Keisuke Isobe

The Book of Melee is the perfect primer for those interested in the story of the competitive scene, from triumphs to turmoils, over the course of 18 years.

PAX East has come and gone. In the days following the trade show, The Punished Backlog’s Kei Isobe sat down with fellow writer David Silbert to discuss the good, bad, and ugly of this year’s show.

Super Smash Bros. Melee and Ultimate Can, and Should, Sustain Each Other Going Forward Genesis 6, the latest in the long-running Super Smash Bros. super-major series, came to a close at 3 a.m. Eastern on…

The Allure of AAA Pulls Me Back In 2018 was an atypical year for me in media consumption. I took a bit of a sabbatical from playing games for the first half of 2018 and…

Meet the Newest Generation of Platform Fighters The “platform fighter” genre has existed for decades, even if the specific phrase to describe them didn’t reach mass relevance until years later. For the longest time, it…

An Eye for Detail Love ‘em or hate ‘em, seemingly every video game comes with a man, woman, or semi-autonomous vending machine more than willing to take your hard-earned gold (or credits/rupees/now-defunct German Marks). They…

Looking Back on the Past Six Months in Gaming How’s everyone’s 2018 going so far? Terribly, I would guess, but at least we had plenty of video games to get us through it all! Another…

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of E3 2018 We’re back after an eventful E3. After all the rumors, leaks, and speculation, this year’s show ended up being a little… underwhelming. Companies and publishers…

What to Expect From Gaming’s Biggest Event of the Year It’s that time of the year again, people. E3. The grass is green, birds are chirping, and people around the globe are glued to their…

Coming Out Swinging Recently, the Punished Backlog team looked at the best video game end sequences in gaming.  But an impressive opening level is just as important as a triumphant close.  Whether it be an…