16-Bit Gems

Illusion of Gaia was an adventure game distributed by Enix for the Super Nintendo. Released in North America in 1994, it offers a unique twist on a formula made famous by the Legend of Zelda.

EVO: Search for Eden was an adventure game distributed by Enix for the Super Nintendo. Released in North America in 1993, it has some of the most unique gameplay of the time, as well as a plethora of options to upgrade your creature as you travel through Earth's history.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Starship Bridge Simulator. Great Star Trek game, or greatest Star Trek game? Roo finds out in this latest episode. Other important questions that will be answered: Do the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few (or the one)? How many lights do you see? And just who is the Rock-it Man?

How funked up are you? There's really only one way to find out. Travel back. WAAAY back to a time when backwards hats and boomboxes ruled the Earth. Or in this case, Funkotron. Join Roo as he examines the red-headed stepchild in the ToeJam & Earl series: Panic on Funkotron.

How great was Secret of Mana... er, Evermore? Better than you may remember. Roo will guide you down memory lane and challenge the discontent you may have felt from this game being released instead of Secret of Mana 2. So why wasn't the sequel to Mana brought to the West? Was Evermore really the only Square RPG never released in Japan? And what game-lengthening tactic really sticks in Roo's craw? Find out in this video review of Secret of Evermore.

The Commodore joins Roo in this very special episode for a 2-player review of Zombies Ate My Neighbors. Continuing our celebration of Halloween-fest-tober 2009, we take you back to when Lucasarts was a game studio in its prime. High off of the success of titles such as the Monkey Island series, they created what on the surface would seem to be a standard action game involving two teenagers fighting zombies. But when you add in a bevy of weapons, tons of stages, and that classic off-the-wall humor, the product is much more than the sum of its parts. Kinda like Frankenstein.

It's 4 game reviews for the price of 1! What a deal! Roo dives into one of the first compilation games ever made. Why have I never heard of this game? Can you remix the best music of the NES and make it better? And does this game in fact offer the greatest single event to ever happen in a video game? Roo will perhaps get around to answering these questions in his review of the rare and elusive Mega Man: The Wily Wars.

We're digging early in the Super Nintendo's life cycle this week to bring you a game that many people didn't play, but the few that did will never forget. ActRaiser may have gotten lost alongside such classics as Super Mario World and Castlevania IV, but it deserves it's place in the pantheon of early SNES greats with its unique mix of action and town simulation stages. Watch Roo's review to see what you may have missed, as well as just how many Mel Brooks jokes he can squeeze in to one review.

Roo takes on the irate gamers of the world in order to prove that just because a game (or two) is licensed after a hit movie, it doesn't mean it should be given a shoddy review. In this episode, we have two reviews in one. First, the hidden gem of Aladdin for the Super Nintendo, which is then compared with the much more critically acclaimed Aladdin for the Sega Genesis. Which one wins out, the forgotten or the favorite? And what can be done to stem the tide of undeserving negative nostalgic reviews? With an epic speech, anything is possible.

For his 10th 16-Bit Gem, Roo celebrates by taking a thorough look at the history of perhaps the biggest cult hit video game series of all time. He'll explore the twists and turns of how a poor-selling, quirky Japanese RPG gained a massive following - culminating in one of the most devoted video game fanbases on the internet. Enjoy what we believe to be the most comprehensive video history of EarthBound ever made.