PixlBit

If there was one thing that Techno Soft did very well in the 16-bit days, it was shoot ‘em ups.  It all started when they created Thunder Force in 1984. It was released on the NEC PC-8801 and several other Japanese home computers at the time, but never saw the light of day in the US.  The game featured an overhead free-roaming viewpoint and the goal was to destroy the enemy’s shield generators, using your main shot for air targets and the bomb shot for ground targets in each stage. While it’s tough to gauge the game’s popularity from back then, it apparently did well enough to warrant a sequel. Thunder Force II was released four years later for the Sega Genesis in 1989, making it the very first shoot ‘em up on the system.

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Is it back?

Happy New Year! I suppose that's a little late of a thing to say, but it's been a while, hasn't it? PB & Jason returns today with a bonus-length episode to make up for time lost. This week's PB & Jason covers Pokémon, Super Mario 3D World, the newer video game consoles, and asrealasitgets's blog post. When will the next PB & Jason be? No one knows for sure... Tune in! Leave a comment! Send an email! Suggest more ways to end sentences with exclamation points! Listen! Click through!

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Stay cool, bird boy!

It's 2014, and the Pantsless Ones are back! Well, Angelo and Patrick had to wear layers for this recording, as they were smack dab in the middle of BLIZZARD 2014(tm)!

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Get ready to earn your wings.

In the early ‘90s, a new video game console was only as strong as its launch titles.  When we look back at a console’s history and wonder what attracted us to it, often it’s those first games that we think of and say, "that’s why I fell in love with that system."  Nintendo understood this concept when they released the Super Nintendo. Included among a shortlist of launch games was the flight simulation, Pilotwings. Beginning as an early tech demo in 1988 to show off the Mode 7 graphical capabilities of the 16-bit system, Pilotwings was developed into a full-fledged game that allowed us to take to the skies in a way never before possible on a home console.

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A collision of great concepts that just works.

Why in the world I keep getting suckered into buying retro-styled arcade game mash-ups is beyond me, but Nimble Quest is just going to encourage me to do it more. Mixing together the basic idea of Snake or Tron’s Light Cycles, adding a combat element,  and layering on a leveling-up mechanic got me pretty hooked on this little game originally designed for mobile devices. Nimble Quest fares well in its transition from mobile to PC (unlike a lot of titles) and it’s well worth the low price to have something on your desktop for an occasional attempt at a new high score.

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