West Allis developer makes video games for authentic Nintendo

WEST ALLIS — Inside a West Allis residence, one online game developer is touring again in time by creating video games for retro consoles.

“What video games allow me to do is explore two of my favorite things, interactive media and storytelling,” John Vanderhoef, an indie online game developer, mentioned.

The video games do not simply have a classic aesthetic. They are put onto a cartridge that’s bodily inserted into the Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES. He made the sport Mega Kaiju Boom Ball in 2025 for a console inbuilt 1983.

James Groh

“I can imagine myself being an old person and retired and still doing this work as a hobby,” he mentioned.

He codes and designs from his residence workplace. Rather than making high-tech video games with state-of-the-art graphics, Vanderhoef prefers the artistic problem posed by old-school consoles.

“You can only have so much visual information. In general, the game can only be so big. You can only have so many actions the player can take,” Vanderhoef mentioned.

He started creating in 2019 and has made seven video games. You can discover his video games by visiting his recreation growth label website. Each recreation prices between $50-$70 and takes about 8-18 months to make.

“There’s also a niche ready-made audience in a world that’s really hard to get your sort of project noticed. It’s really easy to be like, hey, this is a NES game, and people usually between 35-55 are going to raise their eyebrows, and at least give you like 10 seconds of their time, which is helpful.”

Watch the story to see what John Vanderhoef’s video games seem like…

Retro Gaming Revived: West Allis developer makes video games for authentic Nintendo

All that being mentioned, this is not truly his full-time job. He is a movie, tv, and media professor at CSU Dominguez Hills in California (sure, he lives in West Allis and teaches in California). To finance the sport growth, he sometimes crowdfunds. His most up-to-date recreation, Mega Kaiju Boom Ball, had a purpose of $6,000. He raised $18,501.

His final recreation got here out in late 2025. He is already engaged on a brand new mission referred to as Darken Maid.

It’s about time to look at in your time. Stream native information and climate 24/7 by trying to find “TMJ4” in your system.

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