Review – Altered Beast

Fans of Nintendo’s home consoles were treated to top-quality pack-in games during the 8- and 16-bit years. Super Mario Bros., Tetris, and Super Mario World are among the best games on their respective systems, and were included with the systems to add extra incentive to purchase the console. Even Sega’s own 8-bit home console came … Read more

CGQ Mixtape Vol. 3 – PC Engine Chip Shooters

It’s time for volume 3, and is the third time the charm? You bet it is! This mixtape is all about PC Engine HuCard shooters, and this one is my favorite tape so far! Shooters were one of the most popular genres of video game in the late 80s and very early 90s, and games … Read more

CGQ Mixtape Vol. 2 – The Super Nintendo in 1991

On the second episode of CGQ Mixtape, let’s head to the other side of the tracks to check out the music of the Super Nintendo in it’s first calendar year on the market.  Konami was a major presence on the console with both Super Castlevania IV (which has some of my favorite SNES music) and … Read more

CGQ Mixtape Vol. 1 – The Sega Genesis in 1991

CGQ Mixtape Vol. 1 – The Sega Genesis in 1991 On this first episode of CGQ Mixtape, we take a look back at the music of the Sega Genesis in 1991.  The year was noteworthy for the release of a couple of blockbuster titles; Streets of Rage and Sonic The Hedgehog, but there were other … Read more

Classic Cooking Quarterly: Guinness Beef Stew

This obviously has nothing to do with video games, but every time I post a pic cooking Guinness beef stew, people ask for the recipe.  I have never found a recipe online that I thought was particularly good, so here’s mine.  I apologize for not front-loading this recipe with four or five paragraphs of my … Read more

Building a Basic MiSTer FPGA Console

One of the most exciting projects in the realm of retrogaming today is the MiSTer, an open-source, FPGA-based emulation device that uses hardware description languages to re-create the hardware from your favorite old home consoles, arcade games, and even home computers on a chip-by-chip basis. Unlike software-based emulation platforms like the Raspberry Pi, RetroArch, OpenEmu, … Read more

The TurboGrafx-16 in 1989

Episode 54 – When the TurboGrafx-16 and Sega Genesis were both launched in the late summer and fall of 1989, neither was able to supplant the Nintendo Entertainment System at the top of the North American Home gaming market, and as a result their only real competition was each other. Both systems had some great … Read more

TurboPlay Issue #1 – June/July 1990

Episode 53 – TurboPlay was the first magazine released in North America dedicated to NEC’s pseudo-16-bit sit system, the TurboGrafx-16. Published by LFP and edited by the same folks who put out Video Games & Computer Entertainment, each of the 14 bimonthly issues of TurboPlay was only 32 pages long, but had a cover price … Read more

Nintendo Power Issue #7 – July/Aug 1989

Episode 52 – The last Nintendo Power read-through I did ended up being the most popular video in the series, so let’s do it again! This is the 1-year anniversary issue and only the 7th issue of the magazine. A great line-up of games includes Mega Man 2, Dragon Warrior, Journey to Silius, Super Off-Road, … Read more

PSM PlayStation Magazine Issue #3 – November 1997

Episode 51 – We’re trying something new this time in that I am doing a “blind” read-through, meaning that I have not read this issue prior to recording. This is, for me, the “long lost” PSM issue #3, in that I bought #’s 1 & 2 off of the newsstand, and my subscription started with … Read more

The Super Nintendo in 1991

Episode 50 – When the Super Nintendo launched in August of 1991, its launch lineup was solid, but small. The legendary Super Mario World was of course the pack-in game, but the only other games on the shelf that day were Pilotwings and F-Zero. While Sega would latch on to the fact that, having released … Read more

GamePro Issue #1 – May/June 1989

Episode 49 – The premiere issue of GamePro, from May/June of 1989. A multi-platform magazine based in the Bay Area of California, it started out as a bimonthly periodical, but switched to monthly after just 3 issues. GamePro and Electronic Gaming Monthly were the two most-popular multiplatform gaming magazines in the 1990’s, covering both sides … Read more

Nintendo Power Issue #1 – July/August 1988

Episode 48 – The premiere issue of Nintendo Power, from the summer of 1988. Nintendo had been sending out a free newsletter, the Nintendo Fun Club News, to registered Nintendo owners. But in the summer 0f 1988, they made the shift to a full-blown, Nintendo-centric magazine. Nintendo Power was available on the news stands for … Read more

Mega Play Issue #5 – July/August 1991

Episode 47 – Let’s read Mega Play magazine, issue #5 from July/August of 1991. This was a Sega-centric magazine from the publishers of EGM. By the summer of 1991, the Genesis had been out for just shy of 2 years. The Super Nintendo was about to be released, so Sega needed to bring their A-game, … Read more

The Launch of the Nintendo 64 (1996)

Episode 46 – Although the history of 3D gaming stretches all the way back to the very early 1980’s, outside of the arcades it didn’t start in earnest until the early 90s. The 3DO Interactive Mulitplayer and Atari Jaguar both launched in 1993, Nintendo used the Super FX chip to create polygonal 3D games like … Read more

Electronic Gaming Monthly Issue #6 – January 1990

Episode 45 – Let’s read Electronic Gaming Monthly issue #6 from January of 1990. This is the oldest issue of EGM that we have in the CGQ archives. At this time, Nintendo controlled about 90% of the video game market with the NES, but NEC’s TurboGrafx-16 and Sega’s Genesis had both been out for about … Read more

The Launch of the Sega Genesis (1989)

Episode 44 – The launch of the Sega Genesis in 1989. Sega first entered the home console market in 1983 with the SG-1000, which was released in Asia, Australia, and some parts of Europe. In 1985, the hardware was upgraded and a new system, the Mark III was released. This would become the “Sega Master … Read more