Retrospective
Retrospective Overdrive: 16-BIT LIGHTNING ROUND
Apr 29th
I’ve been playing old games so you don’t have to for a few weeks now, but not every game deserves 700 words or more to explain why they’ve stood the test of time or are best left remembered.
Just like a game show, then, it’s time for THE LIGHTNING ROUND, where the stakes can really get shaken up, or in this case, where some old classics get judged with lightning speed. Without further ado, let’s begin.
Super Mario World (SNES)
No clue what's going on here except for the best Mario game.
The best of the classic 2D Mario games. Yoshi’s Island is something else entirely but also very good.
I will now begin taking arguments for the case of Super Mario Bros. 3, but they’re all futile.
Sonic the Hedgehog (Genesis)
Skip ahead, please.
This is not the Sonic game you are looking for.
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Retrospective Overdrive: Street Fighter series
Apr 14th
The Overdrive continues unabated. This time Doug is looking at the king of all fighters, the Street Fighter series. Other entries in the Retrospective category can be found here.
This month is the 20th anniversary of Street Fighter II. Let that sink in for a while; how old were you 20 years ago? For how much of your life have you used a joystick and six buttons to try and beat up your opponent?
For my money, the most amazing thing about the Street Fighter series is how such a simple core concept has proven to be both flexible and timeless. I’m not going to do a full, detailed analysis of the history of the series — 1up has done a decent job of that in recent weeks, including an excellent SF-centric episode of the revived Retronauts podcast — but instead point out a couple of games in the series that have meant quite a bit to me and my appreciation of the greater series. It’s a high-quality franchise, but some of the titles mean more than others.
Retrospective Overload: Super Metroid
Apr 6th
Our Retrospective Overload continues unabated, and this time we’re heading back 17 years to 1994. You can find other articles in this series (and our previous Retrospectives) through this link.
The Super NES and I have an interesting history. It’s a relatively brief one too, as I’ve only owned one since college. For reasons that seem almost inexplicable more than a decade later, I was a Sega Genesis kid; I probably liked the advertisements and Sonic the Hedgehog, but these are sheer guesses as opposed to recollection of facts. Regardless, I remember ripping open a package on Christmas morning and being greeted by the Genesis and Sonic 2 and that was that.
That meant that, in its proper time period, I never had a SNES. My exposure was limited to playing at my friends’ house down the street and, being kids, there were just some things we didn’t really know. I sampled many SNES classics, like Super Mario World, Yoshi’s Island, Mario Kart, Donkey Kong Country, and more. But things slip through the cracks, and that’s why I’ve never played Super Metroid.
Retrospective Overdrive: An Engagement with Lugaru HD
Mar 23rd
I’d like to introduce the Silicon Sasquatch readership to our newest contributor. Dan Phipps, long a friend of Sasquatch editors Doug and Nick, is not just a good buddy but also a diehard gamer and generalized nerd. Equally at home behind a console controller, PC keyboard or 20-sided die, he has an intelligent and irreverent writing style. His look at Lugaru HD fits in with our Retrospective Overdrive. Without further ado, take it away, Dan!
I needed a break from Fallout: New Vegas. I had been playing it for what felt like days and had barely scratched the surface of my persistently increasing list of quests. In times of trouble like these, I’ll usually re-install Deus Ex and try to beat the game (again) with some absurd restriction like only using rocket launchers or swords. But not this time. This time I stumbled upon a treasure trove of games in my Steam account, and I have almost no recollection of how they got there.
One of those titles was Lugaru HD. I couldn’t find any record of buying it during the last Steam Orgy of Wasted Money this past holiday season. Because Steam allows one to acquire games without typing in credit card info or taking a breathalyzer test, it’s not unheard of for me to make bad financial decisions. It is uniquely odd for me to have no memory of the acquisition, though. And there sat Lugaru, a mystery wrapped in an enigma left in my games library.
Retrospective Overdrive: Jet Set Radio Future
Mar 21st
And so we begin the odyssey into the depths of my old games pile. Leading off is an oldie but a goodie: Jet Set Radio Future. Catch our introduction to the Retrospective Overdrive here, and all of our previous Retrospective articles can be found here.
I’m not going to lie: I’d almost completely forgotten about Jet Set Radio Future. I mean, I remember that it exists — and I have a copy of the split-single version of it that came with my original Xbox — but when my mind thinks “Jet Set Radio,” it goes straight to the Dreamcast original, not the 2002 follow-up.
After starting the game back up, though, I’m going to have to reassess my opinion. Jet Set/Grind Radio on the Dreamcast may be able to tug on my heart-strings, but JSRF may be the better game.
Retrospective Overdrive Mode: Initiated
Mar 16th
Mr. Peabody, set the Way-Back Machine to "old video games"!
I really need to stop playing Pro Evo Soccer 2010. From there, an idea is born: I need to play other games; unfortunately, at this point in time, I can’t afford to go keep up on new releases. So, when you can’t look outside for story ideas, you look inside. Unsurprisingly, being a gigantic nerd, I have a stockpile of games for systems that are sitting forlorn and unloved while my Xbox 360 fan kicks up to high once again.
Throughout the history of Silicon Sasquatch, I’ve enjoyed taking a look back at gaming in our Retrospective articles. I feel like much can be gathered by playing and analyzing games of all vintages; after sampling even a couple of the games I’m thinking about covering in depth, it’s amazing the issues and thoughts, positive and negative, that you can find.
So let’s fire up the good ‘ol way-back machine for a few weeks (or…months? WHO KNOWS!) and dig through the decaying pile of games that are all but forgotten in the contemporary hype machine. The point is just to bring back some games you might not have thought of in a while and see if they stand up to their memory, are better than remembered, or do not stand up to 2011 standards.
Please feel free to send in suggestions for games, too, and share your memories for some of these older games. Let’s get old, people!
Regards,
The Management
Retrospective: Sega Dreamcast
Sep 9th
Here at Silicon Sasquatch, we feel that old games deserve some love too. From time to time, we want to look back at games and, in this case, consoles that have made a big impact. It is in that spirit — fond memories combined with analysis of legacy — that we present a Retrospective. This time: the Sega Dreamcast.
It’s very difficult for me to be objective about the Sega Dreamcast. Excuse me if this retrospective skirts into personal narrative; to me, the Dreamcast and my experience with it are one and the same. The system was announced and launched at the time I was transitioning from being a kid who played video games a lot to a “hardcore gamer,” one who follows video game news in magazines and on the then-nascent online scene. The Dreamcast’s September 9, 1999 launch was the first time I paid attention to such an event — and, in fairness, was one of the first times a console launch truly became an event.
The Dreamcast lived an all-too-brief life; despite promising software and innovative hardware, Sega’s last console gamble had less than three years of official support.
Retrospective: NBA Jam
Aug 30th
Here at Silicon Sasquatch, we feel that old games deserve some love too. From time to time, we want to look back at games that have made a big impact — especially when a new version of an old favorite is scheduled to be released. It is in that context that we present to you another Retrospective article, this time on arcade and 16-bit classic NBA Jam.
It’s no secret that I am a sports guy. Many times, though, sports games are commodities: The franchises develop a lineage (à la Madden NFL) while the details on individual entries from each year are often forgotten.
NBA Jam is different. It may not be the first arcade sports game, or even the first arcade basketball game, but it was one of the first blockbuster arcade games, and it’s one that still resounds in the gaming community to this day. It’s also one of the few sports games that holds just as much nostalgia for nerds as it does for jocks. Most importantly, it’s still fun — and a new one is on the way.
Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: The 10th Anniversary of Final Fantasy VIII
Sep 9th
Editor’s Note: In recognition of the tenth anniversary of one of the most controversial — and possibly misunderstood — entries in one of the most significant video game series in history, Silicon Sasquatch will spend the next month examining Final Fantasy VIII and its legacy. Frequent podcast guest Tyler Martin starts us off with a foreword:
How do you produce a follow-up to the biggest RPG of the 20th century? Square had barely any time to answer this question. Development on the seventh sequel to a series that wasn’t expected to outlast its initial outing began shortly after the American localization of Final Fantasy VII, a game that radically altered the perception of the franchise as well as the entire genre.
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Retrospective: Assassin’s Creed
May 26th
Just as Assassin's Creed protagonist Altaïr overlooks the city below, we take a landscape look at the game
Editor’s note: We here at Silicon Sasquatch don’t think new games deserve all the attention. To illustrate that point we’re introducing our new Retrospective features: articles that focus an analytical eye on older releases in a non-review format. Our inaugural Retrospective takes a fresh look at Ubisoft Entertainment’s 2007 action-adventure game, Assassin’s Creed. This particular title made games press headlines at release — for reasons both good and bad. Scant details about Assassin’s Creed II have trickled out over the last month, and considering the goodly amount of time since the original was released, it seems like a perfect opportunity to look over Altaïr’s adventures with 20/20 hindsight. Enjoy.
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