We've got a bona fide indie developer in our midst this week, as Theresa Duringer of Temple Gates Games joins us to talk about her new mobile adaptation of strategy board game Race for the Galaxy. She also helps us talk about five games that began as fan projects or unofficial mods, only to earn the eventual blessing and/or backing of the companies whose work they were celebrating. Then it's onward toward NBA Playgrounds, Strafe, Deadly Premonition becoming a board game, and your favorite experi...
May 12, 2017•1 hr 44 min
With Austin Powers recently turning 20, we undertake a fan suggestion this week and look at five awful, awful games based on Mike Myers movies... with the help of our old pal Dan Amrich, who won the internet this week by co-creating the stellar Star Wars/Beatles mashup album known as Princess Leia's Stolen Death Star Plans. Then it's time for a spirited discussion about Prey, Call of Duty: WWII, Darksiders III, the New Nintendo 2DS XL, and the series whose gameplay you'd mash together if you cou...
May 05, 2017•2 hr 13 min
This week sees the release of not one, but two games that mash up popular franchises to create strange and wonderful new hybrids of complementary gameplay - so Henry Gilbert joins the crew to count down a list of five other games that merged existing gameplay formulas to create new crossover adventures. We then switch gears to Puyo Puyo Tetris, Dragon Quest Heroes II, What Remains of Edith Finch, Outlast 2, Night Trap, and the game characters you felt bad about killing. Theme song by Matthew Jos...
Apr 28, 2017•2 hr 22 min
This week brings a storm of retro-styled games and revamped re-releases, but before we get to that, Michael Grimm joins us for a look at five games that let you choose paths of (relative) nonviolence, incapacitating and outwitting your enemies instead of straight-up killing them. Then it's time to dig into Full Throttle Remastered, Telltale's Guardians of the Galaxy, the Disney Afternoon Collection, our collective disappointment over the unexpected demise of the NES Classic, and the characters y...
Apr 21, 2017•2 hr 10 min
It's always fun when someone appears on VGA for the first time, and this week, longtime community member and Anime Streaming Showcase creator Curtis "zabu_san" Stone joins us for a very serious discussion of mascots who habitually carry their partners around on their backs, operating in a state of perpetual symbiosis that you probably thought was totally normal for animals or elves or whatever. The topic was, of course, inspired by this week's release of Yooka-Laylee, which headlines our new rel...
Apr 14, 2017•1 hr 59 min
Persona 5 is here at last, and given that the series has always relied heavily on concepts and symbolism from Jungian psychology (among other things), we thought it'd be fun to dig into five games that deliberately used Carl Jung's ideas to create vibrant, dreamlike stories filled with sinister Shadows. Things then get less esoteric as we look at Persona 5 itself (with help from host emeritus Henry Gilbert), Parappa the Rapper Remastered, Destiny 2's release date, Mad Catz's demise, and your exp...
Apr 07, 2017•2 hr 19 min
With at least two of last year's biggest games getting big-time DLC this week, it seemed like as good a time as any to take a look - with the help of Telltale's Nathan Ortega - at some of our favorite DLC expansions of all time. More than downloadable extras, these added new stories to amazing games and sometimes even improved the overall experience - and once we're done getting nostalgic about them, it's time to talk about Kingdom Hearts, The Walking Dead: A New Frontier, Rain World, Narcosis, ...
Mar 31, 2017•2 hr 4 min
It's Mass Effect week, so we honor its legacy by starting off with a list of some of the biggest, most important trilogies in gaming - ones that told overarching, three-part stories that stuck in our minds for years afterward. Then it's time to finally dig into Mass Effect: Andromeda, Zero Escape: The Nonary Games, the unexpected return of the Floigan Bros., and your favorite Mass Effect romances.
Mar 24, 2017•2 hr 33 min
Blaster Master Zero's recent arrival on Switch revived a classic tale of a boy and his frog, so this week we let nostalgia be our guide and put together a list of five of gaming's greatest green amphibians. We then move on to Danganronpa 1-2 Reload, Switch sales, the upcoming Steven Universe RPG, and the sleeper games you've either recently discovered, or wish others would.
Mar 17, 2017•1 hr 47 min
Following the surprise of 2010's Nier getting a sequel with this week's release of NieR: Automata, Heidi Kemps rejoins us to talk about five games that were largely ignored at release, only to find an audience years later and come surging back to popularity. Then it's on to extended Zelda: Breath of the Wild/Switch discussion, Ghost Recon Wildlands, Disc Jam, Oculus Rift's price drop, and your favorite launch games of all time.
Mar 10, 2017•2 hr 10 min
The Switch is finally a thing you can conceivably buy in a store, and erstwhile host Henry Gilbert returns this week to tell us about his experience playing Nintendo's new console for Fandom.com - but first, we start off with a highly contentious list of five of the best non-Mario/Zelda launch games from Nintendo's past. Then we dig into Horizon: Zero Dawn, River City Ransom: Underground, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the secret lyrics to Mario's theme song, and your oldest consoles that ...
Mar 03, 2017•2 hr 11 min
The release of Halo Wars 2 this week set us a-ponderin' about other huge franchises that have wandered outside their comfortable genres, usually in strange and beautiful ways — so we begin this week by focusing on five of the strangest departures ever to come out of a major game series. Then it's on to Halo Wars 2 and Night in the Woods, after which we talk about Switch download sizes, Fallout 4 in VR, and the game characters you think should like each other... THAT WAY.
Feb 24, 2017•1 hr 46 min
This episode was recorded in the aftermath of another Valentine's Day, which we mark the only way we know how: by being miserable bastards and getting spoilery about gaming's most tragically disastrous romances. With that out of the way, we dig into For Honor and Sniper Elite 4, talk about E3 getting bigger and earlier, and (finally!) take a stroll through your favorite games of all time.
Feb 17, 2017•2 hr 43 min
We've finally made it to 200 episodes of Vidjagame Apocalypse! Join us as we celebrate by throwing out our usual format and instead try to debate, cajole, and vote our way to a highly subjective list of the 20 best games of all time, starting from the 10 respective favorites of Mikel Reparaz, Chris Antista, Dave Rudden, and Brett Elston, and ending with a vague sense that democracy is just the worst.
Feb 10, 2017•3 hr 5 min
The release of the throwback-y Double Dragon IV this week pushes us to look back at games that also looked back, despite being modern and not really having an excuse. With TechRadar's Nick Pino in attendance, we dive into five deliberately retro sequels before snickering at the swinging dicks of Conan Exiles, getting excited for Fire Emblem Heroes, mourning the passing of Namco's founder, and talking about the games you'd like to see get a total overhaul.
Feb 03, 2017•2 hr 31 min
This is the first really big week of 2017 for new releases, with Resident Evil VII hitting like a proverbial chainsaw to the POV - but before we get to those, Yakuza 0 inspires us to talk about our top 5 crime lords, with help from Michael Grimm. Then Brett Elston joins us (briefly) to talk RE7 from an insider's perspective, after which there's excited chatter about Kingdom Hearts 2.8, Nefarious, Mass Effect Andromeda getting a 10-hour trial via EA Access, and your reactions to the Nintendo Swit...
Jan 27, 2017•2 hr 29 min
This week is full of Nintendo Switch news, as Fandom's Bob Mackey joins us to share his hands-on impression of Nintendo's newest console and its games - but first, one of this week's new (re-)releases inspires a Top 5 about games that featured stealing the bodies of your enemies as their main gameplay hook. Then it's on to Gravity Rush 2 (which Bob also reviewed), tons and tons of Switch talk, and the games you're most excited for in 2017.
Jan 20, 2017•2 hr 6 min
We're back in full for a new year, as Fandom's Henry Gilbert joins us to look ahead to the games slated to come out in 2017 that we're most excited for. With that out of the way, we move on to Scalebound's cancellation, some idle speculation and excitement from before the Switch press conference happened, and (finally!) your favorite games of 2016.
Jan 13, 2017•1 hr 39 min
2016 has been a shit year. We won't miss it. But it's nevertheless given us some amazing games, some of which we've been waiting on for years. After a couple of rounds of intense voting, we've come up with our 10 favorites, and assembled an all-star cast of hosts to talk about them, including Bob Mackey, Henry Gilbert, Nathan Ortega, Michael Grimm, and Brett Elston in addition to the regular crew. It's a long'un, so strap in and find out if your favorites made the cut while we lumber toward 2017...
Dec 29, 2016•2 hr 17 min
It's almost Christmas, so this week, Telltale Games Community Manager Nathan Ortega and Michael Grimm join us to talk about... games where you play as a dad and protect a kid? Really? OK, fine. We then move on to talking about The Walking Dead: A New Frontier, Overwatch's surprisingly divisive character development, Nintendo Switch tech specs, and the Nintendo franchises you'd like to see come to phones.
Dec 23, 2016•1 hr 56 min
Dead Rising 4 inspires yet another episode theme, as special guests Henry "Fandom Dot Com" Gilbert and Wes Green joins us to focus on five playable journalists who keep little more than a camera lens between themselves and danger. Then it's on to Telltale's fifth Batman episode, Super Mario Run, Hitman and Overwatch adding holiday content, and the game-character holiday ornaments you'd be proud to display.
Dec 16, 2016•1 hr 42 min
It's our first show of December, which means the holidays are nearly upon us. More to the point, Dead Rising 4's Christmasy zombie uprising gives us the perfect excuse to - along with Fandom editor Bob Mackey - look at games in which the annual gift-giving holiday is not only threatened, but totes wrecked. We then talk about THe Last Guardian, Dead Rising 4, The Last of Us Part 2, Marvel vs Capcom Infinite, and your favorite Final Fantasies.
Dec 09, 2016•1 hr 51 min
Final Fantasy XV is out after a 10-year wait, and we're celebrating the only way we know how: by looking back at our five favorite games from the series' 29-year run. Once we've finished enraging fans with our wrong opinions, we shift our focus to Final Fantasy XV, Steep, Nintendo showing up at Universal Studios, and the games you played over the long weekend.
Dec 02, 2016•2 hr 29 min
It's Black Friday here in the US, which means that at least some of you are probably already enduring a retail mosh pit to get a few bucks off a new TV. With that heady whiff of capitalism in the air, we shift our focus this week to some of the most noteworthy merchants in video games, some of whom risk life and limb to sell you stuff in combat zones. We then shift gears to talk about Pokémon Sun and Moon, Monster Hunter as a "cinematic universe," and which games you think would make perfect rea...
Nov 25, 2016•1 hr 31 min
The Wii turns 10 in North America this week, pushing us to revisit a strange era of dominance built entirely on first-party games - or was it? In spite of its reputation, the Wii had a whole mess of fantastic third-party exclusives that have never been seen again, and this week we'll talk about five of our favorites with the help of Hank "Henry" Gilbert. Then it's on to talk about important stuff that matters, like the PS4 Pro, Watch Dogs 2, the NES Classic Edition, Nintendo Switch news, and the...
Nov 18, 2016•1 hr 59 min
Nov 11, 2016•45 min
We're just days away from the 2016 election as of this posting, and "tensions are high" doesn't seem as appropriate an assessment of the general mood as "chaos reigns." Still, we try to keep it celebratory, as Henry Gilbert rejoins the show for a look at five US presidents we can all agree on, if only because their insane policies are confined to the games they inhabit. We then move on to Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Titanfall 2, Owlboy, and the games that you think would be a good fit for Ni...
Nov 04, 2016•2 hr 8 min
Happy Halloweek, everybody! We're... actually cutting our Halloween theme short a week early, because we only get one Episode 187, and we'd never forgive ourselves if we didn't seize the opportunity to reference an ancient Dre/Snoop song by focusing on characters who went into deep cover to investigate crime syndicates. We then move on to Battlefield 1, Civilization VI, and World of Final Fantasy before talking at length about the Nintendo Switch, Red Dead Redemption 2, and the creepiest things ...
Oct 28, 2016•2 hr 27 min
As our month of spookiness continues, Heidi Kemps joins us to tackle one of our most bizarre subjects yet: SHMUPs (or shoot-'em-ups, or arcade-style shooting games) that ventured beyond familiar sci-fi trappings to confront something much darker than aliens and enemy fleets. We then touch on Eagle Flight and Return to Arkham, get speculative about Red Dead Redemption 2, mourn the loss of United Front Games, and look at the horror movies you'd like to see get turned into games.
Oct 21, 2016•1 hr 43 min
Our monthlong spooky theme continues with some of the most understated scares games have given us over the years: mysterious, often unexplained whispers. Sometimes they're part of the ambient sound, other times they seem to target us directly - but they're always creepy. Then it's time for a look at the week's crowd of new releases, including Mafia III, Dragon Quest Builders, and Gears of War 4; excitement at Red Dead Revolver hitting PS4; and a look at some of the times games scared the hell ou...
Oct 15, 2016•1 hr 53 min
