Today marks the return of Spooptober, when all of our shows are Halloween-themed for a whole month — but since it's just getting started, let's ease in with guest Greg Moore and five games that let you play as a psychopomp, someone who guides the dead into the afterlife (or, y'know, just punches their ticket, one way or another). Then we'll pivot to ActRaiser Renaissance, Death Stranding Director's Cut, Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye, last week's Nintendo Direct (including THAT casting news), an...
Oct 01, 2021•3 hr 35 min•Ep. 439
Grand Theft Auto V just turned eight last week, just months shy of its launch on a third console generation - so let's grab PNB's TL Foster for a look at five other games that just keep coming back, with endless re-releases, remasters, and remakes on new hardware. Then we'll investigate Lost Judgement, Kena: Bridge of Spirits, the fallout from Epic v. Apple, and the game-ds trends you'd like to see more (or less) of.
Sep 24, 2021•2 hr 29 min•Ep. 438
Deathloop is out this week, and we're excited to talk about it - but first, let's ease in with some a look at five other top-tier time-loop games that came along since we last covered the topic in episode 250. Then it's on to Deathloop, The Artful Escape, WarioWare: Get It Together, last week's PlayStation Showcase, and the game characters you'd want to see kaiju-sized.
Sep 17, 2021•2 hr 11 min•Ep. 437
Being normal-sized is cool and all, but what if you could - just for a little bit - get really, enormously huge and just stomp all the monsters or whatever who thought they could push you around? This week, Leif Johnson joins us for a look at five games that (temporarily!) grow their heroes to giant size, after which we'll get into FIST: Forged in Shadow Torch, Sonic Colors Ultimate, Lake, chip-supply shortages, and your best camp stories.
Sep 10, 2021•2 hr 52 min•Ep. 436
With another summer more or less over, this week's show takes a look at five games that used summer camp - a place alternately associated with freedom, fun, or terror, depending on the context - as a backdrop for adventure (or muuuurder )! Then we'll dig into No More Heroes III, Maneater: Truth Quest, Yakuza's creator reportedly leaving Sega, and the games you'd love to see get an expanded director's cut.
Sep 03, 2021•2 hr 57 min•Ep. 435
This week marks 30 years(!) since the North American launch of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System - by our measure, one of the best consoles ever. To celebrate, we invited Tony Wilson of Framework back on to talk about five of our favorite characters that debuted on Nintendo's 16-bit monster, after which we shift to Psychonauts 2, Twelve Minutes, Gamescom news, and the game worlds you'd love to take a road trip through.
Aug 27, 2021•3 hr 32 min•Ep. 434
When it comes to crucibles that test the bonds of friendship or family, few burn hotter than the one where you lock yourselves into a moving vehicle for hours and hours and hours. As summer winds down, we've invited Tony Wilson of Framework for a look at some of the best games built around long road trips, letting us experience the fun and camaraderie of the road without the tedium and frustration (usually). Then it's on to Marvel's Avengers: War for Wakanda, Road 96, Boyfriend Dungeon, and the ...
Aug 20, 2021•3 hr 50 min•Ep. 433
This week has seen an unusual surge in rodent-related media, with star turns for rat swarms in both The Suicide Squad and Assassin's Creed Valhalla. So this week, PNB's TL Foster joins us for a look at five games that featured unstoppable gnawing rat hordes, after which we'll jump into Axiom Verge 2, AC Valhalla's rat-infested The Siege of Paris expansion, Nintendo's Indie World Showcase, and your favorite videogame auteurs.
Aug 13, 2021•2 hr 58 min•Ep. 432
Only a few big-name game developers are generally seen as "auteurs" — creators with authorial control over (and who get most of the credit for) the games they make. Every so often, one of them strikes out on their own with a bold new project that gets a lot of people excited... and then falls flat on launch. This week, Steve Guntli of Ultra 64 and Wii Universe for a look at five such beautiful disasters, after which we'll dig into The Ascent, Here Comes Niko!, Street Fighter V's final character,...
Aug 07, 2021•2 hr 4 min•Ep. 431
Neo: The World Ends With You is out this week, giving us the first completely new TWEWY since the DS original, as well as an excuse to revisit Shibuya, one of Tokyo's coolest neighborhoods. Let's celebrate with a look at five other games that let us explore the streets around the Scramble Crossing, after which we'll dig into Death's Door, The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, and Bloodroots; get overwhelmed by Microsoft Flight Simulator's Xbox debut; and hear your thoughts about whether Steam Deck ...
Jul 30, 2021•2 hr 42 min•Ep. 430
With Steam Deck and the OLED Switch vying for preorders last week, now seems like an opportune time to grab Greg Moore for a look back at five handhelds that tried and failed to take on Nintendo, but made us love them just the same. Then we get swept away by Cris Tales, Cotton Reboot, and Death's Door; muse about Netflix entering the game industry; and look at the genres you think Donkey Kong should tackle next.
Jul 23, 2021•3 hr 31 min•Ep. 429
Donkey Kong, just like the plumber who debuted alongside him in 1981, has expanded far beyond his arcade roots to appear in everything from racers to rhythm games over the years. To celebrate Kong's 40th anniversary, let's take a look at five different genres covered by the ape's impressive oeuvre of games, after which we'll get into Chris' impressions of Zelda: Skyward Sword, scratch our heads over the $1.5 million Mario 64 cart, and hear the historical periods you think Assassin's Creed Infini...
Jul 16, 2021•2 hr 53 min•Ep. 428
Wise old men who lurk in caves to dispense advice and magical weapons are a trope as old as time – but as far as games go, their heyday was firmly in the ’80s. So this week, three cave-dwelling old men named Mikel, Chris, and Matt impart the wisdom of bearded 8-bit hermits to young hero Robert Beach, on loan from PNB. Once that’s over, we’ll dive into Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin, Space Jam: A New Legacy – The Game, Nintendo’s OLED Switch announcement, and your personal games of the (...
Jul 09, 2021•2 hr 59 min•Ep. 427
We've passed the midpoint of the year, so with help from Alex Faciane of Chilluminati and Super Beard Bros, it's time to look back at five games that did the most to light up our first six months of 2021. Then we'll dig into Scarlet Nexus, Cruelty Squad, some interesting Sony rumors and acquisitions, and the long-neglected EA properties you hope to see make an overdue comeback.
Jul 02, 2021•2 hr 12 min•Ep. 426
Any fictional feud that goes on long enough is bound, sooner or later, to be put on hold for an episode where the hero and villain team up to survive or fight a greater enemy. And this week, PNB's TL Foster joins us for a look at five games where long-established archnemeses (briefly) put aside their differences and worked together. Then we'll dive into Mario Golf: Super Rush, Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance, the return of a live PAX West, and your favorite announcements from E3 2021.
Jun 25, 2021•3 hr 37 min•Ep. 425
E3 came back! Holy crap! And don't worry, we'll get deep in the weeds about it on this week's show, but first we welcome PNB's Brendan Hesse and take a look at our favorite episodes of Conan O'Brien's Clueless Gamer, which recently took its last gasp. Then it's on to Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, a MASSIVE spate of E3 news, and the save-related memories that defined you.
Jun 18, 2021•3 hr 59 min•Ep. 424
We've always been great fans of so-called trash pandas at VGA, so when this week's release of Backbone cast one as a down-on-his-luck detective, we indulged our love of raccoons with a Top 5 about games that let you play as them. Then it's on to Chivalry II, the resurfacing of Playdate, Yuji Naka leaving Square Enix, and the most valuable games in your personal collections.
Jun 11, 2021•2 hr 58 min•Ep. 423
This week, we stumbled onto PriceCharting.com - a huge database of videogame resale values - and thought it'd be fun to invite retro specialists Steve Guntli and Woody Ciskowski (of Wii Universe) to talk about which (non-sports, non-game show) games PriceCharting thinks are worth the least on various platforms. Then we'll shift to Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World, Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown, Horizon: Forbidden West's gameplay reveal, a new cut of the old Super Mario Bros. movie, and th...
Jun 04, 2021•2 hr 22 min•Ep. 422
A few weeks ago, we passed the 26th anniversary of the Sega Saturn's deeply weird US launch, so as a belated celebration, Greg Moore joins us to talk about five of the best games that never made it stateside for Sega's wildly underrated 32-bit console. Then we'll jump into Biomutant, Knockout City, rumors of a Final Fantasy Soulslike, and the children's stories you think should get a bit darker.
May 28, 2021•3 hr 34 min•Ep. 421
Well, here it is, episode 420 - but we already did games that let you smoke pot 311 episodes ago! So instead, let's look at celebrities who've appeared in videogames and now have their own (legal!) cannabis brands, with help from PNB's TL Foster. Then it's on to Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, eBay banning sales of AO-rated games, and the ways our listeners are related to fame.
May 21, 2021•3 hr 46 min•Ep. 420
Resident Evil Village has its hooks firmly into the whole crew this week, so let's invite PCMag.com's Mike Williams back on to talk about it (and Assassin's Creed Valhalla's Wrath of the Druids DLC) a whole bunch more! We also keep the Resident Evil theme going this week with a look at five standout zombie games from before the first RE debuted, after which we grouse about PS5 shortages, recoil at Yoko Taro's ideas for Monster Hunter, and hear about your favorite (if not fond) Blockbuster Video ...
May 14, 2021•2 hr 23 min•Ep. 419
Resident Evil Village is out, and the rampantly fetishized Lady Dimitrescu joins the hallowed ranks of Resident Evil's iconic, nigh-indestructible "stalker" enemies. So let's kick off this week's show with five of the most memorable pursuers from Resident Evils past, and then invite PCMag.com's Mike Williams to tell us about his experience reviewing Village. Then we'll talk Returnal, get into sordid details from the Epic v. Apple lawsuit, and hear about your dream Mortal Kombat guest characters....
May 07, 2021•2 hr 8 min•Ep. 418
We've just passed two important Mortal Kombat milestones: the 10th anniversary of the franchise-revitalizing Mortal Kombat 9, and the release of a new MK movie that doesn't suck. To celebrate, Anthony Abatte joins us for a look at five of the best guest characters to show up for recent Kombats, after which we'll look at NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139..., Star Wars Pinball VR, and the most memorable demos you've ever played.
Apr 30, 2021•2 hr 15 min•Ep. 417
The formerly PlayStation-exclusive MLB The Show is now on Xbox, which is... kinda weird, right? Almost as weird as finding out that developers now closely associated with (and owned by) Sony used to make games for competing platforms, which is what we're delving into this week. Find out what studios like Guerrilla, Naughty Dog, and Sucker Punch were up to before becoming PlayStation mainstays, after which we'll take a look at Immortals Fenyx Rising - The Lost Gods, Sony reversing course on closi...
Apr 23, 2021•2 hr 18 min•Ep. 416
The San Francisco Bay Area is home to 2/3 of the VGA crew (along with a big chunk of the games industry), and it's been re-created in a handful of games over the years - so now that our episode count matches our area code, let's grab Tony Wilson of Framework and look at the five games we think did it best. Then we'll shift to Nintendo Indie World announcements, The Last of Us remake drama, and how closely you like your game movies to stick to the script.
Apr 16, 2021•3 hr 37 min•Ep. 415
Thankfully, we're well past the point where any unforgiving game gets compared to Dark Souls. What we're talking about this week, with special guest Leif Johnson, are our favorite Souls-likes - that is, games that consciously borrow parts of Dark Souls' formula (but aren't made by From Software). Then it's on to Outriders, Pac-Man 99, Borderlands movie news, and your favorite memories of the 3DS.
Apr 09, 2021•3 hr 39 min•Ep. 414
The 3DS turned 10 this week, so let's grab friend of the show Micah Seff and celebrate the revolutionary, unassailable, beloved powerhouse of a handheld... by looking back at five ways it nearly dropped the ball in its first few rocky, uncertain months. Then we'll get deep into Monster Hunter Rise, Magic Legends, Ghost of Tsushima movie news, and your favorite un-emulatable games.
Apr 02, 2021•3 hr 55 min•Ep. 413
There's something about the arcade experience that's just tough to capture at home - especially for games that involve ridiculously bespoke hardware that would be impractical to set up in a living room. This week, we welcome back Dan Amrich for a look at five of our favorite arcade games that just don't translate to a home setting, after which we'll touch on Balan Wonderworld, Immortals Fenyx Rising - Myths of the Eastern Realm, PlayStation Store axing three platforms (sort of), and the OG Xbox ...
Mar 26, 2021•3 hr 52 min•Ep. 412
This week marks one year since the first shelter-in-place orders went into effect in the US. To mark this dubious occasion, we invited PNB's TL Foster on to talk about five of the best games ever to take place within a single house. Then it's on to the return of Stubbs the Zombie, the even-more-zombielike sort-of return of Toys 'R' Us, and your fondest Mario memories.
Mar 19, 2021•3 hr 42 min•Ep. 411
They may be gray and a little saggy, but there's a certain kind of elderly man who, like a lobster, only ever seems to grow bigger and tougher with age. This week, we invite Greg Moore to help us pay tribute to the old game characters who could still kick our asses, after which we'll dig into Loop Hero, the Bethesda-Microsoft merger, TMNT: Shredder's Revenge, and the things from vidjagames you'd love to try in real life, but probably shouldn't.
Mar 12, 2021•2 hr 29 min•Ep. 410
