Gaming off the Beaten Path

Here's another one from the Joey file. He has been obssesed, like OBSSESED with Toy Story for the past few months.  And not just the first movie either.  I have probably seen all four of the Toy Story films ten times a week for the past several months.  I guess it could be worse.  There are a lot of lousy kids shows and movies out there that have no redeeming qualities for parents so at least I'm not watching those over and over again. It says a lot for these movies, at least the first two, that the mere mention of them doesn't make me cringe at this point.  I think almost everyone would agree, the original Toy Story is a classic.  Computer-animated films are almost guaranteed money now, but Pixar took a huge risk when they released it in 1995.  The risk paid off 1000-fold.  Pixar is now a household name and movies like this are everywhere.  That all started with Toy Story, which was the first fully computer animated feature film.  The s...

Every series seems to have 'that game' that ends up among the ranks of the forgotten. Since I started reviewing games almost two years ago, I have played plenty of forgotten, totally out there titles, the Shadow Madness-es and Nano Breakers and Gain Grounds of the world.  That was to be expected.  Hell, that was the point of this entire thing to begin with.  What I didn't expect was how many mainstream series' I would touch, whether it was via Mega Man X5/6X, Castlevania: Lament of Innocence or Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles.  Those are all offbeat games from big time gaming heavyweights, something that I have found a surprising amount of.   Tekken 2 doesn't quite fit into that mold.  The aforementioned games were never really considered a big deal, even if the series' they are a part of were household names.  Tekken 2 was absolutely a huge deal when it came out, a highly anticipated sequel to one of the PS1's most popular fighting games.  ...

 It's time to go back to the Sega Genesis well once again. No, I'm not confused, you are.  Yes, I'm sure its a Genesis game.  Just because Nintendo insisted on including the word "Super" in just about every SNES title doesn't mean Sega was contractually forbidden from using the word.  Besides, Super Thunder Blade came out before the SNES even existed. It was a launch title for the Genesis (or Mega Drive, depending on where you're from) when it came out in 1988 in Japan and would make its way to the U.S., also as a launch title, about a year later. Like so, so many of the SNES "Supers,"  Super Thunder Blade is a sorta-sequel to the arcade game Thunder Blade.  Sega added the Super to differentiate it from a similar port to its 8-bit Master System.  Yeah, weird, who knew Nintendo ripped that genius idea off of its hated rival?  The game is a 3rd person flying game, putting you in the cockpit of an attack helicopter as you attempt to shoot down as ma...

I have a gaming sin to confess.  Up until this past week, I had never played any of the Diablo games. I know they are iconic.  I know they are right up my alley in terms of gameplay style.  But growing up I just never had a computer that could keep up with them.  PC games were never a major part of my life growing up.  I almost considered completely eliminating them from consideration for coverage, but the few PC games I did play have had a massive impact on my gaming journey.   But Diablo wasn't one of those games.  My experience with it was on a demo CD that came with an issue of "PC Gamer" in 1996.  I remember finding it a bit scary, (remember, I was 8) but also fascinating.  I wouldn't say this was right in the middle of the satanic panic, but it was definitely still a thing.  Aside from Doom, I don't remember any game leaning so hard into the whole hell/Satan/demons thing as the first Diablo. Even with Doom, you had to get pret...

Here's another one from the "my son wanted to play video games with me" file. He's been really into the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles recently, and when he found out there was a TMNT video game, he was super pumped.  As far as he knows, this is the only Ninja Turtles in existance and honestly, when I was his age I thought the same thing.  It seems most people think of the original TMNT when they talk about Turtles games on the NES and Turtles in Time when they talk about Turtles games throughout history.  But for me, TMNT: The Arcade Game will always be the first one I think of. I don't think the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles need any introduction.  Anyone that grew up in the 80's or 90's had some exposure to these four mutant reptiles named after renaissance artists and their rat sensei.  Whether they were huge fans or casual viewers, Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo were a part of kids' Saturday Mornings everywhere. None of us had any idea...

It's time to roast a sacred cow.   When I started GOTBP a year and a half ago, I was thinking a lot about how video games have come to be perceived over time.  I find that unlike most media, there is a very concrete consensus on which games are good and which are bad.  This is compounded by the fact that there is little room for any dissension from that consensus.  Want to really aggravate a group of gaming nerds?  Easy. "Chrono Trigger sucks!"  There.  Now I'm the most hated person on the internet. Just for the record, Chrono Trigger most certainly does not suck.  It's awesome.  And so are a lot of titles that gamers must dogmatically worship if they want to be included in the club.  I think Super Mario World is as great as the next person, ditto Mega Man X, The Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy whatever number, etc.  However, I've made it clear that I have no problem breaking from that groupthink.  I have taken potshots at ...

 Last week I discussed Grandia II and its solid-but-uneven story, well written-but-tropetastic cast and well presented-but-uninspired style.  That's a lot of hyphens and not a lot about actual gameplay. Let's get started with something positive.  Grandia II absolutely nails one of an RPG's most important elements: the combat system.  It's a bit difficult to explain so bear with me here.  You enter (random) encounters with a party of four.  Each party member and enemy combatant are denoted on a scrolling bar, called the IP gauge, at the bottom of the screen.  When it gets to the command section, its time to input your command.  Each party member can use a combo or critical attack, special move, magic attack, evade, defend, use items or change their equipment.  Enter your command and the IP gauge will scroll through its last section, the command section.  If it reaches the end, your character will perform their attack.  The same is tr...