See you, Space Cowboy.

My end has been pretty quiet lately regarding the content creation spectrum. Every blue moon or so, I put out a post somewhere, upload a video elsewhere and do the occasional social networking thing, promoting whatever I’m currently doing. In contrast to other years, this is probably the most sparse those updates have been in a long time.

2022 has been a fantastic year for me on the professional and hobby front. Somehow, things I have been trying to get some massive achievements out of for the last twenty years suddenly bore enormous fruit. Ever play a game, and you get to one of those moments where things are just lined out perfectly for you to hit in a row, one after another? That’s what this year has been like for me. The year has also flown by for me, though, and I can’t believe I’m typing this on the day after Thanksgiving. Winter is starting to bear its fangs, and I’m pretty damn thankful I have a trip to Miami coming up in December.

So let’s get to the point – After 20 years of knocking out a bunch of high-level achievements in my life, I’m going to use this opportunity to take a nice, long break. What’s that mean? The YouTube channel, Gamer Logic, most aspects of Unleaded Logic, and whatever else I typically do on the side will be scaled back immensely, if not completely. I plan to do this from the start of December and return in January 2024. Yep, I’m taking just a tad over a year off. What changes could happen in a year? I’m excited to see, and I’m excited to see what aspects of my life I will really, truly miss.

Now for the promoters and folks that have booked me for gigs and speaking events for 2023, don’t freak out. I will perform all obligations I have booked for next year without issue. Will I take any additional bookings? I’m always willing to have a discussion, at least. There are a lot of milestones for me coming up next year. One of them is that I turn 40 years old, which is just crazy. I think about all the people I’ve had the opportunity to work with and speak to these last 20 years, and it’s cool seeing how we’ve all aged and grown together. I also wonder about some of those faces I worked closely with that are no longer around, as they’ve walked away from the industries I’ve met them in to enjoy family life or new challenges.

On another note: Thank you to everyone who always continued to support my endeavors, no matter what they might be. I know a year seems like a long time, but I’ve got plenty of creations for you to watch, listen to, or even read.

I hope all of you don’t see this as that I’m saying goodbye because I’m not. This will go by quickly if the next year is anything like the last two years.

So with that…See you, Space Cowboy.

Itchy, Tasty: An Unofficial History of Resident Evil Review

While Capcom has done a tremendous job with chronicling and expanding the lore of the Resident Evil series, the game company has never gone in-depth to pay respects to its series characters. Alex Aniel’s Itchy, Tasty is an incredibly in-depth look at both the origin story of Capcom’s Resident Evil/Biohazard and the series subsequent sequels. Like a zombie looking for his next meal, Aniel goes straight for the jugular and scores some fantastic interviews from Resident Evil series creators Tokuro Fujiwara, Yoshiki Okamoto, Shinji Mikami, and Hideki Kamiya.

As a fan of the Resident Evil series, I thought myself to be very knowledgeable of all of its development stories. Still, Itchy, Tasty surprised me with many new details about the series that I had never heard before. As successful as the Resident Evil series has been, developing a sequel for the game has seemingly never been an easy achievement for Capcom. Itchy Tasty’s interviews help provide even more context to these business and development challenges and just how much internal pressure there was at Capcom to develop the next great Resident Evil game.

Don’t let the fact that Capcom does not officially sanction this book scare you. Alex Aniel is no slouch to the game industry and provides Resident Evil fans a well-written tome of knowledge that will take your Resident Evil history to the next level.

Itchy, Tasty: An Unofficial History of Resident Evil:

SNK VS. CAPCOM: THE MATCH OF THE MILLENNIUM Review

While many say that Marvel VS Capcom is the ultimate experience in fighting game crossovers, I have to disagree. As someone who frequented the arcades regularly, I spent plenty of time split between my favorite Capcom fighters like Street Fighter Alpha 2 and SNK fighters such as King of Fighters. I had always hoped for a crossover between the two companies but never expected it to happen. Suddenly, in 1999 it did, but not in arcades, at least not right away. Instead, those wanting to find out who the better fighter between Terry Bogard and Ryu was would need to pick up SNK VS. CAPCOM: THE MATCH OF THE MILLENNIUM on the NEO GEO Pocket Color. If you never had the opportunity to play the game before, it has been re-released on the Nintendo Switch in all its glory.

It may be a portable game, but it has plenty of fighters to choose from.

Like other games released in the NEOGEO POCKET COLOR SELECTION on the Nintendo Switch, gamers can choose from several different background borders featuring various NEO GEO Pocket models. You can also utilize a zoom feature to scale the game to a more full-screen experience. The scanline filter from other games released in this series marks its return, but I still find myself turning it off to experience the visuals more cleanly.

Cutscenes between matches keep the story interesting.

SNK VS CAPCOM comes loaded with features. It has 26 characters from King of Fighters and Samurai Shodown on the SNK side, with Capcom characters from Street Fighter and Darkstalkers. The game also features several modes to play, including single, tag, and 3 VS 3 matches.

You can leave a border turned on for the full NEO GEO Pocket experience.

SNK VS CAPCOM: THE MATCH OF THE MILLENNIUM is without a doubt my favorite fighter in the NEOGEO POCKET COLOR SELECTION of games. SNK already knew how to shink their terrific fighting game characters to a portable format, but here they’ve expanded that great care to the Capcom universe. Matches play very well with many of the signature moves the characters are known for intact. Throw in some fun storyline cutscenes, mini-games, great background stages and combine it with an accurate port to the Switch, and you have a great title to play for $7.99.

SNK VS CAPCOM: THE MATCH OF THE MILLENNIUM is available on the Nintendo eShop today, February 17th, 2021.

Title: SNK VS. CAPCOM: THE MATCH OF THE MILLENNIUM

Genre: Versus Fighting Game

Platform: Nintendo Switch (Download)

Release: February 17th, 2021 (PST)

Price: $7.99 / €7.99

Players: 1 to 2 players

ESRB: Teen

Store: Nintendo eShop

Official Site: https://www.snk-corp.co.jp/us/games/ngpcs

SNK VS. CAPCOM: THE MATCH OF THE MILLENNIUM Trailer

SNK VS. CAPCOM: THE MATCH OF THE MILLENNIUM features 26 fearsome fighters from series like KOF, SAMURAI SHODOWN, STREET FIGHTER, and DARKSTALKERS. Players can choose between Single, Tag, and Team-based fighting modes as well as three different battle styles. In between bouts players can enjoy Survival, Time Attack, and Mini Games to collect points and unlock hidden characters.

SNK VS CAPCOM: THE MATCH OF THE MILLENNIUM also takes advantage of the Nintendo Switch’s Tabletop and Handheld modes so friends can duke it out whenever and wherever they want.

Title: SNK VS. CAPCOM: THE MATCH OF THE MILLENNIUM

Genre: Versus Fighting

Game Platform: Nintendo Switch (Download)

Release: February 17th, 2021 (PST)

Price: $7.99 / €7.99 Players: 1 to 2 players

ESRB: Teen Store:

Nintendo eShop Official Site: https://www.snk-corp.co.jp/us/games/n…

Gamemaster Classified: A Howard Phillips Tell-All Book Hits Kickstarter!

Armed with an NES controller and his signature bow-tie, Howard Phillips isn’t someone you can easily forget, especially if you grew up during the spectacular rise of the Nintendo Entertainment System. Like many others, I first came to know of Howard Phillips through Nintendo Power magazine, and after finding out he got to play Nintendo games for a living, I wanted to be just like Howard. Howard started his career at Nintendo of America’s warehouse in New Jersey but would eventually “warp” to higher levels within the company as a director. Howard’s contributions to Nintendo played a crucial factor in what games we got to play in North America for the Nintendo Entertainment system, as well as what we read in Nintendo Power magazine.

If you’ve read a book or watched a documentary that focuses on classic video games in the last ten years, then what you just read about Howard Phillips isn’t anything new. Howard’s story has been covered in many different capacities but never has Howard Phillips told the story himself, in his own words. Today that changes with the Kickstarter announcement of Gamemaster Classified, a tell-all book straight from Howard Phillip and Matthew Taranto.

Gamemaster Classified will cover Howard Phillips’ entire career at Nintendo of America, while Matthew Taranto will provide his own gaming experiences as a kid growing up in the NES era. A quick look at the Kickstarter pitch video shows that Matthew is doing far more than just telling stories as he’s providing some fantastic illustrations and the design of the book. His passion for this project shines through on the video, and it will be fascinating to see the final result from this project.

Gamemaster Classified has already hit its Kickstarter goal of $23,000 in less than one day and still has over 29 days to go. The book is currently scheduled for a February 2022 release date, and backers can choose from some very affordable options if they’d like to support the project.

Check out the official Kickstarter page for Gamemaster Classified here: http://kck.st/2N8vlD5

Fatal Fury: First Contact Review – Nintendo Switch

Initially released in 1999 on the Neo Geo Pocket ColorFatal Fury: First Contact impressed anyone in North America who was lucky enough to give SNK’s handheld a try. Like other handheld titles on the platform, SNK’s morphed its long-established fighters from their Fatal Fury series into cute kiddy fighters. Don’t let the cuteness fool you, though; these pint-sized fighters can lay down the pain just like their originals. Fatal Fury: First Contact looked and played terrific for a handheld fighter. Still, many didn’t get the opportunity to experience the game due to the short lifespan of the Neo Geo Pocket in North America. However, that is about to change thanks to the game being re-released on the Nintendo Switch as a part of SNK’s Neo Geo Pocket Color Selection of games.

Bringing Fatal Fury: First Contact to the Switch will undoubtedly allow the game to be seen in a new light, in more ways than one. Sure, many gamers will finally get the chance to experience this fun fighter for the first time, but now they don’t have to worry about finding a light source to see the screen, an issue the Neo Geo Pocket Color had. The pixel visuals look great on both the Switch screen and on a large screen when the Switch is docked. I’m still blown away by just how well the characters in this game are animated, even for a 1999 handheld game. To get the best out of the visuals, be sure to turn off the screen filter setting that can be changed in the on-screen options menu by hitting the – button. I found that when the screen filter was turned on, the setting seemed to mute the game’s colorful visuals. The option to zoom the game to fill the screen’s vertical aspect ratio is also available, which was my preferred way to play the game. Fatal Fury: First Contact also features great music, and it, along with the game’s sounds, seem to be accurately reproduced from the original Neo Geo Pocket Color hardware.

For those of you who have played a Fatal Fury/Real Bout title, you will feel right at home as many Fatal Fury favorites are featured, including Mai Shiranui, Terry Bogard, Andy Bogard, and Billy Kane. While it’s been years since I’ve played First Contact, my memories of the input commands from other Fatal Fury games allowed me to pull off moves to trounce my foes. While my Nintendo Switch Controller doesn’t have the clicky stick that I loved on the Neo Geo Pocket Color, it still had no problems launching several Power Wave shots into my opponent. 

My favorite feature of the Switch release of Fatal Fury: First Contact is that you can quickly launch a two-player mode that pits you and a friend against each other. While this feature was available in the original game, it required using a Neo Geo Pocket Link Cable, something I did not have readily available back in 1999.

SNK fans that love Fatal Fury and other Neo Geo fighters need to pick this game up, but newcomers shouldn’t be afraid to step in to experience their first real bout of Fatal Fury action. Hopefully, SNK continues to highlight more great titles from the Neo Geo Pocket library in the future.

Fatal Fury: First Contact is available now to download from the Nintendo Switch eShop.

Link: https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/fatal-fury-first-contact-switch/