Christmas 1997 was rough for my wallet but heaven for my brain. I'd scraped together enough pounds to grab Diddy Kong Racing alongside my shiny new N64, mainly because Mario Kart 64 was sold out everywhere and the bloke at Electronics Boutique said "trust me, this one's different."…

There's this moment—you know the one—when you're digging through a mate's Genesis collection and you spot something you've never heard of. The cartridge looks official enough, decent art, but the name rings absolutely no bells. That's exactly how I stumbled across Crusader of Centy back in '94, wedged…

I remember walking into Electronics Boutique in 1998, scanning the shelves for something different. The usual suspects were there—GoldenEye, Mario Kart 64, Star Fox 64—but then I spotted it. A bright orange cartridge with four familiar faces grinning back at me: Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny. South Park,…

You know what still gets me? The other day I was showing my nephew some old PlayStation games, and he asks me, completely innocent, "Why didn't they make Crash Bandicoot for Nintendo 64?" Just like that. Kid's eight years old and he's asking the question that haunted an…