So, at this point, it is well known in the gaming world (it has been nearly 26 years), that Aeris (now known as Aerith) died (was murdered really) in Final Fantasy VII. Gamers born after the fact, or near it, will not quite appreciate the shock and awe factor, of watching a heroine, or better…
Throwback Bit Thursday
Throwback Bit Thursday is a weekly Thursday feature on Never Ending Realm. Read all of NER’s #TBT articles here!
Throwback Bit Thursday: Remembering a Merry 1998 Christmas
It is known (if you are a long time reader of the site), that 1998 is, in my honest opinion, is the greatest year in gaming, bar none. Most us will look back at that time when we were 10-14 years old, as the best time for video games, regardless of the year. That said, 1998…
TBT: Five Critically Underrated 32-Bit Era JRPGs
Generally speaking, the mid to late 1990s are considered the golden age of the Japanese Role Playing game genre. High Quality JRPGs flooded the PlayStation in quantities not seen since on any system. Amongst the sea of stars, some of these titles were poorly received by critics despite the fact that they were quite good…
Throwback Bit Thursday: Sonic Generations
Sonic 3-D games, for the most part, have sucked. Don’t get me wrong, I highly enjoyed Sonic Adventure back in 1999-2000, but that might be the only 3-D game in the franchise that I thought was any good. My son (who is 5 years old) loves Sonic, he loves Mario too (and has played dozens…
Throwback Bit Thursday: Street Fighter II
The 1990s were a good time for everything related to martial arts. Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, and Van Damme movies were all the rage. Kids shows like the Power Rangers and movies like The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles drove younglings all over America into Martial Arts schools. Before the wired special effects shenanigans turned…
Throwback Bit Thursday: Re-Loving Tales of Vesperia
Tales of Vesperia is my favorite Tales game ever. After more than a decade without making a serious run through the game, I decided to give it another try last week. Basically, playing older JRPGs is difficult for me these days, because if I already know how the story ends, I quickly lose interest in…
Throwback Bit Thursday: Alundra is a Grown Up’s Zelda Game
This week, as I continued to play Elden Ring, I began to look back at what games were tough, or tougher than Japan’s newest poster boy. Some of the 2-D Castlevania games were very difficult. Even Castlevania 64 was quite challenging if you went for the good ending. Castlevania 64, in particular, did not…
Throwback Bit Thursday: A Brief 1997 Nintendo 64 Memoir
Ah! 1997! To be 13 years old again! To have a crush on Ginger Spice again! So many memories, but perhaps none dearer than my time as a new Nintendo 64 owner and the hours I spent playing Turok, Golden Eye, and Star Fox 64. Truth be told, I probably played more of Super Mario…
Throwback Bit Thursday: Metal Gear Solid 2
Before I write anything else, I must confess that I was never a big fan of the original Metal Gear Solid game on the PlayStation. It is not that I didn’t like the game or appreciate what it did for the stealth and action adventure genres on Sony’s little gray machine. My issue with it…
Throwback Bit Thursday: Dead or Alive 3
The original Xbox was an amazing machine for its era. At times, the system truly felt like a generational leap over the PlayStation 2. The reason for this? Microsoft’s hardware was multiple times more powerful than Sony’s most successful machine. The Xbox Flexed its Muscles at Launch Halo: Combat Evolved alone was enough to…