Gaming off the Beaten Path

  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...

  It's time to go back to the "racing games based on motorsports I know absolutely nothing about" well once again. This time, we're stepping out of our stock cars and hopping on our dirt bikes. I talked in the NASCAR '99 review about how little I knew of stock car racing. Well, if I know very little about NASCAR, I know next to nothing at all about motocross. Should I be capitalizing motocross? Is it a proper noun? I know that it's essentially racing on dirt bikes, but I don't know any of the rules. I couldn't tell you what the big events are or where the top venues are or who the top riders are. I've heard of Ricky Carmichael, but he was the only member of this game's roster I had recognized. So basically, I am going into this blind, at least when it comes to how the subject matter is presented. That said, I've played a lot of racing games over the past three years, probably more than I had in my entire life, so I'm starting to learn ...

  One of the biggest problems I believe the gaming industry has is how quick it is to dismiss mediocre or even bad games as a complete waste of time. That may not seem like it makes sense at all, but hear me out. Just because a game is bad doesn't necessarily mean all the ideas it presents are bad. In fact, I feel like you can sometimes learn more from a failure than a success. But that doesn't always happen in the gaming industry. I think this is a big part of why it sometimes feels like the same game gets released over and over again, developers just take everything from their successes and slap a new label on them. Sometimes, it would help the industry innovate more if they took some of the more positive aspects from their less successful titles. In case it wasn't immediately apparent, Flying Dragon, a fighting game for the Nintendo 64, isn't a particularly good game. I probably could have just said "fighting game for the Nintendo 64" and you probably could...

  I've talked a lot about video game series' that haven't stood the test of time, or even one off titles that never managed to receive sequels. That's relatively common amongst lesser known video games. But for this week's entry, it's most certainly not the case. Despite being a somewhat a forgotten series among mainstream gamers in the west, Samurai Warriors is huge in Japan. It also has a relatively small but very dedicated fanbase. They're pretty obviously dedicated, because there wouldn't be 5.8 billion spinoffs and sequels if they weren't. Five numbered sequels, Xtreme Legends, Chronicles and Empires spinoffs, sequels to sequels, ports, Japan only titles, you name it, Samurai Warriors has done it. "Bet you they didn't do a Samurai Warriors racing spinoff!" Yeah I guess you're right, how could they have...oh...wait, they did? It's called Samurai Derby, and it's a free to play browser game. Look it up. The series has an e...

  I want to be the very best, like no one ever was... I've covered a lot of obscure games since I started GOTBP ore than three years ago. Even some of the "bigger" titles I've covered aren't really that popular in the grand scheme of things. Well, this time it's going to be a little different, because it's time to talk about the single largest merchandising brand in the world: Pokemon. But we aren't going to be discussing the new Arceus games, or Pokemon Go, or how people are literally fighting each other to get their hands on the cards right now. We are going back to the beginning: back to a little game, for a little console that made a big amount of people pay attention to what was, at the time, a relatively niche form of entertainment. I'd like to start by talking about Pokemon, the little Game Boy game that could, which came out of nowhere and changed the world of gaming. I'd like to do that, but it would be a gross exaggeration. While I do...

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...

  This week I'm going to do something a little different. Hey card gaming is still gaming, right? I know I've talked before about my love of Magic: The Gathering and I've always wanted to write a little more about it, but I've never really had a reason to here. I debated doing something last year when they announced their whole "realms beyond" thing, where they decided to bring a bunch of crossover IPs into the MTG universe. Honestly, I wasn't a fan. As someone who has played since 1996, I don't even like that they have a "multiverse" with "planes" other than Dominara. So when I first saw the "Walking Dead" Secret Lair, I was a bit thrown. "I will never buy one of those crossover things" I thought to myself. I mean, there was talk of mixing in IPs that at least made some sense, like Dungeons and Dragons or Lord of the Rings, but a show about zombies? Stranger Things? Wasn't a fan. Well, then MTGs longtime pub...