Gaming off the Beaten Path

I'm not sure if you've heard, but there are a lot of really good RPGs on the PS1. A lot of consoles have become known for specific genres over the years. The NES is filled with 2D platformers, the Genesis is known for its sports games, the modern consoles are known for FPS', on and on, etc. etc. But few systems are as synonymous with a specific genre as the original PlayStation is with RPGs. I kind of understand this and kind of don't. Sure, the PlayStation had tons of RPGs. It also had tons of literally every other kind of game because its library is so large. However, it was certainly more RPG focused than its contemporaries, the Saturn didn't have nearly as many (though a lot of the RPGs that did land on the console are excellent) and you could probably count the Nintendo 64 RPGs on one hand. A lot of it had to do with the fact that most of the "big name" RPG franchises made their home on the PS1, with Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest being the most not...

  After almost two years, it's time to re-visit the World Heroes series. I had previously covered World Heroes 2 Jet, a tournament fighter from the 90's, and I wasn't particularly kind to it. While it was a well made game, it was overly simplistic and did very little to differentiate itself from it's countless contemporaries. Put simply, it was yet another average Street Fighter clone. However, it was far from the best the series had to offer. That would be World Heroes Perfect, which hit arcades in 1995 before winding up on the Neo Geo that same year. I've been doing this for three years and the only feedback I've received about which games I review was that I should have just skipped Jet and gone right to this game, as it is far superior. But was that really the case? I know SNK has a small but very dedicated fanbase, so could it just be bias? Well, World Heroes 2 Jet is a Street Fighter clone that's decidedly mediocre. World Heroes Perfect...is still a ...

 Since I started reviewing games almost three years ago, I've found myself playing a lot of stuff I never thought I would touch. But this is a plunge I didn't think I'd ever take.  I have never, ever had even a passing interest in playing any of the Lego games, which have been around since the 6th generation (I think). These games are what they sound like; standard action games featuring Lego versions of the characters from your favorite cannons or universes. There's tons of these, Lego Batman, Lego Star Wars, Lego Harry Potter, etc. etc., you get the idea. It's not that I have a problem with that, I loved Legos as a kid and I obviously love video games, but it just never interested me. But you know who it did interest? My almost five-year old. He saw the cover of this game, a PS3 title I'm not sure how I acquired, and insisted in playing right away. He has no idea who Indiana Jones is and honestly, I'm not overly familiar with the films myself, but he thoug...

  Yet another non-review, but this was something I had planned to do for a long time. Not going to lie, I almost forgot about it, but September marks the 25th anniversary of the iconic Nintendo 64's U.S. launch. I figured I would have to do a similar write to the one I did for the PlayStation at the end of 2019. I know the Super Nintendo celebrated its 30th birthday last month without a similar article, but that wasn't an oversight on my part. I'm a huge fan of the SNES, but I think it (and the other 4th gen consoles) are all still held up on a pedestal by modern and retro gamers alike. The 5th gen consoles, however, have developed a certain reputation over time for being dated and unplayable. I don't believe that to be the case and I wanted to show my appreciation for these consoles, so hence the writeups on the PlayStation and N64. The N64 also has a special place in my heart. I've mentioned before that this was the first thing I ever bought with my own money. I ...

 You can drop this one straight into the "that exists?" file. I'm not going to lie, when this game was first bought to my attention I thought it would be a fan-made game or a hack or something along those lines. But nope, there really was a dodgeball video game for the NES, released in 1989 by a company called Technos. This was apparently an arcade port, I am unsure if the original cabinet ever left Japan, but I highly doubt it. Personally I think the name is a bit confusing, so many SNES games had "Super" in the title, it was weird to see it on an NES game other than Super Mario Bros. But I digress. Super Dodgeball is exactly what it sounds like, a video game where you play dodgeball. There's a one player world cup mode, along with a versus mode and something called bean ball, which can be played with either one or two players. This mode is more like a schoolyard game, with every player out for themselves and able to move freely at any point. The other two ...

Of all Nintendo's first party franchises, F-Zero probably gets the least love. I think I made it pretty clear when I reviewed F-Zero GX last year that I think it's BS that Nintendo hasn't released a new title in the franchise in going on 20 years. But while it has gotten a handful of sequels and its certainly seen more releases than its futuristic racing brethren, I've always felt Star Fox is a close second on the big N's "let's not make any more games in this franchise" list. It seems like no matter how hard they try, Nintendo just can't capture what made the old Star Fox games so great. The series' most recent entry, 2016's Star Fox Zero, was met with mixed reviews and is generally regarded as okay at best. Star Fox Assault on the GameCube had its moments, but was an overall disappointing experience that I found to be incredibly lacking. I've already offered my thoughts on Star Fox Adventures: Dinosaur Planet and its complete deviat...

  I've been looking forward to this one for a long time. I've skirted around it before, I talked about it extensively in my Warhawk review, I referenced it on my 10's list, but this is the first time I've ever done a full review of a Twisted Metal game. I touched on this in the Warhawk review, but I think you can safely classify Twisted Metal in the "off the beaten path" category. No new games since 2009, 12 years. The most recent release in the franchise came six years ago, with the re-release of Twisted Metal: Black on the Playstation network. It's kind of sad really. There was a time when Twisted Metal was a really, really big deal. Whenever one of these games came out, it was a big deal. Some were classic (I will eventually cover Twisted Metal 2 as part of my 10's) others were disappointing (TM3 is really, really bad) but there was always a lot of hype surrounding them. Then, it just wasn't. I have always chalked it up to the decline in popula...