“The Pixels – Greatest Hits Vol. 1”
9 min read
“You can make anything by writing.”
-C.S. Lewis
Before we get to our Greatest Hits, let me say thank you for helping The Pixels reach 10,000 email subscribers! On behalf of our writing team, let me extend my appreciation. We are grateful, in a world of audio-visual media, that there’s still an interest in written content, in elemental video game critiques and reviews. The Pixels, previously The Well-Red Mage, has always been a group of creatives working together under common ideals and common goals. We just want to provide thoughtful content in a gaming world screaming about the latest slander, gossip, fandom, nontroversy, or corporate monstrosity, and we’re each of us delighted to see that so many readers out there are interested in the kind of content we highlight.
I don’t say these enough so here we go…
To our writers, thank you. The Pixels literally wouldn’t exist without you and your voluntary coverage and critiquery. You are a constant reminder to me of the value of free thinking, diversity, and honesty. Well over 100 different writers have lent their voices to this website in some way, shape, or form since 2016, and many have gone on to bigger and better things (with my best wishes), but the ones that have stuck it out and stuck around are our legacy.
To our patrons, many thanks for continuing to support our concept financially. You have helped us both maintain and expand the foundation and the horizons of The Pixels in new ways. Keeping the lights on is one thing. Granting us the ability to try new things entirely is quite another. In the past, Patreon has been a resource we’ve used to even pay our writers and I know that’s something not every games writing website can offer!
To our deputy editors, Coffee and Dragon, you’re cheerful volition is utterly essential. Left a typo in there for ya 😉
To our Editor-in-Chief, ProfNoctis aka Daddy Pixels, you’re one of the best things that happened to this site this year. Together, we have a lot planned and the sky is truly the limit. Would it be weird to say you complete me? Yeah, I think it would.
To 2023… we’re coming for you.
What follows is our Greatest Hits Vol.1 (presumably we’ll want to revisit this idea again someday so I’m enumerating in advance), a collection of the best of the best from the mouths of our writers themselves. I asked our wordsmiths to choose their favorite piece among their own writings here and the result is the list below. For sundry reasons, these are the posts that have meant the most: from redemption stories to honorifics, marathon doctorates to philosophy theses, from the antiquated retro to the cutting edge. They represent The Pixels Greatest Hits of all time, the words of our Legacy Writers. If you’ve not had the chance to read them yet, I’d encourage you to and get to know the author who penned each piece a little more.
Thank you, once again, and enjoy our swan song of 2022.
Cyberpunk 2077 (2020) [Xbox Series X]
by Bizarro
I’ve written a good few pieces with this lovely team here at The Pixels (and formerly The Well-Red Mage), but my review for Cyberpunk 2077 may well have been the most satisfying challenge. It was (reasonably) slaughtered by reviewers and players alike on release for being a buggy, broken mess full of broken promises, yet by the time I picked it out of a supermarket bargain bin for £20, it had been patched a fair old bit and was said to work well on the newest generation of consoles. I took it home and absolutely loved my experience in Night City. But how could I even begin to convince the average gamer that this game is worthy of redemption? Hopefully my critique did just that!
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 (2019) [Switch]
Of all the posts I’ve written, none has made an impact on me the way Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 has. We’ve received keys to review before, but this one felt BIG. I mean, it’s SEGA! And we were reviewing a game for them! Wild! This was my favourite review to go in-depth with. It cemented my reviewing and writing style here on The Pixels. I also got to use my shiny new capture card (which I still use today for my streams!) to pull footage from the game and use as a preview. The best part about all this was that we got a shoutout from SEGA about our review! I tell ya, I was on Cloud 9 for a good week after that.
“Oak City Indie Games Showcase”
While I love doing the basic reviews and have a soft spot for my first article on The Pixels, my favorite has to be my rundown of the first annual local game showcase in 2019 purely for how much fun it was to, well, research. It was incredible getting to see what indie games were being made in my hometown and neighboring cities, to get my hands on demos for games never before seen (and not seen since for some), and to be surrounded by people who just truly love indie games.
Card Shark (2022) [PC]
This review of Card Shark was my favorite to make so far. I felt very passionately about the game and I believe it shows in the final draft. I also had a lot of fun playing the game and really enjoyed the visual style. Recounting the story and how the game functions was a blast to write. Trying to be vague while also describing the game in a way a player might understand was a challenge. I worked hard to convey everything in a concise review and I’m very proud of the way this came out!
“Essay Thirty-three: PSI Farewell–EarthBound and the Apple of Enlightenment”
Not sure how, but I came to the site originally in 201X with a podcast about EarthBound that I wanted to convert into a series of essays. This piece was the final one, number 33 in that initial run. While I’ve completed similar audio commentary/analysis projects with games like Final Fantasy VII and Xenogears since, EarthBound is the only one I’ve so far managed to capture with any coherence in the form of the old-fashioned written word (and if you do read the post, you’ll see that coherence is maybe too strong a word). Still, I’m proud to be a part of the community and have something substantial to show for it.
Actraiser Renaissance (2021) [Switch]
by Kalas
As a fan of the original Actraiser on the SNES, my face lit up with excitement at the reveal and the surprise release of Actraiser Renaissance for the Switch. I purchased it as soon as it became available and jumped at a chance to review it. It remains one of my favorite pieces I’ve written because I brought a unique perspective to the review. It is a complete remaster of the original with new mechanics added so in a way it’s the same game but something new altogether. I had fun attempting to bring a fair and honest critique while acknowledging the existence of the original and how the versions compared to one another.
Rogue (1985) [PC]
When it comes to the limited amount of articles I’ve written for the “Well-Red Pixels,” my favorite would have to be the one I wrote about Rogue. That’s right, the 1980’s dungeon crawler that officially began the rogue-like and rogue-lite genres. One of the oldest games covered on the site, I was able to dig deep into the creative mechanics that laid the foundations for thousands of titles to come. Being a fan of gaming history, I took to writing this like a fish takes to water!
Live A Live (2022) [Switch]
by Zerinus
Of all of my work on this website thus far, Live A Live is my best achievement. I not only enjoyed the game but I enjoyed writing about it because it forced me to flex my brain into perspectives that I don’t usually delve into. I tackled it with the intent of making due for the game’s justices as well as its shortcomings. This was also my stepping stone into writing about more in-depth games and stories. Overall a really fun learning experience, and one I hope that’ll help me reach greater heights.
Terranigma (1996) [SNES]
by TeeBee
This was the first piece of actual game criticism I ever wrote, and I am still more than happy with the way it turned out. To be given an opportunity to talk freely and openly about a Super Nintendo adventure game so dear to my heart felt exciting, and I was thrilled to be able to introduce some aspects of Terranigma to my friends in the States who have been cruelly denied this 16-bit wonder for all these years. Although I still to this day can’t get over saying in the review that the protagonist, Ark, has red hair when it is clearly blonde. D’oh!
Death Stranding: Director’s Cut (2021) [PS5]
by shhwonk
My critique of Death Stranding (which was published on my birthday!) is one that stands out to me. My joy and ecstasy of discovering a new favourite game—and genre: the Kojimaesque—is on full display here. It is also a piece close to my heart, as it was written during a turbulent time in my life, and I put careful thought into pouring my soul into my words. It is a game that mirrored the isolation (and subsequent mental health battles) faced by many in the years 2020-2022, almost to an eerily prophetic degree. It is also about giving us the agency to reconnect that scattered, ruinous world, allowing us to pick up the pieces and rebuild humanity.
“Chrono Trigger is the greatest game of all time:
Objectivity or Hyperbole?”
by Red
I have written 766 posts for this website, but there’s one that stands head and shoulders above the rest. My 17k word thesis on Chrono Trigger began as a paid commission for another site (Warring Amphibians paid per word and I wrung them dry lol) but when it migrated to my site after the exclusivity clause expired, I repurposed it as a more traditional review. Still, it covers the background, development, themes, music, story, gameplay, combat, and impact of what remains my zeroth favorite game of all time. I put it in the zeroth spot so I never have to worry about changing it. It’s a piece that also explores the relative nature of personal favoritism, subjectivity vs objectivity, the shaky grounds of authorial intent, the antitheticals hype vs nostalgia, and the concept of the GOAT. Basically that’s everything I’m passionate about. I’ve been told that it inspired other creators and writers to think about video games in a whole new way and if I died tomorrow, I’d rest in peace knowing it’s part of my legacy.
Thank you for taking the time to check out The Pixels Greatest Hits! Have a safe and prosperous 2023!
Happy New Year!
Sincerely,
-founder and executive overlord, the Well-Red Mage
Red formerly ran The Well-Red Mage and now serves The Pixels as founder, writer, editor, streamer, and podcaster. He has undertaken a seemingly endless crusade to talk about the games themselves in the midst of a culture obsessed with the latest controversy, scandal, and news cycle about harassment, toxicity, and negativity. Pick out his feathered cap on Twitter @thewellredmage, on Twitch at /thewellredmage, or Mage Cast.
