ZPF seems like an excellent shmup mechanically but I'm pretty sure the thing that'll hook most of y'all is the elf twink shopkeeper who calls you "hon" if you buy hints

New post on da zone! Feed IT Souls (@gumpyfunction.bsky.social) is a small, angry game that balances platforming prowess with wholly warranted techbro bashing. Specifically THAT techbro. You know the one. wackgameboy.zone/2026/04/11/f...

Test page for framing, text bubbles here for the Loophole Logs. No backgrounds right now, just checking my framing.

New Game Boy game! It's Tennis! It's got Mario in it, but don't call it Mario Tennis or Camelot will add another vestigial gimmick to their next tennis game. wackgameboy.zone/2026/03/29/t...

I don't know exactly how to explain this but Illumination Fox just looks like a software engineer in a fursuit

kinda fucked up that we're all eventually gonna have to make the swap to an AMD card just to avoid Nvidia Enforced Yassification

replaying gen 1 pokemon for the first time in ages and I'm blown away at how well structured this is compared to other RPGs of its era it tutorializes but never wastes your time (far cry from modern pkmn!), characters are informative AND witty, it ramps up complexity perfectly, genuinely impressive

New Zonepost! Normally I live in constant fear of being sentenced to another 100 levels of box-pushery, but Catrap made the whole journey a joy, in large part thanks to an excellent undo feature and getting to sock the bejeezus out of its various Halloween monsters. wackgameboy.zone/2026/03/15/c...

marathon is a good game because sometimes you stumble into Worldbuilding

Just some samples while I'm working out lettering. I'm struggling a bit with the whole using Affinity to do letters as I'm much more used to hand-drawing my effects and letters - so enjoy some stuff that's been hand-lettered in the meantime. Pebs is a bit mad at Wedge. #loopholelogs #comics

I was initially surprised at just how much I'm enjoying Marathon, but I think it can be best summarized by "this is a game where you can play as the POV chase monster from Evil Dead 2"

New piece over at Pixel Die! Kyle subjected himself to the whims of the TikTok algo and played some games that were...actually good? Huh. Who'da thought. Vouch for Super Battle Golf btw, that game is a riot. pixeldie.com/2026/03/10/t...

output on the Wack Game Boy Zone has slowed for the following reasons: 1) a lot of those initial posts were already written! 2) I've got several completed games in the backlog but they deserve a bit more finesse to write up 3) I am becoming the foremost expert on portable Caesars Palace games

people assume my handle is because I liked skies of arcadia and sci-fi too much in the early internet days - and that's correct! - but there is another reason the fact that it took me this long to make videos on the internet is pretty funny, considering

everyone's favorite new pokemon starter being a bird that looks like it's in the middle of a difficult customer call is absolutely a recession indicator

yeah sorry board game bsky, I do not give half a shit about the nontroversy of the month do I sell review copies: no, they are donated or given away assuming I don't keep them do I care if someone makes fives of dollars from selling a secondhand board game post-review: also no

Our website just released one of the coolest things we've done yet: the start of our book-club-but-for-games, Roll for Discussion! The first episode is about Brave Fencer Musashi. After this, the next game will be chosen entirely at random from the participants' picks! pixeldie.com/2026/02/25/r...

SNK makes its debut on The Zone with Dexterity, a game that's kind of like Reversi if the board just occasionally exploded. wackgameboy.zone/2026/02/25/d...

Current game rotation

folks the reviews of the reviews are in

Exciting times: I got to preview a new Netrunner card for @netrunner.nullsignal.games! Most people would take this as an opportunity to talk about its strengths, create a puzzle, or do some sort of community engagement. I did not do those things. www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEe0...

my partner's been working her ass off on this comic. I'm super excited to see all her ideas come to fruition soonish! I've been assisting with the text edits/structure for a few years now (there's been a lot of writing!) and it's taken shape into something impressive in my extremely biased opinion

the insistence that we become reliant on AI as quickly and in as many areas as possible frequently reminds me of Stanislav Petrov, a man who prevented a catastrophe by looking at the output of a system (considered smarter than human beings!) insisting he initiate a nuclear response, and going "nah"

New WGBZ piece is about Meldac's redux of Heiankyo Alien, a game as historically significant as it is exciting. This has been my favorite discovery of this Game Boy journey thus far. Dig this. wackgameboy.zone/2026/02/16/h...

the game may be a bit dodgy performance-wise, but there is literally no part of High on Life 2 that hasn't impressed if not blown me away. strong recommendation once patches hit this game may legitimately be an all-timer for me, which is crazy because it's a sequel to fucking High on Life

hey do you want to see the coolest Game Boy doodad you almost certainly haven't used

for the 25th game I've covered on the zone, I completed...that game the weird kid in class owned? or was it your distant cousin? what was it called again? wackgameboy.zone/2026/02/13/t...

this is why I keep saying that the concept of a "gateway" game, ugly associations/implications aside, is ridiculous on its face and a bit insulting if someone's genuinely interested in learning a game for whatever reason? they're gonna learn that game! people are smart!

normal, well adjusted people: wow this year is amazing! nioh 3! DQ7! omeo is a dead man! new resi soon! me: hehehe high on life 2 in a day baybeeeee

post hot fire youtu.be/vXjHO6rc3s4?...

Today on the Wack Game Boy Zone it-oh. Ohhhhh no. No no no. Please, no. Why did you do this, Jaleco? wackgameboy.zone/2026/02/05/i...

New post on the WGBZ! It's Yakuman, a Mahjong implementation (yay!) that only plays 2p (boo!), and is still better than Battletoads. wackgameboy.zone/2026/01/30/y...

imagine being so odious that you managed to do tangible brand damage to the Dice Tower Kirk is a hilarious line in the sand bc it forces people like Sam to type sentences about how tasty boots are while they proceed to step on the rake again and again in full view of god and everyone

Play to Z announced an upcoming game and I can't help but suspect a significant amount of AI was involved between a cover with the game's own title spelled wrong, some wonky art, and a summary that looks like it was pasted directly out of GPT complete with emoji'd bullet points

FBC: Firebreak (@remedygames.com) recently had a free weekend on Steam, and our group enjoyed it so much that we bought 5 copies. I can't speak for how the game was on launch - I wasn't there! - but I can say that I'm excited to hit the showers with my coworkers again. pixeldie.com/2026/01/28/i...

A drum worth beating. However much the bottom may have fell out of funding games criticism and non-enthusiast coverage in general, it’s still important to recognize what separated the real deal outlets (firewalls between preview/news coverage and reviews, etc) and influencer coverage.

I recently saw an ex-reviewer for the Dice Tower state that he/they were releasing reviews based on individual plays of new games, as in they would play games exactly once and record if you ever doubted what the purpose of most board game coverage was, that should give you an indication!

New zone post! It's about Boxxle - pure, unadulterated Sokoban with a cover that'll give you nightmares. I kind of hate its guts! wackgameboy.zone/2026/01/26/b...

gonna pitch a movie about a young influencer struggling to find an audience and title it "Are You There Chat? It's Me, Margaret."

Pine Creek's pitch is my exact kind of thing - indie horror on the Game Boy! - but the execution fumbles at every step, particularly in the treatment of its subject matter. wackgameboy.zone/2026/01/22/p...

Click to remember the year's biggest unforced errors, stay for Microsoft getting deservedly dismantled.

New post on the zone! I played Castlevania: The Adventure, widely considered to be one of if not the worst 'Vanias Konami ever released. I can confirm that it's definitely not great! ...so why did I beat it twice? wackgameboy.zone/2026/01/19/c...

Got a double feature for y'all today. Don't thank me, these ports of Marble Madness play like comorbid diagnoses. At least we got a new solid floor for the list, right? It's not going to get worse? wackgameboy.zone/2026/01/16/m...

The Networks: Primetime (@gil.hova.net, @allplay.bsky.social) is a new edition of one of the very best drafting games. This season is sharper, wittier, faster, and fully deserving of a return to the limelight. pixeldie.com/2026/01/14/t...

Got a couple of pieces going up across different sites today! First is a new Wack Game Boy Zone entry for the excellent Revenge of the 'Gator. I should have known better than to doubt HAL Labs, they knew ball. wackgameboy.zone/2026/01/14/r...

if you can believe it, this cost me a whole $0!

huge W but also of course they did, if a single Tyranid had a spine out of place the fanbase would send a strike team to Nottingham

I'm officially qualified to talk about the silly Gator pinball game

New Game Boy writeup! It's Baseball! I try to grade launch titles on a curve, but that's hard when they feel like I'm running through soup. wackgameboy.zone/2026/01/11/b...

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