This Month’s Soundtrack
An easy one this week as the People’s Pop Polls‘ Pop World Cup is coming to a close, with the final a face-off between the old and new as Algeria’s Zohra takes on Turkey’s Eftalya Yağcı after (tragically) Austria’s Dani Lia got knocked out. My vote is going to Turkey, a world-beating banger if I ever heard one.
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This Month On exp.
Visual Novel “Theme Week”: Slay The Princess (Black Tabby Games, 2023) [subscriber post] / Milk Inside a Bag Of Milk Inside A Bag Of Milk / Milk Outside A Bag Of Milk Outside A Bag of Milk (Kryukov, 2020/2021) / Doomed Love (Cooper, 2021)
I played some visual novels and felt like writing a little more efficiently about them. I actually have a bunch more on the to-play list which might mean another theme week at some point, if I get to them.
Subscriber Exclusives: UFO 50 #4: Paint Chase (Perry, 2024) / UFO 50 #5: Magic Garden (Yu, 2024)
Yes, sticking to one of these a month, although (as a peek through the curtain) I’ve got a bunch more I haven’t found time to write up yet. Eek.
Unlocked Posts: Promise Mascot Agency (Kaizen Game Works, 2025) / Ozma Wars (SNK, 1979) / Gris (Nomada Studio, 2018) / King’s Knight (Square, 1986)
Quite a range here, but worth noting again that my King’s Knight piece appears in Pixels and Polygons Quarterly 2026 Q2! I just got my copy, and it looks great!
From The exp. Archive: Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (Parker Brothers, 1982) / Super Mario Bros. Deluxe (Nintendo, 1999) / Super Mario 3D Land (Nintendo, 2011) / G.G. Series #5: Ninja Karakuri Den (SUZAK, 2009)
I celebrate May the 4th, I revisit a couple of top-tier Marios, and I remember a series that I, along with everyone else, had forgotten, even though it was pretty good.
Zine News
The Oath #1
“This is the first issue of a brand new games writing zine, The ‘Gippocratic’ Oath. Much of its 6000+ words are fast-paced, frenzied games writing from me, Stuart Gipp. Features on Zelda, Yoshi, Lego Batman and more.”
Pixels and Polygons Quarterly 2026 Q3
“This issues theme is “Whoa, that’s heavy, Doc!” The games covered inside this new issue are: Gravity Rush, Low G Man, and VVVVVV! All are games that feature a creative use of gravity mechanics.”
I’m not in this one, but you should still back it!
And Finally…
An Incomplete Catalogue of Games Media in 2026
Chris Plante of the already venerable Post Games Podcast has put together a pretty incredible spreadsheet that tries to list as much of the currently existing games media landscape as possible: an excellent tool for anyone trying to fill out their RSS feed (hey, we’ve got one) or who might be trying to make webrings happen again (I heard you talking about this, Video Game History Hour.) I’d link what Plante had to say about this but I only just noticed his website is hosted by Substack. Eurgh! Could be worse I suppose, he could be posting about Microsoft games despite the efforts of No Games For Genocide and posting about games that use genAI while selling a “Destroy AI” T-shirt. That would be so wack if he did that. Disqualifying, honestly. Anyway…
Next week on exp.: Maybe it’s secretly the best game in a beloved franchise?
