This article is a debate between which old Mario Kart game is the best. I’ve been playing a lot of retro games lately, and that’s got me thinking about how big a part of gaming the Mario Kart series has been for me. Even so, we’re leaving Mario Kart 8 out of the mix for now—this is a retro review, after all. For us, the decision comes down to 1996’s Mario Kart 64 or 2008’s Mario Kart on the Nintendo Wii.  Then we will discuss if the series is still fresh after all these years. Why the Nintendo Wii Mario Kart version is better: To start with, you have all the advantages of a more modern game – greater configurability, more battle modes, more playable Nintendo characters, more vehicles, better track designs, more advanced graphics, etc. But of course none of that matters if an argument can’t be made for the core gameplay...

Every few months or so, I see another article about how the home gaming console is at death’s door. I don’t buy it. Most of my gaming happens on consoles, or handheld gaming console, and I expect to keep it that way for the foreseeable future. Here’s why. New Technology Doesn't Influence Me: I don’t have to keep up with the newest tech to play. I just need to know the name of my console(s) and I’m good to go. Once I buy a console, I know that there’s a whole library of games that will not only play on it, but play on it well. My console doesn’t barely meet the minimum requirements for play, it is the machine the game was designed for. “But,” I hear you argue in my head,” a lot of console games are ports from PC, so they’re actually not the machine the game was...

In another article, I discussed the relative merits of the two main fifth-gen consoles—the Nintendo 64 and the PlayStation (One)—during their first holiday seasons after launch.  I’ve left out the Sega Saturn and other also-rans because I don’t consider them serious contenders. I’ll start with the advantages of each system before announcing my verdict at the end. So without further ado, I give you Console Wars: The Fifth Generation N64 vs. PS1.  For me, it's about which console left a better retro gaming legacy. N64 Vs PS1 - The Game Library Perhaps the most obvious advantage of the PlayStation over its whole lifespan is the depth of its game library. While only about 387 games were released for the N64, the PS1 offered over 1,100 titles (in North America). To put this in context, the PS1’s library was impressively large for its era, while the N64’s was small even by the standards of...

Classic RPG fans, prepare your arguments. We’re about to settle one of the longest-standing console war showdowns of all time: SNES vs PS1 RPGs. It’s quite a bold claim, we know. Both consoles produced numerous titles that are still considered the best RPGs ever made. SNES gave us Earthbound, Final Fantasy II and III (IV and VI in Japan), and Chrono Trigger. PS1 gave us Final Fantasy VII-IX, Final Fantasy Tactics, Legend of Dragoon, Parasite Eve, and more. At this moment, you may find yourself involuntarily screaming at your screen, audibly (and angrily) naming the obvious winner of this showdown. We understand. Some will tell us that Final Fantasy VII is the game that changed the world of RPG gaming forever. If that’s you, you’re right. Alternatively, you may argue that Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy III changed RPG gaming first. You’re right, too. But which console truly reigns supreme in the...

In the last 15 years, Microsoft’s Xbox has risen to become, along with Sony’s PlayStation. One of the twin pillars of home console gaming. While stalwart companies like Nintendo have enjoyed success as well. Xbox and PlayStation are Coke and Pepsi. Let's Discuss if Sega DreamCast is the first version of the original Microsoft Xbox Console While Microsoft’s machine has built a solid reputation for itself. Through solid hardware and an extensive game's library, it didn’t materialize out of thin air. In fact, it wasn’t even the first of the famous “sixth-generation” of consoles. That honor goes to the Sega DreamCast, which was Sega’s last-ditch effort to save a sinking ship. And recapture some Sega Genesis mojo they’d lost along the way.  The Sega DreamCast exploded on the scene upon its release in 1999. The Dreamcast had rave reviews and high sales. Then 18 months later it was discontinued, making room...

With hits like Mario 64, Super Smash Bros, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the N64 was one of the most popular and successful consoles ever. But why didn’t we ever see Final Fantasy 64, Chrono Trigger 64, or even Earthbound 64? Where are all the N64 RPG games? For that matter, when you compare RPGs from Super Nintendo vs Nintendo 64, it looks downright ridiculous. Case in point: SNES gave us two of the best RPGs ever made, Chrono Trigger and Earthbound, plus hundreds of other RPG hits. In contrast, Nintendo 64 gave us the infamous RPG dud, Quest 64. That’s about it. What happened? Who’s to blame? Also, are there any Nintendo 64 RPGs worth playing? Find out below. Nintendo 64: The Pinnacle of Nintendo As far as console gaming history is concerned, the Nintendo 64 is significant for a lot of reasons. As mentioned, it was...

Console Wars: The Sega Saturn and the Sega Dreamcast were two machines that enjoyed as many similarities as they did stark differences. One system marked the end of the 90s gaming era, and the other ushered in the much-heralded 6th-generation of consoles that defined the new millennium. And while both were manufactured by Sega, both were also responsible for hastening that company’s demise. But despite being regarded as failures at the time, their reputations have only improved in the intervening years. A Reddit thread on the subject of the Sega Dreamcast was a veritable love-in, and some Sega Saturn games, like “Panzer Dragoon Saga,” are so in-demand that they fetch hundreds of dollars on the retro game market. This all begs the question, which is the better machine? Like anything, much of it depends on personal preference. But here’s how the two systems stack up according to certain criteria important to...

In the summer of 1991, at the Summer Consumer Electronics Show, video-game behemoth Nintendo revealed the follow-up to their much-adored NES console. The Super Nintendo would improve on the original in every way, featuring 16-bit system with phenomenal graphics and capacity for some 32,768 colors. And they had Mario. But a little system called the Sega Genesis (Mega Drive in Japan) was determined to play David to Nintendo’s Goliath. With the same processing powers but just 512 colors, the Genesis previewed a game with an obscure blue protagonist no one had ever heard of. And Sonic the Hedgehog killed. To follow up on the buzz, Sega of America president proposed a wild idea—drop the console price to $149 while bundling it with Sonic. Sega Japan was vehement in its opposition, but after a chaotic board meeting that involved chair throwing, the American got his way. The gambit paid off: the Sonic...

It's been a couple of years since the release of the PS5 and Xbox Series X, and the Nintendo Switch release. Which has brought the video game industry fully into the eighth generation of console gaming. This 8th generation of console wars has settled into a battle for exclusives, price differences, and online and social gaming advantages. Which is fine, anyone looking to buy a video game console this year will have more games and better prices (and fewer bugs) than last year's early adopters. PS1 Vs N64 All the same, a few new games is never as exciting as a launch system, so since the 2020s isn’t offering us that kind of fun, I thought I’d return to the console launch of yesteryear. Today, I bring you retro Launch Wars: The Fifth Generation. To review, the major players of the fifth generation of the gaming industry were the Original PlayStation,...

Community college student Palmer Luckey made a splash at CES 2013 with his 3D gaming headset, the Oculus Rift. The buzz was so strong, in fact, that Facebook purchased Oculus in 2014 for the staggering sum of $2 billion. The interesting thing is that this technology is not new news. Indeed, VR sputtered and died once before. This came in the form of Nintendo’s Virtual Boy, an ill-fated VR device released in 1995 that failed to capture the public’s imagination. And while today’s virtual reality technology exceeds expectations—it could even disrupt all of video gaming—the Virtual Boy is renowned only for how it failed to live up to those expectations. Here are the six principal reasons why the virtual boy was a failure in the VR market. Why did the Virtual Boy Fail  Which has to do with the marketing efforts by Nintendo. In advertisements leading up to the Virtual Boy’s...

In 1995, console gaming was on the cusp of a new era. 16-bit systems went the way of the buffalo as 32-bit became the new standard. Suddenly, home gaming could become so much more than side-scrolling platformers. Naturally, the console wars of this era were as brutal as a cannon fight between rival pirate ships. Each new console that came out was either a huge success or a complete failure. At this time, Sega released the Sega Saturn console—their 32-bit successor to the Sega Genesis. Sadly, due to some horrible marketing decisions by Sega, the Saturn crashed and burned right out of the gate The real tragedy is that Sega had an incredible selection of Saturn games already in development. Some of these are the best 90s games ever, and they’re not available anywhere else. To prove that Sega Saturn is the best failed console, we’ve listed the best Sega Saturn games...

Probably, no console manufacturer lost the initiative worse than Sega did after it slayed the dragon known as the Nintendo Entertainment System. In 1992, on the heels of a gambit that saw Sega bundle the Genesis system with Sonic the Hedgehog.