Welcome to From Pixels to Polygons, where we examine classic game franchises that have survived the long transition from the 8- or 16-bit era to the current console generation.
For over 21 years, Kirby has graced gamers with his adorable personality and accessible gameplay. With over 20 games under his belt, he boasts an impressive body of work that almost rivals Mario’s variety. While Kirby’s games do span a wide variety of genres, it’s the platformers that made this series as recognizable as it is and today, we celebrate what made us fall in love with the pink puffball in the first place.
In this episode, Andrew negotiates with demons in Soul Hackers, Shawn whistles and stomps his way through Toki Tori 2 and Jeff enjoys the new “high definition” version of Age of Empires II. Also: BattleBlock Theater, LucasArts’ demise, bonus Rayman Legends and more!
Check out the show here, check us out on iTunes or use the RSS feed in your favorite podcast aggregator. Let us know what you think! Email podcast[at]snackbar-games.com.
Hosts: Jeff deSolla, Andrew Passafiume, Graham Russell, Henry Skey, Shawn Vermette. Music: Podcast theme by Tom Casper.
The Shin Megami Tensei series is one of the longest lasting JRPG franchises around, complete with several main games and a slew of popular spin-offs. While these titles have been around since the days of the NES, they never really found their way to North America until the late ’90s and eventually became more recognized with the release of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne. Several years (and games) later, Atlus has revived one of the most beloved games in the venerable franchise, Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers, and brought it to an English speaking audience for the first time.
While Soul Hackers probably won’t attract anyone who isn’t already familiar with the Shin Megami Tensei-style of RPG, it does a fine job of reminding those acquainted with its mature brand of role-playing what makes the series so special to begin with.
Dillon’s Rolling Western: The Last Ranger is a tower defense game with something to prove. Reinforce, rather, being a sequel. The idea here is that we have a tower defense game, something traditionally passive in nature, but with a more personal action-oriented twist. Dillon, a cool Django-esque armadillo, must physically manage the battlefield while simultaneously acting as the primary offensive/defensive force. This new angle on an established formula gives the genre a freshness and vitality that it sorely needed. READ MORE
I tend to stay away from topical discussions. I prefer writing pieces about games that are at least a few years old. It gives me adequate time to think about them, and reflect on how the game left an impact on the industry (if at all). Any high emotions experienced can subside, and let me look at the game with more sober eyes.
Recently on the podcast, we’ve been discussing future consoles and digital downloads. It’s a fun topic; many of the Snackbar staff have bought at least one (or 50) games from XBLA, PSN, the Wii Shop, Steam, Origin, you name it. It’s all very futuristic; we all knew that physical copies of games would eventually go away, but that reality was always down the block and out of sight. Now that it has come into view of our front door, we’re not sure what to think. READ MORE
