video games – Page 8 – DaveGladow.com

Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting — Retro Gaming Essentials (No. 6)

Within the pantheon of video games every gamer should experience, quality is a must. It’s essentially your starting point: Is this game, for lack of a better term, “good?” That’s always first and foremost.

But closely behind that consideration is the importance of a game within the industry. Does it have historical significance in a way that other games of that era might not? If one were to put together a timeline of video game history, what games would require representation?

Street Fighter II was unlike anything that had come before it, and it revolutionized the gaming industry in a way that is exceedingly rare. Per Wikipedia, the game is responsible for selling over 200,000 arcade cabinets, 15 million software units, and $10 billion of revenue for Capcom. And I can corroborate those numbers on a personal level; Capcom inspired me to purchase a Super Nintendo, four different versions of the game, and pump countless quarters into arcade cabinets over the years.

But what made the game so popular? And why do many people think “Hyper Fighting” might be the best version of all?

Let’s go down those two rabbit holes together, shall we?

Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting
Genre: Fighting
Released: 1993
Platform: SNES
GameRankings Score: 82%

WhoDatJedi Podcast: The best Halloween themed video games to play in October

We had a really great conversation on this week’s WhoDatJedi podcast with the creators/hosts of the Nerd Cave Retro podcast about the best video games to play in the month of October.

In the mood for some spooky, Halloween-themed video games this month? Read on to see/hear our choices.

Tecmo Super Bowl — Retro Gaming Essentials (No. 2)

There’s something to be said for polish. Sure, innovation is great, because it lays the groundwork for everything that comes afterward. But when that innovation leaves vast room for improvement, sometimes that improvement can feel like water in the desert.

The original Tecmo Bowl was a smash and critical success, introducing a fast, arcade-like feel to the game of football. Playing fast and loose with such trivial concerns as physics or the rules of the game, the decision to go this direction was without question a good one, as it upped the fun and general sense of chaos beyond what they might have achieved with strict adherence to those guidelines.

The challenge for the sequel was to improve on the original game’s limitations while also preserving the original’s “feel.” While it wasn’t the lone NES sequel to be charged with such an enormous task, it was absolutely among the most successful at rising up to said challenge.

Tecmo Super Bowl
Genre: Sports
Released: 1991
Platform: NES
IGN’s Top 100 Games: No. 24

Chrono Cross — Retro Gaming Essentials (No. 1)

What happens when a sequel isn’t really a sequel, but more of a thematic continuation, but only because it deviates so wildly from the source material, but ultimately in a good way, but not in a way most fans expected or wanted?

Welcome to Chrono Cross, one of the more fascinating non-sequels in the history of video gaming.

Chrono Cross
Genre: RPG
Released: 2000
Platform: Playstation
Metacritic Score: 94

WhoDatJedi Podcast: The greatest Star Wars video games of all time

This is a pretty simple concept, yes? On the WhoDatJedi podcast, we tackle the really basic question: What are our favorite Star Wars licensed video games?

Should one purchase a Genesis Mini?

So should you buy a Genesis Mini?

I’m going to hedge. Know this upfront.

Most articles like this won’t admit that in plain, written English. But it’s what the majority do.

“If [so-and-so] then yes, absolutely you should buy this.”

That’s where we’re going to end up, so skip to the end if that’s why you’re here.

But if you want to see me wax nostalgic for a bit (and maybe bring back some good memories of your own), feel free to ride along for a little bit. Because if there’s no other lesson to be taken from mini gaming consoles making a killing in the video game market right now, there’s this: These things call to mind a different time and place.

And they do it well.

There’s value in nostalgia

I’ve gone and done it. And by “it” I of course mean, “convinced my poor wife to bless my purchase of another micro video gaming system.”

In this case, it was the TurboGrafx-16 Mini, an absurdly niche system that was only available for pre-order on Amazon.com … probably so that the manufacturer could get an accurate head count on just how many machines to produce. The original system was not a big seller when it debuted in the United States back in the late 1980s, so prudence, it would seem, is more than justified here.

This system joins the hallowed ground of the NES Classic, Super NES Classic and the soon to be purchased Genesis Mini as micro-consoles occupying a place of prominence in our entertainment center.

For lots of people, these systems serve as collectible trophies, trinkets to be displayed but basically non-functional. For me, they’re so much more.

60 Video games I’d recommend to anyone

Let’s throw some love out there. These are my favorite video games of all time. Yes!

As is always the case with a list like this, mileage may vary. Tastes differ, and more importantly, unless you’re a fanatic collector or work in the industry in some fashion, it’s impossible to play everything. To wit, I have a giant honking blind spot in my list for basically anything released over the last 15 years or so. I thought of calling it “favorite retro games” or some such, but let’s just go with this.

But the point is this: it’s my list. These are 60 games I’ve loved experiencing, and I thought in the interest of saving my thoughts for posterity — in case anyone would find them of value — it would be good to have it all written down. Maybe my kids will look at this list someday and want to explore it or my wife will get better insight into my gaming life, or maybe it will drum up nostalgia for you regardless of your connection with me. Cool, mission accomplished!

The best NES games of all time

(Last updated July 15, 2026. Originally published Sept. 18, 2018.)

The ranking of my top NES games has traditionally been one of the more popular posts on this blog, so I thought I’d invest some time and expand it from 40 games to a full 100.

I do this out of love for the game(s). The original Nintendo Entertainment System deserves that level of love, to be honest. I’ve played a ton of games on this system, and these are games that merit a look from modern gamers. Bonus: many of the games are short enough to allow for almost any gamer to engage with them without much issue.

These, by and large, are not 200-hour commitments.

But also, this is a list of 100 good games.

Are they really the 100 best NES games of all time?

I mean, to me, sure.

I wanted to bold that part – this is one person’s ranking of 100 Nintendo games. Don’t take any of this too personally. If your favorite game didn’t make the ranking, I may still have some affection for it. This library, after all, is deeper than many people might think. And that’s even if you remove all Famicon games from consideration, as I did.

(Sorry, that means no “Earthbound Beginnings,” “Super Mario Lost Levels,” and so forth – just North American releases.)

This all was meant to be fun and to help expose younger gamers to some true bangers, originally inspired by my acquisition of an NES Classic (and yes, I still love that little guy, nearly ten years later).

Retro gaming is good, in all its forms.

You’ll see for each game a big number with a previous ranking listed – pretty self-explanatory that. The games are color-coded, with the pink/purple denoting new additions, the green being games that have been a part of the ranking for a bit, and the blue being games on the rise.

If any of that seems familiar, it’s purely by accident.

Anyhow, if you enjoy my best NES games ranking, feel free to check out some of my other rankings, including my “Retro Gaming Essentials,” where I wax poetic on some of my all-time favorites.

And here are some more video game rankings for specific systems:
Super NES | Genesis Mini | Turbografx-16 Mini

So without further delay, here are the Top 100 NES games of all time.