What I’m Playing: Tis the Season for Definitive Reviews
November 30, 2025 6 Comments
This is what I’m working on. So good.
Hey gang! I wanted to provide a quick update since it’ll be a few more days, maybe a week, before the next IGC review is posted, but it’s going to be a big one. I’m currently working on Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story – The Definitive Review. It’ll contain full reviews for all forty-two games in the collection plus my review of the documentary and emulators. This review is over five-hundred days in the making since I started it in May of 2024 and abandoned it, but those completed reviews were still there, and now I’m finishing it. I’m happy I am, because Gridrunner? Ah, so good. No seriously, guys, SO GOOD. But I still have over two-dozen games left to play and write-up. It’s slow going because Jeff’s games often have hidden layers of complexity and nuances that take a while to get a feel for. But it’s great! I’d never played Gridrunner or Mutant Camels or any of his stuff besides Tempest 2000, even though I’ve known Jeff for a while. So this has been fun and I’m happy to finally knock this set out. After experiencing Gridrunner, safe to say this $30 set is cruising to one of the easiest overall YES! verdicts I’ve given. The documentary portion is probably the smallest of the Gold Master series so far, but it’s solid.
There’s an alternative universe where Jeff instead wrote down “Alpacas!” And that’s literally the only difference between that universe and ours as far as I could tell. Somehow, the company is still called Llamasoft too. Weird, right? Like, as far as alternative realities go, pretty disappointing, really. Oh and they spell “Tuesday” differently. It’s “Twosdays” there. So Jeff wrote “ALPACAS!” and Tuesdays are “Twosdays” and that’s it. No different world leaders or anything. Finland wasn’t wiped out by a zombie virus, at least in that universe. The one I was at before that? Well, I mean, I don’t want to think about it, but this last one still had Starbucks on every corner. F*cking Golden State Warriors are having a disappointing season there too. Even the coffee tastes the same, and coffee always tastes different in alternative realities, but not this one. I was there. Hardly worth the trip through time and space.
After I finish Llamasoft, I’m honestly not sure what comes next. BUT, it’s the holiday season and in recent years I try to have special features that feel like celebrations of gaming. Back in 2022, someone told me that Atari 50: The Games They Couldn’t Include made for great airplane reading during his holiday travels. Made my day, totally, and I’ve heard similar stories from other holiday features, like Game & Watch: The Definitive Review. I f*cking hate boring airplane rides, so the idea that someone wasn’t bored because of my work? God, that made my year. Well, I mean, what was left of it. A week or so was made, but it was MADE dammit. I’ve been really proud of my holiday features too. They’ve been some of the work I’ve been the most proud of, and I want to keep being proud of them, but that requires games that capture my imagination. Last year I had Light Guns and Tetris Forever. This year it’s Llamasoft and whatever comes next. I really want to do Atari 50 (especially since Part One, with all the new games or modern takes on old games, has been up for a while) but I’m going to guess knocking out all 160 retro games in Atari 50 and its DLC sets isn’t going to be possible in the time span I have. I do have other Definitive Review options, including some oddball choices like SNK 40th Anniversary, which I have covered at IGC but not as a full fledged Definitive Review. Gosh, I should have saved Konami SHMUPs for Christmas. Alas.
If I do SNK 40th, I would probably throw in at least some reviews of the games mentioned in that collection’s timeline that weren’t actually included as playable games in the set, such as Vanguard II.
I have Marvel vs. Capcom Collection. I could do the original Capcom Arcade Stadium since my Definitive Review for 2nd Stadium is one of my most popular features ever. I could grab the new Mortal Kombat set. I’m open to ideas. There’s so many collections out there that I could cover. For the first time in a couple years, I don’t have a Taito Milestones set to do at this time of year so my schedule is open. Or, I can do a make believe set. In 2025 I’ve done Kung Fu Master and games inspired by it, I’ve done Adventure Island, and I even did Kid Niki of all things. I could do something like that with another forgotten franchise. Or I can go back to knocking out Nintendo classics just so I have those reviews up for reference for the under the radar stuff. I’m open to ideas. One idea that’s likely a non-starter is a follow up to 2024’s light gun feature as I need the stars to align perfectly to have my family there to play it with me and I can’t guarantee it. But if I were to do it, would you rather have Sega Light Phaser for the Master System or classic coin-op light gun games?
Colecovision: The Definitive Review could be fun.
In 2026, I’m hoping for a lot more inspiring sets. I’m guessing an Intellivision collection is coming from Digital Eclipse and Atari, but I’m only guessing. I would REALLY hope for a modern release of Activision Anthology, only using the Gold Master format with interviews from the people who were there. I’ll even settle for a hefty ($30 or more) update to Atari 50 for it. It fits, right? Or a modern Midway Arcade Treasures. My dream Gold Master release is Dragon’s Lair, even though I already have a review up for Dragon’s Lair Trilogy. But we don’t have a collection for Dragon’s Lair that has all the important behind the scenes features, and I can’t imagine a game that would have more interesting details. I want that, and more importantly, I think gaming needs it, but the window for it is closing. It’s a morbid thing to think about, but it has to be said that a lot of golden age developers are getting up there in age and when they’re gone, that’s it. The window is closed forever on hearing their stories directly from them. This is why I’m hoping other companies get their rears in gear and do their retro sets using similar formats to Digital Eclipse, with interviews and behind the scenes stuff. Look, collections are great, but if you really want to erase the cynical cash grab vibe that can come with them, you need those extra features. That extra effort shows it’s a labor of love first and a money-making venture second, which ironically probably will make more money. Dear publishers: I’m on your side here. I’m your target audience, a totally average gamer. If that’s what I’m into, it’s what everyone is into. We’re looking for inspirational stories, and the golden age of games are full of those stories.
Indie Gamer Chick 
I have a friend who is a game developer (He created things such as The Lightweight Java Game Library (LWJGL) that Minecraft was built on and games such as ‘Welcome to Basingstoke’) and because of that I keep getting Jeff Minter come up as ‘people you may know’ on Facebook. I keep wondering what would happen if I sent a friend request 😀
His work is revered and he’s famous and a Hall of Famer but he’s not like a celebrity. He’s totally relatable. We had this conversation Akka Arrh (the coin-op, not his remake, this was before the remake was even announced) and I almost forgot I was talking to THE Jeff Minter. It felt like I was talking with a fellow critic. He’s passionate about games, but he thinks about them in a critical, inquisitive way. That’s probably why many of his games balance difficulty with rewarding gameplay so perfectly.
THE Jeff Minter 🙂
I remember playing his games back in the 1980s on my friends Commodore 64. His games were way different from everyone else’s.
I’ve talked to tons of “THE (name of famous game maker)” and most are like that. They’re like us. Garry Kitchen (who took my Donkey Kong 2600 and Bart v Space Mutants reviews with good grace) is one of my favorite people in the world. Ed Rotberg (Battlezone) is a sweetheart. David Crane is so eager to bring you to his state of mind of the creation process. I got to talk to him WHILE playing A Boy and His Blob and let my Twitter followers ask questions and stuff, and it was amazing and one of the proudest moments of my career. Even executives like Al Nilsen are like that. Al’s a really great friend and another “one of my favorite people” people. He had so much on his plate with Sega in the 90s and the stories that come with that are just edge of your seat stuff. He’s a great storyteller. Read “Console Wars.” He’s so proud of his body of work and he should be. He built something and gave Nintendo everything they could have with Tom Kalinske, another great guy. When I started IGC, I was stunned anyone who made games wanted to get to know CATHY and not Indie Gamer Chick. I had this idea of separation between game makers and game creators, but that didn’t last. I made so many lifelong friends on that scene. Today actual legends of gaming are my friends in addition to all the future legends who I made friends with, and I don’t even think they can grasp how much what they built has meant to my life. Same with pinball stuff. You’ll see me mention “Dave” on here a lot. The “Dave’ is Dave Sanders, the creator of Alien pinball, which until Godzilla a couple years ago was probably the most critically acclaimed pinball table of the 21st century, and he’s not only one of my best friends but a partner on The Pinball Chick and my main advisor for my retro stuff. WTF?! A person that talented is working with ME, someone who started a blog because her family and boyfriend said “you need a hobby besides playing games and watching sports.” I got to interview George Gomez and I got to meet some amazing pinball creators. The guys at Zen Studios are some of my favorite people. I’ve got friends everywhere. Konami. Capcom. Nintendo even. This whole thing is surreal.
This is kind of random, but do you have any suggestions for completing the Medieval Madness table on Pinball FX? I haven’t beaten a table before, but I’m looking for this to be my first (or, at least I want to beat the “Castle Crusher” mode, ha!)
The problem is: I’m trying to aim towards the castle, but around 1/4 of the time, my ball hits a weird spot and goes down the center drain. One time I was close enough where I opened the gate to destroy Payne’s castle, but my last ball fell down, ugh
I’ve heard that it’s a good idea to get some multiballs set up before smacking the castle, but that sounds unfun, IMO.
Do you have any tips here?
First, build-up your EBs. You’ll want to get the 2 castle EB, scoring benchmark EB, the Royal Madness EB and the 10 hurry-up EB. That just takes the pressure off because the more cracks you get, the less intense it is, and especially the less deflating it is when you have those straight-down-the-drain or houseball moments. This table has tons of EB options (there’s more, like the video mode, but it’s harder to do).
“I’ve heard that it’s a good idea to get some multiballs set up before smacking the castle, but that sounds unfun, IMO.”
That is the safe strategy and what I was going to recommend actually. The angle you want to take is off the right flipper though. Don’t ever shoot anything but an open castle shot off the left flipper. There’s a few other things you can do, like try to relight Merlin’s Magic, which does take a little practice to find the “safe” angles which will change depending on the mode, but those can do things like provide further EB attempts with the video mode OR open the drawbridge/gate. And remember when you destroy the last castle, you’re not done yet. My #1 best advice is try to get Royal Madness drilled into your muscle memory because it’s the easiest third EB on the table and the one you need to knock out while going for the wizard.
When it comes to wizards, it’s just the first time that’s tough. Once you do it the first time, the second time will happen soon after.
Angela adds “on FX it’s harder to find safe angles for the gate. It’s not just a YOU thing. It’s a physics thing.”