The evolution of Nintendo’s Game & Watch series

After observing a Japanese salaryman playing with a calculator while travelling, Nintendo’s R&D director Gunpei Yokoi was left feeling inspired. An idea for a handheld toy sprung to mind, not for children but rather for adults to play discreetly in the palm of their hand to pass time. Nintendo’s president Hiroshi Yamauchi realised the potential …

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Most played: Attack of the Friday Monsters! A Tokyo Tale

There aren’t many games around that allow you to re-live the innocence of being a child. Unless those games are ones you previously played as a youngster, you’re hard pressed to find something that awakens the inner child, knocking at the door of long forgotten memories and emotions. However, there is a fine line between …

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Konami Krazy Racers was king of the GBA kart racers

The recent arrival of GBA games on Nintendo Switch Online was a cause for celebration. The first wave includes some of the handheld’s finest, and Nintendo has already confirmed that Golden Sun, Fire Emblem, F-Zero, and more are coming. But there was one title within the launch line-up met with disdain – Mario Kart: Super …

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Most Played: Time on Frog Island

If you’ve played Nintendo’s monochrome marvel Zelda: Link’s Awakening, then you may feel a sense of familiarity with Time on Frog Island. Specifically, Link’s Awakening’s optional trade quest that entailed swapping items with certain characters, starting with a Yoshi doll won from a claw machine.   Time on Frog Island takes the concept of ‘trading …

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Sonic the Comic’s First Christmas

I have in my mitts the first festive issue of Sonic the Comic, dated November 27th1993. It wasn’t the closest issue to Christmas, but it did come with a cardboard tree decoration. Now seems a good time to talk about this issue, the history of Sonic the Comic, and my relationship with Fleetway’s fortnightly publication. …

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2022: Games You May Have Missed

It’s time once again to talk about games that were overlooked or have perhaps become forgotten about as the months went on, with this year’s list featuring two titles that launched as far back as January – almost a year ago. Funny, that. A handful of honourable mentions seems like a good idea. Our recommendations …

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How many RPGs did Square-Enix release this year, exactly?

If you read our weekly new release round-ups, you’ve likely noticed that Square-Enix releasing a new RPG almost every week has become a running joke. The joke being most RPGs tend to be vastly timing consuming, while aimed at a certain audience. It’s a mystery how anybody could possibly find the time to play them …

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The Atari 7800’s catalogue is worth a closer look

When people think of Atari, the games and systems that spring to mind likely depend on which decade you grew up in. ‘80s kids will recall the company’s coin-munching arcade cabinets and the behemoth that was the Atari 2600 – a system that managed to survive the ’84 market crash, with games released in Europe …

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The best PS2 launch game was a firework simulator

To say the PlayStation 2’s launch line-up was patchy is an understatement. Not only were developers up against the clock to get games ready for launch, but they were also clearly struggling with the system’s complicated architecture. Namco managed to deliver Ridge Racer V and Tekken Tag Tournament on time, a solid yet unspectacular duo, …

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NekoNecro developer interview – what, how, and why?

Games Asylum contributors Jay and Zayne are about to release NekoNecro, a hand-drawn 2D platformer with a three-year development and lots of fine-tuning. Obviously, reviewing it would be considerably shady – a huge conflict of interest. We even stepped back from a preview. But we still want to get the word out of its imminent …

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Most Played – August 2022

With the exception of Rich, who has been busy playing Blade Runner on Switch while traveling, the team’s plan to beat the summer heat seemingly involved staying indoors while playing console games. With a freezer full of choc ices nearby, it’s a plan that’s hard to fault.   Games with Gold freebies – Matt I’m …

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EA Replay – the often-forgotten retro collection

EA has been around since 1982, amassing a back catalogue of hundreds – if not thousands – of games. Yet, the company very rarely explores its past, being firmly fixated on the future instead. This has been true for around a decade now, with the uber publisher doubling down on its annual sporting games, online …

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Most Played – June 2022

So much for ‘Most Played’ being a monthly feature – this is our first round-up of the year. With so many new releases to cover and review, 2022 has been exceedingly busy thus far. We think we can be excused for our tardiness. During the muggy month of June, James has been busy playing an …

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