He knows the answer

Howard Phillips, or Gamemaster Howard as he's known to fans of retro Nintendo, is making a return to the public eye. He's best known as one of the very earliest employees at Nintendo of America, whose ability to memorise and master game details was part of the reason why he rose to prominence as a spokesperson and executive. He's also known for the Howard and Nester comics and his role with Nintendo Power.

He's been working in the industry since leaving Nintendo in the early 1990s, perhaps most notably as one of the leading figures behind iOS smash Infinity Blade. His latest project is entirely his own, with a Kickstarter campaign for Know-It-All, an educational game that uses the basic activity of matching cards to help players learn effectively without substantial effort. It may sound simplistic, but it's been put together based on academic research, as well as featuring supportive endorsements from industry figures; at the moment the game is only confirmed for Apple devices, but there are plans to bring it to other gaming devices.

The campaign still has plenty of time to run, but there are regular updates of comic strips detailing Phillips' past, so far focusing on his college friendship with Bill Gates and, most recently, one about early days working in the Nintendo warehouse. We've included the latter below — or go here for a bigger version — which details how one Donkey Kong arcade machine had a glitch that switched colours to a night-time mode.

The teaser for the next part should prove interesting to retro gamers, too.

[source kickstarter.com]