Clik here to view.
Weird Sports Games 2 - Cosmic Smash (Dreamcast, 2000)
Cosmic Smash (Sega Rosso, 2000) I can only think of a small handful of games that set out with a dead simple purpose and execute it to perfection. Cosmic Smash is one of those games: a single...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Weird Sports Games 3 - Dashin' Desperadoes (Genesis, 1993)
Dashin' Desperadoes (Data East, 1993)Let's get THIS shit out of the way right now:HOWWWWWWWWWWDY~Okay! Dashin' Desperadoes strains the premise of these "weird sports" posts quite a lot I'll admit. Even...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Planet Harriers (Sega - 2005, PSP)
A port of the 2000 arcade game and spiritual sequel to the Space Harrier series.Planet Harriers was a long overdue entry in the Space Harrier series, which hadn't seen a new game since 1998's Space...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Weird Sports Games 4 - Pen Pen TriIcelon (Dreamcast, 1998)
Pen Pen TriIcelon (General Entertainment, 1998)Pen Pen TriIcelon (Ice Triathlon, get it) received deservedly mixed reviews, but I can think of one award it deserves: clunkiest title ever. I honestly...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Pen Pen TriIcelon (Dreamcast) Manual Differences and Weird Stuff
Who'd have thought I would have this much to say about PenPen TriIcelon?Looking through the game's English manual I was actually shocked at how colorful and fun it was; often times localizing a game...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Cosmic Smash Undiscovered Secret Characters?? UPDATED
I know the title is very clickbait-y, but I've been searching online and can't find a single reference to this, so it may be new to you: Cosmic Smash has a secret character!Okay, I know how this looks....
View ArticleClik here to view.
8-Bit Shugei - Dragon Quest Shadowbox Fun
Do you know about 8-bit shugei? Meaning literally "8-bit handicraft", it's retro-gaming themed DIY art encompassing any number of formats such as perler beading, cross stitch, papercraft, sculpture...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Illustration Collection 01
I was doing random sketches from simple prompts; this one was "traveler"Hey! Sorry, no video game stuff today...though Ribbon Black is ostensibly a gaming art/history/culture blog, it's technically...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Finch Owl Pocket SP (Famicom, 2017)
My friend Finch had me on a Splatoon episode of his podcast late last year and was kind enough to tap me for the cover image! The subject of the design was of course something near and dear to my...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Illustration Collection 02
A friend's OC done roughly fighting game size. Maybe a little too low res?More sketches and pixel art! This one is mostly fanart.Wanted to make an original ARMS character. My arms are spoooooky ghost...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ridge Racer: World At War (exploring connections to Ace Combat)
*warning: this is the nerdiest thing I've ever written on this blog*Long time no see! Get ready for some Deepest Ridge Racer Lore. If you've played Namco's excellent Ace Combat 5 (or Ace Combat 2...or...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Single Player Offline - The Lonely Ritual of Disconnected Console Gaming
On Christmas day 2017 I experienced something I didn't know I was missing--and never thought I would miss--when I went into the neglected room where all my retro game consoles are kept.Rather than...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fantavision (PS2, 2000) A Flashy, Tonally Inconsistent Puzzle Game
It's Fantavision!It's July 4th! In the United States it's Independence Day, a holiday that was ostensibly created for, you know...patriotic America type shit. Nobody actually cares, it's an acceptable...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Zombie Revenge (Dreamcast, 1999)
**Hey guys; as expected, I missed ANOTHER October Horror Games month! I've been busy lately, what with moving 1600 miles across the country to start a new job at a game studio in California. I do plan...
View ArticleClik here to view.
I'm glad Namco stopped making their cover art like this
Absolutely nobody: "..."Mid-90's Namco:Here's something I've never seen anybody talk about: In the young days of the North American PS1, Namco came out kicking by releasing ports of their early-90s...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hudson Soft's original Caravan trilogy
Hudson's All-Japan Caravan Festival...a legendary series of competitions held yearly throughout the 80's and 90s. It was established at the height of the shoot-em-up's popularity, and this shows in the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Vib Ribbon Press Kit - full disc contents!
So, a few years ago I made a post about a Vib Ribbon press kit I found by chance on ebay around 2003. I posted the most interesting things (a lot of fun key art of the characters) but left a few things...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Rainy Day at Wonder Eggs amusement park, 1992
note: most of these images are pretty high res, so open them in a new tab if you want a closer look! I'm a bit of a Namco enthusiast, and for years I've been interested in their first go at the...
View Article