THE BEST Games

Arcade1Up created these retro video game systems that you can put on a tabletop or mount on a wall. Each one features a 17″ color LCD screen, arcade-quality joystick and buttons, and comes loaded with eight licensed games. QVC sells the Asteroids, Pac-Man, or Ms. Pac-Man variants, while HSN has a Centipede version.

Celebrate your love for classic video games every time you take a sip with these fun drink coasters from CoastyMarshmallow. These hard plastic coasters are inspired by both arcade and console games, from Street Fighter II to Dance Dance Revolution to Q*Bert. They also have an extensive pop culture coaster collection.

Stop-motion animation expert Animist walks us through the process of posing an action figure of Street Fighter’s Sakura Kasugano, as she delivers a series of deadly blows to a Red Bull can. This making-of video is well worth a watch, but if you’re in a rush, you can skip to the finished sequence here.

Animator Alan Becker is best known for his Animation vs. series. When he’s not making those, he spends his time painstakingly replicating the vibrant worlds of Studio Ghibli entirely inside of Minecraft. You can join his Ghibli Minecraft server here, and check out the GhibliCraft YouTube channel for more videos.

Looking for a place to store all those little Switch cartridges? These Nintendo-themed containers from KoalaVerde will look awesome sitting on your desk or bookshelf. The 3D-printed units come in Bob-Omb, Yoshi’s Egg, Donkey Kong barrel, and Zelda Triforce designs. They also make a giant DK barrel for storing larger items.

The Nintendo 64 is known for games like Super Mario 64 and Star Fox 64. But there was another potentially big N64 title that never came out. In this short film from Adam Butcher, he takes a look back at Catastrophe Crow!, a highly-anticipated game that vanished along with its creator under strange circumstances. Or did it?

Following up on his extensive Evolution of Game Music, violinist Rob Landes is back with a much shorter tribute to video games. This time, he’s focused solely on the console startup music from the SEGA Genesis through the Nintendo Switch. He skipped the PS2 and string-tuning PS3 startups for some reason though.

This co-op 3D platformer asks you and a friend to play a clashing human couple who are magically turned into dolls. The duo must work together to use their unique abilities and weapons to navigate life-size locations from their miniaturized perspectives. It drops 3.25.2021 on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

Inspired by fellow editor Gugga Leunnam, game enthusiast Abs4Fun spent over 4 months compiling and meticulously matching up scenes from video games to create A Ride Through the Gaming Universe. The result is something straight out of Ready Player One.

Fans of 8-bit console gaming and adult beverages will love these wood coasters from Cutting Boredom. Each of the six available designs envisions a drunk version of a classic NES game, with titles like “Drunkey Kong” and “Mike Tyson’s Pass Out!!” Each one is printed in color then sealed with a two-coat polyurethane finish.

The MagGo is the ultimate travel bag for the Nintendo Switch. The shoulder pack is perfectly sized for the handheld and its accessories. It has a magnetic easy-open main compartment, pockets for a dozen game cards, space for a charger with a cable pass-through, and three pockets for other small items.

Inspired by a lengthy livestream of Super Mario Odyssey, ThePandemicLight edited the brief but potent Blur track Song 2, and replaced all of Damon Albarn’s celebratory “Woo-Hoos” with the voice of Mario. It’s as brilliantly funny as it sounds.

“That was the guy this was all about. Not like there’s another guy.” Joel Haver’s hilarious video game parody series pokes fun at what NPCs are probably thinking when your controller disconnects. Suddenly, you go from a rampaging death machine to an easy target for a one-punch kill, so the AI must be seriously confused.

Created by Brendan Becker aka Inverse Phase in 2012, Pretty Eight Machine is an awesome tribute to the music of Nine Inch Nails, performed on 8-bit gaming and computer sound chips. Now, you can pre-order it as a vinyl double album. The set includes 13 tracks from the SE release, and will be pressed on splatter art discs.

GingerofMods shows off an amazing portable game system that he built using parts from a Nintendo Wii. The trick to building the handheld was cutting up the Wii’s original circuit board and wiring them together with a mix of custom boards and circuits designed by Ginger and others in the modding community.

Guess we’ve got Sonic the Hedgehog on the brain today. Crank up the volume and enjoy another great cello performance by musician Samara Ginsberg that will have you dusting off your SEGA Genesis as soon as you hit play.

LEGO has announced that toastergrl’s concept for a Sonic the Hedgehog playset has been approved for production. While we don’t know what the final version will look like, the current design includes brick-built versions of Sonic, Dr. Eggman and his mech suit, Heavy Gunner, and familiar scenery from the Green Hill Zone.

Over the years, we’ve heard lots of covers of tunes from the Super Mario Bros. games, but vocalist Kohl Kitzmiller went all-in with this multi-track a cappella medley of 40 tracks from throughout Nintendo’s most popular video game franchise. This man has got some serious vocal range.

Arcade1Up expands into the realm of digital pinball. This 3/4-scale version of the classic Attack from Mars plays just like the original, complete with haptic touch flippers and a tilt sensor. It has a 23.8″ LCD playfield, working scoreboard, and light-up backglass. It plays 10 other Bally/Williams classics by Zen Studios.

Combining elements of games like The Last of Us and The Division, this open-world survival MMO drops players into a post-apocalyptic world where survivors must do what they must to scrounge food, weapons, and vehicles. Along the way, you’ll face off against a mix of other players and hordes of deadly infected.

With an amazing amount of graphical detail and real-world map data, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is closer than ever to recreating the experience of flight. Digital pilot TheNinjaCowboy shared this video footage of some of their favorite locations from the game, looking out from the pilot’s window and above their single-engine plane.

Game accessory maker 8BitDo’s stick is the perfect controller for all of your favorite arcade games. Sporting a retro Nintendo-inspired look, it works via Bluetooth, 2.4Ghz, or wired connections, and encourages modders to swap components. Ideal for both PC and Nintendo Switch gaming.

It may look like a Rubik’s Cube, but this 2x2x2 puzzle is much more. It has 24 LCD screens, 8 processors, motion and touch sensors, and plays a variety of mobile games. It can also be used to display information widgets on its screens. It’s expected to launch by late 2021 with a price of $249. Place your reservation here.

Animator omozoc takes a break from stop-motion cooking to poke fun at Cyberpunk 2077 with a fun little sequence that starts out with player customization, and then takes us on a ride into a world dominated by a mega-corporation who controls all of the food supplies.

Reimagined Wood Shop has the perfect gift for the video game fan that has everything. This substantial 12″ x 5″ valet tray holds your coins, wallet, phone, keys, and more, all while looking like the classic Nintendo Entertainment System controller. Each one is CNC-carved from a block of solid lumber and comes in a variety of woods.

YouTuber micah created an application that takes arguments posted in the comments on Reddit, and turns them into courtroom arguments in the video game Ace Attorney. You can generate your own by hitting a comment thread with !objectionbot on the end, or download the Python source code on Github.