Gaming off the Beaten Path

  As I come to the end of year 4 of GOTBP, I've come to realize that some genres are less conducive to innovation than others. I feel like RPGs, first person shooters and 3D platformers are all genres where innovation is relatively common. Whenever I write about those kinds of games, I always feel like I have a lot to say about each individual game. Other genres, however, just don't seem to have as much innovation from title to title. Whether that's due to lack of opportunity or lack of desire, it just seems to be the case. Of all the genres I've played, it feels like beat 'em ups are always lacking in innovation. I will admit some bias, as it isn't my favorite genre, but I think even fans would admit that a lot of these games start to feel very same-y after a while. However, this can have advantages as well. Sometimes, small innovations in these genres can make games stand out in a big way, which was sort of the case with this week's entry. Released for the

  It's come to my attention that last week was the 30th anniversary of one of gaming's most iconic franchises: Mortal Kombat. I can't believe it's been 30 years since the bone crunching, blood gushing debut of MK, a franchise that's now a household name even outside of gaming circles. It may not have always given us the best games, but few IPs have had as much impact on media as a whole as Mortal Kombat. Not going to lie, I wasn't quite there from the beginning. I was only 4 in 1992 when the original game hit the arcade, I was dabbling in video games at the time but it's not like I could get in the car and drive myself to an arcade. It wasn't really the next year, when MKII hit the arcades where I got found the franchise for the first time. I will never forget walking into the arcade at the now-defunct Bowcraft, seeing the cabinet with Raiden calling down thunderbolts and thinking to myself "I have to play that." Of course my parents let me, th

  Hey wait, didn't you already play that? Nah, you guys aren't crazy, I already played Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers for the SNES, quite a while ago at this point. This time, I'm previewing the Genesis version. But remember, the gaming industry wasn't always like it is now, where every game that gets released across different consoles is essentially the same. It's not that that never happened during the bit wars, because it did. Street Fighter II Turbo and Champion Edition are essentially the same and I could think of tons of examples like that. But in a lot of cases, especially during the 4th generation, every console got different versions of a game. And we aren't just talking slightly different, we are talking a completely different game entirely. I actually kind of like the way it is now, where each console gets the same version. Because back in the day, there was a lot of contention over which version of which game was better, especially between SNES a

  Uuhhhhh....huh huh huh. Huh huh huh. Huh huh huh. Heh. Eh Heh Heh heh. Heh Heh.. Ummmm, so, like, this time we're going to be talking about the Beavis and Butt-Head game for Super Nintendo or something. I don't know if it's going to be good, but like... it looks pretty cool. Yeah! heh heh. This game is going to rule! There's going to be tons of action! And Music Videos! And FIRE! Uuuhhhh, yeah. Sounds pretty cool. But what if it like, sucks? Like it's just a bunch of Bon Jovi videos or something? Beavis and Butt-Head in a video game? I'm there dude! In all seriousness, I figured I would give Beavis and Butt-Head on the SNES a shot now that the not-so-dynamic duo is back. I have yet to see the new show or movie, but they have received what I feel is a surprising amount of critical acclaim. Remember, Beavis and Butt-Head was the show that represented the oncoming downfall of society, the animated effigies of disinterested, braindead youth into which video games

  After a few years of doing this, I've come to realize that what constitutes "off the beaten path" is entirely subjective. There are certainly video game series' that are part of more general popular culture. I would venture a guess that most people out there have heard of Mario or Sonic, even if they've never picked up a controller in their lives. But by the same token, I'm sure there's also someone out there that's like "Shadow Madness? That's not obscure! You don't know what obscure is until you've played Kaiju No Riho: Gaijin Densetsu Gaiden: Don't Panic! without an English translation patch!" I know I've certainly played my share of games that aren't all that obscure. But some of them are really out there for me. I grew up without a Sega console, so stuff like Phantasy Star and Shining Force were completely foreign to me. And that's true of all of us. Ask an American gamer what their favorite ZX Spectrum ga

  As someone who plays old games almost exclusively, I'm constantly reminded of how big the jump between console generations could be. Look at a PS4 game vs. a PS5 title, or an XBox One game vs. a Series S game and it can be hard to tell they are even from different generations. Sure, if you look more closely you can see the newer consoles are superior, but the differences don't always jump off the screen at you. But compare a PS1 game to a PS2 game, or an NES game to an SNES title and you will know the difference immediately. This was a major part of Sega's marketing strategy in the late 80's and early 90's, when the 16-bit Genesis was still competing directly with the 8-bit NES. Sure, the NES may have boasted a much larger library of games featuring some classic titles, but it was much easier to point to a simple screenshot of a Genesis game and say "look." Sure, it was a lot easier to do with some games than others. I've reviewed some earlier Genesi

Looks Like Bowser is at it again! Nintendo was the unquestioned king of the home console video game world in the 80's, but by the time the 90's rolled around they found their castle was under siege. This siege, led by a super-fast, super hip hedgehog and his edgy compatriots, was going quite well for the Big N's latest rival. Their biggest weapon in all of this was a new, sleek, 16-bit gaming machine that has the aging NES on the ropes. Between the marketing blitz and blast processing and top-of-the-line graphics, Nintendo had their hands full. The NES had some great games, like Super Mario Bros. 3, but it just couldn't compete with the Genesis from a technical standpoint. However, Nintendo wasn't about to hand over the crown just yet. They were ready with some brand-new firepower of their own, kicking off the 90's with the new Super NES. Now they had their own 16-bit machine, a new console to help them defend their figurative crown. But a console alone wasn'

  Let's dive back into the always fun world of 16-bit platformers. There were tons of these things back in the 90's, almost as many as there are first person shooters now. I've never actually looked up numbers, but I would guess they were either the most common genre of games released in the 3rd-5th generations or a close second to tournament fighters. Don't get me wrong, a lot of these are great games. But, much like FPS' and open world games now, a lot of these titles started to feel the same after a while. As such, developers started to do everything they could to make their games stand out. Some used gameplay gimmicks, others tried to turn up the level of violence and many (many) tried to drum up interest by slapping a popular license on their games. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't, but it did go a long way in ensuring not every single platformer felt like a straight up clone of Mario or Sonic. Which brings us to Decap Attack, a 1991 platformer for

  When I started looking for games to review as part of TBS, I wasn't shocked to find that many of the candidates were either second or third games in their respective series'. I was, however, surprised to see how many of said candidates were first entries. Much as it was with Super Mario Bros. 2, developers would try and change it up for those entries before finally reverting to the style that put them on the map in the first place. That was common in the 3rd and even 4th generations. But it didn't always work out that way. There are several cases of developers starting a series with one type of game, only to completely pivot to something different and stay with it. Case in point, Shining in the Darkness. This is the very first game in the Shining series, known predominately for its turn-based strategy RPGs. I've already reviewed Shining Force 1 & 2 , both of which I liked quite a bit. I wanted to see where the series started, so I fired up SITD, expecting an ea

As much as I love RPGs, especially ones as good as the game I spent two weeks discussing, sometimes I'm just in the mood for an old fashioned 2D platformer. So I figured I'd tackle one that's been on my to do list for like, 20 years. Ristar is one of those titles I've always had the urge to play, and I've always had the ability to play, but I'd never actually gotten to it until this random week. I've heard some pretty good things, but Ristar has always been something of an overlooked game. Unlike some of the stuff that I review on here though, the reason why is pretty simple: it came out in early 1995, just a few months before the PlayStation and Saturn would kick off the 5th generation. It really is a shame, as the SNES and Genesis had a lot of really great games come out towards the end of their life cycles. It's not like everyone stopped developing for them as soon as the new wave of consoles was announced and both systems continued to see new release