Loved the news letter pages. The idea of picking up the landline, dialling a number just to talk mad shit about beating an NES game is amazing. Great post!
You say it's an insane strategy, but if the Switch 2 was launching Day One with a new Zelda AND Metroid 4, it would be the fastest selling console of all time. When it hit stores it would be utter pandemonium.
I'd love for that to be true, but I think a new Zelda, a new Mario Kart, and a slightly lower price point for Switch 2 would do more than a new Zelda and Metroid, unfortunately.
Metroid just doesn't have the cultural cachet that many (myself included) would like it to have.
Even among Metroidvania fans unfortunately. This isn't a popular opinion but I feel if more played Super Metroid and Symphony of the Night they'd see that Hollow Knight is lacking in originality
Great blast to the past! I especially enjoy you digging through these newsletters.
1. Fiery Small Mario -- I didn't know this either and had trouble believing it; sounds like a claim from your friend who always exaggerates and makes up weird gaming experiences: "One time the game let me shoot fireballs while I was little Mario!"
Sure, Connor, sure (not to name names).
But it's on YouTube. It's real! What if his weird gaming experiences were more truth than lies?
2. I was drawn to both Elevator Action and Legend of Kage. Though I acknowledge there's not much there. I think I considered them really fun rentals but there's a reason I didn't want to own them. I've commented before that Legend of Kage is the first game I can remember playing in which the enemies don't kill you merely by touching you. Elevator Action is also this way IIRC. Something about this really drew me in as a kid. Would we dare to call it "realism"?
3. It's a good point about release dates. The first time I remember being aware of a release date, and of people trying to get a game ON the release date, was SMB 3. Which was also marketed heavily, including in TV ads, and was hard to come by, sold out everywhere. So I think for the most part a game just showed up. It was manufactured in Japan, shipped to a US distributor, and from there to store shelves, it arrived when it arrived. There was no date anyone was warned about breaking, nor was there any special urgency to get it on shelves by some specific date.
Fiery Small Mario sounds like something a liar kid would say, but it ends up being the one thing he says that's true, haha.
Both Elevator Action and Legend of Kage are great for about ten minutes each. Which is fine because this is still the late 80s, but wouldn't be fine as the 90s began.
Man, I forgot about SMB3 release date being a big deal, but that makes sense. The first one I remember was Sonic... Tuesday, I think. For Sonic 2. Then Mortal Monday of course.
Loved the news letter pages. The idea of picking up the landline, dialling a number just to talk mad shit about beating an NES game is amazing. Great post!
Thanks, I appreciate it! I love looking at those old newsletters, glad others do as well
I'm certain the majority of kids calling in to boast had definitely beaten the game...
Everyone knew 'that kid.'
There was a kid in my school who overheard me and a buddy talking about KOTOR and claimed he had finished it the night before.
He had a PS2 and a PSP.
Brilliant!
You say it's an insane strategy, but if the Switch 2 was launching Day One with a new Zelda AND Metroid 4, it would be the fastest selling console of all time. When it hit stores it would be utter pandemonium.
I'd love for that to be true, but I think a new Zelda, a new Mario Kart, and a slightly lower price point for Switch 2 would do more than a new Zelda and Metroid, unfortunately.
Metroid just doesn't have the cultural cachet that many (myself included) would like it to have.
Even among Metroidvania fans unfortunately. This isn't a popular opinion but I feel if more played Super Metroid and Symphony of the Night they'd see that Hollow Knight is lacking in originality
I don't really like slagging on games, but yeah... Hollow Knight did nothing for me. Surprised it's as popular as it is.
It has a great artstyle and atmosphere but past that I just see a mish-mash of better games
Great blast to the past! I especially enjoy you digging through these newsletters.
1. Fiery Small Mario -- I didn't know this either and had trouble believing it; sounds like a claim from your friend who always exaggerates and makes up weird gaming experiences: "One time the game let me shoot fireballs while I was little Mario!"
Sure, Connor, sure (not to name names).
But it's on YouTube. It's real! What if his weird gaming experiences were more truth than lies?
2. I was drawn to both Elevator Action and Legend of Kage. Though I acknowledge there's not much there. I think I considered them really fun rentals but there's a reason I didn't want to own them. I've commented before that Legend of Kage is the first game I can remember playing in which the enemies don't kill you merely by touching you. Elevator Action is also this way IIRC. Something about this really drew me in as a kid. Would we dare to call it "realism"?
3. It's a good point about release dates. The first time I remember being aware of a release date, and of people trying to get a game ON the release date, was SMB 3. Which was also marketed heavily, including in TV ads, and was hard to come by, sold out everywhere. So I think for the most part a game just showed up. It was manufactured in Japan, shipped to a US distributor, and from there to store shelves, it arrived when it arrived. There was no date anyone was warned about breaking, nor was there any special urgency to get it on shelves by some specific date.
Fiery Small Mario sounds like something a liar kid would say, but it ends up being the one thing he says that's true, haha.
Both Elevator Action and Legend of Kage are great for about ten minutes each. Which is fine because this is still the late 80s, but wouldn't be fine as the 90s began.
Man, I forgot about SMB3 release date being a big deal, but that makes sense. The first one I remember was Sonic... Tuesday, I think. For Sonic 2. Then Mortal Monday of course.