‘NES’ Tag Archive


June 8, 2015

I AM EXTRA: Manic Compression

How Donkey Kong's programmers used compression to save ROM space. The following section is one of I AM ERROR’s oldest—it appeared in the initial drafts of ...

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June 6, 2015

I AM EXTRA: The Super C Helicopter Boss

How Konami's developers used the MMC3 scanline counter to create large moving enemies. The following section was originally intended to directly follow the Mega Man 2 ...

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January 9, 2014

Major League Baseball vs. Retro Criticism

Via Twitter, friend of the site Cameron Kunzelman recently introduced me to Eric Bailey, proprietor of Nintendo Legend, a site dedicated to ...

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May 12, 2013

Spatial Vectors in Videogame Design: Part IV

You know the drill: if you've landed here first, you'll likely want to read Part I (at ...

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May 8, 2013

Spatial Vectors in Videogame Design: Part III

If you haven't already, please see Part I and Read More


May 7, 2013

Spatial Vectors in Videogame Design: Part II

In Part I, I introduced the concept of spatial vectors as they apply to the opening screen ...

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April 28, 2013

Spatial Vectors in Videogame Design: Part I

A design study Poring over NES and Famicom games for the past year and a half has led to a lot of thinking about game design ...

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February 6, 2013

The Legend of Zelda Cold Run: Compiled Sessions

Every Cold Run post in a single, tidy package For those of you clamoring for links to every Legend of Zelda cold run session in a ...

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February 6, 2013

The Legend of Zelda Cold Run: Final Session

Wherein I defeat Ganon and restore peace to Hyrule Level-9 is the culmination of all prior level designs—the meta-dungeon, if you will. (The game cues you ...

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February 6, 2013

The Legend of Zelda Cold Run: Session 9

Wherein I succumb to temptation and consult the NES Atlas I admit that I cheated. The whole purpose of the Cold Run Experiment (TM) is to play ...

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