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This is the electronic version of the paper fanzine about strange videogames and the people who make them and play them.
Contact: chris at thisurl.
Oh, and just so we're all on the same page: Everything here represents my opinions only (except the comments), and does not reflect that of my employer (Microsoft) in any way shape or form. Got it? Good!
Let’s be honest. How many more homages to 8-bit Super Mario do you really need to see in your life? It’s seminal, it’s fundamental, it’s part of our cultural DNA. Awesome. I love Mario. He’s a great Mascot for Nintendo.
But the next time I see a Mario made of Post-its or cupcakes stinking up the web, I think I might puke. The ’80s nostalgia thing is awesome, and as a child of the ’80s and videogame historian, I’ll always love Donkey Kong, Flock of Seagulls, and all that crap. But it may time to move on.
Leading the way could be Q-Games’ latest for DSi, X-Scape.
Looking something like a mash-up of SpectreVR and S.T.U.N. Runner, its 90s influences (garish colors, low-poly 3D) are perfectly suited for a circa ‘95-spec machine like the DS. A spiritual successor to X, the 3D GameBoy game that was Q-Games founder Dylan Cuthbert’s first project with Nintendo, the game lovingly reaches back to the ’90s for almost every design, artistic and audio cue. (Audio is done by KK Slider himself, Kazumi Totaka, who did the original audio for X — including the debut of “Totaka’s Song” in the game.)
The gameplay is very fun and full of Q-Games magic, but isn’t really that strange — it’s essentially Battle Zone or Stellar 7, with some STUN Running thrown in for good measure — but as the first mainstream title to reach to the ’90s, not the ’80s, for both its retro inspiration and execution, it deserves special mention!
