Posted on April 21, 2026
The Neo Geo Is Back — And This Time You Can Actually Afford It
SNK and Plaion Replai are bringing the “Rolls-Royce of consoles” home this November for $249.99, cartridges and all
Remember flipping through old issues of GamePro or EGM as a kid, hitting that glossy two-page Neo Geo ad, and just… stopping? The chrome logo. The arcade-perfect screenshots. The $649.99 price tag that might as well have been a million dollars. For most of us, the Neo Geo AES was the console we pressed our noses against the glass for, knowing full well it was never coming home with us.
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Posted on March 24, 2026
Blaster Master: The NES Game That Made You Feel Small
You know that feeling when you’re a kid and you wander too far from home, and suddenly everything feels bigger and more dangerous than it did five minutes ago?
That’s Blaster Master.
This game figured out something most NES titles never bothered with: scale. Not just graphically—though driving around in a tank and then hopping out to explore on foot was wild for 1988—but emotionally. One minute you’re piloting this unstoppable metal beast, bouncing around planets, blowing through walls. The next minute you’re walking through a door, and suddenly you’re this tiny, fragile thing in a room full of enemies that want you dead.
That shift? That’s the whole game. And thirty-plus years later, it still hits different.
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Posted on March 17, 2026
Super Metroid: The Game That Taught Us What Lonely Feels Like
Remember the first time you stepped out of that elevator on Zebes?
Not the tutorial section, the real Zebes. Rain pelting down. Thunder crackling. That green corridor stretching into darkness. And then… silence. Just you, the hum of your Power Suit, and a planet that felt like it was holding its breath.
That’s when Super Metroid grabbed you by the throat and never let go.
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Posted on March 13, 2026
Major Nelson Joins Commodore: What Larry Hryb Means for the Commodore Revival
When a legacy brand tries to come back, there’s always one big question hanging over it: is this a real revival, or just another nostalgia play?
That’s why the news that Larry “Major Nelson” Hrybhas joined Commodore as Community Development Advisor feels bigger than a routine advisory-board announcement. Commodore says Hryb will help support and expand its global community, with work tied to engagement, events, developer outreach, and programs that connect the company’s legacy to modern creativity and technology. That is not the language of a brand that wants to quietly sell a retro box to collectors and disappear. It sounds like a company trying to build an actual ecosystem around the Commodore name again.
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Posted on February 26, 2026
Official Reveal! Marvel MaXimum Collection Trailer
Marvel nostalgia just got a very loud, very pixelated megaphone. Limited Run dropped the Marvel MaXimum Collection – Official Reveal Trailer and it’s basically a time machine set to “early-90s couch co-op chaos,” with that unmistakable energy of quarter-munching arcade cabinets and slightly-unfair console ports that we somehow loved anyway.
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Posted on February 14, 2026
Retro Is the Cure: Why Extra Life Retro Exists
I’m launching Extra Life Retro because I love retro games.
That’s the simple truth.
But if I’m being honest, it’s not just love. It’s also a reaction — almost a refusal — to accept what gaming has become in the modern era. Somewhere along the way, the hobby that used to feel like pure discovery started feeling like an argument, a grind, a subscription, a scoreboard, and sometimes even a second job.
And here’s the part that matters:
Retro gaming isn’t just nostalgia. It’s a correction.
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Posted on February 15, 2026
Hideki Sato: The Engineer Who Turned Sega’s Hardware Into a Cultural Force
When people talk about “Sega” as a feeling—arcades, attitude, speed, bright colors, weird confidence—they’re really talking about a hardware philosophy. Hideki Sato was one of the key architects of that philosophy, rising from engineer to lead Sega’s hardware research and development and later serving as company president in the early 2000s. His legacy isn’t one single console. It’s the idea that a console should feel like a statement: built to chase the arcade experience, built to take risks, and built to invite people into new ways to play.
Across multiple hardware generations, Sato helped shape machines that defined eras: the early push into home computing, the 16-bit identity that turned Sega into a global rival, the ambitious pivot into 3D, and the Dreamcast’s forward-looking emphasis on connectivity. And when the console business became unsustainable, he also helped steer Sega through one of the hardest transitions in modern games: shifting from hardware maker to software-first publisher while keeping the brand alive.
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