Welcome to The 8-Bit Perspective!

If you like video games as much as I do, you’ve come to the right place. I’m reasonably sure you’re here on purpose, since Substack has yet to create a specific category for video game content, which means you did the legwork to arrive here on your own. Anyway, I enjoy writing about the video games we used to play and discovering the ones I missed back in the day. I’ve been doing this for 20 years now, ever since I stumbled across a little site called 1Up.com (R.I.P. old friend), and later contributed a few articles to Hardcore Gaming 101.

And don’t let the newsletter’s name fool you—my content won’t be limited to just the NES era of gaming. Let’s be honest: video games didn’t start with the NES, and the medium certainly didn’t die with it either. “So why call it The 8-Bit Perspective?”, you might be thinking.

As someone who was born in the mid-80s, my exposure to video games coincided with the rise of the 8-bit generation. My exposure to them came at a time when the 8-bit era was in full swing. The NES was the first home console we had in our family. As you can imagine, games like Duck Hunt, Rad Racer, Super Mario Bros., Contra, and others left an indelible impression on me. That era shaped my perspective on video games.

So, what can you expect to find here? Primarily, game reviews and other topics of interest, mainly of the retro variety. However, this will not be limited to 8-bit games only. On the contrary, we’re going on a cross-console journey of the familiar and perhaps not-so-familiar. Nothing is off the table unless I don’t have access to it. Also, I will not attach scores to my reviews. I prefer to share my thoughts and let the reader decide what the game is worth to them personally.

Wherever possible, I’ll include small anecdotes about how I discovered a game, series, or genre. Of course, I might not have a particularly personal or nostalgic story for every game covered. There will be plenty of instances where my experience with certain games and consoles occurred either just after they entered their twilight years or were already a thing of the past.

As you journey with me on this odyssey, you’ll unlock the secrets to burning questions I’m sure you’re dying to know about me. When did I first play the Atari 7800? When did I get the Sega Genesis? How long did it take for me to realize what an RPG was? Find out next time on The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers!

But seriously, my gaming timeline is a bit wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey. While I was playing whatever I could get my hands on throughout the 90s and beyond, there are plenty of old games that I didn’t experience until about 15 years or more after their original release due to a combination of the age-old problem of not having disposable income to blow on whatever I wanted as a child, and the misfortune of not having enough exposure to gaming magazines when it was the best way to know what was current or on the horizon.

My goal is to deliver engaging content peppered with memories of my journey of discovery. If you love video games as much as I enjoy writing about them, then click that subscribe button and join me on the couch. Welcome to the world of gaming from my perspective—The 8-Bit Perspective.

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