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Video Essays

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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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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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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The True First Easter Egg: Ready Player One Was Wrong
3 years ago

The True First Easter Egg: Ready Player One Was Wrong

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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Video Dames: The History Of Playable Female Protagonists
3 years ago

Video Dames: The History Of Playable Female Protagonists

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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Wild Gunman ’74: The Forgotten First FMV Game
3 years ago

Wild Gunman ’74: The Forgotten First FMV Game

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 Origin Of The Term “Gamer”
5 years ago

The Origin Of The Term “Gamer”

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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