The Nintendo 3DS: Modern fun for the modern gamer.

The following article was written by @TheKingofRetro

Hello there! Today I thought it would be a good idea to break from the retro norm a bit and bring into the spotlight a piece of modern hardware that has brought me (and millions of others) so much joy over the past few years. This particular portable device has a vast library of games in its library, can surf the web, watch YouTube and Netflix, and utilize apps. You can put it in a case, take it with you, take pictures with it, shop on it, and even pay your bills (and no it isn’t a phone or tablet). It’s the Nintendo 3DS XL and it’s time I spoke my thoughts about the device and explain why this little handheld doohicky is so special to me.

   
 
If you know me personally than you know that I’ve always been a fan of Nintendo. My love for the company dates back to the mid to late 80’s when I developed my love for the NES and realized just how amazing of an experience playing video games truly was, which was something I didn’t totally understand when I had an Atari 2600 as a child even though I highly enjoyed it, I was just too young to fully embrace its greatness. When I played my NES as a kid I honestly felt as if I was picked up and placed inside of a world full of adventure and mystery and that is something I still feel to this day when playing video games and for that I have Nintendo to thank. I was a big fan of their mobile business when they broke through with the original Gameboy and absolutely fell head over heels in love with the Gameboy Advance circa 2001. So it should come as no surprise that I own a 3DS XL and absolutely adore it. My wife (then fiance) bought it for me sometime in 2013 and some 2 1/2 years later I feel like no more than a few days go by without me picking it up and playing something on it. Hell, when I first got the 3DS I was glued to the thing for hours every single day and couldn't wait for a day off to sit down and put some time into it. It all started with Super Mario 3D Land, a game so fun and so addicting I’ve beaten it a total of 3 times in under 3 years. Seriously, if anyone has anything to say about Super Mario 3D Land other than “the game is phenomenal” than they’re flat out wrong. There is no other way around it. This is the game that had me staying up late dreaming about owning a 3DS to begin with and it deserves every bit of positive praise it’s received from both gaming media and videogame fans around the world. It’s the kind of game that challenges you but yet allows you to have fun within its environment and always gives you something to do, even when the game is technically “over”. When you finish the core game you can go back in and unlock Luigi and a whole series of special levels with modified difficulty and different things to do, so the replay value is through the roof. Other games I’ve picked up and played on the 3DS include Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, New Super Mario Bros 2, Mario Kart 7, and a few others that have supplied me with hours after hours of enjoyment. Every title I’ve sat down to play on the 3DS I’ve played through at least twice, and many I’ve spent hours with just exploring and enjoying my time within those worlds, it’s an incredible experience that only Nintendo can bring to the table. Third party titles like Bravely Default, Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, the Lego games, and Monster Hunter all deliver powerful content to consumers, while first party Nintendo games starring Mario, Link, Kirby, Luigi, and more help to keep gaming fans occupied with Nintendo’s core characters giving everyone something they’ll likely enjoy.

   One thing I'll definitely admit is that I don’t really use the 3DS for anything other than gaming. Sure, you can surf the web on it, watch YouTube on it, download apps to it, stream movies and music on it, and so much more, but my high end Asus tablet can handle those tasks so much better and I’ve always liked my gaming systems to be gaming systems: nothing more, nothing less. But the ability is there if ever I had the need to utilize those tasks on Nintendo’s little handheld wonder. As far as the hardware goes Nintendo has really created a comfortable to hold and slick device that is large enough to give me the gaming experience I crave but small enough to hold and carry around with me wherever I go. And even though I own the XL version of the unit as opposed to the original 3DS which was smaller in size I don't feel bogged down by the bigger unit and feel Nintendo did a wonderful job with the overall construction of this device. But let me tell you if you didn't know already that this powerful little beast can truly deliver a gaming experience better than any other handheld machine on the market and that above all is the driving force behind my love for the 3DS. The gaming experience is way better than a tablet and way better than a smartphone; though we will eventually be seeing Nintendo games hit tablets and phones sometime in 2016/2017. Still, the experience of enjoying these kinds of games could never be rivaled by an all touch screen display and Nintendo will no doubt reign as the king of mobile gaming hardware for as long as mobile gaming exists and if the quality of the 3DS is any sign of the future than I’m truly pumped up for its successor sometime in 2017! Bring it on Nintendo, I’m up for the challenge! I’d estimate that the 3DS about as powerful as the Gamecube was, or somewhere between the N64 and the GameCube, and it offers 3D capabilities that (if you’re like me) you can turn off and ignore. Personally I hate the 3D option and always have the 3D setting switched off, I enjoy gaming on the 3DS much more that way but to each their own. I love that they’ve included a slot for SD cards for extra storage and the included stylus is nice too, although I hardly ever use it unless it’s for mini-games or is a game truly demands it. All in all the hardware for the 3DS is smooth, slick, and the buttons feel well traveled and perfect for long sessions of playing. But what I really love is the addition of the 360 movement disc for controlling your character. It’s smooth and precise and 10x better than the d-pad, though the d-pad is there too for other functionality. It's so much better than the weird movement apparatus Sony put on their PSP too.

   With all the amazing 3DS games I’ve had the pleasure of playing I’m excited that Nintendo still plans on supporting the unit for another 2-3 years and I’m sure we’ll be seeing another round of Mario or another adventure with Link down the road. In fact, they just announced Hyrule Warriors: Legends to come out on the system in 2015 and more RPG’s and indie stuff will be landing in the near future too, plus I still have 4-5 previously released games I’m itching to still try so I’ll be busy with Nintendo’s 3DS for some time to come. This device has a ton of great games on it and even after it's retail life has come to an end I'm sure I'll be discovering titles on it that I will continue to enjoy for years to come. This happened to a lot of people when the Gameboy Advance eventually fizzled out but yet people were still buying games for it during the life-cycle of the original DS, or when the Gameboy's long life came to an end and people were still buying games for it even after the Gameboy Advance hit stores. It's a story of too many games and not enough time, and to be honest I can't complain!

Do you love the 3DS? Do you own one today? Any fond memories you'd like to share? Questions? Comments? If so than feel free to post them in the comments section and I'll reply as soon as possible.

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Twitter - @TheKingofRetro

All content within this article is © & ™ by KOR Productions 2015

Looking back at fast food establishments from an 80's/90's perspective.

                                    The following article was written by @TheKingofRetro

I’m going to bring into the spotlight today something in which I absolutely loved as a child that was a big part of our culture back in the 1980’s and 1990’s but has been shunned by the masses and just about every parent group from one coast to the other. A topic that was once something special and meaningful and an event that helped to really make being a kid fun. In my household it wasn’t too often but in others it may have been a weekly tradition or in others it may have been avoided altogether. Today I’m going to discuss fast food and how when I was a kid there was (almost) nothing better.

When I was a kid I watched a lot of cartoons. When I say I watched a lot of cartoons I really mean it. I was so in love with watching cartoons that I would feel so lost and depressed if I missed an episode of one of my favorites and I would feel as if my day was ruined. Don’t get me wrong though, I had my fair share of time outdoor activities such as riding bikes with friends and playing hide n’ go seek and all that jazz, but I sincerely loved to watch cartoons. One of my absolute favorite things about watching cartoons was that I would get to see commercials centered around things I enjoyed as a kid whether it was toys, video games, or in this case…….fast food. McDonald’s in particular had the absolute best commercials back in the 80’s and early 90’s thanks to the famous clown known the world over as Ronald McDonald, and his colorful cast of friends, who starred in a majority of the advertisements that adorned my television set. I would always get a sense of excitement whenever a McDonald’s commercial would come on and I’d get even more excited during Halloween and Christmas when they’d air their special holiday themed spots. Man, there was nothing like it. Ronald McDonald interacting with the Chicken McNuggets in their Halloween costumes always gave me a warm feeling whenever I’d have the opportunity to see those commercials, and the Christmas ad where he was ice skating with the kids was always one of my all-time favorites, and every time I’d bare witness to those magical moments I’d be compelled to want to go eat at McDonald’s. Burger King also had some pretty cool commercials back in the day with the Burger King Kids Club spots that featured Kid Vid and his cool gang of friends who embodied the late 80’s look and vibe, and of course wearing the free crown inside of the restaurant was always something to look forward to, but they just couldn’t match the magic of McDonald’s no matter how hard they tried. Though I do admit that as an adult their form of burgers are like 10x better than anything McDonald’s can produce, but I’d take a real hamburger from a real restaurant any day of the week over what I can get at a fast food joint and that’s a huge reason as to why I haven’t had fast food in years. But when I was a kid a trip to either McDonald’s or Burger King was always an amazing experience and so much fun thanks to most of the places around me having a section of the restaurant set up for kids to play in thanks to the ball pits and slides and other such novelties that kids could lose themselves in. I’d probably be taken to McDonald’s or Burger King once a month or so (usually McDonald’s) and I’d usually get the Happy Meal, which consisted of a cheeseburger, fries, a soft drink, and a toy of some sort, none of this diced apples, chicken nugget, and milk bullshit they’re passing off to kids these days. Thanks to lazy parents who don’t want to put the effort into monitoring what their children eat they pressed upon the government to do it for them which has basically transformed fun places like McDonald’s from a place of wonder into a place of blunder where they have to offer healthy alternatives and ditch the kid friendly advertising. Hey parents, if you don’t want your kids eating at McDonald’s than don’t take them there, but to impress your bullshit onto the government and force a company to change is pathetic and ignorant and you need to do a better job parenting your own children and not worry about what other people (or companies) are doing.

Anyway. Now that I just put idiotic parents in check I’ll continue on with my entry. Back in the day fast food was marketed toward children quite a bit but it was also marketed toward adults as well with an ad campaign that featured a talking moon who played the piano to the tune of Mack The Knife who became known as “Mac-Tonight”. These advertising spots painted the picture that McDonald’s was not only a place for kids but a place where grown ups could go and enjoy dinner and conversation without lugging along the family, and there were even other commercials that spoofed the competition and took a stab at making going out to a fast food restaurant seem like it was the thing to do. But as much as McDonald’s and Burger King ruled the roost in those days as a place where kids could go and have fun and boasted a family friendly atmosphere it seemed as if Wendy’s was the one fast food restaurant that really catered to the adult crowd with little to no advertising geared toward children. Their mascots weren’t made up of clowns or moon men wearing sunglasses, instead they were a middle aged man and a photo of a young girl with red hair. When you entered a Wendy’s back in the day you didn’t enter into a place that housed a ball pit or a super slide, you saw no colorful characters on the walls, and there certainly were no gimmicky crowns to wear or toys to hand out. You had an establishment that had nicely tiled floors, wooden walls, and tables that had pictures of newspaper clippings and articles on them. It was very different than what you were used to seeing in those days, but man, their food was incredibly good. Probably better than even Burger King. I enjoyed going there as a kid just as much as I did McDonald’s or Burger King and even though it lacked the kid friendly atmosphere I highly enjoyed the quality of their food and felt that it had a “real restaurant” vibe to it that was a tad more relaxing than other options back then. The inside of Wendy’s has changed throughout the years and the same can be said for Burger King and McDonald’s. The later have (for the most part) ditched the colorful exteriors of their restaurants and have added in pictures of wildlife, nature, or cities instead of the colorful characters that adorned their walls back in the 80’s and 90’s, and some of them have even added fireplaces to attract the adult crowd all but forgetting that they once catered to children as well. Gone are the pictures of the McDonald-Land characters, the hamburger sitting stools, and the colorful buildings that once brought a gleam to our eyes as children, and in came the “cafe” atmosphere and a building that reminds me more of a Panera Bread than a joyful place of fun and wonder. It’s a damn shame too.

No matter what I’ll always remember the fun of visiting a fast food establishment when I was a child. It’s one of those fun little memories that pop up from time to time and I’m glad I had a chance to experience it back when there was something worth experiencing, it’s just a shame they had to change over time but I’ll always hold with me the memories of visiting those special places with my family and friends. Even as the 80's made way into the 90's McDonald's and Burger King kept their fun factor alive and kicking and I personally didn't start seeing changes in how the two presented themselves until the very late 90's. But I've read blogs and other such ramblings from those in other parts of the United States who have noticed these changes both sooner and after, so I guess it really all depends on where it is you live. While I don't regularly visit fast food establishments anymore I do have a soft spot for them in my heart because of the era I grew up in and I'm sure I'm not alone in this. As the world changes so do I, but I’ll never forget the retro sights, sounds, and smells of a good ol’ fast food restaurant from back in the 80’s and early 90’s. Who’s with me?

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Twitter - @TheKingofRetro

All content within this article is © & ™ by KOR Productions 2015

Retro Video Game Spotlight: E.T for the Atari 2600!

The following article was written by @TheKingofRetro

   Good day everybody, it’s The King of Retro here to bring you a review of a game that has been ridiculed and crapped on by almost every major video game publication known to man and hundreds of millions of gaming fans since its creation. This is a game that was part of a bigger picture that “crashed” the video game market back in the early 80’s and a game that carries with it a stigma that it will probably never shake off. That game, ladies and gentlemen, is E.T for the Atari 2600.

   E.T for the Atari came out right before Christmas time of 1982 and was poorly received by fans a critics who stated that “poor gameplay” and “terrible graphics” were some of the issues the game suffered thanks to being rushed into production to meet the holiday deadline. The story behind its creation and release is a popular one that you should know if you’re already a fan of old school gaming or the industry as a whole so I won’t spend too much time discussing its origin, but I’ve got to at least touch upon it for those reading this who may not know all the details. A Programmer by the name of Howard Scott Warshaw was one of the aces in the hole working on video games back in the golden days of Atari and had created a bulk of their highly successful games, many of which were million plus sellers. When the E.T film hit theaters Atari unloaded a truck full of cash to Steven Spielberg and bought the rights to produce a game based on the movie for the Atari 2600, the problem was that the Christmas season was looming and they needed someone to produce the game fast and they called upon Howard Scott Warshaw to deliver the goods. At the time the negotiations finalized Warshaw had only 5 ½ weeks to make the game and have it ready for store shelves, which is not a lot of time in this line of work when you’re starting from scratch and are working within a deadline. Howard pushed the game through and remarkably had it ready for Christmas of 1982 and the rest is history. One of the mistakes Atari made was that they put too much money into securing the rights to produce the game with the other mistake being that they demanded it be ready within such a short amount of time. Had Atari negotiated better and let Warshaw take his time to create a better game than maybe things would’ve turned out different. The final nail in the coffin was that Atari manufactured way too many copies of the game believing that the movie was so popular that people would purchase Atari 2600 consoles just to play the game and that left them with millions of unsold cartridges that they eventually buried in a New Mexico landfill along with other products and games Atari had stored in local warehouses. When the company learned that people were looting the burial site they sent in steamrollers to crush the product and poured cement over the remains.

   As for the game itself, I actually like it. Yes that’s right…..you read that correctly. I grew up with an Atari 2600 in the house and E.T was one of my favorite games for that console when I was a kid. I can’t tell you how many hours I put into that game back in the day and how many times I actually beat it. At this point you probably think I’m crazy but think about it for a second. Being a kid and not having your own money to buy video games causes you to play what you have in front of you and thus your experience with the game isn’t such a bad one because when you’re 4 or 5 you really don’t know what a bad game truly is. Things may have been different if I picked it up today for the first time and started playing it but my memories of E.T for the 2600 are from my childhood and therefore are memories of delight and joy and being my entry into video games. I guess in hindsight I’m looking at E.T with rose colored glasses but I do still enjoy the game to this day and usually revisit it once every few years and try to complete it before putting it away until the next time I stumble upon a fleeting fancy to play it. I don’t expect others to agree with my assessment of E.T but I do challenge those who claim it’s the worst game in history to go out there and fish around and you will be sure to find many games that are much worse. Hell, the Atari 2600 probably has some of the worst games I’ve ever played (along with some of the best) and I’d wager that probably the NES has some stinkers that are less playable and enjoyable than E.T is. In fact I can think of quite a new N64 and PS1 titles that are barely playable and have less meaning or enjoyment than E.T has, so the bad rap that E.T for the 2600 has is kind of unwarranted in many regards. But history is history and people flock to popular opinion quicker than rabbits reproduce so I guess at the end of the day it is what it is. But I’ll always love the game.

   Graphically speaking it’s no gem but it certainly is a lot better looking than a block on the screen that’s supposed to represent a man or a distorted mess of a spaceship that is shooting random balls while floating around. The problem with E.T lies within its gameplay and the fact that you’re constantly falling down holes in an attempt to find things to create a “phone” (as depicted in the film). If the controls were a little more refined than you wouldn’t constantly keep falling down the same hole you’re trying to get out of and really the only truly bad part of the game is that and that alone. The activities of finding the parts you need to call your mother-ship is actually quite fun and avoiding being captured by the government is kind of entertaining too, so all in all I wouldn’t say that the story and idea behind E.T for the 2600 is a bad one, it just wasn’t executed as well as many would have hoped, though the rumor is that Spielberg enjoyed the game when he got a chance to play it. The music in the game is standard Atari fare with simple bleeps and bloops coupled with the classic E.T theme and some other sounds that aren't very notable but by no means is it better or worse than most of the Atari library that was out at the time. The game as a whole is fine. Do I think the game would find its way into my personal top 10 of all time? No. But it certainly would hold a spot in the top 100 if I was writing out the list of games I’ve had the fondest memories playing or games that have impacted me and shaped me into the gamer I am today. E.T and the 2600 console both had a hand in making me the gamer I am today and my memories of sitting in the basement playing this game before and after school are very important and nostalgic to me. And I’ll always remember the classic E.T Christmas commercial where he’s dressed like Santa and opens the game up and begins playing it. It’s one of my all time favorite Christmas commercials and I remember to watch it on YouTube every year. Anyway, that is all I’ve got for you at this point in time check out the overall game rating below and let me know in the comment section if you agree or disagree with my review. Peace & chicken grease, peeps!

8.0/10

Do you remember this game? Did you have it as a kid? Any fond memories you'd like to share? Questions? Comments? If so than feel free to post them in the comments section and I'll reply as soon as possible.

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Twitter - @TheKingofRetro

All content within this article is © & ™ by KOR Productions 2015

My History With Comics Volume 1.....And So It Begins......

  

The following article was written by @TheKingofRetro

Today I’m sitting down and writing one of the most personal blogs I could ever write. I decided that it was time for me to sit down and chronicle my entire history with comic books from the time I was a child all the way to today, and everything in between. I’ve wanted to do this for a while now and I’ve been told by multiple people that my best writing often harbors instances of my personal relationship with whatever it is I’m writing about. So today I’m going to tackle the one hobby that I’ve loved and cherished more than any other hobby I’ve ever had (including video games) and that’s comic books.

   My history with comic books probably starts out very similar to most of those reading this entry, well….the early part anyway. When I was a kid I remember seeing comics almost everywhere whether it was a drug store, convenience store, supermarket, toy store, and anywhere in between. They were quite simply all over the place in the 80’s. I had a few comics laying around my room when I was really young, mainly Superman or Batman stuff, and I remember an issue of Incredible Hulk that was sitting in my closet but I never really took the time to read them and more or less thought they were just cool things I had that I took for granted. I must have been 4 or 5 at this point and to be honest I have no idea how I ended up with them or what happened to them during those years, but I do know that those few comics didn’t get much use. But I can remember them laying around quite vividly and I thought they were cool looking and glanced at the covers from time to time. It wasn’t for a few more years until I remember moving to another town after my parents got divorced and my grandfather died (I was about 8) and me and my mom moved into his house to fix it up so she could sell it. Down the street there was a comic book store that we would drive by quite often while running errands and one day I asked her if I could go in and look around. When I went into the store there were so many comics that I thought looked cool and after begging my mom for about 10 minutes she decided to let me pick out two and I believe my choices were an issue of Batman & The Outsiders and an issue of The Incredible Hulk, but I may be mistaken on this. Once again a couple of years would lapse until I encountered comics again, I was probably 11 when I discovered that I had a comic book store in my city (I had moved again at this point) and after doing some shopping with my mom I asked to go inside and of course I didn’t leave empty handed. I remember grabbing an issue of Batman as well as a shop preview guide of upcoming comics that was created by the store and cheaply printed in black & white onto standard copy paper. This chain would make these all the way until the early 2000’s and these publications helped me to pick out new comics quite often back in the day.

    That upcoming summer my interest in comics was starting to brew but yet I didn’t actually have any due to having lost the issue I picked up a mere 4-5 months before and having probably thrown out the comics I had bought years previous. That summer I was on vacation with my dad and my friend Chris and while visiting the beach one afternoon we entered a small convenience store to grab some snacks and some other necessities and they had a small spinner rack of comics toward the front. One comic grabbed my eye and it was Spider-Man #25 (not ASM #25) so I asked my dad to buy it for me and he did and that comic would mark the first in my collection that I can remember back to the exact title, issue number, and even what the cover looked like. The cover featured Spider-Man floating with a bunch of heads surrounding him with a glow of the Phoenix in the background and it said “Gala 25th issue” on the top right hand corner. It also marked the first comic that I remember having any true meaning to me and I consider it the first comic book that I started my collection with. Oddly enough I didn’t receive any more comics until a few months later where I picked up an issue of Amazing Spider-Man that had a white cover featuring Spider-Man, The Punisher, Moon Knight, Nova, and a few other characters in a story-line called “Round Robin” and it was issue #358 if I remember correctly. I read that issue about a million times over the course of that summer and into the winter where I would eventually stumble into a bunch of comics selling cheap at a flea market that happened to be right down the street from where I lived. One Sunday morning I picked up a stack of about 12 issues of random comics from a vendor at the flea market who had them stuffed into a random box underneath a folding table. He didn’t really deal in comics as he had mainly sports collectibles and some toys but he did have that one box and after looking through it I picked out the ones that looked the most fun to read. The stack I got ended up being a variety of Marvel & DC comics featuring Superman, Superboy, Wonder Woman, She-Hulk, Thor and a few others that don’t ring a bell at this time and they were in fairly poor condition but I didn’t care, I just wanted to read them.

   Not long after that I was out shopping with my dad and we were at a department store and during our travels down the aisles I came across something called the “Marvel Comics Starter Kit” or something along those lines. It consisted of a small box to keep your comics in, some plastic comic bags, some boards, and about 10 random comics that featured The West Coast Avengers, Silver Surfer, Iron Man, and Captain America. I picked it up and that added to my collection and now I actually had some place to store the comics I had instead of having them sprawled out on my floor. Some time went by and when Christmas came I received a few Superman comics including Superman #75, another issue of Superman that showed him dead on the pavement with newspapers floating around, and a issue of Aladdin that was a movie adaption and had a bright orange cover that I’ll never forget. Then something happened that I can’t explain and I don’t know why but I wouldn’t show much interest in comics in quite some time. I was actively purchasing comic book trading cards during this period and had been previously collecting NBA basketball cards for quite a while and began buying WWF and WCW wrestling cards as well. It seemed like I was going card crazy and even expanded my horizons into baseball and hockey and trading cards were without a doubt my priority for the next couple of years and everything else (aside from video games) took a back seat. But in mid 1994 I started visiting the comic book store again and came across a superhero called The Tick (before the cartoon) and thought he looked really cool and found the page or two I read in the store to be pretty funny so I bought the first issue on a whim. I don’t know what it was but The Tick became like a drug to me during this time and I had to have every issue I could get my hands on, as well as spin-off comics involving other characters from The Ticks universe and just like that I was buying trading cards less and less and my Tick obsession was in full force as I shifted to comics once again. Soon after that spark lit I had pretty much every comic featuring The Tick I could get my paws on so I refocused my desires and went back to buying sports cards and for the next several months comics were an afterthought and basketball cards were my passion once again.

   Things finally kicked into full gear and I became a full-time comic book collector in the early months of 1995 when a kid I knew asked me if I wanted to trade my entire trading card collection for his comic book collection. By this time I wasn’t buying much in the way of trading cards and was down to one pack every now and again as opposed to 10+ packs a week. After evaluation his box of comics I knew what I would be getting from him wasn’t anywhere near the value of what he would receive in the trade but I did it anyway, mainly just to unload the ridiculous amount of cards I was drowning in. All I can say is THANK GOD I went through with it because had I not progressed with that trade, or not be presented with the option, than I probably wouldn’t have ever continued on with comics and had fallen into a different kind of hobby or stuck with trading cards. So I’m very thankful for having made that trade even though it was heavily one sided. What I got was a short box full of random comics that included some pretty important issues at the time such as X-Men #25 with the hologram cover, some Amazing Spider-Man issues and annuals, more X-Men issues, some random mini’s, and a few other Marvel based comics. I read them all and added them to my collection and with about $10 in my pocket I went down to the local comic book store and saw they were having a ½ 0ff sale. So naturally I spent all of my money and came home with a bunch of X-Men comics, which was my favorite franchise in comics at that time thanks to the books I got in the trade. X-Men & Uncanny X-Men both became my go to series and before the ½ off sale was done I went back with more cash and built upon my X-Men collection and for the next several month all I bought were X-titles and anything that featured a member of the team on the cover. It didn’t matter what it was, if it had an “X” in the title I was buying it and often used the Wizard price guide to mark off what books I wanted to get on my next trip to the comic shop.

Luckily for me the comic book store near by would run their ½ off sale a few more times throughout the season and I even convinced my friend Kenny to get a few comics that summer. He wasn’t new to comics or anything like that and had a few here and there but he was by no means a collector, but he always enjoyed a trip to the comic book store with me and eventually would seek out some early issues of Spawn around this time by visiting comic stores and flea markets. Around this time I got hooked on a series Chris Claremont did for DC called Sovereign Seven and about a year and a half into that series it skyrocketed to the top of my reading list despite fans not really taking to it and sales being mediocre. When I say I was into Sovereign Seven I mean it, my love for the book still lives on to this day and I have spent countless hours reading those issues and writing into DC proclaiming my love for the title back when it was in its heyday. There was just something about it that I loved that I could never truly explain. Shortly after I fell in love with a book called Hitman, which was also published by DC, and soon after that the X-Men fell out of grace with me and I was beginning to dip my toes into titles that weren’t so much in the limelight for popularity as they were critical acclaim. Also around this time period is when my friend Kenny began collecting comics with a vengeance and was buying titles like Hitman, The Darkness, Witchblade, Sovereign Seven, and others that I can’t think of right now. We talked about comics all the time and visited a ton of comic shops trying to put together sets and hunting down back issues, it was an absolute blast. But things changed and by 1998 DC had cancelled Sovereign Seven and X-Men wasn’t what it once was so the few comics I continued on with were Hitman, a new series based on The Tick, and some of the Cliffhanger titles by Image Comics, mainly Crimson and Battle Chasers. I was really depressed by the cancellation of Sovereign Seven and my heart just wasn’t into comics anymore like it once was and for a short period of time in late 1998 I stopped buying comics all together.

    My “retirement” from comic reading and collecting didn’t last very long though and before I knew it I was diving into the “Heroes Return” story-line Marvel had going on after that god-awful “Heroes Reborn” nonsense from the year previous. I was actively reading Captain America, Thor, X-Men (again) and some Spider-Man stuff and almost just as fast as I was getting into these books suddenly I found myself not enjoying them and after the first 5 or 6 issues I felt like I was wasting my money. Soon after I stopped buying the “Heroes Reborn” stuff I had read an article in an issue of Wizard Magazine that Marvel was planning on creating a whole new universe from the beginning featuring their classic characters in a modern world who would be free of continuity and totally accessible, it would be called “Ultimate Marvel”. The line was a few months away from launch but when it did finally hit stands I was first outside of my comic book store to grab Ultimate Spider-Man #1, which I got 2 copies plus a white cover variant, and before I knew it there was a mob outside of the store just waiting to get their hands on this book. I was in love with the Ultimate line of comics from Marvel and continued on with them for the next several years, but soon after I began picking up those books I came across something that would absolutely shape the remainder of my comic book purchasing habits. I came across a brand new company called Crossgen Comics and immediately fell in love with their offerings and was buying Scion, Sigil, and Mystic pretty much from launch. I couldn’t wait for new issues of these books, Scion more than anything, and when I saw that the line was expanding and really trying to plant their flag as a premiere comic book company I was literally doing backflips. It wasn’t long until my Crossgen haul consisted of Scion, Sigil, Mystic, Crux, Sojourn, Brath, Negation, Masters of the Universe, among others, and as time went by I noticed that I was buying very little aside from Crossgen and they eventually became more than just a comic book company to me. They became my passion.

    Unfortunately in 2004 Crossgen went out of business due to some poor internal decisions and many creators leaving due to not receiving payment from the publisher and I found myself in the same state of mind I was in when DC cancelled Sovereign Seven about 7 years prior. I was disjointed and didn’t make the effort to find anything to replace the void left by Crossgen and around summertime during 2004 I sold off my entire collection of comics and steered clear of the hobby for a short time. I  regretted selling off my comics almost instantly despite getting a large sum for the books and I tried to fill the void by shifting my attention to other hobbies but comics were always calling me in some form or fashion. But despite my collection having been sold off I was far from over with comic books and it was only a matter of time until I was neck deep in the hobby once again.

Well, that’s it for part 1! Stay tuned for the second part of “My History With Comics” which will be published sometime soon after people have a chance to digest this post, which I consider to be very personal and important as it chronicles one of my lifelong passions. Enjoy!

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All content within this article is © & ™ by KOR Productions 2015

Retro....or not? PS2, XboX, & GameCube are nearing in on 15 years old!

The following article was written by @TheKingofRetro

There is something that has been bothering me lately. I’ve been thinking about it quite a bit and today I figured I’d take to the blog (and to Twitter) and try to come to some form of conclusion on this matter. What matter, you ask? Well, everyone knows that The Retro Ghost loves his retro-gaming and I sat down and thought about some of my favorite consoles and how old some of them are. When I filtered through my thoughts I eventually arrived at the generation of consoles consisting of the Nintendo GameCube, the XboX, and the Playstation 2 and that’s when I hit a brick wall. I asked myself, “Are these systems filed under modern-gaming or retro-gaming?”, and I couldn’t really come to a conclusion as to how I would place my stamp of approval. I stopped and thought about how old the consoles are and as of this writing the oldest of the 3 is the PS2 which saw release in late 2000, while the other two found their way into retail in late 2001. As of this writing that makes the oldest 15 years old and the other two 14 years old, which in most cases would most certainly stamp these consoles with the “retro” label. But yet they don’t feel retro and since they all saw release after the turn of the century I just assumed that anything 1999 or earlier would be given the title of being retro while everything after would be considered modern.

   The problem with that is eventually these systems will continue to age and become 20 years old, 25 years old, 30 years old, and so on and so forth and shouldn’t be considered modern by any means. I also stopped to think about it a little deeper and kids who were born in the late 90’s or the early 2000’s would view these consoles as I view the Atari 2600 and the NES. They will eventually look back at their childhood (if they haven’t already) and will see these systems and their games as their childhood and will eventually recognize these system as retro themselves. Maybe it’s me and the fact that every year since around 2001 has shot by like wildfire and now I find myself in my mid 30’s and it feels like yesterday that I was salivating over owning a PS1 and an N64 after seeing how advanced the games looked compared to my NES, SNES, and Genesis. Time is shooting by and in a blink of an eye I’ll be thinking about my XboX 360 and PS4 and how they’re still “new” when the XboX 360 will probably be 20+ years old and the PS4 around 10 at that time. Generations of hardware are shooting by like the Millennium Falcon in hyper-space and I feel like I can’t grasp it or slow it down. It’s a terrible feeling.

   So what do I do? Should I consider the GameCube, XboX, and PS2 “retro” or should I wait it out until they have a little more time to resonate with the crowd that grew up with them, or should I say “screw it” and consider anything that’s been around as long as they’ve been a retro machine? I’d love to hear what you all think so please feel free to comment below.

What do you think? Do you think that the PS2/XboX/GameCube should be labeled as "retro"? Any fond memories you'd like to share about these consoles? Questions? Comments? If so than feel free to post them in the comments section and I'll reply as soon as possible.

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All content within this article is © & ™ by KOR Productions 2015

Retro Video Game Spotlight: Megamania for the Atari 2600!

 

The following article was written by @TheKingofRetro

The Atari 2600. What a gaming console. It was one of the first to gain a massive following and brought limitless possibilities to people discovering home video games back in the late 70’s and early 80’s. I personally have a ton of memories with my Atari 2600 that go back to the early 80’s, some in the mid 90’s, all the way to just a year or so ago because I’ve never put the joystick down and continue to discover new games as the years unfold. But there is one 2600 game that is very near and dear to my heart that I wanted to be my first video game review and it’s a game that I feel has flown underneath the radar with many retro-gaming hobbyists out there. The game was published by Activision and is called Megamania and I’d like to talk a little about it in depth.

   Growing up with the Atari 2600 I was too young to know which games I really wanted and which games were the ones everyone was playing seeing as how I was probably 3 or 4 at the time, so I pretty much settled for whatever my mother or father would buy me for Christmas or my birthday. Luckily they did a pretty good job and many of the games I owned as a child were fantastic and stuck with me throughout the years and have become cherished classics that I revisit yearly. Megamania was one of those games. I can remember early mornings before school playing Megamania in my basement in between sessions of E.T, Pac-Man, Atlantis, Defender, and Return of the Jedi, and being really upset when it was time to put the controller down and leave for the day. I still get those feelings today before I have to leave for work but I don't want to ramble on about me and my gaming habits, I want to discuss this gem of a game and hopefully sway those who haven't tried it yet to give it a shot. Now, as a game Megamania is very similar to Space Invaders where you are controlling a spacecraft at the bottom of the screen and shooting at objects as they drop down toward you, doesn’t seem like anything special by that description I’m sure. But it’s all in the mechanics. The objects change every level and move in patterns which is different from the other shooting games of the era, plus the sound effects are top notch and really help this game to stand out. Everything from the sound of the ship shooting to the sound it makes when you die is etched into my brain for the rest of my life and of all the Space Invaders style shooters on the 2600 I’d place Megamania at the top, though there are other space shooters that are just as good that aren’t of the same variety. It’s funny because throughout the years I’ve talked with many old school gamers and many of them haven’t even heard of Megamania, with some having played it but not having the same warmhearted feelings toward the game as I did. I guess gamers at the time were really all about the arcade experience and wanted to play games like Space Invaders, Asteroids, Millipede, Centipede, and other ports.

    Now it’s time to move onto the technical aspects of Megamania as a game putting aside my personal feelings and looking at its performance and how well made it is (or isn’t). The game looks and feels a lot like any other Atari 2600 game that came out around that time with simple graphics and standard looking pixels. It’s a single blue ship at the bottom of the screen that kind of looks like the Starship Enterprise from Star Trek with enemies descending upon you trying to destroy your craft. One strong suit I would like to mention is that the flying enemies look pretty cool and are modeled very originally with things that look like diamonds, hamburgers, bow ties, and dice swirling around on the screen. It was refreshing to see something other than the traditional fare of aliens and other space ships coming down at you. As for the controls of the game if you've played any other 2600 game of similar style then you’ll be right at home because the controls are simply to move left and right and hit the fire button to kill the baddies. It doesn't get much simpler than that. But don’t get me wrong, as simple as the game is it becomes addicting very fast due to the enemies picking up speed and the rush of old school arcade-style action begins to overtake you while you’re playing trying to beat your (or your friends) high score. It’s downright a blast to play! It’s one of those “points games” that if you had it as a kid and had a brother or sister you’d be trying to beat each others high score over and over again. I used to do this with friends while playing other games back in the day and we often kept a notebook with the date and score, it was so much fun.

   Throughout the years I've always made sure to pop the cartridge into my Atari at least once or twice a year and I always have those warm and fuzzy feelings whenever I sit down to play it. If you own an Atari 2600 and don’t have this game I recommend you pick one up on eBay or at a flea market or something, it’s not very expensive (maybe $6 maximum) and will provide you with some fun moments as you engage in intergalactic war. Megamania as a game has left a mark on my soul that only a hundred or so other games have been able to do (I’ve played thousands of games) and it’s a title that’ll always live on in my heart and in my soul as long as I draw breath.

8.5/10

Do you remember this game? Did you have it as a kid? Any fond memories you'd like to share? Questions? Comments? If so than feel free to post them in the comments section and I'll reply as soon as possible.

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All content within this article is © & ™ by KOR Productions 2015