As we did last year at this time, we have set out to look back a couple of decades to see what games were launched and pick up those that, in our view, seems to us to be the best. And something similar happens again: 1999 was a truly spectacular year for video games. Many of you will have good memories of that time; others will have played several of these titles later; and for those who do not sound at all, welcome to an essential part of our history as players. Without further Scrolls, here you have the list of some of the best video games since 1999. Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings The ..read more

For the 20th anniversary of Nintendo’s official magazine, we have reviewed the top games of each of Nintendo’s consoles. Thus we begin our selection with the eight best titles of the mythical NES console. The official Nintendo Magazine turns 20 and, to celebrate, we review the top 20 titles we’ve played in each of Nintendo’s ten consoles. So, we top the list with the selection of the top 20 games from Nintendo’s mythical 8-bit console, the NES. Since its kick-off, the 15th of July, 83 in Japan, the call was from the 8-bit and with a pad with two single buds (A and B), allowed us to control the ..read more

Recently I was approached by Alan Dunne of Clear Haze who was interested in putting together a mini documentary on the recent resurgence of retro gaming. During the film I talk about why I love retro gaming and why I think it has become so popular recently. From nostalgia to the “Pick up and play” aspect, there are so many reasons why retro gaming has become so popular. The film also follows me during my time at GamerCon, a recent gaming convention held in Dublin. With a brief run time of 3 minutes and 10 seconds, The Rise of Retro is short and sweet. It touches on a lot of my favorite aspects ..read more

As a kid, I didn’t know a lot about Kirby and his amazing adventure. I had heard of the character but never played any of the games, in fact the first time I played as Kirby was in Super Smash Bros on the Nintendo 64. The character never really appealed to me when I was younger and so I never tried to get my hands on any of the games. It was only a few years ago when I was watching a room tour of the great Nintendo Collecting, A.K.A Lithium017 on YouTube and he mentioned the game that I became interested. What initially drew me in was the box art for Kirby’s Adventure on the Nintendo Entertain ..read more

One thing I have noticed over the years of collecting video games is that for a lot of games, the prices vary quite a bit between NTSC, NTSC-J and Pal region games. For instance, a game that I have been after for quite some time but have yet to acquire, Conkers Bad Fur Day, has a surprisingly large price difference between regions. I have checked online and it is readily available on ebay from around $60.00 US, however if you were to buy a PAL region copy of the game it can cost anywhere from €120 to €150 for a loose cart alone. This difference in price inspired me to do some research into con ..read more

There has been a buzz among the gaming community in Ireland over the past few months with one event being hyped above all else, GamerCon. This is the first year GamerCon will be taking place and it promises to be Ireland largest ever gaming convention. GamerCon takes place in the Convention Center Dublin which is one of the countries most prestigious event venues. The event will be happening on the 18th and 19th of March which also happens to be St. Patrick’s Day weekend, meaning a lot more people and gamers alike around town. Initial numbers where expected to be around 20,000 attendees across ..read more

Recently I had a guest spot with the guys from The Alpha Zone Gaming Podcast. It was the 15th Episode in their Podcast series and appropriately titled “Back In Time”. Before I get into what we discussed, I thought I’d give you some background on the men behind the microphones. The Alpha Zone Gaming consists of Sean Molloy, Kent Kingsford and Ronan Fox who are three avid gamers. Both Sean and Kent are from America with Ronan living in Ireland. The three of them come together from across the world to stream live and release some really cool gaming related content on their Podcast. They also have ..read more

I know I am a bit late to the party, after all The Wind Waker was released over a decade ago, but after months of stopping and starting, I have finally beat the game. When it was first released in Europe back in 2003, I didn’t play The Wind Waker for a number of reasons. It was mainly due to the fact that I didn’t have a GameCube as a kid, but also because I had previously played through Ocarina of Time and Majoras Mask which had a darker edge, and the brighter and cartoon-like style of The Wind Waker didn’t appeal to me as much. A few years passed and when I finally got my hands on a Nintendo ..read more

This week, as the title states, I will be talking about the importance of networking and how it will help you grow as a gamer. What I mean by networking is getting to know other retro gamers and sharing your experiences through various mediums. Networking with other retro gamers has helped me immensely over the years, I have learned so much from other retro gamers such as new games I had never heard of, new consoles, where to buy, collecting tips that helped me along the way and most importantly, I have gotten to know some amazing people and made some amazing friends. When I started out playin ..read more

There is a big difference in price between loose cartridge games and boxed or complete in box(CIB) games and sometimes it is better to keep it loose, especially when you start out collecting. I have bought quite a few boxed games during my collecting journey and I am quite happy to have them, there is something special about having a boxed or CIB copy of game, but when you start out I think it is better to collect loose cartridges instead.  A new collector will more than likely want to try out many different games in quick succession, I know I did, and I think it’s better to keep your money fo ..read more