Tag Archives: retro gaming trivia

When Nintendo Took Blockbuster to Court The Battle Over Rentals In the late 1980s Nintendo ruled the living room. The NES was in millions of homes, and kids flocked to local rental shops like Blockbuster to grab the latest cartridges for a weekend of gaming. But while game rentals exploded in popularity, Nintendo was far less enthusiastic. They worried that renting would cut into cartridge sales, since players could beat …

A Bold but Bizarre Idea In 1995 Nintendo of America faced a challenge. They were preparing to launch EarthBound on the Super Nintendo, a quirky role playing game full of humor, offbeat enemies, and suburban satire. But how could they sell such an unusual RPG to an American audience that was not yet fully invested in the genre? Their answer was one of the strangest campaigns in gaming history. Nintendo …

Most gamers have pulled an all-nighter to finish a campaign or grind out a boss, but one player took it to an entirely new level. In July 2015, Carrie Swidecki from Bakersfield, California set the official Guinness World Record for the longest video game marathon by playing Just Dance 2015 for a staggering 138 hours and 34 seconds straight. That is almost six full days of nonstop gaming. Swidecki was …

When gamers think of iconic video game soundtracks, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 on the Sega Genesis often comes to mind. What many players do not know is that pop superstar Michael Jackson was secretly involved in composing parts of the soundtrack, a fact that remained unconfirmed for decades. In the early 1990s, Sega partnered with Michael Jackson to bring his musical talents to their blue mascot’s third adventure. Jackson, who …