Latino Gamer

Ravager Artwork's Wolfman comments on his preferrence for Super Nintendo games Joe Ravager Romero and his thoughts about the old games of Super Nintendo.

Generation Y, A.K.A the Millenials (people who are now in their late 20's and early 30's), experienced their childhoods in the energetic 90's. It is very common for people in this generation (which includes myself), to come home from school to save the world in our home entertainment video game console. We grew up with the Super Nintendo (or the competitor which shall not be named). In the first articles that I posted on latinogamer.com I mentioned that my very first console game for the Super Nintendo was The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. I easily consider it the greatest game of all time, or for that matter, the Super Nintendo. But having noticed that my bias blinds me, I have decided to explore the opinion of a fellow Gen Y member who has never played a Zelda game (you read correctly) to give me his input as to which games he enjoyed and continues to enjoy. Enter Joe Romero, artist of Ravenger Artworks. Joe likes to make drawings with a Heavy Metal/Macabre theme which he sells individually or prints them in clothing. He has also drawn covers for music albums. On his spare time, he likes to unwind by playing classic 90's video games. Because of that, I chose him as someone to interview on the topic.


(Joe Romero wearing one of his designs)


(A sample of Joe's art for sale)

Joe likes to keep it genuine as much as possible, so he purchases special handheld devices to play his Super Nintendo cartridges. He doesn't have anything personal against the use of ROMs, but he just prefers the use of the original cartridges. I was curious as to why he still takes time to play the classics, in a time when there is so much new stuff going on when it comes to gaming, and the answers I got made me once again appreciate the fact that the games of the 90's were something special.




Joe, why is it that you still play games from the 16 bit era? What do they have which makes them unique?

The 16 bit titles were pioneers in gameplay in many respects, they did things that previous generation games didn’t. For example, Super Metroid was a leap forward in mapping large scale areas for exploration, and Mortal Kombat was a step forward in the level of goriness that the extreme 90’s craved so much of. However, I mostly play them because there is a message portrayed in them which I enjoy. The storylines were something special.

I notice that your artwork is very dark and gory. Are the games that you play like that also? Which game themes do you have a preference for?

The Horror ones actually, from the gore hounded “Splatterhouse” to the epic “ Castlevania,” I’m a person who is very intrigued by dark themes. Other examples include “ Demons Crest” and “Ghosts And Goblins.” Even “Super Metroid” had a certain darkness to it.

Oh, I see. I notice that many modern games also have very dark themes. Are you interested in those also? Or do you only prefer old games?

I'm a fan of "Red Dead Redemption" and "Alien vs. Predator." I'm not going to say that the games of today are no good, it's just that I'm still drawn to the old ones of the past. The games of today have many qualities, and I don't dismiss them entirely, but I will say that I don't really see as much uniqueness in the modern games as much as I see majestic graphics. I think that the industry nowadays wants something that looks pretty, that has great environments, but with the overemphasis on looks, the gameplay itself lacks the innovation that earlier games had. Another criticism that I have is that now it seems to be that the overwhelming theme in games is war, war, war, and war. It gets old fast. That's what I think. But again, I still have respect and even enjoy modern games.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. So now that you have played so many games, will you give at least one Zelda game a shot?

NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

At that moment Joe ended the interview by storming out of the room and destroying everything in his path. I sent him a bill for the damages, but he wont be able to pay back unless he sells more of his art. To that cause, I share a link to his artworks page. Just click on the title: Ravager Artworks to be directed to the Facebook page. You can also view his clothing page Reaper Wear. Thank you for reading this article. You are welcome to share your thoughts on this debate in the comment section below.
(Your humble writer, Carlos the Gaming Archaeologist, sporting a hoodie bought from Ravenger Artworks)