Video Works by Jeremy Parish

Game Boy gets its first-ever boxing game, and it's almost pretty good. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite hit the mark due to an interface that stumbles over the line between "perfectly complex" and "bizarrely overcomplicated." It attempts to channel the spirit of and even improve on Nintendo's Punch-Out!!, but unfortunately it only duplicates the obvious part of that masterpiece rather than the design choices that make it so good.

Direct download: Game_Boy_World_056_Heavyweight_Championship_Boxing.mp4
Category:Video Games -- posted at: 5:23pm EDT

Good Nintentions isn't just a survey of the NES; it's meant to be a history lesson that helps contextualize the place of these old game releases in the evolution of the medium. So while Tennis is not the kind of game that causes people to tear up with nostalgia 30 years later, it nevertheless holds a place of distinction in gaming history, as outlined here.

Direct download: Good_Nintentions_002_Tennis_Nintendo_1985.mp4
Category:Video Games -- posted at: 11:55pm EDT

Hi! Welcome to the first episode of Good Nintentions, the full-color companion piece to Game Boy World. This series will serve as a chronological survey of the NES (the first year or two of its life, anyway), published less frequently than Game Boy World... basically, as the mood strikes me. The world's not really short on comprehensive surveys of the NES, so I don't expect this to be a particularly popular or well-received series—it's just something that seemed like it would be enjoyable, really.

We start at the beginning of the NES's life in Oct. 1985, with what I have arbitrarily pegged as the "first" NES release. Of all the games released alongside the NES at launch, Baseball appeared earliest in Japan, so it's the oldest of Nintendo's U.S. launch titles. It definitely feels its age, but it's not a bad game... merely one that's been surpassed by 30-plus years of countless developers working within a fixed rule set and doing their best to create the ultimate virtual expression of the sport. Despite its simplicity, there's plenty to say about Baseball...

Direct download: Good_Nintentions_001_Baseball_Nintendo_1985.mp4
Category:Video Games -- posted at: 11:51pm EDT

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