Video Essays

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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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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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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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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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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What was the first Easter Egg in an arcade game? What was the first Easter Egg in a cartridge game? What was the first Easter Egg in a computer game?
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What is Video Dames? What video games were the first to feature playable human sprites? What video games were the first to feature playable female characters?
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Why was SEGA selling Nintendo games? How could a live action arcade game exist before digital video? And what movie did it appear in?
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The term “gamer” predates video games by over six centuries.

The first known record of the word was found in the English town of Walsall and dates back to …
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