12 / 10 / 2021
Well son? Which is it? A sushi bar or a kabuki theater? I mean if I’m focused on my chopsticks, I can’t rightly watch the kabuki … ah nevermind this bit is going nowhere. F-Zero GX sent the major console editions of the series off with a bang, who knows if we’ll ever see another … in addition to being a nice game I think it provided the first look at whatever F-Zero Universe there might be.
11 / 21 / 2021
Crazy Nick’s Picks is just a free-for-all with board games, casino games, even some arcade games … it’s all stuff clipped out of Sierra adventures from the early ’90s though. But hey, ScummVM bothered to support it, so let’s dive in and see what it has to offer.
11 / 11 / 2021
Another of D3 Publisher’s original budget sports joints for the PS1, this time Boxing. Cartoony, simplistic, weird, and with something of a fighting game element.
10 / 27 / 2021
Added Hyper Street Kart to our Super Mario Kart page, a neat ROM hack that inserts munchkin Street Fighter characters in addition to a whole new track set.
10 / 14 / 2021
We usually see D3 Publisher more over at Plumflower, but they actually made their bones on the PS1 with simple sports and tabletop game releases and such … today we got Billiards which has nice music, voodoo art and a solid if simple game of pool with a bunch of different modes.
10 / 8 / 2021
Chuck Rock might not have become a household name, but he did manage to get himself a racing game … from the team that would go on to make Tomb Raider right after this, no less. BC Racers adds a Road Rash combat element to the Mario Kart formula.
9 / 28 / 2021
Today’s entry is a hella weird golf game for the Genesis called Battle Golfer Yui. Japan-only, it blended a tough 2D golf engine with some weird visual novel and RPG elements for a real fever dream of a game.
9 / 18 / 2021
The first-ever racing game for Konami, Road Fighter is very basic (honestly kinda a glorified LCD handheld racing game) but was one of the first to really convey a sense of high speed and driving via reflexes / quick strategic decisions.
8 / 10 / 2021
Another social casino today, this one for those visiting Vegas … or apparently Boston too? Anyway, it’s Wynn Slots, which offers free rooms and buffets (if those ever open back up again) in return for your spinny spin spin spin.
7 / 5 / 2021
STN Play is the social casino from Station Casinos, a Vegas chain that’s entirely off-Strip and generally more budget- and locals-minded (but with at least a couple of luxury properties). It’s one of the more interesting chains as it is usually pretty generous with the giveaway promotions, but that hasn’t translated to the social casino as of yet.
6 / 12 / 2021
Today’s review is WWE All-Stars which is, well … hold on, let me see if I can get all this: basically Golden Era vs ROOFLESS AGGRESSION era but with a smattering of other eras in between, in an arcadey style meant to call back to 80s/90s arcade games but with 3D polygons, and meant to promote some toy line of the time but uses a super blocky roided-out art style that doesn’t look like the toys? Alright.
5 / 16 / 2021
High Rollers Casino … not actually the most glamorous of places, but a basically solid little casino that is distinguished by being a product of Cinemaware (“cinematic” action/strategy game pioneer behind Defender of the Crown, the Three Stooges game seen in Lethal Weapon 3, etc.)
4 / 21 / 2021
I’ve been meaning for there to be more of a focus on feature articles at this site, rather than just game reviews … thing is, I have a Real Job and features usually take way more time to lay out and put together (since I’m trying out a lot of these games just for something to do on break time anyway).
Finally getting some features underway here with a very basic primer on How to Beat Casinos. Sounds spammy, I know, but it’s a real thing that can actually be done. The only question is how degenerate are you willing to get!
4 / 17 / 2021
In the mid-90s, popular belief was that realistic racing / “car guy” games were exclusively a niche province of PC gamers and wouldn’t ever be anything more than that. Sony tested it out with a more mainstream audience on consoles with Gran Turismo and it was a gamble that paid off big.
4 / 6 / 2021
When CD-ROM games became big in the 90s, a lot of developers thought they could just sprinkle some repetitive digital sound loops on casino games and call it “authentic ambience.” Golden Nugget is pretty much that, but it does take some extra steps that most don’t: using the actual Golden Nugget in downtown Vegas as a backdrop for movie clips, and hiring one Adam West to be a part of those clips!
3 / 31 / 2021
The new baseball season is about to be underway, so it seems like a timely time to cover MLB Power Pros 2008. As a refresher, this is an entry in the Powerful Pro Baseball series which was long-running and popular in Japan but had only this brief low-key run in the West back in the mid-late 00s. It’s my favorite baseball series, managing to blend super-deformed characters with quality gameplay and a ton of depth and fun options.
3 / 23 / 2021
The F-Zero series ended very quietly with the Japan-only F-Zero Climax for the GBA, which kinda regressed back to the original SNES game rather than doing anything new (though it did have a kinda neat track creator). Guess there’s always hope for Nintendo to remember that this series exists, though …
3 / 14 / 2021
Two-fer today with the new AEW Casino (which could have been the world’s first casino-wrestling game except they forgot to add the wrestling bit) and Konami’s classic F1 Spirit, which was big in Japan but never really got much of a push over here except for an underlooked Game Boy port.
2 / 12 / 2021
Live from the WWE Chunderdome, Day of Reckoning 2. Not a bad title at all, and one of the better choices for creating your own wrestlers, but it’s definitely not a universal improvement over the prequel.
1 / 31 / 2021
Seems like people are fondly remembering the SNES on social media right now, so here’s an obscure golf game from Nintendo that only appeared on the Japanese Satellaview: I Love Golf: Out Of Bounds Club!, now available to us via fan translation and emulation.
1 / 16 / 2021
Video poker long ago became a losing proposition at all but the rarest of machines, no matter how perfectly you play. However! For those interested in the sorts of things that casino comps and fun bucks and such can bring you, you still might actually come out ahead (situationally) over the long haul by playing it.
That’s too much to just casually get into right now, but the first step is to actually play without making mistakes and the best thing for that is a trainer. Enter Frugal Video Poker, which is not only the lone freeware trainer that I’m aware of but is apparently still one of the best ones available.
1 / 4 / 2021
We continue to take our minds off of cold, snow and the accumulated stench of NEET Feet from being at home for nearly a year now with the sunny fun of Wave Race: Blue Storm, Nintendo’s last entry in the well-received jet-ski racing series.
12 / 31 / 2020
A seasonally appropriate title, for our friends Down Under at least … meanwhile I’m up here hoping this little office space heater doesn’t give up the ghost. Anyway, enjoy some oily beach fun times with Summer Heat Beach Volleyball. And Happy New Year!
12 / 27 / 2020
Today we take you back (a do do do doo) to 1987 and the first Rocky console game for the Sega Master System. The gameplay really didn’t stand up, but it was kinda ambitious and looked great for the time.
12 / 26 / 2020
Welcome to Golden Quarter! This site covers sports games and a variety of casino, tabletop and card games.
Gonna be aesthetically spartan for a little bit, but bear with us as it’ll be tuned up in pieces and parts in the coming weeks. Keep an eye on this main page for new articles and reviews, which will begin rolling out very soon!
In the meantime, some 300 pages from the former Plato’s Cavern site have been reconstituted here. You can browse game categories, each of which contains reviews and articles, with the menu to the right ->.