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About "Critical Kate" Willaert

Born on the same day as the Famicom, "Critical Kate" has been playing videogames since the NES days. She enjoys a good story, prefers arcade-style to simulators, and doesn't understand the appeal of recreational frustration. You don't want to run into her in the Facility with Remote Mines.
Latest Posts | By "Critical Kate" Willaert
Were TRON’s “Grid Bugs” A Tie-In For The Arcade Game?
1 month ago

Were TRON’s “Grid Bugs” A Tie-In For The Arcade Game?

“This isn’t gonna be easy. If those Grid Bugs get us, we’ve had it.”

As the heroes of TRON ride in their Solar Sailer toward the film’s final act, they …
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Mario Origins: How A Popeye Game Became Donkey Kong
3 months ago

Mario Origins: How A Popeye Game Became Donkey Kong

The year is 1990. Nintendo has just received the latest “Q Ratings” report — a long-running popularity poll that ranks celebrities and fictional characters by weighing their popularity against their …
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Solved: If Miyamoto Never Said His Most Famous Quote, Who Did?
4 months ago

Solved: If Miyamoto Never Said His Most Famous Quote, Who Did?

In a Half-Life 25th anniversary documentary that launched this weekend, Valve co-founder Gabe Newell paraphrases a decades-old bit of gaming industry wisdom, saying, “Late is just for a little while, …
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A Brief Tour Of Nintendo Of America’s Early HQ Locations
6 months ago

A Brief Tour Of Nintendo Of America’s Early HQ Locations

Nintendo Of America made its home Redmond, Washington just a little over 40 years ago, but not until after its first big hit. So where were they located when they …
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Samus Aran Origins Revisited: The Metroid Creature
1 year ago

Samus Aran Origins Revisited: The Metroid Creature

The reaction to my “Metroid Hidden Influences” video has been amazing. If you haven’t seen it yet, go watch that one first, then come back here. Because this…is the Bonus …
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How TV Tropes Changed The Meaning Of “Trope”
2 years ago

How TV Tropes Changed The Meaning Of “Trope”

In the mid-2000s, a website called TV Tropes began to spread across the internet via word of mouth. Few of us knew what a “trope” was, but the way the …
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Samus Aran Origins: Metroid’s Influences Beyond Alien
2 years ago

Samus Aran Origins: Metroid’s Influences Beyond Alien

Who was the first character with an arm cannon? What was the first game to use weapons to unlock doors? And why can’t metroid crawl?

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Infographic: Wii U Has More Metroid Games Than Any Other Console
2 years ago

Infographic: Wii U Has More Metroid Games Than Any Other Console

To mark my Patreon reaching its first 50 patrons, I decided to create another infographic! This time the subject is “Which Platform Has The Most Metroid?,” a backwards compatibility comparison. …
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NaNoWriMo: How To Make The “Comic Sans Trick” Work With Any Font
2 years ago

NaNoWriMo: How To Make The “Comic Sans Trick” Work With Any Font

It’s National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) again, and everyone is looking for ideas to increase their writing speed. One trick that’s recently become popular is to write your first draft …
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Why The First Playable Women Of The ’80s Were Naked (Video Dames #0)
3 years ago

Why The First Playable Women Of The ’80s Were Naked (Video Dames #0)

What was the streaking fad of the ’70s? What was the first ’80 arcade game to feature a playable female character? What was Mystique Presents Swedish Erotica?
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