Extra Credits to the rescue!

          So I always wanted to play the unknown Super Nintendo Games. The hidden gems of the great 16 bit era that all present video game producers refer back to when looking for "new", creative content. The issue is that the word unknown implies that information on these games are quite scarce. Yes, I did the generic google search of "best snes [insert category here] to try and find ones I never heard of or never got around to. This is where I found Earthbound, Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana and so on. But I knew about all these games before I decided to look them up. They were engraved in video game legend as the games of their day (well not really Earthbound, its popularity grew years later). Right when I thought all hope was lost (or right when I saw Extra Credit's update on facebook), suddenly my plea for missed gems was answered by the Extra Credits crew.

       For those of you who don't know what Extra Credits, think of it as a quasi pseudo lecture on video games. They talk about a range of topics from serious stuff like: how to be a developer, theory in development, the cultural implications of video games and so on. They also touch on the lighter side with witty banter and special segments where they indulge fans of the show with personally answered questions (essentially an email answer episode) and the reason I wrote this post, "Games you might not have tried" episodes, where they list off a bunch of under the radar games that may have alluded you. So, as you might have expected this means I will take a break from FF and move to bang out this list as quickly as I can ( since that was the purpose of making this blog). Here is the link to the episode in question http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/games-you-might-not-have-tried-16-bit and be sure to check out all of their videos. Seriously, I can't express how amazing their video series is. Anyone who isn't watching their video series is going to be behind the curve when it comes to the industry. Since they don't garner the same amount of publicity as an article on gama sutra, they're able to wrestle with ideas more freely. It has always been my belief that the people who accomplish true genius, are people who were given the freedom to toil in the labors of fruitlessness, while having no expectations when it came to the rewards those labors would produce.