Let’s Try to Make More Loadstar!

First, to recap Way back in 1984, having had success with their first product Softdisk, the nascent Softdisk Publishing released the first issue of Loadstar, a “magazine-on-disk” for Commodore 64 microcomputers. Softdisk is mostly known these days as being the former workplace of several people who would go on to found Id Software, creators of … Continue reading "Let’s Try to Make More Loadstar!"

setsideb.com

Some Notes on Set Side B’s Linking Policy

Today it’s a big talky thinky post, that doesn’t have much to do, directly, with video games. Sorry for that, but it’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while and wanted to get off my chest. If you leave things like this spinning around your head for too long they begin to fester, and … Continue reading "Some Notes on Set Side B’s Linking Policy"

setsideb.com

Namco Museum Museum Reviewed, Updated

Recently we posted a link to an excellent video that took a look at every software product (Bandai-)Namco has made that had the temerity, the utter gall to call itself “Namco Museum.” Since then however, its creator Mythic Resonance became dissatisfied with how it turned out, so he took it down for a bit for … Continue reading "Namco Museum Museum Reviewed, Updated"

setsideb.com

Sundry Sunday: Dr. Robotnik Is All-In on AI

This video’s from Dorkly (3 minutes), which isn’t a source I often link from, but what I can say I’m a sucker for mockery of all this “AI” awfulness being foisted upon all us by every large tech company. Also its pretty well-written, and hey, Dr. Eggman has a terrific Bluesky account too (not related … Continue reading "Sundry Sunday: Dr. Robotnik Is All-In on AI"

setsideb.com

VCFSE Day 1

Aaah such has been the rush that apparently I didn’t make a post yesterday! And today has been so tiring that, while a lot of fun things happened today, I feel like it’ll take more time to write them up than I do right now, half an hour after midnight on Saturday. VCFSE in Atlanta, … Continue reading "VCFSE Day 1"

setsideb.com

VCFSE 2026!

Tomorrow begins is VCFSE, which stands for Vintage Computing Festival SouthEast, a three day celebration of retro computing. Not only will I be there, but I’ll have a table for Loadstar Compleat and also selling copies of Exploring Roguelike Games (I just brought two though; they’re heavy!) and ancient issues of Loadstar in their original … Continue reading "VCFSE 2026!"

setsideb.com

Double the Incremental Fun

This is a double review of Astro Prospector and Legends of Dragaea played with a review key and press key respectively. 00:00 Intro00:20 Astro Prospector2:57 Legends of Dragaea

setsideb.com

A Reimplementation of DOS King’s Bounty

While it’s seen more than one revival since its original release by New World Computing (the Heroes of Might & Magic series, and the 2008 series titled King’s Bounty by Katauri Interactive), that first version is still a fine game to play even today. Players explore four continents raising armies, fighting hordes of monsters, building … Continue reading "A Reimplementation of DOS King’s Bounty"

setsideb.com

The Bad Game Hall of Fame Covers Sonic Jam: Game.com Version

The world is full of traps for the unwary. There’s a whole genre of movie, mockbusters, that exists purely to try to catch people who are only vaguely familiar with some media property, and they make enough money that by cutting their costs extremely thin they can be profitable. Mobile app stores are full of … Continue reading "The Bad Game Hall of Fame Covers Sonic Jam: Game.com Version"

setsideb.com

Sundry Sunday: Seinfeld Stufffeld

This week it’s simple. It’s easy. I won’t say it’s pure, I won’t insult your intelligence by going that far, but I will insult your intelligence with a video game music done in the Seinfeld theme song style round up. Let’s go. Note that these are game music compositions done in the style of the … Continue reading "Sundry Sunday: Seinfeld Stufffeld"

setsideb.com

Gamefinds: The Pac-Man Brothers

Three finds on consecutive days. This is another in a particularly beloved genre for me, the elaboration upon Pac-Man, which I like so much I wrote one myself back in 2013. This one’s interesting in that it takes the most after Jr. Pac-Man, the last of the Pac-Man versions in the old style in arcades. … Continue reading "Gamefinds: The Pac-Man Brothers"

setsideb.com

Gamefinds: Samuel’s Sickoban

Another little fun indie puzzle game! And it’s based on Sokoban too, and it was also pointed out on Metafilter, this time by user Cogito in a comment. So let’s get our warehouse gloves on and get back to pushin’. It’s Samuel’s Sickoban! It’s implemented in Pico-8, and should run wherever it runs. As typical … Continue reading "Gamefinds: Samuel’s Sickoban"

setsideb.com

Gamefinds: Soko Striker

Pointed out in a post on Metafilter by long-time user pwnguin, Soko Striker is fun, and not excessively challenging, free Soccer-themed Sokoban game by Axylaric on itch.io. The idea is to get all the balls (up to three in a level) into the goal net. The ball slides when you kick it, continuing to move … Continue reading "Gamefinds: Soko Striker"

setsideb.com

Behind The Code Examines NES Double Dribble’s Shot Code

Displaced Gamers‘ Behind the Code series, and its companion Talkin’ Code, are probably the best technical examinations of NES games on Youtube. They take games that were the bread and butter of the Famicom/NES in its heyday, products of skilled programmers some of whom had gotten started working on arcade games, and disassemble them, revealing … Continue reading "Behind The Code Examines NES Double Dribble’s Shot Code"

setsideb.com

Webdepths: Pac-Man Fever Forever

A recent Retronauts episode looked back upon the history of Buckner and Garcia’s 45-year-old video game novelty song Pac-Man Fever. Host Drew Mackie also runs Thrilling Tales of Old Video Games, and it just as recently linked in passing a pair of ancient websites devoted to its album, Lee Seitz’s Pac-Man Fever Forever and 52 … Continue reading "Webdepths: Pac-Man Fever Forever"

setsideb.com

Incremental Fun With Progress Racer RPG and Maktala

This is a review and preview of two incremental games, Progress Racer RPG and Maktala. Played with a retail key and demo build, respectively.

setsideb.com

Sundry Sunday: Gruntilda’s Revenge

Porky Draws gives us (by which I mean, gives the world, not us particularly, we’re just pointing to it as usual) an epilogue to the Banjo-Kazooie games (2 minutes) where persistent enemy Gruntilda (who is active and alive and everything) casts spells on Banjo and Kazooie’s internet connections. It’s pretty short, but I feel the … Continue reading "Sundry Sunday: Gruntilda’s Revenge"

setsideb.com

A Speedrun of a Joke Donkey Kong Romhack

I hope you’re ready for something pleasingly pointless. Let’s review. I’m only sad they didn’t do the version with the Conveyor Belt level.

setsideb.com

White_Pointer Gaming Explains SNES Enhancement Chips

White Pointer Gaming is the Youtube channel that examines games and figures out how they pull off the graphical tricks they do, and we’ve linked them to those several times before because they almost always find some interesting tricks to explain, like when the Genesis/Mega Drive pulls off something which looks like scaling, which happens … Continue reading "White_Pointer Gaming Explains SNES Enhancement Chips"

setsideb.com

Shmuplations Translates N64-Era Interview Between Kenji Eno and Shigeru Miyamoto

The interview, presented in the glorious text medium, is here. shmuplations’ Bluesky linked it from here. Kenji Eno (Wikipedia), the creator of horror games D and Enemy Zero, and other iconoclastic games like You, Me and the Cubes (Wikipedia). He passed away from a heart attack in 2013. Shigeru Miyamoto (for form’s sake, Wikipedia) is … Continue reading "Shmuplations Translates N64-Era Interview Between Kenji Eno and Shigeru Miyamoto"

setsideb.com

Gameboy Tetris Music Change & Things Heard at SGDQ 2026

The Cutting Room Floor’s article on Gameboy Tetris has an interesting fact. The first 25,000 copies sold in Japan, distributed as part of a bundle, had different music! Instead of the now-iconic Russian tune Korobeiniki, a different, somewhat calmer song was used. You can either follow that link and find it on the page, or … Continue reading "Gameboy Tetris Music Change & Things Heard at SGDQ 2026"

setsideb.com

Vampire’s Best Friend is an Adorably Challenging Platformer

This is a review of Vampire’s Best Friend played with a retail key.

setsideb.com

Multilink Monday: A Buncha SGDQ 2026 Runs

SGDQ 2026 has concluded, having raised $2,400,000 this year for Doctors Without Borders. Each event there are many runs of possible interest for people—and I must remind you, GDQ is far more than just AGDQ and SGDQ*. I’ve collected a number of them in the list below. Of course I’ve picked and chosen those I … Continue reading "Multilink Monday: A Buncha SGDQ 2026 Runs"

setsideb.com

Sundry Sunday: Charming Zelda Animation

It’s another Legend of Zelda related video. The subtitle (in Japanese) of the Famicom game was “The Hyrule Fantasy,” and so is the title of this two minute animation from OUSM.C. (2 minutes) Fantasy is a devalued currency these days. Light and beauty have given way to swords and fighting monsters. It’s hard not to … Continue reading "Sundry Sunday: Charming Zelda Animation"

setsideb.com

SGDQ 2026: Stressful Balatro naneinf Run On Stage

As you read this SGDQ 2026 is on its last day, and as always there have been a number of interesting runs, including last night a full deathless run of arcade Ghosts ‘n Goblins: it’s always good to see a player make flying monkeys out of those damn Red Arremers. Certainly a memorable run was … Continue reading "SGDQ 2026: Stressful Balatro naneinf Run On Stage"

setsideb.com

DEF CON Talk on Getting Started in IoT Hacking

We’re mostly games here at Set Side B, the whole “retro, niche and indie” thing ya kno, but what is a game really? This is to say, we’re not against linking to other kinds of computer, and even electronic, entertainment. That’s the excuse reason I give for doing posts on old websites sometimes, and new … Continue reading "DEF CON Talk on Getting Started in IoT Hacking"

setsideb.com

Strong Bad Plays Mini Golf in VR

Once upon a time the types of people on the Internet skewed much smaller in number, and you could be reasonably assured that if you made, say, a Monty Python or a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy joke in forum company, nearly everyone reading it would get it, and probably also find it funny. Those … Continue reading "Strong Bad Plays Mini Golf in VR"

setsideb.com

The Nine Endings of Star For Command

This post contains spoilers for the various endings of Star Fox Command. The always-excellent Hardcore Gaming 101 is currently working through the Star Fox series, due to the well-received remake of (the remake of) Star Fox 64, still generally regarded as the high-point of the series. Star Fox has gone through a lot of variation … Continue reading "The Nine Endings of Star For Command"

setsideb.com

Steam NextFest 2025 Coverage, Part 9

The ninth part of our (Josh Bycer’s) coverage of Steam NextFest 2025 October edition. 00:00 Intro00:26 Curtains the Clown2:16 Archon Soul4:09 Homura Hime5:59 Malleus Maleficarum6:52 Bottom Up Beatdown: Hostile Takeover8:37 Smash it Wild9:58 Broomstick Exorcist12:03 Earth Must Die13:38 Funky Heart

setsideb.com

Monster Maze on Unused Zelda Maps

I started this post out intending to do a Multilink Monday, but within a few seconds of starting this video I came to realize, nah, this one deserves the spotlight all to itself. It’s well made, seems to be constructed with a stable eye and doesn’t seem hugely pandery… other than the big BACKROOMs intro … Continue reading "Monster Maze on Unused Zelda Maps"

setsideb.com