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Mr. Retro, Jamie's encyclopedic gaming knowledge is so far beyond measure we'd love to open a library inside his head. Hurry up, science.

Username
JamieO
Articles
29 (23 reviews)
First Article
Sun 20th, September 2009
Avg. Review Score
7.1
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  • Review Pilotwings - 16-bit Flight Simulation, The Nintendo Way

    Mode 7 is the wind beneath my Pilotwings

    Now that SNES games are available on Nintendo Switch Online, we've decided to revisit each of them in a fresh review. Expect to see updated reviews for all of the titles currently available over the next few weeks. Upon introducing its new Super Famicom console in late 1990 it wasn't just critical for...

  • Review Super Mario World - Phenomenal Platforming Perfection

    It's-a Mario masterpiece

    Now that SNES games are available on Nintendo Switch Online, we've decided to revisit each of them in a fresh review. Expect to see updated reviews for all of the titles currently available over the next few weeks. Impressive software is vital for a console's launch, and the powerful one-two combination of the Mode 7...

  • Review F-Zero - The Game That Sold Us Mode 7

    What a way to launch a console

    At their very core, futuristic racing games should have visual flair, and there was already an early history of this sub-genre before F-Zero released – including Nintendo's Mach Rider on NES in 1985, Powerdrome on 16-bit computers, and Atari's arcade S.T.U.N. Runner in 1989. Following these games, late 1990 became an...

  • Mario Kart Month A History of the Mario Kart Series - Part Two

    Turbo boosting to record sales

    As June begins and our Mario Kart Month celebrations throughout May draw to a close, the build-up and expectation surrounding Mario Kart 8 has transitioned into mass play sessions and hands-on racing time. This is the moment on which memories are built, as competitiveness and hilarity ensues from worldwide showdowns,...

  • Mario Kart Month A History of the Mario Kart Series - Part One

    From pixels to polygons, then back to pixels

    As June begins and our Mario Kart Month celebrations throughout May draw to a close, the build-up and expectation surrounding Mario Kart 8 has transitioned into mass play sessions and hands-on racing time. This is the moment on which memories are built, as competitiveness and hilarity ensues from...

  • Ninterview Sami Cetin On His Journey To Super Mario Kart Success

    The UK Super Mario Kart champion shares his experiences

    With Mario Kart 8 now around the corner, it's an ideal time to begin looking both forwards and to those predecessors that made the series such an integral part of our gaming lives. Super Mario Kart on Super NES started it all, with its Mode 7 visuals and terrific design winning over millions of...

  • Review Super Mario Kart (Wii U eShop / SNES)

    A timely boost for a classic

    With a PAL release a mere nine months after the April 1992 launch of the UK SNES, during a 16-bit era where show-boating superior technology and exceptional console power was at the forefront of Nintendo’s objectives, Super Mario Kart remained humble in exhibiting its technical prowess. European gamers had been...

  • Review Star Soldier (3DS eShop / NES)

    I got soul, but I'm not the best Star Soldier

    We may as well stop playing games en masse right now, because we all suck. That may sound harsh, but this 3DS eShop release of Hudson Soft’s vertically scrolling NES shoot-em-‘up will either make or break you. Unfortunately, if you play Star Soldier on the smaller screen of an original 3DS, the tiny...

  • Review Galaga (Wii U eShop / NES)

    That man is playing Galaga!

    Galaga is old. It may well state 1988 on Galaga’s NES title screen, but that refers to its European and US release date, the Japanese Famicom conversion was released early in 1985 and they are all based on a port of Namco’s 1981 coin-op. This means that with any Wii U Virtual Console purchase you must consider if you...

  • Events Play Expo - A Day of Bitmaps, Digital Sumos, Wii U and Pac-Man Vs. Ghosts

    When gamers come together

    It was upon arriving at Eccles train station, ready for Play Expo and briskly navigating a muggy mist lurking over the Manchester Ship Canal, when we contemplated if the UK’s weather had decided to skip autumn altogether and engulf us in this mid-October Sunday with a winter chill. However, within the space of an hour of...

  • Feature In Defence of Super Mario Sunshine

    Do or don't look back into the sun

    Ten years ago today, on 26th August 2002, GameCube title Super Mario Sunshine was released in North America to an abundance of critical acclaim, with relatively muted murmuring that it was an unworthy follow-up to Super Mario 64. Gradually over the past decade opinions have grown more divided and gamers have become...

  • Review Aliens: Infestation (DS)

    "Another glorious day in the Corps!"

    Of the four main Alien films, it's James Cameron’s action packed 1986 movie Aliens that provides the most explosive source material for a video game conversion. Konami knew this when it picked up the licence and released a fun arcade game, enabling players to blast pink xenomorphs in 1990. SEGA fans have...

  • Review Thor: God of Thunder (3DS)

    Does 3D Thor give 2D a hammering?

    When SEGA decided to port Thor: God of Thunder to 3DS, there were two clear routes available: could build upon the DS game, a well-received pixel art 2D side-scrolling brawler by WayForward, or directly convert Red Fly Studio’s third person Wii hack-and-slash title. It chose the latter — after all Red Fly has...

  • Review Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters (3DS)

    "Anything I see in my mind, I cannot create"

    The premise behind the superhero powers of the Lantern Corps, in which a Green Lantern can use their willpower to create solid green light constructs based upon anything they imagine, is a near impossible ability to recreate in a video game. It would take a brave developer to truly innovate in a game...

  • Review Sonic Advance (Game Boy Advance)

    Spin-tendo

    One of the few good things about being old is that sometimes you can glean satisfaction from being in the right place at the right time, where you were lucky enough to have first-hand experience of something special. Nostalgia is the bread-and-butter of retro gaming and throughout its history there will always be moments that stick in a...

  • Review Thor: God of Thunder (DS)

    Way to go, Way-Thor-ward

    At a SEGA press event in March this year WayForward’s Director for Thor: God of Thunder, Austin Ivansmith, noted that it is the company's “love letter to the DS” and considering its back catalogue of well received DS and DSiWare titles this game caught the attention of gamers normally hesitant of a movie licenced game...

  • Review The Sims 3 (3DS)

    My name is Hurl

    Ever since David Crane and Richard Gold created Little Computer People for 8-bit computers in 1985, gamers have been fascinated with life simulation games, as demonstrated by the huge sales success of The Sims series. However, The Sims is also a series that has suffered from 'content filtering', as the PC experience has been watered...

  • Review Mickey Mania (Super Nintendo)

    Mickey's been epic for years

    This December many Wii owners will be delving into the world of Disney Epic Mickey, taking a moment to appreciate Mickey's animated past with 2D platforming sections in that game which allow you to play through his classic cartoons. However, 16 years ago UK developer Traveller's Tales pre-empted Warren Spector's game by...

  • Review Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest (DS)

    Flail, you fools!

    Released in parallel to the Headstrong Games-developed Wii title, it is worth noting that the DS version of Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest is a separate game, not just a handheld port of the Wii version. It shares similarities with the Wii game, predominantly in its hack-'n-slash gameplay, but it distinguishes itself in the...

  • Review The Addams Family: Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt (Super Nintendo)

    The hunter becomes the hunted

    Following their release of the first Super Nintendo Addams Family game, Ocean Software’s programmer, James Higgins, gave an interview to Super Play magazine to promote the development of their second, Pugsley’s Scavenger Hunt. He highlighted the fact that the arcade platforming feel of this sequel was initially...

  • Review The Addams Family (Super Nintendo)

    Morticia's marooned in a maniac mansion

    Throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, Manchester-based Ocean Software became synonymous with movie licensed games and established themselves as the go-to developer for Hollywood. They delivered their software on the home computers that were flourishing at the time and handled a huge list of movie...

  • Interviews Onteca Studio Visit - A Monsteca Corral

    We discuss monsters, robots and WiiWare with Corral’s Producer and Art Director

    Following our recent A Monsteca Corral: Monsters vs. Robots review, we headed to Liverpool in the UK to chat with independent developer Onteca’s Jon Wetherall (Producer) and Rich Alston (Art Director), about their first WiiWare title. Nintendo Life: Where did the...

  • Review Mischief Makers (Nintendo 64)

    Go Go!! 2D Treasure Makers

    With a US release in 1997 Mischief Makers, or Go Go!! Trouble Makers in Japan, was not only an early example of a N64 centric side-scrolling 2D platformer, it also successfully made its mark in gaming history by being the first Treasure game to land on a Nintendo platform. However, it would be shallow to describe Mischief...

  • Review Batman Returns (Super Nintendo)

    Merry Christmas, Mr. Wayne

    The release of Batman Returns was perfectly timed at the peak of Konami's SNES development and during a high point in Batman movie history. The festive feel of the game was slightly out of sync with its Spring '93 release date, but it was completely fitting in regard to the source material. Konami had already mastered a...