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?
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
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
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”
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
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
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
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)
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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Metroid’s Justin Bailey Is A Real Person; Here’s Why He Hasn’t Spoken Up
“Justin Bailey” is one of the most famous secret codes in the history of gaming.
Sure, it’s not as well-known as the Konami Code, but for anyone who becomes interested …
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Make Love Not War: Talking With The Creator Of The First Software Easter Egg
William Weiher created the first software Easter Egg circa 1968, but didn’t realize it until I told him.
Last month, I revealed the previously forgotten oldest Easter Egg in a …
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Part Two: The Riddler Is Batman’s Greatest Revival
In Part One I made the case that Frank Gorshin’s Riddler was the best Joker. But was he the best Riddler? In my opinion, the best Riddler is the version …
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Part One: The Riddler Is Batman’s Greatest Rival
Riddle me this, Batman: What’s the opposite of a sleuth?
The opposite of a bat isn’t a cat, though at least it’s thematic. But why a detective’s opposite number be …
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Moonlander: One Giant Leap For Game Design
Everyone knows Neil Armstrong was the first man on the Moon, but who was the first man in a video game?
Early video game history is littered with “firsts” — …
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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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