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”Hey there, guys and gals. Look, we need to talk.
*pulls up chair, turns it around, and sits on it backward like a school guidance counselor or church youth group leader who really wants to “rap” some “real talk” with the kids*
So, you guys still liking Retro Game SuperHyper? Yeah? Good! Yeah, no, that’s great, I’m glad to hear it! So before you go freaking out or anything, don’t worry — Retro Game SuperHyper isn’t going anywhere, it’s not getting shut down, the blog is staying right where it is, the t-shirts are still for sale, and the fanzine is continuing.
The reason I wanna talk is because there’s just gonna be a few…changes around here, that’s all. But don’t sweat it, champ! It’s all gonna be good stuff, I promise!
Seriously though, as I approach the fourth-and-a-half-year mark of the blog, I felt the need to shake things up a bit, so I wanted to do my half-year SOTB address (which is usually posted mid-April) a bit early to share my plans!
Continue reading “Almost-4.5-year State of the Blog Address”
Spoiler alert: If you’ve watched my unboxing video or followed my Instagram or read my Tweets or been anywhere near me since it came out, you know that I absolutely freakin’ LOVE LOVE LOVE this machine. So if you came here looking for someone to drag it through the mud(men), go put your quarter in someone else’s blog, because I’m about to gush over this thing like the lava geyser in the electric cage scene.
HI, I’m TJ and I’m a Dragon’s Lair fanboy.
Continue reading “Dragon’s Lair Replicade: The RGSH Test”
The Pinball Hall of Fame — my personal favorite thing to do in Las Vegas, as I wrote about years ago — is in a bit of a pickle right now, and they need our help!
Continue reading “URGENT: Las Vegas Pinball Hall of Fame Needs Our Help! UPDATE: FUNDED!!”
You can always tell when it’s this time of year, because the blog gets kinda silent. You know I’m working on something — well here it is! The FOURTH big issue of Retro Game SuperHyper fanzine is available now!
Continue reading “Retro Game SuperHyper Fanzine Issue #4 is OUT NOW!!”
Classic cute-’em-up Cotton is getting a reboot! Titled, appropriately enough, Cotton Reboot, and including the original X68000 version (which is pretty identical to the arcade version, from what I can tell) as well as an HD remake, the game is being issued by BEEP for PS4 and Switch in a variety of configurations. I’m excited!
By “a variety of configurations,” I mean a standard game-only edition, a box set including all sorts of bonus items, and a dee-luxe edition with all the box set stuff plus a cool throwback X68000-style case.
The X68000 version is the one I would love to have, but ultimately, I opted to buy just the game by itself. Why tho?
Continue reading “Too Much of a Good Thing”
Retro Game SuperHyper 