Joe here. This is the hill I’ll die on: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is not just the best Sonic game – it’s the game that justified buying a Mega Drive instead of a SNES. I’ve had this argument approximately seven hundred times with Carl, and I’m having it…

Look, I need to establish my credentials upfront – I’ve been playing Street Fighter II since it hit arcades in 1991. I spent quarters I should have been using for lunch. I practiced dragon punches until I could do them blindfolded. I learned frame data before I knew…

Coming to Donkey Kong Country without 1994 context means I missed the “holy crap look at these graphics” moment that defined its launch. I played it for the first time in 2021, three decades after release, when pre-rendered 3D sprites look quaint compared to modern games. So I…

Coming to retro gaming without childhood nostalgia means I judge games purely on how they play today, not how they made me feel in 1991. So when the New Player Ready crew insisted Super Mario World deserved a top-five spot on our SNES rankings, I was skeptical.…