NOCLIP - podcast cover

NOCLIP

WELCOME TO NOCLIP! We are a fortnightly, book club-styled podcast in which we attempt to go in-depth on an individual video game and figure out what makes it unique. Episodes are around an hour to an hour and a half long and primarily feature free form discussion on themes and mechanics present in each episode’s titular game. Bear in mind that we are not reviewers, so as far as we critique the games at hand, our intent is not to convince you to play any particular work. SPOILER WARNING: Given the depth at which we intend to cover the games in question, those which feature a story, plot, mechanical surprises, fun moments you may not have heard about or otherwise will be fully discussed, likely at length. Given this, it is advised that you go into each episode with the understanding that these elements will most likely be spoiled. If you are sensitive to that sort of thing, we recommend that you either play the game before listening to the podcast, or skip the episode altogether. (Though the latter option would make us all very sad!)
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Episodes

Episode 85 - Evidence That Spins - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

When something stinks, it’s probably the NOCLIP Podcast. Thank you for joining us again today! We realize this one’s a bit late, but we needed to get it out before October starts and all non-scary content is expunged from the Internet. Today, however, we’re going to be talking about Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, the first in what has become a series of games where you play the part of the titular Wright, and attempt to make the task of being a defense attorney fun to do. Fortunately, the game do...

Sep 30, 20191 hr 27 min

NOCLIP Pocket E15 - Firmly Grasped It - Device 6

I don’t know any people who listen to podcasts, nor do I care to. Welcome back! On today’s episode of Pocket, we’re returning to phone games, and, in fact, returning to a mobile developer we’ve talked about before. Device 6 is a game by Simogo, who also developed Year Walk, which we discussed last Halloween, and between the two games prove that they get that using phone hardware in a unique way is key. This game, however, focuses on text almost exclusively. The game’s text tells the story and pr...

Sep 14, 201943 minEp. 15

Episode 84 - The Bible is Dope - Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Your words are as empty as your soul! Mankind ill needs a podcast such as you! Welcome back to the show this week. Join us in bidding a fond, but temporary, farewell to JJ, who will be taking some time off in the coming months, by playing Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Also, sorry for spoiling the first five minutes of the podcast. Castlevania is a groundbreaking game that helped to establish a particular genre of platform/action game and is regarded by many to be one of the most influentia...

Sep 01, 20191 hr 31 minEp. 84

Episode 83 - He Is Now A Preteen - Super Mario Maker 2

We’re here to rebuild Princess Peach’s Podcast. Welcome back to the show this week! Maybe this content isn’t so original at the moment, but we’re going to be covering Super Mario Maker 2. A game focused on user-generated content is particularly difficult to cover holistically, so we’re going to be looking at the elements of the game that are not focused on specifically playing people’s levels. Presentation, the robustness of the editor and how building and playing levels makes you feel are our f...

Aug 10, 20191 hr 10 minEp. 83

NOCLIP Pocket E14 - Type "Sweet Love" - Only If

I’m listening to the podcast. The one with the anime painting. Welcome back to NOCLIP Pocket! Today we’re talking about Only If, which is a free PC Adventure game that dedicates itself to doing things that are strange and interesting. While the inexperience of the team holds the game back from completely accomplishing its goals, what this game does provide is a great snapshot of the things indie game developers were trying to accomplish at the time in a very accessible package. There are some re...

Aug 07, 201943 minEp. 14

Episode 82 - Front Gatekeepers - Baba Is You

Podcast Is You And Podcast Has Bad Jokes Welcome back! I hope you’ve been enjoying the scorching summer months as we pack into a single air-conditioning-less room to record a new episode on Baba Is You. This is an indie puzzle game with an incredibly unique concept, namely, being able to push around words that define the rules of the puzzle. The primary mechanic set of each level is then to manipulate these rules to provide a clear passage for whatever object you happen to be inhabiting at the t...

Jul 21, 20191 hr 4 minEp. 82

NOCLIP Pocket E13 - #Only90%ofKids - Pokémon Trading Card Game

Dueling is more fun than just listening to podcasts! Welcome back to NOCLIP Pocket! This episode, we’re going to revisit a childhood favorite of, I think, every single kid who grew up in Pokémon’s heyday. Even more than an adaptation of the card game everyone was playing and collecting at the time, the game seemed almost like a full-fledged Pokémon game, with a similar conceit and art style. While that seemed good at the time, almost too good to be true, in fact, reflecting on the game in the cu...

Jul 06, 201940 minEp. 13

Episode 81 - The Birth Pillar - God of War

There is one unavoidable truth you will never escape: you cannot change. You will always be... a podcast. Welcome back to the show, where today we’re going to take a look at the return of the God of War franchise with the, uh, aptly titled “God of War.” We meet Kratos this time around on a much more somber mission than in previous games, with him setting out with his son to scatter his wife’s ashes on the highest peak in the realms. This is of course swiftly interrupted and the journey continues...

Jun 24, 20191 hr 38 minEp. 81

Episode 80 - Only Idiots Drown - Return of the Obra Dinn

Those ungodly hosts carry a curse! Throw the podcast back or doom us all! Thank you, once again, for joining us today on the NOCLIP Podcast! Today, we’re going to be wrapping up Mystery May in a (hopefully) satisfying manner by talking about Return of the Obra Dinn with help from our guest Dan, who you may remember, and at this point you probably do remember, from past episodes. Obra Dinn was developed by Lucas Pope and like his previous game, Papers Please, has a unique style that has made it t...

May 31, 20191 hr 58 minEp. 80

NOCLIP Pocket E12 - Capricious Genie - Simulacra

I AM SOCIETY RESHAPED. A PODCAST DESTINED FOR ASCENSION. A HYPERREAL EXISTENCE. Welcome back! I hope everyone is having a properly mystifying Mystery May so far. For our pocket episode this month we’re going to be tackling a phone game that takes its platform quite seriously. Simulacra is a mystery/horror adventure game where you take on the role of a faceless bystander trying to solve a disappearance with access only to the victim’s phone. An iteration on a similar, if not identical, concept ex...

May 22, 201945 minEp. 12

Episode 79 - This Burmy Can Hold Grudges - Detective Pikachu

How could your podcast take place entirely in the library? Here’s a hint, it can’t! Thanks for joining us on the podcast again this week. We’re kicking off Mystery May with Detective Pikachu. With the movie releasing recently this IP has been in the public eye, but the film’s inspiration is comparatively less known. Now that we’ve played it, we’re here to…well, tell you why that is, unfortunately. The game follows a tried and true structure of setting up environments full of clues and witnesses ...

May 11, 20191 hr 18 minEp. 79

NOCLIP Pocket E11 - Big Yeets - Accounting+

What are you doing in my podcast? This is my podcast! Welcome back to NOCLIP Pocket, and on this episode we’re going to be talking about Accounting+. This game is a VR experiment that is full of absolutely off the wall scenarios and an abrasive sense of humor that really takes advantage of the medium to make things extra uncomfortable for the player. A kind of escape room game, it ushers you between scenes where you solve puzzles or just generally do whatever you feel like while commenting on yo...

Apr 24, 201935 minEp. 11

Episode 78 - Bad For My Tum Tum - Déraciné

Faeries are wondrous creatures who podcast in the place where time stands still, Welcome back from the viiiiirtual woooooorld, where today, in this humdrum realm we call reality, we’re going to be talking about Déraciné. The first VR title from FROMSOFTWARE, Déraciné is a much different experience than the games that put the developer on the map. With no combat, no bosses and no constantly clanging armor sounds, we’re in for a much more subdued game, though still full of the exploration and obtu...

Apr 20, 20191 hr 29 minEp. 78

NCP Deltarune Episode 1 - Rudy's Got the Chalk

This podcast is fueled by EVIL! ...and friendship! Welcome back to the podcast, where after announcing the series seemingly one million years ago, we’re finally tackling the first release of Deltarune, the episodic followup to Undertale. Set in a world with familiar characters and musical motifs, Deltarune does a lot to change, and dare I say, improve the design set forth in its predecessor. With a party involved, battles are a lot more dynamic and the look and feel of the game overall has been ...

Apr 03, 201945 minEp. 1

Episode 77 - Miyamono's Bono - Katamari Damacy

Huh, it's pretty big. We imagine it'll make a pretty podcast. If it were Ours, We'd make it much bigger. Welcome back to the podcast! We’re finagling the release schedule a little to meet some time sensitive goals (hopefully you’ll be equally shocked and gleeful at the results), but that doesn’t mean we ROLLED out this episode without putting our usual SPIN on it. Eh? What I mean to say is that this week we’re talking about Katamari Damacy, the delightfully weird roll ‘em up from Namco that can ...

Mar 30, 20191 hr 7 minEp. 77

Episode 76 - A Honker of Steak - Kingdom Hearts 3

To strike down Xehanort, we need the podcast Mickey spoke of in his letter! Welcome back to the podcast! This work has been a long time coming and fans of the series probably never thought it would come out at some points. After delays and issues in making it, it finally released to droves of ravenous fans. I’m talking, of course, about this episode of the NOCLIP Podcast on Kingdom Hearts 3. Kingdom Hearts is one of those franchises that earned a lot of die hards and the third main series game b...

Mar 16, 20192 hr 28 minEp. 76

NOCLIP Pocket E10 - Find the Game By You - Hidden My Game By Mom

Get Hint! by listen podcast Surprise! We’ve had some delays in recording the last few weeks, so to compensate we decided to cover a podcast favorite mobile game, Hidden My Game By Mom! This unassuming iOS and Android title hides a massive amount of personality in its design and is a consistently surprising experience. A puzzle game by nature, the real appeal here is in the comedic tone and absolutely wacky logic that is required to solve its levels. Assuming you gel with the game’s offbeat humor...

Mar 14, 201932 minEp. 10

Bonus Episode - Xehanort's Day Off - The Story of Kingdom Hearts

Got it memorized? Welcome to a very special bonus episode, where today we’re going to cover the plot of Kingdom Hearts in an attempt to get everyone up to speed before we talk about Kingdom Hearts 3 next week. Sit down with Chad (who knows nothing about anything) and Andy (who has always known he has two hearts inside of him) as they go game by game and give you a recap and summary of the important points and connections of the entire franchise. Whether you’ve only played the numbered games or y...

Feb 21, 20191 hr 32 minEp. 358

Episode 75 - Chaotic Mild - The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

I suppose a boy like you has much to learn about podcasting, Welcome back to NOCLIP! Today we’re going tackle one of our oldest requests and talk about The Minish Cap. The Minish Cap is an odd Zelda game that was developed by Capcom for the Game Boy Advanced, but despite this, stays true to the elements of 2D Zelda games that make them work as well as they do. Whether this is a good or bad thing is going to come down pretty strongly to if you are the kind of person who loves Zelda’s tropes and m...

Feb 09, 20191 hr 13 minEp. 75

NCP Deltarune Episode 0 - Twee Wave

Undertale’s real, right? Welcome to a very special prologue/epilogue episode of NOCLIP Pocket! Today, we’re going to be revisiting Undertale, the indie game that has so completely saturated the Internet, that the sequel/spinoff game needed to be made into an event. While we’re going to be covering each episode of Deltarune as it is released, this episode should serve as a primer to get you familiar with where we stand on the beginning of the series proper. Therefore, this episode will focus on t...

Feb 04, 201939 minEp. 1

The NOCLIP Awards 2018 - Non-Philosophical Content For Gamers

“In the spirit of continually doing new and dumber things…” Consider this your invitation to the hottest and most exclusive awards show of the new year. Join us at the NOCLIP Awards, where we consider every game we recorded an episode on this year for myriad categories that range from legitimate judgments of quality to asinine judgments of minor features. While other awards shows hit you with nominees and winners, a cool verdict, an unquestioned decision, deliberated behind closed doors for the ...

Jan 19, 20191 hr 42 min

NOCLIP Pocket E09 - Abstract Poems From Afar - Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion

Three friends talk about a game, They speak of squids but make no quid. ”Welcome to NOCLIP!” they exclaim. Welcome back to the pocket podcast this week! Today JJ makes a guest appearance because we’re talking about Splatoon 2, a favorite of the show, and more specifically diving into the Octo Expansion DLC. As an amped up single player campaign, the expansion does a lot to increase the challenge and variety from the base game’s single player and riffs on the mechanics that make Splatoon unique c...

Jan 12, 201942 minEp. 9

Episode 74 - White Fan Company - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

We’ll bear this torch against the cold of the night, search our souls and podcast for the undying light, The Smash Bros. theme with lyrics is kinda weird, isn’t it? Welcome back to NOCLIP! Today, we’re going to be talking about what is one of the most anticipated games of the year, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Officially announced at E3 and then released in December, we had half a year full of mechanical discoveries, live demonstrations and surprisingly convincing leaks brought to you by Dr. Seus...

Dec 30, 20182 hr 5 minEp. 74

NOCLIP Pocket E08 - A Tiny Cowboy Hat - Kirby's Dream Land

Press Up, A and Select on the Title Screen to start a new podcast, Thank you for joining us on NOCLIP Pocket this week, where we’re only thinking about and playing Smash Bros. In the spirit of the season, we’re going back to one of Sakurai’s earliest games with HAL, Kirby’s Dream Land. Dream Land is a fairly simple platformer, but it is the introduction of Kirby, one of the longest-standing Nintendo mascot characters. Its design made strides toward accessibility in games, particularly for younge...

Dec 20, 201833 minEp. 8

Episode 73 - I've Been Perverted - Persona 5

We shall become the podcast of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity, Thank you for joining us this week, and, if you’re playing along, sorry for how very long this game is. This time we’re tackling Persona 5, the most recent entry in Atlus’ flagship RPG series (in the West, anyway). While the game’s combat system is still the simplest form of JRPG combat, featuring menus as well as physical and magic attacks with elemental weaknesses, the real gold is what surrounds this baseline syst...

Dec 10, 20182 hr 7 minEp. 73

NOCLIP Pocket E07 - Throat Juice - The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle 2

“Finally! Someone’s talking about Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle 2! THIS is what I’ve been waiting for!” - Everyone, 2018 Welcome back to NOCLIP Pocket where we’re going to be looking at the 1991 Gameboy Title The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle 2. The game is a sequel to an NES title, but with its short levels and puzzle platformer gameplay, the portable console proved to be more of a home for games of this ilk. With that out of the way, the question I’m sure most people have has more to do with why this game...

Nov 29, 201836 minEp. 7

Episode 72 - Smash Walter - What Remains of Edith Finch

I don't mind if I only have a year left. Or a month. Or a single week. I'd be happy with one new podcast. Welcome to NOCLIP this week! Today we’re going to be talking about What Remains of Edith Finch, a walking simulator that uses short vignettes to constantly impose differences in kind to tell its narrative. The game follows storytelling conventions typical of other walking sims, but uses different styles of gameplay to keep you engaged through its admittedly short run time. The story explores...

Nov 18, 20181 hr 54 minEp. 72

NOCLIP Pocket E06 - I Should Haunt Those ROMs - Pokémon Black

I’m what you could call a collector of bootleg Pokémon podcasts, Happy Halloween! As was alluded to in the previous episode, we are in fact playing a couple of the various recreations of the famous (infamous?) creepypasta Pokémon: Black Version. This haunted or hacked first-generation Pokémon game relies on the tried and true horror formula of taking something you’re very familiar with and forcing you to view it from a new, more macabre, perspective. While this effect works for the story, widely...

Oct 31, 201841 minEp. 6

Episode 71 - Trapper's Keep - Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem

A podcast of empty souls and fevered thoughts, reeking of foetor and decay! MAY THE RATS EAT YOUR EYES! Thank you for joining us this week on the NOCLIP Podcast, where today we’re going to be talking about Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem. This GameCube exclusive horror game once again takes its inspiration from H.P. Lovecraft, but unlike almost anything before it and even most games that came later, Eternal Darkness nails some of the lesser used themes of Weird fiction, like the madness of th...

Oct 27, 20181 hr 21 minEp. 71

NOCLIP Pocket E05 - Stocking-Headed Buffoons - Night Trap

The podcast trap?! NOOOOOOOO! Welcome to the newest episode of NOCLIP Pocket where we’re going to be talking about Night Trap (25th Anniversary Edition). Originally a Sega CD game, the game was re-released last year spanning all the major consoles for a wider audience to experience one of the most controversial games of all time. Does it hold up? Was the game ever really “good” in a traditional sense? Well, there’s definitely something charming here, and the notoriety this game has is a hilariou...

Oct 17, 201838 minEp. 5
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