2013 was the most exhausting year of my life. I seriously couldn’t go a full season without undergoing some sort of massive life upheaval: In February 1UP died; I got married (legit-style) at the end of March; in May I began working with USgamer; in August our landlord took back occupancy of our apartment, and we relocated to North Carolina in October. All told, there were six separate occasions during the year in which I was away from home for more than 10 days at a time (that’s more than two months of the year), and this trip to Hawaii is my seventh. And that’s not including all the smaller trips I took. I feel pretty displaced lately, in some good ways and some bad.
Despite this, I’m looking back at the year and proud to say that at least professionally, I’ve done the best writing of my career this year. The move to USgamer was a tough choice, but the right one; I’ve been given a lot of latitude to pursue the stories that interest me, and although some of the bigger concepts I have in mind have been forced to sit on the back burner until things settle down a little for me personally, I am sincerely proud of what I did produce. I don’t cross-link nearly as often from here as I did in the early days of 1UP, so I’m throwing up a few end-of-year links to the best stuff I wrote in 2013. You know, in case you care for some reason.
Time, and a Word About Animal Crossing: This game was a big ol’ rorschach blot.
Great Works, Troubling Moments: Is it OK to enjoy a creative work that includes serious insensitivity?
Tokyo, Our Favorite Punching Bag: Inspired by a viewing of Akira shortly before playing Shin Megami Tensei IV.
Breaking Bad is Over, So Where’s the Video Game?: Seriously.
The Classic Gamer’s Tokyo Shopping Guide: Not a new topic, but one that’s changed in recent years. Here’s the latest dirt on the best places to find old games in Tokyo.
Indie Before It was Cool: The Umihara Kawase Story: The professional highlight of my year may have been interviewing the creator of Umihara Kawase. That or hosting Keiji Inafune’s Mighty No. 9 announcement panel.
Who Makes the Best Mario Games?: Not actually a question; more a survey of the different teams who have worked on Mario games.
Crop-Top Chronicles: The Strange History of Konami Ads: Wherein I point out someone else’s fetish.
With Metroid, Indies Do What Nintendon’t: I consulted with a bunch of indie game designers about why they mine the rich concepts of Metroid, a franchise Nintendo appears to have abandoned.
And over on 1UP, I found my not-a-review of Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon personally satisfying, if only as a swan song.
And I think all the 2013 in Review stuff I did turned out pretty well, too. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed at least some of my work this year, and I’m hoping to top each of these pieces in 2014.
Jeremy you’ve made me a fan for life. I love the work you put out. Thank you for it all and a Happy New years to you sir.
Didn’t realize you were in NC now. Welcome to the area!
Been enjoying your work as much as ever, here and at USGamer (and at 1UP via stumbling across old reviews). Always excited to read more – what else can I say?
Jeremy,
I’ve followed you since the days of “toastyfrog” and thumbnail theatre but stuck around once I saw you had a brief column for the “Official Playstation Magazine” before OPM got cancelled on the eve of the PS3.
Your writing since then has changed considerably. But what I find incredibly fascinating, is how, as the industry as a whole was in the midsts of change, you would continue to write.
You would continue to write, experiment and collaborate with others in your spare time while searching for a place that would eventually accommodate your style of writing.
And what began as a small following “from the internet” has sort of blossomed into a considerably large community that continues to grow.
To me, I’ve always known you as “the guy from the internet who eventually got a chance to write for OPM/EGM/1UP”.
But now, you’ve sort of become someone who represents the values and ideals I look for when covering games journalism; when I see an article written by “Jeremy Parish” it’s usually, always something that’s going to be thoughtful, well written, researched and has a lot of foresight.
When you left IGN to work for USGamer, I stopped going to IGN for news, because no one else seems to be writing the same way you do. No one else seems to be providing the same thoughtful, well written analyst I look for when reading about video games.
Even when covering a particular subject matter you admit you personally aren’t all that very familiar with, you’re more than willing to delegate it to someone who is not only more familiar with the subject matter, but will be able provide a different yet interesting take on it.
When I read something that’s done by Jeremy Parish or by one of Jeremy’s colleague, It’s usually always interesting.
…except for when it’s Bob Mackey.
Man, I’m sorry, but I can’t stand Bob Mackey. Holy crap! He’s like the “Anti-Jeremy”. Mistaken Shinobi III for an SNES game? What the hell’s that all about?! the Genesis had plenty of “SNES-like-quality” games during the end of it’s console life, you’d know that if you actually owned one!
I mean, does he actually play video games? or does he just try to make sure that everything he touches is filed with so much vile arrogance, ignorance and dismissive throw away remarks that no one is able to enjoy it?!
Gamespite indeed!
S-sorry… I just…God dammit Bob Mackey! Why are you such a hater? Why are you such an ignoramus? Ergh!
Dude, what the hell?
Thanks for posting the Tokyo game shop guide. I went to Japan in October and your advice was spot-on! I snagged Lack of Love from Trader for 3400 yen.