25 years of PlayStation

25 years ago today, the original PlayStation went on sale in the UK. I wouldn't own Sony's upstart console with a copy of Tomb Raider until 1996. However, I first played a friend's Japanese import PlayStation and then commandeered a university housemate's for a daily dose of Destruction Derby, Ridge Racer and WipEout when I should have been writing my third-year dissertation. Because reasons.

I'd taken my 16-bit Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) to university where it played genial host to Super Mario Kart tournaments, with housemates and friends, until the PlayStation was launched in 1995 at the peak of the console wars between Nintendo and Sega. Incidentally, the console wars will be explored in an upcoming documentary on Netflix.

Without the SNES, there would be no PlayStation. Sony's 32-bit console began life as an aborted SNES CD-ROM add-on in 1988. However, Nintendo shunned Sony at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and partnered with Philips in 1991. The rest is gaming history.

PlayStation 5 (PS5) (affiliate link) launches this November, and it's all too easy to overlook the disruptive impact the brand has had on popular culture for almost 3 decades. The PlayStation popularised 3D visuals with landmark titles such as Tomb Raider and Resident Evil. Capcom's survival horror was nightmarish played in broad daylight at a friend's sadly defunct independent video game store.

Tomb Raider, originally released on the ill-fated Sega Saturn, became synonymous with PlayStation in the mid-nineties, and I feverishly followed the franchise for several years, collecting all manner of merchandise in the process. Lara Croft was a female protagonist possessing the chutzpah of Indiana Jones.

In the mid-to-late nineties it was fashionably cool to say you owned a PlayStation during water cooler conversations at work (in my case as an online journalist at Reuters) and the console was featured on newsstands everywhere, from Edge to FHM, nudging Nintendo and Sega off the top spots forever.

What are your favourite PlayStation memories? Let me know in the comments below.

Nintendo marks Super Mario Bros. 35th anniversary

Nintendo is celebrating the original release of Super Mario Bros. in 1985, on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in America and Famicom in Japan, with a plethora of products this holiday season. Most notably a limited edition Game & Watch (affiliate link), which was the first Nintendo handheld system I owned.

There'll be video game tie-ins with Animal Crossing, Splatoon and Super Smash Bros. Super Mario 3D All-Stars, bundling Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury and much more on the Nintendo Switch.

This 35th anniversary celebration is exciting news for Super Mario fans (myself included) but not without controversy. Mario is arguably the most recognisable video game character of all time and Nintendo's IP the most valuable.

However, critics have opined that Super Mario 3D All-Stars isn't a remaster a la Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection for PlayStation and are questioning the decision to leave Super Mario Galaxy 2 out of the must-have collection. Is Nintendo planning free DLC or a standalone release later? Let me know what you think in the comments below.

I'm looking forward to replaying Super Mario 64, for the first time since owning the game-changing 3D title for the Nintendo 64 (N64) in the late nineties, and playing Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy for the first time ever.

There's also Nintendo's confounding decision to make this a time-limited release. During a global pandemic, this could be viewed as anti-consumer when so many people are struggling day-to-day and a cynical way to bolster earnings during the fiscal year ending March 2021.

As friends and industry pundits have pointed out, Super Mario 3D All-Stars is a system seller and Nintendo Switch has an enviable library of first-party titles that eclipses Sony and Microsoft's machines. These titles are rarely discounted and sell year-after-year.

That said. Nintendo has me with all the nostalgic feels since the halcyon days of Donkey Kong on Atari VCS and therein lies part of the problem. As someone who passed on the Wii U, I've picked up all the ports released so far and Pikmin 3 Deluxe will be next.

Will you be getting Super Mario 3D All-Stars? Let me know in the comments below.

Nintendo Classic Mini: SNES with Star Fox 2

Many video game enthusiasts (myself included) missed out on the Nintendo Classic Mini: Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) due to severe stock shortages last November.

So, when the company announced it was following up with the Nintendo Classic Mini: Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) this September. I was determined to secure a pre-order from Amazon.co.uk. The 16-bit console represents peak Nintendo.

The successor to the NES captured my imagination whilst flicking through the pages of defunct games magazine Mean Machines. The sleek-looking console was released in its native Japan in 1990 with Super Mario World, F-Zero and Pilotwings. When the machine reached UK shores in 1992 it did not disappoint. Featuring Super Mario World as a pack-in, the 16-bit powerhouse had pride of place under the TV that Christmas. Super Mario World and Super Mario 64 remain my favourite franchise installments.

The "SNES", as it was pronounced on Bad Influence! a weekly tech magazine show hosted by Andy Crane and Violet Berlin in the early 1990s, introduced me to the wonders of Hyrule in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. A game I treasure to this day.

Whilst last year's NES included 30 games, the SNES will feature 21 and it represents a stellar genre line-up including the unreleased Star Fox 2:

Contra III: The Alien Wars
Donkey Kong Country
EarthBound
Final Fantasy III
F-Zero
Kirby Super Star
Kirby's Dream Course
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Mega Man X
Secret of Mana
Star Fox
Star Fox 2
Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting
Super Castlevania IV
Super Ghouls'n Ghosts
Super Mario Kart
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Super Mario World
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
Super Metroid
Super Punch-Out!!

From ALIEN³ (loaned to a friend and never returned) to Super Star Wars, Nintendo's 16-bit console never failed to delight with Mode 7 and Super FX technological trickery. That said, the cartridges were expensive. Street Fighter II Turbo cost £70!

I took my machine to university where it played genial host to Super Mario Kart tournaments with housemates and friends until the PlayStation was launched in 1995. Without the SNES there would be no PlayStation. Sony's console began life as an aborted SNES CD-ROM add-on in 1988. However, Nintendo shunned Sony and partnered with Philips in 1991. The rest is gaming history.

Nintendo is putting the "n" into nostalgia with these classic mini consoles featuring childhood callbacks for fans.

"Our long-term efforts are focused on delivering great games for the Nintendo Switch system and continuing to build momentum for that platform, as well as serving the more than 63 million owners of Nintendo 3DS family systems. We are offering Super Nintendo Entertainment System: Super NES Classic Edition in special recognition of the fans who show tremendous interest our classic content."

In a statement to USgamer, Nintendo said: "We aren't providing specific numbers, but we will produce significantly more units of Super NES Classic Edition than we did of NES Classic Edition.

"Super Nintendo Entertainment System: Super NES Classic Edition is currently planned to ship from 29th September until the end of calendar year 2017. At this time, we have nothing to announce regarding any possible shipments beyond this year."

Pre-orders sold out within minutes on Monday. I secured mine after following a link on Eurogamer.

Nintendo's 16-bit era arch-rival Sega has recently launched Sega Forever for iOS and Android devices. Sega plans to release games from the Master System to Dreamcast. However, it's off to a stuttering start and there isn't a first-party classic console product of the calibre offered by Nintendo. Personally, I'd love a mini classic Genesis/Mega Drive comparable to SNES with excellent emulation.

Did you manage to pre-order a Nintendo Classic Mini: Super Nintendo? Which games are you excited for? Is it bittersweet because of stock shortages? Let me know in the comments below.

Can Nintendo Switch transform gaming?

Nintendo's announced the release date of its upcoming hybrid console, the Nintendo Switch, as 3rd March.

Nintendo's newest portable and desktop machine could be a zany Transformer in disguise! The Joy-Cons, a cool name for Decepticon combiners, can be detached from the tablet and used individually, much like a classic NES controller or Wiimote, or combined with a Joy-Con grip to form an Xbox-inspired controller.

Nintendo Switch is the company's attempt at bridging the divide between handheld and home consoles. Gamers will be able to play on the go and then connect the machine to a HDTV using the dock. This will have the benefit of enhancing games from 720p up to 1080p. Although this varies from title to title and some critics were left nonplussed with initial comparisons. However, most agree the device is a formidable, and well-built, handheld.

Whilst the new console is a compelling concept and I applaud the Kyoto-based company's modular approach. Ultimately, the hidden costs of the Nintendo Switch lead me to cancel my pre-order at Amazon. This would have been my first new Nintendo console since the Wii (I sidestepped the Wii U and the 3DS gave me migraines).

Nintendo's taking the accessories market to a whole new level with this generation. There's no pack-in game, the included Joy-Con grip doesn't recharge attached Joy-Cons (these can be recharged from the tablet screen or a Joy-Con charging grip sold separately), and the Pro Controller, a must-have for avid gamers, costs £65. Further to this. An extra pair of Joy-Cons will set consumers back £75 and there's many more first and third-party accessories available at launch. Items such as an additional Nintendo Switch dock are a luxury. That said, they're a necessity for connecting the machine to TVs, located in different rooms, if you don't want to lug the included dock around.

The machine's internal storage is a paltry 32GB. This is expandable, using microSD, up to 2TB, and should be more than sufficient for most owners.

It's all too easy to spend north of £500 on what will be a Zelda machine for at least the next few months. As a Zelda fan since A Link to the Past, on the SNES, I don't begrudge that in principle, but the current price point is too high. Why didn't Nintendo include Breath of the Wild, a port of the delayed Wii U title? Better to wait for a holiday bundle, and inevitable price drop, later in the year. Plus there's Splatoon 2, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Xenoblade 2 and Super Mario Odyssey to bolster the lineup.

Incidentally, I (like many other early adopters) got burned when the N64 was released in the UK and the price dropped within weeks. Nintendo sent a free copy of Mario Kart 64 and a controller, as an act of goodwill, in the wake of negative media coverage and only after I'd written to the company.

For now the PS4 and Xbox One will more than suffice. The latter's backwards compatibility is a winner and assures a Scorpio purchase this holiday season.

Will you be getting a Nintendo Switch at launch? Let me know in the comments below.

PlayStation celebrates its 20th anniversary

What began life as an aborted Nintendo SNES CD-ROM add-on celebrates the twentieth anniversary of its launch in Japan this month.

Many happy returns of the day, PlayStation!

Sony's first foray into home consoles, the brainchild of Ken Kutaragi, was released at a time when I'd given up gaming (my undergraduate grant only went so far and I was the proud owner of an Apple Macintosh Performa). My enthusiasm was rekindled within seconds of seeing Ridge Racer's, now iconic, loading screen on a friend's freshly imported PlayStation. Who doesn't savour the visceral joy of blowing up alien spacecraft?



I wouldn't own a PlayStation, myself, until 1996 when I began a love affair with Tomb Raider that endures to this day. I've owned every iteration of PlayStation and the PS4 is, barring multimedia support lagging behind PS3, the best yet.

What's your first memory of PlayStation? Let me know in the comments below.

A Link to the Past

No Sony PlayStation 3 for me today!

The media frenzy, surrounding the PS3 launch, has certainly yielded Sony acres of press coverage and free marketing. The Register gave the third generation machine an impressive 95%. But, dear reader, did the reviewer have to pay the GBP 425 entrance fee? Perhaps I'm being too harsh on the PlayStation's sleek and shiny contours?

I'm off to play The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, today's "must-have" Wii Virtual Console release, and will leave you with where the PlayStation began!

Saturn Wii

Excitement continues to surround the speculated appearance of Sega Saturn on Nintendo Wii's Virtual Console! Ironically this is generating, in some quarters, more interest than Friday's infamous release of Sony's PlayStation 3, which is still available for pre-order.

I'm interested to know what Virtual Console titles readers have bought (if any) and want? Here are my Wii Points purchases:

Golden Axe
Gunstar Heroes
Super Castlevania IV
Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario World
Donkey Kong Country
Mario 64
Mario Kart 64
R-Type

I'd like to see the following added to Virtual Console (in no particular order):

Dracula X: Rondo of Blood (Turbografx-16)
Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest (NES)
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES)
Panzer Dragoon Zwei (Sega Saturn)

Don't forget to equip yourself with both Wii Classic Controller and GameCube Wavebird Wireless Controller (my all-time favourite controller). And link your Wii with Nintendo VIP 24:7.

Almost overlooked to quote Sony boss Howard Stringer on the Wii:

"Wii is a wonderful device, but has a different target audience. If we fail, it is because we positioned PS3 as the Mercedes of the video game field. PS3 is after a different audience and it can be whatever it wants -- a home server, game device, even a computer."

Wii Wins!

This afternoon I received a belated e-mail from Virgin Media in response to the BlogSpot issue. Here's an extract:

Thank you for contacting the Virgin Media Econtact Support Team.

I am sorry to hear you have been having issues with your broadband service.

This issue is happening due to a new address range being released to Virgin Media. Some sites filter out access attempts from addresses that are not currently in use. However, they need to update their filters when they are advised that a new range has been released, which some sites have not done. We are in touch with the hosts of BlogSpot to try to get them to update their filters, and until they do there is nothing further that we can do...

Virgin Media's explanation is congruent with Blogger's and therefore I wanted to post this for the purposes of balance and fairness. And to address any concerns that readers, also affected by this issue, may have had. For me, the matter is closed.

I can now connect a brand new Belkin High-Speed Mode Wireless G Router to my cable modem and update the Wii's firmware and download the latest addition to the burgeoning Virtual Console gallery - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. But first, I need to buy a 2000 Wii Points Card. A Wii Points Card is used, in much the same way as an iTunes Gift Certificate, for downloading extra features and content, including the greatest games from the NES, Super NES, N64, Sega Mega Drive and NEC TurboGrafx video game consoles.

Wii Play

Wii arrived this afternoon. Looking forward to some retro-goodness (via Virtual Console) from this coming Friday.

UK Virtual Console releases, December 15:

Urban Champion (NES)
Solomon's Keys (NES)
Pinball (NES)
Columns (Mega Drive)
Gunstar Heroes (Mega Drive)
Ristar (Mega Drive)
Dr. Robotonik's Mean Bean Machine(Mega Drive)
Alien Crush (Turbografx)

UK Virtual Console releases, December 22:

Donkey Kong Jr. (NES)
Soccer (NES)
Tennis (NES)
Space Harrier II (Mega Drive)
Toe Jam & Earl (Mega Drive)
Military Madness (Turbografx)

UK Virtual Console releases, December 29:

Baseball (NES)
Ice Hockey (NES)
SimCity (SNES)
Super Probotector (SNES)
Super Castlevania IV (SNES)
R-TYPE (Turbografx)

The Triforce Grants Gaming Greatness

For Generation X the name Zelda is synonymous with teatime television hit Supermacromation series The Terrahawks and Nintendo!

Like Mario, Zelda is the brainchild of Shigeru Miyamoto thus sharing the high production values of its sibling. Zelda has, inevitably, spawned its own lifestyle merchandising. From action figures to cereals. And lest I forget to mention the animated series too, which is now available on DVD!

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) introduced me to the wonders of Hyrule in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.

A Link to the Past follows the adventures of Princess Zelda's and Link's ancestors, referring to the characters from the two Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) games The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Thus, A Link to the Past takes place before the events of the first two Zelda games. The game's endurance was typified by its inclusion on the Game Boy Advance (GBA) title The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords.

With the imminent arrival of the Zelda franchise on both the Nintendo DS (Phantom Hourglass) and Wii (The Twilight Princess). The continuation of Link's award-winning adventures is assured and I, for one, don't intend to miss out.

Walking In The Air

This is the first part of the mandatory Review of the Year. And the prizes go to:

*Web - RSS. Of all the emergent web-based technologies reaching critical mass (despite low consumer awareness). This year RSS has captivated my imagination with many a late night brain storming, and exchanging of e-mails with those Chicago-based coders at FeedBurner, to facilitate an all signing and all dancing, but ultimately transparent, RSS experience. Runners up: Google Reader and Blogger.

*Buzz Word - Podcast. This term is a misnomer, but joins the pantheon of brands TiVo and Google. My iTunes Music Store listing was the crowning achievement. Runners up: VoIP and Blogging.

*Application - Flickr Uploadr. I've honored Flickr with the distinction of best cross-platform social networking tool. Google's photo proposition looks positively anemic and clunky by comparison and gets a zero for the lack of a Mac OS X client. Maybe next year, eh? Runners up: Firefox 1.5 and iTunes 6.

*Console - Nintendo DS. Sony's PSP wins the hardware and multimedia battle. But Miyamoto's masterpiece is 'all about the games': delivered with an inventive quirkiness and wrapped in Game & Watch geek chic. Runners up: Xbox 360 and PSP.

*Video Game - Mario Kart DS. Combines the SNES, N64, GameBoy SP and GameCube iterations with Wi-Fi. Do you need to know anymore? Runners up: Resident Evil 4 and Lego Star Wars.

Stay tuned for Best Album, DVD, Movie, Television series and more.

Triangle, Square, Circle and Cross

Today Sony's PlayStation celebrates ten years since its official European introduction. My first PlayStation experience was on an NTSC import machine from Japan and predated the PAL release by several months.

Glimpsing Battle Arena Toshinden and Ridge Racer drove me back into the arms of console gaming after a four year hiatus in the wake of the spectacular SNES Super Star Wars trilogy. However, it wouldn't be until 1998 that a PlayStation would appear alongside my MiniDisc and Discman!

N64 swayed me away from Sony's CD-ROM console with Mario 64, Mario Kart 64 (racing against Jari is the stuff of gaming greatness) and Star Wars Shadows of the Empire. Not to overlook the female distractions too - Emma how did the career at Deloitte & Touche pan out? This was a brief diversion from the PlayStation path. The allure of the Tekken franchise was irresistible after I loaned a machine from one of my co-workers at Reuters!

A PSP has yet to grace these hands!

Reflections on a Revolution

Nintendo's next generation console purports to be backwards compatible with NES, SNES, N64 and GC via software and hardware emulation and a paid download service. Is Apple going to license iTunes to Nintendo and Sony given that both companies mention Apple in forward-looking statements? There's no reason why Apple's signature software couldn't be ported to a console platform. Looking at Nintendo's glass-like black box leads me to conclude that the case design is subject to revision. Stored in a vertical position, Revolution is supported by packaging (silver-white base)!

Desktop Arcade

The Atari® Flashback™ Classic Game Console has been announced for the holiday season. My earliest memory of owning a games console was the Atari VCS 2600 (introduced in 1977 and distributed in the UK by Ingersoll Electronics). It was an unwanted holiday gift for a cousin. So, my Uncle graciously gave it to me on my Birthday (mint in box)! This was alongside Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter, which has a connection other than purely nostalgia!

After only a few minutes playing Space Invaders, Frogger and The Empire Strikes Back (you see there was a connection) I was hooked! For the next two decades I owned a Spectrum 48K, Commodore 64, Sega Mega Drive (Genesis) and Dreamcast, Atari Lynx, SNES and N64, PSOne and PStwo, and XBOX.



The thread that binded these machines together was the relentless pursuit to acquire games that were arcade perfect. Sega's Mega Drive produced an excellent conversion of Michael Jackson's Moonwalker. Yet this was a flawed premise in that a conversion, by definition, is anything but (not to diminish the fun that was had). However, the Dreamcast console was based on the NAOMI (New Arcade Operation Machine Idea) PCB that powered Sega’s coin-ops, which culminated in near-definitive releases Crazy Taxi and Dead or Alive 2.



The first time I heard about MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) was from a former coworker (2001). MAME was started in 1996 by Nicola Salmoria as a means of archiving, and by extension preserving, arcade games that would otherwise disappear forever. For example Star Trek (1983), which is a very rare Sega vector game featuring the voices of the principal cast. Also it allows gamers to experience titles that they may never have otherwise played such as the Japanese-only Gaiapolis, replete with gorgeous graphics, and quirky horizontal shooter Parodius and its sequels, both from Konami.



Unlike music or film, arcade hardware is expensive and therefore it’s commercially prohibitive to continue production runs over an extended period of time. As a pleasant side effect, one can play game ROMs (dumped from arcade Printed Circuit Boards using an EPROM reader) under software emulation! The notion of playing the original Gauntlet, After Burner II, Out Run and many others was mouthwatering!



In what can only be described as an act of serendipity, earlier this year I wrote a review of Jedi Academy (for Inside Mac Games) and discovered that Aspyr programmer, and fellow Star Wars fan, Brad Oliver was the author of MacMAME! Subsequently, I downloaded 0.77u2a and my ROM searching odyssey began in earnest.



With the release of 0.87, MacMAME has been extensively rewritten and further optimized to be a better Mac OS X citizen. Sporting many enhancements including preliminary support for Sega's Model 1 PCB (i.e seminal releases Virtua Fighter and Star Wars Arcade) and the removal of legacy code. This release requires Mac OS X 10.2 (or higher).



It is worth noting that the legal ownership of ROM images (for the purpose of backup) may be contingent on possessing the original arcade game. However, it is not clear if it is legal for an individual to have ROM images (even if not for profit) for a game they don't own. Please read legal implications on MAME rom usage from Northwestern University Law School before downloading any roms to ensure legal compliance. Do not ask me how ROMs can be obtained. Some ROM images, such as Atari's, are available for legal purchase here.