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  What Game Would You Most Like To See Remade?

  For the longest time, I’ve been telling people how special Link’s Awakening is. I had to explain that even though it was for the original GameBoy, it’s one of the best Zelda games Nintendo made. Similar to Super Mario Bros. 2, it was part of a dream world, but that was what made the game…

  By Peter Tieryas Published June 23, 2019
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  CultureKotaku Game Diary

  How The Choose Your Own Adventures Of 428: Shibuya Scramble Reminded Me Of My Past

  I’ve visited Shibuya before, but never like this. 428: Shibuya Scramble, which was developed for the PlayStation 4 by Chunsoft, released in September 2018 outside Japan. It’s kind of like those old full motion video (FMV) games. But instead of telling the story through badly compressed and grainy video, it uses a series of high…

  By Peter Tieryas Published June 23, 2019
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  The Cruel, But Cute, World Of Pikmin

  Pikmin is a weird, but beautiful, 2001 game for the Nintendo GameCube where you play as a villainous alien intruder, Captain Olimar. Olimar is from the planet of Hocotate and has crash-landed on a strange planet that has high levels of oxygen. Unfortunately, oxygen is poisonous to the captain and his life support will fail…

  By Peter Tieryas Published June 23, 2019
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  Ghost Trick Brilliantly Turned Regret And The Supernatural Into A Game Mechanic

  Ghost Trick is what you’d get if the film Ghost met Groundhog Day. Directed by the creator of the Ace Attorney Franchise, Shu Takumi, Ghost Trick makes death a puzzle you can play over and over a la Edge of Tomorrow. The core mystery at the heart of the game is your main character’s death.…

  By Peter Tieryas Published June 23, 2019
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  Where, When, And How To Watch Summer Games Done Quick 2019

  Summer Games Done Quick is back! Speedrunners will be playing through a mix of modern and retro games and doing amazing things all around while racing against the clock. This year’s event just started with Spyro Reignited Trilogy and will run from today until the 30th where the event will end with a speedrun of…

  By Peter Tieryas Published June 23, 2019
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  Root Letter Is About Catfishing Gone Terribly Wrong

  Root Letter made me miss Japan. Developed by Kadokawa Games for the PS Vita and PlayStation 4, the visual novel adventure takes place in the city of Matsue within the Shimane Prefecture. The protagonist, referred to as Max, is looking for his high school pen pal, Aya Fumino, after he finds a 15-year old letter…

  By Peter Tieryas Published June 23, 2019
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  What I’m Most Looking Forward To Re-Experiencing In The Final Fantasy VII Remake

  I bought the original PlayStation just so I could play Final Fantasy VII. Until then, all I’d had was a SNES and a Genesis, so I was in awe when the opening cutscene for FFVII began. The rest of the game was equally stunning, the visuals beyond anything I’d thought possible in a game. I…

  By Peter Tieryas Published June 23, 2019
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  Elite Beat Agents Is About Saving The World With Music And Dance

  The world is in ruin, relationships are in tatters, and dreams are being crushed. How to help all these people? According to Elite Beat Agents, it’s through the power of love- er, music. Released in 2006 for the Nintendo DS and developed by iNiS, Elite Beat Agents is a wacky rhythm game revolving around a…

  By Peter Tieryas Published June 23, 2019
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  Police Find Belongings Of Missing YouTuber Etika On Manhattan Bridge

  Police found the backpack and phone of gaming YouTuber Desmond “Etika” Amofah, who has been missing since Wednesday, on New York’s Manhattan Bridge last night, the New York Post reported On YouTube, Amofah, 29, amassed a following of more than 800,000 subscribers by playing and streaming Nintendo games. Amofah disappeared on Wednesday night after posting…

  By Cecilia D'Anastasio Published June 23, 2019
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  Culture

  Sunday Comics: You Look… Different.

  Hello! It’s time for Kotaku’s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon. Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published June 17. Read more of Awkward Zombie Corpse Run by Alex Di Stasi. Published June 20. Read more of Corpse Run Clueless Hero by…

  By Maddy Myers Published June 23, 2019
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  Speedrunners Helped Me To Better Understand The Weird Games Of My Childhood

  Summer Games Done Quick starts this Sunday at 11:30AM CDT and will be livestreamed on GamesDoneQuick’s Twitch Channel here. The event runs from June 23rd to the 30th and is raising money for Doctors Without Borders. I’m honestly in awe of speedrunners. The dedication, skill, and stamina they show in their playthroughs is impressive. There’s…

  By Peter Tieryas Published June 23, 2019
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  Neon Genesis Evangelion Is About The Cost And Trauma Of Existence

  Neon Genesis Evangelion’s characters suffer a lot. I learned about the series from one of my co-workers back in my LucasArts days. I’d seen some mecha anime, but nothing like Neon Genesis Evangelion. On the surface, it seemed to hit a lot of the trope checklist with a frustrated young pilot, Shinji Ikari, who’s essentially…

  By Peter Tieryas Published June 22, 2019
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  What Is Your Favorite Game On A Portable System?

  Up until recently, I didn’t play many portable games. Even when I did, I liked to play them on a TV screen, which is why I used the Game Boy Player for my GameCube to play many of my favorite GBA games like Metroid Fusion, Astro Boy: Omega Factor, The Legend of Zelda: The Minish…

  By Peter Tieryas Published June 22, 2019
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  CultureKotaku Game Diary

  Final Fantasy V Reminds Me Of What I Loved About The Series

  Talking about Final Fantasy has become complicated. A lot of my favorite Final Fantasy memories are from games in the series that are over a decade old. I’ve played through most of the main series Final Fantasy games, aside from FFV and the online ones. I genuinely enjoyed most of them (even XIII), though none…

  By Peter Tieryas Published June 22, 2019
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  A Wishlist For The Legend of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild Sequel

  How do you improve the seeming perfection of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild? Breath of the Wild took everything that was great about the Zelda series and made it grander and more epic. Like the clever puzzles that make up their dungeons? How about 120 shrines that distill them into their purest…

  By Peter Tieryas Published June 22, 2019
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  The Difficult Dilemma Of Dragon Quest XI’s Post Credit Sequence

  Dragon Quest XI is a very long game full of tragic twists and turns, so when my journey finally came to an end, it felt like a real accomplishment. The credits rolled. I’d defeated the main villain and brought peace to the land. I actually felt sad that my time with my companions was coming…

  By Peter Tieryas Published June 22, 2019
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  Death Mark Reminds Us That We Can Never Vanquish Our Ghosts

  There was a time I was obsessed with American urban legends, especially the horror-themed ones. Learning more about their roots and origins, and how a story evolves over time to fit the social mores of its time was fascinating, if terrifying. Death Mark is kind of like a mix track of creepy Japanese urban legends…

  By Peter Tieryas Published June 22, 2019
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  In Defense of Castlevania 2: Simon’s Quest

  The original Castlevania was one of the first NES games I played. So when the sequel came out for the NES in December 1988, I knew I had to play it. Simon’s Quest mixed up the first game’s action-platforming formula and gave players a Metroidvania-style game with RPG mechanics, revolving around a curse that Dracula…

  By Peter Tieryas Published June 22, 2019
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  Hotel Dusk: Room 215 Is A Compelling Story About Loss And Guilt

  I still have a classic Nintendo DS that even plays the old GBA games, but I only take it out when I go on airplanes. Recently having finished Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations, I turned to Hotel Dusk: Room 215, knowing nothing about the game. I quickly became addicted to the mystery interactive novel developed…

  By Peter Tieryas Published June 22, 2019
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  The Classic JRPG About Two Scientists Saving The World

  A mix of The Legend of Zelda and the works of Hayao Miyazaki, Crystalis was an incredible action RPG for the NES whose surprisingly complex story helped elevate it above many of its peers. It’s also one of the games I most fondly recall from my childhood, so re-playing it on the SNK 40th Anniversary…

  By Peter Tieryas Published June 22, 2019