During the great console wars of the 90s I supported Nintendo against the rebellious upstart Sega. Their aggressive marketing and blast process meant nothing compared to my love of Nintendo platformers and the great mustachioed plumber. How dare Sega try and do what Ninten-don’t! In truth, the console wars were extremely silly. Marketing non-sense designed to … Read more
Mario and Zelda are two of my favorite game series of all time. I’ve looked forward to every major release since I was a kid in the 80s and 90s. Despite only finding the series in 2017, my love for Nihon Falcom’s Ys matches the Nintendo powerhouse series. I enjoy the retro classics with their … Read more
Nintendo released one of the most impactful games in history during 1996. Super Mario 64 changed the landscape of 3D platformers and 3D gaming in general. Mario moved smoothly around wonderfully designed little worlds jam packed with secrets to discover. To this day it’s a ton of fun to play. I understand why it’s the … Read more
50% of Final Fantasy 7 Remake is absolutely thrilling. The other 50% is frustrating and boring. Highs and lows within the same game make it difficult to assess. Does the bad outweigh the good? Let’s dig in and find out. In spring 1998, I sunk over 100 hours into the original Final Fantasy 7. Credit … Read more
BMX gets a film of its own in 1986’s Rad. The most milquetoast film about an extreme sport I’ve ever watched. Nothing radical or even slightly exciting happens throughout the film. The film’s original title was Ball Out, which also fails to describe this tepid movie. Rad’s biggest problem is tension. There is none. There’s … Read more
I can’t do a top 10 for the Original trilogy and Disney Trilogy without bringing in the Prequel Trilogy. Love them or hate them, the prequels brought Star Wars back to theaters. For years the series was limited to comics, novels and video games. Hype for Phantom Menace was massive and fans loved it…at first. … Read more
Continuing from my last article on the Disney Star Wars trilogy, I’ve decided to look back over my 10 favorite moments in the Star Wars original trilogy. Presented in chronological order rather than any best of ranking. Each scene is great for its own merits. You’ll find tons of classic scenes missing, but these are … Read more
Star Wars fans online seem to think the series is either perfection or hot garbage, with little in-between. I watched the OT dozens of times as a child. My THX remastered edition VHS box set was nearly worn out by the time the films reached DVD in the mid-2000s. Despite being a formative part of … Read more
Edutainment is rarely entertaining. A lot of media with an educational aspects falls flat. There’s a difficult balance to maintain between being fun to watch and imparting information. In the 90s the best examples were Bill Nye the Science Guy and Beakman’s World. Both presented STEM topics in fun and easy to digest episodes. More … Read more
Yu Yu Hakusho is a classic shonen anime of the early 90s. I decided to give it a watch after finishing Yoshihiro Togashi’s 2010 anime hit Hunter x Hunter. The newer series was excellent and deserves a review of its own, but I want to start with the retro shonen anime. How does it hold … Read more
