https://www.respawnmag.com/features daily 0.75 2026-08-09 https://www.respawnmag.com/features/the-forgotten-mascots-of-the-90s-console-wars monthly 0.5 2026-08-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a39a0724a06d0343eb1b7c0/7af89ea4-a228-41ee-98ca-91e5e509c17a/ChatGPT+Image+Jul+22%2C+2026+at+04_27_43+PM.png Features - The Forgotten Mascots of the ‘90s Console Wars - Everyone wanted a mascot at the time; here are some of the lesser-known ones that never took off. Before Mario and Sonic became the undisputed faces of gaming, publishers were convinced that every successful console needed its own mascot. The result was a flood of anthropomorphic animals, attitude-heavy heroes, and bizarre cartoon characters – many of whom were heavily marketed, briefly successful, and then quietly disappeared. The mascot craze of the early- to mid-1990s is a unique phenomenon in gaming history. The success of Sonic the Hedgehog in selling the SEGA Genesis convinced publishers that mascots are what sold consoles, not the games themselves. The era’s obsession with “cool” characters sporting sunglasses, sneakers, and excessive attitude was predicated on the Rule of Cool: The notion that the cooler the mascot, the more consoles it would sell. https://www.respawnmag.com/features/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-video-game-rental-store monthly 0.5 2026-08-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a39a0724a06d0343eb1b7c0/0f6531ab-f737-49a1-8b9b-9b2b7cc28a4e/ChatGPT+Image+Jul+8%2C+2026+at+03_38_08+PM.png Features - The Rise and Fall of the Video Game Rental Store - How a weekend trip to the rental store became a defining ritual for a generation of console gamers. “So what are you renting this weekend?” We’re all familiar with the old Friday night ritual – school lets out, and as soon as you get home, you jet off to the local video store to browse shelves packed with games for the SNES, SEGA Genesis, PlayStation, or Nintendo 64. Back then, when you couldn’t browse online game libraries for hours, you simply had to judge a game pretty much entirely by its box art – if it looked cool, you rented it. Next came the excitement of bringing the game home to play for the first time – and, sometimes, the disappointment of finding an empty rental box and having to go back to the store. For an entire generation of gamers, renting wasn’t just a cheap way to play games – it shaped what we played, how we played, and even which games became popular. Here’s what made video game rental stores fun. https://www.respawnmag.com/features/when-cheat-codes-were-a-social-network monthly 0.5 2026-07-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a39a0724a06d0343eb1b7c0/b60641f8-165e-4b1e-83bb-0fbf5b4d63de/ChatGPT+Image+Jul+8%2C+2026+at+03_35_41+PM.png Features - When Cheat Codes Were a Social Network - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.respawnmag.com/features/when-every-game-had-a-secret-the-pre-internet-era-of-gaming-rumours monthly 0.5 2026-07-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a39a0724a06d0343eb1b7c0/f26a2c6c-9dc1-43ce-a0df-93d8d81ec0c4/ChatGPT+Image+Jul+8%2C+2026+at+03_32_22+PM.png Features - When Every Game Had a Secret: The Pre-Internet Era of Gaming Rumours - Before Reddit and YouTube, we had schoolyard rumours. All of us gamers have the same childhood memory. “My cousin’s friend unlocked Luigi in Mario 64!” “You can revive Aerith!” “Hold A+B to catch Pokémon!” We didn’t have the Internet back then – we didn’t have an entire world of knowledge at our fingertips. Instead, what we had was a patched-together network of information gleaned from schoolyard playgrounds, sleepovers, gaming magazines, phone hotlines, and other word-of-mouth sources. https://www.respawnmag.com/features/the-lost-art-of-the-video-game-manual monthly 0.5 2026-07-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a39a0724a06d0343eb1b7c0/ee37646a-d7ba-426a-92c0-96e8b97a0023/ChatGPT+Image+Jul+8%2C+2026+at+03_52_52+PM.png Features - The Lost Art of the Video Game Manual - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.respawnmag.com/features/the-10-most-influential-snes-games-ever-made monthly 0.5 2026-07-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a39a0724a06d0343eb1b7c0/20f1d131-7981-4fd0-b635-68f25a1eefda/ChatGPT+Image+Jul+8%2C+2026+at+03_29_43+PM.png Features - The 10 Most Influential SNES Games Ever Made - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.respawnmag.com/features/why-retro-gaming-is-having-a-renaissance monthly 0.5 2026-06-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a39a0724a06d0343eb1b7c0/0f8ae5a5-4bae-430c-b7b8-1400fb7901c7/ChatGPT+Image+Jun+28%2C+2026+at+01_28_43+PM.png Features - Why Retro Gaming is Having a Renaissance https://www.respawnmag.com/features/welcome-to-respawn-magazine monthly 0.5 2026-06-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a39a0724a06d0343eb1b7c0/a6014f3d-5192-4404-b140-07ca8d3ff766/lorenzo-herrera-p0j-mE6mGo4-unsplash.jpg Features - Welcome to Respawn Magazine - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.respawnmag.com/home daily 1.0 2026-07-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a39a0724a06d0343eb1b7c0/494519d8-12d6-40f8-bbb1-2673ce991868/ChatGPT+Image+Jul+8%2C+2026+at+09_28_24+AM.png https://www.respawnmag.com/about daily 0.75 2026-07-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a39a0724a06d0343eb1b7c0/1726049173.233638-BZZBNHYRIDYXCFKEAHVX/imgg-od3-s6t_9y2d.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a39a0724a06d0343eb1b7c0/71edd2ae-a14d-4a68-916f-1a2eab16f8d0/IMG_0372.jpeg https://www.respawnmag.com/write-for-us daily 0.75 2026-07-06 https://www.respawnmag.com/advertise daily 0.75 2026-07-28 https://www.respawnmag.com/team daily 0.75 2026-07-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a39a0724a06d0343eb1b7c0/71edd2ae-a14d-4a68-916f-1a2eab16f8d0/IMG_0372.jpeg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec321c2af33de48734cc929/1755708778312-MMTAOH4378GDEG167D6S/imgg-demo-Hh4icpkE.webp