Konami’s output on the Famicom was simply amazing. While we certainly got some good games on this side of the pond, such as Castlevania and Contra, there were a plethora of great titles that stayed in their homeland. They were once a ...

While the phenomenon of appreciating bad games exists everywhere in the world, perhaps no player base is as conscious of it as those in Japan. Unlike us, they have a very concise word for describing terrible games: kusoge. That’s "kus...

One of the fears that big decision-makers had in the ‘80s and ‘90s when it came to localizing games was whether or not it would appeal to Western audiences. We hadn’t been indoctrinated with enough anime and Pocky yet, so ...

I find it difficult to travel back and play early 8-bit consoles like the Atari 2600 or Colecovision. It’s not that their primitive graphics and sound fail to capture my attention, but rather, they’re so dedicated to replicating...

For this Famicom Friday, I think it’s time to jump straight to the Famicom Disk System. You may worry we’re moving too fast, but I’ve never felt this way before about anyone; I’m ready to take the next step in the re...

While it may have been analogous with our beloved Nintendo Entertainment System, the world of the Famicom was far different than the one we saw in the west. From the freedom explored by a Konami in its prime to the read/write frontiers of t...

One of the rarest and most unique entries in legendary RPG franchise Fire Emblem has finally seen an English translation, courtesy of a dedicated FE fan, some 23 years after its Japan-only releaseBS Fire Emblem: Archanea War Chronicles orig...

Retro-releasers Hamster - amidst its run of classic SNK fighters and arcade shmups - occasionally drop a title that's a little more niche in its appeal. Perhaps the ultimate example of this is the publisher's latest Arcade Archives release:...

Hamster's retro release for this week affords us the opportunity to look at the early days of one of SNK's most famous heroines - King of Fighters hero, pop starlet and all-around cutie-pie Athena Asamiya - as old-school arcade game Psycho ...

This week, your retro friend and mine, Hamster, has pulled up another classic '80s arcade and given it a new lease of life on a modern platform, as SNK shmup Alpha Mission takes to the skies once more on Nintendo Switch.Released in arcades ...

[With all the mini consoles being announced, both official and unofficial, it's fascinating to hear about what was essentially the NES in Japan, except not really. But don't listen to me prattle on about what the Famicom Disk System was or ...

I am ecstatic that I can go online today and buy so many new games for old systems. Just a few years ago, the only options similar to this at least on the NES were reproduction carts – games that either never came out in the west or n...

Launching earlier in July, the Weekly Shonen Jump 50th Anniversary Famicom is a celebration of classic anime and manga-based video games, pretty much all of which never saw the light of day on Western shores.Of course, such a cool niche dev...

About a month ago, Arc System Works and Tommo Japan announced that they were teaming up to make replica carts of Return of Double Dragon for the SNES. Now, the game is going to get a digital re-release on PS4 later in the year. Since the re...

A few days ago, Japan's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine revealed it had partnered with Nintendo to create a special edition variant of the Famicom Mini. Containing 20 games based on Shonen anime and boasting a gold paint finish, the mini consol...

While we're all patiently waiting for Nintendo's reprint of the NES Mini, Japan is gearing up to get a special edition of the device. Coming out in time for Japanese magazine Weekly Shonen Jump's 50th anniversary, the new version of the con...

Sweet Home is the weird, ugly step-father of the Resident Evil series. Never to be sold outside of Japan, the game's mix of Dragon Quest-influenced mechanics and brutal, feel bad aesthetics weren't likely to find much of an audience on the...

I remember the first Christmas I ever worked in a mall at an EB Games, getting geared up for the holiday and ready to lose our minds at the absolute insanity of Boxing Day that was to come. In the mall they had these little kiosks where the...

Fire Emblem. One of the most puzzling Nintendo franchises for sure. Most people's first experience with the series was Super Smash Bros. Melee on the GameCube, which included Marth and Roy. Neither of their games released out...

[Update: Pre-orders are now also live at Amazon. Thanks Kellzor. Just in case, here are the pre-order pages for GameStop and Target.] The day has come where pre-orders open for the highly sought-after Super Nintendo Classic. Best Buy began...

One of the most famously awful games ever made is Takeshi's Challenge on the Famicom. You can find many chronicles of people attempting to beat the game and getting horribly frustrated. The development cycle of the game, which was based on ...

Following the permanent discontinuation of the NES Classic in America, Nintendo has now decided to do the same in Japan. The only difference is, the company says it's "temporary," leaving them room to fall back on it should they need it. Ma...

Can you cram a Famicom Mini inside a Game Boy? Yes. But should you? Hell yeah! Well, maybe not you you, but Kei Studio sure managed the feat with an impressive "Famicom Pocket" build. This 25-minute-long video gets into the specifics, as d...

The Famicom Mini is exploding in Japan, topping the hardware charts at 261,381 units sold in its first week in Japan. That's nearly triple the amount of second place, PlayStation 4. PS4 Pro, released this past week, is included in the PS4's...

As a kid, games used to be tremendously hard. While I persevered, sometimes whipping out the NES Max or the Game Genie would be my answer. Back then, I mostly just wanted to fool around instead of trying to prove something; nowadays, I like...