Reconnect Recap, w/e 16th March - NeoPets, Chrono Trigger, Doom and more walks down memory lane.
Connecting you to incredible games writing.
Kia Ora folks!
I think it’s been a busy week. Definitely noticed a lot of interesting articles come through Reconnect this week, but I could be wrong, I’ve spent the entire week playing SplitFiction with my partner.
However, they are out ‘socialising’ so I've pulled myself away from the Xbox and it’s time to write the Reconnect Recap. Your weekly summary of some of the best articles to feature on Reconnect in the past week.
Lets go!
If you’re on Bluesky, I’ve made a starter pack so that you can follow all the Reconnect writers in one spot. Not 100% complete yet but I’ll keep adding to it.
The Recap
Thrilling tales of Old Video Games explains how the Chrono Trigger characters got their names.
GameDev Reports - sponsored by Neon digs into the analytics on what time of day mobile games are played the most. The average won’t shock you but the other insights are pretty interesting.
GamingOnLinux breaks down Valve’s year in in review and my favourite handheld linux console is getting more and more popular and to no ones surprise, Valve is rich.
GameDev's Journey dives deep into what makes a compelling character, i’m not saying I loved this article because it pictures my favourite characters in games, but i’m not, not saying that if you know what I mean.
RetroDodo shows us that there are only two things in life that can be relied upon, death, and getting Doom running on something novel. This week its a breadboard.
Multiplier interviews game director of the upcoming Don’t Stop, Girlypop!, Jane Kennington and talks about how games can stand out when the genre is realism and some of the biggest studios are already dominating in that space.
TimeExtension takes us down a walk to visit Japans most worst rated game of all time.
Scanlines carries on a thread that many of us on Substack have been writing about, gamer identity. What it means to them and why it’s important.
RetroDodo again brings us something just as novel as another Doom port, this time it’s the history of Neopets…..handhelds. Something I didn’t even know existed.
a16z speedrun takes a look at a part of gaming that’s not talked about a lot, messaging games. They dive into things like Discord and Telegram and ponder where could this niche go in the future.
Matt Horton, added to the deluge of writing this week about Wanderstop, a new indie title, but Matt didn’t enjoy the experience like many others did, and his points are compelling.
Keep reading on for some fun extras and I’ll see you all next week.
Something Extra
This video was an absolute gem, i’m not quite old enough to have played some of these games but I never knew they were 'pre-rendered’ and why that was important.
Writer Recap
This week i’m featuring Nintendo is Great by Dylan Cornelius. This isn’t your normal Nintendo blog, where it’s just a deluge of Switch content, Dylan really loves Nintendo in its entirety. Every part of Nintendo’s history is something Dylan wants to write about and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed learning stuff through their Famicon series, and learning about the origins of characters such as Ice Climbers and ROB.
If you think you could do with some fun Nintendo history in your life, check them out.
Thanks for the extra video. It is well summarized.
Awesome vid on pre rendered graphics