Submissions are open for 2020! – Hardcore Gaming 101

We are officially re-opening submissions for 2020! Please make sure to check out the submissions guidelines and send in your pitches! In the past, we generally kept submissions open all of the time. However, due to the volume, we will close them whenever we have reached our capacity for the first half of the year, then re-open when we’re ready again.

As an important change to the process, please discuss up front how long you intend the article to be. Articles for single games should NOT exceed 1500 words unless there is a specific reason (lots of port comparisons, an RPG or story-based game with lots to discuss, and so forth).

Broadly, we are looking for any retro-themed game we have not already covered on the site or in our books. Some unknown MAME oddity? A cool Super Famicom or Mega Drive game? Send it over! We are not currently accepting pitches for current indie games (with a few exceptions, see below) or anything newer than the PlayStation 2/GameCube/Xbox era.

We will also be opening limited submissions for the upcoming JRPG book in the near future. These will be in a different format than regular HG101 articles.

A few things in particular we are looking for:

Shin Megami Tensei spin-offs:

We’re almost done with the Shin Megami Tensei/Persona book but there are a few spinoffs we still need pieces for. These include:

Giten Megami Tensei (1000-1200 words)
Persona Q 2 (1000-1200 words)
Shin Megami Tensei NINE (1000-1200 words)
Devil Children (whole series, about 2000 words total)
Jack Bros (1000 words)
Card Summoner (500-1000 words)
Shin Megami Tensei D x 2 (mobile game, 1000-1200 words)
Persona 4 Arena (2000 words for both entries, must have some experience writing about fighting games)

All pieces for this book are paid at a higher rate of $25 per 500 words.

Kunio series, for the upcoming beat-em-up book:

Groups of similar games (i.e. the 3DS games, the SFC games) all need to be written by the same author. Writers should have broad knowledge of the Kunio/Renegade/Double Dragon series regardless.

Renegade / Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun (Arcade)
INCLUDES: Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun Special (3DS)
1500 – 2000 words (4 pages)

Target: Renegade
500 words (1 page)

Renegade III: The Final Chapter
500 words (1 page)

River City Ransom / Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari (Famicom/NES, PC Engine, X68000)
INCLUDES: River City Ransom EX
River City: Rival Showdown (Nintendo 3DS)
1500 – 2000 words (4 pages)

Downtown Special: Kunio-kun no Jidaigeki da yo Zen’in Shūgō! (Famicom / GB)
INCLUDES: Downtown Nekketsu Jidaigeki (Nintendo 3DS)
1000 words – 2 pages

Shodai Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun (Super Famicom)
1000 words – 2 pages

Shin Nekketsu Kōha: Kunio-tachi no Banka (Super Famicom)
1000 words – 2 pages

Riki Densetsu (Nintendo 3DS)
500 words (1 page)

River City: Tokyo Rumble (Nintendo 3DS)
500 words (1 page)

River City: Knights of Justice (Nintendo 3DS)
500 words (1 page)

Stay Cool, Kobayashi-san!: A River City Ransom Story (Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, PC)
500 words (1 page)

River City Ransom: Underground (Steam)
1000-1200 words (2 pages)

River City Girls (PC, PS4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One)
1000-1200 words (2 pages)

Other Kunio Games (Dodgeball, brawling, assorted sports) – 2 page / 1000 word write-up

Shoot-em-ups:

Zero Gunner
Space Bomber