Pac-Man Land?!

Want proof Pac-Man was a big hit? Take a look at Pac-Man Land, located in Six Flags over Texas from 1983-1985. Pac-Man looks kind of creepy...

Courtesy of Kotaku.com

Footnotes: Mario in Punch-Out!

I love seeing Mario in Punch-Out! It was a humorous little addition to the game, and it gave the game a Nintendo look.

A few days ago, this article went up on Wii.com explaining the history of Punch-Out!! and how it came to be remade on the Wii. Included in the article are some easter eggs, the golf prize version of Punch-Out, and developer interviews. It is a great read, so I highly recommend you take a look.

In the making of the game, it turns out Makoto Wada simply drew Mario as the referee without permission. This would explain why he looks a little funny. Back when the NES was first starting out, there was no approval system to use Mario's image (which was a fairly new character).

So...is this a counterfeit Mario? I suppose in a way, it is!

Apologies

Sorry I missed some posting the last few days everyone. I had some work-related things I had to deal with. No worries, everything should be back to normal this week.

Cowabunga! Turtles in Time

Growing up, I didn't own a Super Nintendo. It's too bad, because I missed a lot of great games, which includes Turtles in Time, arguably the greatest beat em' up of all time. I remember playing it at a friends a few years after it came out, and I was blown away, even if the Playstation was already out by then.

Well good news for anyone else that may have missed it. Ubisoft has put out a remake of Turtles in Time on XBox Live! I'll definitely be picking it up, so I highly recommend you do the same. It is available right now, so go download it!

Dreamcast: A Tech Flop?

According to this article on MSN.com, the Sega Dreamcast is one of the 25 biggest tech flops in the past decade.

I guess economically, the Sega Dreamcast was a flop. There were thousands of consoles still unsold in the Sega warehouses when they canceled the Dreamcast. But technical wise, I thought the Dreamcast was a solid system. It had a lot of great games on it and I hear it is still pretty popular over in Japan.

I still have my Dreamcast. Do you?

Exclusive Preview: Historical Gaming

Premiering soon will be my new show, Historical Gaming. I'm pretty excited about this idea, and I think you will be too after reading about it. Below is a quick FAQ about the show.

What is Historical Gaming?
Historical Gaming is a show that takes an in-depth look at historical games. It not only gives you information on the actual game, but information on the history it pertains to. For example, a video on God of War will provide information on the greek mythology that inspired the game, as well as information on the game itself.

There are a lot of review shows...why this?
Simply put, I'm a history nerd. I play mostly history-related games, and I figured it would not only provide good information on subjects, but give people a better idea on whether or not they should buy the game. Not only that, I am covering games from Atari to X-Box 360. There are a lot of history games that span every console!

Sounds kind of boring...
Well if you don't like history, I guess it could seem that way. My idea is to bring the entertainment of video reviews and integrate a history lesson into them. I think everyone will enjoy it!

Is this going to be on YouTube?
Of course, in fact the first episode will premiere simultaneously on YouTube and this website. After that, it will premiere here first, and then on YouTube. I'm not sure if these will go on Retroware TV or not, that is up to the staff over there.

When will it premiere?
I want to say 2 weeks, but I'm gonna say ASAP. I'm pretty excited about the first episode.

Footnotes: The Pacman Frog

Everybody panic! Video games have infiltrated the scientific community. I think video games have hit it big when you have an animal named after a popular video game character. I stumbled across this interesting find while researching for a future Gaming Historian episode (gee, I wonder what the topic is?).

Pictured here is a Ceratophrys, but most scientists around the world call it a Pacman Frog! This is due to it's large mouth and abdomen, similar to the popular arcade character, Pac-Man. These are extremely popular pets in households because they are very easy to take care of and don't require a lot of water (because they are very poor swimmers!).

Personally, I've never owned a pet frog before. When I was little I would always try to capture the lizards when my family went down to Florida, but never the frogs. However, I wouldn't mind trying to raise my own Pacman Frog, especially if they are easy to care for.



The one pictured here is albino, but I thought it would be a great picture because it is yellow, just like Pac-Man.