Tag Archives: Nintendo EAD

Essentials, Racers, SNES

Stunt Race FX: A Last Hurrah

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Stunt Race FX — or Wild Trax, as it was known in Japan — is not a game that gets talked about nearly as much as many of its contemporaries.

There are a number of reasons for this, chief among which was that it released in 1994, when excitement for Sony’s PlayStation — originally intended to be a CD-ROM-based add-on for the Super NES, lest we forget — was reaching a fever pitch; the 32-bit system would release later that very year, wowing everyone with its smooth, texture-mapped polygonal graphics, high-quality audio and impressive arcade ports.

As with many things that got overshadowed at their time of original release, however,Β Stunt Race FXΒ remains a fascinating piece of Nintendo history that remains worth exploring.

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Essentials, Switch

Switch Essentials: Super Mario Odyssey

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A common criticism raised by people who have arbitrarily decided for one reason or another that they are “anti-Nintendo” is that the company relies too much on rehashing old ideas, particularly when it comes to its “big” franchises.

This is, of course, nonsense, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the company’s flagshipΒ Super MarioΒ series. The portly plumber’s past few adventures have included a simple but enjoyable mobile game that eschews gacha nonsense in favour of accessible mechanics, a full-on construction kitΒ with online functionality, a vast but highly accessible, level-based 3D platform adventure with the option to play in cooperative multiplayerΒ and a challenging 2D platform adventure later expanded with an even more difficult set of levels. And this is to say nothing of how the series has continually reinvented itself over the years.

Super Mario OdysseyΒ for Nintendo Switch continues Mario’s proud tradition of starring in an enormously varied series of games that cater to the tastes of both casual and hardcore gamers alike. And it’s one of his best games to date.

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Essentials, N64

N64 Essentials: Wave Race 64

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Some of my fondest memories from my formative years have the Nintendo 64 as their focal point.

Whether it was indulging in loud-mouthed, profanity-laden four-playerΒ GoldenEye, Perfect DarkΒ andΒ Duke Nukem 64Β deathmatches or just me and my similarly non-sporty school friends desperately trying to understand the appeal of the World Cup through the use of EA’s imaginatively titledΒ World Cup 98, this console holds a special place in my heart.

And yet somehow up until now I’d never played one of its most well-respected games:Β Wave Race 64. And now I am kicking myself for not checking it out sooner.

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