Prototyping The VG Archive

Over the course of prototyping the VG Archive, I’ve primarily focused on turning the ideas I ideated into functional aspects. During ideating the focus was on the timeline, and an activity function inspired by Letterboxd’s diary function. Moving into prototyping these remained the primary focus. Fortunately, as I had already been workshopping and creating mockups …

Ethan’s Best of 2020

A weird summary of a weirder year On the gaming side, 2020 has been kind of a weird year for me overall. Perhaps it’s not too strange given everything else happening in the world, but when it comes to video games I’ve been just a tad out of the loop. Most of 2020’s heavy hitters …

Nintendo vs. Its Fans

Nintendo's recent actions go back further than many fans think If you’ve been paying attention to online discussions around Nintendo lately, chances are you’ve noticed that things haven’t been too friendly after the company issued a cease-and-desist notice against the annual Super Smash Bros. tournament, The Big House, essentially forcing its organisers to cancel the …

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity Review — Half a Sequel, Half a Prequel

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is a strange case for a Zelda game, in that it serves as both a sequel to 2014’s Hyrule Warriors and also as a prequel to 2017’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Although the franchise itself is no stranger to spin-offs like this, Nintendo has never allowed …

Super Mario 3D All-Stars Review — A Star-Studded Collection

The original Super Mario All-Stars released back in 1993 on the Super Nintendo as a collection of pseudo-remakes for Mario’s previous adventures released on the comparatively less super NES. Graphically updating Super Mario Bros, Super Mario Bros 2, Super Mario Bros 3, and the formerly Japanese-exclusive Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels into a unified …

Super Mario 3D All-Stars could hurt game preservation

The limited-time release further confirms the long-held suspicion that Nintendo is well and truly out of touch with game preservation. After being talked about for the better half of a year, the “rumoured 3D Mario collection” has finally coalesced as Super Mario 3D All-Stars. Bringing together Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario …

Double Kick Heroes Review — Side-Scrolling Beat ’em-up meets Blood-Pumping Rhythm Game

As more of a casual fan of rhythm games, Double Kick Heroes stood out to me amongst the crowd. At first glance, it seems to consolidate the flashy action of a side scrolling beat ‘em-up with the hypnotic fever of a rhythm game, presenting itself as a zombie brawler as much as it is a …

Perfection in Pixels

Written during my final year of high school, this is a major labour of passion. It's a long read but it's also one of the biggest things I've ever written and deserves to be archived somewhere. An exploration of the story telling capabilities of video games and a look into why they struggle for the …