there. We did it. We made it through. Thanks for sharing this tempestuous ride with...
2022-12-14 12:58:32 +0000 UTC View Post
As promised, I've gone and made up for last month's late exclusive video by getting this month's together very early. Here is your penultimate episode of Cassette Vision coverage, covering two games that surprisingly do not have roots in ...
2022-12-11 15:41:59 +0000 UTC View Post
I went into this episode intending to close the book on NES Works Gaiden 1985, as you can see from the hosting segments, which I wrote and recorded in between playing the games for footage and actually putting together the scripts. But then I ende...
2022-12-07 13:29:49 +0000 UTC View Post
Yes, I realize it's no longer November.
I had a little more trouble recording footage for this episode than expected, because some of the footage doesn't involve video games but rather electronic games. A subtle but critical d...
2022-12-03 17:41:13 +0000 UTC View Post
Before I dive into this week's video, let me offer an apology about this month's video. Unfortunately, the latest NES Works Gaiden Epoch is taking a little longer to complete than I had anticipated, because the episode requires m...
2022-11-30 12:37:50 +0000 UTC View Post
You know things are rough when Bokosuka Wars is the highlight of an episode. Nah, that's not really fair—Bokosuka Wars was actually pretty clever! Doughboy wants to be clever, but it trips over its own landmine and sel...
2022-11-23 12:35:39 +0000 UTC View Post
Three games about shooting stuff in space this week. I wish I could send these games into space, and then shoot them. They're not good, you see. Ah well! Only four more episodes until I hit the end of NES Works Gaiden 1985 and can move al...
2022-11-16 13:44:28 +0000 UTC View Post
Well, that's it. That's NES Works 1988 in the can. Good night, everyone.
OK, but seriously, I'm proud of this episode. I think it hits the perfect balance between historic context, game design commentary, and praise for the game's legacy. Th...
2022-11-09 12:39:06 +0000 UTC View Post
Wow, the penultimate episode of NES Works 1988. I feel like I made it here pretty quickly, despite also taking the time along the way to cover the SG-1000 and pre-NES Famicom in their entirety. (This, of course, has not stopped YouTube commenters ...
2022-11-02 12:23:58 +0000 UTC View Post
I have, as this month's exclusive* for patrons, the second entry in the saga of Epoch game console. I'm not sure how I manage to wring nearly 10 minutes of commentary out of each of these games, but here we are.
This episode features the sol...
2022-10-28 11:56:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Last week's episode may have been something of a wash, but this episode more than makes up for it. Star Luster and Spelunker offer plenty to talk about, both as games and as moments in the medium's history that reflect the bigger picture. Sometime...
2022-10-26 11:46:12 +0000 UTC View Post
We are rapidly nearing the end of NES Works Gaiden's journey through the early days of Famicom. This series will not be continuing on into 1986, and this is why: As we wind down here, the material seems overly familiar. We've seen Lunar Ball 2022-10-19 11:56:46 +0000 UTC View Post
The only downside to this whole "patrons get video two weeks early" thing is that my annual Halloween Castlevania retrospectives don't actually coincide with Halloween for you; they simply fall into that vague sphere of Pumpkin Spice Time. My apol...
2022-10-12 11:39:40 +0000 UTC View Post
OK, here is today's advance episode again, now with proper film attribution. Sigh.
2022-10-06 00:53:59 +0000 UTC View PostI had to remove the video I published this morning due to careless errors. I will correct and reupload as soon as I'm able. Sorry about that.
2022-10-05 20:30:42 +0000 UTC View Post