In Memoriam: Select Works by Michael A. Cunningham
At the end of August, RPGamer lost one of its pillars of our website: our Editor-in-Chief, Michael A. Cunningham. He is sorely missing by family, friends, and the gaming community and was known as one of the kindest and most thoughtful souls. While we have had a wonderful outpour of tributes from members all over the gaming community, I thought it was important to share Michael’s written work with the world.
Towards the end of his life he took a large step back from writing for RPGamer, using his other outlets to share his thoughts on a wider range of games that he was playing. The goal of this feature is to share works from his early career to the end of it, showcasing a variety of content that Michael was responsible for or had the pleasure of contributing to. Those who may be unaware, Michael had his own handheld blog called Pocket Console, and contributed to other websites every so often such as GameCritics.
We hope you enjoy this exploration into the works of Michael A. Cunningham. Please note that this is only a selection of content Michael did, not his entire body of work. My goal with this was to show you all the versatility in his work and how he inspired so many of us here at RPGamer to keep going and writing. Many of the selections in this post are favourites by the RPGamer staff, or were sent to us by those who loved Michael’s works as well. I also want to extend a huge thank you to everyone who reached out to me, sharing their favourite articles and podcasts that Michael was a part of. That meant the world to me that all of you have such amazing and fond memories of him and his body of work.
Enjoy!
Editorials
- RPGamer Editorial Versus: Nintendo 3DS Vs. PlayStation Vita RPGaming (with Trent Seely)
- The Risk of XVersus
- The First Law of JRPGs
- The Real Problem with Review Scores
- Moving Forward By Working Backwards
- I Feel the Need For Speed
- More of This, Less of That
- A Social Sampling of RPGamers
- Beyond Zelda: Some Other Stuff On Nintendo’s Switch (@ GameCritics)
Interviews
- Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiled Interview
- Dragon Fantasy Book II Interview
- Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen Post Mortem Interview
- The Road to E3 2009 Interview Series
- The State of XSEED/Marvelous Interview
- Summon Night 5 Interview with Victor Ireland
Reviews
Staff Favourites
- Dragon Age: Origins
- Fallout 4
- Kingdom of Amalur: Reckoning
- Legend of Heroes III: Song of the Ocean
- Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky FC
- Minit
- Ys Seven
Spoofs:
Podcasts
- Active Topical Banter Show
- RPG Backtrack Episode 137: “Just One More Story?” (Xenoblade Chronicles)
- RPG Backtrack Episode 119: “We Can Be Heroes” (Legend of Heroes Gaghrav Trilogy)
- GameCritics Game of the Year, Friends of the Show Edition (2013)
- GameCritics Podcast Episode 96: “The Listener Created Show” (2013)
Music of the Year @ RPGFan
Features
- Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary – Final Fantasy IV
- Inquisition de Amore
- I Shoulda Loved You – “The Last Story”
- Mac’s Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary Journey
- Most Wanted RPGs on the Horizon (2015)
- RPGamer’s Favourite Villains
RPGamer’s Halftime Report
RPGamer’s Run to the Sun
Celebration of Life
I didn’t know Michael, but I followed him on Twitter, and I loved the kind of reviews and compilations he did with games. (Esp. handheld). I’m very sorry to hear of his passing. I’ve visited this site for a very long time, and always saw his name in the credits as someone with a good opinion.
From everything I could tell, he seemed like an absolutely cool person, and someone you would like to be friends with. RIP Michael.
MAC and his contributions to this site gave me immense joy and pleasure. I’m very thankful to have used the site he called home. His presence will be missed. Bye MAC.