Game Scoop! 794: The Not Nintendo Switch 2 Episode

Summary

Game Scoop! 794: The Not Nintendo Switch 2 Episode – Detailed Summary

Release Date: January 17, 2025
Host: Damon Hatfield
Guests: Sam Claiborne, Justin Davis, Mark Medina
Description: IGN.com's weekly gaming news podcast delivers the latest updates, in-depth discussions, and community insights straight to your ears.

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1. Introduction and Overview

[01:56] Damon Hatfield opens the episode by welcoming listeners to a notably slow news week. Despite the lack of major announcements, the team assures fans that they remain committed to delivering engaging content by tapping into their community’s insights and questions.

“We've got a great show for you this week in spite of the fact that we're recording this on Wednesday before any sort of exciting new announcements happen.”
— Damon Hatfield [02:30]

2. Personal Gaming Updates

The panel shares updates on the games they've been immersed in over the past few months, reflecting a mix of nostalgia and new interests.

• Justin Davis discusses his addiction to Marvel Rivals, drawing parallels to Overwatch, and his newfound appreciation for Tetris Effect.

  “It's so much like Overwatch in the sense of it's divided in between tanks, DPS, and healers.”
  — Justin Davis [06:03]

  Additionally, Justin mentions his recent venture into Tetris, highlighting his proficiency and completion of Tetris Effect on the hardest mode.

• Mark Medina reflects on revisiting classic games like the original Sonic the Hedgehog and Burnout 3: Takedown. He shares his nostalgic experience playing Sonic 1, emphasizing the game's technical brilliance and speed.

  “Burnout 3 and probably F0GX are the fastest feeling racing games of all time.”
  — Mark Medina [14:02]

• Sam Claiborne touches on rewatching the series Severance and plans to revisit Squid Game’s first season, indicating a blend of gaming and streaming interests.

  “But it's Hercules a monumental game of our generation. And I can't wait to see what this team makes next.”
  — Sam Claiborne [16:50]

3. 20th Anniversary Celebrations

The team highlights four notable games celebrating their 20th anniversaries this week:

• Resident Evil 4: Revered as a milestone in gaming, the team reminisces about its impactful storytelling and diverse settings.

  “It's still one of, like, my top 10 gaming memories of just being like, I have never.”
  — Sam Claiborne [23:16]

• Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap: Developed by Capcom, this Game Boy Advance title marks the enduring collaboration between Nintendo and Capcom.

  “Nintendo let Capcom make three entries and it's one of its flagship series. And they're all great.”
  — Mark Medina [26:10]

• Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction: Celebrated for its destructible environments and engaging gameplay mechanics.

  “Just make fun video games and just sell it to people. What a crazy concept.”
  — Mark Medina [29:02]

• Star Fox Assault: Discussed briefly as a part of the anniversary lineup, with the team noting its unique blend of on-foot and vehicular combat segments.

4. Listener Interaction: Board Games in Bed

A listener, Mike Henrik from Minneapolis, Minnesota, inquires about recommendations for playing board games in bed, especially with a partner who is 36 weeks pregnant.

Damon Hatfield shares his positive experience with Super Mario Party, highlighting its suitability for casual play with a partner.

“We've already played the entirety of the small board list in Super Mario Party several times.”
— Damon Hatfield [33:13]

Sam Claiborne recommends Mario Party Jamboree, praising its return to form and versatility in mini-games.

“Jamboree is an amazing game. It came out last fall. It's easy to unlock everything in it except for some of the later courses.”
— Sam Claiborne [33:43]

Mark Medina suggests card-only games like The Crew or Lost Cities for a more streamlined experience.

“I would recommend card only games. Like, I don't know, like The Crew would be a good one.”
— Mark Medina [36:36]

5. Refunds and Game Shutdowns

Listener Marcus Meckam Skog from Gothenburg, Sweden, raises a question about why game publishers offer full refunds upon shutting down games like Concord and XDefiant, rather than minimizing losses.

The panel engages in a detailed discussion:

• Damon Hatfield expresses skepticism, questioning the publishers' motives.

  “Why do they do that? Don't the publishers want to minimize the losses as much as possible?”
  — Damon Hatfield [42:06]

• Sam Claiborne explains that offering refunds can be a strategic move to mitigate negative publicity and consumer dissatisfaction.

  “They made an offline mode and an ending... They just want to keep the negativity and sweep it under the rug.”
  — Sam Claiborne [43:26]

• Mark Medina adds context about Suicide Squad's shutdown, highlighting the unprecedented nature of these actions.

  “Everything, everything about that is just completely unprecedented.”
  — Mark Medina [45:29]

6. Video Game 20 Questions: Annual Statistics and Highlights

Damon Hatfield presents comprehensive statistics from last year's Video Game 20 Questions, showcasing the diversity and frequency of game mentions.

• Geographical Distribution: Out of 28 submitters, eight hailed from different countries, including Canada, England, Brazil, Switzerland, Australia, and Sweden.

  “There were 371 unique games mentioned in total during 20 questions last year.”
  — Damon Hatfield [61:12]

• Top Mentions: Hades emerged as the most frequently mentioned game, appearing on four separate episodes.

  “The grand prize winner of the game most frequently mentioned during 20 questions last year was brought up on four separate episodes was Hades.”
  — Damon Hatfield [63:19]

• Popular Themes: Games with "Dragon" and "Legend" in their titles were prominently featured, reflecting fan interests in these genres.

7. Listener Suggestion: Cadence of Hyrule

A listener named Jack Howell from Lakeland, Florida, recommends Cadence of Hyrule, a rhythm dungeon crawler that merges the worlds of The Legend of Zelda and rhythm-based gameplay.

The panel engages in a lively guessing game to identify Jack's suggestion:

“Is this a Zelda game that came out after 2017?”
— Damon Hatfield [65:15]

After a series of questions and hints, the team successfully identifies Cadence of Hyrule.

“It is Cadence of Hyrule. Nicely Job.”
— Damon Hatfield [72:47]

Mark Medina praises the game for its innovative blend of genres, while Justin Davis and Sam Claiborne express enthusiasm for its cooperative features.

8. Movie and Spoiler Discussions

The team delves into discussions about spoilers and their impact on media consumption, sharing personal anecdotes and debating the ethics of seeking out spoilers.

• Damon Hatfield shares an experience of accidentally encountering a spoiler for Breaking Bad's Season 4.

  “If you haven't seen Season 4 Breaking Bad, there was just an illustration of Gus Fring with half his face blown off.”
  — Damon Hatfield [51:50]

• Sam Claiborne reflects on the prevalence of spoiler culture and its effects on viewer experience.

  “Spoiler culture has partially come from cheap twists that came about based on Sixth Sense and stuff like that.”
  — Sam Claiborne [51:16]

• Justin Davis discusses his reluctance to watch certain movies first-hand due to potential spoilers.

  “I have the longest. You know, who knows. But I will say so. I never beat Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.”
  — Justin Davis [46:46]

9. Closing and Future Outlook

As the episode nears its end, Damon Hatfield reiterates the importance of community interaction and teases exciting content for the upcoming weeks. The team expresses their commitment to engaging with listeners and continuing to deliver quality content despite occasional slow news periods.

“Thank you to Jobert. Working behind the scenes. Make this episode possible.”
— Damon Hatfield [73:00]

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Notable Quotes

• “Believe me, it's impossible to underestimate the impact the traditional Zelda games have on the industry.”
  — Mark Medina [27:45]

• “Just make fun video games and just sell it to people. What a crazy concept.”
  — Mark Medina [29:02]

• “If you haven't seen Season 4 Breaking Bad, there was just an illustration of Gus Fring with half his face blown off.”
  — Damon Hatfield [51:50]

• “Jamboree is an amazing game. It came out last fall. It's easy to unlock everything in it except for some of the later courses.”
  — Sam Claiborne [33:43]

Conclusion

Game Scoop! 794 provided a rich tapestry of discussions ranging from nostalgic reflections on classic games to contemporary gaming challenges and community interactions. Despite a slower news week, the panel ensured an engaging episode by delving deep into personal gaming experiences, celebrating gaming anniversaries, and addressing listener queries. The dynamic between Damon, Sam, Justin, and Mark offered a blend of humor, insight, and genuine passion for gaming, making it a valuable listen for both long-time fans and newcomers alike.

Transcript

[Damon Hatfield]

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[Justin Davis]

This episode is brought to you by Amazon.

[Sam Claiborne]

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[Justin Davis]

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[Sam Claiborne]

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[Justin Davis]

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[Sam Claiborne]

Those painful parts of getting better with things like 24. 7 virtual visits and prescriptions delivered to your door.

[Justin Davis]

Thanks to Amazon Pharmacy and Amazon One Medical. Healthcare just got less painful.

[Damon Hatfield]

What's up everybody? Welcome to IGN gamescoop. I'm your host Damon Hatfield and joining me this week are Sam Claiborne.

[Sam Claiborne]

Hey everybody.

[Damon Hatfield]

Justin Davis Scoop and Mark Medina joins us.

[Justin Davis]

I'm back. Damon. I feel like I haven't worked in like three months.

[Damon Hatfield]

I know. What?

[Justin Davis]

Well, that's just how it feels.

[Sam Claiborne]

I'M just going to keep my mouth shut as Mark's boss here in the meeting.

[Justin Davis]

I just coasted through Q4. Time to do some work.

[Sam Claiborne]

And Mark, check it. Check out the UFO one on one right after this.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, Mark, it's performance eval season.

[Damon Hatfield]

True. Well, we've got a great show for you this week in spite of the fact that we're recording this on Wednesday before any sort of exciting new announcements happen. Maybe sometime after this episode is recorded. So.

[Sam Claiborne]

But what a week. What a week it was.

[Damon Hatfield]

If there is anything exciting that's announced, we'll be sure to cover that on next week's show. But as always, whenever it's a slow Newsweek ign, we rely on Scoop Nation and we go to the our email inbox. So you got a Mailbox episode. I got lots of emails from listeners so that will answer all of your burning questions in jazz if I started reading ign.

[Sam Claiborne]

Two things that you just referred to were ever present. One is that there was something called IGN Mailbag which was really sweet and people would respond to mail, which is what gamescoop does now we've taken on the mailbag. And then the other is that people the meanest thing people used to say was slow news day ign. That was before they figured out every other mean possible thing they could possibly say was totally allowed. And that's just what we do now. Thanks Community.

[Mark Medina]

It was always the top most upvoted com someone could write the most heartfelt like thoughtful op ed. Like how this game got me through like the passing of my father's, you know, death. And it's a slow news day ign.

[Justin Davis]

And it's not our fault when news is slow though that doesn't make any sense.

[Mark Medina]

And then also sometimes the answer was like, like they it was they meant it as such a burn and it was like, like yes, yes it is.

[Damon Hatfield]

Like we create content every single day of the year. There are some days are slow and.

[Sam Claiborne]

When it's slow, unlike Mark, most of us can't take the day off.

[Justin Davis]

I just screw off for three months.

[Sam Claiborne]

Slow news quarter Mark Slowly.

[Justin Davis]

Well yeah, nothing's going on. It's Q4.

[Damon Hatfield]

But first, Mark, since this is your first episode of the year joining us, please share what you have been playing over these last three months. You haven't been working.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, two things. One, I am utterly addicted to Marvel Rivals. What a video game. What a video game. I'm grinding through the ranked right now. I I switch between like Mantis and Hulk and all the characters are great. It feels like 2016 Overwatch again. There's been a lot of like, oh, this game's so much better than Overwatch. No, no. Overwatch is just 10 years old now, but it feels like we're just back there. And I love it so much. I. I'm. I'm not really, like, super into competitive shooters, if that makes any sense at all.

[Damon Hatfield]

But this game makes sense to me.

[Justin Davis]

This game's got its. It's got its. It's got its venom tendrils in me. I love it so much. So that's one thing. And then the next thing, my wife just walked in to throw a shirt for something we were talking about earlier. Thank you.

[Sam Claiborne]

Can you show it?

[Damon Hatfield]

Can you show it?

[Justin Davis]

If you want me to.

[Damon Hatfield]

Sure.

[Sam Claiborne]

Good find.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Let's talk about old IGN shirts before.

[Sam Claiborne]

You serve a pizza shirt.

[Damon Hatfield]

There you go.

[Mark Medina]

Justin.

[Damon Hatfield]

Justin, take a screenshot.

[Mark Medina]

This is real. If you're watching the video version of Game Scoop, and you would buy this pizza shirt, leave it. Leave it.

[Justin Davis]

It's the IGN logo. If you don't get it, it's not even the logo.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, it's not even close.

[Justin Davis]

It's the D pad kind of.

[Mark Medina]

It's evocative.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

It just looks like an exploding pizza.

[Justin Davis]

The next thing I'm gonna play.

[Sam Claiborne]

Did you say Mantis, as in Guardians Mantis?

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. She's great.

[Sam Claiborne]

What's this power set that Mantis has?

[Justin Davis]

Oh, she's a healer.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, it's. It's. This game is so much like Overwatch in the sense of. It's like it's divided in between tanks, dps and healers. And, like, most of the moves, you'll see that every character is a culmination. Culmination of different Overwatch characters. So you'll be like, Mantis is Kiriko mixed with Zenyatta. Like, that's just kind of how this game works. But it's really fun. The second thing I've been playing is I never played Tetris Effect, and it turns out Tetris is a really good game because I got one of these. This is a mod retro Game Boy, and it comes with Tetris. And I started playing it, and I love it so much that then I decided to go through and play all of Tetris Effect. And this. I've been playing this a lot, too.

[Damon Hatfield]

Is that the original? What version of Tetris is that?

[Justin Davis]

It is. It is a. As far as I know, it is a version they made. So this thing can play Game Boy color and Game Boy games and. But they have Their own line of games that they made. But it's just.

[Sam Claiborne]

But it's a licensed Tetris as far as I'm concerned.

[Mark Medina]

It may not.

[Sam Claiborne]

I mean, who knows Tetris on it?

[Justin Davis]

It says Tetris. It ships with Tetris. So who knows? I gu. That doesn't actually mean anything. But yeah, turns out Tetris. It turns out I'm good at Tetris. I didn't know, but I'm fairly decent at it. I went through Tetris effect on the hardest mode. Beat the whole game. Good game. Tetris effect is fun. That's it. I've. I've. I've been rewatching Severance. So nothing new to say there.

[Damon Hatfield]

Because I've been thinking about rewatching Severance.

[Justin Davis]

Dude, you gotta. Because I don't. I didn't remember anything. Every episode's like a new episode.

[Mark Medina]

I either need to rewatch it or that show needs to have the best previously on in the history of shows. Because I'm going to have no idea what's going on otherwise.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Been thinking about rewatching that. Also been thinking about rewatching the first season of Squid game, but I just haven't done it.

[Mark Medina]

So.

[Sam Claiborne]

Mark, you said you're getting really good at Tetris. I have to ask though, are you more rolling or hyper tapping?

[Justin Davis]

Next question. I just play the game.

[Sam Claiborne]

Have you seen the innovations in Tetris before? Turn the controller over. Oh my God.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

Oh no.

[Sam Claiborne]

It is a rabbit hole. So Tetris world records have been beaten and beaten again. And then things that were impossible are now possible. And humans are doing crazy things to Tetris. We're in a crazy world.

[Mark Medina]

I'm a documentary about it. I watched the history of Tetris world Records from summoning salt on YouTube. It was awesome.

[Sam Claiborne]

For a while, this kind of rolling technique called hyper tapping was around. You're seeing it right here. And then this thin rolling came around. Rolling is when you turn the controller upside down and do the opposite of what you think you'd be doing with your fingers. And see this.

[Mark Medina]

Yes, exactly.

[Justin Davis]

I play with my fingers, but not.

[Sam Claiborne]

I guess that was hyper tapping. Yes. It doesn't have to be upset or maybe it's not upset. I don't know. I can't remember anymore. I watched the doc too, but also it's just kind of in the news all the time because like people are doing crazy things. Like somebody just modified Tetris to not have a fail state and then got to the highest score. It can be, you know, attained. Like stuff like that's happening. But when you see what, what people are actually playing for like nine hours, they're doing like invisibly fast. Tetris drops. It's okay.

[Justin Davis]

So, so I'd like to retract it. I. I'm. I played Tetris. I played Tetris.

[Sam Claiborne]

You probably are good at it. And like there's, you know, it is fun to get good at because you do learn, you know, your own style and stuff like that. And you know, there's so many types of Tetris that you can, you can now play a bunch of other ones and. Yeah, it's great. Check out the. The History of Tetris is just came out.

[Mark Medina]

It's great.

[Damon Hatfield]

Tetris forever.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Check out Sparkless. It's sort of a fantasy of Tetris. Yeah, it's great. Bombtress or Bombless, I think it's called.

[Sam Claiborne]

Bomb.

[Damon Hatfield]

Bomb List is also great. Mark.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, that's what Mark's been up to. Just hanging out.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, Justin played some old games over the weekend. Is that right?

[Mark Medina]

I did. I played through and beat the original Sonic the Hedgehog and I did it.

[Sam Claiborne]

You beat it?

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

That game's hard as hell.

[Mark Medina]

Well, I like. I actually found Sonic 1. I mean, I guess so. Okay, here's the deal. I know that game scoops history with Sonic the Hedgehog, and mine in particular is a little bit of a meme. I have a confession to make. I have a. I have a record I'd like to set straight after. What has it been, 10 plus years?

[Damon Hatfield]

10 years.

[Mark Medina]

You know, I was goofing on Sonic and I was goofing on Sonic fans. And the truth is that I was actually a Genesis kid growing up and I actually know the Sonic games really well. I have a lot of fondness and nostalgia for the Sonic games, but Sonic fans are notoriously and famously a prickly lot. And I found it more fun to goof on Sonic fans than it was to like play the Sonic the Hedgehog game. So that's where all that stuff came from back in the day. But I actually like. I haven't played Sonic.

[Sam Claiborne]

You're not going to track what you said about columns.

[Mark Medina]

I will not. No. Not to not touch.

[Sam Claiborne]

Notoriously fickle.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, no, I actually, I actually find Sonic 1 like I'm going to go through. I'll do Sonic 2, I'll do Sonic 3, but Sonic 1, it's like a lot less fast than I remember, actually.

[Justin Davis]

There's no spin dash.

[Mark Medina]

There's no Spin Dash in it, and it's a little bit more technical. Like, it really is just like a straight up, really gorgeous platforming game. Like, it doesn't have a lot of, like, you know, what we think of as, like, these quintessential Sonic moments. Those wouldn't come until 2 and 3 in Sonic and Knuckles. And so it was great.

[Sam Claiborne]

Like, I don't see you surviving that lava.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, he's a robot seal.

[Mark Medina]

The soundtrack, guys, is so good.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, like, that's. That's the best part, I think.

[Mark Medina]

It's just, like, it's really breezy. It's just a good time. Like, the game looks really gorgeous. Sonic already has. Like, he's not in his, like, attitude era yet, but, like, there's a lot of, like, he's got a lot of personality in his animations and it's easy to see why this game sort of had Nintendo quaking in their boots for a couple of years.

[Sam Claiborne]

I had those spikes so much. Bong.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, we. I will say so. I was playing it and I was in the labyrinth zone, which is the water zone, and it has the notorious. I mean, it's been memed to death of, like, the music that plays when Sonic is about to drown. And that music started to play, like. And my. From across the room, both my daughters are like, what is going on? Like, what is that music? Like, they both got so stressed out and, like, it was very validating. And I'm like, oh, Sonic's just about to drown. Don't worry about it. Like, get him. Like, get him some air. I'm like, it's fine.

[Justin Davis]

Why? We all have anxiety now.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. I mean, okay, there's five levels of Sonic the Hedgehog that anybody can beat, but it gets hard. You don't think those last couple levels are hard?

[Mark Medina]

I mean, I know. I just. I don't know. I don't. I know this game really well. Like, the Scrap Brain zone. Like, no, I don't. I actually. I'm not even sure I lost a life as I think about it. Like, I think I just sort of ran right through it. Hmm. No, Sonic 1, it's great. That's it.

[Sam Claiborne]

You should try, too. It's really fun. Also, it's got a little guy named Tails in it.

[Mark Medina]

And I didn't know until I was well into my adulthood that miles tails per hour was a pun.

[Justin Davis]

Yep, Yep.

[Mark Medina]

No, Sonic 2 is the one I know the least. I know. I know 1 and 3 the best.

[Justin Davis]

So.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, I'm. I'm excited.

[Sam Claiborne]

3'S got those water slides. So fun.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, it's got knuckles.

[Damon Hatfield]

And you played Burnout 3.

[Mark Medina]

I did. I played through Burnout 3 as well. Burnout 3. So it's like I shared on the show last week that I went through SSX Tricky and SSX3 and those are games that I knew really well. Like, I knew that they were bangers. But Burnout three, I legitimately had never booted up, never touched in over 20 years. And so I was really curious to see. I'm like, did that game hold up? Did it stand the test of time? I have very fond memories of it. And the answer is yes. I think that the game's sense of speed, I think Burnout 3 and probably like F0GX are the fastest feeling racing games of all time. Like, it's so fast. I don't understand how they made that game 20 years ago. And then obviously this B roll that we're watching now, if you're watching the show, is of the crash mode, which is a classic. It's a very different. It's almost like two games in one, right? Like the, like the fastest feeling racing possible. And the crash mode is a completely different thing. It's a little puzzle. Like, it's what, 100 plus little puzzles of like, how can you crash in just the right way to get the bonus and get the power up and get the highest score possible? It's awesome. Highly recommend. I. I just, you know, like, I feel really nostalgic for this stuff. And then in a way it almost makes me a little bit sad because it's like you can't go back there again. Like both from a perspective of like, I'm older. Like, so some of this is just teenage nostalgia that I can't get back. But also just like video games.

[Sam Claiborne]

I don't know.

[Mark Medina]

I guess that's a little bit of a curmudgeonly opinion. I'm like, I think things were just better back then. They just.

[Damon Hatfield]

You're not alone, you know, they don't.

[Mark Medina]

They don't make them like this anymore.

[Damon Hatfield]

That's true. The whole game shipped on the disc. There was no day one patch. Yeah, there was no, there was. There's no like monetization techniques for like a season pass ways to, you know.

[Justin Davis]

Pay $40 to get it three days early.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, yeah. There's none of that. It's just, just. It was just a lot.

[Sam Claiborne]

Look how smart the camera is. It was following like where the wrecks were happening and going past them and charging. Like, it's crazy.

[Mark Medina]

Crazy.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, yeah. We've talked about this before. It's so dumb that Burnout in its crash mode don't exist. Like they aren't being made anymore because the games are so fun and so great.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

How did you play it? Justin, what's the easiest way to play Burnout 3 today?

[Mark Medina]

I don't know.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay.

[Mark Medina]

I played it in a way that I wouldn't recommend to other people. So I actually don't have any insight.

[Damon Hatfield]

On say no More. Say no more.

[Mark Medina]

Is it backwards compatible or stuff like that? I'm not sure, but those answers are just a Google search away.

[Damon Hatfield]

There you go. Sam, you finished Indiana Jones yet?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, I beat it. And then I beat it. Beat it the special way by collecting all of the things and then I used our guide to do the final puzzle because the final puzzle was so stupid.

[Mark Medina]

It's unbelievable.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, but it's not hard. It's just like if you get it wrong, you have to, like, it's so clunky to move 50 items around, but then there's a little. There's a little extra thing that happens after that. And yeah, I really like that. The ending is totally goofy and it has, you know, like, all the. All the good Indiana Jones things are always like, what if this big Christian thing existed? And then that's what happens in a form in this like it did in the last movie too. And Temple of Doom is the only one that really didn't do that variation on that. And they were like, let's make a boss level on that one. And then they did. So, yeah, you know, that happens. Anyway, I still think this is a monumental game of our generation. And I can't wait to see what this team makes next. I don't know if a game like this will ever be sustainable, you know, financially ever again. It just seems like so much went into this that this is like, you know, one of those games. It's just. It's bloated in all the right ways. And I worry about the industry being able to make these, but, like, holy smokes. Like, I just have nothing. I. And by the way, the end of the game, besides that puzzle, which is like, I was just done by that point. I had a lot of problems. Like, I hit this point where I was collecting things in previous levels and that you could get a map to show you where they were, and then the map would show you where they were, but they were way, way underground from there. And it was really, really annoying to figure out where stuff was. So I am in the middle of upgrading our own map to have both locations on it. So that will not affect other people having this issue in the future. But the backtracking in this game is not easy. It's not intuitive, and it's just finding the entrance to one of the little hidey holes that leads to, like, some huge temple is, like, not straightforward. There's nothing labeled on the map aside from, like, handwritten stuff. And so, yeah, that is not a criticism of, you know, the game. That's how games should be made. There should be hard things and things to figure out and puzzles that, like, I'm. I like people having to use strategy guides for it. There just wasn't one for me to use, and now there's going to be for y'all.

[Justin Davis]

Cool.

[Damon Hatfield]

Not all heroes wear capes. I was thinking about Indiana Jones and we've. We've talked about how great Troy Breaker is as indie and how they totally, like, really got the tone of the first three movies. But I was also thinking about this. Would you guys agree? I think Indiana Jones seems like he seems nicer in this game than he is in the movies. I feel like he's just always, like, arguing with someone or yelling at. Yelling a lot more in the movies than he does in the game.

[Mark Medina]

He's a little crank in the movies. He's got a little bit of an edge to him.

[Sam Claiborne]

He has buddies, though, everywhere. You know, that's the indication that people like him. Everywhere he goes, he has the best one thing.

[Damon Hatfield]

He's, like, not likable.

[Sam Claiborne]

Huh. That's interesting.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. Yeah, you might be right about that.

[Sam Claiborne]

He has to make decisions frequently to help the person that he's with or help or, like, get the. The greedy thing. And he always makes the person decision, you know, in the end. That's like a constant thing, and that happens a lot in this game. So, I mean, and believe me, it's not beyond me that everything that works in this game works because it worked in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Yeah. So it's not beyond me that everything that works in this game is because it works in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Right. That's what's happening. But the game stuff is so good that I don't mind that the cinematic stuff and maybe the characters and their motivations and the reveals and the settings and so many things are directly taken from the movies. Right. I'm fine with it. It just works so well. I don't know if it'd ever work. I don't need it to. I would love this team to do their own thing. Or maybe take another 80s movie like Predator or Terminator and make a game.

[Mark Medina]

Like this for it.

[Sam Claiborne]

How cool would that be?

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh my gosh, man. Now I'm just thinking about a machine games made. Terminator game Terminator, right.

[Sam Claiborne]

Wouldn't that be really fun to warp around to a couple different places and do this stuff in them? So I think that'd be cool. And then. But speaking of things that work because they just completely reference the source material, I also beat Star Wars Skeleton Crew yesterday and I really liked it. I like that series and you know, again like transparently Goonies and Star wars because it is Star wars. The Goonies stuff is a little bit funny. Like they even like they go down water slides at one point. It's like all about pirates. It's like, you know, like the is just goofy that way. It's the exact same, you know, kind of beats about finding old stuff in bunch of treasure and stuff. But it has some really good twists and some really good reasons for it to exist in the Star wars universe that are explained, which I liked. And then the thing that gets worn out that could get happen in Indiana Jones is happening with Star wars. Everybody knows. But one thing is that there's a couple times in which they have X wings and it's the coolest thing ever. And that still gets me when you're like oh my gosh, these X wings are going to completely take down this thing and it's gonna look like Star Wars. It's great. But Mandalorian did that, right? So it's like now and whatever all the other spin off movies and stuff whenever they include this. So yeah, it's just kind of strange. It's like that beat is gonna wear off more and more and more and you know. Yeah, that's why in conclusion everybody's worried about Star Wars. But I wouldn't worry about an Indiana Jones sequel. I don't think that would ever happen. But I just wanted to say I don't need it.

[Damon Hatfield]

It a sequel to.

[Sam Claiborne]

Gotcha.

[Damon Hatfield]

Interesting.

[Justin Davis]

I got, I got like. I wouldn't even say halfway through the game and I, I had a lot of fun collecting stuff and I realized that I, I'm a platinum trophy hunter. And I put it down because I was like, I am going to wait for this to come out on PlayStation which has me thinking a lot about Microsoft's release schedule because it's like Starfield, I just played Starfield. I just played Hellblade. But knowing that this game is coming to my preferred platform months and it's like, such a platinum game. Like, you just want to collect everything. I was like, I'll just wait. I'll miss all the discussions. I'll miss all the whatever, and I'll play it when I want to play it.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, we're talking a lot about older games. And speaking of older games, there are four notable games turning 20 years old this week. Would you believe Resident Evil 4, 20 years old this. This very week.

[Mark Medina]

Wow.

[Sam Claiborne]

Definitely played that right when it came out, and it blew my mind. It's still one of, like, my top 10 gaming memories of just being like, I have never. I have never played a Resident Evil game when I played that well. No, that's not true. I might have played zero, but I only had a gamecube at that point, and it just was unbelievable.

[Mark Medina]

You remember the first time you crossed the lake in that game, like, before you knew, like, the first time that you did that?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. Well, I remember reading in Matt Casamasina's review, like, once you get to the castle and look back, you're like, I was just in a village, and then I was like, in this lake. And then I was, like, going through some mines, and then I went down, and it's like all this, like. And then you look back and you're, like, on an island suddenly in the middle of the ocean with, like, machine guns, and you're like, what happened? You know, it's like, for 20 hours, you just can get so lost in it, and it's just so mechanically interesting in the way that you just want to nerd out and get every single thing, because you don't get every single thing. You don't have enough bullets.

[Justin Davis]

That's. That's kind of like the beauty of Resident Evil games, though, right? Is, like, in the, like, 10 hours it takes to get through it, you. There's so many different settings, and then you realize you don't go far. They just. They just. It's just very diverse and how they're. They do a lot with the little.

[Sam Claiborne]

You go far in this one. The backlash was really funny at this time when people were like, I prefer the tank controls. It's just not scary anymore. And then it got. That went way, way off, you know, more extreme with five and six. Right. But, yeah, I. I could. This. What a great. What a great series. Transition this into that game.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's wild that it was a GameCube exclusive.

[Sam Claiborne]

Hell, yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

To start with. To start with.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. It was a little nerfed on PS2. Like, it didn't play as well. And it had extra stuff in it. And then the Wii version was definitive suddenly, which is really cool. A great version of it. I 100 the mercenaries in that. I loved it. So difficult, that Arcade mode. Great stuff.

[Damon Hatfield]

I just. Nintendo had a really close relationship with Capcom at that time. And they must have just paid Capcom, you know, just a boatload of money to get Resident Evil 4 first because they were struggling with the Gamecube. Right. And they needed some more, some strong, exclusive software. But this is also the same week that the Capcom developed the Legend of Zelda. Minish Cap was out on Game Boy Advance.

[Sam Claiborne]

Amazing.

[Damon Hatfield]

So that's how close their relationship was with Capcom at that time.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, it's weird that they didn't have that relationship by the time Okami came out, because that seems like such a good match between Capcom and Nintendo. But it was a PlayStation exclusive at the time.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep.

[Justin Davis]

Wait, Capcom developed Minish Cap?

[Mark Medina]

Oh, yeah.

[Justin Davis]

I didn't even know that.

[Mark Medina]

And the other two.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, it was their third Zelda game they made.

[Justin Davis]

Wow.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's wild that, like, Nintendo let Capcom make three entries and it's one of its flagship series. And they're all great. Capcom did a great job.

[Mark Medina]

Nintendo does stuff like Smash Brothers is not made by Nintendo. Right. Like, they. We don't think F0GX, which I invoked earlier, is made by Sega.

[Sam Claiborne]

I really don't know how this puzzle is solved. What. What's happening here?

[Damon Hatfield]

It's been a while since I've played. You gotta fault. Yeah, there you go. This looks so good, man. The Game Boy advance games. That era looks so good.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, I just. My daughter has been loving Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild so much that I dug out my Game Boy Advance SP and my copy of Minish Cap and I've been letting her play around with that. Oh, that's cool. Since Christmas.

[Justin Davis]

Cool.

[Mark Medina]

I forgot how sassy your hat is in that game. He talks to you and he's a little bit of like, what? He's just, you know. Yeah, he's got a lot of. A lot of back talk.

[Damon Hatfield]

Speaking of our kids playing games, Kingo beat Kirby in the Forgotten Land. And this time I. I have not. I have not ever played Kirby in the Forgotten Land, meaning he played literally the entire game by himself.

[Mark Medina]

That's pretty good. I mean, that game, obviously, that game is very easy, but like, not at the end, not the final world, not the lava world. So that's pretty legit.

[Justin Davis]

Nice.

[Sam Claiborne]

Wow.

[Damon Hatfield]

Two more games turning 20 this week. Star Fox Assault. I haven't played that one.

[Justin Davis]

I don't know which one that is. Oh, okay.

[Mark Medina]

The one that had the on foot segments or the tank segments or whatever they're called. Right.

[Sam Claiborne]

Second GameCube one. So the first one was Star Fox Adventures.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, Adventures is the one I played the like Zelda type one.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. And this was like, I don't know, maybe six point something on Rail Shooter.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Doesn't look bad now though, right? Good graphics.

[Mark Medina]

No.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Adventures was originally announced as I think dinosaur Planet.

[Mark Medina]

Yep.

[Damon Hatfield]

And then they, they retrofitted it into a Star Fox game.

[Mark Medina]

Iran. This is true. One of the very first things I can ever remember doing on the Internet was running a Dinosaur Planet like fan site on GeoCities.

[Sam Claiborne]

Wow.

[Mark Medina]

I wonder if it's still online.

[Justin Davis]

I wonder, did you like Star Fox Adventures?

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, I mean, you know, like it came out like 10 years later after that, like, you know, so.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, I mean, you know, I liked it as much as anybody did. It's fine. It's a good game. Not great.

[Damon Hatfield]

And finally, Mercenaries. Playground of destruction. 20 years old this week. Although I've never played that one.

[Mark Medina]

Now that's a franchise I haven't thought about in a long, long time. Mercenaries.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's a LucasArts game.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, it's a LucasArts game with really destructible stuff. And then it has a very funny advertisement with a soundtrack song that still gets stuck in my head.

[Mark Medina]

That the destructible environments where this game's kind of gimmick. But it did it so good. It was really, really good. This game was really under.

[Sam Claiborne]

Look at that.

[Justin Davis]

Dude.

[Sam Claiborne]

That was evolution right there.

[Justin Davis]

No, no, like this. This just makes me think of the burnout conversation we just had. Like, we need games like this. That looks sick.

[Damon Hatfield]

I know.

[Mark Medina]

Yep.

[Damon Hatfield]

Games that are just fun.

[Justin Davis]

That looks good.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, just, just fun games.

[Sam Claiborne]

Just make it.

[Mark Medina]

Just make fun video games and just.

[Justin Davis]

Video game ass video games.

[Mark Medina]

Make a video game ass video game that's fun to play and then just sell it to people.

[Justin Davis]

Yep.

[Mark Medina]

What a crazy concept.

[Damon Hatfield]

I mean that's what, that's what Astrobot was. And I think that's why it resonated with a lot.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, that's a really good point.

[Justin Davis]

Same with Space Marine too. Like playing like, I know that game probably has some like weird stuff about it, but like as far as monetization, I haven't looked into the multiplayer stuff, but like I just played it and I just remember thinking like, this is just a video game. Like this dude's a tank. He takes up 2/3 of the screen. It's just fun to play. That's what I'm getting an idea for.

[Damon Hatfield]

Content and it's so good. I shouldn't say this on the show. I should, I should keep this myself. But we should do a list like the top 10 modern video game ass video games.

[Justin Davis]

Hell yeah.

[Mark Medina]

That's a very, that's a very good idea for YouTube feature.

[Sam Claiborne]

You know, one thing that these two games had in common that we're just looking at is that there was like some innovations going on in, in physics and people. And this is what Half Life 2 kind of hit during too, right? Where it's like you could make these like really fun breakable, cool physics things with things flying around. And that's where open world GTA gameplay came in. It just things became sandboxy and unpredictable and I think the prettier you make a world, it seems like the more difficult it is to do that. So if games are going to be video game ass games and they're going to be like this, I think people shy away from that. But it'd be fun to make low poly count stuff that would work this well.

[Mark Medina]

Right. I was just, I was just gonna say something similar which is like look like I like 4k 60fps is amazing. It's incredible. But it's also kind of the enemy of everything we're talking about right now. Right. We're like I have no idea how many people made mercenaries, but like maybe 50, you know, like 100. Like if they were to make this game today, it would take 2,000 people five years to make this video game. Like you know.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

And so then just to, just to defend the video game industry a little bit. Like that's how we end up with battle passes and DLC and paid skins and all the rest of it.

[Justin Davis]

But like the only thing I remember about like just. Cause 3 and 4 is just like going to a military base, setting up all these like remote mines everywhere and then just watching it, it blow the heck up like you know, I just miss that man.

[Mark Medina]

You don't know what you got till it's gone as the great philosopher said. And like it's the, the like it got so played out of like go to the, the far cry, go to an enemy base and you look through your scope and mark all the enemies and clear them all out. And like that got so played out and then it was just gone like you know, with the snap of your fingers. They just did that.

[Sam Claiborne]

I guess that's, that's two things. That was a box inside and a Box outside, right?

[Mark Medina]

Yep.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, but it looks great.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

So, Justin, in this episode, you've defended Sonic the Hedgehog and Loot Crates. I just want to keep track. Is that where we're at now?

[Mark Medina]

Well, hold on. When you phrase it like that.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay, let's check in with the listeners.

[Mark Medina]

Hey, listeners.

[Damon Hatfield]

Listeners and viewers, remember, you can always reach us at the email address gamescoopgn.com just like Mike Henrik from Minneapolis, Minnesota did. I think at least Sam will be able to help out with this one. Mike says. The other night, after another hard fought game of Ticket to Ride, my wife said, offhand, I wish we could play board games in bed. My wife is 33, 36 weeks pregnant with our first child, so we've been doing a lot of lounging around so far.

[Sam Claiborne]

I can't relate to any of this.

[Damon Hatfield]

My wife is generally not very interested in video games, but has enjoyed the experience. Occasional Mario Kart match from time to time. I remembered I bought Super Mario Party several years ago when it first came out, but I quickly got bored playing it by myself. Never played with the wife. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to give it another shot. And sure enough, she loved it. So we've already played the entirety of the small board list in Super Mario Party several times. And I want to buy either Mario Party Superstars or Mario Party Jamboree for us to enjoy while we wait for the baby to arrive. Super Mario Party is the only Mario Party either of us have played. So my question is, which would you recommend we try next? Mario Party Jamboree or Mario Party Superstars? And why?

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay, so the difference between those two games is that Mario Party Jamboree is a Mario Party game that has, you know, more levels than normal, and it's really cool and it's great. And that the Superstars was one. It's a collection of mini games that you play in a different way than Mario Party. Let's. That's correct. Right, Panel.

[Damon Hatfield]

I don't play Mario Party.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's the difference between the two.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, they're not just in line. Right.

[Mark Medina]

The new one, which I can't remember, is Jamboree. The newest Jamboree is the new one.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, that's where I'm getting confused. So then, yes, Jamboree is the traditional.

[Mark Medina]

Mario Party and Jamboree. I haven't played it yet, but I understand it's extremely well liked. And, you know, Mario Party is a franchise that's been up and down. And supposedly the buzz behind Jamboree is that it's a return to form this is all accurate.

[Sam Claiborne]

Jamboree is an amazing game. It came out last fall. It's easy to unlock everything in it except for some of the later courses. It takes a little bit of playing, but you're going to play this game so much that you'll unlock the stuff you can turn off. Randomization. I talked about this on gamescoop a little bit, which is really fun for people to try after they get sick of getting the, you know, like, well, now we're going to give out a star for landing on the most blue spaces and stuff like that. That's what I mean by the random stars. So it is everything that people have been asking for in Mario Party. It also allows you to turn off motion games too. So that's not to say that, like, I think all those things can be fun in the right circumstances too. So yes, this is the one to get. Get this one. And after you get sick of this. I just got Sonic Shuffle for Dreamcast. Anybody? Anybody?

[Damon Hatfield]

Wow. Is that. Is that. I don't know. Is that a Sonic, like, party game?

[Sam Claiborne]

It's a Mario Party game with Sonic in it that I don't think was well received at the time. So I don't know if I'll try that one out or not. That was. That was a thing that happened this past weekend.

[Damon Hatfield]

Are you actively collecting Dreamcast games?

[Sam Claiborne]

I am. And what I really need is a case for my Sonic Adventure 2, which I have only this for. So I'm working on it. I have doubles of a bunch of things, doing a little bit of trading, stuff like that.

[Mark Medina]

Triples are best.

[Sam Claiborne]

I still have never played the Dreamcast. I only have a bunch of games working up to it.

[Damon Hatfield]

You've never played a Dreamcast?

[Sam Claiborne]

I don't think so. Maybe in the office once or twice. This is how it works. You guys know I buy a lot of video games and don't open them, right? This is a similar thing with collecting where I. I will play. I'm excited to play stuff like I got Power Stone 2, which is hard to track down. Right. This looks fun. I don't know. I got. I got like a collection of like 200 games. Like I. I have a lot to go through and I'm really excited and I just alphabetized them, did my doubles, did my empty cases, stuff like that. Yeah. So I'm working on that with Dreamcast right now. And so one day I'll be able to say what you've been playing and talk about Dreamcast, but I've not actually been playing it. Anyway, Mario Party, get that one. It's great. And then I don't think, I don't know how many of them are available, but it would, it would be fun to play. I think 1, 2 and 3 are. At least 3 is. But you can get the subscription service Switch and play the Nintendo 64 ones. And I don't think they're good or bad compared to like, like you'll be used to a bunch of new like, perks like I was just talking about. But like, it'd be fun just because it'll look like a Nintendo 64 game and it'll be fun to see what mini games, you know, they came up with back then and stuff like that. So I think there's plenty of Mario Party out there to play.

[Justin Davis]

Cool.

[Damon Hatfield]

I would recommend Jamboree 2.

[Mark Medina]

Going back to his original point. For playing board games in bed, I would recommend, I would recommend card only games. Like, I don't know, like the Crew would be a good one. Or Scout, although I don't know how Scout plays for two players. Like Lost Cities would be a good one. Hanabi would be a good one. Pick, pick, pick some board games that are only cards. And then that's what you could play in bed together.

[Damon Hatfield]

Nice. I was going to ask you, Justin, if you had a solution for playing regular board games in bed.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Have you played that one called like, I'm trying to look it up. It's called like something poppy or something. It's like about flowers and you like give flowers to the each other in this. It's one of those two person. Really?

[Mark Medina]

I can think of a couple board games that are about flowers and one might be.

[Sam Claiborne]

This is just Cars only.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, it's called, it's made by the woman that made Wingspan.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, that sounds right.

[Mark Medina]

But sorry, I can't, I can't recall off the top of my head. I actually own it and I don't know that I've played it yet.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yes. Tussie Mussy. That's what it's called.

[Mark Medina]

Tussie Musty.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep.

[Sam Claiborne]

By Elizabeth Hargrave. Good. Well, yeah, my wife likes playing it and like, she'll bring it to like, you know, we'll get coffee or like go to like, you know, someplace like after a meal or something, sit in the park and like, like I, I'm not very good at it, but like, I, I, it's interesting and in depth and like that, that's just what, that's what occurred to me when Justin said that it's like, it's very portable and you can move around the house.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah Wallet Games Here's a scoop for.

[Damon Hatfield]

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[Unknown]

A new year means new opportunities, and if you've been thinking about starting your own business, let this be your sign to take the leap. Of course, this decision comes with a lot of questions like how do I get started? How do I come up with a brand? How do I sell stuff to people? What am I even going to sell? Well, if you have all those questions, you can take a deep breath because Shopify's got you. Shopify makes it simple to create your brand, open for business and get your first sale. With Shopify, you can get your store up and running easily with thousands of customizable templates. No coding or design skills required. All you need to do is drag and drop. Their powerful social media tools let you connect all your channels and create shoppable posts to help you sell everywhere people scroll and Shopify makes it easy to manage all the details like shipping, taxes and payments from one single dashboard, allowing you to focus on the important stuff like growing your business. The best time to start your business is right now, and with Shopify, your first sale is closer than you think. Established in 2025 has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? Sign up for your $1 per month trial period at shopify.com realm all lowercase go to shopify.com realm to start selling with Shopify today. Shopify.com realm.

[Sam Claiborne]

Welcome to the realms of peril and glory. Explore the mechanically magical vistas of Vale, the paranormal mysteries of liminal London and the cyberpunk chaos of Cyborg. You'll be immersed into unforgettable campaigns and heart pounding one shots. Search realms of peril and glory to find out more. Welcome to the ultimate social deduction game, Blood on the Clock Tower.

[Unknown]

The evil team must stalk the streets at night, hunting down members of the good team one by one. Meanwhile, the good team must outmaneuver the evil team using their unique ability.

[Justin Davis]

I'd like to kick things off by.

[Mark Medina]

Telling you all that I'm possibly the demon.

[Unknown]

Our players can mislead and manipulate others with absolute freedom.

[Damon Hatfield]

I didn't like hearing my name in the same sentence as demon. That was very upsetting for me.

[Sam Claiborne]

Emily and I will be your storytellers, guiding you through every labyrinthian twist and turn.

[Unknown]

How are there so many evil players in this game?

[Sam Claiborne]

What's happening with guests from no Rolls Boulevard, the Pandemonium Institute and Oxventure? You won't be able to stop listening. Go to realmspod.com clocktower to find out more. All it games.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay, this is Marcus Meckam Skog in Gothenburg, Sweden. And Marcus says, first of all, I want to thank you for being the best and only video game podcast. You're welcome. Now to my question. With the shutdown of Concord and more recently XDefiant, the publishers are offering full refunds of game purchases. Why do they do that? Don't the publishers want to minimize the losses as much as possible? Yes, Marcus, I'm sure they would. I'm sure they would love to keep all that money.

[Justin Davis]

I'm sure they would love that.

[Sam Claiborne]

I mean, to be fair, Suicide Squad is shutting down and handling it very differently.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, they have an offline mode.

[Sam Claiborne]

They made an offline mode and an ending.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh, yeah. We talked about this in our morning meetings today. The ending of is apparently really stupid. I watched it and it's very surprising.

[Justin Davis]

It's terrible. It's just the clone retcon. Sorry if that spoiled it. None of you are going to go back and play it. So awful stuff.

[Sam Claiborne]

So. Yeah, I mean, they don't. That's. Maybe every. Everybody should make just in case an ending and a offline mode just in case you got to roll it out right away and recoup your losses. Then you don't. Then you don't have to refund people.

[Justin Davis]

I Do wonder what the, like what is the threshold for having to give refunds? Like Concord shut down two weeks after it came out, so. Absolutely right.

[Sam Claiborne]

Justin, do you think there's a, there's a legal one. There might be a consumer protection thing around it.

[Mark Medina]

I would imagine so. I don't like this is America so certainly not here, but exactly, I guess so.

[Sam Claiborne]

I should have classified in the eu.

[Mark Medina]

Probably in the, the eu, right. There's some sort of consumer protection law I would guess, but I don't know for sure. But my head went to the same place. I mean I think in the case of, of Concord nobody bought that game so it cost them very little to refund. Like so I don't think it's like I think the risk of getting sued or just like look, we're just going to cut our losses and just pretend like this whole thing never happened, you know, like just give refunds. Like it's kind of a no brainer from there.

[Sam Claiborne]

I'll also add like, like from the mothership from Sony's perspective, they want to minimize the negativity and sweep it under the rug and the negativity that will be ongoing of people being like I bought this game and like I also lost 60 bucks. And it also like that's like they don't want that to happen either. Like they would rather just move on so they're just going to give the money back and make it a, what we would call, you know, like kind of a PR win instead of a PR loss.

[Mark Medina]

I still, I can't, I don't know if we talked about this when Concord was, you know, when all this was going down. It is unfathomable to me that they, you know, refunded it, shut the game down, close the developer instead of saying we'll be back in six months is free to play. Yeah, I can't believe they didn't relaunch it as free to play. And part of me still thinks that they're like planning on doing that except that they shut down the dev so.

[Justin Davis]

It'S like yeah, that's a lot of time, a lot of assets that are just, it'll just never go to anything.

[Sam Claiborne]

Now where it's like made a TV.

[Mark Medina]

Show and people like the gameplay. Like that's the part that really gets me. People like it like it's, it's insane. Unfathomable.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, I mean I think, I think the Suicide Squad debacle is interestingly unfathomable too. Yeah, I mean that that game took probably twice as long Maybe more expensive. Involved a license, involved a studio that people really, really adore. I mean man, everything, everything about that is just completely unprecedented.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

This is Kevin Field who said Good evening from Mary old England. This Black Friday Friday I treated myself to a PS5. They have black Friday in England?

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. Wow.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, it's jolly good.

[Mark Medina]

Spreading all around the world.

[Damon Hatfield]

My last PlayStation. My last PlayStation was a PS2. I've since had a 360 Xbox One, a 1X and a Switch. So I never played any of any of the prestige PlayStation titles. Since the PS2, I've managed to avoid spoilers for them all too. So so far at least I even avoided watching the Last of Us TV show as I knew I'd rather experience the game first. I played the first hour tonight as a nearly 40 year old father of two young boys. I was not prepared for that opening section. I look forward to playing through the Last of Us 1 and 2, the new God of Wars Control, Spider Man 1 and 2, the uncharted death Stranding, Shadow of the Colossus and all the great single player and narrative driven games. I've always wondered what the twist was in Journey. Not sure if that game is too old to even play on the PS5. No, it's perfectly playable.

[Justin Davis]

No, it is not too old to play.

[Damon Hatfield]

Kevin says. I was wondering what's the longest any of the Omega Cops have gone to avoid a spoiler for a game, film or TV show? Keep up the great work. You've been part of my weekly routine for longer than I can remember. I hope you take pride and comfort when the fact your show means so much to so many.

[Justin Davis]

It's hard to know because like you avoid spoilers for things that you don't care about. So I have the longest. You know, who knows. But I will say so. I never beat Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. And I know that game's only like a year old at this point. I still don't know the ending and, and no one has told me yet. So that that's, that's like the current one is I keep thinking I need to go back and finish Rebirth because.

[Sam Claiborne]

Somehow six months ago to publish the ending of that game.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. And I just didn't watch it. Hopefully that video is good. I'm the video manager for guides by the way.

[Sam Claiborne]

Everyone.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, yeah. Our jobs make it sometimes just make it tough to avoid spoilers. That's just kind of like a hazard of the job sometimes. But also as we've talked about, I think we are a lot less sensitive about spoilers than some people are out there.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. Yeah, that. That said, if. If I did have to know Rebirth sending, then it's fine. But the fact that I just haven't. And now the buzz from the game has worn down where nobody's talking about it. I'm like, okay, it's just kind of nice that I still just don't really know how that game ended because from what I've heard is that the ending is contentious, but I don't know.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, you go on a date with either Aerith or Tifa and one of those is pretty contentious.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. But I'll. I'll learn it one day.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's not the actual ending of the game, Mark. That's the. That's the third to last chapter as a joke about the date chapter. Got it. Which you didn't get to either. You didn't get to go on the date. The date's great. No, one of the versions of the dates. You just get everybody else. It's like. It's like the vampire Sid and someone else the fame. That's a date you can go on.

[Justin Davis]

Oh, that's true. I should probably play more.

[Sam Claiborne]

You can also go on a date with Red XIII or any of the characters, but they're all individual. Yuffie. But then. But then. Is it Bear? Is it one who is in that game?

[Justin Davis]

Yes, Barrett. Yeah. And then Vincent is the vampire people are gonna love. So I. I played to the. The Casa de Soul section and then after I finished that, I never played it anymore. Oh, sound terrible because it makes me sound like I played to a very specific part for a very specific reason. I did it. I swear.

[Sam Claiborne]

The swimsuit part? Is that what you're getting at?

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

So. So Mark hasn't seen any movies, so he's first of all either been spoiled on them or. Or. Or he's been right. He's been spoiled on them. So there's. There's that.

[Justin Davis]

I wouldn't know the spoiler.

[Damon Hatfield]

Hold on, hold on. Let's perform an experiment.

[Justin Davis]

Okay.

[Damon Hatfield]

Mark, have you seen Fight Club?

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, no, I have seen Fight Club. I know the twist.

[Damon Hatfield]

Have you seen Seven?

[Justin Davis]

No.

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Mark Medina]

Suspects?

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, I've never seen the Usual Suspects. Okay.

[Sam Claiborne]

And do you know what happened at the end of the. Either of those? Do you know the twist?

[Justin Davis]

I know Fight Clubs.

[Mark Medina]

Mark, you're gonna have to stay off social media for a while after this episode.

[Sam Claiborne]

What about.

[Mark Medina]

Don't. Don't read your reply.

[Sam Claiborne]

What about the Sixth Sense?

[Justin Davis]

Well, everybody knows the. I've never seen the movie, but everybody.

[Sam Claiborne]

Knows what is it? What's the twist?

[Justin Davis]

That the dude's dead. Everyone knows that.

[Sam Claiborne]

The dude.

[Justin Davis]

Well, yeah, I don't know his name. Bruce Willis's character.

[Mark Medina]

What about, what about Unbreakable?

[Justin Davis]

No, but I've seen the more recent ones.

[Mark Medina]

Glass.

[Justin Davis]

Like split. Split glass and all that. Yeah. But I've never seen Unbreakable.

[Mark Medina]

Okay.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay.

[Justin Davis]

So those movies aren't great. I didn't like those ones. Is Unbreakable good? Because I didn't like the other ones.

[Mark Medina]

Great.

[Damon Hatfield]

I think Unbreakable is good. It's great. It's. It's very interesting to watch it because it's completely. It's before the era of superhero movies.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. Oh, I. So in answer to the question, I sometimes seek out spoilers, especially if, like, I'm. I'm very big on like, dropping games. Like, I really have a lot of respect for my time and like, I try to not like optimize it in a fanatical way, but I'm just like, I don't force myself to get through something. I'm like, nope, I'm done. I'm good. And then often, like, when I do that, like, all right, time to look up the ending. And then that's like how I close the chapter. I'm like, I'm not going to play this anymore.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, we know lots of people do that because we have very, very good traffic to ending explained articles.

[Mark Medina]

Yep.

[Sam Claiborne]

And usually more people than saw the thing look those up. Right. So that's just. That's that. It's just. It exists. And that's not to say I'm not contradicting people's anger about spoilers, because usually people are angry about spoilers when they didn't actively look for them. So, you know, when you're voluntarily looking them up, it's a different situation. But. But I will make fun of people that make fun that are upset about spoilers. I'm open to that.

[Damon Hatfield]

The question did remind me of a time that something was spoiled for me. The season four ending of Breaking Bad.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, no.

[Damon Hatfield]

Back whenever that was, I wasn't watching it live. So at the time I was either like waiting for it to come to Netflix or I. There was a time when I was buying individual episodes of TV shows off Xbox Live. So I don't know if it was. If that's what was going on. Anyway, I hadn't seen the end of season four and I was subscribed to Entertainment Weekly and I got an issue and I think it was like their year end wrap up issue. So I was just flipping through it and then I. So, spoilers here. If you haven't seen Season 4 Breaking Bad, there was just an illustration of Gus Fring with half his face blown off.

[Justin Davis]

Oh, wow.

[Damon Hatfield]

I can't unsee that.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, my gosh.

[Justin Davis]

Too bad.

[Sam Claiborne]

What? What a season closer.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, that was really good. Yeah, Game of Thrones was a really interesting spoiler time because the book readers knew everything that was going to happen until they didn't. But by that point, I think people had not been into the show as much by that point. But, yeah, that was really interesting. To Mark's earlier point, I will just mention that we are all kind of expected to work in a zone where we don't care about spoilers. We just have to be that way and have to also protect spoilers from y'all. So that's an interesting twist on this, but I would add to that that if you are open to spoilers, you might find it a good test of the quality of something, because if you go to a movie and somebody spoiled it for you and you still enjoy that movie, you might find that that's because of the merits of the direction and acting and creation of that movie that's got you to that place is to suspend not only your disbelief, but your memory of what happens and just get really into it. And so I think spoiler culture has partially come from cheap twists that came a little bit based on Sixth Sense and stuff like that, where it was like, well, what is the twist going to be? I'm going to be famous for making a twist in my thing. And I think that, you know, it's fun. I have nothing against it, but it, like, it kind of made people really, like, care about one thing, and maybe that alone and not knowing it and trying to guess the whole time, which is just a different type of experience than maybe getting lost in something and only caring about it that way.

[Justin Davis]

It's. It's weird to gush about them in 2024, but, like, are there any Saul fans here? Like, do you remember Saw 1 and 2? Like, those movies blew my mind because I've never seen a movie before. Yeah, Saul was my first movie I've ever seen, and I. I just. I couldn't believe twists like that could exist in a movie. So it was nuts.

[Mark Medina]

Saw once is really good. I'll give you that.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, I've actually never seen any of the Saw movies.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, don't spoil it for Damon. Damon. I watched Saw one very good twist at the end.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

I mean, I yeah, that would.

[Justin Davis]

Saw one. I. I. I also think Saw two has a really cool. Like what? But then it kind of just off the rails after that.

[Mark Medina]

We. I think we also just answered this question in real time of what's the spoiler that we've dodged the longest?

[Justin Davis]

If Damon doesn't know the ending to Saw one, then that's Damon's.

[Mark Medina]

There you go.

[Damon Hatfield]

I guess. So, speaking of movies, I saw Moana 2 against my better judgment.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, it's.

[Mark Medina]

It's not very good.

[Damon Hatfield]

So, no, not awful, but just completely unnecessary considering. Like, I think Moana is the best modern Disney movie, like, of this century. I think it's the best Disney movie. I think it's nearly flawless. I love it so much. So it's.

[Justin Davis]

It.

[Damon Hatfield]

The two is nowhere. It's not in the same ballpark. It's nowhere near the quality. It's very obvious, as everyone knows, that it started out as a Disney show. And ironically, I think I would have appreciated it more if it had stayed a Disney plus show. I would have walked away from thinking, that was pretty good, rather than, that was not great. Has anyone seen it?

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, I saw it. And I also, like, I know it's become en vogue to sort of bag on Lin Manuel Miranda. Like, he's overexposed, and everyone likes to pretend like they were never a fan and never liked him. But, like, you feel his absence so much. Like. And, like, the songs in 2 aren't bad, but, like, they just. They're just. They're just nothings. Like, they don't. They just come and go and, like, you really. You really feel it. You really feel that he didn't do this music.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. Yeah. So I think. I think there are three sins, unforgivable sins. One is that there's just. It's way too many callbacks to the first movie. It's just constant. Member marriage, member berries. Remember when this happened? Remember when this character said this? Remember when this happened? It's just constant throughout the whole movie. As Justin said, the songs are nowhere near the quality of the original. And then, Justin, I can. This is. I'm trying to think of a worse villain in a Disney film. The villain in this, you never even see the villain, and the villain has no lines.

[Sam Claiborne]

They talk about.

[Damon Hatfield]

They talk about. The villain is this threat, and you never see the villain, and they have no lines.

[Sam Claiborne]

Maybe it was Kang the Conqueror.

[Mark Medina]

They have no presence in the movie at all, really. Just like, like, very. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. I don't know. That's a good trivia question. Actually, but like. Yeah, not. Not memorable at all.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, I saw Nosferatu on Christmas.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh yeah, I want to see that. I want to see that. I hear good things.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. If you like Dracula and you like that Dracula formula, then you'll like Nosferatu.

[Mark Medina]

Who doesn't?

[Justin Davis]

It's. It's real messed up. So it's. But it's cool.

[Sam Claiborne]

I saw. I saw Warther here and.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh, cool. How was that?

[Sam Claiborne]

Amazing.

[Damon Hatfield]

Amazing. Wow.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. And it was so amazing that I had to see it at 10am at the mall, South San Francisco or somewhere. I can't remember what the name of the is. But yeah, it was not playing at any convenient times anywhere in a giant metropolitan area. So that kind of sucks. But yeah, it was a, you know, a really fun mashup of the Tolkien stuff. And then anime. It has a really cool anime quality. It was violent. Cool. There was really amazing set pieces. They do use things that you recognize and you think the movie's going to kind of go that direction and then it veers away from that in a really kind of neat way. But yeah, I loved it. They went back and they used. We did a little featurette on this on ign, but you can check it out. But there's like a 10 minute interview. But they went back and they used wait. As original designs and layouts for everything. And so it's like, you know, it's set in the Jackson verse and it's not a hobbit movie. I mean, what's not to like?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. Why do you think it did not resonate with critics?

[Sam Claiborne]

Hmm.

[Damon Hatfield]

Or audiences?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, I mean, I like it better than Rings of Power, so it's hard to say. Like, I don't know, like it just told. It tells like a kind of a Cool. I don't know if people here have really stretched into the George R.R. martin verse, but the thing they're making in the show about Dunk and Egg, I like that book. That book is really an easy read. It's a plot based, fun read set in that universe. And that's what this is. It's a very plot, heavy twists and turns, characters stuff. I mean, I worry that people don't like it because there's a female protagonist. That's a thing. I think people don't like it because it has a mashup of anime. And by the way, there's a rabid mumach in it, which is like the craziest thing ever. But after those parts you're like, oh, are they just going to like one up everything by doing like a variation, but they don't like it does it moves away from the member berries as you said.

[Justin Davis]

Cool.

[Sam Claiborne]

I can't wait for it to be streaming. I think everybody will be pleasantly surprised and I don't know how many times people would want to watch it, but I actually wanted to see it again after I saw it.

[Damon Hatfield]

Cool. I will check it out when it's.

[Sam Claiborne]

On streaming this trailer. Once you see the movie and watch this too, there's really interesting Lord of the Rings stuff happening in it that is not too on the nose. And I think that's really cool that everybody that's seen just the movies will get so I thought that was a neat part of it too. And then it knits some stuff together at the end. You're like, okay, well, didn't need to explain that overly. But yeah, cool stuff.

[Damon Hatfield]

All right. And that brings us to video game 20 questions and we begin this week with more stats from last year. We've got Matt in Massachusetts who writes in saying Happy New Year, Damon and the Scoop Crew. This is Matt from Massachusetts. Thank you so much for reading my video game 20 question stats at the beginning of last year and for picking my game suggestion as 2024's first 20 questions round. The panel and the Facebook group seem to enjoy the stats, so I figured I'd do it again this year. Hope you enjoy it. So of the 28 submitters who gave their location last year, eight were from different countries, two from Canada, two from England, and one each from Brazil, Switzerland, Australia, and Sweden.

[Mark Medina]

Cool.

[Damon Hatfield]

The rest of the submissions came from 12 different states. Four from Texas, three from Florida, two from California, two from Wisconsin, two from Arizona, and one each from Arkansas, New Jersey, Nebraska, Ohio, New Hampshire, Michig, Michigan, and yours truly from Massachusetts. Justin let off with the hat question one time on episode 757. The answer was no because the game was Yoku's Island Express.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. No, no.

[Damon Hatfield]

There were 371 unique games mentioned in total during 20 questions last year. This is actually.

[Sam Claiborne]

Dude, these stats are amazing.

[Damon Hatfield]

What?

[Justin Davis]

I couldn't even tell you in an episode.

[Damon Hatfield]

So this is actually 95 fewer games than the year before and 42 fewer than in 2022. And no, I did not count all the times Sam randomly mentioned Prince of Persia at the start of the round.

[Sam Claiborne]

I did it for you in the.

[Damon Hatfield]

Reference to that being the first game mentioned in 2023, although I very much appreciated him keeping the joke alive for several weeks. Speaking of Prince of Persia being the first game mentioned in 2023. The first game mentioned last year was Mario Paint, and just like last year, Mario Paint was never mentioned again after that first time. Games mentioned in 2024 ranged alphabetically from 12 switch to Zork. The first game mentioned to be repeated was Minecraft, which was mentioned on the second episode of the year and then again on the fourth. Sam also kept up his tradition of saying multiple times when the panel was struggling, well, we're not going to get this one. And then the panel still won the round. The first time being episode 766 when the answer was Saturn Bomberman. The episode with the most unique.

[Sam Claiborne]

We didn't get that one.

[Damon Hatfield]

The episode with the most unique games mentioned was episode 758 when 23 games were brought up. Nick even used the hack twice on that episode, but sadly the panel missed guessing. Subnautica, you mentioned eight different games with the word dragon in the title. Dragon Age Inquisition, Dragon Age, the Velgard, Dragon Force, Dragon's Crown, Dragon's Dogma, Dragon's Lair, Like a Dragon, Infinite wealth, and Yakuza Like a Dragon.

[Sam Claiborne]

What's Dragon's Crown?

[Damon Hatfield]

The Vanilla Wear hack and slash game. Okay, you mentioned 14 games with the word legend in the title. Nine of them were Zelda games plus Legend of Heroes, Trails in the Sky, Legend of Oasis, Legend of the Mystical Ninja, Mega Man Legends, and Mega Man Legends 2. And finally, the grand prize winner of the game most frequently mentioned during 20 questions last year being brought up on four separate episodes was Hades.

[Mark Medina]

Only 4?

[Damon Hatfield]

WoW included episode 769 when it was the correct answer. By comparison, in 2023, no games were mentioned on as many as four episodes. And in 2022, two games led the way with four unique mentions, those being Dragons, Dogma and Halo Infinite. Thanks so much for reading my 20 questions stats once again for the many hours of amazing and informative entertainment. And on a personal note, I was unable to make the long flight out to LA for IGN Live last year, but after seeing all the footage, I'm absolutely going to try and make the trip in 2025 to party with you all in person. Keep up the amazing work. As always, you give up the amazing work.

[Sam Claiborne]

No kidding.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, stats are. Those stats are nuts. I haven't stopped thinking about IGN Live for the past like two weeks. I don't know. Once the new year hit, I was like, we're in a neat year where there's a new IGN Live.

[Damon Hatfield]

I know.

[Justin Davis]

I don't know. It was. It was a lot of fun.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yep.

[Damon Hatfield]

I hope people come behind the scenes, work has already begun on IG and Live this year.

[Justin Davis]

Okay.

[Damon Hatfield]

Our suggestion this week comes from Pixel Ramen, who says, hello, Mega Cops. I'm Jack Howell from Lakeland, Florida. I've been listening since 2017 when I was 12, and now it's 2025 and I'm about to graduate college. Thank you so much for going through high school and college with me. With that, I want to give my 20 questions recommendation one of my favorite games. Let the questioning begin.

[Mark Medina]

I wonder if we're not gonna get this one. I wonder if we can met a game so we knew what in 2017. He was 12 and you know, everyone.

[Justin Davis]

Knows listening to Scoop.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Your favorite games come out when you're like 18 years old. Look, I don't make the rules. It's just how it works. It's probably for. It's probably Fortnite. No, no, we don't. We don't need to play it like that.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, it's Sky. Yeah. Skyward Sword, Right?

[Mark Medina]

Yep.

[Sam Claiborne]

Whatever Zelda was at.

[Mark Medina]

Yep. Okay. Did this game come out in the 70s, 80s or 90s?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

Did this game come out while he was watching Game Scoop? So that would be 2017 to now.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes, that's a great question.

[Sam Claiborne]

I like that. Was this published by Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo?

[Mark Medina]

Yes, that. Was it published by Sony?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Justin Davis]

Okay. Was it published by Microsoft?

[Damon Hatfield]

No. That's five.

[Justin Davis]

All right. Published Nintendo published game after 2017. So it's got to be a Switch game.

[Mark Medina]

Or it's probably Arms.

[Justin Davis]

Almost certainly it's his favorite game.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. Arms is Splatoon 3.

[Sam Claiborne]

It could be one, two, switch. Just to get that as our lowest alphabetized game again this year.

[Mark Medina]

Now, the stats for this episode are corrupt because.

[Sam Claiborne]

Because I don't think Zork came out for the Switch.

[Justin Davis]

I like. I feel like I don't want to mention that many games now because then this poor man has to count them all.

[Mark Medina]

Wait a second. What's something.

[Sam Claiborne]

I don't think that'll be a problem for you, Mark.

[Justin Davis]

Oh, wait, that's true. I don't know any games.

[Mark Medina]

It also can't be. It can't be Zuma because that also came out after 2017.

[Sam Claiborne]

You skipped a Zuma, so I can't do Zoop.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, I guess there's probably Zombies something too.

[Sam Claiborne]

Now Zumbo starts with you, though. So you got the you in there.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, sure.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's one. That one's gonna be hard to beat. I would say Zybots, but that starts with an X.

[Damon Hatfield]

So is there an NES game? Oh, no, that's. Sorry. There's like an game called, like, Zizzix, but it starts with an X. Sorry, carry on.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, yeah. The problem. Right. Okay. Did the. Should we ask if it's a, like a full fledged $60 cartridge game? Would that matter? Or do we just think it's going to be that.

[Mark Medina]

I don't know what any Nintendo games cost, so that.

[Sam Claiborne]

Does this game have Mario characters in it?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Mark Medina]

Does it have Zelda or Kirby characters in it?

[Damon Hatfield]

It. Yes.

[Mark Medina]

Okay.

[Justin Davis]

It's got to be one of the Zeldas, right?

[Sam Claiborne]

Regret phrasing if it's the Skyward Sword remake.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

I mean. Okay, so most likely. Is this a game where you can climb anywhere?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Justin Davis]

Huh.

[Sam Claiborne]

All right, well, is this a game that literally sucks?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay. That's a Kirby ass.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. I was picking up what you were putting down, so. Okay, so hold on. So it's one of the spins.

[Sam Claiborne]

And I just want to point out for Kirby fans who are very much like Sonic fans, that's because Kirby sucks air into its mouth. Okay. He is.

[Justin Davis]

I don't know.

[Sam Claiborne]

You tell me. He's a little monster.

[Mark Medina]

He's a little abomination. So what? So what? That means it's a game that has Zelda characters in it. That's not Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom. That came out. Oh, Hyrule warriors or 2017. Yeah. So what? That leaves us with Hyrule Warriors. That leaves us with the new one. I can't remember what it's called.

[Sam Claiborne]

Echoes.

[Justin Davis]

Echoes of Wisdom.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

We should figure out.

[Sam Claiborne]

Or the Link to the Link to the Past remake.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Or Link's awakening. Sorry.

[Justin Davis]

We're 100% sure this is a Zelda game.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Cuz I.

[Sam Claiborne]

We.

[Mark Medina]

Well, we asked if it had Zelda characters or Kirby characters.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

And it's not a game that literally says sucks. So I think the implication is this. Is this, like, is. I don't even know how to phrase it.

[Justin Davis]

It's probably Link's Awakening.

[Mark Medina]

I think so too. Is this like an update? A remake of an older game?

[Damon Hatfield]

No, that's 10.

[Justin Davis]

Never mind.

[Mark Medina]

Well, what's the genre? What do they call that genre of Dynasty warriors games? Yeah. Is this a Musou game?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Mark Medina]

I mean, do you.

[Sam Claiborne]

Can you play as the Princess Zelda in this game?

[Mark Medina]

No, we got over.

[Justin Davis]

Sorry, guys. Sorry, guys. I can't do this. I can't do this. Is this a Zelda game?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Justin Davis]

Okay. It gave me anxiety because I felt like we were Barking up the wrong tree. So what are we missing if it's not echoes? I. Technically, Justin asked if you can climb anywhere, and there's got to be surfaces, like shrines.

[Sam Claiborne]

He was using. He was using an industry term. Is this a climb everything game?

[Justin Davis]

Okay, which it is, Damon.

[Mark Medina]

So it's a Zelda game that came out after 2017.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

That's not Link's Awakening or Breath of the Wild or Cheese of the Kingdom or Echoes of Wisdom or Hyrule Warriors.

[Justin Davis]

Well, maybe it's My Word Sword remake.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is it the Eshop ones? Why are we so stumped on this?

[Justin Davis]

I don't know.

[Sam Claiborne]

There's a bunch of Eshop games.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay? I have to make direction. Okay, you asked. Did you ask if you play a Zelda in this game?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, you can.

[Justin Davis]

Hold on. But it's not Hyrule Warriors.

[Sam Claiborne]

You. You can play a Zelda in Spirit Tracks. I believe you sneak around a castle as her.

[Justin Davis]

Was there two Hyrule warriors games?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, but he actually.

[Justin Davis]

Oh, no, but we said. And you said.

[Mark Medina]

No, you can play as Zelda. But we know.

[Sam Claiborne]

But.

[Mark Medina]

Okay, but we know it's not Smash or Mario Kart or whatever. Because we know it doesn't. Because we know it's a Zelda game. I mean, it's a Zelda game. I don't know where that leaves us.

[Sam Claiborne]

But it's not a remake because Skyward Sword was remade, right?

[Mark Medina]

Yep. And so in my opinion, that would preclude any Eshop releases as well. So not so that, you know, Skyward Sword HD or Link's Awakening. It's not that. Or even, like, I don't know, Twilight Princess HD might have come out in 2017.

[Sam Claiborne]

Was this game developed by Nintendo?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Sam Claiborne]

There we go.

[Mark Medina]

What does that mean?

[Sam Claiborne]

There's no, like, mobile or little games, are there? Or is there like a. Like that jump rope game with the rabbit?

[Mark Medina]

Well.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well.

[Mark Medina]

Okay, okay, okay.

[Sam Claiborne]

Cadence of Hyrule.

[Mark Medina]

I was just going to say I think it's Crypt of the Necro Dancer.

[Justin Davis]

Crypt of the Neo Dancer, but I.

[Sam Claiborne]

Didn'T think that was published by Nintendo. That's why I've been dismissing it this whole time.

[Mark Medina]

Well, I think it probably was. I don't. I mean, I don't know.

[Justin Davis]

Well, because something we did.

[Mark Medina]

Is this a rhythm dungeon crawler?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes. That's 15.

[Justin Davis]

There we go.

[Mark Medina]

Is it Cadence of Hyrule?

[Damon Hatfield]

It is Cadence of Hyrule. Nicely Job. Yep. Developed by Brace Yourself Games, but published by Nintendo in 2019.

[Sam Claiborne]

Great game.

[Damon Hatfield]

You can play cooperatively and one character can Be Zelda.

[Sam Claiborne]

Got it. Okay.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. Got it. Yeah. I really like this. It got too hard for me eventually, but, like.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, I never finished it either, but I did like it, too.

[Justin Davis]

Is this game only on Switch? But Crypto the Necker Dancer isn't right on Switch. Well, no, I meant like. I meant like it's multi platform, but that they made this.

[Mark Medina]

Well, yeah, but this is a Zelda game.

[Justin Davis]

Well, yeah, no, I get it. I just. It's just. It's interesting. All right, well, we got it.

[Damon Hatfield]

There you go.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

Nicely added to the stats. Sam said we wouldn't get it.

[Mark Medina]

I think we're on. I didn't want to bring it up before the show to jinx it, but isn't our win streak. Streak getting pretty long now?

[Damon Hatfield]

I think you're over 10. I think it's like 11 now. Because you won last week, right?

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

I'd have to look up what the game was. I don't know.

[Justin Davis]

It's hard to believe. I haven't been on 11 episodes. That's the only way you guys have won.

[Damon Hatfield]

You're part of the winning team this week, Mark.

[Justin Davis]

Yep.

[Sam Claiborne]

Mark, you had pretty good stats from last year. We went over the stats. Last episode said.

[Justin Davis]

Oh, cool.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. Nicely, Job. Thank you for the suggestion, Jack in Florida. Viewers, listeners, if you have your own suggestions for video game 20 questions, email them to me at the email address gamescoopgn.com and that is all the scoops that we have for you this week. I think there's gonna be lots to talk about next week. Should be some exciting things right around the corner, so please be excited for that. Thank you, Sam. Thank you, Justin. Thank you, Mark. Thank you to Jobert. Working behind the scenes. Make this episode possible. My name is Damon. This is IGN gamescoop. And we're out. Legends. Long have legends inspired people the world over. Foreign legends. We see the worlds of the impossible unfold before us.

[Justin Davis]

Heroic quests, horrific monsters, gods, magic, tales of the valiant and the villainous. But more than that, in legend, we see ourselves reflected in the stories we tell.

[Damon Hatfield]

I'm William Stark.

[Justin Davis]

And I'm Omar Timso.

[Damon Hatfield]

And we are D&D legends and lore. Join us as we explore the fantastic lore of the world's most popular tabletop rpg. Suddenly, a beam of radiant light pierces the haze. Then a powerful angel streaks down from above. She is pure beauty, fury and zeal.

[Justin Davis]

Arashni, your sentence has been spoken by the for what you have done, you are declared demon. Be what you are and go where you must. You can find D and D legends and lore on YouTube, iTunes, Spotify or anywhere podcasts can be found. Contained herein are the heresies of Radolph Bantwine, erstwhile monk turned traveling medical investigator. Join me as I study the secrets.

[Damon Hatfield]

Of the divine plagues and uncover the.

[Justin Davis]

Blasphemous truth that ours is not a loving God and we are not its favored children. The heresies of Radulf Bantwine, Wherever podcasts are available.