New blog! Final Fantasy Tactics was the last great strategy RPG I hadn't played, and now I have I realise it's totally unlike any of its peers... gamesfromtheblackhole.wordpress.com/2025/11/09/f...

New blog! Final Fantasy Tactics was the last great strategy RPG I hadn't played, and now I have I realise it's totally unlike any of its peers... gamesfromtheblackhole.wordpress.com/2025/11/09/f...

Two new arrivals this week. One a sequel I’ve wanted since the 90s and the other a prequel to a 90s classic.

Tomorrow...

OMG I did it! After much faffing about, I managed to make a European save file that unlocks the Gradius Sword in the PAL version of Vandal Hearts 2!

Peop Cycle is one of my favourite arcade games of all time. Unfortunately, last time I saw one I discovered I’m now too tall and my knees kept hitting the handlebars as I tried to play. It has become literally unplayable. :(

So proud to have been a part of this journey. Somehow I’m in both these issues, writing about the same game. Darran has been amazing to work with all these years and more (I also wrote for him on gamesTM) and he’s become a good friend too.

If you love the Games From The Black Hole blog, please can you share and let people know why. It's time to get this account a following comparable to X so I can move on! When this account gets to 1000 followers I will not only stop posting on X, I will nuke it from orbit and delete it forever.

If you love the Games From The Black Hole blog, please can you share and let people know why. It's time to get this account a following comparable to X so I can move on! When this account gets to 1000 followers I will not only stop posting on X, I will nuke it from orbit and delete it forever.

I’m delighted to see my 8-page Simon The Sorcerer feature in the latest Retro Gamer. This article was a real labour of love; I interviewed someone involved in every single game, including both the new one and the cancelled 2014 release. If you’re a fan of the series, I think you’ll like it.

Unlocked! I've genuinely written the most detailed article there is in English on Ubisoft's very first game, Zombi. The Guillemot family expanded from selling farming equipment to getting a teenager to rip off Dawn Of The Dead for them, and the rest is history:

Amazing and beautiful that this website is still going. I use it as often now as I did back then.

LOOK AT THAT

My most played games according to the Nintendo Store app…

Oh no

Big thanks to @turfmasta.bsky.social for creating this GBA cartridge extender. It’s intended to make the e-reader work with Analogue Pocket but I actually got it so I can play Boktai and ensure the sun sensor is correctly exposed!

If you live in or around Wakefield, UK and you're interested in the history of games, I'm giving a talk on the history of Worms and Team17 at Wakefield Museum on Saturday 22nd November. Tickets are super limited; reserve one here: experiencewakefield.co.uk/event/30-yea...

20 years ago today, I posted the first entry on my blog, Vintage Computing and Gaming (vintagecomputing.com) Since then, my relationship with technology has become a lot more complicated, but I still love tech history. I posted some reflections on the site: www.vintagecomputing.com/index.php/ar...

About to board the Catbus!

If you’re interested to know what it’s like working on a mag for 20 years you can find out by watching or listening to this.

Old post! In celebration of Stray Children releasing this week, let’s take a look back at its spiritual predecessor, Moon! It’s also the first game ever featured on the blog. gamesfromtheblackhole.wordpress.com/2020/09/06/m...

I finished a very good tactics RPG for the first time last night. Hopefully I’ll be able to get a blog post out for it this month…

Happy Halloween! If you can’t celebrate by playing Dead Of The Brain on MSX then the next best thing is reading about it!

Big day for cool as fuck games

Why are people saying the PS2 turned 25 today? It came out March 4th didn’t it?

One new arrival this week… This one will be a gift for my daughter. Really looking forward to whizzing this round the kitchen with her.

Old post! The HD-2D remake of Dragon Quest I&II is almost upon us so let’s look back at the remake of its canonical prequel… gamesfromtheblackhole.wordpress.com/2025/03/02/d...

Question! When you go on holiday, do you take a handheld with you and play by the pool, the beach etc? I’ve been doing it for decades but I can’t remember ever seeing a single other soul do the same. Does no one else really do this? I love sinking some quality time into a holiday game.

A CRT with a pixel art screen saver! I never knew there was such a thing.

The parents should sue the school, the police and the AI company. There’s no excuse for the trauma this will have caused, with armed police pointing guns at an innocent child… That just so happens to be black.

With the November 18th release of BIRDCAGE approaching, we're on the look out for reviewers! If you're a writer, content creator or podcaster and would like to cover the game, we'll soon have a number of review codes to give out. So please get in touch, either here or at [email protected] 🕊️🥚

Found a cursed Outrun 2 cab in my hotel

I see N64 Magazine’s mascot, Worldy Bloke on the subs-only cover of Retro Gamer! @wiloverton.bsky.social

This is one of the toughest things I've ever had to write. Hope you can make time for it. #Itagaki

Well, this totally sucks. To illustrate the point, when I joined gamesTM in 2006 there were about 25 games journalists in the building. Now, what’s left of those Imagine mags (at Future) numbers just 2 journalists. Support what’s left and support your indies too. The written word still has value!

A reader got in touch to say that my post about Head Over Heels inspired him to create a new remake of the game, complete with new visuals and various enhancements. I could not be prouder that my little blog inspired someone to go out and actually develop a game. How cool is that?!

Some websites do this in a day; it took me five years. But I’m still immensely proud and delighted that people continue to read my little blog. Thank you all, this has made my day!

I have written something for this issue that features prominently on the cover…

A reader got in touch to say that my post about Head Over Heels inspired him to create a new remake of the game, complete with new visuals and various enhancements. I could not be prouder that my little blog inspired someone to go out and actually develop a game. How cool is that?!

In Super Mario 3D Land, the welcome screen that is displayed when starting the game for the first time appears to be much less enthusiastic about the game in the European version compared to the US version.

1998! The Saturn reached its peak with Shining Force III, Burning Rangers and Panzer Dragoon Saga in the same year the Dreamcast launched in Japan. Not to mention Ocarina Of Time, Half-Life, Game Boy Color and so on…

No new arrivals this week as I’m on holiday. So here’s a Raw Thrills arcade game I spotted in the wild and didn’t know existed.

Sir-Tech is most known now for Wizardry, but had other games, including an Apple II graphical adventure, Crypt of Medea. One of the authors is now world famous but also utterly mysterious. I give the overall history and play through the first part of the game. bluerenga.blog/2025/10/19/c...

Almost impossible to say but this one is notable for me; it’s the one that inspired me to include a title screen in every GFTBH post!

Old post! If you think you’ve played Shining Force III, but you’ve only played the western version, you’re missing out on two more equally large and brilliant chapters. Here’s my journey through Scenario 2… gamesfromtheblackhole.wordpress.com/2025/07/06/s...

If at all possible, store your bins around the back of your house so your neighbours don’t have to look at them.

This is one of the best visual novel type games I’ve ever played. Beautifully designed and written, it captures what was great about certain nostalgic eras of gaming. If you loved, in particular, the Dreamcast or the Wii U, I think it will resonate. Play it!

This is so cool

New blog! MSX horror adventure, Dead Of The Brain, seems like it might be a great companion piece to Snatcher but would actually be more at home on the top shelf of an 80s video shop... But, you know, in a good way. gamesfromtheblackhole.wordpress.com/2025/10/12/d...

New blog! MSX horror adventure, Dead Of The Brain, seems like it might be a great companion piece to Snatcher but would actually be more at home on the top shelf of an 80s video shop... But, you know, in a good way. gamesfromtheblackhole.wordpress.com/2025/10/12/d...