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...

[Header courtesy of Crystal Blue Dreams] Nintendo of America always had some kind of quirky promotional video to go along with its big releases in the '90s. I have fond childhood memories of playing the Star Fox 64 video and even the Donkey...

The Nintendo Entertainment System: NES Classic Edition is sure to be one of the top gifts you'll find under Christmas trees this December. With 30 all-time classics built-in, pre-orders for the device have virtually sold out worldwide. When...

A visual compendium for the Nintendo Entertainment System is something I'd happily leaf through and that concept has successfully taken to Kickstarter. A day into its month-long crowdfunding campaign, Bitmap Books has met its funding goal f...

Over at the Game Party event in Japan, one major booth stood out -- a giant NES (Famicom) controller. And not just any controller, as this one actually worked, allowing people to hop up and play Super Mario Bros. with it. As you can clearly...

Back during the days of the Game Boy and SNES, games would save progress using a small on-board battery. It was great at the time, however, unfortunately, those things only have a limited lifespan, and in the last few years they’ve be...

We've seen new releases for the Sega Dreamcast come to fruition in the past few years, but a brand new Famicom cartridge is an even more potent throwback. 8-Bit Music Power is a chiptune music compilation from Japanese artist RIKI and games...

Here’s something that really should be way too cute to exist. My Famicase Exhibition is an annual art show being run at the Meteor game shop in Kichijoji, Tokyo. The collection shows nearly 150 different fake Famicom cartridges, ...