Platform Studies book from Zagal and Edwards launches May 14, 2024.

Attention video game fans! I co-wrote an MIT Press Platform Studies book called Seeing Red: Nintendo’s Virtual Boy with Dr. Jose Zagal, and it’s coming out May 14th of this year.

You can pre-order it now on Amazon if you’re wild about stereoscopic red consoles.

Be aware that it is definitely an academic book, so it doesn’t read like a pop culture narrative, but I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how much depth we go into on this fun console. I still think it’s an enjoyable and essential work of video game scholarship (but then again, I would think that, wouldn’t I).

Here is the official blurb:

The curious history, technology, and technocultural context of Nintendo’s short-lived stereoscopic gaming console, the Virtual Boy.

With glowing red stereoscopic 3D graphics, the Virtual Boy cast a prophetic hue: Shortly after its release in 1995, Nintendo’s balance sheet for the product was “in the red” as well. Of all the innovative long shots the game industry has witnessed over the years, perhaps the most infamous and least understood was the Virtual Boy. Why the Virtual Boy failed, and where it succeeded, are questions that video game experts José Zagal and Benj Edwards explore in Seeing Red, but even more interesting to the authors is what the platform actually was: what it promised, how it worked, and where it fit into the story of gaming.

Nintendo released the Virtual Boy as a standalone table-top device in 1995—and quickly discontinued it after lackluster sales and a lukewarm critical reception. In Seeing Red, Zagal and Edwards examine the device’s technical capabilities, its games, and the cultural context in the US in the 1990s when Nintendo developed and released the unusual console. The Virtual Boy, in their account, built upon and extended an often-forgotten historical tradition of immersive layered dioramas going back 100 years that was largely unexplored in video games at the time. The authors also show how the platform’s library of games conveyed a distinct visual aesthetic style that has not been significantly explored since the Virtual Boy’s release, having been superseded by polygonal 3D graphics. The platform’s meaning, they contend, lies as much in its design and technical capabilities and affordances as it does in an audience’s perception of those capabilities.

Offering rare insight into how we think about video game platforms, Seeing Red illustrates where perception and context come, quite literally, into play.

[ Continue reading I co-wrote a book about the Virtual Boy for MIT Press » ]

The Christmas Games of Yesteryear

Of the tens of thousands of video and computer games released since the 1970s, few have featured Christmas themes. That’s surprising considering that the holiday is an insanely popular topic in other forms of media (especially movies–the number of Christmas-themed films could probably fill the Grand Canyon).

Here are twelve video and computer games, all released more than ten years ago, that dared to buck the trend. Some failed, some succeeded, but all tried to deliver holiday cheer with Santa, sleighs, elves, evil snowmen, flying turkey helicopters, and other beloved symbols of Christmas.

Many were released on more than one platform; whenever possible, I’ve included the cover art for all of the versions. Some of the games are still available, and I’ve given links to the ones you can download online. Our list of Christmas games is not exhaustive, though, so if you have a favorite that we left out, please share it in the comments.

[ Continue reading [ VC&G Anthology ] The Ghosts of Christmas Games Past » ]

Nude boxer plays Nintendo

I have a framed print of this 8×10 photo hanging on my office wall. The first time I put it up and my kids came in, the conversation went something like this:

“Daddy, why is there a photo of a naked man on your wall?”

“That’s Mike Tyson.”

“…”

“A famous boxer from the 1980s.”

“…”
“But why is he naked.”

And so I hit upon a 1980s cultural zeitgeist I never thought I’d have to explain to anyone.

Nintendo’s 1984 arcade classic Punch-Out!! — which used richly detailed graphics for the time and dual monitors — was a masterpiece in creative arcade design. And in the 1980s, watching Mike Tyson fight (which I did a couple times on pay-per-view) was a thrilling experience. He was scary powerful. So when Nintendo combined the two together in 1987 as a game for the hottest console of the day, they cooked up the recipe for something amazing: Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!.

Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! still holds a place as one of my favorite NES games. It’s dynamic, beautiful, and fun. It’s challenging, but doesn’t feel unfair. Curiously, I must have only played friends’ copies of MT’s Punch-Out!! (or we traded it) because we also bought the non-Tyson version (with Mr. Dream) Nintendo released in 1990.

This photo is a promotional handout Nintendo sent to the press in 1987. I believe I own the only known physical photographic print of this image. (I’m sure there are others out there, but we don’t know where they are). Last year I sent a high-res scan of this image to The Gaming Historian for one of his YouTube features and also to Frank Cifaldi for Video Game History Foundation exhibits. So you may be seeing it more often in the future.

The back of the photo says this:

Mike Tyson, undisputed heavyweight boxing champion, has signed a promotional contract with the world’s leading manufacturer of home video game systems, Nintendo of America. Tyson will offer his name and likeness to “Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!”, a game which allows players to participate in a series of challenging matches, leading up to a battle against the champ himself. The Game Pak, designed exclusively for play on the Nintendo Entertainment System, will be available in October.

Discussion Topic: What’s your favorite classic boxing video game?

Since August 1st of this year, I’ve been building and selling custom joysticks through Twitter. This small venture has been an unexpected success.

People love them, and that makes me very happy. I’ve sold about 140 so far, and I’ve built and shipped about 100 all around the world.

The past few months have been a wild ride, and I’d like to tell you some about it.

The Highest Quality Parts

The basic concept behind every joystick I’ve made so far is simple: bring the best quality arcade parts to home consoles and computers.

I’ve been using Japanese arcade joysticks and buttons from Sanwa Denshi, a firm that makes some of the best arcade assemblies in the world.

The results have been incredible. Games I thought previously unplayable are suddenly rendered fun, like lifting some kind of fog.

Mushy, worn out control pads have come between me and gaming for too long, and I had no idea. When you push a button or move the lever on one of my sticks, something happens. Every time. There is no blaming the controller for gaming failures.

That extra level of accuracy brings new life to older games. Especially on platforms that didn’t have great controllers to begin with. Figuring this out has made me want to share these joysticks with everybody. But let’s take a step back and see how this all got started.

[ Continue reading I’ve Been Building Joysticks » ]

By now, all of you have probably heard about Nintendo’s upcoming Super NES Classic Edition, which the firm announced on June 26. It’s a tiny HDMI-capable Super NES that plays 21 built-in games and will retail for $79.99 US. And it’s due for release on September 29, 2017.

It is also, quite possibly, intended to be a huge publicity stunt.

You guys may remember the absolute fiasco that was the NES Classic Edition — Nintendo’s miniature HDMI NES with built-in games. The NES Classic edition was announced on July 16, 2016 and launched on November 11th of that year for $59.99.

Of course, when November 11th, came around, shoppers snapped up the limited supply Nintendo produced within seconds on Amazon.com and at other retailers, leaving many thousands of NES fans frustrated and unable to ever buy the tiny wonder console for a reasonable price.

Yes, that included me. Scalpers on eBay turned around and immediately sold the NES Classic Edition for 200% the retail price, and today they go for around $200-$300 unopened on eBay. (I did eventually buy one on eBay for around $250.)

I’m tempted to ask: Will the Super NES Classic Edition suffer the same fate? But this isn’t the right question. The question should be: Is the launch and availability of this new product going to make a mockery of Nintendo’s cultural legacy?

[ Continue reading Nintendo is Playing Risky Games With Its Cultural Legacy » ]

ULAF SAY, “MIND SCRAPE”

I believe this Mindscape flier came packed with Days of Thunder for the NES. I am not a huge fan of the games depicted here aside from 720 and Gauntlet II, both of which are pretty good Atari Games arcade ports.

And while M.U.L.E. is a favorite of mine on the Atari 800, I am not a big fan of the NES version. It’s nice that it uses the Four Score / Satellite four player adapter though (Gauntlet II does as well).

Discussion Topic: What’s the best four-player game for the NES?

The upcoming NES Classic has its first high-end competitor.

Just today, Seattle-based Analogue is announcing the Analogue Nt Mini, a miniaturized version of its videophile-grade NES-compatible console that debuted earlier this year. The intention, according to Analogue founder Christopher Taber, is to go head-to-head with the NES Classic console from Nintendo that ships in November.

It will not be undercutting the NES Classic in price, however. This little beauty will cost you $449.

Unlike the earlier Analogue Nt, which was partially made out of recycled parts from authentic Nintendo Famicom circuit boards, the Nt Mini utilizes FPGA technology to simulate the authentic NES chips in a smaller package.

The Mini also includes RGB+HDMI output by default (HDMI was an upgrade option for the original, limited-edition Analogue console) and an 8Bitdo wireless NES controller and Retro Receiver for wireless play. It plays games off of original NES and Famicom cartridges.

Despite its attention to built quality, the Analogue Nt Mini is a very expensive proposition — especially when you can buy a working original NES on eBay for anywhere from $40-$100, and Nintendo’s own HD NES Classic will retail for $59.99 (of course, that model will only play 30 built-in games).

And if you think $449 is expensive, keep in mind that this is the same company sold a 24K gold version of the first Analogue Nt for $5000. So much like buying a $200 bottle of wine, cultural cachet is a big part of Analogue’s marketing angle.

I will try to get my hands on an Analogue Nt mini for a review and see if that price can possibly be justified. Until then, Analogue is opening up its site for Nt Mini pre-orders today if you’d like to dive into boutique NES waters head first.

It’s amazing to me that it’s 2016 and the the NES console market is heating up in ways I never thought possible. (We’ve come a long way from the Generation NEX, which inspired me to launch this site back in 2005.) Between this new unit from Analogue, Nintendo’s NES classic, and RetroUSB’s AVS — a $180 HD NES remake which I intend to review soon — I can see that I am going to have a fun and busy fall.

High Times with Hi Tech Expressions

This fold-out flier celebrating NES games published by Hi Tech Expressions came packed with a NES game, likely Sesame Street A-B-C and 1-2-3. (Although the “DMG” in the flier name gives me pause, because that was Nintendo’s in-house abbreviation for the Game Boy.)

The games shown here aren’t particularly well noted for being classics, but I am very fond of Big Bird’s Hide & Speak, a fun game for small children which features impressive sampled voice work by Caroll Spinney. I was older than the target audience when it first came out, but I have played it with my youngest daughter a number of times over the years, and she loved it.

Discussion Topic: Have you ever played any educational games on the NES?

I’ve recently received a big influx of news, announcements, and press releases, so I thought I’d bring Newsbits out of cold storage and use it to share everything all at once.

Recent News

Cool Links

Before the Sega Scream, there was the Sega Insult

This is a rather famous early ad for the Sega Genesis that I have never featured until now. It played upon the dramatic graphical differences between the Genesis and the NES, claiming “Genesis Does What Nintendon’t.”

It’s worth emphasizing that Sega is comparing its console to the 8-bit NES here, and not the Super NES — Nintendo’s 16-bit machine had not yet been released in the US, allowing Sega to get a jump on the next generation in the American market.

Discussion Topic of the Week: What year did you first get a Sega Genesis? What were your first games for it?