Fire Escape Cast #100

Hello everybody, Welcome back to the fire Escape Cast. It is episode one hundred. About four years ago, Dan, Mary and I said what if we got together? We started a podcast for ninety nine episodes. We focused on video games and catching up an odd episode one hundred, Pull the rug out.

I you saw. I was going, these tariffs are crazy.

Let's dig into Yeah, Okaynada, really? What the hell?

All our gas, much of our lumber, probably some aluminium somewhere.

Let's dig into it.

What the alf of America?

Uh?

No, Tonight we've got a fun episode planned. That's Dan, that's Mary. You know who they are, probably if you're listening. We figured we would do something different. We do have games we want to talk about, but we'll probably save that for next episode. Tonight, we have the sixty four game Bracket tournament to decide fire Escape Cast's favorite collective game of all time.

No no, no, no, no no no, that's not pussy pute this here. Yeah, it's not our favorite. This is objective science. Were earning the best game of.

One of us only voted from like three franchises, so I think it is more favorite than Mary.

It's just some real tunnel vision coming from some people.

So we do know we generally have a good idea of what each of us nominated.

What did we do?

We all nominated twenty five. We were Mary, who's seen the bracket?

Though? Mary, I'm pretty much just going to toss to you from here on out.

Sure, yeah, you we talked about doing this and I said I would take this on, and I asked you all to send me your top twenty five. What I promised you was that your top fifteen would make it. And I did that because I think, no matter what, even if they're stupid or just incredibly dumb, worthless, I would put your top fifteen in because they represent you. After that, there is some mixing in, some matchin to make sure that we're getting a holistic look at games.

Ignore Super Mario Odyssey, so I probably want to.

Put that in.

I can't not have some of these on here.

Is that you're talking about one of the best games of all time?

Is that, sarcast No, I'm just fucking with you. I love super Mario Otissey.

We will there will be some fightings on this one. But I think what's interesting about this is that I've thought about that game we haven't started yet. I've put all these in a bracket, so sixty four bracket, which will give us six rounds where we essentially one against one. I randomized it, and it is truly random. I did not manually touch any of these. I hit random I think three times to ensure that there was like no biases. Yep,

To the deck, and if you, the listener, would like to see the bracket, we will have posted it by this point. I believe after this recording, we're going to post them the blank bracket. Well, I mean the first round you'll see the first round of sixty four. But yeah, we have not seen it. In fact, right before this recording we were like, oh, how are we going to do present this? And it's like, no, let's we should

Will know that there's a bit of a march madness to it. You can follow along if you've written your brackets at home, you can see where.

We did like a week ago, ask people to send in their their madness, their theory crafted winner and bracket and by now yes will know whether people need to be receiving some some cool stuff. But that's neither here nor there right now, because I'm ready to talk about a lot of Zelda there.

There are several and you'll also notice I don't think this is a huge spoiler, but there was no Final Fantasies mentioned by anyone.

No, we're trying to games. Yeah, this is the most overrated franchise.

He told me. Yeah times that they think it's a bit offensive that we do not.

We never no, no, no, no, we're just fine. We don't cover nerdy games. Yeah, they're fine games for ners. We don't talk about There was.

Like three Final Fantasies ten years ago. Who cares.

J are basically just visual novels and I don't consider that games so we cover games on this podcast.

I nominated several JPGs. I believe I might be wrong, maybe marys and matches.

There's some good genre blending in here, and I think people will recognize that. But there are entire categories or like, very popular games that did not make the cup because they're not our beloved game franchises. However, I did try to supplement with Yo. This is a very very popular game. It should be on here, and so I shoved it in there. Anyway, So Mario games, there's a couple, okay, and I'm happy. M hm, your Top fifteen is insane.

I put so much thought in I did just copy and paste my Top twenty five.

The same game like six times.

You're gonna hear how different.

I'm looking forward to Dan winning an argument for a three day times tonight.

Very different.

I could do a fucking ted talk about how different every Mario game.

Some great fucking games.

Yeah there's some great game, but a real asshole loco, man, a real fucking asshole of the tournament.

All right, do you want to get started?

Yeah?

Way, I just want to give a quicker anecdote here that Mike told us to play a game and I loaded it up yesterday in case we were going to talk about new games today, and wouldn't you know it, it's another fucking game about rats in a fantasy environment, show a straight road.

What is the deal with these rat games?

They know how to get them.

You'll you'll come around eventually. I'm just trying to slip it in through various genres.

Right now.

Okay, we should say we don't have judge Jake here. If anything comes down to a situation, if no one knows who Judge Jakes, we're basically tossed to a producer, Jake Decker, for Game of the Year, to basically bang the gavel and settle the dispute that really was not actually getting anywhere close to a conclusion. We are going to use the power of odd numbers tonight in extreme circumstances. If we need to go to a vote, that will happen.

And I you know this is we're all friends here, We've done this before, We've done the debates. I will listen to any argument. I will not try to brute force anything through. I think we will all be gentlemen and ladies, and and we will, we will come to a proper conclusion.

You're so noble for stating all that you just did.

I didn't want to say it. You're so noble, but yeah, thank you.

But anyway, me, the hero and person who made the bracket will place in the winning game after it has been democratically decided, and then we will proceed onward from there.

Speaking of democracy, you've got some thoughts on this new fires.

What is going on? Uh?

Trudeau's like, I can't get a hold of this guy, Claudia.

Down in Mexico. It's like, what about us? It's it's all we don't it's all mixed up, all right.

First on the bracket, Celosi versus.

Wait, she's still around. I don't an I wonder if anybody game rich who's your favorite demons A predicted in the final four?

Okay, are we ready?

Yes?

All right? This is a sixty four game bracket, so this is gonna be in. We're gonna be here for the long haul. Our first matchup is Mike Tyson's punch out, Oh my god versus Tetris.

What No, you can't fucking do that. This couldn't have been randomized. You can't do that to me. Random Look, I fucking love Tetris, but you don't I feel about punch Out, And that's a hard fucking argument to make versus Tetris universally beloved.

I think Mary and I could just sit round one out and watch you implode. Fuck you too, I think it's randomized. I had nothing to do with any of this ran.

That was that was my number one.

Last time I did my like one hundred games of all time, I did punch Mike Tyson's punch Out. I don't feel that way anymore, but it's still definitely like top five for me.

There's not even a point why. That's why the tournament tournament Tetriss. What are your thoughts on Tris? I've never been asked that before.

No, truly, I don't know how to even.

It's just like the purest distillation of video game like fun and strategy, and I know there's people that get into a certain zone where you can master that.

Yeah, there's no rats.

It depends on how you perceive the blocks, because actually I would say that the reason they're so nebulous, just like there's these slight changes in style and movement. I think you could interpret them as different animals or plants. Yeah, absolutely, what what's a square you?

What makes punch Out so good?

It is? What's the point this is? We want to waste everyone's time here.

This is the most beautiful.

I hate this, this punch out to get knocked out.

This is why college wards use a seating procedure. Can't punch out each other, not the first round, but the first fucking match up.

Yeah, well, speak of your mind about both games before one of them is lost for the rest of the night.

Mike Texas, punch Out is first folds like the best looking game on the NES. There's giant, big ass sprites. It fucking it's the game that is aided, the game from that era that has aged the best. I would say it's aged better than anything on the NES. It is pure reflexes and skill and fun pattern recognition, reflexes. It's just it is everything I want a video game to be.

Uh.

It was also this weird anomaly that Nintendo made a game with Mike Tyson as the you know, like that that's just not the way Nintendo operates. Ever, It's uh, it's a lot, It's fucking Tetris. Just put Tetris forward.

Yeah, just to say, like there's no game that has uh passed the test of time better than Tetris itself.

Right.

Tetris was on the n E s and it's also on everybody's mobile phone currently. It is the game that you go to. It's the game that old people, uh normally aged people and babies all know what Tetris is and can play it.

Would I would argue that, like I've never done it on a phone because it's just like I love Tempris so much and it does feel so just sticky and nice and responsive that like I've tried it before, like when EA put out that first tepts on phones, Like, I don't want any muddiness in my Tetris. I want immediately fast drop all that that's all bad.

I played it on like one of those like really shitty phones that wasn't even a smartphone, you know, where they could barely do anything. I played Tetris on that bad baby all the time.

And bonus too, it's the one they say you should play if you like walk in on a murder scene and you want to like have your brain process it faster so you don't have as much PTSD, so I don't know if anything else in the tournament has that.

So that's another QUI have they really said that? They say that, Like, who's they? Just they? I don't know, doctor or scientists whatever.

It's supposed to be a thing where it's like if you see something traumatic, like you know, a car crash or dead bodies or something, or encounter something super dramatic that it it's good to like play Tetris right afterwards because it's supposed to.

Just kind of help your brain. Look, I can't explain it, but like I've heard that many times.

If you need trauma, you can play Mike Tyson's punch Out.

It's it has injured me.

That is too good.

You can add trauma from punch Out. Tetris removes trauma.

Tyson sent me to like three months of physical therapy for my hand when I was speed running it.

So yeah, it nurts you. It's Look, I.

Feel like there's an argument I could make if if you put like a Mario World against Tetris like a but like, there's no fucking way I'm getting punch Out pass afters right.

No, Mary's just smiling. I liked.

I liked punch Out quite a bit. Uh I played it you you put it in my hands. You put it in my hands back a few years ago at your place in Connecticut, I believe, just to see how I liked it, because you've had a hunch I would like it because of my appreciation for like pattern recognition and Dark Soul's bosses, et cetera. And I loved it, and I like.

I went in with Hubris thinking I would master it that night, and then holy shit, I don't think I got past the third enemy or fighter rather so like clearly, that's it's really impressive that a game in the ne e s era had that high of a skill ceiling.

But Tetris is Tetris.

It's Tetris timeless. I'm not going to waste anyone's time more. But I got hosed, all right.

That's punch Out versus Tetris. The winner is Tetris. Submitted.

He's so excited when you heard punch Out and then went off a cliff.

It's like the worst thing you can a couple of these.

There's a couple of these that I'm really excited about.

Babies.

Our next matchup, Breath of the wild versus the birth of your first born. Luckily we're all barren. Dishonored too versus Star Wars Galactic battle Ground.

I'm gonna go see.

Well.

Fuck.

Actually, no, I already know what should win this, Mary, I don't know if you have thoughts.

I mean, I think that Dishonored is one of the most beloved games of modern times. Keep coming back to it. It's very inspiring to other games. I think Star Wars is Galactic Battlegrounds as well made, but I just don't think it's had the impact that Dishonored two has had. But I'm curious what you think.

Uh No, I think Dishonored two is much better. Galactic ballleground is super cool. I've had a lot of fun with it. It is it's running off the Age of Empire's engine from back in the day, but it basically just like blew up the Star Wars universe. And as someone who used to like play a lot of real time strategy games and theory craft what Lord of the Rings strategy game would look like or Star Wars, to have that in my hands was phenomenal, especially its scenario editor.

Can't wait for Dishonor two to get us nuts stomped on by a T block next round?

Oh yeah, is that is that? Yeah?

I guess it has gone against Yeah, you'll know how all.

Right, Now you're gonna start feeling it. I will say that there are a couple that I think will make Mike squirm that are coming up, but like this, some of them are easier.

I'm definitely I'll save the designer to true argument, not argument, but like send off for next round rather than delay things in the first round.

Fantastic, Well would you like.

Another gets out gets canceled as we're doing this argument we find out for being racist or.

Yeah, like the Russian it would be bad whoever made it.

I think we got to separate here from the artist on this one. There's still there's too many villains on this bracket.

Then Alexandria comes out against Gregoro.

This is a joke for just I like it. I appreciate it. Just I just watched that like two days ago. Okay, sorry, Next all right?

Next matchup Warrior where Mega micro Games versus Metroid Prime.

Wait, I also nominated Prime. So this is either Dan dig you as well?

Yeah? Probably, I mean regardless, it's met fright Prime. There's such a we're powerless.

It's the third matchup, and there's already like a fear that comes into Dan's eyes when he hears one of his games.

You start with like one of my favorite games ever, and I'm like, oh's great, what's next?

And now here's another one of my favorite games.

So many like you put so many silly billies in here, being like I like this one, Like there's real games going again, there were no silly billies. Then fight for Warrior. Where Mega micro games you don't go for it.

It is, uh the game. It is the game I probably load up the most of any video game throughout the last twenty five years or I guess twenty.

It probably came out in like mid two thousands. It is the most instant fun game there is.

Uh.

It is the game that I put on whenever I get all these like new handhelds and stuff, whether it's a analog pocket or you know, the trip, all these little gimmick things I get, I always just make sure warri Wear is on it. And it's always the game I play the most on it because in any circumstance I can just pick it up, play Warrior.

Where instant fun.

I mean, the whole deal with the Mega microgames thing is that it's they're like seconds long. You got to figure out what's going on. It's funny the first time because you're always like, what the fuck is this? So a hot dog ran me over and then past that. It's just actually this very kind of skillful, fun thing to try to get your highest score. It's it's funny, it's there's a ton of variety to it because there's

I've enjoyed them like as one off experiences. I'm not a devotee by any means.

I actually played.

The most I played was with you at the recent ones.

Yeah. No, it was the first in the squats. Yeah, and then people.

Were like getting mad at me that I wasn't stopping you, as if I have power over what you do with your body.

Yeah, I'm pro choice. It is. Yeah. I mean that's the thing.

I love so many old games, and I play so many retro games. I don't load up linked to the past or even like Mario World. As much as I load up warriorware every single year for a couple of decades, I'm gonna keep.

That in my back pocket for tonight. Remember, you don't load up Mario World or Linked to the past.

You have the right to remain silent. But he's just talking about a game that's already dead.

Is there no chance here?

It's up to you.

I don't care one of them. Yes, I absolutely care. Sorry, I'm yeah. I think bet My Prime is much better.

Than Luania as a genre.

But I think I think, wait, wait, are you saying that Metroid Prime started Metroid Vanas, because that is not the kicks.

I think that Metroid has made Metroid vanias, and I think that Metroid Prime is the best in the Metroid series.

Yeah.

But when I think Metroidvania, I mean, if you're giving it the credit of like the Metroid Vania name, I think that's typically Like there are Metroidvania elements you can talk about, like you know Arkham Asylum in three D games having metro Venia elements, But metroc Prime was kind of its own thing. I think the shocking thing that that did was that they were able to take those elements, the Metrodvaneus stuff and turn it into a three D game,

I think I think we do have the right so to say that it advanced the genre. I do think we have the right to say that it was revolutionary. And this will come up in this bracket a lot, which is not just what you like of it or what this group thinks about of it, but what did it do for games?

Right?

That's one of the reasons Tetris just destroyed Mike Tyson's punch Out is because it was revolutionary and it really skyrocketed games into a new era. So I just think that's something that Metroid series does. I think that's what Prime did very specifically, and I just don't think Warrior Ware is like on the same caliber, even though it is fun.

Also just think you from a game design perspective, I have to admit before you actually put Warriorware in my hands, Dan, I was not like impressed by the quote unquote collection of minigames reductive view. I had of it, very impressed once I saw it all come together. I do think it's much more impressive that Metroid Prime sustains like this

Compared to a lot of others for the time.

Yeah, I think Metroid Prime, just like I I consistently point to that as maybe one of the most like effective atmospheres in any game ever.

Music lighting slowly, Yeah, it's fus Yeah.

And here's the thing, even if it was just my list, I'm pretty sure when I've done these in the past, Metroid Prime has probably been above Warrior.

Ware, or at least close.

So like, it's hard for me to even say that Warrior Ware is better than Metroid Prime, so like my vote might even go to Metroid Prime.

I think I'm just pissed.

At Warriors, Like all my SIT's getting put up against the toughest shit. But yeah, I mean, fuck it here, I'll say Warrior or just so I.

Can it can have a representative here, but have at it.

You two go Metric Prime for sure Prime. Okay, democracy literally just considered.

Uh.

I never finished the switch remaster I got. I want to go back and just restart it.

I've been thinking about that for what.

Metro Prime trilogy is my every single year Christmas break except for last year. I go back to, uh, one and three are my favorites. Invite I haven't gone back to yeh, all right, what's what's the next one? They're not tested yet.

I feel like it's coming.

Again.

It's random, so I wasn't able to start with my heart breaks. Our next matchup is tomb Raider two versus Command and conquer Red Alert.

I'm sorry about you jump from one letch to another.

Oh he's not when a fucking Russian blimps dropping bombs on you.

She's about to jump into a Tesla coil.

Clips out of it.

Oh is that a tree. Nope, it's a tank. You're on fire time travel to kill Hitler.

Fucking fucking Lara Croft just goes up against one Tanya.

That was there's a hundred smoker. She just puts tn T on Laura's boobs and then dead, laugh about it, laugh about it, and swim away.

But anyway, what's good about Tom Rader two?

Because I haven't played that game in a while.

So much Laura in it. She goes to Italy, fun.

Out there, to the past, to killing Hitler.

Hitler can't be the reason games win or not win. We have to have more reasoning whether or not you kill Hitler.

Okay, fair enough, we had other things we were saying. No, that's all.

Did I mention that there's a woman who looks kind of like Laura Croft who runs around and puts C four on buildings and blows him.

Up And she's the coolest unit in the game.

Yeah, And you can have like as many of them as you want if you have the resources.

You can take out a whole enemy base if you just swim up behind it and just set bombs on everything.

Yeah. Cool, there's a.

Really good platform. Stupid, this is.

Two from the nineties, right, not Rise of the tomb Raider.

No, it is not Rise.

These are the ones.

I found that the original ones, even though they had some errors, were really motivating, especially for like female protagonists in games. I know Metroid Prime was just on here, but if that wasn't just before, this would have been a really good argument for tomb Raider too, which is unfortunate for my timing, But I think it's a really

I'm in trouble, Aren't no doubt she's a cool character at all. She's awesome.

And I came around very hard on Rader.

With the Jolis character in Command and Conquered Alert.

Yeah, Tanya, there's also a dude who just commands an entire like mind control army who can take everybody else's units.

Yeah.

Uri the expansion, Uh, there's is there anybody on the Russian side that's like, is.

James Earl Jones on the on the American side, He's in the he's in uh Red Alert one.

I thought, okay, well either, I mean, it's not it's definitely not the story A series of conquer big stars is what we said. But but the thing that I think, Mike, that we love about it is the commanding and the conquering more so than the characters and the story. Although it's a fun rapping for a great RTS, but I think we'll have more of a chance to talk about its strengths in the next round.

Right, I'm not gonna push this one, so I'm gonna agree that the answer and the winner here is Command and Conquer Red Alert to. I do have like strong arguments, probably for later, but I don't think this one is winnable. And I also think it's not. And I also think like, there ain't no way she's going to take on these other games that are winners.

Right wait wait, wait, is it gonna be Reddular two versus Metroid Prime?

Now, I'm hold on, we'll get there, we'll get there.

But yeah, we're brutal.

Yeah, this is what a bracket is.

I dan, if you like brutal, let's get to our next match. Oh god, our next game matchup totally random Metal Gear Solid three Snake Eater versus Minecraft.

I thought you say your Solid two.

I mean, it could happen. Are we really not even gonna have this discussion? Minecraft like one of the most iconic games of modern generation. It's the number one game. It's good, It's the number one.

Okay, I started, I'm technically just to show my hand, I'm for snake Eater.

However, Dan Dan just saying.

Minecraft It's good is the funniest tape of Minecraft I've ever heard in my life.

To be fair, this is our list. I know it's Minecraft head, it's Mary.

But outside of that, yeah, she she really does never shut up, shuts up about him.

She said the parties are great.

Yeah, she was like, she's like best parties number one, notch number two, deady number three.

No cut that, cut that, Jake, Jake, cut that. These things.

I think that we have to talk a little bit about, like, you know, just the global impact that the game has, the influence of it all. I think Minecraft has made a lot of movement in the game in space. It's turned the next generation of kids into gamers. It's it's about these kids.

Do you like remember what are your thoughts on Minecraft?

No it's best game, not favorite. You you called me out on that at the.

Beginnings our list, Well, I was being sarcastic. It's our list.

Oh I think Minecraft's more important than Snakey.

That's what the thing is. And I know it can be best game of all time.

But it can come up because I don't think that snake Eater is important.

Oh my god, we are really fucking firing off already. Very I don't support what you just said.

Well, I mean, I just think comparatively Minecraft, Like, what would the world be without Minecraft.

I don't give a ship. What the fuck. I'm not waiting to hear anyone here be like, here's why I love Minecraft.

I'm not going to it was Mary's nomination. I think Minecraft's extremely important.

Let me finish. I'm not saying that's the criteria. But and I think Minecraft is.

This like massive, Like I don't all these people who are obsessed with making this like fucking metaverse, Like you already have one of the coolest little digital uh like creation hubs where people can go and just create whatever they want. It's called Minecraft. So stop like fucking trying

Yeah, but yeah, Snake Eater is just this like operatic cold war fucking soap opera with the coolest characters ever and one of the maybe the best boss fight in all of video games. Go ahead, sorry, and yeah it's for also at the time for the series, all of a sudden to go from these tight corridors and interior close quarters combat where it's like, oh, infiltrate this structure

And they did. It was called mind craft because it was the ultimate place that you could actually have an open world.

Shit walked into that one.

It's the perfect form of metal gear solid because it blew everyone away in ninety eight when it was like, oh my god, it's like a movie. It's like I'm playing a movie, but you play it now, it doesn't you know, the controls of stuff.

People struggle with it. Obviously, the visuals have an age super well. I think it looks cool, but obviously it looks.

Old snake Eater and the two was way too complex for a lot of people. Again, I love it, but three was like telling this incredibly dramatic, awesome story. It was one that didn't require a bunch of very specific knowledge from old MSX games and you know, weird meme theory stuff from the end of two and all that shit. It's just a great fucking Cold war espionage story. Like Mike said, one of the best boss fights of all time. I also think it has the best ending I've ever seen in a video game.

Oh yeah, you fucking fight your How would you even describe it? You fight your in a field of spoilers for because it is about to get a remake, but.

It Yeah, that's a good point. Yeah, it's got a good ending.

And her character is one of the one of the best characters I've ever seen in a game in a movie like and the end how that all wraps up is just fucking incredible.

Look.

Minecraft, obviously, if this was the most important to the global Gaming Ecosystem bracket, it's Minecraft. But I think if it's us three determining ours like I mean, without a doubt, snake eater for me.

Yeah, I'll go snake here as well.

What's your top uh metal gear of all time?

It changes every time it gets asked.

But yeah, don't answer that. She's setting you up for failure later in the tournament.

Minecraft.

Oh so you are for Minecraft.

My vote is for don't let her twist you. I'm not doing this. I put my vote in. It's locked in.

They're not all going to get through, Dan.

I don't have to keep talking it already. You all answered straight up too.

For the record, Mary, because I don't think I actually did not nominate him if Okay, I want to clarify. I'd seen Dan's list and I was like, there's no point in me adding more metal gear solids. If I was going to add a metal gerselage in my top twenty five, it would have been Snake Eater. Snake Eear is, without a doubt, my favorite metal gear. I can say that because I don't have any other horses in that race.

Well, I'm gonna hold you to that, and I'll say, then that makes sense democratically for it to win over Minecraft, which is insane. So I'll that is the winner and submit it.

That makes sense in fire Escape logic, but I'm gonna do it begrudgingly.

Yeah, Metal Gears, Solid three, Snake Eater versus Minecraft, Metal Gears, Tullow.

You got us the winner.

You gotta realize, though, you absolutely know that no fire Escape listener got that wrong on their bracket.

I think they all probably guess snakes correctly. Yeah, maybe not.

They know the sanity of this.

I'd like to get a bulligan here because I just looked at my top one hundred list and I've got met for a prime A forty eight and Warrior were at twenty six.

So I've made a grave error, that's Dan.

Oh wait, Mary, me and you had a little converse. Is this when we bring it up? Or do we wait till next episode?

What are you doing now? You have to bring it up? There's that for next episode.

No, it's like a good time.

No.

Dan's talking about how his opinions change over time.

They do tend to change over time.

That's a natural part of humanity.

Yeah, of course, But like then the time span that I'm talking about, it's pretty funny how drastically it changed.

Like in general, what we're saying is is that when you fight really hard for a game like Snake Eater and you're like, this is like my most number one game of all time. Will also remind everybody that in twenty nineteen, Dan had Links Awakening at number six of his Game of the Year list and said, and I quote, yeah, one of the best top down Zelda games. End quote.

Yeah, talk about the remake. The remake is fine. I don't hate the remake.

Fucking piece of shit.

No no, no, no, no, no no no no no no no no.

Mary, read the whole quote. Read the whole quote.

One of the best games ever made.

Oh, which read when you said it's one of the best top down zelding, I don't have the copy.

That's the quote you sent it to me.

Oh, it's on It's Giant Bombs twenty nineteen Dan's list.

You said, blah blah blah.

The Switchek remake fixed any problems I previously had with this, and now I can properly enjoy one of the best top down Zelda games.

Yeah. Oh, I think that's fair, Like I think the remake it did fix a lot of my problems with it. Okay, that's the one I played. That's what it's still like. Not one of the best, not what I would have recommended, but it is the better.

Version, one of the best zeld Yeah, the copies that you called it one of the one of the best Selda games top down.

That's fine, that's not a creezy.

Well we'll say that later. We'll take into this at a later point in time.

Inconsistent at best.

I'm just a man. Who of all, I'm just a man.

No youd evolved because you have the rhyme opinion and then changed it to be worse.

Okay, So, uh so Minecraft is.

Lost to fucking snake Eater.

Next it got eaten.

Stardoo Valley. Oh God versus x Calm two.

We're gonna hurt Mike with this one. Me. God damn it. That's one of my top five games of all time. This feels good, all right. Let me just fucking eulogize this thing. Mary. We don't have to say ship, you get a horse.

It's so much fun.

Let's just watch a man die for a little bit of here.

You can actually pinpoint. The second is Heartbreaks in half.

And I love Starduo Valley.

So I'm not gonna like be too upset, but I am one of my top five games of all time. That doesn't really matter. What I will say is I just played, and I'm toward the end of a long War of the Chosen campaign. As of recently, game is still absolutely incredible. I've been attached to characters in that game, which, for those who may not know, they're all procedurally generated. You just form bonds with them through the gameplay, what they do with their what you choose to do with

Xcom two, I think was phenomenal.

I think War of a Chosen came along and just blew me away with how they messed with the xcomp formula of building out the squad of procedurally generated characters hunting these different bosses throughout incredible missions. They added the loss of these zombies that you were fighting, so there's like three warring factions basically outfitting these soldiers, getting attached to them, sending them on missions, dreading sending your best

Or they pull or they come out of it and

I vote for Start Valley. Yeah, that's fine, Mary, I'm up for that.

I vote for Stardoo Valley. It had to happen, yea, Chris, Okay, everybody's gonna eat it on the nobody.

Hear that. Yeah, goddamn it.

It's a good one.

A couple of versus Stone Cold? What what's the next round? I vote for Stone Which one.

Is starting with this starting?

The next game in the bracket is Halo Combat Evolved versus Gears of War?

Oh oh oh, the old thoughts is actually a really interesting one.

The Xbox matchup. My nomination was Halo. For the record, I also really like Gears of.

War obviously excellent and revolutionary and so important for the Xbox's history. I just think only one of them has like a sick chainsaw gun, you know what I mean.

Laser Actually, yeah, if we're talking, if we're talking, if we're talking importance to Xbox's history, Halo is way more important.

Well.

It's tough though, because like that, I was kind of prepping my argument in my head here, and I was trying to think of, like, oh, well, Gears has been the more consistent series throughout, where's Halo had more down swings and stuff. But we are to be clear, this

Oh, I thought you could just as easily have been talking about Combed Evolved up to that point.

For the record, sure, yeah, I mean out of all this fucking awesome co op too, like the whole Halo series, but it.

Doesn't have the branching paths.

It doesn't have the branching paths.

It was built for it in a way that like Halos, it's not like it was an afterthought. Like obviously it doesn't by accident be a great game.

You don't have to, but it is. It is like beneficial to play with an additional player when you play Gears, because you can like you can snipe while the other person is like down on the ground. It's really sick to save your buddy like that.

Yeah, And I feel like I could see myself playing Halo campaigns and I think I have playing them solo. But for me Gears, I think every single one of those games. The first time I went through all those campaigns, I made a point till I remember when three came out, Me and three friends, we went to the game and Former office over weekend. We all just like sat in the same room and played through four player co op campaign again, that's three one was increased.

That's three two.

But why is the co op inherently in this argument you're making. It's like you're making co op inherently better than single player.

Why is that the case?

That's I'm genuinely interested.

I just because in terms of just memories of good memories of those two games, I remember just a lot more fun and laughing and kind of team strategy stuff going on when I was playing Gears one versus I mean, it's great in Halo one too, because like that Enemy AI was way ahead of its sign back then.

Yeah, in terms of communal experiences, I would say one of my favorite memories in any video game is the land parties that I had with Halo Commet Evolved, which is not co op, but you were cooperating with the people on your team to take out other humans on in four v four matches.

And which is so fucking good that you'd get a bunch of fore you get sixteen friends in one place, all looking CRTs around in xboxes because it was that fucking good And.

There's no no solid factor to that.

But like I still genuine to this day, I don't know when the last time many people have played Combat Evolved. Is that game is still my favorite in the whole series. If we're being my opic, I'm gonna really hone in on that I think there are really good Halo's.

Outside of that.

I'd say Halo as a whole package reached its peak with three probably, However, Halo County evolved still to this day, is one of the best shooter stories told. The way they build up the mystery and they use these like themes from Alien, like Ridley Scott's all over Halo one, aliens from Alien. Really Scott's Alien nineteen eighty nine? Was

Anyone.

It's second nature today now because Halo did so much of that. But like I also just the multiplayer in that game is the co op, the single player, the environments, what cool of cool fucking universe they designed from scratch. We take it for granted now that the Halo universe is a thing with a fucking streaming show, But like that video game was just any form of entertainment that was a cool world, a cool story. It just happened to be in a fucking like, really fun, badass video game.

Ever, everything you said is correct, and I think this is the first one on this bracket that I think it seems like all of us are like, yeah, they're both looking great.

There's not a clear winner here.

Yeah, and Gear for the also last thing, I'll say Gears of the Gears of War, I agree, has been more more consistent as a series. I do not think one is my favorite game by a long shot in that series, but but it absolutely brought a huge new vibe to shooters in video games, and like, at first the macho stuff annoyed me, but looking back, I was like, no, that's that's part of like the that's part of it, that's part of the tone.

They were just it was it.

Yeah, Okay, So anyway, I will just say, because Mary, I know you've got a lot of thoughts on Gears, so I'll just say quickly that I think they're both great. I was annoyed at times from the halo'saign. I feel like it's a little more prone to just be like, where are we going now, what's next, like especially like the library and stuff like that. I think there are some some dips, like the levels that aren't amazing. But

I mean, ultimately, like as Dana said a lot, this is our list, and so it's really like our experiences that will determine what this is. Gears was extraordinarily influential to me personally and got me into shooters when I actually didn't think that that was a genre of game that I could play, or that I wasn't good enough to play. There was something about the cover based shooting

Yeah nice, I know, you just walk up and punch them with it too, and then yeah cool like world building design thing.

I agree.

I mean, I think they're they're both great worlds honestly because uh uh d Day or like Immersion Day for Gears was also very iconic, and they had a really interesting worldview of our world, like a you know, our universe that was destroyed by aliens that were underground the whole time.

And.

You get.

That's episode.

Yeah, that's actually how it started. Yeah, and uh you you fight inside of a bug.

I don't know.

There's just like so many wonderful levels that I'm like, this is so iconic, and even though I do agree it's not, it's not actually like my favorite, but I think it is just such an important game in the series, and I think it's the one that kind of changed my life. So I personally have to go with Gears, but I have I have a fond respect for Halo, and I know that Halo generally, I think might be more beloved as a franchise.

But for me personally these days, Halo's got up some stains on it, but it does where it's like Gears.

I'm sure Gears, I think people just kind of are apathetic these days. Emergence Day could maybe turn around, but I'm not super I like Gears five a whole bunch the Hord mode in Gears five is incredible.

Well, I just feel like Gears has been a less polarizing series over there.

Like, you know, I played through every.

Gears campaign with Kayla, like in a row, back to back to back, and it's not like, oh ship, we got to this one. I know, you know, Judgment is kind of a different thing, and I actually don't even just like Judgment. But I think Halo has more, especially post Bungee, you know, post three. I had a little rock year of a history there. But again, it's not about the series. I think Hammer of Don was that in the first one. Mary, Yeah, okay, my vogue goes two years of war.

Okay, all right. Democratically, I think it's done. Might give anything.

I said what I say.

I think they're more polarizing because people care more about Halo.

But's Halo versus Gears. Gears wins nice, all right. The next one. In addition to Dan's heater, which.

Is now on, I got a rug.

Look that is so small?

What is that? Oh my god? Now for a for a smaller room.

The bathroom, Matt, there's nothing else.

Get a rug, Dan, I promise you. Dan.

Everybody watching this can say definitively, a bigger rug would fit in that room.

This is how space works.

Stupid, stupid man.

He's trying to He's trying to use up our energy of argument on the.

Save it for this one. The next one is World of Warcraft versus Super Mario Odyssey.

Come on, Mario Mario Odyssey, charge you every fucking month to play it? Case closed, I'll.

Save the big is World of Warcraft there because you nominated or because you thought it was something we should talk about.

I think it's something that we should talk about, and I, upon retrospect, realize that Odyssey is going to destroy this game. But it is a very important game and the best.

Three D platformer of all time.

But versus the game, the charges you have a month to play it. I like World of Warcraft just fine. I paid the subscription bay fine.

I like it just fine. Do you sound like a Southern defense attorney. I like World to war Craft. It's just fine.

It is, But well, what you've got like a Florida Panhandle thing going on when really what you want is Savannah, which is lock Molesses spilling out of your mouth.

I World of Warcraft was cool. I liked my Dwarf Hunter and my elf Gnome and my.

Out of here argument.

All right, this is not this is not an argument.

I'm moving on.

That's phenomenal.

Fuck Ukon versus Texas Tech.

So I was thinking, yeah, next.

Matchup, Super Mario World versus Call of Duty four.

Oh God, that sucks.

Did you who nominated Call Duty four?

Did just that? Is that just on there? It should that would have been actually just on there.

It might have been in Dan's top twenty five. But as I said, I did, yeah, no, it should be stop adding them after about fifteen to twenty.

It's my forty seven on the last time I did this, I don't give a shit, but this belongs here.

This belongs here, y Yeah. Yeah, Like.

Mario World is one of the like four or five games in history that I would consider a perfect video game. Nothing should change, and it's aged. It's just as fun to play now as it was in nineteen ninety one. It is the peak of two D Mario, and I would argue maybe maybe even the best Mario game. It's kind of between like that and Odyssey. I would say, yeah, it is untouchable to me, it is touchable. Yeah, it's it was my top ten. It's my number five game

Yeah.

I mean, I'm not going to argue to Mario World over Call Duty, but Call Duty four or I will say, it's no question that we're still enthrall to how successful in groundbreaking It's multiplayer was.

Campaign still holds up really well.

I played it recently, but like it's that multiplayer just absolutely changed the game in a way that, for better and worse, these days, people are still emulating.

I played that. I think I prestiged the eighth prestige in that game.

Yeah, and I played Two War.

Yeah, but I'm not gonna I don't care enough about it to say it over Mario World though, Soup Mario World. I like to Mario World a whole bunch, but I'm kind of apathetic about both of them in a way that I'm not gonna.

Well, you have to, sorry, where's your vote? I'm confused.

I'll go to Mario World.

Okay, Okay, so Mary, if you care enough about Call of Duty, then I could be tie breaker because I don't right now care about either of these enough to like really argue.

So I'm also a bit apathetic to these, and so I was going to kind of bow out and see how you feel about both of them. I've played both of them. I think they're both solid games. They neither of them are in my top ten of all time or like a game where I would like fight tooth and nail for. Call of Duty was also like pretty monumental for me. Is like I think COD four was my first time playing a COD I didn't play a COD before that, so that was a big deal for me.

Yeah, I love both of them.

More passionate person should fight this one.

Yeah, I mean I do love both of them.

I've spent so much time with four and undeniably is super important. It seems like we all respect it quite a bit. But yeah, I mean, you could put fucking Metal Year Solid against Mario World, and I would have Uh, I might go Mario World. You know, like, that's how much I love Mario World. So what's that merry.

I'm just making sure I heard you that Super Mario World is more then.

I did not say that Metal Gear, and I would not say that, And I don't know if I'm gonna have to say that right now. All I have to say is that's the.

Beauty of brackets. You absolutely the fuck will have to say that at some point. It's just a matter of time.

I will cross that bridge when I come to it. The bridge right now is Mario World beats Call of Duty four.

Okay, sounds like there's no grave oppositions to this, so we're gonna go with Super Mario World winning over Call of Duty four. Right next? Total war war Hammer three.

Yeah, I don't give a fuck what's next.

I'm going Red Dead Redemption two.

Fuck me, God damn it, this is funny. I'm going Red Dead too. I've always loved that game.

It's really funny.

That's a good one for Mikey. Lock me in for Red Dead Redemption two. I was playing it today.

God damn it, Mike Clear, I'm not wasting breath talking about Total War war Hammer three to either of you.

Anymore. I've made that vow and I have any to play it with now.

But yeah, I can't. I can't say he's.

Not on this podcast. He'sn't get a fucking vote. Which one do you want?

Oh? Fuck? I?

Oh god, I don't know. I feel like I don't. I feel like I have to talk myself into both of them.

Why were they going married? Do you have a vote?

I would probably because I know this is this is Michael's Sophie's choice, So I think, like, based on what Mike thinks, I'll probably support him in it. I played both of these.

When did you play Total War war Hammer three?

I skimmed it.

No, you didn't fuck up, you liar, you didn't know. You didn't win the war. Skimmed it's so total. Yeah, for the third time, it's crazy.

You're gonna be You're gonna be eating your words.

The show blows up, and that gets syndicated when we when when Peacock wants the show on its streaming and you guys don't get a penny.

I don't even know how that works.

I'm just saying I think I think you should probably get a heavier, heftier saying, yeah, I know, I'm just.

Trying to figure out how to.

I've played Total Warhammer three much much, much more than Red Dead Redemption two. But you know what, Total war Warhammer three I already said x Com two is my favorite strategy game of all time. Total war Warmer three is right behind it.

The tough thing with Total war war HEMM three is you're kind of talking about all three games because of the Immortal Empires mode.

But Red Dead Redemption two.

Just one of the most impressive video games ever in it's world design, it's writing, it's it's absolutely replete with flaws, of course, but everything else is just so strong.

It's it's a monumental game.

Total Warhammer three is not better than Red Redemption two, but I right now would rather play Total war Warhammer three for what it's worth.

But I.

I just said, you just keep sucking that Warhammer and I can't.

Do.

You know what, it's Red Deredemption two.

I've talked enough about Warhammer three with my past soliloquies about it, have not gotten be able to fucking play it. I'm not gonna right now, So Red two is my vote?

Did Yeah, Red.

Dead Redemption two wins over Total war Warhammer three.

I'm with Dan. I got some conspiracy theories going on about whether this is how random this was, she had to make any bad choices here.

I also want to say, there's been uh, well I lost tomb Raider, there's been, Yeah, there's I prioritized a lot of your guys' games because you guys felt so strongly. I also want to say that when it comes to the bracket, who got the most games in? Mike did, because more games.

In probably had more outliers than you two right.

Ones that I think are like also just universally liked. So it's like you put games in yours where I was like, this is a game that the world we.

Should talk about. Okay, I got, yeah, that we should talk about.

Yeah, like RPGA a little.

Bit more obscure. I put in as many as I could, Dan, but I couldn't put in all of your fucking crap.

Well, yeah, I had to balance out Galactic Battlegrounds with an RPG because Dan wasn't about to put an RPG.

On his list.

Yeah, okay, next the next one?

Wait?

Sorry, how many have we done so far?

How many? Like? I don't know? Bracket is weird?

One two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Nine, ten.

We've done ten matchups twenty games.

I guess there were a few.

We have a long way to go. Yeah, sorry, all right, next matchup the legend of Zelda Majora's Mask versus Borderlands Too, Joe.

Is the best game ever made. What do we do it? It's so fucking cool.

But you had to be there at certain times of day.

That's cool.

Borderlands you just get to play and shoot.

Stop you nominate Borderlands too, There's Guns is a great game.

I love that. I got it like a nine high, but yeah, it's too high. I regret that score. But yeah.

The first words Dan ever said to me in my life were when he said or he even say it to me. I heard him across the room say that in turn keeps dying a lot when he had a level forty character and I had just started mine at Charity a children's hospital.

Anyway, Yeah, I think Borderlands was a phenomenal game.

It's the best Borderlands, but also Majors Mask is just this intricate puzzle box of Azelda that absolutely flew too close to the sun in its N sixty four version, but in its three DS remake and now you can play it on the switch.

They must.

They iron out like the two biggest problems it had. And now I think people appreciate it for how brilliant it's time loop structure was and how it was.

It was brilliant back then, but it was.

Yes, I think it's more accessible. Yeah, yeah, series that's always been in a series, that game. Yeah, aged perfectly, Randy.

She's got that Randy pitch in her pocket right Now'randy Pittsford and Andrew Reiner pulling Mary very.

I think this is a losing battle.

It is just objectively, you've already lost.

I would happily play Borderlines too with you at some point.

Yeah, no, you don't deserve boxes d.

The winner. The winner is the legend of Zelda Majora's mouth sick. Cool Okay. The next matchup GTA five versus elden Ring elden Ring.

I mean, look again, if this was like impact, like mainstream impacts of like GTA the online part of five, way bigger than I think anybody would expect it. But look, I like GTA five a lot. I think it's a great fucking video game. Uh, one of the better GTAs, I would say, Uh, elden Ring Is. There's just nothing like it. I mean, we gave a game of the Year and didn't give it a second thought. It seems you know, it's a well.

You gave it a second thought. You were trying to push Vampire Survivors over. I had to talk about how one was seation.

No, you didn't even put it in your top fifteen Elton Ring Vampire Survivors.

Oh oh well no, no, it's just elden Ring is.

Oh, I've changed my mind. That was just silly lollygagging. And now this is serious game time and elden Ring is important.

It is.

Is iconic, it is revolutionary, and like to this day, there are people who make a living playing GTA role playing as a job. It's so crazy that you can do that. I find it just wild to me, the intricacies and the amount of world building in GTA that you can have your own mansions, You can play as a cop if you want to, You can role play as all these different characters. You can just play the damn game, but you can also play online with all these different mini games. The The Heists and GTA five

I'm GTA Mike.

I feel like you, being smarter than me, would be better at explaining because I'm kind of coming because I feel like elden Ring has been talking about so much for so many years, including by us, that I would trust you to make this argument here.

Yeah, if it was Red Dead two versus elden Ring, I would go Red Dead two. And GTA five is undoubtedly phenomenal. The just sheer achievement wise, being able to zoom out and then go across the map and zoom in on a new character that they've fully written character in an open world was incredible, but still nothing like

Yeah, Mary's right.

Honestly, one of the best role playing games you could play today is GTI online, but elden Rings how they took their craft at pattern recognition based combat of challenge, of overcoming it, of the sheer number of character builds that are viable, and elden Ring in a world that has biomes as different as a place where you basically can just get poisoned from walking around to a place where they're just it's built to house giants, so you have to worry about fighting giants left and right, and

That I've ever played. Elder Ring to me is more more impressive.

Yeah, let me ask this.

You know, undeniably, the GTA online stuff is huge, and you know, Mary, you bring up the role play stuff and that's fascinating that, Yes, people can do that, and there's a whole it's so detailed and there's so much going on in Los Santo's that like, holy shit, that can be a whole or game if you want to make it that.

But do any of us do that. I don't know if we do, Like, are any of us doing GTA rob But I did for a long time.

I mean, it is an older game, so I have to also like give it credit. We're talking when we talk about us internally, GTA was very monumental to me and my time at game Spot, and I played it weekly in a series where every week we would come up with some bullshit that was so much fun. I have laughed myself to tears playing GTA five. It is

I laughed, I.

Cried, I screamed, I got angry. I mean, I really went through it with GTA, and I just also, I think generally speaking, I just had more fun. Whereas elden Ring, I do agree. I actually think it's more impressive. I think it is. I think it is perfectly executed. But we're just talking about often what it is that brings

Yeah, yeah, I mean it's and I get the argument it's it's one of the greats, but yeah, I'm going with elden Ring for mine.

Michael elden Ring as well. GA GTA online especially is fucking red.

Elden Ring wins over GTA five next Super Mario Galaxy two versus Rocket League.

Oh did you also know this is a genuine question. Is this the only galaxy here?

Did you do both? I probably put Galaxy one on it?

Okay, because I'm just curious. Okay, yeah, go go for it.

Okay, look, Mike, what are you voting? Rocket League? Okay, I'm not gonna breath. Rocket League wins the whole tournament. No, it just joking.

I doned to talk about other Mario games. Yeah, I'm not gonna waste my breath. Put Rocket League forward. Galaxy two is great, takes all the things that were great about one, as a nice overworld system and everything. I think it as less of the motion bullshit that the first one had. Uh, it's great, but I don't need to I don't need to think it's praises, It's it's fine.

Rocket League's very good too.

The winner is Rocket League. You did not put Super Mario Galaxy one on here. This is the only Super Mario Galaxy.

But there are other Mario games. Yes, No, that's it. We're out. I just Rocket League. There's no use. Just put it forward.

Next Team Fortress two versus Mario Party two.

I tried to get Team Fortress two to run on my computer for so long it seems so fun and it wouldn't run on my E machines.

So Mario Party two.

It's not my fault.

You were like.

Team Fortress too. It is one of the latest games of all time.

Yeah, it's such a good going to maybe go to bat for Mario Party two.

I just don't really hear you talk about Team I don't think you've ever talked about Team Fortress.

He was a child.

I play a lot of teas. I abolutely love Team Fortress too.

It's just there are better variations of Team forts two in my opinion now, but they exist because Team Fortress two laid the foundation first.

Yeah.

Yeah, yah, yeah, yeah yeah.

Mario Party two is the best Mario Party Cool. There's plenty on the Internet. There's plenty on the Internet of me doing Mario. You move your little little whatever game forward. That's fine with your computers and your internet.

Yeah, there's no internet outside of Kansas City.

I believe that your reason for liking another game is that you just couldn't play Team Fortress too, and so you like looked through your blinds of all the other kids having fun and couldn't play.

I basically hated PC games until I actually had a PC that could run stuff.

So it's so good. Fantastic Team Fortress to wallops, Mario Party two to win.

She's really just driving the nails in matchup.

She's coming whatever wins is the sheet Hitman World of Assassination versus Fire Emblem three Houses.

Come, Yeah, I love Fire through House. I'm not I'm drowning that child? If wait, is that what happened in Sophie's Choice? Probably I never saw. Did they drown her in million? What's the one where they drowned?

The one? I can't see it?

Am I making this up? Did I dream about this?

I've never seen a baby drown I mean neither outside of a movie.

Dan, Why would you even say that?

I have never seen I'm thinking of the Nirvana album cover. Oh I was just swimming for money? Yeah? Uh no, I absolutely.

I think love Fire three Houses, but I love Hitman World asassination. Hitman World Assassination is like, if you want do you want to see what like good game design is?

Just play those games. If three Houses want to.

Know what we're capable of, just show them what Io has made.

Yeah, Three Houses is good, but it had way too much of that bullshit in between missions. I thought it works, but Awakening would have been the one that even that, like there's Awakening was awesome to make.

Stuff in between the good stuff. But hit Man definitely hit Man. Yeah, agreed, I don't this will.

Be our last before the break okay?

O god?

Oh and just to be clear, Man World of Assassination wins over Fire Emblems.

Assuming everybody knows this.

Listen, Yes, I'm assuming everybody knows this, but if you're listening, hit Man World Assassination is what they rebranded the whole trilogy into as one big package, just so people know.

It's so nice that way, you don't have to make a choice, you just get Oh.

I thought you was saying I was nice for explaining it. It was like, I'm just letting them know.

You, you idiot.

It takes a lot so thoughtful Mike, all right.

Witcher three Wild Hunt versus Metal Gear Solid.

You motherfuckers better not screw me on this.

Oh random?

Oh Actually, honestly, I think this is going to be hardest for me.

Okay, Mike, I didn't put.

What your three on there for the record. I think Mary might have put it there because we do need to talk about it.

But like I acknowledged the Witcher three is a very good game. Stop I'm saying that.

Everyone keeps saying it's a very good game. Making the bracket is an honor.

I'll say this, it is getting.

Despite that, a lot of like I know, the narrative stuff, like there are a lot of things that it does more than your standard like action RPG thing like you know, like a side question Witcher three do really matter, and a lot of them, like some of the best stories in the game I know are in these quote unquote side quests. But there's a level of care and thought that goes into that game that I can't just be like, oh, there's a million of these type of games. It is

It's great.

Metal Gear Solid laid the groundwork for modern cinematic video game experiences.

I agree.

Metal Gear walked so that Witcher three could run, and it really.

Metal Gear walks so Witcher three could jump in a jet and fly.

Like it's true, Dan, I.

I I love Metal Gear Solid.

The first one I used to I used to say the games were in this ascending order, my favorite. So one was my favorite, and then two and then three. But that's all changed. Like, I think you're under selling a bit how impact. I know you said the Witcher was impactful, but like I don't, I really don't care anymore. If a game is like a movie, I get what

Yeah, it's a really good fucking video game. You know the debate we're having.

Uh yeah, no, Witchard three.

Like like you say, like there's there's some side quests that were interesting, but like other games are doing that they for you might know, Your Solid absolutely did things before a lot of other games, any other game did things. But Witcher three did the thing that every other video game up until then was trying to do. And it's like, here's how you do it. And I think other games since have been better in terms.

Of open world RPGs.

But yeah, which your three, the scale, the quality of its writing, characterization, the choices you can make, the world itself, the design, how they how alive it feels when you're just moving through it. It's apples and oranges, open world versus very confined, meticulous space. Also, someone who came to meddle Your Solid in like two thousand and twelve for the first time. I think the controls had already really aged out by then.

I'm not denying that, And it's not about which one has aged better, because.

That's right, that fairly Okay, Sure, I rescind that small part of what I just said, then.

Will strike the last sentence from your incredible statement.

Jay cut that I feel like it's like we're comparing like Meddle their Solid is apocalypse now compared.

To like I understand. That's what's that's what's fucked about this this format, and that's why it hurts.

That's why it hurts so much.

Wait, what's Dragonheart? It was this bad CG Dragon. I think Sean Connery was the voice.

It's they shared a heart one.

No one's like Dragon Heart sucks ass. But it's just like, look, which I do not do the thing where I diminish the Witcher. I don't love the Witcher.

You can't.

Yeah, it doesn't. It does not need your approval.

I know, I know, but it's just it cannot be overstated how much of a monumental moment for the medium that metal year Solid in nineteen ninety eight was the Witcher three is very fucking good, and it improved upon the things Witcher one and two did, but it was nothing on the level like I mean, Metal Your Solid one was like Mario sixty four levels of like everything's different now because we didn't know it was possible.

Are you talking about? Three had an entire micro game within it that became its own game as a result of it, people didn't like put money games and became outside of it.

That shit. That's I'm talking like changing shit.

I what was what did Minecraft go up against?

Dan?

You're doing a thing you do where you tell Mary that an argument is not valid because we're trying to get our favorite game are what we think is the best game.

Mine versus Metal Gear Solid three Sneak Eater.

We're talking about impact, like Mary talked about Minecraft impact and we kind of like shoot that away.

I'm also like, I'm not saying just on the industry. I am saying I'm also extrapolating that to be impact on me as a gamer at that time, and we've taken.

That into account as we've decided that it's not as important.

Oh, I think I think Metal Your Solid was. If we're arguing what's more important it's tough, metal gear solid I think is more important for video games. Yeah, I'll give them that.

I agree, I think I think it's a very monumental one. I think that the Witcher three is just an incredible experience. And he's also talking about like how cinematic it is. I mean, do you remember this nomadic cut scenes in which Er three after you had just like killed so many people and then you sat down and heard someone sing a very sad song and how much it made people feel in that moment, and then you got to dead a sick lady. I mean, that game gave you all the emotions.

It was like a movie.

Shoot sniper Wolf in the face while ancon watched and cried.

Otocon's a little puss, but like he's supposed to be. Yeah, I honestly this is hurting me more than I'm letting on. I'm just enjoying poking Dan in the ribs because mental YOURSELD is incredible and it's important.

It absolutely changed things. I was not around when it did, but I understand in the context of video game history how it did.

Uh, it's apples and origes. In the sense of what I said earlier, one impacted things coming after it. One did everything better than everything Buddy had been trying to do. Sure, I don't know. Personally, I don't know. I honestly don't know which I value more. I will just say the overall response I had to the Witcher three, which I played at the time it came out, So again, it's.

Hard for me to compare it to Meddle. Your Solid was more profound in many ways.

I will say this, my first time playing Middle Year Solid is probably, no joke, the most memorable and impactful moment I.

Have ever had playing video games. That's how strongly I feel about it.

Like there are a lot of games that I played and it's like, Wow, this immediately feels really good.

Wow, I fucking love this game. This is great.

Meddle Year Solid is the number one as far as like impactful moments on my life in a game that's nice.

I appreciate it so nice.

I would say the same thing to Mary, like, if you're trying to sway me, I don't give a shit what something meant to you personally. For the record, yeah, I'm not poopooing your experience. I have X com two experiences that I like, you could easily tell me, like shut up.

That's the part of this format, is I truly like the more I.

Think about it, the more I'm second guessing because I autely.

Like h I mean, ultimately, I do think it is going to come down to Mike here, because, like you know, I.

Agree, I just want to express like a little bit, because there was a lot of heavy push for metal gear, and I just want to express like the vastness of the world of the Witcher three, the Wild Hunt, and

I don't.

I don't think there's any right answer for me because I wasn't.

I will say if I was, if I was there, what year was this ninety eight?

If I was there in.

Ny eight fucking.

Swirling a Surrah when Psychomantis like fucking read my memory card, I would have fucking shipped my high brow pants.

Yeah, and when you have to unplug the control, it's impossible all time.

Let me say this too, is that as good as the Witcher is that everything it's doing, it is a matter of it refining and improving a lot of things to a certain degree. Like, but the leap from things in that genre before it to the Witcher three is nowhere fucking near the leap between what came before Metal Year and Metal Year.

Sure, but I would still say Apocalypse Now is a better movie than Citizen Kane.

I'm sorry to say.

Yeah, So that's that's what I'm saying. I still think, like sitting in a vacuum.

Man, Apocalypse Now is such a fucking sick film. Sweet Ultimately we all agree Apocalypse.

It's also like it's also we're doing like a U Magic Johnson versus Steph Curry thing here. There's a there's probably a more clear answer there, but like it's different eras times like the impact of one can be outweighed by just the sheer quality other. I do think I have to give it to the Witcher three, though I do think it's a better game, even even though Metal Gear Solid absolutely deserves It's it's.

The brackets spoken. The Witcher three Wild Hunt knocks out Metal Gear Solid into the loser bracket Submit score.

Why couldn't that have been temperious. I kind of don't like Witcher three. Couldn't it have been something I really love?

Wait?

Wait wait wait, wait couldn't couldn't What do you mean?

Couldn't there something I had to take out fucking metal gear in the first round, something I liked a lot. I kind of don't like what three.

I know, I know, after the seventh hour of chasing fucking flower pants around the continent.

Whatever the dandelion flower, you got it right when you actually thought on yes, thought about it for two seconds. You got it right.

All right, I'm gonna go to the bathroom and.

We'll be back. Ye, I calling you, Michael.

Now, I know that's what you have done that, Michael Moore.

Amanda does it and I think it's funny.

Yeah, does she does it with love?

I kind of do it like a bit of a spice.

And yeah, you're Michael, you do it.

You take out the trash man.

Coming back to you, Sexy Hark and oh the fires sixty Hark all times just got fucking walloped by the Witcher three.

Turns out we made the right choice there. I don't know. I just involuntarily shivered when you said that. I'm not kidding. My body rejected that. Oh, Dan and Ben Hans are gonna be so disappointed. I'm just shouting out, Ben, You're just both wrong. Hands.

Hanson's face flashed through my head when I went on the break, because, like, I feel like he's gonna be really pissed at us.

First, he loves Memory. I don't know how he feels about Winter, but I know.

But he's also a like, really really knowledgeable video game history so I feel like he's going to be I think, yeah, I agreed.

Anyway, it's not a video game history bracket. It's Fire Escapes Best Game of All Time bracket. And as we just mentioned, metal Gear Solid was just removed in round one by the Witcher three Wild Hunt. Our next matchup the Legend of Zelda Linked to the Past. This versus say something stupid Skyrim.

Oh we're cool? Are we cool?

Yeah?

Are we cool? I have a lot of good things to say about Skyrim.

Link to the Past is it's.

Also, I don't I don't think we need to expound on what makes Skyrim great.

It's a great game.

It's it's incredible. People keep buying it because it holds up. But like Link to the Past is one.

Of if I lost metal years solid at the link of the Past back to back, I'm just quitting the.

You made it one hundred I can't talk to you to Yeah, the Past is just one of the most well designed things ever game or otherwise. Yeah, Dan's I feel like all of Dan's games get mentioned first.

So then he's like, it's.

Random, random, can't and some of these I do think some of them coming up. I do think like you'll see some of his second So it does, it does happen, but yeah, it's just so, it just so happens that all of his weird ones have been first.

So far.

We're next time Solids, my weird niche Chase.

Now I'm just old.

Yeah, we've got different eras.

This would not be a Shakespeast at Cloud.

I feel like we did represent some like different generations of gamer here.

Yeah, we have for like a well and for the record, like a lot of these like additional games to get us a bit more full circle were ones I came up with which I was like, well, we have to have. Well, it'll be weird if we didn't, right, I think it'll be weird if we didn't have. And a lot of the weird niche indie ones that will come up. I also know we'll probably not survive, so like, I will see how we go. But it was an honor to get started through the first round.

It's so weird though, because it's like, yeah, we are kind of from slightly different you know, age right, Yeah, but also we have wildly different tastes in games, so this is just a crazy Yeah.

Sure, I don't mean to paint it like I'm like twenty years younger than you. I think I just came up, bab I came up at a time. I'm kind of envious that. Again, you were there for shit like metal.

You're solid.

I mean I was seven. I wouldn't have gotten that when I was seven. Like I also wouldn't have been allowed.

To pl your parents were really cool.

Yeah yeah no, I mean gotten it, understood it, or yes, been allowed to play it. But like but I yeah, yeah, you get what I'm saying.

It was a good times I was born.

It's a really fucking good time.

Our next game matchup is Rainbow six Rogue Spear Versus had half Life two.

Ah, that's fine, put half Life through.

I had I had half Life on my listen, those are both mine, But I know Mary had Half Life at number one.

I mean half Life is like, it's the second message monumental, is it the first?

Is it the Is this still the best first person shooter?

Mm?

It's between that Halo one for me. I don't need to get into the whole list.

Yeah, Rainbow Rogue Spear is still like the peak of the previous era of Rainbow six where you're actually planning out these incredibly tense, complex tactical insertions with different team members, and that game still does not get enough love for how new it's systems were in terms of planning, how you can have four squads of AI, the AI for your co op teammates or not even co op your teammates was incredible, some awesome maps for terrorist un and

Of all time.

Maybe it's gotta be half Life.

Take that with the greatest seal because I can't think of it.

It's gotta be. But yeah, I have a lot of good memories playing Rainbow six. I actually don't think I played. I played Siege.

I think.

First to say this one was kind of my like cool guy, I vote, like, oh this is my off the radar.

Fuck I suck sometimes.

Yeah, Okay, you went for the underdog and it went up against Half Life two and now it's dead. So I hope you're happy with yourself. Half Life to win against Rainbow six Rogue Cheddar, and now we are on to our next matchup. It's just a weird name. Spear.

It's a weapon, but it's rogue, but it's but it's a dewey star. Yeah, it's a rogue spear.

I find that a strange name. Our next matchup is I don't have any response.

It's not.

Fairly common couple. That's what military operations to do.

They take two.

It's like modern cocktail bars.

It's like, oh, Gurney and sons, Like they just combined two random unrelated.

Nouns Rainbow six, Gurnie and sons.

Yeah, like as every new restaurant in New York or bar is like two words that make no sense together, Wolf.

And tenor.

Uncharted Tonic.

Yes, that's my second favorite charged game.

The next next matchup, Fallout three versus Divinity Original.

Sin To, This is going to be completely divinity.

I feel like I have the most where I have what's the what's the horse in both races? But like I know, Mary's divinity Original sin To. Absolutely she never shuts up about it. I absolutely adore that game.

But Fallout three is my favorite, one of my favorite open world games.

Let's let's do it.

Go somebody, Mary.

I don't even know what the divinity really is serious Larry previous game.

I'm sure it's Larry Studios game before balters Gate three.

It's one of the best.

Jesus Divinity Original Sin Too really paved the way for RPG storytelling. You're basically like on this Sick Journey. You can play it with friends, you can also play this solo. The storytelling and dynamics at play here so that when you meet a character and you tell them that they're a really good thief, they can come back later and rob you. I mean, you are building people over time

Come out twenty seventeen, I believe.

Yeah, Okay, I was gonna say, this is the first I've heard about it, and I was like, that's that cannot be coming from Giant. The name Divinity original set, I'm shocked to But that's sure whatever like that the name of this game.

Did you think Larian just came out of nowhere with Ballerskate three?

I literally when I went to Belgium to go to Larian to cover Balder's Gate three.

This is somebody should miss as somebody something about like you're Larian contact will be just like, what the fuck is a Laryan contact?

And I never heard of Larryan before this. Dan, don't you should cut this? No, don't. I don't have anything. It's just I don't know this is not not.

Deserve what to play Baller's Gate three, and you didn't things to look up what the studio has.

Worked on in the past. I probably would have gotten around to it. You did it. We're just gonna didn't get around to travelog stuff. I don't need to know anything for that.

That's a ball gate.

That's beside the point.

Anyway, I'll be the one that goes to that. Europe.

They're very nice, Larry and studios. Everyone there was awesome. Natun it.

This isn't the very nice awards. This is the fucking best.

Game of right, No, noreat. You can watch their head to blow up and slow.

It's great.

No so followed three was my vote.

However, I.

Don't care about it as much as you care about Divinity Original Sin Too. Followed three was, But I love Divinity Original Sin too. I think I like Balder's Gate three bit more. However, I haven't gone back to it since I last played. Me and Jake were doing a co op campaign. I'd be fine with Divinity Original Sin Too going up. I do think Fallout three is the whole conversation about Fallout three versus New Vegas gets heated.

I think fallow three is better.

I don't.

I like.

People talk about how New Vegas.

Can have those.

What divinity is? It's not that you like one better, no.

Better than New Vegas. Yeah, yeah, oh that's allowed it. Yes, follow follow three.

I think I'll say this before I agree with Mary about divinity originals in two. Fallout three I think was really impressive. It almost had a if it wasn't for the elder scrolls. Uh for Oblivion doing the open world RPG really ba basically like Bethesda putting it, debuting their new style of game that carried through Skyrim, Fallout for New Vegas, Starfield now sort of to a lesser extent, but that open world go Anywhere RPG. It took Oblivion

Building, the more urban it becomes.

It's you could spend like hours an hours scavenging out in the wastes in like in Bethesda or fox Chase or whatever, Chevy Chase or whatever the neighborhoods are. That That's still one of my favorite open world Bethesda games.

So are we retconning the Metal year thing? No, I'm fine with Original Sin Too.

Racket has spoken tan.

Original Sin Too and Balder's K three are probably two of the the two best CRPGs ever made, and one studio made both of them, which is just crazy. That's neither here nor there, I guess. But yeah, Larryan makes really good video games. If we did this, if we did this episode in another like five years, I probably put Baller's Gate three on there. Yeah, it hasn't settled yet.

It hasn't. I haven't actually had enough time to finish it. It's just a really long experience. But I absolutely like I was just so moved by Divinity by the end of it, and it's just a kind of an iconic

He farted his way into your campaign.

Farted his way into my heart.

Yeah. No, diminitting Originals in two is awesome.

I'd fight Herder for Fallout three. I liked it a lot back then. I thought the DLC, especially for that era, was like, oh yeah, really really good.

Follow It is also I think the Maryland so beloved in terms of like just globally. I thought I would lose, and so I am.

I'm not sure how I thought.

I actually Fallout three is still one of my personal top fifteen games of all time. I have really fond memories of it. That was my first I didn't play Oblivion until I played Fallout three, so that to that open world. But that's that we all know what I'm talking about, to literally go anywhere, spend hours wandering kind of bethest open world. That was my first exposure to it.

I think something that hurts my memory of Fallout three is that I look back and it was so emblematic of that period where it was just like very much this like kind of monochrome thing. It was just a lot of just drabby apocalypse drab stuff. Like when I think back, like something on the aesthetic now is Okay, it's just kind of that one note.

I mean it should be. It's about the apocalypse, but it's apocalyptic, yeah, interspersed with all the grays and the Browns. Yeah.

But had a good world building too. I mean it had a show made after it. I mean it's it's really made its way into pop culture now and the Fallout universe is quite interesting. So I think this is a tough matchup, and I think that they're both just really solid. So I just have to go with the one that is more meaningful to me. But I think they're both great games. Where are we at then? What's happening?

I will go to Divinity, Okay, I mean my vote will go fall Out.

But it's fine, Okay, you are not Your heart isn't broken on that one.

It's good, okay. Yeah.

Our next matchup, Splunky versus is Tony Hawk's pro Skater three.

Oh okay, all right, all right, look, Splunky is a very good rogue light.

Would you be a little Splunky? It's so important, It's like one of the best rogue lights.

Yeah.

I didn't play it until like five years. I want to say, like, when did they come out? I didn't play during the pandemic, or I didn't play it until the pandemic.

It was during Game Spots Era, soe twenty fourteen, it is going to be my guest well with my game spot Era sorry not game Spots Existence.

Yeah.

I remember Carolyn Pettitt was raving about Splunky and that's actually why I picked it up. And my god, did I put so many hours into Splunky at the time. I yeah, it's a really, really really solid game, expertly crafted, and god it was kind of like everybody wanted to talk about it at the time. I think it's gonna be a tough cell depending on how big everyone is into Tony Hawk's Pro Skater three, which I also played, I had one of the best soundtracks.

All right, not to offend everybody.

I know two of course, but like which I have a hard time differentiating Tony Hawks.

So I can tell you all of it.

It's three is I think the best Tony Hawk because it is the one that like one kicked ass and then two introduced the manual, so then all of a sudden you can chain things together. Yes, I know, man that really opens things up. But three was the one that added the revert, which was the last step you needed. Where it's like, if you're doing a vert trick as you land, you hit R two and you can kind

It is.

It is the peak of one of the all time great franchises. It's also i think maybe just like it rivals the best marios with like the best feeling games of all time to play. You feel fucking awesome when you're pulling stuff off in that game.

To this day, it's a tough.

Yeah, that's nodding my head.

For those who don't who are just listening, it's.

Just such a solid it's a solid game. I mean, I I also enjoyed playing this. I don't think I had the childhood experiences playing it old people have, but I I did.

You were younger than me.

Had I had friends who played this game, and that I would go over to their house and we would play together. And it is just like a really iconic and seamless experience, and it was a cool person's game. Everyone who was cool had this in their house. I think it's kind of iconic to its time, and I think I actually I don't think I would fight that hard for Splunky over it.

I think I think this is awesome.

It's really good, and there's some similarities here too, because I really do think Spilunky will be one of those games that ten twenty years from now, just by nature of the design and what that game is, I think that will feel really good to play eternally. I think if there's anything that might be dated with it, I kind of think the art style is a little kind of of its era.

I don't love the art styles Plunky.

You know, Tony Hawk three doesn't look modern or anything, but that was more of a technological limitations.

I just and maybe it's subjective.

I just don't love this flunky art style, but I think it will play great ten twenty thirty years from now.

Yeah, it was really solid, Mike. I'm curious where you're at here. I'm like, I'm not going to like die on this hill.

But yeah, uh, I can't split the decision between those two.

So again, I barely remember Tony Hawk pro Skater three as its own individual entity. I will say I I have only ever played I say only. I think I've probably put being honest fifty hours into Spelunky. I've played more two, and Spelunkie two, in my opinion, is like one of those games that's close to perfect. I the first Pelunkie was the first time as an adult. I think that I felt the same sense of discovery and

Spelunky's like the most video game ass video game ever, And in this argument, it's going up against Tony Hawks pro Skater three, which is one of the from what you've told me, if it's anything like Tony Hawk's pro Skater two, which I played the shit out of, one of the most video game as video games ever, I don't particularly care that much for each one. I can see myself going back to Spelunky two in like a

One right now.

It's funny I made the argument earlier about how I still load up, you know, warrior ware every time I'm setting up an analog pocket or something like that, and some of them, like a lot of them, they will only play like two D games and maybe up to like you know, PS one, and whenever I get one,

Dude's Blunky had so many fucking sick moments where you were just.

Like, there's no way I'm gonna make it out of this, and then you fucking did, and you'd be like, yes, I am the greatest gamer alive, and then you would get hit by a fucking snake, and then and then you would just get hit three more times before you hit there he was dead.

He was so beautiful that game humbled the shit out of you.

Oh yeah.

It's also like it's up there with GTA five in the sense that why the fuck did the developer spend that much time making this ending quote unquote ending and it Spelunky it's not really a thing which the I've never seen it, but there's criteria to reach a certain ending. It's like, I don't I genuine don't understand how anybody discovered this, let alone achieve this, and they probably spent

Yeah, I think that I put Splunky on here, so I lean towards Splunky, but I'm not gonna this is This is a tougher sell for me, but I will.

Say I will say Dan had swayed me more than me too.

Yeah, I think.

I think it was very important to you, and I do think Splunky was important to me. But I don't think that I see Splunky getting very far in this bracket, and I just think which I think.

It should, but I don't think I have put enough time and like into it. But that's again, that's just doesn't matter.

Okay, Tony Hawk pro skater three winds over Splunky.

Chris Plants rolling in his bed.

It's a fire escape.

Yeah, yeah, no, he listens poops just joking in bed. Yep, did you guys not know this about Chris Plant?

No? No, that's thing.

Yeah, yeah, he's got new fandangle toilet beds.

Look, that's what we did in Kansas City growing up.

He's from there can Sands and there poop beds. What we call ourselves too could never fall as you po into Dreamland.

Next matchup super Mario Bros.

Three.

Would you like me to say brothers super Mario Brothers three?

I usually just say Mario three.

Yeah, yeah, versus the Last of Us?

This is like the okay Corral, let's look at it.

Yeah, you don't see it. It's like twelve angry men, but there's only three of us. But we're all kind of like looking at each other.

I when you start, I think I was the last of us.

I was also the last of us. That's a joint.

Hey, I swayed my Mary swayed me on divinity. You got me an, Tony Hawk. I'm not rigid.

I mean I'm very hard right now, but I'm not like stubborn.

I mean, come on, the last of Us is like this iconic storyline.

Did Mario three ever changed?

Yeah?

That you for anybody?

No, I I this is not a matchup. I anticipated I was.

About to say it was the last of us in a movie. They made a whole series.

Basically, Yeah, they sure did. It's HBO series and it's extremely.

If I'm not gonna win, like do I do?

I waste I know, yes, please, because I'm open to being swayed.

Can't waste your breath.

I love it. But I feel like this is like a metal your solid thing of two words. So I'm going into old man like you had to be there. You did have to be there. So Mario, fucking Mario, you both understand. How great guy? Yeah?

If you're a fucking four or five year old like I was in the late eighties, obsessed with fucking Mario.

All right, but what what you were obsessed with? Whatting him? Oh? Having sex with Mario?

Yes?

No, that did it? Sounded weird now that I think about it. Okay, no Mario, Okay, when you're obsessed with fornicating with Mario like I was as a four year old, like I am.

Yeah, yeah, as a four year old, Mario was everything. Mario was the entire world. It was the only thing that mattered. I didn't know pro wrestling existed for another five years.

Mario was the world. And then two comes out. I loved I mean the US too. I love that.

I'm not gonna do a whole history thing here anyway. Three starts getting hyped up like crazy, and this is around the time, you know, I'm five or six, I'm starting to give video game magazines and shit, I'm seeing screenshots of like Mario three. Oh my god, he's got a raccoon tail, He's got all that. Oh it looks so fucking good. And then the Wiz comes out that movie where they showed that do not know this. It was just an old guy thing.

Wiz a Seinfeld character for me.

Oh wow, okay. Well, at the the climax of the Whiz was they goat. It was like a thing in conjunction with Nintendo. This movie was made but released in theaters. And at the end they go to this like video game competition where somehow they turn Mario three into a thing and they're doing the bonus games as a competition. Anyway, all the matters was it. It was kind of the debut of Mario three. The way they would do it

That's how off the charts the hype was.

And I think where it falls off for me in terms of being able to make a major argument here is it was not necessarily a meddle year solid moment where it's like this changes everything. It was more of a Zelda one to link to the past situation, where it's like it is taking the framework of the original. This is what that greatly improved, even though this was actually on the same system Zelda went from SNS. This

Did I mean? I fucking love two?

But three is three is right behind Mario World in terms of just like this is a perfect video game.

So I have not played much Mario World, Burrows three, three different games, World Barrows three, Super Mario Bros.

Three. Okay, oh is that what we're talking about.

Yes, I've played. I played it back in the day. I've not played much since I was young. It's incredible still, it's game design like game design, what what is it? Is it what makes the platform and good level design?

You know.

It was the first one to have that overworld, you know, whereas like you know, one, you just go from thing to thing, and and two you go from the level of the level, and there were warps and stuff like that and one and two, but with three you had the overworld where you could decide, like, I fucking hate this auto scroll level. Uh you know, I know if I don't beat it, I can't get to this toad house. But I can just go do this level instead of that one. I can still get to the fortress, you

Okay, it's incredible and it holds up today.

It plays like you know, Mario one was very important to me, doesn't play amazing these days.

Mario three. I play it now and I fucking love every second of it.

Yeah.

I replayed the Last of Us the Remastered recently, and I like the Last of Us Part two.

I think it's way too long. I think a lot of it was bloated.

Last of Us Part one is still one of the most incredibly paced games a just the cross country post apocalypt It's like the best road trip game ever, and I think people forget that it's a road trip game. You're trying to get to Saltly City or no, you're originally trying to get to You go through Pittsburgh Northwest.

That's where Part two eventually they get to. But there you get to Salt Lake City. That's where you see the giraffes in that moment, which.

I guess like cliche is that moment has become now that actually was really fucking cool to like be in this really grim world for that long and you're doing some fucked up shit as Joel, and I also don't think that game gets enough credit for how good its combat is, and I think last part last was part two. Is roguelike Mode actually showcases the combat in a way

You're not.

It's very naughty Dog set piece cinematic, but you're sort of controlling it, which they're very good at. It turns out all the way straight through to again. I think people have looked. I think Last gets that BioShock infinite treatment where there absolutely are big flaws and it's thematic storytelling. I'll I'm right there with people. I also think people look back and kind of diminish the impact certain moments had at the time that last line and Last was

The fact that.

Going back to the game, that script led up.

To that moment so fucking expertly that I didn't I reviewed that game for Gaming Nexus back in twenty thirteen. I had to run Rush Home from E three. Jump into that game, start playing it, and as I was playing it was like, oh my god, what is how has Naughty Dog done this? You know they came off of Uncharted three before they did this. That was just like a studio flexing its design chops, showing hey, we

And uh from Mass Effect.

I don't know the girls, Yeah, it's I really should look but like, yeah, they killed those parts and.

Like that relationship, and you learn more about Ellie and you're like, oh, okay, Ellie's the central character here, but like the the you know, Joel using her as a yeah, and you all of a sudden talk.

About Ryan and everyone's like what the fuck?

Yeah.

But again, replaying it, I forgot how well that was handled. Because Joel gets he falls off a balcony in the campus where they think there might be something they need in Colorado.

He falls off, piece of rebar goes through him. He's like, that's through his kidney.

He's fucked. She gets him back on the horse basically, and then it cuts.

And for those who don't remember, the game is structured into each each of the four seasons, so that was fall, fall, and then all of a sudden it cuts and it's just winter. It's the close up on that rabbit, just like kind of like being cute in the woods, and all of a sudden arrow hits it. There's that famous like stream clip of the girl, the woman who is like streaming that she sees it surprise, and all of a sudden, you're like, holy shit, I'm playing as Ellie.

This dude is creepy and dangerous. I need to get the fuck out of here.

The way that game flits between Okay, here's the story we want to tell his Naughty Dog, But then when the control goes back to your hands, the way that they can kind of transfer the momentum of the emotion from that cut scene into your controller is just fucking like. Part two doesn't get anywhere close to Part one in that regard. And you know that, I think Last of Us is Naughty Dog at its peak. They have not surpassed it yet.

And I that that.

I'm so happy I replayed that game recently because it's still really fucking holds up. It's just also paced really well. The mission variety mission not mission, but like level variety. The situations you're in, this fucking gang that's abducting people in Pittsburgh. I need to sneak and then all of a sudden oh stelt Steltz fucked.

I gotta go loud and just try to kill people however I can to protect Ellie's love it.

It's it's a really tough comparison as well. This is like, uh Apocalypse Now Versus Paddington Bear two, Like they're both really excellent, but like, holy shit, one is annihilating and stressful and just will gut you. I do think Super Mario Bros. Three is a fantastic, fantastic childhood experience, and I you know, we've been doing a lot of this is like which one would you play? Which one do you enjoy play more? And it's like, really, it depends on my vibe because I would not play the last

So they're just really really really quick response to that, Mary, I agree, but I also think there are moments of joy throughout the Last of Us that you forget about that just of course get overshadowed by how grim the rest of it is.

But like they really earn those like giraffe moments, so to speak. But anyway, sorry, someone who get killed, go ahead down, yeah.

Yeah, I mean, you know how I am with Mario and how I love it. Obviously my boat will go to Mario three. I played it like three days ago and we so fun. But I don't think of The Last of Us often, frankly, and I don't think of it as like one of my favorite games. But you know, as we talk about it, and I am kind of brought back to my time with it. I'm not a I don't like playing stealthily. I don't like playing stealth games.

It's fucking awesome.

For that sun and I also don't consider myself someone who likes stories in video games for the most part, and the Last of Us specifically that first one. Actually I like two as well, but that first one especially, I remember being like invested. You know, normally cut se time is like all right, I'm like half paying attention with most games. This one I was like by the end, I was like god damn, and yeah that last line and going to credits is just like, would you say it's.

A more gripping story than a metal Gear No, let's.

Say absolutely not.

I think it's more grounded than a metal gear literally by definitely, like metal gear is just such more like big scale and like it's.

President Baby is winking at me. Yeah there's like.

Yeah, yeah, whatever, I mean it not.

On this list.

I do think Middle Yourselid is the best story ever told across any medium. I do believe that Mike's eyes just about popped out of his head. But like, yes, I do think it is the best story in the history of.

In his grave.

Yeah story ever, yeah, yeah, to your point last yeah, no, no, no, it's all the same.

Like I I do really respect the Last of Us. I did really enjoy it.

And I don't think the winner of this should be like, you know, just because I go back to Mario three like twice a month for my entire life doesn't necessarily mean it's better or worse than a game that I played in twenty thirteen and haven't thought about that much since it's not about replayability. And I'm also not saying that the House is better than Mario. It helps, you know, my vote is Mario three for the record, but it's.

All to say we know, we've heard you. Yeah, I'm not going to put up a stink about Last of Us if that's where this goes.

I love the stealth in the Last of Us because it actually feels it's not a lot of games are like, oh, you have the option to go stealth. The option to go allows like no Last of Us is like stealth is a necessity until it's not an option anymore.

And then the way it transitions into like oh ship that caught me, like here's a brick, fuck you, it was really good.

Yeah yeah, Or here's a Molotov cocktail. His friend's on fire and now he's freaking out even though yeah it's fucking good.

Yeah, Well we're gonna need to make a call. So I'm going to say, okay, I'm going to say the Last of.

Us all right, fair enough.

If that was the last most Part two versus well, I didn't nominate it, but like if it came, I wouldn't.

I would have gone Mario. But last week I agree so much better.

Part two is like so stressful Part one or Last of.

Us too long.

I also don't think they should have so exhausted Gears five like those Open World Last.

Of Us wins against Super Mario Brothers three. Our next matchup, Left for Dead two versus Resident Evil remake, Oh fun, this one, This one is my sadness. Left for Dead two is extremely important to me. It is absolutely like, when it comes to horror genre, the best multiplayer like stress them zombie game I've ever played. And I didn't play Resident Evil until later in my life. So my experiences with what's the perfect zombie game, it's It's Left for Dead too, and it always is Left for Dead too.

How did the two zombie games?

Yeah, Left four Dead and Left for Dead two is a the director.

The AI system they use to control the flow of things is just still no idea. How the fuck you even make something like that?

And two?

Left for Dead and one and two, which kind of might as well be one thing, are like the most difficult games to talk about what makes them feel so good because they're so simple on the surface and the

It's I truly want I want to see like a video.

I say that breaks down what makes it so good on a you know, on a nuanced level, because I don't fully understand it, but it still feels amazing to jump back into today.

But Resume Will Remake, Oh my god.

Yeah, Dan, I'm curious where you are. Yeah, I put Left for Dead and you put Resident Evil Remake. I'm with you on another Resident Evil, but REMA is still a little rough for me. It's obviously phenomenal, but it actually I think it was my favorite of all the Resident Evils.

Which kind of funny.

I think I'm backtracking a little bit. Resident Evil is like Remake specifically, is like very iconic and very important.

I think I just have.

This is really hard. The Left for Dead. I have like a lot of good memories with Mike and I have some of the best memories at my time at game Spot and beyond playing Resident Evil, so I would be really happy with both of these, and it guts me that one of these won't get through. I'm curious, Dan, like where you are on this.

I'm I'm coming from the place where it's like, I was never a big zombie game guy, but like I did like Resident Evil quite a bit, and I did, like, I think there's two games that I liked a lot, and I've played both of these games a lot. I was never a fanatic about either of them. I think my appreciation for ARI grew over time, and my first time actually playing through the remake was they you know, probably like fifteen twenty sixteen, they put it on Steam. Like,

There's no way.

The fucking candles looked that good, Like the lighting, like it just looked insane. And it was so faithful to all of the things that made the original one just six years prior so great and just objectively made everything so much better, and not just it's not just the remaster treatment. It is the fully like we are changing puzzles, we are adding entire parts of this game that were not there before that we're maybe alluded to in a note or something with Lisa.

That shit was awesome. It was like Left for Dead.

I think was a very impressive, especially for its time online co op game where you didn't see a lot of stuff doing what it was doing. Mike, you mentioned the director tech and like that really was like, holy shit. For a game where you only have a limited amount of kind of space and objectives and stuff, that's how you keep it fresh, is like each play through is different because it is throwing different stuff at you every time.

That was brilliant. So but ultimately, I I think I have to go with remake. I think it was just such.

It is one of the best remakes of all time and even just standing on its own, uh what a what a tremendous achievement.

I think it's one of the best remakes all time until two.

Yeah, and for the series is really caking games.

Yeah yeah, I mentioned met Oh wait are we is this decided?

Or Mary?

You're still fighting Left for Dead. I'm not going to fight that, Okay, cool, I'll save this for the Sweet sixteen.

Then Resident and Evil remake wins Over Left for Dead too. I think the reason is is because like this is very justified to me, Like all of the arguments so far, it's like I just can't I can't argue with any of these things. So yeah, I also think it's a two v one already, so it's like it is what it is. Resident Evil Remake wins Over Left for Dead. Next, this one's for you, Mike, Bloodborne versus Ratchet and Clank going Commando.

I'll go blood Born, but I've got I've gotta go blood Born, but I've dan I think you might be interested. I think most of the time me and you talked about our favorite Wratchet Clank James, it was up your.

Arsenal was up.

Your arsenal was my mine was forever two and I went back and replayed them all like two years ago, three years ago. I think Going Commando is actually the sweet spot between that more traditional three D platformer over world design and you're still kind of plaffering up your arsenal has a lot of that, like they were almost trying to go more shooter. You pick a mission, you

Question for Booty.

They're all there, a lot of them are innuendo. But Going Commando, I think is my h like I said, my sweet spot for like the old and new Ratchet and Clank direction and Rift Apart was awesome on PS five a couple of years ago, but no, Going Demando is the weapon design, like how creative Insomniac got and the world design, how it blended the platforming and the

So it was way easier to aim and shoot, and that change how I play the game. But yeah, no, I'm going Bloodborne.

I don't even I don't necessarily unless anybody else objects to Bloodborne.

I I've definitely spent more time thinking about and playing ratching clank games, and I Bloodborne was the first Rumsoft game I actually beat, you know, like I respected Dark Souls and Damon Souls from Afar, but like I would play like five ten hours and be like, ah, I'm good. I don't really know what I'm doing here.

Uh. Bloodborne was like, oh shit, okay, this one was so luch.

Like for me too. It's the first one where I was like, I get how these games are meant to make you feel.

Yeah, it was undeniable, and I do feel like that has been on my shortlist of games I want to go back to because I think when I did play it, I just didn't really have that language of how those games work. But now that I've spent so much time playing like elden Ring and even like you know, Armored Core or whatever you know, or Secio, I think if I went back to Bloodborne now, I would just because I understand from games more than I did back then.

I think I'd enjoy it more.

I just think there's more going on there, like ratting You know you said ice cream earlier when it comes to Mario Mary and Uh, I think ratching Klink is fantastic ice cream.

I think Bloodborne is a Mike say a fancy wine.

U Bloodborne, I'd say it's like an arm.

I take it back all right, Bloodborne's really good. I'll vote for Bloodborne.

All right, Bloodborne wins over Ratchet and Clank going Commando, I will agree. I think that is a fair cool. Okay, uh, this next one, are.

We out of the first round yet? No? No, although it goes much faster because like a lot of arguments, a lot.

Of arguments have been made.

But we'll see.

Because this yeah, we still have like ten more games, and you.

Already killed Metal Year, which is the one I'd be talking about the most. So yeah, and there's no more Metal games.

It was a beautiful victory. Actually, think we have like eight more matchups. Okay, Uncharted Too versus Soul Caliber.

Fuck all right, Look when.

You said Uncharted too, I was like, great, I can be the champion for this game that I think people forgot about how fucking good.

A lot of people did.

People don't give the credit. Uncharted two came out with twenty ten or whatever. It was ridiculu, especially for someone who loves like, you know, y octane action bullshit. The train sequence and everything just unmatched the time. So I was ready to go to bat and be like I'm gonna champion on Turn It two. But then you said soul Caliber. Fuck everything else, my vote soul Caliber.

Okay, do you have anything else to add to why soul Caliber?

Yes?

It is a because I like fighting games a lot, but I've never been like competitive in terms of like, like, you know, I like Moral Combat because the characters and special moves and fatalities are all cool. I like Street Fighter because it's a fun thing to do with your friends. I never wanted to be like, oh, let's really seriously learn this and get competitive and go to EVO or rank up online with fighting games. Uh So, soul Caliber was the one where it's like, god damn, it was

As deep as you're willing to go.

You can be drunk in a dorm room, mashed on the Dreamcast controller and having a great time, or.

We didn't buy shallow dish dot com.

Or you can.

You can spend hundred hours learning every character and it's like any level in between. You were gonna have a great time with that game. And another one of those that I will pick up and play anytime. When we did Extra Life recently, me and Manati just played a good amount of it, and it's like, wow, this is still like the best fighting game ever, like not even just nostalgia wise, it's just no, no fighting game has ever been nearly this good.

I think, right you put you went into your basement and we had the controller. You went into your basement under your studio in Connecticut, and you played me blind basically while I was actually seeing the TV upstairs, and you beat me. Or tonight it was like best three out of five and I think I might have just barely beat you and you're in your basement with the remote controller.

Not seeing the television. Yeah, just yeah, it's man, what a tremendous fucking game. Yeah, every day It's one of those games. Every time I think about Soul Caliber, I want to be playing Soul Caliber right now.

Aw, that's really moving. I have to say, Like when it comes to like our list. That's a very endearing pitch and I loved it fine by me, all right, yeah, Soul Caliber, I mean you won me over Bud.

I'm such a psycho about that game that I had like two hundred and fifty hours on my playtime and I was so like, wow, I played this game a lot, and then my VMU died my memory thing, and so when I got a new one, I left it like on a pause screen or in a level for two hundred and fifty hours so it would be accurate.

Again. Wow, that's just me being an insane person. But yeah, yeah it's a great game. Yeah.

Okay, Soul Caliber wins under over Uncharted two. Our next matchup the Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time versus Halo two.

Okay, let's talk Halo two first.

I think the big Halo two is Xbox Live, and I think at least for me, I don't know if it was the same with both of you, but like, that was that first like, oh shit, online multiplayer. You know, I never had PC online multiplayers, so to me it was a revelation.

Yeah.

A lot of late nights in college.

Parties with people in fucking China.

Yeah, that's what it felt like. I was like, this is the future. It was tremendous. It was fucking tremendous.

I know the campaign was very polarizing at the time and not the best ending and things like that, but it is very very good.

Still a good campaign. I love that campaign still. It is. It's fun, it's messy, but it's yeah, but Aina, it's Ackerina, that's my vote.

Wow, what a good pitchna, Dan, do you oppose?

No?

At least some flowers to Halo two before Okarina trampled it.

I put Halo two because it is upwards of one of the most beloved games of all time, like globally, so I filled in a gap.

Sure, sure, good call. Okay, but Acker well, we'll probably talk about Okerna more when we need to.

But I don't know if it's gonna make it that far. Well, oh my god, I don't know. I'm joking, but maybe it won't. I next round at.

Least next one. Uh, Hollow Night versus Shadow of the Colossus.

That's an interesting one. Okay.

Wow?

Can I go to Can I go?

Can I take a break before this because I really use the bathroom? Sure, that's that's our that's our tease. Okay break yeah, yeah, are and we're back for Hollow Night versus Shadow of the Colossus.

That Shadow classis was my nomination.

This is not fair. I think that this is really hard because they actually, shockingly they.

Really do have a lot in common in terms of like.

Being extremely innovative, where other people have like duplicated elements of both of these games, the story elements, the surprise, the ability to take on just incredible feats and feeling so powerful by the time you're done with it. And I I really also I have a massive fondness for Shadow of the Classes. So this is like kind of gutting for me as well. We all know where my

I do.

I think you're right about like the scope and the variety and things that Hollowen has the edge over Shadow of the Clauses for sure, and there are similarities. I think they both do a lot of show don't tell you know, as far as the world building, and you know, even like the vibe of the games is kind of just like vaguely sad and.

Yeah, yeah, yeah decrepit world or like maybe like once was has collapsed now you're seeing the ruins of it. Yeah, they have a lot and it's weird. They actually have a lot in.

Common, even though yeah, the games themselves where it's like Hollow Night is a Metroidvaniace. Shadow of Glosses is like I always compared Chat of the Classes to punch Out, where it's like.

It's like Boss Rush sixteen boss fights. Not a rush, but like boss yeah, sixteen boss.

It's true, but the traveling to the bosses is so poetic and it's deep. You think and and a lot about yourself. You bond with your horse and develop a relationship with your horse, which comes into play, like I think.

The most interesting video game character of all time according to Ben Hanson, Agro the Horse. Yes, he believes Agro the Horse is the most interesting video game character of all time.

But we don't need to unpack that.

Has he met Roach?

No, it's Agro. Yeah, ever a big boss and everyone there's.

Weird, like not even characters. There's more interesting horses in games.

Oh I I'm with you.

Yeah, I you were talking about how poetic it can be. Just get from play is the place in that you come up to some bosses. The more the more bosses you fell, the more you come up and you're like.

This fucking bird was just like minding its own business in this lake, in this gorgeous forlorn lonely place and I'm kind of come in and just kill him because my.

Little human.

Needs needs the Colossus souls. But yeah, god, you get to some of those environments, it's just like it feel it truly feels like no one has set foot in that temple where you fight the monkey boss in like Millennia, that game I mentioned Metroid Prime and then Resuvill Remake and Shadow the Colossus, three games that just they they understand how to create atmosphere in a way that no other games do, and there's got like it's it's feels so weird to say Shadow the Colossus is some of

Doing their thing.

But like.

The Bird, especially when you first realize, like, oh man, he's swooping right down over that platform, there's no way, Oh he's got fur on his shoulders like above the w am I gonna just get pulverized if I try it. And then you jump and you grab the fur and it starts soaring up and you're holding out for deer life and your music.

Yeah, the music, like.

Crescendos even that, and that's one of sixteen. There are a couple in there that I actually I replayed with the remaster. I'm like, those were not great, but the fact that they tried that in I don't I'm pretty sure I could be mistaken. I think the first God of War came out not far from Shadow of the Colossus.

Oh five yeah, Yeah? Were they both? Five? Yeah?

And I played both of those in like back to back weeks, and like, holy shit, you cannot have two

That game world is so unique.

I think it might be the most beautiful game I've ever played. Yeah, graphical fidelity I'm just talking everything.

It's back when I cared about this kind of thing that was always the game. I was like, oh, Ebert

And the animation of them as well, showing him fall and stumble. The animation makes him feel so fallible again, comparing to like an Assassin's Creed, where it's like when you get hurt, he just kind of like jukes back into position, but you get tossed around like a frisbee. And Shadow of the Colossus. They want you to feel weak, and I think it's a masterclass in character design and character animation as well.

You feel weak and then you feel triumphant when you kill it, but then it's like.

I feel like a bad buy. You weren't supposed to do that.

Game where I reviewed that back in the day, and I remember thinking that, like I remember in the review just focusing on like these boss fights are so clever and they're huge, and it's so you get to climb up this whole thing, this platform am his boss fights, and I don't think I put much thought into like what was happening or the world or the story or anything.

You know, like in this literally by definition you assume they're all endangered because there's.

One of them.

You're just slaughtering all of them because you want to save what you're like the princess, like.

Just elegant shit of just like the way you find it is just hold your sword up with a circle button and it's the beam of light and so beautiful and for And that was in that post GTA three world too, where it's like everything was trying to do that, Like we weren't full Ubisoft Matt Barf Open World yet, but everything was just like, we need a million side questions,

Hollan I also has these like moments of desolation where it's just like you've seen nothing. The Kingdom I think it's called like the Kingdom of Tears or whatever. It's just like this dead kingdom. Everything has gone from it. The halls are empty, everything has died and moved on. Yes, there are bad guys there, but like, ultimately you're walking around this hollowed out town and there's so many stories left untold. What were the kings of this place? What were the people?

Like?

Why is it abandoned? What happened here? I asked myself that in so many areas of Hollow Night, it was telling me a lot without telling me anything, just watching all the death and destruction and Hollow Night. And I am here killing a lot and trying to get through it to what purpose I don't even fucking know, But you want to kind of investigate these terrifying and really sad,

It was like a religious prophecy that told me to do it, if memory.

Serves Yeah, And so it's just kind of they're they're both pretty gutting games in that in that space. But I do absolutely love the agency of determining, like what kind of person I think I am in this world. Hollow Night feels so sad and so alone in so many ways, and it's often like raining in a lot of the spaces, and I think it's just kind of adding to the environment that you are alone and you are going to go through some shit to get where you want to be. I think it feels great when

Yeah, I love Hollow Night, But like Shout of the Colosses to me is is uh, you.

Want to play it? Which one would you play more?

Now? Off, Dan, I'm not trying to be antagonistic. I just I came around it really is.

It really is a kind of a perfect but also a terrible matchup. Like, yeah, so brutal similar. I hate to say it because I know how much Hollow Night means to you, Mary, But like.

Guys, there is like not even that many CLASSI like, they don't even do anything.

It's yeah, like you don't.

Have to learn their moves, you just jump on.

You absolutely need to learn their moves. There's a bunch of them that are agile. I know, you know it's really good. She's like, I know, it's a tough one.

Yeah, it's honestly, like it would have been easier to pick holl And Night Over like an Arcadie game than another artistic Yeah, and it's.

Just happened to go against one of the most beautiful games ever made that also holds up really well.

And yeah, I have to go shadow the Classes. I'm sorry, I feel bad.

I have to go Shadow the Classes is funny, stupid, not like you know, with valid reasons. This is really hard.

I think we sold that argument really well. Shadow. Okay, at least you lost to something better than the Wincher three. Yeah, you died with dignity, Yeah.

There is dignity and losing to Shadow the Classes one of the most loved games of all time.

All right, fine, honestly I have pushed for Hollow Night if circumstances were different.

Fine.

Our next matchup is Titan Fall two versus Portal Oh fuck.

Me, that's an interesting one. Was you were you Portal Mary?

I am Portal Yeah did you do?

You did Portal over Portal two just to claim?

So this is an interesting one, and I think it could come back to haunt me.

I do.

I do think that Portal two is like the more enjoyable fundamental game, right, Like it's the one you can play with another person. It has extraordinarily good puzzles, and I think, uh, the world the listeners might be like, why didn't you do Portal two?

You suck?

I did choose Portal one because I think this is our list and even though I think Portal two is the better game, So this might come back to bite me in the butt. Portal original is like the quintess essential world building that needed to exist for Portal two to be as good as it is. It's the one that invents Gladys. It's the one that gives you this

Yeah, Mary, I'm with you.

I think One is the way to go here because you know, because the way it was released, it didn't really have to sell itself because like you're gonna buy the Orange Box based on like, oh, here's Saint Fortre's, here's Half Life and the episodes and everything. It's like, oh, here's this bonus little thing. So like this bonus little weird thing, little puzzle game. Me, Oh cool making portals,

Yeah, yeah, Titan Fall two is mine.

I believe.

I still I still think about that multiplayer often, especially how well they employed like fighting game recognition. It's incredible. But like the multiplayer, the way you can recognize a a scorch from a distance as opposed to a monarch and know that you're gonna have to counter them a certain way, and there's certain their weaknesses. When they call down the mex it's still such a fucking thrill to call down a mech from space, jump into it, and

Yeah, the campaign is just one of the most I don't want to say underrated.

Anybody who's played it knows it's really good, but it's like overlooked often in the face of other shooters. I sometimes forget it compared to Halo, Half Life, Two, Gears of War, et cetera. But like, yeah, the the interplay between how good it feels to be a pilot but also how good and powerful it feels to be in a Titan is incredible.

The mobility is insane too, it is. The mobility is so fucking good.

Yeah, fast you could be and how strong you can be depending on the titan you choose.

So fun person and stuff where's like you're wall running and the like stick knipe into the wall and like snipe down like shit.

Hell yeah, and for like for Vince Ampela and the people who made call Duty four to go over and do that. But add the other layer of you're not just prestiging, and you're not prestige like you're not just ranking up all these individual pilot handheld weapons and the pilot perks and the equipment. You're also doing it for all six of these Titans that all have very different there they might as well. It might as well be a hero shooter once you get into them, or again

That day we jumped in and it was it was fucking really good. It holds up like crazy.

We don't stream like a year ago on Giant Bomb and we're all like, holy shit, why are we not playing this all the time?

Like I had my favorite titan I was a scorch Maine Rob.

Rob had his man I I had. Yeah, I was getting double XP codes.

Yeah, but uh but no, Portal Portal deserves that spot as well.

Yeah, okay, agreed, Portal wins over Titan Fall two. Uh, the next one.

Why she's smiling? Why she grinning?

Haites versus Metal Gear Solid two Sons of Liberty.

Wait, what Haes is that you? I did? Yeah? No, I mean yeah, oh fuck.

Haes is like because he likes like haities more than we do.

Haties was our game of the year.

We did not talk about it. That was our first game of the year.

It was It was the one that kind of actually launched us as a podcast, so I think it's internally valuable to each one of us. It's also hilariously the one we didn't discuss. So we did Game of the Year originally and we debated very intensely our first ten through number two, and it just never we actually, like famously just forgot to talk about Hades, or maybe we

So yeah, id on here.

It, Yeah, needed to be on here.

I did not put it on mine.

Kind of maybe strategic's the wrong word, but like I figured, I thought Dan had it on there.

Honestly, I like it a lot.

He did it.

I fucking love Hades.

I'm willing to be swayed to metal Gear, but like, Okay, god damn Haites.

Still it's Hades.

Haiti's one of the top five games I want to play right now that I wasn't even thinking about until right now.

I put a lot of stock into anything, games, movies, anything with people that are just unlike anything else, and Meddle Year Solid two, even in this series of Middle Year Solid is unlike anything else I've seen. First of all, the marketing was the craziest shit ever, because you're coming off Middle Year Solid one, which I made the argument for that earlier, and how it just was a giant

Witchcraft.

It was just insane, the amount of detail, graphical prowess, all this stuff, and they're setting up this very intriguing story and then you play it and it does maybe the boldest thing a video game has ever done, where you take this universally beloved character of Solid Snake, you promote this game as like Solid Snake's Next Adventure, and it's like, holy shit, you liked them back then check them. Now everything's fucking cooler, Now, bigger steaks, all this shit,

And they fucking mark the mark.

The trailers they lied, they straight up lied, and the trailers showing scenes that don't happen, to make people think that they're Solid Snake the whole time, and it's not just a cheap gotcha thing.

It play.

I'm not gonna spend I could spend hours talking about the themes and stuff that this game is doing, but the idea of the player's relationship to the character and things like that and just the nature of video games and stuff, it all plays into that. Uh, And it plays beautifully into the story way that I fucking hated back then because every I don't think anyone was ready for that game back then, because it's just like, what

See trying to do more importantly sequels and it's riding.

Is this player surrogate where he has basically played a Solid Snake through the VR. There's no short way to do this. It is unbelievably complex. But to be so bold to take like it would be bold if this was an indie project and they did this, but like middle year, solid was the biggest fucking thing. And then a few years later to just throw all of it on its head and take such a risk, the likes of which people still.

Haven't done since.

And then even with the narrative itself to nowadays, you know, we're talking about four social media, you know, two thousand and one, A lot of these codecs and stuff in these conversations you'll see people repost nowadays because it's insanely prescient the stuff that they were saying about. What I mean, that was the first time I ever heard the word meme.

I talked to was just loll, Kajima is crazy. What's he talking about?

And then you go back and you look at this shit in twenty twenty five, and it's like, oh, my fucking god, how did this happen? In two thousand and one, while at the same time remaining an incredibly engaging video game. Like you know, there are criticisms I would have. I don't think the selection of boss fights and everything in

So, I don't know, it's uh I put it. It's probably number two.

When I was I was putting over you know, middle of your Solid one as the like number one impactful thing it ever felt in games. This is right, This is like one b you know, and I think it is probably the game. You know, we always have a game's aging well or whatever, and that like it so

Now, you did say that the boss fights weren't perfect.

I'm not.

Oh, it is not a perfect game. Great.

I just wanted to rehash that point because I believe that Hades is one of the most perfectly designed games of all time. I think the boss fights are so so intricate and wonderful to replay, and it is a really awesome experience to have a unique build as a player, right you will, you're forced to play it differently each time because of the way that game is designed. You cannot play the same build each time. You can't make yourself.

It was Hades, right, just yeah, you said Zeus, what does he fight? He fights his dad, Hades.

Oh, who's Zeus?

I don't think Zeus is in the game, Like you're Hades.

The player is Hades.

No, you're they made up, Zach.

You're right.

Now, your dad is Hades, the guy of the Underworld.

But who's Zeus. I think he does Zeus like things.

Yeah, no, I'm just clarifying for You're right.

I guess I thought that Zaggreous. You fight, you fight Hades cow, and that's a really tough final boss fight. I guess I thought it was Zeus.

He's kind of the brilliance of it is it can sometimes be semi easy because you built your the you can agree so fucking well, which is cool, like.

A great rogue light.

I feel like, you know, dead Sales Hades, like you can break it, and that's part of the joy, is like, oh, this build is fucked up.

I love this.

It was kind of before that was a thing too, Like Hades was before Breath of the Wild, where it was like, oh shit, are you like allowed to do this? Oh, it wouldn't fuck I'm gonna sell make seventeen as.

It was before, like Blatro though, Like Blatro is definitely like ropelike in that.

Felt like crazy when you were able to break the game, but it was designed for you to be able to do that.

No, wait, you're right Breath of the Wild came out. Oh yeah, Breath came out, was like twenty twenty.

Okay, gotcha.

Although technically I guess Hades might have been in like early Access or something.

But yeah, oh, just to.

Give you where my head's at. I like Hades more, but I do think Dan had a stronger argument.

Yeah, but he has a strong argument about all of these fucking games. Sure, yeah, Hades is like he did this before with Snake Eater and.

Was like, no, I vote for Snake Eater, I just because I like Snake.

I know, I'm just saying they can't all get in, you know what I mean, Like, there's not six hollow nights that I get to fucking cry over, but He's cried over each one of these little bad babies, and I just think like, at some point they're not all getting in.

Sure, I I don't know, I don't shoving so many in the door.

We can't stop them all.

I just think.

Hades is an undeniably good game, and I don't remember a single moment in Hades where I wasn't enjoying it. Medlic your solid too, I absolutely love and it's loftier in its goals and uneven, not even for sure, And again it comes down to like do I do I value the peaks of metal gar Salad two more or this the consistent greatness of Hades, And like.

Oh man, I would almost make the argument that, like, you know, we've brought up the ice cream thing several times and I'm usually missed her ice cream when it comes to games just instant, you know, gratification everything, And in this rare circumstance, I think Hades is the ice cream and I'm arguing against it because I feel like midagor sell it too is such an anomaly and I feel like it's important but industry and the history of games.

Of the two sure, But I would say, like calling Hades ice cream is kind of underselling how genius a lot of it is, like I shouldn't a genius, but like, no, it's close to perfect on the level of like Spilunky how I was talking about, and like.

The way they can balance even like the weak builds are interesting because you're like, Okay, this doesn't synergize with that. I think I've probably put like all of us at least one hundred hours into Hades at this point, and I I think I would still learn something new if I played an hour tonight, which is just incredible to me. I I I think Hades is mine as well. Your argument for Metal, Your Solid two was very good. It was better than your MGS one.

Well, and that's the things less than like, you know, because I love Hades. Yeah, I didn't like the Witcher. Yeah, this thing's less. It still hurts, but hey, I still got three is alive?

Right yeah, oh yeah.

There no, but yeah, Hades is just like Hades is just one of the best video kides.

It's really I think intent.

I think five years from now we're going to start like putting it up there with I mean, we already are talking about it in the breath of some of the best games ever.

But like you just put a middle year two. Yeah, true, Yeah, this is it. This is when it fully shines. Okay.

I it is a battle not to try to in early access, but I really just want to wait until day one.

I haven't. Yeah, I missed around for like an hour or two.

And hearing I'm hearing good things about how she plays differently than Graya, so looking forward to it.

I I'm glad to hear that we have concluded that Hades beats out Metal Cure Solid two Sons of Liberty. We still have four more.

Okay, and then that's a podcast.

That's round one.

Oh ship. Yeah.

Our next matchup GoldenEye double oh seven versus Silent Hill two.

Oh, Golden Eye. You didn't think about it.

It's Golden Yeah, I know that's that's easy. Look, I respect Iron Hill too, good job. It's a nice sad game. Golden Eyes fucking gold remember that.

Exactly, nice sad game. And then all of a sudden, this Vince McMahon comes out, Golden Eye, Gold. He's gonna golden He's got a I mean go because I mean, I'm not even gold and gold.

You're gonna have to fight for this because I uh, Golden I was on my list as well.

I think.

Which one has the auto top?

Good?

Also have sexy ladies. Maria is in it. She's trying to get up all in that butt.

I mean, Tokyo also has an Eiffel Tower. But which one do we talk about?

Sorry?

Continue, No, I'm losing.

You're up against Okay.

Dan talks about the story and like how powerful the story is. There's probably no other story that's talked about more. When it comes to the horror genre in games than Silent Hill too. It's the most iconic story where you the prog and I'm gonna it's like, how do I do this out spoiling it?

Like?

The point is is that you are slowly descending into hell and learning over time while you're killing all of these terrible beasts and like monsters and discovering terrible things about the other people who are in Silent Hill for awful reasons. You are slowly coming to the realization that you are not a good person and that Silent Hill is your health. And I think it's one of the first games that I played where I, over the course of the story, really recognized and loathed my own character.

Well, No, I mean if you're an odd job, and multiplayer you can chop dudes in the nuts and it's very annoying for your friends.

If you throw a knife straight, it goes right in the jaws.

Is nuts too. Yeah, that's a good time. Yeah slippers only. Yeah, like I like a lot, but like.

I don't want to. You be really careful with how you what you say next, because your next words are gonna be muffled by your own cold night.

Gold Knight created a genre.

Yeah, it was the first first person shooter. Everyone knows this.

No, it brought the PC shooter's Doom, Wolfenstein Quake two consoles, which nobody thought was possible at the time. But also just you were talking communal experiences, like how hard that game went on split screen. I mean, it didn't have a choice to go anything but split screen in terms of multiplayer at the time. But like the map variety for its multiplayer, the picking between characters getting fucking pissed when someone went odd job because they were shorter than

Which I mean more personal experience.

But yeah, but just speaking of personal experiences, like you know how much I love Mario and did as a you know, little child and stuff, and I still didn't get a sixty four When it came out four launched with Mario sixty four. I played at Target Kiosk and was like, this is the craziest shit I've ever seen. But I still, like, realistically could not afford it. You know, there's just not like I was not able to play it outside of a Target Kiosk or a friend's place.

I need to find a way to make this happen.

And I don't remember if that was mowing lawns or selling a bunch of old games or something, but it was like, you know, at a time where resources were limited in terms of like my money and my resources, I was like, whatever it takes, I have to have this game in my house. So I held off Mario love and ass that I was on in sixty four until I played GoldenEye, and I was like, well, there's not a choice anymore.

This is the coolest shit.

And especially like I again you talk about first personal Trutters and Doom and all that stuff. I had these shitty computers. I was not part of that FPS, you know, the early days of that. I did play some Doom in Wolfenstein, but in terms of like having something on that level, like when it's new and relevant, GoldenEye was the one where it's I have to have this, whatever the cost, I have to and it was so much fucking fun campaign multiplayer.

It just was the full package.

Yeah, and I love Doom and Wolfenstein, but I don't think shooters would not be nearly as big as they are today if it wasn't for GoldenEye.

Golden I is the predecessor of Halo to Call of Duty to yeah.

Yeah, and also like the main missions, the campaign missions for how they adapted the movie, and I didn't see that movie.

For years after I had played the game many many times.

But like, not all of it is aged well, but there's some really cool objective stuff where it's like the train yard. It's like, all right, I gotta find the black box, but that won't trigger Trevellian until I get to this area and then all of a sudden, I'm surrounded by guys on the edge of this area in

For ninety seven. Yeah, and also like the difficulty stuff.

Every game's difficulty settings was typically like the enemies have more health and they hit you more and you take more damage. This was between Agent Secret as Double Agent. It was like the difference between on the dam, you just run to the dam and jump off to Oh I need to go here and go into this whole area I didn't have to go to before, and I had to disable these alarms like you see parts the level and do things that you wouldn't do if you're

Yeah, they did that in Time Twitters two again. Yeah.

Yeah, no pre radical and all that stuff. Like they were fantastic of that shit, and uh not that I even mention the multiplayer, which was maybe the thing that's most known for. Yeah yeah, Goldenn is the top ten gold ye yeah, Golden Knye.

Okay, Golden Knye winds over Silent Hill too. Our next matchup, Diablo two versus Super Mario sixty four.

Oh, come on, now, come on, now, let's not be silly.

Can I I don't think I don't need a full break. I just want to run to the I think this is you two.

Oh as far as the argument, do you have a horse? Yeah, oh, then it's winning, Okay. I like we don't even talk about it.

Diabo to quite a bit, but Mary, if you want to a nice concession speech for Diablo.

I mean, one of the greatest stories ever told of what the devil you are? You become the devil, you fucking dickhead. You would know?

Yeah, who would have thought you would have talked that definitively about loser.

I this is like an iconic game.

You furnest is going off every time you talk.

You know, every time, just like a little teapot is boiling behind his stupid head. I mean, I think it's this is silly. I think like we were just like fighting about like how iconic Golden Eye was and like how how it was like the Pinnacle like inspired all these games. Yablo was like the ultimate of its time as well of being able to I don't know, just mass kill mass hordes of the undead for its time in lots of different ways, and being able to like

I think I think important to.

But yeah, Mario sixty four like proved three D could work.

Yeah, it's like the single biggest technological leap in the history of the industry.

I mean.

Like, okay, like there's another one of him. There's more. There's a mention Diablo was like iconic for its time. It like changed the way we perceived like the depth of these styles of video games, plus the story.

Six more literally added a D.

Yeah, that's like one that's just like one that's so superficial one D.

Mary.

I love you so much and I any I would follow your Diablo too, But I feel like you're just like.

Willfully. I think it's like the worst possible game you could be going against with this argument.

I just disagree. I don't think I never played this stupid game. Mario drown.

Just trying to kill him is what you're doing. What? Yeah, I I.

Feel like you've gotten a few bad ones in a row, Mary with your matchups, But like I, this one was da I think.

Oh yeah, there's many games on this list you could have had an argument with Diablo Mario's sixty four.

Okay, there's anything left to be said about Diablo. Feel free. The stage is yours.

I think it's a better game, and you can go fuck yourself. Mario Super sixty four beats Diablo too, fine, all right, we have two more mashups?

Do you need to Yeah, I need to.

Gather my tears.

All right, we're back.

We have two more matchups in the first round. In the first round, is this like potentially a part one and two things.

Or it might be We're gonna have to see how we go here?

Move fast one.

Keep in mind, I think after this first round, I think in terms of the matchups, we are like half done before and I think it's like sixty five matchups for sixty four entrants.

We'll see how you feel because some of the secondary matchups are gonna be bret but these are.

Gonna be that's gonna be like majora versus Like, these are gonna be a game. We really we've laid the groundwork for why they We'll see.

Yeah, let's readdress after the next round.

Okay, So the next one is Resident Evil to remake versus Metro Last Light.

I mean I can speed they both are. I can speed this one along. It's resuable to remake.

I won't fight that at all.

Possibly the honestly the best.

Remake of all time.

I think over a resumeable one remake, I would have to say Metro Last Light. If you're looking for if you love half life, two and you a lot of shooters just aren't doing it for you, and you're looking for like the true spiritual successor.

I've said this for a long time. Metro Last Light is the actual spiritual successor to Half Life two. It's the best thing you could play as a shooter, and before Half Life three comes out, if it ever comes out, it's it's the first Metro twenty to thirty three, really rough around the edges. Metro Last Light.

Incredible linear, but then there's these open ended sequences you're also managing, like Survival Light elements in incredibly atmospheric, underground and above ground, post apocalyptic wasteland in Russia.

Exit.

This is great, but I feel like it definitely lost something of the craft when it went away from the linear already of Last Light.

But yeah, God resume to remake. I'll save everything I want to say for next round.

But it's.

Yeah, if you liked Half Life two but you wish you had to press the button every five minutes Gordon Freeman wipe his glasses off, then you love Metro exactly.

Yes, yes, yes, okay, the second one. I hated every Metro I've ever played.

Great Resident Evil to remake wins over Metro Last Light our final.