One of the most well-established facts about me on this blog is that I LOVE ACTRAISER. So it should a surprise to nobody that I flat-out lost my mind when the September 23, 2021 Nintendo Direct surprised us all with the announcment of Actraiser Renaissance.
Continue reading “Raising Act Renaissance”
As a “Metroid guy,” I want so badly to write about Metroid Dread. I have lots of thoughts about the game and what it means for the series as a whole. But how do I tackle it?
Continue reading “Back From the Dread”
Normally in mid-January, I’m flooding my social media outlets with excited sneak peeks and preview hype for the new issue of the Retro Game SuperHyper fanzine. If you’re one of those who looks forward to the ‘zine each year, you might be eagerly awaiting issue 5! But you also may have noticed this year that I’ve been abnormally quiet on the subject. Unfortunately, the reason for that is that I am nowhere near done with issue 5 and I’ll be missing my self-imposed mid-January deadline by a mile.
Continue reading “RGSH Fanzine Issue #5 Update”
A lot of gamers keep lists of all the games they’ve finished throughout each year. That’s something I’ve always kinda-sorta intended to do, but I’ve tried to keep them all in my head, and at my advanced age (I’m all of forty-damn-seven), that’s nearly impossible for my withered old brain.
So since the beginning of the year, I figured I could keep track of them right here in a blog post, which I continually updated throughout the year. The latest games were added to the top. (I did not include re-playing old games I’ve already finished, like, say, Super Metroid or Mega Man.)
With the final update on New Year’s Eve, I ended up finishing 15 games in 2021. It’s not a lot by some standards, but considering how busy I’ve been with “real life,” I’m fairly pleased with that count, especially considering there are a couple long RPGs on the list. Hopefully 2022 will bring an even longer list, but for now, here’s a look at my year in gaming:
Continue reading “FINISHED in 2021! (Final update: 12/31/21)”That’s right, October 16, 2021 marks the 5th anniversary of Retro Game SuperHyper! It’s been five whole years since I was having lunch with my wife and suddenly blurted out, “I think I’m gonna start a retro gaming blog.”
Thanks to all of you for reading the blog and the fanzine! It’s been a light year for blogging but a crazy year for gaming — who would have guessed at the beginning of 2021 that we would be playing a new version of Actraiser, and Metroid Dread, of all things?! I have plans to write about both of those games and lots more, and of course issue 5 of the ‘zine is in the works, so please keep visiting for more!
If you haven’t yet, please follow my Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube, pick up a zine or a t-shirt, and let me know you like what RGSH is all about. The retro gaming community is pretty rad and I’m proud to have been a part of it for so long. Game on!
Just the other day, the Nintendo Direct broadcast on the 23rd of September, 2021, my mind was blown clean out of my skull by Square Enix’s surprise announcement of Actraiser Renaissance, a remake of one of my all-time favorite, put-on-a-pedestal games, Actraiser for the Super NES. Making the news that much more nuclear was the uranium cherry on top: the game was available THAT DAY.
Continue reading “Never Say Never”
While last November saw the 30th anniversary of Nintendo’s Super Famicom, today is the 30th anniversary of the release of its North American counterpart, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System! Or Super NES, or SNES, or Super Nintendo…however you refer to it, it was 30 years ago that we finally got the big N’s 16-bit powerhouse on this side of the Pacific.
I wrote about my first experiences with the Super Famicom in that article linked above, but I still have a story or two left to tell about the Super NES.
Continue reading “Happy 30th, Super NES!”
Having fallen prey to the Mini game machine phenomenon, I have pretty much now wholeheartedly given myself over to just being a sucker for almost all of it.
Continue reading “The Next Big Little Thing”
This past week was E3! While this year was much different than past events, there’s still lots of news to share, including exciting retro gaming-related surprises. Let’s jump in!
Continue reading “Retro at E3 2021 (and some other recent announcements)”
Today I was shocked and devastated to learn of the sudden passing of someone who can only be described as a pillar of the retro gaming community, Mr. Julius Viloria. Julius passed away today after suffering a stroke a few days ago.
Anyone who encountered Julius online — probably through Instagram or Facebook — knew him as sort of a super-collector, the guy who always had all the coolest new stuff, the coolest vintage stuff, the coolest custom stuff, and showed them off with the coolest, most colorful, and often funniest photos.
If you started actually communicating with him, you found out that he was a generous, helpful, enthusiastic video game fan who just loved being a part of it all. He and I traded arcade tokens a while back, and we’d just been chatting online a couple weeks ago about some arcade stuff. He was always ready with words of advice or encouragement.
I interviewed Julius for issue 4 of Retro Game SuperHyper fanzine. Before I even had a chance to send him a free copy, he ordered one for himself and showed it off on his social media — even though I’m just a rinky-dink, no-name fanzine. That’s the kind of excitement he had for video gaming and collecting, and the support he showed for his fellow gamers.
Julius’ sister has started a GoFundMe to help give him a proper memorial. Visit and donate HERE.
As a tribute to Julius, I would like to make his interview from my ‘zine available to all right here, for free. Please check it out and get to know him.
Game on, Julius.
Mark from Super Gamer Podcast interviewed me for episode 63 of his show! We talked about the blog, the zine, Nintendo merch, SF2, Pitfall, buying games, Metroid, gaming goals, and a bunch of other stuff too. Listen here!
Just when I said I wasn’t going to be making as many regular blog posts, here comes the return of Video Vinyl! Bet you didn’t see that coming!
Okay, so to follow that shocker, here’s a hot take:
There’s too damn much video game vinyl.
Continue reading “Video Vinyl: Shadow of the Colossus and Actraiser”
Retro Game SuperHyper 