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POCG WRITER

Adam Richardson

Writing for POCG since 1998

40

Reviews

21

Features

14

Previews

Published Work

75 items in this archive.

ReviewJul 12, 2026ANBERNIC RG CubeXXA roughly $65 square-screen handheld that runs handhelds, 8-bit and 16-bit consoles, arcade, most DOS games and PlayStation 1 beautifully. Judge it for what it's built to do and it's…→

FeatureJul 9, 2026The Subsidy, Part Three: What They KeptThe Xbox cuts landed: four studios out, Arkane in limbo, 3,200 jobs gone, and every announced game spared. Part three is about what Microsoft decided was worth keeping.→

FeatureJul 9, 2026The Box at My Mom’s HouseHow POCG came back: the lvl30 years, the pocg.co relaunch, buying pocg.net back in 2026, and the box of Zip disks at my mom's house that held the original archive.→

FeatureJul 9, 2026The First Run, and How I Lost ItHow POCG began, from a Command and Conquer fan page to a full gaming site founded in 1998, and how the first run ended when a broke college kid let…→

FeatureJul 6, 2026The Man Who Called It AncientSony just set a date to stop making game discs for new PlayStation releases. Jim Ryan was not in the building when it was announced, but the road to it…→

FeatureJul 3, 2026The Subsidy, Part Two: The Bill Comes DueThe Xbox cuts landed on the day the brief predicted. Five studios on the block, a Kojima game spared, and 3,500 workers refusing to be a line item. Part two…→

FeatureJun 29, 2026Myst (1993)In 1995, my parents bought the family a Packard Bell Legend 130CD Supreme. It was a big deal. Not a hand-me-down, not a machine inherited from someone's office. A real,…→

FeatureJun 21, 2026Player Two: The Games to Play With Your DadFather's Day, the Top Loader way: not games about dads, but the couch classics you can hand your dad a controller for, whether he is a lifelong gamer or has…→

FeatureJun 21, 2026The Men Who Handed Me the ControllerAdam had three father figures, and every one of them put a console or a keyboard in his hands. One made him a Sega guy for life. One handed him…→

FeatureJun 18, 2026The SubsidyIn April, Compulsion won a Peabody. Weeks later Microsoft is closing studios and calling Xbox something it has "been subsidizing." That one word covers two things a retro site has…→

FeatureJun 16, 2026A Name to Play ByHandles, gamertags, clan tags: the names we choose to play under are a second identity. Starting a new series with my own.→

PreviewJun 15, 2026Untitled Jet Set Radio GameSega is bringing Jet Set Radio back with the original creators and an open-world Tokyo. I have wanted this for twenty years, and I am terrified of it.→

ReviewJun 10, 2026G80 R36S CloneA G80-board clone shipped via Amazon commingled inventory. Broken D-pad, drifting stick, no refund, no support. Broken.→

ReviewMay 20, 2026R-TypeThe SMS port of R-Type pushes the hardware to its limits with vibrant colors; despite slowdown, it remains one of the best shooters of the 8-bit era.→

ReviewMay 20, 2026KenseidenKenseiden brings the Castlevania vibe to feudal Japan with stellar graphics and crushing difficulty, but stiff controls hold it back.→

ReviewApr 17, 2026Alex Kidd in Miracle WorldSega's bizarre Mario competitor replaces jumping with punching and features Rock-Paper-Scissors boss fights.→

ReviewApr 16, 2026Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s TrapA genre-defining 1989 classic with brilliant animal transformations and vibrant colors, despite a frustrating password system.→

ReviewApr 8, 2015Middle-earth: Shadow of MordorA beautiful Middle-earth open world whose groundbreaking Nemesis System turns orcs into unforgettable personal rivals. A camera quirk aside, near-flawless.→

FeatureNov 25, 2014The Broken Games Report: Issue #1Late 2014 became the season of the broken AAA launch. Issue one of The Broken Games Report rounds up the worst offenders, from Assassin's Creed Unity's bug-fest to Halo MCC's…→

ReviewNov 11, 2014Assassin’s Creed RogueRogue is short and recycled, but Shay's Templar story gives the series one of its sharpest perspective shifts.→

ReviewJun 17, 2013Tekken RevolutionRevolution borrows Tekken's mechanics without earning its place in the lineup. No local play, a coin ceiling, and a roster that teases more than it delivers.→

FeatureMar 1, 2013What Happened to SEGA?Sega ruled the early nineties on the back of Sonic, so how did it end up here, with a hyped 'AAA' Aliens game selling barely a million copies?→

ReviewJan 16, 2013The Journey Down: Chapter OneA gorgeous, hand-drawn point-and-click adventure with a killer jazzy soundtrack. Short and a little uneven on voice work, but a must-buy.→

PreviewJan 16, 2013First Look: DUST 514CCP's console FPS for the EVE universe shows a promising, EVE-flavoured beta, but the headline DUST-to-EVE integration is still unseen.→

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Playing Out of Control Gaming

Independent retro gaming coverage since 1998. No bought scores. No filters. Just opinions.

120 Reviews

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