I didn't play Paddle Mania for years because it presented as a tennis game in a lot of ways, and I had other tennis games to get to first. It turns out Paddle Mania isn't tennis at all, though. There are surfers and volleyball players and a sumo wrestler, and you compete against them at Not Tennis.

Paddle Mania isn't tennis despite its flyers and marquee. It's... well, it's Paddle Mania, which is decidedly not tennis for reasons including but not limited to Pong, air hockey, volleyball players, and sumo wrestlers.

Happy May Day, here's an extensive look at the themes of Red Faction: Guerrilla, and its excellent joining of gameplay and narrative into a cohesive masterpiece focused on player freedom and revolution.

Red Faction: Guerilla isn't just a game with an impressive destruction mechanic or a rifle that makes you say, "Wow, cool gun!" It's Volition at its most explicitly pro-worker and anti-capitalist, reacting to a financial crisis with a still-resonant tale of a violent and necessary worker uprising.

Happy May Day, here's an extensive look at the themes of Red Faction: Guerrilla, and its excellent joining of gameplay and narrative into a cohesive masterpiece focused on player freedom and revolution.

Space Invaders to Galaxian to Galaga is an accurate enough zoomed-out view of the early history of fixed shooters, but one that ignores stepping-stone titles like Phoenix, which filled the gaps but have been comparatively forgotten by history due to a lack of re-issues and living in Galaga's shadow.

Taito distributed Phoenix, an early fixed shooter nestled in between the eras of Galaxian and Galaga, in Japanese arcades. Centuri handled that process in North American arcades, and Atari took care of the Atari 2600 port. Who made this bird-focused shoot 'em up, though? Well. Uh. Here's the thing.

Not an endless runner, not really a platformer, and not a racing game like you'll often see it labeled. Atari Games' 1985 arcade release, Road Runner, is a chase game. And one that delightfully adheres to Chuck Jones' "rules" for a Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner short. This one is a joy to play.

A canceled LaserDisc arcade game became a System 1 gem when Atari Games used its Warner connections to create the "chase" game, Road Runner, in 1985.

Who wants to read about yet another arcade game that Warner Bros. has forgotten it has the rights to? Max RPM is a 1986 drag racing game where you basically need to be perfect to keep on racing, but is fun enough that you won't mind giving perfection a few tries.

In 2000, SNK decided to make a crossover fighting game featuring a bunch of its women fighters from various franchises. Like with other Neo Geo Pocket Color fighters, a chibi style was used, but don't let that trick you into thinking the visuals or depth are lacking. SNK Gals' Fighters rocks.

Resident Evil recently turned 30, so I dove into its development and what made and makes it such a genre-defining success decades later. This game is a masterpiece, and its 2002 remake that allowed Shinji Mikami and Co. to show off the entirety of the dream of survival horror is even better.

It's difficult to overstate how important Resident Evil is to horror and to Capcom. The original recently turned 30, and both it and its 2002 remake are all-time classics, even as they differ from the direction the series would eventually go. Here's a look at its development and what makes it work.

Final Zone isn't perfect by any means — anyone familiar with Wolf Team's early work inherently knows as much — but the things it does get right make it easier to overlook the oddities. This isometric mech shooter has a deep weapon system and killer soundtrack on Genesis hardware; that's a good start

WiZMan's World originally released on the DS in 2009 as a Japanese exclusive, but the Jaleco joint has now made its way to international regions in a revamped form, WiZman's World Re;Try, to the Switch and Playstation 5. If you have a particular RPG itch, this one can scratch it.

Alex Kidd in Miracle World was a pre-Sonic the Hedgehog attempt at developing a game that was popular as Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. That uh, didn't work out. But that's fine, Miracle World is a weirdo with plenty to offer, and via its Sega Ages release is the most accessible it's ever been.

D4's EggConsole is releasing Compile's Disc Station games now, games like Carbuncle Pi, which is a variant of another Disc Station game of theirs, Nyanpi. None of those words are in the bible sure but they are in today's Retro XP.

D4's EggConsole is releasing Compile's Disc Station games now, games like Carbuncle Pi, which is a variant of another Disc Station game of theirs, Nyanpi. None of those words are in the bible sure but they are in today's Retro XP.

Knuckles Chaotix' wasn't supposed to be a 32X game, but the add-on needed titles and this one, originally slated for the Saturn, was just going to have to do. It's a shame it's not a better game, because it does have some fascinating bits!

Wario's Woods is more than just the answer to a number of NES-related trivia questions. It's also a fine game in its own right, even if, for whatever reason, reviewers from its release reviewed it like they were bored with the concept of puzzles.

Wario's Woods is more than just the answer to a number of NES-related trivia questions. It's also a fine game in its own right, even if, for whatever reason, reviewers from its release reviewed it like they were bored with the concept of puzzles.

Scurge: Hive originally released on the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS back in 2006, and was brought back on modern platforms in 2025. The isometric metroidvania wears its inspirations on its sleeve, but a rock-paper-scissors combat mechanic and constantly ticking infection meter make it stand out

Scurge: Hive originally released on the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS back in 2006, and was brought back on modern platforms in 2025. The isometric metroidvania wears its inspirations on its sleeve, but a rock-paper-scissors combat mechanic and constantly ticking infection meter make it stand out

Namco, through its home-console arm, Namcot, released the sliding block puzzle game Megapanel on the Mega Drive in 1990. It includes a whole bunch of pin-up art to reveal, explaining the bunny girl on the box art, but you need to be wired for 15 puzzle (and patience) to unlock any of them.

Namco, through its home-console arm, Namcot, released the sliding block puzzle game Megapanel on the Mega Drive in 1990. It includes a whole bunch of pin-up art to reveal, explaining the bunny girl on the box art, but you need to be wired for 15 puzzle (and patience) to unlock any of them.

In 1983, Irem used their arcade sensibilities to design a football game where every first down was the difference between winning and losing even more so than in actual football. And it's a hook that still works over four decades later.

Kid Icarus sometimes plays like it has no interest in your success, and that's because it doesn't. You have to take that initiative on your own, to concern yourself with what's needed in order to progress, and it's that refusal to budge on what it is that makes it so intriguing nearly 40 years later

An angled side-view! Dribbling! Stealing the ball! A computer opponent that simply did not miss! This game had... well, not everything. But Atari's Basketball had the most to that point.

But it should have. It really should have.

You're never going to believe this, but Konami switched and blended genres for Ganbare Goemon 3. It's an action-adventure game now. With mechs! And time travel! And Yae turns into a mermaid!

Happy 25th to Sin and Punishment, a killer collaboration between Treasure and Nintendo. Play it with the controller it was designed around, and your mind will be blown.

Bonk's Adventure on the Game Boy is not a port of the Turbografx-16 game called Bonk's Adventure, but Hudson Soft loved to be intentionally confusing with this stuff when publishing outside of Japan. If you're open to the smaller portable worlds of normally console platformers, you'll dig Bonk.

Mega Man games on the Game Boy are, more often than not, Not Good. Mega Man IV, though? That's a solid video game right there. It's not the best Mega Man you'll play, but you might even enjoy yourself while getting through it, which was novel for this portable subseries at the time.

Atari made a number of innovations in the 70s, and they all led to one place. Well, lots of places, sure, but also the one being highlighted here: Super Sprint.

It's Halloween, so, let's share some fitting games. Dead Rising is loaded with zombies and was well ahead of its time.

World Series Baseball arrived at a time when arcade-style baseball games were the norm, with exaggerated animations and sound effects, where realism was optional and often ignored. Sega's effort here changed the game in more ways than one.

Gradius: The Interstellar Assault is a from-the-ground-up Gradius game for the Game Boy, one where Konami decided to show off in a bunch of ways with graphical and level transitions that make it stand out on the platform all these decades later.

Gradius: The Interstellar Assault is a from-the-ground-up Gradius game for the Game Boy, one where Konami decided to show off in a bunch of ways with graphical and level transitions that make it stand out on the platform all these decades later.

Klonoa: Empire of Dreams wasn't the first portable Klonoa, but it was the first worldwide release of a portable game in the series. And it's a great one, too, a puzzle-platforming-oriented game that adds layers of complexity as it goes, without straying from the series' two-button approachability.

Namco's Game Boy Advance title, Klonoa: Empire of Dreams, was recently added to Nintendo Switch Online, and if you've never played, well, here's why you should get around to doing so.

G.Rev's Mamorukun Curse! is back in the present, in a much wider release in more ways than one, with Mamorukun ReCurse! Between the various modes, soundtracks, widescreen and twin-stick support, this is the definitive edition of a niche shoot 'em up that deserves your attention.

Kicking off a new column at Retro XP, where a guest author — in this month's case, @kimimithegameeatingshemonster.com — pops in to say hello and write about a game they want to share with you. First up, the 3D Sonic game on the Sega Saturn that we *did* get, even if it wasn't what was expected.

Capping off my month of Playstation 30th anniversary coverage with R4: Ridge Racer Type 4. It's the last of the series released on the original Playstation, the console that was as successful out of the gate as it was because Namco brought Ridge Racer to the launch party in the first place.

R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 pulled together elements of everything Namco had been doing with Ridge Racer games to that point, showed off fantastic handling and visual style, added a fleshed out grand prix story mode, and dropped an all-timer soundtrack on top of it all. One of the Playstation's greats.

Namco Museum, like the Playstation itself, celebrates 30 years this year. And the series was never better than on the console it got its start on, thanks to Namco actually leaning on the "museum" concept as more than something to put in the title.

The DS and Wii entry in the Geometry Wars series, Galaxies, deserves your attention (and a modern release, too).

I just want all of you to play Baroque, a true all-timer

Descent released on MS-DOS in 1994 as the first "true 3D" first-person shooter, and the game that popularized six degrees of freedom in movement (and made some people nauseous because of it). That it could run on the Playstation as well as it did, and control as well as it did, was mind-blowing.

Descent is a vital game in the 3D space, not just in general, but also because it ran and played so well on the Playstation in your living room. If the cheaper 3D console out there could run something this well, then the era of polygon-powered platforms was truly here to replace faux 3D.