Total Recall Archives - Page 11 of 37

That Time When Mario And ‘Evil Brother’ Luigi Starred In a Racing Game

Recent Nintendo events got us looking back at some old news clippings about the house of Mario and we found some we just have to share. Here’s one of the more interesting ones from the Daily Yomiuri, from November 1992. As you’ll see, we can’t vouch for veracity of all of it…. The most recent…

By Stephen Totilo Published January 30, 2014

CultureTotal Recall

Adam West: Batman, Mayor, Star Of Terrible Video Games

The real joy of seeing Adam West do anything on the screen is that, even at his worst, he can make the most dreadful thing fun. Because he is Adam West. From the 60s Batman series to Family Guy, that’s been the rule, and it applies also to Golden Nugget, a game which might sound…

By Luke Plunkett Published January 22, 2014

CultureTotal Recall

The Dreamcast Wasn’t The First Time Sega Quit A Hardware Business

The day Sega stopped making video game hardware was a sad one, but it’s worth remembering that, like former rivals Nintendo, video game hardware wasn’t the only thing Sega had ever made. Sega’s history is likewise littered with other stuff, from slot machines to photobooths, but one of the coolest has got to be the…

By Luke Plunkett Published January 9, 2014

CultureTotal Recall

Today, The Inventor Of The AK-47 Died

Russian designer Mikhail Kalashnikov, creator of perhaps the world’s most famous firearm, passed away today at the age of 94. He leaves behind a somewhat complicated legacy. Born in 1919, he was a tank commander in the Second World War, but in his spare time was also a keen inventor. While spending time in a…

By Luke Plunkett Published December 23, 2013

CultureTotal Recall

36 Years Of Console Prices, Adjusted For Inflation

If you thought the PS4 and Xbox One’s launch prices were expensive, well, they kinda were! But not as expensive as the NES. Or Neo Geo. Or Saturn, Or PlayStation, or Atari 2600. Reddit user Auir2blazehas run historical console launch prices through an inflation adjustment calculator (which normally use dollar strength and the cost of…

By Luke Plunkett Published December 17, 2013

CultureTotal Recall

1993 SimCity Documentary Is 20 Minutes Of Madness

In 1993, Britain’s Channel 4 ran a four-part documentary series on video games. The third episode was about SimCity, and twenty years on, it stands as a monument to all that was amazing about both the early 90s and antique PC gaming. Dug up today by Motherboard, it’s fascinating seeing the way the doco blurs…

By Luke Plunkett Published November 20, 2013

CultureTotal Recall

The Last Days Of China’s Lawless Mega Slum

Kowloon Walled City was the closest this planet has ever come to having our own, real Mega-City One. Poverty, people packed in like sardines, drugs, prostitution, a vacuum of authority…it was insane. It’s been gone for nearly twenty years now, but a series of amazing photos has helped bring the “city” back to life. Originally…

By Luke Plunkett Published September 24, 2013

CultureTotal Recall

A Sad Farewell To The Coolest Fighter Jet Of All Time

Anyone who grew up watching cartoons, or playing video games, or just taking an interest in large, expensive vehicles will be saddened to hear today that the US military has indicated the end is nigh for the fabled A-10 Warthog. Incorrectly labelled “ugly” by some detractors, the fact is the A-10 is the coolest damn…

By Luke Plunkett Published September 24, 2013

CultureTotal Recall

Steam Is 10 Today. Remember When It Sucked?

It wasn’t until 2005, when Valve began signing on external publishers, that the service really blew up

By Luke Plunkett Published September 12, 2013

CultureTotal Recall

The First Time Diablo Came To Consoles

Diablo III comes to consoles today, and I’m just as giddy as I was back in March 1998, picking up my copy of Diablo for the original PlayStation — and the additional memory card needed to save the game. Picking up a new game was a special event for 24-year-old me. There was a ritual…

By Mike Fahey Published September 3, 2013

CultureTotal Recall

The Wonderful World of Video Game…World Maps

Thanks to Attract Mode for pointing out Are We There Yet?, a site that’s dedicated to collecting and showing off one of gaming’s most important – and often cutest – aids, the world map. It’s concerned mostly with older stuff, from the 80s and 90s, and covers everything from fighting games to old arcade titles…

By Luke Plunkett Published July 31, 2013

CultureTotal Recall

Wow, There Was A Daytona USA That Was Also A Little Bit…RPG

It wasn’t made by Sega, sadly, but whatever: around 2003-04, there was an arcade version of Daytona USA going around that added RPG elements to the famous racer. Put together by modders, it was called Daytona USA : GTX 2004, and featured a range of little changes and improvements to the original like upgraded visuals. The…

By Luke Plunkett Published July 29, 2013

CultureTotal Recall

Nintendo’s First Proper Console Was So 80s It Had A Cassette Deck

So, the Famicom turned 30 today. In honour of that, let’s look at one of the coolest accessories ever made for the console, one that sadly never made it out of Japan. In 1984, Nintendo released the Famicom Data Recorder, a tape deck peripheral for the console. Yes, cassette tape. The Data Recorder was a…

By Luke Plunkett Published July 16, 2013

CultureTotal Recall

When Losing A Game Actually Means Something

Death or defeat in a video game is normally something to be glossed over, brushed aside as you continue (or repeat) a stage on your way to inevitable victory. A quick “GAME OVER” screen, maybe a prompt or two, then you’re back into the action. Where’s the realism in that? The sense of consequence? Life…

By Luke Plunkett Published July 15, 2013

CultureTotal Recall

Gaming In 1982: Moustaches, Tiny Shorts & Colecovision

These two photos, belonging to Richard Braunstein, are perfect. Just perfect. Perfect because they capture what it was like playing games in the days before giant couches and giant TV sets. Perfect because these are two grown men playing video games in 1982, smashing stereotypes. And perfect because this is a photo of a Colecovision…

By Luke Plunkett Published May 2, 2013

CultureTotal Recall

A Dusty Old Football Game Shouldn’t Look This Pretty

And really, the item itself – Mattel Electronic Soccer – isn’t. But as is their thing, the team at Bleeping Relics have made a quick session with the relic about as informative and good-looking as possible. As you may quickly notice, the Bleeping Relics guys are Belgian, but there are English subtitles available in the…

By Luke Plunkett Published March 28, 2013

CultureTotal Recall

Three More Episodes Of GamePro TV To Take You Three Steps Deeper Into The 90s

Last week, we took a trip back to the 90s with three episodes of the 1996 version of GamePro TV. The videos, as uploaded by Oakland’s Museum of Art & Digital Entertainment, are a welcome return to a simpler age. Now, they’ve uploaded three more. The fourth one (in total), up top, contains a funny…

By Kirk Hamilton Published February 26, 2013

CultureTotal Recall

There’s Nothing Quite Like Browsing Through Hundreds Of Old Sega Boxes

You may have noticed, but I’ve got a bit of a thing for the Sega Master System, and in particular its unique brand of documentation and branding. Which lay somewhere between Tron and a tablecloth. So it made my day/week/month when reader Jim let me know about his personal project to scan and upload as…

By Luke Plunkett Published February 26, 2013

CultureTotal Recall

These Long-Lost GamePro TV Episodes Are Like A 90s Acid Flashback

Remember the 90s? What am I talking about, of course you do. But if you want to really remember them, like, vividly, watch these episodes of the 1996 edition of GamePro TV, which have been uploaded by the Oakland-based Museum of Art & Digital Entertainment These aren’t to be confused with the 1991 GamePro show—these…

By Kirk Hamilton Published February 19, 2013

CultureTotal Recall

Yes, The PlayStation’s Startup Music Is Still Orgasmic

Remember when the original PlayStation came out? Better yet, remember how incredibly amazing the system’s start up music was? Holy smoke, that was good—and it’s even amazing all these years later. With Sony getting ready to announce the future of the PlayStation on February 20, now is as good a time as any to look…

By Brian Ashcraft Published February 13, 2013