Darren Hupke

The book Beat ‘Em Up Vol 1, the unofficial history of Final Fight

A bookshelf filled with books in the 32 Bit Library series

A preview of the Pixels and Polygons Quarterly zine.

A promotional ad for various Pixels and Polygons projects.

I’m Darren Hupke! I do a lot of different things in the retro gaming world.

I’m a writer:
📚32 Bit Library, Beat ‘Em Up

I’m a publisher:
📖 Pixels and Polygons Quarterly

I’m a podcaster:
🎙️Pixels and Polygons

Find out more about all of these projects right here: linktr.ee/darrenhupke

Dragon Quest VII and Reimagining the Critic in 2026 - Unwinnable We must kill the content creator inside of us that has taken over our being like a body snatcher.

ICYMI: "In a house aflame expressions must change."

The critical discussion (or lack of depth thereof) of Dragon Quest VIII has @aguaspoints.bsky.social reimagining the role of the critic:

I also wanted to know how I can do this…

Audio Hijack - Record any audio on Mac Record VoIP calls from Zoom, web streams from Safari, and much more.

I use Audio Hijack. I have my guest chat with me on Discord or FaceTime (anything) and our audio gets recorded as separate files. I can even play audio that they can hear with me and have that recorded as a separate file.

rogueamoeba.com/audiohijack/

I didn’t know they did anything like this.

FREE STUFF ALERT!

If you've enjoyed my podcast, consider leaving a review!

If you want a free digital PDF of one of my Retro Game Zine back issues, send me a DM or reply with a screenshot of your review, and I'll send you one! Easy!

Feel free to DM me with any questions and I’ll help if needed!

One of the FEW perks of Arizona. No Daylight Savings Time. I’ll be sleeping my full nights sleep tonight.

doodle of Grace from RE9 in a chef hat mixing bits of metal and blood "Makin' Bullets"

how do you make bullets? why, metal and blood of course!
streaming more RESIDENT EVIL REQUIEM now!! 🩸
www.twitch.tv/othatsraspbe...

I don’t have any specific questions. I’ve enjoyed listening to the podcast so far and just want to say great job, y’all. Excited for what’s next!

I was at work and got caught on my phone, so that last sentence was abruptly ended, but stick with it. Give yourself limits. Engage in a limited way and see if that helps.

I slimed down to JUST this, and I decided when I made the account to only post positive things and engage in conversation with my hobbies.

I have faltered here and there, but it’s good overall!

The book “The History of Metroidvania Decade One: 1980-1990”

New book for the personal library. I am looking forward to digging in to this. I’m a big fan of @jparish.bsky.social’s stuff (check out his YouTube channel).

I’m also interested in learning how he redefines a decade as 11 years. 1980-1990…

Agreed.

I remember this. Wasn’t good.

Pixels and Polygons Quarterly - 2026 Q2 A premium zine focused on retro video games. Read about three games' history, personal essays, screenshots, artifacts, and more!

The next issue of Pixels and Polygons Quarterly is shaping up to be a good one! Guest contributors for this issue include @nadiaoxford.bsky.social, @brendanlh.bsky.social, and @cloud-line.bsky.social. I hope you're ready to read about some odd Square games!

Get your copy now!

A picture of Darren Hupke promoting an appearance at GameOn Expo 2026

A promotional photo of all of the pixels and polygons books

A bearded man reading a zine called Pixels and Polygons Quarterly

A green book on a table of stickers called 32 Bit Library Greatest Hits Vol 1

Hey Phoenix, I’m going to be hanging out at GameOn Expo all weekend, March 13th-15th!

I’ve been going to this show for a few years and I am beyond excited to be a guest!

I’ll be bringing copies of 32 Bit Library, Retro Game Zine, Beat ‘Em Up Vol 1, and the new Pixels and Polygons Quarterly.

A further collection of 9 games. Plants vs Zombies, shadow of the colossus, Persona 5 Royal, Death Stranding, Pixeljunk Monsters, Monster Hunter World, Guacamelee 2, Blue Prince, Octopath Traveler 2

I had to continue a bit…

Yes. One of them.

Here’s my top* 9!

I know I forgot a few, but it’s still a good idea of my general idea of a list like this.

my9games.com

Here’s a complete fly through of my route I took to complete Cairn. It’s in x2 speed.

I thought it was already done.

That last one looks like old man Joshua Jackson.

Here’s a complete fly through of my route I took to complete Cairn. It’s in x2 speed.

Screenshot of stars in the sky and the title of the game Cairn.

Screenshot from Cairn of a night sky with the text: Thank you for making it to the top. And you — what is your summit?

Screenshot of Cairn showing completed gameplay time and final save data. Summit reached! Day 15 Play time: 11:57:16 Difficulty: Alpinist Assist mode: Off

That’s it for Cairn. That was a rad game. A few challenging spots, but a nice game overall.

We can all call them Final Fantasy. That’s what they were called when any kid in North America played them in the early 90s.

Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden - yes, it is a spin off, but it’s the first game in the Mana series and would go on to be a wholly different thing after this first.

But Makai Toushi SaGa wasn’t a spin off and was its own jam out of the gate.

Cover of a PS2 game, Eve of Extinction

Posted for the irony that these Final Fantasy titles are actually SaGa and Mana games localized into these packages.

Magazine ad featuring 4 different Game Boy Final Fantasy games

Once Again, the Fate of the World Rests in One Brand.