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Do I share my stories about being managing editor of a boxing magazine for several years? Nope.
Recount my times seeing but for some reason never talking to Iron Mike at boxing press conferences? No. I was young and a bit shy and Evander Holyfield was more approachable!
Do I defend the “Mr. Dream” version of the game, which is the only one I ever owned — and which gets slammed in the piece? No.
I just talk about not remembering how to beat King Hippo. Thankfully the article’s author, Patrick Sauer, reminds me in the article. It’s a good read, with pro boxers and others reminiscing about the game.
So do we all agree with this line from the piece?
…if there’s ever a Hall of Fame for sports video games, it’s a first-ballot lock.
I didn’t ask John Koller, the head of hardware marketing at Sony Computer Entertainment America, whether this was changing when we spoke earlier this week. My bad, readers.
But he did follow-up over e-mail last night.
“Yes, we are working on further PSone additions to the PS Store and should see those launch shortly,” he said.
With that in mind, what PS One games do you want to re-buy? “Klonoa” and “Metal Gear Solid” would be very much appreciated, thanks!
Revisiting gaming’s classics isn’t an easy task, especially when you’re talking about nostalgic titans like “Pac-Man” and “Galaga.”
But team director Tadashi Iguchi and his team at Namco Bandai proved skeptics wrong with the acclaimed success of “Pac-Man C.E.” and, most recently, “Galaga Legions.”
Both projects have been deemed remakes, but Iguchi doesn’t subscribe to that label. The designer told MTV Multiplayer over e-mail that he considers them “reconstructions.” Specifically, Iguchi views “Galaga Legions” as a “mutation” from the original, whereas “Pac-Man C.E.” was a “legitimate evolution.”
The reason? “Pac-Men” creator Toru Iwatani kept shooting down their ideas.
“The games I personally find to be the most influential are ‘Xevious’ and ‘Geometry Wars.’‘Xevious’ is the game I was most taken with during my childhood, and it is the title that led me to want to work at Namco. On the other hand, ‘Geometry Wars’ made me very interested in the Xbox hardware, which I didn’t really care about before it was released. Both of these games had a big impact on ‘Pac-Man C.E.’ and ‘Galaga Legions.’ In these days where people only can make million-dollar budget games that are reality-centered, I was encouraged a lot by the fact that many people from all over the world respect these kinds of symbolic-style games. Both titles have none of the futile visual effects, and are titles that have beautiful balance between its symbolic style and game balance.”
– “Galaga Legions” and “Pac-Man C.E.” team director Tadashi Iguchi via e-mail telling me about his influences when revisiting Namco Bandai’s classic games
There was a moment I knew “Mega Man 9″ was the real deal.
Disappearing platforms less than five minutes into playing. I died multiple times in a row — in the same spot. Miss, miss, miss, miss. Soon, the game over screen came up. Unfortunately, there were people behind me. I had to pass the controller.
I wanted to throw it at the wall. I wanted to smash the Wiimote into tiny, little bits. If I wasn’t attempting to maintain my professionalism, I might have used profanities.
That, my friends, is old school, too hardcore 2D platform love. “Mega Man 9″ doesn’t appear to be forgiving, and that’s just the way I like my “Mega Man” games.
It’s telling when Capcom decides to show off two levels and one of them is chock full of disappearing platforms. The logic behind them is a little more reasonable than “Mega Man 1,” but they’re happily frustrating, all the same.
Of all the first party publishers, Nintendo is holding their cards closest to their chest in regards to what they have planned for next week’s E3. Their secrecy has lead to a lot of rumors and conjectures across the internet of what they are planning on showing.
Their secrecy, mixed with a bit of potential, has lead to today’s retro ‘120 Seconds.’ I have a hope that my one prediction of what Nintendo may be unveiling will be dead on - the follow up to one of the most successful DS games to date. Hopefully, by this time next week the only thing that Nintendo fanboys will be able to talk about is “New Super Mario Bros. 2.”
In hopes that “NSMB2″ is one of the big announcements of next week, we are taking a look back at the first two minutes of Mario’s first two portable adventures “Super Mario Land,” and “Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins.” Enjoy these classics courtesy of my Super Gameboy (and please excuse the colors).
“Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins” is after the jump.
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On the eve of America’s 232 birthday, there’s no better of a way to celebrate than to enjoy the first ‘120 Seconds‘ of a game starring the man that stands for everything that is great about this country, Captain America. “Captain America and The Avengers” was released for the NES in 1992, and was, unfortunately, nothing like the arcade game of the same name. Watch the video and see how Cap collects gems to unlock the exit to the level as he uses his trusty shield to take out the enemies in the level.
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With rumors of the SNES classic “Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars” coming to the Virtual Console here in the States we couldn’t help but include it in our Retro Thursday’s ‘120 Seconds.’ In the first two playable minutes of the game Mario is off to save the Princess, once again, from the diabolical hands of Bowser, and for the first time, enters into turn based combat with the Koopa Troopas (called “Terrapins” here for some reason).
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It’s a big week for “Metal Gear” fans with the release of “Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots,” but what about the games that started it all? ‘120 Seconds’ takes a look back at the original “Metal Gear” games, and their sequels, for the MSX2 and NES and gives you a look at the first two minutes of each…
Four games are in this post today. The 3D games will get the same treatment tomorrow. Watch the advance of technology and the evolution of the Kojima style for yourself…
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Our Retro ‘120 Second’ Thursdays continue this week, as we showcase a classic franchise that has finally received a well deserved update.
Last week, “Super Dodgeball Brawlers” was released by Akysys for the Nintendo DS, and it updates the classic Technos Japan title “Super Dodge Ball.” While there appears to be a glut of upcoming dodgeball games (including one with ninjas and pirates for Xbox Live Arcade), there hasn’t always been this level of interest for the gym class pastime for quite some time. At one point, the NES version of “Super Dodge Ball” was the only one option.
With that in mind, take two minutes to remember the first dodgeball game that really shined, “Super Dodge Ball,” in all of its sprite flashing glory.
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We hope you enjoyed our first installment of R.T.F.A. yesterday, and maybe even found something awesome to check out. Today’s offerings include a bit of retro love and what could be one of the greatest video game themed shirts ever. Enjoy:
Stephen’s Pick
Must Resist All Puns Using Word Good: Kotaku’s new editor, Owen Good, just finished a fantastic weekend of posts, highlighted by this gem that convinced readers to admit to all sorts of gaming neuroses — like always playing as purple characters or talking to every NPC in an RPG.
Tracey’s Pick
Air Guitar Hero T-Shirt: What’s cooler than rockin’ out with a fake guitar in “Guitar Hero” or “Rock Band“? Rockin’ out with a fake fake guitar. (By “cooler,” I mean “geekier.”)
Jason’s Pick
Top 25 NES Games of All Time: I’m a huge fan of lists. I’m also a huge fan of the NES. Put those two together and you have GameDaily’s pick for the top 25 NES games of all time. While it is a mostly comprehensive list, it is actually missing the greatest game of all time: “Bubble Bobble.”
Patrick’s Pick
Zelda Graphic Novels On The Horizon: I’ve recently gotten into the whole comic book thing courtesy of the excellent “Walking Dead” series, but I’m not sure I think Zelda’s story is interesting enough to read 200+ pages on. What about you?
There are many classic PS One games available to download through PlayStation Network in Japan, 
There was a moment I knew “Mega Man 9″ was the real deal.
We hope you enjoyed our first installment of R.T.F.A. yesterday, and maybe even found something awesome to check out. Today’s offerings include a bit of retro love and what could be one of the greatest video game themed shirts ever. Enjoy: