Cartridge Chronicles

Punch. Duck. Dodge. Repeat. Quest Master Prime and Marz Attakz lace up their gloves and climb into the ring for one of the most iconic and endlessly replayable games in Nintendo Entertainment System history — Punch-Out!! Little Mac is small. His opponents are enormous. The odds are impossible. And somehow Nintendo turned that simple premise into one of the greatest games ever made. From the loveable Glass Joe to the terrifying Mike Tyson himself, every opponent in Punch-Out!! is a puzzle wrapped in a personality, and the Cartridge Chronicles are breaking down every single one of them. Do you remember the code? You better.

Say no to drugs. Say yes to rocket launchers. Quest Master Prime and Marz Attakz hit the mean streets for one of the most gloriously over the top and controversial games in NES history — NARC. Originally a smash hit arcade game from Williams Electronics, this 1990 home port brought the War on Drugs to Nintendo's family friendly console in the most explosive way imaginable — letting players blast, disintegrate, and arrest drug dealers across some of the most chaotic levels the NES ever produced. For a console famous for its strict content guidelines, NARC was an absolute wild card. How did this even get approved? The Cartridge Chronicles badge up and find out.

It's a me... a complete disaster. Quest Master Prime and Marz Attakz leave the consoles behind and head to the movie theater for a very special episode of the Cartridge Chronicles — the 1993 Super Mario Bros movie. Starring Bob Hoskins as Mario, John Leguizamo as Luigi, and the legendary Dennis Hopper as a bizarrely intimidating King Koopa, this big budget Hollywood adaptation took Nintendo's colorful mushroom kingdom and transformed it into a dark dystopian dinosaur city that absolutely nobody asked for. It bombed at the box office, baffled critics, and somehow became one of the most talked about video game movies of all time. Was it ahead of its time or just completely off the rails? The Cartridge Chronicles pop in the VHS and find out.

One hunter. One moon. Zero color. Quest Master Prime and Marz Attakz suit up in the Varia Suit and descend into the depths of SR388 for one of the most underrated and overlooked adventures in Nintendo Game Boy history — Metroid 2 Return of Samus. Sandwiched between the legendary original Metroid and the masterpiece Super Metroid, this little grey cartridge carried one of gaming's most ambitious missions — hunt down and eliminate every last Metroid on their home planet. Darker, lonelier, and more atmospheric than anything the Game Boy had any right to produce, Metroid 2 is the missing link in Samus Aran's story that the Cartridge Chronicles is finally giving its flowers.

Your cells are evolving. Your mitochondria are awakening. And Quest Master Prime and Marz Attakz are suiting up as NYPD officer Aya Brea for one of the most unique and criminally under-appreciated games in PlayStation history — Parasite Eve. Developed by Square fresh off the success of Final Fantasy VII, this cinematic horror RPG dropped players into a nightmarish New York City on Christmas Eve where human beings were spontaneously combusting at the opera. Part survival horror, part action RPG, and part Hollywood blockbuster, Parasite Eve was unlike anything gaming had ever seen. The Cartridge Chronicles duo light the candles and dive deep into this forgotten gem of the PS1 era.

What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets! But enough talk — have at this episode! Quest Master Prime and Marz Attakz descend into Dracula's castle for one of the most celebrated and genre defining games in PlayStation history — Castlevania Symphony of the Night. Released in 1997 to modest sales and overwhelming critical praise, this Konami masterpiece flipped the Castlevania formula completely upside down, introducing RPG mechanics, a sprawling interconnected castle, and one of the greatest plot twists in gaming history. This is the episode the Cartridge Chronicles was born to make.

Ness has entered the chat. Quest Master Prime and Marz Attakz grab their baseball bats and journey to Onett for one of the most talked about episodes in Cartridge Chronicles history — EarthBound for the Super Nintendo. One of the most unconventional RPGs ever made, EarthBound dared to set its adventure in a quirky modern day America filled with hippies, aliens, and sentient trash cans. It bombed on release, got mocked in its own advertising campaign, and somehow went on to become one of the most influential and beloved games in history. How does that even happen? Quest Master Prime and Marz Attakz break it all down.

He's bad. He's nationwide. And he's coming to a Sega Genesis near you. Quest Master Prime and Marz Attakz moonwalk their way through one of the most gloriously strange licensed games in retro gaming history — MoonWalker. Based on the 1988 Michael Jackson film, this Sega Genesis and arcade classic puts you in the sequined shoes of the King of Pop himself, rescuing kidnapped children with dance moves, magic, and a robot transformation that nobody saw coming. Is it a hidden gem or a fever dream? The Cartridge Chronicles are on the case.

Hadouken... into disaster. Quest Master Prime and Marz Attakz load up one of the most gloriously bizarre chapters in gaming history — Street Fighter The Movie Game. Based on the 1994 film that somehow starred Jean-Claude Van Damme as Guile and Raul Julia in his final role, this arcade and home console oddity is equal parts fascinating and baffling. Was it so bad it was good, or just plain bad? The Cartridge Chronicles put on their military berets and find out."

Deep in the Sega Saturn vault lies one of the greatest strategy RPGs ever made — Dragon Force. Quest Master Prime and Marz Attakz venture into 32-bit territory to shine a long overdue spotlight on this massive, complex, and utterly absorbing game that most people missed the first time around. Hundreds of officers, epic large scale battles, and a rich fantasy world — Dragon Force is the hidden treasure the Cartridge Chronicles was built to uncover.