Welcome to the second episode of Nintendo Watcher Plays: Final Fantasy, a years-long dive into the entire mainline Final Fantasy series of JRPGS. Justin and Matthew play through the iconic franchise to figure out what works and what doesn’t. In order to understand how the JRPG genre has evolved since the 1980s, the Watchers will play through the entire series in chronological order and discuss their thoughts on each entry. First up: Final Fantasy II (1988) How does this fledgling entry hold up i...
Jul 27, 2023•46 min•Season 1Ep. 48
The past few weeks have been a lull for new Nintendo Switch games, but things are heating up for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. Matthew and Justin get together to talk about what non-Nintendo games they've been playing lately.
Jul 06, 2023•38 min•Season 1Ep. 47
In a followup to our previous episode, Matthew and Justin discuss their favorite 3D Zelda games and rank them.
May 26, 2023•41 min•Season 1Ep. 45
There's something special about 2D Zelda games, and in this week's episode, Matthew and Justin discuss their favorite 2D Zelda games before ranking them.
May 08, 2023•1 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 44
Matthew and Justin are back to talk about the games they're playing in anticipation of the release of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild , including Matthew's recent playthrough of the first six Resident Evil games and his tips for playing horror games as a self-described coward.
Apr 27, 2023•58 min•Season 1Ep. 43
For podcast #42, we have a very special guest with us, Raya, also known as the Glimmering Harpy! Raya joins us to talk about Octopath Traveler 2, but before we get into that, we want to learn more about her background with JRPGs and gaming in general. In this Q&A, Raya shares where people can find her online, her first console and favorite console, and her favorite genre of video games. She also tells us about her most memorable or important JRPG. Moving on to the main discussion, we start b...
Apr 06, 2023•1 hr 18 min•Season 1Ep. 42
Leading up to the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Matthew and Justin dive into 2004's The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, Capcom’s third Zelda game and one of the Game Boy Advance games now available on the Nintendo Switch Online.
Mar 23, 2023•44 min•Season 1Ep. 41
The Watchers are back to talk about their reactions to the latest announcements from the Pokemon Company and what's coming next for Pokemon in general. Justin and Matthew talk about Pokemon Sleep, what's coming from the DLC for Scarlet and Violet, the Pokemon Trading Card Game Classic, and more in this wide-ranging Pokecast. The guys close the pod with a rundown of their favorite Pokemon from three distinct categories: aesthetics, combat, and evolutionary line.
Mar 06, 2023•58 min•Season 1Ep. 40
Welcome to the first episode of Nintendo Watcher Plays: Final Fantasy, a years-long dive into the entire mainline Final Fantasy series of JRPGS. Justin and Matthew play through the iconic franchise to figure out what works and what doesn’t. In order to understand how the JRPG genre has evolved since the 1980s, the Watchers will play through the entire series in chronological order and discuss their thoughts on each entry. First up: Final Fantasy I (1987) How does this fledgling entry hold-up in ...
Feb 16, 2023•1 hr 20 min•Season 1Ep. 40
For episode 39 of the Nintendo Watcher Podcast, the Watchers sat down to talk about what might be the most well-rounded Nintendo Direct we've ever seen. Justin and Matthew are joined by Jake Martin of Bitbloggist.
Feb 09, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 39
SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake is developer Purple Lamp and publisher THQ Nordic’s spiritual successor to Battle for Bikini Bottom . Over the dozen or so hours we spent playing The Cosmic Shake , we weren’t disappointed. Purple Lamp lovingly recreated Bikini Bottom, captured some early of that SpongeBob magic, and kickstarted my nostalgia. But The Cosmic Shake isn’t all F.U.N. and rainbows. Here’s our review of SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake for the Nintendo Switch....
Feb 02, 2023•12 min•Season 1Ep. 38
In this week’s episode, Justin and Matthew sit down to talk about the heyday of 16-bit JRPGs and what it takes to make a successful nostalgia grab in 2023. The Watchers take a deep-dive into the 2022 indie darling: Chained Echoes. They discuss what makes a successful 16-bit JRPG, how Chained Echoes innovates on tried and true genre tropes, and whether or not it is possible to capture nostalgia without feeling cheap. The first half of the pod is light on spoilers, but the Watchers would recommend...
Jan 26, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 37
Matthew and Justin talk about their ten most anticipated backlog games of 2023.
Jan 18, 2023•51 min
In their first podcast episode of 2023, Matthew ( @zeroparse ) and Justin ( @PuffyRedshirt ) talk about their gaming resolutions for the upcoming year and pin down their predictions for 2023. The Watchers also discuss changes to the Nintendo Watcher Pod and what listeners/viewers can expect this year.
Jan 07, 2023•55 min•Season 1Ep. 35
It's been an unbelievable year for Switch gamers, and in this extended episode of the Nintendo Watcher Podcast, Matthew and Justin sort through the Switch's 2022 catalog to give you the best of the best. The Watchers talk about the best JRPG Switch ports of the year, honorable mentions, games they missed in 2022, and finally, the crew's top ten best Nintendo Switch games of the year.
Dec 29, 2022•1 hr 32 min•Season 1Ep. 34
As temperatures around the country continue to stay unseasonably warm, Justin and Matthew have decided to rank their top three gaming winter wonderlands! So come along with the Watchers as they dive into the world of wooly mammoths and frostbite.
Dec 22, 2022•36 min•Season 1Ep. 33
On this week's episode of the Nintendo Watcher Podcast, Justin and Matthew are joined by special guest and certified Pokémanic Jeremy Rivers to talk about the newest Pokémon generation, Scarlet and Violet . The trio talks about their histories with the Pokémon franchise, how they typically approach a new Pokémon game, what they think about Scarlet and Violet , how the new generation stacks up against previous installments, and finally — the proverbial Snorlax in the room — the games' poor perfor...
Dec 01, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 32
On this week’s pod, Matthew and Justin share their experiences with Atlus’s crown jewel: Persona 5 Royal . It’s hard to believe, but Persona 5 is actually older than the Switch itself; the Japanese release arrived on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in 2016. And ever since the Switch's release, porting Persona 5 Royal always seemed like a no-brainer. After all, over the Switch's lifespan, Atlus has proven that there’s a devoted fanbase on the Switch with the critically acclaimed Shin Megami T...
Nov 20, 2022•57 min•Season 1Ep. 31
In this week’s Nintendo Watcher Podcast, Matthew and Justin talk about the latest “Switch Killer” on the market: Valve’s Steam Deck! The Watchers have put the better part of a month into their new Steam Decks and wanted to test whether the rumors were true. Is Nintendo under threat from a real competitor? Will the Switch lose a place in the Watcher’s gaming rotation? Are horizontal thumbstick placements back to stay? Well… not quite. Matthew and Justin discuss the triumphs and failure’s of the l...
Nov 03, 2022•57 min•Season 1Ep. 30
This week on the Nintendo Watcher podcast, Justin and Matthew are joined by Mark Erikson of the 11 and a Half Minutes to Talk About Video Games to discuss how we play video games.
Oct 18, 2022•53 min•Season 1Ep. 29
On this week's episode of the Nintendo Watcher Pod, Matthew and Justin discuss their Pre-Zelda Playlist! With a stacked lineup of new releases between now and the release of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, the Watchers decided now was a perfect time to discuss their most anticipated upcoming games. Here are the rules: 1. No repeats between lists 2. Three total games 3. No more than one 1st, 2nd, 3rd party, or indie. Turns out, it was harder than the Watchers thought to narrow down their selections....
Oct 11, 2022•53 min•Season 1Ep. 28
Barring some last-minute surprises, we know what's coming from Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft at the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023. The Watchers take a step back and discuss the state of the video game industry with Jake and Landry from BitBloggist . The crew talks about each company's online infrastructure, its approach to subscription gaming, hardware availability, and "next-gen" experiences....
Oct 04, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 27
Welcome back to the Nintendo Watcher pod! In this episode, Justin and Matthew talk about how it feels to be a squid AND a kid! It’s Splatoon 3 week! Before they get into their thoughts on the latest Nintendo sensation, the Watchers discuss the September 13th Nintendo Direct. While Matthew had some thoughts on the Fire Emblem Engage reveal, Justin shares his excitement over life on the farm. The Watchers also struggle to decide whether it’s Tears of the Kingdom or Tears of the Kingdom . For the m...
Sep 15, 2022•57 min•Season 1Ep. 22
It’s finally here, an extra-large episode of Justin and Matthew’s long-awaited thoughts on Xenoblade Chronicles 3. While the pod was on a brief hiatus, Matthew and Justin spent a combined 200 hours playing through the most recent Monolith Soft offering. In the first half, the Watchers cover their initial impressions and offer a spoiler-free discussion of the gameplay while gushing over the beautifully crafted soundtrack from Yasunori Mitsuda. They also share their thoughts on the girl with the g...
Sep 01, 2022•1 hr 12 min•Season 1Ep. 21
Today on the pod, the Watchers dive into Nintendo's Splatoon 3 Direct. Matthew and Justin talk about the biggest highlights of the Direct, Nintendo's insistence on using post-launch content to flesh out their latest games, and what makes this Splatoon game look so good.
Aug 10, 2022•36 min•Season 20Ep. 1
With the release of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 , Matthew and Justin take a look back at Xenoblades past. In this episode, the Watchers talk about the highs and lows of the previous games in the series, what Xenoblade brings to the RPG table, and what they expect from Xenoblade 3. Check out our website for even more Nintendo Watcher news and views....
Jul 26, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 19
Matthew introduces Justin to the SaGa series. The Watchers look at the career of lead developer and creator, Akitoshi Kawazu, try and explain the difference between the various sub-series and their place in the SaGa franchise, and Matthew makes the case for why everyone should experience at least one SaGa game in their lifetime. What is it that makes this series resonate with Matthew? What is it doing that differentiates it from the Final Fantasies and Dragon Quests of the world? And where do we...
Jun 21, 2022•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 18
Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers was an unexpected HD remaster. Rather than remastering the original game in the series, Chrono Trigger — or just porting it (a la Secret of Mana and Trials of Mana) — Square Enix remastered Cross, a controversial "sequel." Aside from criticism about its poor performance, this version of Chrono Cross has been a welcome addition to the Switch lineup for 2022. For many fans, the Radical Dreamers edition is the first opportunity they've had to experience Chrono Cross. ...
Jun 07, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 17
Welcome back to Episode 16 of the Nintendo Watcher Pod! This week, The Watchers go off-script with the first-ever Nintendo Watcher Presents: The Other Side. In this episode, they discuss the games they have been playing that they wish were on the Nintendo Switch. For the inaugural flight, Justin and Matthew discuss a fan-favorite Sega franchise: Yakuza! But it wouldn't be Nintendo Watcher if they didn't manage to bring it around to JRPGs, so instead of focusing on the series at large, they turn ...
May 16, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 16
It is Episode 15 of the Nintendo Watcher Pod, and Matthew forces The Watchers to publicly tie themselves to the three most important games of their lifetimes, but there is a catch... Because this is Nintendo Watcher, Matthew constructs a list of arbitrary rules they must abide by (even though he refuses to commit to all of them himself): Each game must have appeared on a Nintendo console or handheld The Watchers must have no duplicate picks between their lists No individual list can contain two ...
May 09, 2022•1 hr 18 min•Season 1Ep. 15
