hg101

Top 47,858 Games of All Time Bonus Get 03: Solaris (2600)

Join the HG101 gang as they add another Patreon-only bonus game to their ever growing list of Top Games.

Ninja Emaki

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/ninja-emaki/

A fairly early run-and-gun from Nichibutsu, using a fantasy feudal Japan theme similar to Pocky and Rocky.

Top 47,858 Games of All Time Episode 111: Ninja Gaiden Black

Join the HG101 gang as they add another game to their ever-growing list of Top Games. This Friday's Patreon bonus game will be Solaris (2600). 

Top 47,858 Games of All Time Episode 110: Mortal Kombat Trilogy

Join the HG101 gang as they discuss all your favorite Chinese ninja warriors. This Friday's Patreon bonus game will be Solaris (2600).

Cross-Series Cameo: Adol in Lunar: The Silver Star

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/cross-series-cameo-adol-in-lunar-the-silver-star/

A short little bit about a stealth cameo of Adol (from Ys) in the Sega CD version of Lunar: The Silver Star, the no one really noticed for a long time, partially because the dialogue that makes the association was changed in the English localization.

The Low Road

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/low-road-the/

A point and click adventure game based on old spy TV and film, that uses 1970s America as a backdrop and tells a story of two spies, young and old, forced to be partners and trying to make it work.  

Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/zwei-the-ilvard-insurrection/

Playing catch up again, this cutesy/funny action-RPG dungeon crawler from Falcom was released in English late last year, even though it was actually released in Japan nearly a decade ago. Cheers to XSeed for bringing it over!

Choujin Sentai Jetman

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/choujin-sentai-jetman/

A Natsume Famicom side-scroller, based on a sentai/tokustatsu show. Not one of their better games, but solid as usual for the developer.

Prehistorik

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/prehistorik/

There was a caveman craze of games in the early 90s, stuff like Joe & Mac and Bonk's Adventure. This series is one of the results of that fad, this time developed by Titus.

Top 47,858 Games of All Time Bonus Get 02: Willow (NES)

Join the HG101 gang as they go all Warwick Davis on your ass.

Fire Emblem Fates

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/fire-emblem-fates/

A few years late on this one, but finally filled in the gaps for the second 3DS Fire Emblem, which technically has three different scenarios!

Top 47,858 Games of All Time Episode 109: Alien Vs. Predator (2000)

 Join the HG101 gang as they ponder the softer side of Predator culture.  

Riglas (Dark Age of JRPGs)

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/riglas-dark-age-of-jrpgs/

A mid-80s computer action-RPG using an oblique perspective. Also includes a brief biography of developer Kazurou Morita, who was a relatively well known figure among the scene, having programmer a number of RPGs and been involved with a number of shogi titles.

Stonekeep

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/stonekeep/

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/stonekeep-bones-of-the-ancestors/

The mid-90s dungeon crawler from Interplay,  featuring plenty of digitized actors, and its absolutely terrible budget WiiWare sequel.

Top 47,858 Games of All Time Episode 108: Captain Blood

Join the HG101 gang as they win elections, one vaporized planet at a time.

Knuckles' Chaotix

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/knuckles-chaotix/

The last entry in our Sonic series (for now) covers the time that Sega game Knuckles his very own game...and it didn't quite turn out so well.

Sonic 3D Blast

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/sonic-3d-blast/

The weird isometric spin-off for the Genesis and Saturn (and Windows) by Traveler's Tales! Also includes a bit about the recent Director's Cut ROM hack.

Top 47,858 Games of All Time Bonus Get 01: Battle of Olympus

Our first Patreon-exclusive bonus episode covers the NES Zelda II-clone The Battle of Olympus. 

You can find a full write-up here, also featured in the NES Cult Classics book:

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/the-battle-of-olympus/

These will be added to the Patreon RSS feed going forward, as well, so assuming you're subscribed, you probably already got this episode earlier today. 2018-07-21 01:55:21 +0000 UTC View Post

Top 47,858 Games of All Time Episode 107: Dark Souls II

Join the HG101 gang as bring you lots of silky. 

We're changing up the format a bit, so that the individual game episodes will be distributed separately on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with the Patreon exclusive episode coming on the weekend!  This Friday's Patreon bonus game will be Battle of Olympus.  

Sonic the Fighters

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/sonic-the-fighters/

Two of Sega's most popular 90s properties collide with this 3D fighting game featuring Sonic characters.

Japanese Video Game Obscurities Update: Games That Didn't Make The Cut

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/japanese-video-game-obscurities-update-games-that-didnt-make-the-cut/

In the last update, I posted the finalized list of games featured in this book...

SegaSonic the Hedgehog

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/segasonic-the-hedgehog/

Well, the main series has been covered, so here is one of the first spin-offs: the super obscure arcade game that was so badly received it wasn't even released officially in North America. It's never been ported either, though part of that has to do with it using a trackball - it's playable without it, but it's messing something. Anyway, Soni...

Weird 2 (Dark Age of JRPGs)

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/weird-2-dark-age-of-jrpgs/

I recently converted the old Dark Age of JRPGs blog column onto the new site (with one exception, since I need to figure out a way to disable Google Ads so they don't complain about the nudity). I got a lot of feedback on Twitter saying they'd like the column to return, so I'm going to be doing a test run for a few of them and see how i...

Top 47,858 Games of All Time Episode 106: Tetris 2, Baroque, The Immortal [Patreon bonus]

Join the HG101 gang as they describe the beautiful colors of Tetris 2 - with special guest Slowbeef! The Patreon bonus for this episode is The Immortal.

Sonic Mania

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/sonic-mania/

What this Sonic series of articles was building up to, with the retail release (and DLC addition) out tomorrow, this is basically the ultimate 2D Sonic game!

More Sonic spinoffs coming soon!

Overseas Sequels

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/overseas-sequels/

The cultural appeal of certain video games can vary greatly around the world, sometimes having vastly different receptions based on where the games were produced. In the 80s and 90s, before many video game companies founded their own international divisions, they often licensed their titles for porting to other publishers. And sometimes those publishers ...

Sonic the Hedgehog 4

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/sonic-the-hedgehog-4/

Here is...*sigh*...Sonic the Hedgehog 4. When I started writing this series my own personal terms were "no bad Sonic games" but also cover the "mainline" Sonic games, and I quickly realized those were mutually exclusive! So, I had to struggle though this one...though the second episode isn't QUITE as bad.

Banana Prince

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/banana-prince/

A cutesy, fruit-themed platformer from KID, only released in Japan and Germany.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 / Sonic & Knuckles

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/sonic-the-hedgehog-3/

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/sonic-knuckles/

These two separate releases create one huge game, and is largely considered the best of the classic Sonic series...and still would be, if it weren't for Sonic Mania.

Japanese Video Game Obscurities Update: Completion of the Manuscript and Submission to the Publisher

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/japanese-video-game-obscurities-update-completion-of-the-manuscript-and-submission-to-the-publisher/

An update on the progress of the Japanese Video Game Obscurities book, including a finalized list of all titles included, as well as the projected release date (late Summer 2019 for backers,...