Author: Chris Tognotti

A coastal denizen with marine-side suburb street cred.

Mister Christopher's Video Machine by Chris TognottiAug 7, 20134:42 pm

Live a Live (Super Famicom, 1994)

Some days ago, I happened upon an article about the making of Final Fantasy VI which was tweeted out by the editor-in-chief of this fine blog, and it was a pretty interesting read. It didn’t explicitly tell me much about the game I didn’t already know from having played it, outside of the fact that it was developed in just one year, but it did set my mind upon a different Squaresoft game from that same year. One overlooked in the shadow of the company’s flagship franchise, and never released for English-speaking audiences (an independent translation has since been available for years, but as to how to find it, I couldn’t possibly speculate).

Features by Chris TognottiJul 10, 20135:32 pm

Super Baseball 2020 (SNES, 1991)

When I was a very young child, I was sharply and steadfastly geared in one direction when it came to games of entertainment, and the direction was decidedly non-athletic. Not that I disliked the feeling of playing sports, exactly — though a bout of yet-undiagnosed anemia left me dizzy and feeling like my head would split open after a hard run or a tennis lesson — but I certainly disliked all the people my age who were keen on that sort of thing. It wasn’t even a matter of personal animus, in most cases, or some resentment over bullying or ostracization. I just didn’t much like most of them, and by extension I didn’t much enjoy the times when I was out running about. And moreover, I had nothing but antipathy for spectator sports, a dilemma in my household as a then-only child, suffering through seemingly endless Giants games, which I found irritating, and 49ers games, which I positively hated (meaning, sadly, that I missed out on any enjoyment of the Joe Montana era).

Mister Christopher's Video Machine by Chris TognottiMay 1, 20134:49 pm

Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! (NES, 1987)

One of the joys of writing this review column is that it’s essentially a “whatever you want” sort of gig — you can’t make new old games, after all. As such, I’m afforded the luxury of being able to plot a certain rhythm to the games I choose, and make adjustments if I’m feeling especially aggrieved or burnt out with one sort or another.

Mister Christopher's Video Machine by Chris TognottiApr 17, 20134:31 pm

Super Ghouls’n Ghosts (SNES, 1991)

I’ve recently been playing a bunch of old games (this statement being equally appropriate to introduce anything I’ve written here), as a means of casual fun and time passing, with a couple of friends about my own age. I’m 26, and as such was in the prime of my youthful interest in video games at the advent of the Super Nintendo era. This was also the era of the Sega Genesis for some, but I was never as taken with the console, its games I had played at friends’ houses, and its marketing tact (this remains one of the most scurrilous ads of its time). I’ve owned exactly one Sega system in my life — my ill-fated seduction by the Dreamcast, years later.

Mister Christopher's Video Machine by Chris TognottiMar 27, 20134:58 pm

夢ペンギン物語 — Penguin Dream Story (Famicom, 1991)

This last Christmas, my younger brother (who also happens to be the chief proprietor of this website) schemed a clever idea for his Christmas wish-list, which would ultimately come to involve me to a great extent. He sought out a Famicom on eBay, as well as a lot purchase of Japanese games — about 110, if memory serves. He did the same in procuring a Super Famicom, meaning that after the somewhat grueling process of setting it all up (while the Super Famicom was a cinch, our lack of a North American RF switch, and an RF compatible TV, was a thorn in the side) we had hours of video game exploration ahead. What games would be in that enormous box? Some we’d recognize from American release, perhaps, but surely there’d also some peculiar, Japanese-only games that we likely wouldn’t have experienced otherwise.

Mister Christopher's Video Machine by Chris TognottiFeb 27, 20134:59 pm

E.V.O.: Search For Eden (SNES, 1993)

How do you think the world began and flourished?

I’m not asking about the universe, to be clear, just our particular corner of the void. In varying fields of research, this question has been tackled with varying degrees of seriousness.

Mister Christopher's Video Machine by Chris TognottiFeb 13, 20135:08 pm

R.B.I. Baseball (1987, NES)

Lo, here we are, on the precipice of winter’s end; the burgeoning hope of spring, and a warm, glowing summer stretching lavishly beneath us.

Mister Christopher's Video Machine by Chris TognottiJan 30, 20135:06 pm

Zombies Ate My Neighbors (1993, SNES/Genesis)

Since the turn of the millennium, there’s been a highly visible and, depending on how your pecking order of horror critters shakes out, tiresome glut of zombie-related media. I know this personally, for I too once partook in such a creative effort — I played a young man slowly degenerating into a flesh-craving zombie in an ill-fated film project some six years ago, the footage of which still lies dormant and largely unedited.

Features by Chris TognottiJan 19, 201311:57 am

The Legend of Zelda (NES, 1986)

In my last writing in this space, a year’s end retrospective of the best games of 1992, I hailed The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past as both the best game ever produced in its series, and as the single greatest game ever produced for the Super Nintendo. For me, that wasn’t a terribly difficult choice — it’s the rare game that defies the aging process to near mastery, wholly, competently confident in its design.

Games by Chris TognottiJan 5, 20131:07 pm

Mister Christopher’s Year In Review: The Top Ten of 1992

Welcome, one and all, to Mister Christopher’s Video Machine Year In Review for 1992! It was truly a big year for video gaming, a great year for me personally writing on the games of yesteryear for all your fine folks, and now it’s my distinct honor to be rolling out Error! Not Found‘s top ten list. Without further ado!

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