By Jeff Kubik
There are some bars bound to remain legendary in any city’s nightlife. They’re large and they’re popular, the kind of place where you’re bound to run into any number of long-lost friends and regular drinking buddies on any given night. In Calgary, if straight-up nightclubs aren’t your scene, you’re eventually bound for the Ship and… Continue reading The Ship sails another day
By Jeff Kubik
They’re always loud, that’s a certainty. Certain too are the random flashing lights in scattered sections throughout the bar, shining on glistening skin covered in sweat and spilled alcohol. They’re built for dancing, drinking and sex and don’t make any pretensions about being anything else. So huzzah for the capital “C” Club, huzzah for the… Continue reading It came from the back alley
By Chris Tait
With its home brewery providing many original beers on tap, the Brew Brothers Taproom, attached to the restaurant of the same name, is the place to be for anyone even remotely interested in beer.Highly recommended comes the award-winning Prairie Steamer, with a seemingly unmatchable smoothness. Also recommended is the Black Pilsner, which adds a slightly… Continue reading Sibling love
Offered as the first game you would ever play on your Nintendo Entertainment System, the first kid on the block to get this puppy hooked up was suddenly at no loss for friends. Mario was unlike anything we had seen before. With its 32 levels in eight different worlds (!) it was the most massive,… Continue reading Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt (1984)
This game pitted one or two of four characters (Warrior, Valkyrie, Elf, Sorcerer) against an infinite onslaught of unavoidable enemies over the course of an endless dungeon crawl. Each level featured little “houses” spawning hordes of creatures to be killed by players’ thrown weapons. Most games of the era gave players the chance to make… Continue reading Gauntlet (1985)
By Natalie Sit
Not all games were mindless blasting and maiming. Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? was the queen of intelligent games. It was followed by USA, Europe, Time and Space, but the original was the best. Intrepid learners would gather clues that led them closer and closer to the culprit. At the same time, they… Continue reading Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? (1985)
If you happen to hear the word “contra” these days, chances are very good it’s being used to refer to this game, not the infamous U.S.-orchestrated contra missions in Iran and Nicaragua. If it seems odd that an NES game is better known than the bloody slaughter of indigenous civilians by American mercenaries, you probably… Continue reading Contra (1987)
By Chris Tait
With games like these, who needs girls? The original adult video game protagonist, Larry Laffer made his debut appearance in Leisure Suit Larry: In the Land of the Lounge Lizards. He’s a middle-aged loner, he’s into disco and, surprise, surprise, he’s still a virgin. Can you help him? Doubtful, but you can try. Leisure Suit… Continue reading Leisure Suit Larry (1987)
A simple overhead viewpoint role-playing game where your objective is that of any even remotely creative boy–to save the princess, silly! You are Link, a courageous boy pitted against the evil villain, Ganon, who has kidnapped the Princess of Hyrule. Ganon seeks to combine the relics of an ancient magic, the Triforce, to rule the… Continue reading The Legend of Zelda (1987)
By Chris Tait
A wrenching phenomenon in the history of Z-scrollers, frustration hit the gaming market like a spike through the crotch in Prince of Persia. The Aladdin-based story line was simplified to “save girl from bad guy in one hour.” What they neglected to mention was that the game was impossibly riddled with juicy spike traps, falling… Continue reading Prince of Persia (1989)