First things first: Happy Cinco de Mayo, Mexican friends!

Secondly, please excuse the mess. A nasty glitch in GoDaddy's Flash-based advertising banner is forcing me to finally upgrade my hosting plan. Mind you, it's probably not their fault. Just a bad combination of a certain web browser + Flash ads + ad blocking software that created a near minute-long loop of page requests. Not only slowing everything to a crawl for those of you who happen to match this unfortunate combination, but also pumping up the hit counter like crazy.
Cleanup is underway, and we'll take care of all online gremlins. And by "we", I mean only me, of course. Next article update will be up as soon as possible.

P.S.: Oh, and no. The site still doesn't get along with Internet Explorer, and there are no future plans for that to change on this side. It would be too much work for me. You can instead try writing Microsoft and ask them to make their product compatible with this site, though. I won't stop you.

It's now Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge's turn on the spotlight. Probably my most favorite monochrome title, and the only one I bought twice (and twice I regret selling it). Don't believe all the talk about Legends being better, this is where true Castlevania is at! If any of you happen to have a complete boxed copy of it and are willing to sell it, let me know.

In other news, check the bottom of this page for the new and official BlameTheControlPad Backlog at www.backloggery.com. You can see what games I have played in the past, which are left to be played, and the ones I blame for preventing me from updating the site more often. You know... besides family and work, of course.

I'm back to exploring the extensive MAME library, in search of games I never got the chance to see at the arcades. You should try it too. This time I came across a rare breed of side-scrolling shooter that is forgiving enough not to kill players instantly when their aircraft collides with walls, enemy sprites, or even all sorts of flying debris like couches, dogs, and trucks. And that's not all. Off-the-wall Boogie Wings (a.k.a. The Great Ragtime Show) even lets you step out of your plane and hurl furniture at the enemy, ride a giraffe while shooting down a giant evil Santa Claus, and snatch soldiers off the ground with a hook and catapult them off-screen.
If you are still not interested, imagine all of this over-the-top, carnival-flavoured carnage happening while "When The Saints Go Marching In" plays in the background. I swear.

One for Sega fans. I wrote the BS-X article a while ago and always felt a little guilt for not giving the Sega Channel its deserved spot on the site too. It's not quite as obscure as the Satellaview (specially for those of us here in the U.S.), but it's still so fondly remembered and praised by Sega followers that it was impossible for me not to write about it.
Even though I never owned a Sega console in my life or was even aware Sega Channel was available in my country of origin (Argentina) in the first place, I would have loved to have experienced such a great service.

On another note, and if you own a Nintendo DS, you should be playing Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ. Yes, that's the title. Check it out here.

Man, I wrote this First Funky Fighter article in 2 days. I must be finally improving my writing skills or something. Of course, the fact that I took the day off of work must have helped too.

This is one of those games that makes one happy to have a full MAME rom set. There's nothing like discovering awesome hidden gems you never heard of just by browsing those 6500+ titles. Make sure you give this one a try. Not only because it's extremely rare, but also because killing alligators by punching a hole through their stomachs and ripping mutant sharks in two with your bare hands isn't something you see every day... If ever.

Want to know what Namco was up to in the pre-Time Crisis, Point Blank days? Giving Taito's Chase H.Q. a run for its money with Lucky & Wild, a light-gun shooter in which you drive (sort of) and shoot bad guys at the same time.
Of course, this exercise will seem like child's play if you are used to driving and talking on the phone without a hands-free device (which you shouldn't do regardless of its legality in your particular state), so add some challenge by letting your little brother handle both guns!

The site is 2 years old this month (it feels like forever though, for some reason). I have rearranged the articles section into multiple pages, for speedier browser access and to alleviate server strain.
Maintenance-wise, I also took upon myself to rewrite most of the OutRun series article, 20 Years of OutRun, in a more digestible form. I updated it with some newly discovered OutRun 2019 and OutRun 2 SP info and trivia, too.
If anything's broken, please let me know.

It's very frustrating to me when I can't find a specific review of a GameBoy or Game Gear title online. Which is, honestly, most of the time.
Granted, nobody really cares about carry-around 8-bit games anymore. Reviews for portable titles other than DS and PSP are scarce at best, which is why I decided to do something about it. You'll see lots of old portable games featured here in the future in the form of small genre compilations and the like. You have been warned.

Oh, and yeah... Here are the 3 titles that form Konami's Motocross Maniacs series. A surprisingly fun and addictive gravity-challenged motocross competition exclusive to GameBoy consoles, its popularity hindered by its technical simplicity right from the start. Don't judge it by its looks! Read it, play it, buy it. Now.