Tag Archives: 1990s Gaming

Before Star Wars Games Found a Formula, the 1990s Tried Everything

Flight simulator. CD-ROM spectacle. First-person shooter. Fighting game. Desktop adventure. In the 1990s, nobody seemed entirely sure what a Star Wars game was supposed to be. That was half the fun. There was a wonderful period when asking “What kind of game is Star Wars?” did not produce a sensible answer. It produced another question. Which year? In 1993, Star Wars became a demanding space-combat simulator that expected players to …

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The Story Behind Mario Kart’s Marlboro Mishap

Racing game screen showing player in eighth place

If you grew up tearing through Rainbow Road and tossing banana peels in Mario Kart 64, you probably never imagined that your favorite racing game once flirted with cigarette advertising. But that’s exactly what happened in the early versions of the game. Hidden in plain sight among the trackside billboards was a cheeky parody of Marlboro cigarettes, rebranded as “Marioro.” The red-and-white logo looked unmistakably similar to the real-life tobacco …

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Donkey Kong Country [SNES] Review and Longplay [1994]

Best music ever? Retro Review: Donkey Kong Country – An Unforgettable SNES Classic In the early to mid years of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, there was a single cartridge that made living rooms glow a little greener and living room speakers hum with a deeper warmth. Donkey Kong Country, developed by Rare and released by Nintendo in 1994, arrived like a thunderclap. It felt new, it felt polished, and …

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