Ahhh the grand concept of exploration! One of my favourite gameplay elements ever.

And why shouldn't it be? Since time immemorial we as humans have always been skirting the boundary of the known to worlds beyond! This drive has not been lost to us, despite having our own world nearly completely charted and figured out. The last frontier on our world would be that of the ocean deep, where the water pressure is so unforgiveably powerful that it takes the best of engineering and grit to delve to that depth. I'm still waiting on a game that fairly realistically involves exploring deep oceans.

Until then, I'll keep playing space exploration games.

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8 comment(s) | Tags: Retro, Retro of the Week, Genesis, exploration, details,

I feel like gushing on good writing.

I have a distant memory of my older brother and a cousin-of-similar-age-to-my-brother looking through a thick book. It said 'Rulebook' on the front, but had very interesting cover art. The two of them seemed to think it was the coolest thing ever. I asked if I could read it, but of course, being the little brother, I wasn't allowed to. I wasn't cool enough, apparently. (how can someone tell if someone else is cool enough? Is there a unit of measurement...?)

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8 comment(s) | Tags: Retro, Retro of the Week, Genesis, RPG, writing, details

I love it when game developers think creatively.

For example; how the heck would a developer have pitched the concept of a platformer/city building crossbreed game to a publisher? Not only that, but when the devteam has only one game under their belt previously? AND, to release it as one of the first games on a new Nintendo console?

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5 comment(s) | Tags: Retro, Retro of the Week, SNES, Actraiser, platformer, city building

Let's see here.

I've played and beaten the first Contra.

I've played and beaten Super C.

I've played and beaten all the endings in Contra Hardcorps. (that took a while, lemme tell ya)

I've played the hell out of and BARELY beaten Contra 4.

And then I've played and beaten Contra III about fifty damn times.

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0 comment(s) | Tags: Retro, Retro of the Week, SNES, get'em!, platformer, run'n gun