And that, thankfully, wraps it up for this little Sega sidebar on the Othello Multivision. Not the most impressive lineup, if you ask me!
When I recorded this episode's outro, I made a dismissive remark about someday covering the Epoch Super Cassette Vision, since it was a post-Famicom console and therefore falls under the purview of Video Works. But actually, after thinking about it, that seems like a pretty good idea, given that there's some interesting history packed in there. ...
2021-06-09 11:11:24 +0000 UTC
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Before we can truly move along to Sega's momentous ’85 lineup, we first need to take care of some business back in 1983 and ’84. There were eight (technically nine) games released for the SG-1000 outside of Sega's purview—or rather, eight (technically nine) games released for a different platform that happened to have exactly the same innards as the SG-1000, as well as the same physical cartridge format and compatible pinouts.
The Othello Multivision is a curious little corn...
2021-06-02 12:00:01 +0000 UTC
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Coming in just under the wire, here's your second chunk of bonus content for the month: The fourth episode of Famiconversations. After a few episodes of warm-up, this time I downshift into low gear and begin the real purpose of this show: Talking in detail about the games covered in NES Works and Segaiden, with outside perspectives that will (hopefully) offer new information and perhaps new opinions to my own. This time around, Dylan Cornelius of 2021-05-29 18:56:06 +0000 UTC
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Another two-cylinder episode for 7800 this week, and another with the "reading ransom demands on public access TV circa 1989" hosting video quality. It'll get better next episode, I promise.
This channel finally gets to Epyx's Summer Games (having already looked at California Games and Winter Games twice now), but the real prize here is Desert Falcon: The first-ever game designed specifically for 7800. And... one that shipped about four years later than intend...
2021-05-26 12:00:00 +0000 UTC
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Looks like Atari needs a little love, eh? It's been too long since we last looked in on the Atari 7800... though basically that's down to the fact that the Atari 7800 was kind of a wasteland for the first half of 1988. The system will finally begin to see some new material in 1989, but for now, there's... this. As it happens, however, "this" includes Ballblazer, a game with enough history and substance that this ended up being the first 7800 retrospective episode to feature only two ...
2021-05-19 13:00:01 +0000 UTC
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Yes! It's a [booming voice] METROIDVANIA WORKS episode. I haven't done one of these in a while, but I need to dip my toe into the waters every now and again to maintain my iron grip on the Metroidvania trademark. (Disclaimer: I do not actually have a trademark on Metroidvania.)
This episode also needed to happen fairly soon, because the NES Works episode on Metal Gear isn't too far away, and this offloads all the basics of the topic to allow me to focus more on the changes infl...
2021-05-12 20:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Here you go:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/kzq7sww6co4ewsb/Super%20NES%20Works%20Vol%201%20for%20patrons.pdf?dl=0
After three (!) years of development, Super NES Works Vol. I is finally, finally ready for you to enjoy. While a year of struggling with a difficult job and a second year of trying to keep things on track during a pandemic certai...
2021-05-07 11:25:59 +0000 UTC
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And that's it for 1984... mostly. (I still need to tackle the Othello Multivision.) Pretty strong close to the year, and man is there a LOT of ground to cover in 1985! I'm going to take a break from this chronology for a while, though, to focus on some other things... I could definitely go for making some videos that aren't 20-minute surveys of three or four games at once.
2021-05-05 13:00:00 +0000 UTC
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Whew, barely squeaked this one through before the end of the month. But here we are: The last of the setup episodes before I can really start to delve into to the Famicom and SG-1000 libraries. Thanks again to Kevin Bunch and Earl Grey for joining me on this one and wrapping up a quick overview of pre-Famicom consoles!
2021-04-29 14:00:05 +0000 UTC
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...in PDF form. And I should have standard Virtual Boy Works editions (in physical form) to send out to supporters, too.
2021-04-28 21:30:07 +0000 UTC
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This week we have the third of four overviews of Famicom's 1984 release lineup, all of which should seem fairly familiar at this point. I've talked about some version of all of these games before, except 4 Nin Uchi Mahjong, but... you know. It's video mahjong. (This nevertheless didn't stop this video from running 15 minutes in length.)
- 4 Nin Uchi Mahjong: Four-player mahjong for Nintendo at last! If you don't mind three players being robots.
- F1 Race...
2021-04-28 13:00:00 +0000 UTC
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The first completed Virtual Boy Works edition off the presses is in hand! Or at least, the first the printers passed along.
And no, the 3D glasses are not just for effect.
We're still working out the logistics of when this will be going up for sale, but as promised, everyone who was supporting this campaign at a "print book" tier when I shared the PDF version of the book a few months ago will be receiving a copy (either standard or DX) before too long.
<...
2021-04-23 13:34:01 +0000 UTC
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Greetings! It's time once again for April bonus content—the monthly PDF of collected cover photos.
I've decided to change up my approach to this project. The full-set photos are out, replaced by pictures of box art with no additional clutter. I think this suits the photo project better, but it also separates these images from the NES Works (etc.) books.
Secondly, I'm now approaching this as a "living" document. Rather than post month-by-month uploads that requires multiple...
2021-04-22 21:46:57 +0000 UTC
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Today marks the seventh anniversary of this video project. Seventh! Wild. It's evolved a lot over time, and I've made plenty of false starts and failed experiments in that time. But I'm very happy with the current direction of this endeavor, and I hope the world holds itself together long enough for me to make some real headway with it over the next... years? Decades? Anyway, this episode is a case-in-point.
In fact, this week's video may be my favorite so far. I'm not talking about my ...
2021-04-21 13:00:06 +0000 UTC
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This week, we throw the mic back over to Sega and four more for ’84. Some impressive visual gimmicky happening here—once Sega manages to marry these visuals to equally strong gameplay, it'll be easier to see how SG-1000 represents basis of this first-power powerhouse's long and memorable life as a console industry superstar.
- Lode Runner: I'd like to promise this is the last we'll see of this property for a while, but both Famicom and SG-1000 have Championship Lode Run...
2021-04-14 13:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Whoops! I almost forgot to post this. The, uh, devil made me (almost not) do it.
Only three games in this NES Works Gaiden compared to the eight last time around, but that's because two of these never made their way to the U.S. versus almost all of the first-party early ’84 titles. I did cover Devil World in passing a very long time ago on NES Works, but this is a proper review that, I think, better defines what it's about and why it's notable.
Really, though, the...
2021-04-07 17:44:38 +0000 UTC
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Hey all! Welcome to a new month, and according to the business calendar, a new quarter. And old video games such as I cover here are Serious Business Indeed.
That said! I would like to continue the grand tradition of giving a sense of what the next three months hold, video-wise. My production schedule has really solidified over the past six months, so this stuff should basically be a lock!
APRIL
Basically, my plan for the coming month is to wrap up SG-1000/F...
2021-04-04 20:05:17 +0000 UTC
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And here's SG-1000's entrée into the year 1984, which, admittedly, is not amazing. Between two games held over from 1983 and two sequels to unremarkable 1983 releases, it's not really off on the best foot. There is something kinda cool about Home Mahjong, though. I'll save the surprise for the video. And, as promised, this is the first of two Golgo 13 retrospectives for 2021...
2021-03-31 13:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Before March goes out like a lamb (or however it is that the month traditionally makes its exit), here's the latest episode of the Famiconversations podcast. We'll be getting to the NES stuff in due time, but before we get to the well-trod territory, the podcast is taking a quick detour into the past of the past—the history behind the history. Basically, a quick conversation about the console platforms that predate Atari 2600 and the NES.
Description: This month, vintage gaming hi...
2021-03-30 00:52:38 +0000 UTC
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While my focus this year (and probably next...) is on the Sega 8-bit library, I do want to dip a toe into the SG-1000's contemporary competition on Famicom to give a better sense of how the two platforms evolved in comparison to one another. Famicom's ’83 lineup was explored way back in the second episode of NES Works Gaiden, but over the coming months we'll be taking quite a few of these excursions into Nintendo's ’84 and ’85 lineups.
This first episode is more of an overview, gi...
2021-03-24 13:00:00 +0000 UTC
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If you have seen Virtual Boy Works, you will be familiar with that's console's shitennou: Its "four heavenly kings," games so rare and expensive that you might as well forget ever owning a full set of authentic games. I don't know if anything on SG-1000 is quite as rare as SD Gundam Dimension War or Virtual Lab, which supposedly were produced in double digit quantities. But I do know that if you want to own a full set of SG-1000 carts, you're gonna have to ...
2021-03-17 13:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Good evening, or whatever time of day it may be for you when you read this. This month's first bonus offering is up: The second chapter of this theoretical game packaging coffee table book. This time around, I've managed to take fresh photos of all the games, so the whole thing looks a lot more consistent (and I'll be updating the January volume as soon as I can). Please enjoy! So shiny!
2021-03-15 21:54:36 +0000 UTC
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Back to the regular Segaiden format here, with four (four!) arcade conversions or interpretations for SG-1000. Admittedly, not all of these games are winners—I'm looking at you, Pop Flamer—but they do a lot more to make SG-1000's case than something like Safari Hunting or, God forbid, Congo Bongo. You can really get a sense of Sega getting a handle on what it means to make a good home console title here. For example: "paying Namco to handle their own ar...
2021-03-10 14:00:04 +0000 UTC
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While my intent for SG-1000 coverage was to tackle four games per episode, I ended up liking both Sindbad Mystery and Monaco GP so much I devoted a full episode to just the two of them. I suppose by the standards of peak NES (circa 1990) or Game Boy Advance, there's not much to see here. But in 1983, these were pretty impressive releases, especially when their only real competition was Nintendo's Famicom... which offered no direct competition to a maze chase and a racer.
2021-03-03 14:00:00 +0000 UTC
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Now that the Famiconversations podcast is a real thing that exists, I've begun planning the second episode—and I thought it might be interesting to bring some of the actual video game history experts who follow my video projects into the mix.
For episode 2, I'd like to talk about the U.S. side of video games leading up to the Famicom/SG-1000 launch. That's something I don't touch on very often in videos and don't intend to explore in any real depth, but it never...
2021-02-28 16:41:02 +0000 UTC
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Here we go!
The Famiconversations podcast has arrived (although you'll notice as you listen to the podcast that it does not, in fact, realize it is called "Famiconversations"). My goal with this show is to publish one episode every four-to-six weeks exclusively for patrons supporting at the $6+ levels, steadily traveling through the chronology of the games and systems covered in the Video Works projects. Naturally, this debut episode takes us to the very beginning of it all—by w...
2021-02-27 23:24:25 +0000 UTC
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Things are still a little uninspiring in SG-1000 this week, but I promise that's about to change in a significant way. Very good things are ahead in the near future! For now, however, I'm afraid there's a bit of been-there-done-that to these proceedings as we look at a pair of choppy and predictable shooters (well, mostly predictable—Star Jacker's kinda weird!) and a pair of sports games that play reasonably well but aren't a patch on the genre revolutions to come in the months ahead on oth...
2021-02-24 14:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Your first patron-exclusive bonus upload is here: The Road to NES Works issue 1. This is a high-resolution (and edited) compilation of the daily image posts I've began publishing to Instagram and Twitter in January, covering posts from Jan. 1 through 31. My pie-in-the-sky dream here is to find a feasible way to publish these in a collected edition at the end of the year, but I realize a 12x12" full-color coffee table book spanning 365 days might end up being impossibly expensive... e...
2021-02-21 16:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Hi all, I don't know if Patreon notifies you of these things, but I have adjusted and added Patreon tiers as planned. Here's how the new setup works:
- The $2 tier is now a general support tier—non-taxed, no rewards.
- The new $3 tier is for early video access.
- The $6 tier was going to be phased out in favor of a slightly pricier tier with more stuff, but I ultimately felt that seemed greedy. Instead, the $6 tier w...
2021-02-18 23:35:42 +0000 UTC
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A second batch of SG-1000 games for you here this week, happily moving away from games about guns... though I wouldn't exactly call these masterpieces for the ages. They're fine as bulk catalog filler for a system that launched in 1983, but it's hard to imagine anyone necessarily clamoring to stock up on a primitive, half-baked take on Mahjong or the inexplicably worst-ever conversion of Congo Bongo. Bear with me. I promise the SG-1000 really does get more interesting from here.
2021-02-17 19:00:03 +0000 UTC
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