Put on your power tie and Power Blazer for today's Gintendo

Well hello! It's been a while since I last streamed a video game while sipping a libation, because I'm afraid I've been out of town doing Important Retronauts Things for the past week. Today, however, I'm settled back in, and it's time to get back on the wagon. Uh, so to speak.

This afternoon I'll be getting together with Ben and Benj to record another episode of Retronauts East (it's all about SEGA this time), and once they're gone I'll be hitting the digital airwaves to broadcast a classic (cult classic, at least) NES game: Power Blade by Taito. Join me at 5:30 p.m. ET (2:30 PT) for a look back at this cloniest of Mega Man clones, which I've always had a soft spot for. It's no masterpiece, but it's a totally solid 2D platform shooter with some enjoyable upgrade mechanics and that wonderful 8-bit Japanese trend of combining loopy weirdness with sci-fi futurism.

But that's not all! 

Rather than focusing strictly on Power Blade, I'll also be looking at its Famicom counterpart, Power Blazer. I've heard Power Blazer was wildly different from Power Blade (and generally not as refined), so I picked up a copy in Japan to discover simultaneously with you, my friends. We'll start with the U.S. game before moving along to the Famicom original, because regression is apparently all the rage these days.

So please join me this fine afternoon for a stream of a fine game and some fine gin (gin optional). I'll be streaming on YouTube per usual beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET.