QCF: Save Me Mr. Tako!

 bought my first Game Boy when I was eight years old…I guess labor laws weren't what they used to be, because I was on the payroll for a paper route with the Barrie Advance in the third grade. Anyway, I loved my Game Boy back then more than I like some of my family today, and the old black on the green screen will always invoke a certain nostalgia for days long past. 30 years is a long-ass time.

However, as it turns out, Nicalis' Save Me Mr. Tako! instantly brings me back to my childhood as no other game has in a long time. It has the look–It has–the sound–it has the gameplay, and best of all, it's on a portable system.—kind of.

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A Nintendo 64 Classic Would Actually Be a Terrible Idea

intendo's Classics line has been nothing short of a success, even if that success only means that the limited stock that was initially released - and in some cases, already replenished with fresh units - have been quickly and completely sold out. At the very least, people are keenly and acutely aware of the SNES Classic and its infamously-under-produced-and-forthcoming-again predecessor, the NES Classic. However, people are already looking forward to theoretical successors, and the Nintendo 64 seems ripe for the Classics line treatment. After all, the N64 had a healthy fan-base and some notable games, but are these qualities really enough for it to actually make for a good “Classics” machine?

Well, no, not especially and there are quite a few factors that support this.

First, let's discuss the Nintendo 64 itself. The Nintendo 64 was launched in North America in 1996 to a voracious crowd that decimated its supply in the kind of way you'd expect of a Nintendo's launch; seemingly under-produced, rarely restocked... you know the drill. The system itself had four controller ports built in, relied on cartridges (with a woefully small capacity compared to CD ROMs) and other features like analogue controllers, expandable bits that increased the system's power and, of course, a decent selection of strong first party games over the course of its lifetime. So, all of the ingredients that would make a great classic mini system right—still no, and not all the nostalgia in the world could prove otherwise.

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QCF: Crash Bandicoot: N Sane Trilogy

hile there are dozens upon dozens of gaming franchises that are languishing in obscurity these days, none have quite sparked the sort of fiery demand that Marsupial Mascot Crash Bandicoot has. The once revered Sony icon had recently resurfaced as a cameo character in the latest Skylanders entry, and the fan service in response proved that plenty of folks had still held onto their memories of the edgy Jorts-wearing furball fondly, which didn’t go unnoticed by Activison or Sony.

Wisely banking off of the nostalgia of the Bandicoots earlier titles during his prime, the two companies had finally decided to pull the trigger, Crash Bandicoot: N-Sane Trilogy, exclusively for the PlayStation 4, a remastered collection of the first three titles newly developed from the ground up by Vicarious Visions.

The question here however was never whether or not Crash Bandicoot could be brought back but rather, whether or not he SHOULD be—many of the charming elements of the series are also some of the same rough-edged quirks that relegate the games into being the clumsy 3D relics (pun gratifyingly intended) that they ultimately are.

While there are few conventions that haven’t aged well, and a few new glaring issues that weren’t there before, the trilogy still manages to iron out a lot of the wrinkles of the originals, delivering a wonderful compilation of the Bandicoot’s early outings that both fans, and new comers alike.

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QCF: I Am Setsuna

he status quo of the modern-day JRPG is getting more, and more polarizing by the year—and a lot of that has to do with the two very distinct audiences that the genre has gradually come to cater to. The term “JRPG” generally triggers thoughts of nostalgia for the genre’s heyday on the original PlayStation and SNES in the nineties, but lately, the definition has expanded into different territories that are now more synonymous with the style, with conventions like relationship building, and permanent character deaths.

There aren’t many earnest options around for the old camp of fans these days, and that’s what makes the original JRPG giant’s attempt to recapture that magic with I Am Setsuna so intriguing, and maybe even a little admirable in some aspects.

The new game from Square Enix is one that spares little time in chasing a legacy that most considered long forgotten, and while some of its methods used to deliver that experience are a bit rough, it still manages to be a memorable love letter that charmingly romanticizes the charms that defined what the genre used to be.

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PPR Presents Lime Light: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe

hanks to the work of one incredibly talented artist by the alias of bWWd and his team of contributors, all of the boys and girls who drove their parents crazy with their expensive fascination with Eternia can now rejoice; there’s a fucking He-Man and the Masters of the Universe beat’em up game—and it’s beautiful.

Toast takes the lead, as George joins in to wax nostalgia and marvel at one of the most impressive fan projects that we’ve discovered in the Del Quattro yet! You guys can tune in (and subscribe to us while you're at it) around Wednesday evening, January 15^th, at 7:30 PM pacific time and join us in the chat as we lay down our lives for the power of Grey Skull!

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