Peter Tieryas
Kotaku
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Past articles by Peter:
The Unique Artist Behind Bomberman's Catchy Beats
June Chikuma has a unique approach to composing video game music → Read More
Izuho 'IPPO' Numata On Working At Early-'90s Sega And Composing Phantasy Star IV
There are so many songs from the 16-bit era that evoke nostalgic flashbacks to my first experiences playing games. Those tracks weren’t just catchy tunes, but were a big part of what made many classic games so special. In a time when memory limited what games could do, music, working cohesively with the graphics and story, could weave together a cinematic narrative that conveyed a whole lot of… → Read More
The Story Behind DuckTales On NES
As a kid, I used to rush home from school so I could catch the latest episode of the Disney cartoon DuckTales. I loved following Scrooge McDuck and his nephews across the world as they charted a path towards gold and glory, and it was always a blast seeing what new caper they’d stumble into. When I learned a video game adaptation of the series was being developed by Capcom for Nintendo, I… → Read More
What Games On Your Backlog Do You Want To Finish This New Year?
I asked this same question last year and looking back on the list of games I hoped to finish, I actually am surprised I got to quite a few of them. That includes Deadly Premonition, Radiant Historia, Pikmin 3, Link Between Worlds, Trace Memory, and No More Heroes. The link between them all is that they were available on the Switch or DS and I could play them late at night after everyone had gone… → Read More
Lost Odyssey’s Ending Felt Like A Bittersweet Farewell To The JRPGs Of Old
I wish I were immortal just so I could play all the games on my backlog. Lost Odyssey for the Xbox 360 is about immortals who’ve lived over a thousand years and they’ve experienced a lot. Maybe too much. Life has taken its toll and the only thing that’s made it bearable is the involuntary amnesia that was inflicted on them by fellow immortal, Gongora. Finally having finished the game, I felt its… → Read More
How The Past Year Got Me Thinking Of Post Apocalyptic Games In A New Light
Almost every day, I go for a walk with my kid. She’s just over two. There’s a strange serenity in the isolation of entire city blocks when there’s so few people out and about. In the first few months of the pandemic, it felt like we were walking through an abandoned city. I’ve lived in my neighborhood for over five years, but never really explored it. There’s many buildings I’ve passed by for… → Read More
Peter Tieryas’ Top 5 Games Of 2020
I can’t believe the year is almost over. 2020 has felt interminable. Between work, taking care of my kid, a new book release, various writing assignments, and all that life has thrown at me, my free time has been really limited. I usually only get a chance to play games after my kid falls asleep and because of that, I looked for different gaming experiences than I normally do (I think in past… → Read More
I Didn’t Expect To Like Deadly Premonition So Much
I crashed eight times during my playthrough of Deadly Premonition on the Switch, often at critical moments. In a game with long load screens, this seemed like an unforgivable sin. “So good it’s bad,” was testing my patience, even if I knew coming in that Deadly Premonition was a flawed cult classic. This wasn’t the original Xbox 360 version I was playing either, but the latest Switch iteration.… → Read More
Phantasy Star III Is A Flawed, But Ambitious, Entry Into The Series
Phantasy Star III was a game I wanted to love, especially since its predecessor was a science fiction classic and arguably one of my favorite games on the Sega Genesis. I still remember when I first heard about Phantasy Star III, which released for the Genesis in 1991, I was blown away by the idea of players following the characters through a multi-generational battle. Even now, I can only think… → Read More
The Fascinating Visual Novel About Time Travel From One Of The Creators Of Suikoden
In Time Hollow, time travel is a painful, convoluted, and sloppy mess that makes history worse with every intervention. A spiritual successor to another game I enjoyed called Shadow of Memories, it actually took me a while to track down this obscure Nintendo DS visual novel that was published in 2008 from Konami. When I found out it was directed by Junko Kawano, one of the developers who helped… → Read More
Who’s The Strongest Video Game Character?
If all the video game characters ever created got together in a big rumble, who’d come out on top? Kratos, the one who took down the gods of Olympus? What about Asura who fought off a deity the size of a planet? What about the ancients who wore Majora’s Mask and caused so much havoc, it was sealed away? Would that make the Happy Mask Salesmen even more powerful? Can Mario, who crushes enemies… → Read More
The Brilliant 16-Bit JRPG About The Death And Rebirth Of The World
Considered part of the Quintet Creation Trilogy, Terranigma was the culminating tour de force from the Japanese studio behind 16-bit games like Actraiser, Illusion of Gaia, and Robotrek. It was never released in North America (though it received a translated version in PAL), explaining why most of us here in the States, including myself, never heard of the game growing up. I discovered… → Read More
7 PS4 Horror Games That I Hope Get PS5 Sequels
The PS4 had some great horror games. The best had a way of creeping into my mind subconsciously, lingering until a vulnerable moment and striking terror when I least expected. It’s interesting that with the increase in graphical power, the games that scared me most last gen weren’t necessarily the best looking ones; sometimes, that grindhouse low budget feel makes a game more authentic and… → Read More
The Video Game Music That Helped Us Through 2020
2020 was tough. There were nights we wondered where and how this year would end. Just when things seemed like they couldn’t get worse, they did time and again. On every level, it was difficult just to get through the day. One of the things that helped us through was music. Specifically, video game music. Music therapy is real. Sometimes, it was listening to a vocal rendition of Schala’s theme… → Read More
How A Dark Time-Traveling Fantasy Game Became the Original Fallout
The end of the world was both darker and more humorous than anyone could have imagined, and in the original Fallout, released for the PC in 1997, gamers got to experience the apocalypse firsthand. The iconic, “War, war never changes,” introduction set the somber mood, which was written, strangely enough, during an episode of The Simpsons. → Read More
Ys VIII's Compelling Story Makes You Care About Every NPC
I always approach classics with a certain sense of trepidation, especially if I’m playing them outside of their original release window. Games that might have truly been remarkable in their day and age might come across antiquated and difficult to endure in the present, especially with how much game design has changed over the years. But in the case of the Ys series with its many efforts at… → Read More
An Ode To The Games It Took Us Forever To Finish (Or How It Took Me Over Twenty Years To Finally Finish The First Suikoden)
Hi Kotaku! The last time I was a weekend editor for Kotaku was way back in February and honestly, that seems like a lifetime ago. So much has happened since then that even looking back at my old articles feels like I’m peeking at a time capsule from a different age. → Read More
A Return To The The Legend Of Zelda: The Ocarina Of Time Reminded Me Why It’s Special
The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time is widely considered not just one of the greatest games in the Zelda series, but one of the best games of all time. The 1998 Nintendo 64 game felt vast. It’s story was epic. It made controlling a character in 3D space feel intuitive. It was Zelda in a way no one had experienced before in its 2D predecessors. As I recently replayed its 2011 remake on the… → Read More
A Link Between Worlds Is Still A Zelda Like No Other
I’m a huge fan of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, but I hadn’t played all the way through its direct sequel on the Nintendo 3DS, A Link Between Worlds, until recently. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I like it more than the original. → Read More
Rygar Is A Non-Linear 8-Bit Masterpiece
I had no idea what I was getting into when I first put Rygar into my NES. I had borrowed the game, released in 1987 by Tecmo, from a friend who couldn’t make heads nor tails of it. He wished me better luck. I didn’t realize I was going to experience one of my very first Metroidvania games on the NES. Rygar, which is now available for Nintendo Switch Online, did a lot of things right,… → Read More