Nintendo: Are You Playing With Power?
In the early NES console years, gamers looked to Nintendo’s consoles to replicate our experiences with the games we played in the arcade, but because the 8-bit platform lacked the […]
Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out: Finding Joy in our Trials
Playing Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out was both an addictive and frustrating experience due to its learning curve that required a lot of trial and error in order to advance. But it […]
Bubble Bobble and When Jesus Doesn’t Simply “Take the Wheel”
One of my earliest gaming co-op experiences was “Bubble Bobble”, a game featuring a pair of little dragons whose only offensive weapon is… wait for it… blowing bubbles. To clear […]
The Nintendo 64: From Super Mario to Superman
The Nintendo 64 console was home to many of the best video game releases of all time, but that doesn’t mean that they always got it right. The same platform […]
From the WiiU to the Switch: Making Masterpieces From Missteps
While the Nintendo Switch has surpassed all of Nintendo’s previous home consoles in units sold and will go down in history as one of the most successful platforms of all […]
Deconstructing the Duck Hunt Dog
The gaming villain who had the greatest impact on me at a young age wasn’t Ganon, Ridley, or even Bowser… it was the Duck Hunt Dog. It wasn’t because he […]
From the Virtual Boy to the 3DS: Right Dream, Wrong Timing
While Nintendo is known for making some of the most successful and beloved gaming hardware of all time, that doesn’t mean they haven’t been made a few missteps along the […]
Console Wars: Sega Does What “Nintendon’t”?
The original “console wars” between Sega and Nintendo got a little bit feisty… both companies battled it out for the hearts (and wallets) of the gaming audience in each successive […]
Super Mario Bros: Desperately Seeking Shortcuts and Finding the WRONG Secrets
Back when the original NES Super Mario Bros. game first came out, I heard rumors that there was a secret level hidden within the game… the mysterious “World -1”. After […]
An Inconsistent Experience: Balancing “Shovelware” with the Nintendo “Seal of Approval”
After all these years, the Nintendo Wii console still stands as one of the best selling hardware platforms of all time, selling over 100 million units during its’ lifetime. But […]
Finding God in Video Games 