It's time to hop in a modded Dolorian back to the golden age of video games and talk about the Atari 2600 and Yars' Revenge. My guest, Atari enthusiast CJ aka CardiacDrop and I discuss 2600 cover art, dispensing with ageism, games that used to come with manuals, comic books, guidebooks, maps, and extras, bringing your own imagination to the game, "few rules and a tremendous play space" in design, the difference between action and adventure, the objective of an endless game, the story of the veng...
Nov 04, 2019•1 hr 39 min•Season 1Ep. 33
Time to discuss the science of scary with my guest Mike from The Controller Throwers and the game Another World. We break down this title as horror and look at the premise of the unfortunate tale of Lester Knight Chaykin, not being an action hero, development by Eric Chahi and old indies, why the name was changed to "Out of this World", the science of cover art design, Mike finding his long lost cart after decades, why some love the game and why some hate it, the many ways to die and death anima...
Oct 28, 2019•1 hr 48 min•Season 1Ep. 32
Sing with us the bittersweet Symphony of the Night on this Castlevania episode starring SanityCrypto and Aros Elric. We discuss video game voice acting, both then and now, voice actors and union rights, character impressions, 2D platforming in the 3D era, enjoying the criticism of the things we enjoy, blemishes and flaws giving things beauty, memes and their purpose, familiarity vs popularity and intrinsic quality, the soundtrack and classical music, religious imagery and architecture, putting t...
Oct 21, 2019•2 hr 27 min•Season 1Ep. 31
It's time to put the Slipstream Mage in the driver's seat and talk about Forza Horizon 4! We're discussing juggling multiple games and forgetting where you've left off, how to pronounce "Forza" and what the word means in Italian, the TWRM GOTY Forza vs Journey controversy, the appeal of racing games, immersion, the sense of speed, and wish fulfillment, the importance of finely tuned mechanics, controls, and physics for racing game quality, the question of transferrable skills between real drivin...
Oct 16, 2019•1 hr 43 min•Season 1Ep. 30
The eyes of Ganon are everywhere and we're going to talk about The Adventure of Link anyway! Featuring Ryan from Gameswithcoffee and Katy aka Absolutekaty, we talk about bragging rights and the first time we played Zelda II, and how that affected our perspective on the game, no shame and save states, why Zelda II is Ryan and Katy's favorite, the enjoyable action of the combat, the most unique traits in the game and what caught on in the rest of the series, some tawdry tart, the Peter Pan origins...
Oct 08, 2019•1 hr 33 min•Season 1Ep. 29
The epic conclusion of our Chrono mini-series is finally here, featuring Gareth from 16-Bit Dad Blog and a discussion on Chrono Cross, which is NOT a sequel to Chrono Trigger (according to its developers). Together, we unpack such ideas as how to set yourself up for disappointment in a follow-up game, comparisons with Trigger and the effects of meddling with the timeline, the handling of time and dimensions, eras and worlds, a new layer of strategy and tactics required to master this battle syst...
Sep 30, 2019•1 hr 51 min•Season 1Ep. 28
The 3rd and final episode in our Chrono Trigger podcast trilogy features Chris the Sometimes Vaguely Philosophical Mage, and this time around we discuss the announcement of the new Philosophiraga show, the beauty of convenience for the consumer, playing Chrono Trigger on mobile iOS, Chris finishing the game for the first time just recently. First impressions, expectations, and recent overall thoughts combat dismissing opinions on the basis of nostalgia, plus talk on gaming as a newer form of ent...
Sep 22, 2019•1 hr 57 min•Season 1Ep. 27
Our 2nd Chrono Trigger episode commences with Ryan from RetroGameBrews! It's time to talk storyline, the balanced seamlessness of Chrono Trigger and the lack of "the grind", the importance of player choice, rehashing the premise of the game, what we would do if we discovered an apocalyptic alien, primeval Twitch, if Chrono Trigger is really the GOAT, the most emotional scenes for us, time travel as both a story theme and a gameplay mechanic, the value of the NPC, the Chrono series as a whole, a ...
Sep 09, 2019•1 hr 39 min•Season 1Ep. 26
It is time to talk about the best: Chrono Trigger , in this first episode in a CT trilogy! The ABXY Mage I and discuss the re-launch of Side Quests podcast and a new focus on video game music, the happenin' 1990s, questioning if accurate criticism is possible near launch, my first mancave, "Just let me get to the first save point!", what Chrono Trigger IS and what makes it so special, "time" as a theme in both narrative and game design, multiple endings, the necessity for stories to breathe, sea...
Aug 19, 2019•1 hr 51 min•Season 1Ep. 25
Zdrastvooyte ! In this episode, I'm focusing on NES Tetris with streamer and competition host Retro Game Brews aka the Beer Mage and Tetris champion Mega Retro Man asking what Tetris is, describing Tetris in one word, the puzzle that changes with your skill level, the comforting, relaxing nature of fitting the tetrominoes together, why Tetris isn't an anachronism by now and what makes the game so appealing, the dopamine response and addiction to its gameplay, the pure balance of challenge with s...
Jul 29, 2019•1 hr 49 min•Season 1Ep. 24
This episode we dive headfirst into the horrors of a cult classic: Shadow Hearts, discussing how to win a game of hangman, our take on Lovecraft's works and Lovecraftian themes present in Shadow Hearts, purple prose and classic literature, anti-anthropocentrism and cosmic horror, the technical word for fear of dolls (never use it, please), what the greatest scene in video game history is (hint: it involves a train), voice acting performances and how to measure their quality, actors treating thei...
Jul 15, 2019•1 hr 53 min•Season 1Ep. 23
It's time to get dark and gritty talking about DC Universe Online with fellow DC Comics fan, the Black Humor Mage! In this episode we'll discuss the game that I played at the cusp of fatherhood, the superpowers of the game, swearing off MMOs, turning the Skype camera on accidentally when you have no clothes on, what to do when your wife becomes a pregnant narcoleptic, the endless pastime of the endless grind, video games as a former addiction and the bottomless pit of character creation, great v...
Jul 02, 2019•1 hr 25 min•Season 1Ep. 22
I got to chat with my dad, the 16-bit one ( @16bitdadblog ), about Parasite Eve ! We get into the differences in horror between the West and East and how Parasite Eve blends the two, how the story connects to the incident in Japan in the novel, and where the film, manga, and sequels figure in, theorizing why the game never came to Europe, combining survival and RPG elements, the weapons upgrading system and how to blow your hands off with a rocket-launcher-handgun, horrible, horrible body horror...
Jun 11, 2019•1 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 21
For our 20th episode special, we the mages are here to share 17 original poems of all shapes and sizes and styles, each one based on a single game of our choice from the 1000 Games list! The 1000 Games collab may be over now, but there's no reason we can't keep milking it. Enjoy this chill Mage Cast entry, a pantheon of poets for your peaceful perusal. Let us know which one was your favorite! Guests: The ABXY Mage - EarthBound ( @ABXY_Reviews ) The Purple Prose Mage - Driver ( @AlexSigsworth ) T...
May 25, 2019•42 min•Season 1Ep. 20
SPOILERS , y'all. The last of the PlayStation One Final Fantasy games, I sat down to talk Final Fantasy IX with my own real laifu waifu! There are two kinds of people in this world: Vivi and Kuja. Hear us discuss this game's major themes, its placement in the context of the PS1 numerical trilogy, its wonderful treatment of miniature stories for its non-playable characters, our favorite musical tracks, the in-game places where we'd most want to live, the notorious evil that was PlayOnline.com, ma...
May 06, 2019•1 hr 39 min•Season 1Ep. 19
We're looking toward the Horizon for a new Dawn with Zero regrets! Episode "Clever Girl" wrestles with options and an over-abundance of choice, conceptual science fiction and mystery driving a story, Asimov's Foundation novels, the difficulty of maintaining narrative pace in open-world games full of side quests, meaningless vs meaningful missions, other PS4 exclusives and ranking Horizon Zero Dawn, inventory management *yawn* and how to minimize it, whether games will get too big or not, unitask...
Apr 24, 2019•2 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 18
I can show you a Super Mario World, shining, shimmering, splendid. In this detour into Dinosaur Land, featuring the inscrutable ABXY Mage and the ineffable Blue Moon Mage, we dig deep into this SNES launch title, its official story out of the original instruction booklet, our first time playing the game, challenge and incentivization, the benefits of competition in the industry (the Console Wars), whether Super Mario is really for children or not, why Mario is so enduring and the history of the ...
Apr 05, 2019•1 hr 54 min•Season 1Ep. 17
Pizza time! Hey, dudes, check out to our biggest episode ever in terms of guest presence, featuring the Beer Mage, the ABXY Mage, and the Hyperactive Coffee Mage. Listen as we chat about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time and go on about psychoanalyzing Twitter, which of us is Leo, Don, Raph, and dying on the hill of Michelangelo, the game's pros and cons, its expression of the differences between the turtles, how to get the most points for a high score, our favorite villains and t...
Mar 20, 2019•1 hr 37 min•Season 1Ep. 16
February is the month of love so for this episode, I brought on as a guest my very own real-lifu waifu, Blythe the White Out Mage! We talked on a game that impacted the both of us: Final Fantasy X , its firsts and lasts, its uniquely South Pacific influences, its characters, their themes and their development, coping with pain, overcoming prejudice, free spirits vs responsibility, voice acting in its infancy and the troubles of English localization, storytelling band-aids, outsider archetypes, f...
Feb 25, 2019•2 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 15
When you walk away you don’t hear me say pleeeeease listen to this episode! Featuring the verbose Chris of Overthinker Y (aka the Sometimes Vaguely Philosophical Mage), we dig deep into the labyrinth that is Kingdom Hearts, trying to untangle the maze that is the KH series while focusing on the first game. We also discuss the problems of online communication, Squaresoft and Square Enix, how Disney repelled or pulled us in, game rental stores, the similarities and differences between “heart” and ...
Feb 05, 2019•1 hr 35 min•Season 1Ep. 14
Hear us dance this Grim Fandango featuring Brent Mead the ABXY Mage and myself, the stuffy nose mage, talking this game's unique combination of influences, its concept of the afterlife, its interesting visual design, whether games as art is really the same thing as music as art, the difference between artistic and art form, the nature of jazz, death puns, championing memorable NPCs, personality world building vs exposition, our personal histories with adventure games, floppy disks, how adventure...
Jan 24, 2019•1 hr 40 min•Season 1Ep. 13
Ape puns coagulate in this Donkey Kong Country episode, featuring the dudes at The Pixel Meditations podcast! We discuss how to help games be accepted as an art form, showing people that there’s something to learn from video games, DKC’s quality of physics and weight, its sense of rhythm, the immediacy of its two player co-op, the variations between Donkey and Diddy, its place as the first title in the SNES trilogy, those dreaded mine cart levels, the Cranky Kong Run, and that great, great David...
Jan 07, 2019•1 hr 25 min•Season 1Ep. 12
Gravelly voices abound in this Metal Gear Solid episode on the origins of TWRM and the pun name, the PS1 Classic, a Metal Gear franchise overview, what’s canon and what’s not, the unique pitfalls of cinematic storytelling, stealth as a genre vs a mechanic, messing with people after getting optical camouflage, our favorite scenes and characters in MGS1, the importance of ESRB ratings as a parent, the embarrassing story of "the music room", Solid Snake’s ethics of killing and justification of murd...
Dec 21, 2018•1 hr 44 min•Season 1Ep. 11
It's the MAGE CAST 10th episode mini-anniversary special featuring my biological anti-twin and second banana, Nathaniel Norton! Listen with rapture to the most melodious musical episode ever as we sing and belt our way through a Night on Bald Mountain, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, Sim City 2000, Storm Eagle, Monument Valley, Armored Core, Alabama Shakes, Olomana, and... a new MAGE CAST theme song??? Things get a little weird and laughter abounds, but hopefully this decennial makes you chortle at le...
Dec 08, 2018•25 min•Season 1Ep. 10
Co-founders Red and Timely sit down to chat about Cosmic Star Heroine, buzzwords in the gaming industry, true substance to retro throwback games, doing more than pandering, consciousness toward length and lean game design, old versus modern JRPGs, the shift away from strategy to button mashing, sincerity and genuineness in indie games evoking the classics, the place for traditional good vs evil storytelling, pure virtue characters and archetypes, the non-necessity of cynicism, the GOTY picks for...
Dec 08, 2018•1 hr 43 min•Season 1Ep. 9
So a red mage, a ninja, and a coffee guru walk into a podcast... On this episode, a tri-force of mages discuss The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, its place within the context of the franchise, both its 2017 GOTY and controversial status, its unprecedented focus on the princess, its treatment of the open world structure, the place of fans in defining a series by expectations, demanding ingenuity and lateral thinking from the player, weapon durability and survival mechanics, talk of a sequel...
Nov 22, 2018•1 hr 55 min•Season 1Ep. 8
I am the night! This time, I got to sit down this time with the comics experts at Opinioneering to chat about Batman: Arkham Asylum. Our conversation turned to the literary and animated influences behind the game, Batman's humanity and vulnerabilities, the enduring versatility of the Dark Knight across media, remembering who the World’s Greatest Detective really is, the value in the focus of smaller games, Asylum as more than a cash-in or an adaptation of some movie, an exploration of the Bat as...
Nov 22, 2018•1 hr 58 min•Season 1Ep. 7
What ever happened to the Blue Bomber? In this episode, I chat about Mega Man X with Ryan from Retro Game Brews Podcast and Brent aka the ABXY Mage and we unpack our thoughts on the chronology of X and the classic Mega Man series, the distinguishing features of the X series, which robots get free will, literal verticality in level design, what kind of voice Mega Man should have, and our appreciation for the incredible soundtrack (I also make my guests sing their favorite songs from this game!). ...
Nov 22, 2018•1 hr 17 min•Season 1Ep. 6
Traveling back in time at high speeds to the first Sonic the Hedgehog game, Matthew from Normal Happenings and myself talk the blue blur's concept, design, and execution, Sonic's development history and future, Project Defeat Mario, the epic console wars, Sonic Tuesday, and Sega's legacy. This is our first episode ever to feature a 1 vs 1 discussion from two very different perspectives. Do sparks fly? Idk, but Tails does. Too bad he's not in this game. Website: thewellredmage.com/2017/05/20/soni...
Nov 22, 2018•1 hr 28 min•Season 1Ep. 5
In this EarthBound episode, I jumped last minute in front of the mic with Ryan the Hyperactive Coffee Mage and Brent the ABXY Mage to talk about a real SNES cult classic. Our discussion circulated around the idyllic vision of America, the death of innocence, the lost art of memorable NPCs, disturbing 16bit imagery, the meaning of the series title "Mother", successful video game humor, and lots of Poo. Website: thewellredmage.com/2018/03/05/eart…gs-mother-1989/ Patreon: www.patreon.com/thewellred...
Nov 22, 2018•1 hr 23 min•Season 1Ep. 4
