Category Archives: Opinion

Retro Game Review: “Raging Fighter” (Nintendo Game Boy, Monochrome May Special)

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Welcome back to Monochrome May, The Splintering’s month-long celebration of everything faded and old. Sorta. Today we’re going to pick apart Raging Fighter, a one-on-one fighting game for the Nintendo Game Boy published in 1993 by Konami. As many who lived through the early 90s fighting game craze might recall, fighting games could often be lumped into two categories: the ones that wanted to be Street

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Review: “Puzzle Bobble Everybubble!” (Nintendo Switch)

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How many Bubble Bobble fans do we have in the reading audience today? Alrighty then, so how many Puzzle Bobble fans are there? (*cough!* Bust-A-Move for us old-schoolers *cough!*)  I feel like it’s been a long time since I played a Puzzle Bobble game. Let’s see… I think I had a demo for the Bust-A-Move Live… Sorry… Old habits die hard…  PUZZLE BOBBLE Live back on the Xbox 360, and that came

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Game Review: “Varney Lake” (PC, Consoles)

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I just finished up playing Varney Lake,* the follow-up to Chorus Worldwide’s previous game, Mothmen 1966. First things first, you certainly do not need to have played Mothmen 1966 to enjoy Varney Lake, but for those who have already played through it, you will definitely get some extra satisfaction in seeing how the two are intertwined. Just like Mothmen before

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Review: “The Brooding Muse” (Cherry Bomb Comics!)

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We recently got the chance to read the first three issues of The Brooding Muse, an ongoing horror anthology series.* Let’s just jump into it! A variety of artists and writers bring “illustrated stories of overwhelming fear and lurking death” to The Brooding Muse, which is presented in black and white. Each issue has several stories (anthology), with some of them being serialized

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Retro Game Review: “George Foreman’s KO Boxing” (Super Nintendo)

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“I’m, big, I’m bad, and I’m back, and I suck!” Today we’re going to take a look at George Foreman’s KO Boxing, which was developed by Beam Software and published by Acclaim Entertainment in 1992 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES).  As the title may suggest, George Foreman’s KO Boxing puts players in the gloves of the two-time Heavyweight Champion of the

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Retro Game Review: “Fox’s Peter Pan & The Pirates: The Revenge of Captain Hook” (NES)

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Today we’re going to look at Fox’s Peter Pan and the Pirates: The Revenge of Captain Hook, an action-platformer published by THQ (aka Toy Headquarters) for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1991. Developed by Equilibrium, Revenge of Captain Hook is based on the animated series of the same name that ran on Fox Kids’ Saturday morning cartoon rotation, Peter Pan and the Pirates. The game naturally

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Game Review: “Hunt The Night” (Steam PC)

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A link to the past… few games that were also SNES Action/Adventure also available on Steam… Looking back, all of my favorite games (Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, Pokémon) in some way emulate what The Legend of Zelda started back in 1986: Assumption: Most of you have played these games, finished these games, and played them again and again. Objectively, these games

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Review: “Ninja JaJaMaru: The Lost RPGs” (PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch)

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Jaleco’s little red ninja that could is getting a bit of a renaissance lately, with a an all-new multiplayer game and multiple retro collections including both Ninja JaJaMaru: Retro Collection and Ninja JaJaMaru: The Lost RPGs. Today we’re going to take a look at Ninja JaJaMaru: The Lost RPGs, a bundle of two RPG-style games from the 80s and 90s that

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Game Review: “Ninja JaJaMaru Retro Collection” (PS4, Nintendo Switch)

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Konichiwa! Today we’re going to take a look at Ninja JaJaMaru Retro Collection, a compilation of side-scrolling Ninja JaJaMaru games from the 80s and 90s recently published by ININ for the Nintendo Switch and PS4.* Developed by City Connection, Ninja JaJaMaru Retro Collection includes six games… eh, more like five. We’ll say five and a half. The games are as follows:  We’ll

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Review: “Heroineburgh” Issue 3 – “AntiHeroineburgh”

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The Pittsburgh-based superhero enthusiasts behind Heroineburgh are still going strong, delivering more live-action episodes of the web series and a third issue of the Heroineburgh comic book.*  Originally launching in 2017, Heroineburgh began as a web series featuring the exploits of a large cast of super-powered characters. The project has since expanded to a bi-weekly comic strip and a full comic book series, too, bringing the

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Review: “Wonder Boy Anniversary Collection” (Nintendo Switch, PS4)

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Today we’re all celebrating the Wonder Boy Anniversary Collection,* a new retro compilation of all of SEGA’s Wonder Boy and Monster World games from the 80s and 90s released to mark the 35th anniversary of the series. Weird number, but who’s complaining? If you’re thinking that this review seems awfully familiar, there’s a very good reason, as ININ Games published a Wonder Boy Collection less than a

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Game Review: “Big Dipper” (Nintendo Switch, Steam PC; Jolly Jinglings Special)

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Welcome back to Jolly Jinglings, The Splintering’s celebration of all stars of royal beauty bright. Today we’re going to pick apart Big Dipper, a visual novel “game” published by Top Hat Studios and developed by Zimno Team for the Nintendo Switch and Steam PC. Why the quotation marks around “game”? Because Big Dipper isn’t a game in any sense. Zero. It is merely

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Throwback Comic Review: “Pete the P.O.’d Postal Worker: Pete’s Very Special Christmas” (Sharkbait Press)

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Welcome back to Jolly Jinglings, The Splintering’s celebration celebration of all things that shake like a bowl full of jelly. Today we’re going to take a look at Pete the P.O.’d Postal Worker: Pete’s Very Special Christmas, which was published in 1997 by Sharkbait Press. Written by Marcus P. Meleton and illustrated by Pete Garcia, the book follows the titular Pete,

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Game Review: “Jitsu Squad” (PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, Steam PC)

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There was clearly a lot of love that went into the making of Jitsu Squad – love for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game, that is. Aside from the obvious inspirations and comparisons to TMNT, there are a plethora of other video game and pop-culture references throughout Jitsu Squad.*  Naturally, some light spoilers will follow.  Much like the aforementioned TMNT arcade game, Jitsu Squad lets you pick from four

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Game Review: “Intrepid Izzy” (Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch)

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It’s short for Isabelle, methinks. Publisher Ratalaika Games recently released the retro-inspired 2D platformer Intrepid Izzy for modern consoles.* Developed by Senile Team, Interpid Izzy started its life as a small-scale indie project for the SEGA Dreamcast successfully crowdfunded in 2017. While the game is fairly light on plot, the titular “Intrepid Izzy” seems to be some kind of explorer who happens

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Retro Review: “Batman Returns” (SEGA Genesis, Jolly Jinglings Special)

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Welcome back to Jolly Jinglings, The Splintering’s month-long celebration of all dancing sugar plums, fairy type or otherwise. In 1992, “Batmania” was in full effect. The success of Tim Burton’s Batman film in 1989 had reignited mainstream interest in the Dark Knight, what followed was a marketing blitz of toys, school supplies, breakfast cereal, and every other piece of cinematic synergy that

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Throwback Comic Review: “The Thirteen Days of Christmas- A Tale of the Lost Lunar Bestiary” (Jolly Jinglings Special)

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Welcome back to Jolly Jinglings, The Splintering’s month-long celebration of everything frankincense and myrrh. Today we’re going to torture ourselves yet again with another disappointing Christmas comic book: The Thirteen Days of Christmas: A Tale of the Lost Lunar Bestiary. Published by DOGSTAR Press in 1998, The Thirteen Days of Christmas is written by David Quinn and illustrated by Kristen

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Throwback Comic Review: “Sun Runners Christmas Special” (Jolly Jinglings Special)

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Welcome back to Jolly Jinglings, The Splintering’s festive holiday extravaganza that celebrates all things Yule. But you want to know what won’t be celebrating the season along with us? The Sun Runners Christmas Special by Amazing Comics. Not only did it mark the end of the Sun Runners series in 1987, but it had absolutely zero to do with Christmas or the Holiday Season

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“SuccuBUSTED!” Creator Isaac Fox Talks Greed, AI Art, and Bayonetta (Interview, NSFW)

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With an emphasis on “U busted!” Independent comic book creator Isaac Fox recently launched a Kickstarter campaign for the second issue of SuccuBUSTED!, a supernatural comedy book. We were fortunate enough to get a chance to discuss his latest SuccuBUSTED! campaign, which is available to support here. This is the second time we’ve had the opportunity to speak with Fox, and the

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Crowdfunding Review: “Dwarfs Versus Lion” (Bryan Butvidas, Juanito Sanabria)

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Who do you think would win between 50 diesel-powered dwarfs and one monster lion? Would you be #TeamDwarf or #TeamLion? This campaign (and comic book) by Airith Saga creator, Brian Butvidas aims to answer that question. This premise is based on a bar room discussion, of sorts. Characters, story details and the campaign set-up all derived from a live chat

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