video games – DaveGladow.com

F-Zero X review

There are a lot of “floaty car” racers out there. Here’s another one!

That’s basically the review right there. The second F-Zero game on home consoles released for the N64, F-Zero X stood out for trading any semblance of decent visuals in for lightning speed, as though driving a cyber truck meant you could go 800 mph down a slip n slide.

Sadly, driving a cyber truck only makes you a giant dorkstore. But the good news is this game allows you to make a deal with the devil that actually provides a decently good time and not just the scorn of every person you meet.

The insane speeds here really stand out. Unfortunately, so do the touchy controls, which make the thing a little more inaccessible than other racers, including its predecessor, which I consider a more enjoyable affair overall (and was certainly more groundbreaking).

So yeah, that’s F-Zero X. It’s ugly. It’s insanely fast. And it’s got a steep learning curve. As part of a really deep collection of racers on the N64, I consider it somewhat noteworthy historically as well.

I like it. I don’t love it.

Dave’s Score: 7/10

Dance Dance Revolution — Retro Gaming Essentials (No. 51)

Do you know what it’s all about?

No, really.

Do you know what it’s all about?

You do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around.

That’s what it’s all about.

(I apologize for nothing.)

Hokey pokey dalliances aside, I thought it was important to include a proper, traditional rhythm game in this countdown of my 100 essential retro games, and well, when you think on that for more than two seconds, the best possible choice really begins to make itself obvious.

You see, I think it’s the activity level here that really sets “Dance Dance Revolution” apart. A spirited evolution of the genre that demanded its participants stand up and get moving in order to have any sort of success, “DDR” took over arcades and helped usher in a true golden age for rhythm games.

I don’t think I’m overstating that either. I mean, we can argue that certain games have come along since that have done this sort of thing even better, and we can likewise argue that the activity doesn’t mean so much as the music itself and therefore a less active game might have a case for being considered more important to the games industry at large.

My argument in this discussion is this: Why else would this concept be imitated so gosh-darn much after this if this sucker wasn’t super meaningful to people? Here, you get two things – rhythm and dance – in concert, and moreover, it’s a communal experience, encouraging people to participate in pairs. And when it works, it REALLY works.

Truly, that IS what it’s all about.

Dance Dance Revolution at a glance:
Genre: Dance/rhythm
Released: 1999
Platform: Arcade
Guinness World Record: Most Widely Used Video Game in Schools

Parasol Stars review

I want to give this a few paragraphs, because “Parasol Stars” is a game I really enjoy and it’s also a game I know won’t make the retro essentials list. (It’ll miss by a couple dozen spots at present.)

The basics here are that it’s (mostly) a non-scrolling platformer (it scrolls a bit, but it’s mostly a static area that covers at most a couple of screens) that was released on a few different platforms, perhaps most famously for the Turbografx-16 (this is how I played it, via the mini). It’s a multiplayer title, and you control these two cute little guys who have to manipulate bubbles to defeat all the enemies on the screen. Clearing the screen advances you to the next stage.

The quirk, and the reason for the title, is you use umbrellas to achieve this, and that dynamic — of using your umbrella to block attacks, collect bubbles, launch attacks, and float about the screen — provides a good time.

The graphics and sound are really top notch for this sort of thing, as well.

So, Parasol Stars is basically “Bubble Bobble,” but prettier and more fun.

That makes sense, since it’s a direct sequel to Bubble Bobble, after all.

Anyway, that’s the gist. I think it’s tempting to think of a game like this as being outdated by the time of its release, let alone today, but pushing that thought aside results in enjoyment that isn’t to be dismissed … it flirts with “must-play” status for me. I roped my oldest daughter into playing it with me, and we had a ball. It’s good in single-player, but I think it truly sings in multiplayer. That’s the way to go if you can.

Dave’s Score: 8/10

My games of 2025

I feel like I might have done my game of the year proper justice here, so I’m not sure there’s a lot I need to add to that.

I played a lot of games this year, but honestly, nothing was better than “Shadow of the Colossus,” a game I think of as being a must-play in the same category of games like Tetris and Donkey Kong.

Yes, you may play this game and not find it to be the game for you.

Yes, you should play it anyway, because the game is foundational to understanding the medium at large.

Beyond that landmark title, however, there was a lot of good stuff on the docket in 2025 (you can read through my thoughts recorded in real time right here on social media).

Below, I list everything I played through to some level of completion over the past year, and at the end, you’ll see a ranking of the best games I finished for the first time this year. It’s a fun list – hopefully with some decent insight included.

I’m excited for next year, too. Santa delivered a Switch 2 to the family, with all sorts of goodies to dive into.

Anyhow, read on to see how I rank the games I completed this calendar year.

Star Parodier — Retro Gaming Essentials (No. 49)

We haven’t really talked about Japanese imports in this countdown yet (present company excepted), and it feels like a pretty important part of the games industry at large … so let’s maybe do that, yeah?

Bonus: It gives me an excuse to talk about what is just a dang delightful game.

So, let’s go ahead and discuss “Star Parodier,” an excellent “cute ‘em up” that somehow didn’t get ported to America for a couple of decades despite it being a feast visually, aurally, and gameplay-wise, while also being that rarest of things shooters so often fail to even remotely consider during planning and development:

It’s approachable.

Star Parodier at a glance:
Genre: Shooter
Released: 1992
Platform: PC Engine Super CD
9/10 score from Nintendo Life

Mega Man 3 — Retro Gaming Essentials (No. 48)

I don’t know that I’m going to have much more room for series duplicates and sequels in the rest of this countdown.

And yet, here we are anyway.

I mean, sure, we’re still going to have to see some covered ground as we go along, because I just have too much fondness for particular games to leave them off. And if we can acknowledge that sometimes sequels can exceed the original work (as we have done), we can likewise acknowledge that sometimes they don’t *quite* get there … yet they have a great deal of value just the same.

Even more than that, if I’m honest with myself (and you), I can also allow that on occasion, my own choice for elevation in this list is more of a coin flip than a definitive proclamation. In other words, the relative quality between two choices for inclusion from a particular property might be essentially equal.

So, let us state for the record that even though it feels a shame to lean into a specific series often during a countdown of this sort (since it will inevitably result in the exclusion of other series), it is also not entirely without merit. Truly, sometimes, the games in question simply just deserve to be here.

For me at least, the real litmus test, above and beyond personal attachment, historical importance, or even quality, is going to be how distinctive an experience you might get from game to game within a particular series.

I can wince a little at all of the Mario games we have on this list so far, but only for appearance’s sake, because when you peer a little closer, you’ll see a unique experience from one game to the next.

To elaborate, Mario 1 was the original promise of continued fun and excitement. Mario 2 was the colorful oddball sequel that innovated. Mario 3 was excellence personified. Mario World was even more excellence personified. Mario 64 was a groundbreaker. And so on, and so on.

It’s the same with Castlevania. “Dracula’s Curse” is perhaps the best possible example of old-school “NES-hard” platforming, “Rondo of Blood” was the transitional game, introducing more dynamic branching levels and upping the visuals and sound, and “Symphony of the Night” was the natural end point for that evolution, going for more explorer-based action.

With all of that considered, you can probably pretty safely guess why we’re now going to talk a little about Mega Man 3. Sure, I have a personal attachment to it. But it’s also a titan among 8-bit platformers giving it a historical relevance, and it’s roughly as good as the game we already covered – Mega Man 2.

But ALSO, it’s here because it’s distinct enough from Mega Man 2 to merit inclusion on its own.

Mega Man 3 at a glance:
Genre: Side-scrolling platformer
Released: 1990
Platform: NES
GamePro’s third-greatest 8-bit video game of all time

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles — Retro Gaming Essentials (No. 46)

This section of the countdown might seem a little like the department of redundancy department.

The next few titles we’ll be featuring in this space are games in series that I love that already had representation in the countdown, and yet, here I am, saying you should play this other game too.

The onus then falls on me to make the case for why people should play not just the game that falls higher on the list (in this case, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time“), but for them to play that game AND this one.

In the case of the arcade classic beat ‘em up “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” we’re going to be looking at three distinct things, I’d say.

The importance of the coin-op brawler as a genre within video games.
The massive cultural relevance of the ninja turtles.
Why this game, itself, is fun.

So yeah, let’s get to it. Why should someone play that other turtles game … and this turtles game too?

Let’s read on to find out!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at a glance:
Genre: Beat ’em up
Released: 1989
Platform: Arcade
Konami’s highest-grossing arcade game.

Halo: Combat Evolved — Retro Gaming Essentials (No. 44)

There’s a pattern you see with video games, which probably isn’t all that unique to the medium when you really think about it, but nevertheless, it’s something you see a lot of in gaming in particular.

An initial game in a potential franchise will launch, generally with pretty good “bones” – perhaps it’s got a great concept, or maybe it nails some element that can become foundational later on – but the thing nevertheless isn’t 100 percent on point.

Not yet.

The game has some rough edges, some problems, and some things you wish weren’t there.

We can guess that it needed more time in the oven. Or even that it was probably realistically pushed about as far as anyone could expect for a first crack at the thing. But either way, the end result is the same: It doesn’t have polish.

It was a proper idea, but it’s just not quite there yet.

When the sequel(s) come along, that’s when you see your desired refinement occur. Everything that worked about the first game gets built upon and expanded. Everything that didn’t work gets thrown out.

More of the good. Less of the bad.

What emerges is generally a better game than what you had before.

Now, there are plenty of examples of sequels that don’t follow this script — games that deviate too wildly from a winning formula, games that fail to improve upon what came before,* or worst of all games that were given to a team of developers who just weren’t up to the challenge of duplicating what made the entity special to begin with. These are your “disappointment” sequels.

* Probably the most notorious examples of this are your annual EASports-type releases of games that barely change what came the year before. You’ve gotta squint to see what’s been improved from one game to the next. “Hey, the rosters are slightly different … buy it now!”

But by and large, if you want to talk about some of the most successful sequels in history – universally beloved hits like Mega Man 2, Street Fighter II, Tecmo Super Bowl, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and Donkey Kong Country 2 (just to name a few) – those games didn’t necessarily reinvent the wheel. They built on what had previously been established, and they did so with brilliance.

A game comes out. It establishes a franchise. It’s improved in the sequel(s). And off we go.

Thus, we can say that in general, there’s simply a level of presentation and polish that’s present in a sequel that you don’t see in an original outing. The first game in the series is going to be a little rough or janky in comparison.

It’s the sequels that nail the concept.

And THIS is what makes “Halo: Combat Evolved” a remarkable game.

It sticks the landing on the very first attempt.

Halo: Combat Evolved at a glance:
Genre: First-person shooter
Released: 2001
Platform: Xbox
IGN’s fourth-best FPS ever

Shadow of the Colossus — Retro Gaming Essentials (No. 43)

You’re riding your horse through a barren landscape, one oddly devoid of life.

Unsettlingly so.

A haze covers everything, muting all colors and hindering your ability to see things clearly.

This world is not our own. Moreover, it’s dreamlike … it doesn’t feel entirely real.

You’ve been directed to this task, of riding your horse to an unclear destination, by a thundering voice from the sky, speaking a language you don’t recognize (but which has still conveniently been translated for you so that you might understand at a most basic level).

Everything here is foreign.

The voice instructed you to slay a number of giants in order that you might save your female companion.

She was quite very clearly deceased when you examined her, but you’re unwilling to accept that. An option to save her has been presented. You’ve been given direction, and this is more comforting than having to slog through the fog with no sense of where to go.

You encounter a cliff, which necessitates leaving your horse behind, and you scale that cliff.

Up ahead, you see the outline of a structure within another cliff wall. Perhaps it is scalable as well?

As you venture closer, you are in awe as this structure begins to rearrange itself and come to life, towering above you into the sky: a colossus lumbering toward you, intent on clubbing you to death with its giant weapon.

You are in awe because this is completely foreign to anything you’ve experienced before in your life.

I outline the above scenario, cribbed directly from the opening moments of “Shadow of the Colossus,” because I think it’s worth understanding upfront that this game when it debuted was unlike anything else that had come before. And to date, some 20 years later, we still haven’t seen the game’s formula recreated in quite the same way either.

Its impact on the gaming industry stretches far and wide, as elements present here have inspired developers for two decades now. Trying to recapture those senses of awe and scale has been a favorite pastime of the industry ever since people first laid eyes on this spectacle of a game.

But despite its influence, is there another experience quite like this one anywhere else in video games?

I’d argue no.

And that, more than anything else, is why it’s considered one of the best games of all time.

Shadow of the Colossus at a glance:
Genre: Action-adventure
Released: 2005
Platform: PlayStation 2
GamesRadar’s No. 10 “best game ever”

Tekken 3 — Retro Gaming Essentials (No. 42)

If you’ve ever wanted to fight a panda bear, an animated log, an alien samurai, or a wrestler in a jaguar mask, boy, do I have the game for you!

The very first thing that jumps out at you when you encounter Tekken 3 for the first time is its completely wackadoodle roster of bizarre characters, some of the tamest of which are Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee knockoffs, who both happen to be completely over-the-top caricatures of their real-life selves (and are positively bad-ass). But yeah, those are the tame ones. More typical are the likes of an ogre demon, or an infirm senior citizen scientist, or a cartoon dinosaur.

Color, in this case, is not a problem.

In fact, it’s partly the point.

But let’s be clear about this: it’s not the ENTIRE point.

If it were, the Tekken series would have long since run out of steam.

Instead, the franchise has gotten better and better, to the point where it has become one of the premiere fighting series on the planet.

So, let’s get into a little of the how and why that happened while we dive into what is largely considered the most impactful entry in the series.

Tekken 3 at a glance:
Genre: Fighting game
Released: 1998
Platform: PlayStation
Complex’s Fourth Best Fighting Game of All Time