Games are a funny business. Sometimes we purchase AAA titles that we ditch after a few hours, and other times we find dinky little flash games that keep us up all night. Some lengthy experiences can feel empty and devoid of value, while shorter games can have a profound influence…

The best video games start with a seedling of an idea — a singular core concept that lies at the heart of the gameplay experience — and slowly nourishes it to perfection. Mario’s tight platforming, Zelda’s scope of adventure and Metroid’s sense of exploration are all prime examples of franchises…

Despite my first game system being the Genesis, I was never much of a Sega kid growing up. Sonic was really the only franchise I cared about, so many of the company’s older fare, like Alex Kidd, was unknown to me for the longest time. So when I heard about…

Crossovers and puzzle games have a lot in common. It all comes down to lining up the pieces just right to keep things balanced, careful planning to keep it going smoothly, and a sense of energy and celebration to really highlight the best of the base parts. I may not…

A new console usually means getting excited about a game that makes the most of the hardware — which in turn will help the game itself look fantastic and give players the opportunity to do things that couldn’t be done before. Sometimes though, it pays off to go back and…

The twisted brainchild of Super Meat Boy’s Edmund McMillen, The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ gained notoriety back in 2011 for its unique combination of accessible roguelike ideas, crude humor and deeply masochistic mechanics. Only expected to sell a few hundred copies during its initial release, Isaac became an overnight sensation,…

In Seaside, Oregon, there’s a huge arcade on the main street in town. It has racing games, shooters and fighters. Modern games fill the majority of the square footage. There is, however, a small corner that contains classic arcade cabinets with games such as Ms. Pac-Man, Street Fighter and, most…

Several games define themselves on their movement, though usually this comes down to things like flight or water travel. Those at Sumo Digital are no strangers to this, having worked on plane mechanics and water physics for Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed. For the company’s latest, it’s decided to…

Growing up, I loved racing games — from Mario Kart, to F-Zero, to Need for Speed, they were a huge part of my childhood. And racing games, much like fighting games, were an exciting way to find out who among my friends could stay on top the longest. Not to…

I’m a bit of a controller fan. I always have been, mostly due to Nintendo’s presence in my childhood. The company’s great controllers have been a strong anchor for nostalgia in my life, leading to my lifelong dream of owning every official variant of the GameCube controller. Despite this, I…