Game Scoop! 797: Well, Disc Drives Had a Good Run

Summary

Podcast Summary: Game Scoop! Episode 797: "Well, Disc Drives Had a Good Run"

Release Date: February 7, 2025

Hosted by Daemon Hatfield, Sam Claiborne, and Justin Davis

---

Introduction

In Episode 797 of Game Scoop!, IGN's dynamic trio—Daemon Hatfield, Sam Claiborne, and Justin Davis—dive deep into pressing topics within the gaming industry, share personal gaming experiences, interact with listeners, and explore nostalgic gaming anecdotes. The episode primarily centers around the evolving landscape of physical versus digital game distributions, nostalgic reflections on classic games, and listener-driven segments that highlight past gaming peculiarities.

---

Short Hike Club Discussion [02:42]

Daemon kicks off the episode by sharing his recent involvement with the "Short Hike Club," sparking a lively conversation about the game Short Hike.

Sam Claiborne enthusiastically remarks, “There’s one you can take out and rent, you know,” referencing his experience with the game. The trio discusses the game’s aesthetic and gameplay mechanics, drawing parallels to classic titles.

Daemon shares his appreciation:

“I love the look and the feel of it. Like we … Justin, you call that like PlayStation graphics, like. But I think this is … It looks much nicer.”
[03:01]

They commend the game’s "jaggy polygonal look" and the freedom it offers players to explore virtual landscapes, glide over cliffs, and immerse themselves in the serene environments. The discussion highlights the game's short playtime, with Daemon noting,

“I think it took me 90 minutes to play.”
[02:44]

---

Civ 7 on Steam Deck: A Struggle for Sam [05:50]

The conversation shifts to Civilization 7 as Sam shares his challenging experience playing the game on his Steam Deck.

Sam expresses his frustrations:

“I don't know what my end. My, like, my own soldiers should be doing when they're not attacking or they're defending.”
[08:02]

He elaborates on the game's complexity and lack of intuitive design, which leaves him grappling with understanding game mechanics and menu functions. Sam discusses the steep learning curve, particularly in managing different civilizations, resources, and strategies without sufficient in-game guidance.

Daemon attempts to empathize:

“Yeah, hey, whatever.”
[08:49]

The trio debates whether Civ 7 offers enough hand-holding for newcomers, with Justin pointing out that experienced players might find the game more navigable, while Sam continues to find it overwhelming.

---

The Future of Physical Game Distributions [23:00]

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to speculating whether the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 will mark the end of physical game distributions in consoles.

Daemon poses the central question:

“Will the Nintendo Switch 2 be the first final console with the ability to play physical games right out of the box?”
[23:00]

Justin raises concerns about the practicality of disc-less consoles, especially in regions with unreliable internet connections:

“If there's no disk drive, how. Where will you put those disks?”
[23:14]

Sam adds,

“Nintendo has a cartridge slot in their new system. It might not be the same, but it also has one if it's a separate one or it's the same one that can play the old Switch cartridges.”
[24:20]

They deliberate on the implications of moving towards digital-only consoles, considering factors like global internet accessibility and the sentimental value of physical game collections. The trio references a leak about the Switch 2’s box size, sparking debates about physical media preservation and the feasibility of accommodating different game formats.

Damon articulates a broader industry trend:

“PC gaming keeps getting bigger and bigger... but the console market is not growing.”
[27:56]

Justin emphasizes the enduring value of physical collections and the potential loss for consumers who cherish tangible game ownership:

“It's objectively hostile to the customer. You can buy this game for $70 that then you can turn into cash... But it costs the same.”
[34:37]

They conclude that while digital platforms continue to dominate, there remains a niche market for physical media that might persist through dual SKU models—offering both disc-included and digital-only options to cater to diverse consumer preferences.

---

Listener Interaction: Localization Critique [41:02]

The episode features a listener segment where Aaron from Allentown, Pennsylvania, shares his experience with the localization of Spartan X—the original name for Kung Fu Master on the Game Boy.

Daemon summarizes Aaron’s feedback:

“In the original Game Boy game called Spartan X in Japan... The box said a series of incidents have occurred... richness simplified in localization.”
[41:02]

Sam critiques the early localization practices, highlighting the disconnect between original Japanese narratives and their often subpar Western counterparts:

“American companies were terrified of selling things that looked like they're from Japan... They took things that looked like clearly inspired by anime and made them look like absolute garbage.”
[43:25]

Justin adds historical context regarding mistranslations and cultural alterations, pointing out that attempts to make games more palatable for Western audiences often stripped away original charm and depth:

“Like Ninja Gaiden was an outlier there... You can see all those mistranslations were done by Japanese people for whom English is not their first language.”
[44:05]

The hosts agree that while some localization efforts preserved essential elements, many others led to confusing and less engaging game narratives, underscoring the importance of faithful translations in preserving the integrity of original game stories.

---

Movies and Extracurricular Activities [55:02]

Apart from gaming, the hosts discuss recent movies they've watched, providing recommendations and sharing their thoughts on adaptations of beloved books.

Daemon mentions The Wild Robot, praising its voice acting and storyline:

“It's very good. It was such a mindfuck to watch the movie and then have it be like an actual woman's voice.”
[55:27]

Sam talks about Dogman, noting that its success is tied to familiarity with the books:

“But if you haven’t seen it, you’ll probably just be like, what the f is this?”
[56:41]

Justin recommends Dungeon Crawler Carl, a litRPG novel series, highlighting its addictive, game-like progression system:

“He’s getting stronger and he’s fighting bosses and then at the end of the boss, like, he gets the level map.”
[64:22]

Their movie discussions emphasize the intersection of gaming narratives and cinematic storytelling, appreciating faithful adaptations that retain the essence of original material.

---

Video Game 20 Questions: "James Pond Jr." [65:08]

In a fun interactive segment, the hosts engage in a game of "Video Game 20 Questions" to guess the game suggested by listener Billy from Toronto—later revealed to be Wrecking Crew.

Justin and Sam attempt to deduce the game through a series of questions, albeit with some humorous missteps and confusion:

Justin jokes,

“I think we would count the crowd… It could still be Punch Out.”
[66:58]

Sam reflects on the localization issues and past NES games, leading to the puzzled guess:

“It's not Mario Brothers. It's opposite… So is it Wrecking Crew.”
[73:05]

Daemon confirms the correct guess amid jest:

“It’s Wrecking Crew, but he. He’s not building… He’s knocking everything down.”
[73:45]

The segment underscores the hosts' deep-rooted knowledge of classic games and their ability to blend nostalgia with interactive fun.

---

Closing Remarks

As the episode wraps up, the hosts extend gratitude to listeners, recap their discussions, and tease future content. They reinforce the value of physical game collections, reflect on industry trends, and celebrate the enduring legacy of classic games amidst the digital revolution.

Daemon concludes with a light-hearted note:

“Thank you, Justin. Thank you to everyone working behind the scenes.”
[74:51]

---

Notable Quotes

• Daemon Hatfield:
  “I love the look and the feel of it. Like we … Justin, you call that like PlayStation graphics, like. But I think this is … It looks much nicer.”
  [03:01]

• Sam Claiborne:
  “American companies were terrified of selling things that looked like they're from Japan... They took things that looked like clearly inspired by anime and made them look like absolute garbage.”
  [43:25]

• Justin Davis:
  “It's objectively hostile to the customer. You can buy this game for $70 that then you can turn into cash... But it costs the same.”
  [34:37]

• Daemon Hatfield:
  “Will the Nintendo Switch 2 be the first final console with the ability to play physical games right out of the box?”
  [23:00]

---

Conclusion

Episode 797 of Game Scoop! offers a rich tapestry of discussions ranging from the nostalgic appreciation of classic games like Short Hike and Wrecking Crew, to critical examinations of the dire state of physical game distributions in the digital age. The hosts adeptly balance personal anecdotes with industry insights, providing listeners with both entertainment and thoughtful analysis. Through interactive segments and listener contributions, Daemon, Sam, and Justin create an engaging narrative that resonates with both veteran gamers and newcomers alike.

Transcript

[Damon Hadfield]

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[Sam Claiborne]

It's good to be here.

[Damon Hadfield]

Justin Davis is here as well. Not here, but with us. And what's really ironic is that both Mark Medina and Nick Limone are here in the office right now as well, but they're on a separate shoot.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, they're right There though. Can you guys hear us? Yeah, they can hear us.

[Justin Davis]

You ruined their take.

[Damon Hadfield]

We got a great show for you this week. We're going to talk about the big question. Will the Nintendo Switch 2 be the first final console with the ability to play physical games right out of the box? I know that's a mouthful. Mull that over while we discuss our. But first, since we last met, I have joined the short hike club.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yay.

[Justin Davis]

And it's a good video game, right?

[Damon Hadfield]

Good club to be in. Yeah, you guys are totally right. That's such a. Just a delightful, nice little game. I think it took me 90 minutes to play.

[Sam Claiborne]

What was your score in the little volleyball game?

[Damon Hadfield]

Oh, I got it to 31. Wow, 31.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's really good.

[Justin Davis]

That's really good.

[Sam Claiborne]

Did you have to choose whether the score was counted right or.

[Damon Hadfield]

I don't think they gave me that choice. I think just the ref. The ref kid. Anyway. Anyway, I don't have a lot more to add because we talked about this recently and the game is four years old at this point, so it's a known quantity. But I really liked it. I love the look and the feel of it. Like we. Justin, you call that like a PlayStation graphics, like. But I think this is. It's more like how we remember PS1 games looking. It looks much nicer. I just like the jaggy polygonal look of it and I like the feel like you're a little like an anthropomorphic bird girl and so you can sort of glide around like we're seeing here. And there's lots of opportunities to like get up on a cliff and just jump off and glide around the mountain and take in the scenery and the feels good.

[Sam Claiborne]

Once you can just totally cruise off the top and then just get back to where you need to easily and stuff.

[Justin Davis]

It's got great movement. Is like the game's whole, like just the way it feels to move and jump and run and climb and glide just feels just right.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's like one island in Wind Waker if there was four more.

[Damon Hadfield]

That's what I want to say. Like, I don't mind that the game was short, but I could have played more. Like I could take a bigger experience of this. I could play, as you say, a whole top down Zelda game that looks like this.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, yeah.

[Justin Davis]

A long hike. That should be the sequel.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh my gosh. Tuck that away, Justin. Tuck it away.

[Justin Davis]

Like there are video game short stories, but they're usually in the form of like, you know, visual novels or like little Things like that. Like, there's not much in the way of like short story video games that are actually gameplay focused and so, you know, I like it. It's not an arcade game. It's just a little snack.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's just this and Bionic Commando. Those are the only two games that are, you know, a good two hour story.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yep, it's true. No, like, I like this.

[Sam Claiborne]

And they both have the same ending.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. I was going to make the same joke.

[Damon Hadfield]

I was pretty surprised that that happened at the end of a short hike.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, you're wondering what happened to mom the whole time.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Turns out she's a big mechanized Hitler.

[Damon Hadfield]

I. Yeah, it had me laughing. Even, even. Even the. The end screen had me laughing. I thought it was very, very cute and clever.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Damon Hadfield]

Only my only.

[Sam Claiborne]

Did you get the boat?

[Damon Hadfield]

I didn't get the boat. I went on a couple boats. There's like a little. There's one you can take out and rent, you know.

[Sam Claiborne]

Did you take the girl with you?

[Damon Hadfield]

I didn't want to spend the money. I would rather get more feathers.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay.

[Damon Hadfield]

So I didn't want to spend the money on that.

[Sam Claiborne]

But it's funny. She wrecks the boat.

[Damon Hadfield]

Oh, well, geez. Okay.

[Sam Claiborne]

And then you have to get the boat repaired and she feels really guilty. And it's very funny.

[Damon Hadfield]

Well, it is true. Like, so it took me like 90 minutes to just get up the mountain, which is the whole point of the game. But there's other. There is other stuff you do. You could spend a little bit more time if you want to do everything. I could have used a map. Even though the game's not that big. I just. Any, Any sort of.

[Sam Claiborne]

How cute would that map?

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah, that's the thing. Any sort of exploratory game, I would appreciate having a map.

[Sam Claiborne]

It makes me want to make one for that. And like Yoku's Island Express and stuff like that would be just fun. Feel good maps to make and useful.

[Damon Hadfield]

And I would like to have been able to fully control the camera. It does a Mario 64 thing where it just lets you sort of nudge it.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Damon Hadfield]

Left or right?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yep. And if you really want to look at something, you got to fly far away and turn around.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah. But Short Kite, it's great. And Sam, you've been playing Civ 7 on your Steam deck, which I'd like to hear about. Because were I to play Civ 7, it would be on my steam deck, you know.

[Sam Claiborne]

So Damon told me a funny story that you. You, when you played on Switch, it Was great. It felt good. Six on Civ, six on Switch. But eventually the turns started calculating the other civilizations. I understand now.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah. For so long that five minutes it would take the computer. Five.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. The roll. The roll for, like, so long. That's already happening to me in, like, my second age with, you know, enough going on on Steam Deck. I'm playing on Steam Deck. And, yeah, I was, like, waiting for half a minute and I was like, what could be. What could be happening? I don't know what's happening out there. Then I remembered your story, and then I realized, like, you know, I haven't uncovered anything. I don't know what's going on out there. And that's one of the criticisms of. Of this game, is that hard to see anything that's happening anywhere ever, unless. And now I'm trying to do a scout strategy where I send the way out, but. So I've never played Sip. So this does not. This holds your hand in. In as much as it says if. Would you like to learn more about this? Here's, you know, the Civipedia.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

And then I'm like, I'm not. I'm not reading this, you know, like, that I. I needed. I need a little bit more handholding, but. But it doesn't matter. I didn't get it. So I'm at the point now where I've, you know, got to a second age. I've played for four or five hours or something, and, like, everything's fine. Everything's fine. Playing as Ben Franklin's Rome. I think all that stuff is crazy. I think it's very funny, but, like, it's also, like, unpredictable because now I'm, like, making, you know, technology from some other thing. Like, I don't know. I kind of wanted. I kind of wanted it to be like, well, what if I wanted to play what Rome's, you know, civilization path was like, what? Nope. You can choose to be, you know, ancient Hawaiians now. It's. It's totally wacky, but that's. That I know that's charm anyway, so that's nothing to complain about necessarily. So I. I don't know what I'm doing ever. And whenever there's, like, somebody attacking me, I have to figure out all the systems and all the menus don't tell what they are. They're like a symbol, and nowhere explains what the symbol is. And I don't know what my end. My, like, my own soldiers should be doing when they're not attacking or they're defending. So Then I was like, oh, there's a fortification but. And start using that. Like, I don't know, there's just all kinds of stuff I'm learning and like boy, it draws you in though. It's fun. You know, it's like here's my, here's my cute little civilization. And every once in a while, you know, some jackass other culture comes over with their elephants. I'm like, how do you have elephants? I, I'm focusing on a, on a astronomy level right now. So I've, I've tried to become aggressive. I've tried to become authoritarian and aggressive and then make better armies and stuff and that. I like how that's always the push and pull of these sims, right? They're like, well you're, I have these plans. And you're like, but I really just need to be a military dictatorship.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah, hey, whatever.

[Justin Davis]

If it works, that's valid. I mean I love the impressions of someone. I mean, I don't know, the first civ I played was probably Civ 3 when I was 11.

[Sam Claiborne]

They're the same, right?

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, I mean, you know, they evolve, I mean a little bit like. But like just the idea of like someone trying to play this game fresh, having never played the franchise and it's just so funny how I can immediately see how that would just be impossible. I mean impossible.

[Sam Claiborne]

Just think of this. Like I, I'm just realizing how this all works. But it's like you can place your units, right? Your human units or your animals or whatever. You do that and then it's like, well this is like turns that it's going to take to get to that spot. So you can just leave them, right? And then they get to there eventually. Like I finally figure that out and like the turn based system and everything. I still don't know how the turns based in the queues where you're building units and that you go to your downtown and you're like oh, I'm building a clay works and two warriors and a horse. They all have numbers by them and I think they're turns, but I have no idea. Sometimes I feel like I waste forever.

[Justin Davis]

Each city can make one thing at a time and so it's gonna take. If it's gonna take eight turns, then it's like eight turns for it to build that granary or that warrior.

[Sam Claiborne]

So that's why you want other cities then, so you can build multiple things once you can circumvent that. And this is the only game help I'll ask about in this Whole episode, I promise. The idea of buying stuff is to circumvent that. Sometimes you just need warriors fast. You just pay gold for them.

[Justin Davis]

You can pay things directly with gold. Yeah. And, and then I'll give you one more game help tip is depending on where you found your city, that city will have access to different natural resources. So you could found it in a mountain area and then you can build a mine there that you can't build if you found that city somewhere else. So there's, there's strategically advantageous places to.

[Sam Claiborne]

Put new and this almost come to a head at a point where other civilizations did better than me and overpower me and then I will realize that there's strategy to it. But right now I'm just like the two modes of gameplay I have are keeping people out of my settlement and figuring out what menus do. And I don't really have time for anything else right now. So like, you know, I saw like I'm get. I have lots of ivory and I'm like, don't know. And every time something comes up, you need to make a big decision about your civilization. I'm like, none of this makes any sense to me. I'm just like, go, go, go, go, go, go, go. If anybody talks to me, I'm nice to them. Suddenly they're warring on me. I don't know what's happening. It's a lot. It's a lot. But so far it runs on the Steam deck. Right. But the menus were already an issue on PC because they don't reveal enough like right clicky information stuff like you know, right click on a Steam deck, you just got to get lucky. And so a lot, a lot of times I'm playing, I'm like, there's a, you know, environmental modal over the thing I'm supposed to be choosing and I back out to like make sure that stops happening and I miss the option. Like it's, it's not great.

[Justin Davis]

So that's very. So basically you're role playing. If you were an actual leader of a civilization, you're role playing as some civ that got conquered by the Ottomans immediately and is not in the history books. That's how your game of civ is going to end.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, I'm also developed a technology that's beyond my, the capabilities of my civilization. And it all is just gibberish to me. You know, I developed writing but you know, nobody knows how to read it.

[Damon Hadfield]

So the cliche with civ is that it's the original just one More turn game. Right?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, it does feel like that.

[Damon Hadfield]

So that's what I was gonna say. Do you get that feeling of it?

[Sam Claiborne]

Absolutely.

[Damon Hadfield]

One more turn.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the turns can go fast to start with, too, but now they're chugging.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah. Cool. Justin, anything you've been playing lately?

[Sam Claiborne]

Anything, Please play Sieve so we can give people a real, real evaluation of it.

[Justin Davis]

Well, my evaluation is going to be the exact opposite of yours, which is I've played all of them for a thousand hours, and it's just going to be like, yeah, it's civ. I don't know what you want me to say.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's what I'm afraid of. It. It is seeming seemingly the same game. Right?

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. I feel like I want to walk back and correct some of what I shared last week about Spyro the Dragon. This is a conversational podcast. It's, you know, it's extemporaneous. And I. My. My. My impressions got jumbled up. I was accidentally more negative about Spyro than I meant to be, so I didn't think. So I really. I. Well, I came.

[Sam Claiborne]

I came away with it thinking you were really positive about it, and then Damon and I relentlessly mocked you for the week.

[Justin Davis]

They were. They were. The comments are very mean. No, I think because the prompt question was like, is it as good as Mario 64 banjo? And I'm like, no, not even close. And then. Which is true. But, like, those are.

[Sam Claiborne]

So you're doubling down and you're not explaining. You're doubling down.

[Justin Davis]

No, no, no, no. Like, Spyro. So I finished the game. I actually. If you 100 it. It's actually called 120 in the menu. So I 120% the game. I got every single treasure. I did every single thing there is to do in the game, and it's great. I think Spyro's movement feels really, really good.

[Damon Hadfield]

But it kind of looks like a short hike.

[Sam Claiborne]

It does, yeah.

[Justin Davis]

With those PS1 graphics. But the point I was trying to make last time is, so imagine Banjo Kazooie. But if the entire game was only collecting notes, if there was no jiggies, no puzzles, no nothing, just running around collecting the music notes. That's all of Spyro one. It's just running around, like. So there's no puzzles. There are no NPCs, there's no one to talk to. There's no, like, can you find my treasure?

[Sam Claiborne]

There's no one to talk to.

[Justin Davis]

No.

[Sam Claiborne]

Where do all those Skylanders characters come from?

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, they. They come in in Spyro 2 and 3. So I, I, it's not that it's bad, it's just when you're. What's interesting about it is when you're picturing an old school 3D platformer in your mind, you're probably picturing you running around collecting stuff, right? Yeah, but that's, that's not what you're actually doing in those games. What you're actually doing is solving puzzles and exploring and you turn into a washing machine.

[Sam Claiborne]

Hop around.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, and you. And, and, yeah, exactly. You're solving. And it's all mini games. Right? And like, so Spyro is the MO is way more like pure. We're like, no, you're actually doing in that game what you're picturing yourself doing in all the other. You don't do anything but just run around.

[Sam Claiborne]

Wait, so what's the criticism of what you said?

[Justin Davis]

No, I mean, nothing. I just last week I was just sort of like, oh, it's a kids game for kids and it's really basic. And you're saying that come out. No, I'm not. You're going to get me in trouble again.

[Sam Claiborne]

What I'm trying to, I'm trying to figure out what the distinction is.

[Damon Hadfield]

It sounds like he's saying it's really. It is. It is that. But that's not bad.

[Justin Davis]

It's, it's simplistic and it's pure and like it's nothing but like running around and collecting gems and that's the entire video game. And like, I like that enough to 120%. It like each level is like, small. Like I, I get a certain amount of stress and anxiety if I start a new level in like Banjo 2 or a game because they're too big. I'm like, ah, I'm getting lost. I can't like, find my way around where, like, the Spyro levels are all small enough that they're like, knowable at a glance. It's like, oh, I know exactly where I'm going and what I'm doing. Like, the whole thing is really chill and good. And I liked it a lot.

[Sam Claiborne]

So that. This is similar to your argument about Sonic, where you.

[Justin Davis]

It's just like.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's just like Super Mario Brothers, but shitty.

[Justin Davis]

It is, it is a little bit that I know you're just doing this to get her eyes out of me and get me in trouble. But you are right, by the way, actually that Sonic, who's this guy?

[Damon Hadfield]

You talk to someone.

[Justin Davis]

The Mario games are, they're also kind of puzzle games. Right. Like, they have all these secrets to uncover. And even in Super Mario World, that's.

[Sam Claiborne]

What Miyamoto said his whole design philosophy was. It was about hidden secrets and people discovering stuff within the game.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. Whereas Sonic is not that. Right. Like, Sonic is a lot more pure platforming, just running and jumping. I mean, Sonic actually has way fewer buttons. It's just the jump button. Right. And so that analogy. And even though you were making a goof, that analogy actually kind of holds. Like where Sonic compared to Mario is similar to Spyro compared to other 3D platformers. Actually, I like that analogy.

[Damon Hadfield]

Well, Justin, there's one aspect of Spyro you haven't commented on. Well, I still haven't played it, but I know that the music is by Stuart Copeland, drummer for the Police, and everyone says it's great.

[Sam Claiborne]

Really?

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah, everyone says it's great. Is it great?

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, the soundtrack rules.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is it orchestrated?

[Justin Davis]

No, no, it's all like old Midi, you know, PS1.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's even better sound.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, yeah. No, the soundtrack's rad. Like, you know, a lot of people. I didn't grow up with the game, so people are like, oh, this soundtrack's my childhood. Like, none of it's, like, stuck in my head as a bop.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah. Like, it's all.

[Justin Davis]

It's all enjoyable.

[Damon Hadfield]

When you were 12.

[Justin Davis]

Yep. Yeah, exactly.

[Damon Hadfield]

Well, cool.

[Justin Davis]

So anyway, I finished the game. Now I'm playing Spyro 2. And so I'll report back.

[Sam Claiborne]

Did you have to use a strategy guide for any of it?

[Justin Davis]

There is. This game is incredibly easy, except for one level is literally 10 times harder than anything else in the entire game.

[Sam Claiborne]

What makes it harder?

[Justin Davis]

I don't know why. It's not even at the end of the game. It's, like, in the middle of the game. And every. It's. It's called Treetops, and anyone that plays the game knows it. I am convinced that no one on Earth would ever figure out how to get all the hidden treasure in that level with.

[Sam Claiborne]

So, yeah, you're talking to someone here. Here.

[Damon Hadfield]

Tuco doesn't count.

[Justin Davis]

Tuco doesn't count. Yeah, you do take a hot air balloon to go between worlds. So. Yes. So I had to look up a YouTube video. I looked up IGN's video, actually, for how to get the.

[Sam Claiborne]

In what era did we make the video?

[Justin Davis]

What did you do for the remake? We did it for the remake, which is like, you know, pixel to pixel. Like, it's the exact same game, just remade. So the. The strat for getting all the treasure is still held.

[Sam Claiborne]

What's the secret.

[Justin Davis]

You have this again, it's a little bit of a sonic comparison. You have like a turbo boost that lets you go fast and you have to use it in a really unique and different way than you use that anywhere else in the rest of the game.

[Sam Claiborne]

So to summarize, gotta go fast.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. Gotta go fast. Yeah. Great game. Loved it. 120% of it.

[Damon Hadfield]

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Thinking is going to be staying on.

[Damon Hadfield]

Hold with my current provider, trying to break up with them.

[Sam Claiborne]

I mostly use it to just scroll.

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On social media and click things that I like anyway.

[Sam Claiborne]

So why am I paying like several.

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[Justin Davis]

What do you mean out of the box? What does that mean?

[Damon Hadfield]

Because I think if the PlayStation 6 and next Xbox don't ship with a disc drive, I think that Sony will still offer like a. I, I see, I see, I see an accessory, you know, sold separately just like they do with the PS5 Pro.

[Sam Claiborne]

Damon and I had a little bit of a thought experiment on this in a production meeting for another show and we kept on talking about like oh you know, it'll, they'll still be limited run games and stuff like that making dis. And it's like, well, but if there's no disk drive, how. Where will you put those disks? And it's like, well, maybe it'll be an external. So these are all the. This is a series of assumptions upon assumptions that we're making. And I could all just go digital and not have that anyway. But what we do know is for a fact Nintendo has a cartridge slot in their new system. It might not be the same, but it also has one if it's a separate one or it's the same one that can play the. The old Switch cartridges. And this week we got a little bit of a leak that may not be true that we covered of the box size. Did you see that?

[Damon Hadfield]

I didn't see that.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

And annoyingly, the box size is not the same as Switch, but it's also not the same as a dvd.

[Damon Hadfield]

Is it bigger or smaller than the Switch?

[Sam Claiborne]

Right in between the Switch and the dvd.

[Damon Hadfield]

Okay.

[Justin Davis]

Just a little bit bigger. That's the rumor. I think that rumor is hoked up personally, but that is the rumor.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, it's weird whenever that happens, right? Remember the. Was it the 3Ds had clamshells? Yeah. The little white clamshells and the DS, I guess, had black clamshells. Like, you know, those are. You have to come up with that and print those and design them and make them all different. Like, why not just use the off the shelf thing? But it is funny though, because the Switch's game is so tiny. It would be really cute if they made a very tiny little proportionally sized disk, you know, container for it. It's not like there's instruction booklets in these things anymore anyway.

[Justin Davis]

Right?

[Damon Hadfield]

No.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, but it's sad. I mean, you know, at some point I like, you know, laptops don't have CD drives in them anymore. And like, you know, you didn't know it at the time. It's like, well, this is the last laptop you're gonna buy.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yes.

[Justin Davis]

It has a CD slot. It's like, it's like, what's the saying? At some point you set your kids down and never pick them back up again.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

Like, yeah, at some point you put a CD in a CD drive for the last time and you didn't know that was the last time you were ever going to do that.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yep. Yeah. Like, have we already bought our final console with a disc drive? Like is. That's already happened. So the whole reason we started talking about this is because we had a story this week. Sean Layden, former Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studio CEO, he says he doesn't think Sony can get away with launching the PlayStation 6 console as an all digital diskless console. He told Kiwi Talks, which I'm going to assume is a podcast about New Zealand.

[Justin Davis]

Says, I don't think about birds.

[Damon Hadfield]

I don't think Sony can get away with it. Now. I think Xbox has had more success in pursuing that strategy. But Xbox is really most successful in their business in a clutch of countries. The U.S. canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, coincidentally enough, all English speaking countries. Sony, which is the number one platform is probably in probably 170 countries around the world, has an obligation or a responsibility to say if we go discless, how much of my market is not able to make that jump? Can users in rural Italy get a decent connection to enjoy games? And I know that's, I thought that a thought that you've had many times on the show, Sam, that you just don't, you don't think enough of the world has strong enough, reliable enough Internet to go all digital yet.

[Sam Claiborne]

And they're already screwed because there's so many games that come with a day one patch you gotta load up and it's really tough. It's already tough out there. But it's just a matter of like, are we gonna like completely obliterate the, the sympathy that we have for people that really do need to get stuff in disform? And that's not just people outside of metropolitan areas, but people in metropolitan areas that can't afford it. And there's just all kinds of situations. I mean, high speed Internet is already taking us a long time to start a game. Like when you get a game code or if you get a game that requires an update, you pit you, you wait for, you know what, 45 minutes to three hours. There's, there's a range and it's annoying and that's with, I presume, all of us having great Internet and there, there's just no way that, that people can play games in so many different parts of the world, let alone the United States this way right now. It's not gotten better since the last time we had this conversation and the time before that. We have this conversation every four years. It's the same.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah, well, we were talking about, I mean. Oh, go ahead, Justin.

[Justin Davis]

It's just hard to like, you know, PC gaming keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger and steam is what, 80% of the entire PC gaming market all around the world. And you know, obviously digital Only platform. Right. Like, it's not stopping them. It keeps setting new records for total number of users, total number of concurrent players. Like, it's only growing, growing, growing. So, you know, like, that's not stopping the growth of PC games, mobile games, like console gaming, which is the most.

[Sam Claiborne]

Expensive way to play, right. PC.

[Damon Hadfield]

It's actually the only area seeing growth. The console market is not growing.

[Justin Davis]

That's what I was saying. Like, mobile and PC are sort of squeezing the console space, and consoles are now niche compared to those two platforms. And those two, mobile and PC are the digital platforms.

[Sam Claiborne]

You know, there's a. Consoles should be the consumer side of playing. Software should be this consumer side of, you know, I don't want to build a PC rig. I. You know, my laptop can't run this anyway, so I'm gonna buy a $500 box.

[Justin Davis]

I, I think that the, the. I don't think that's the way. I think the better way to think about it, in my opinion, is people already have a PC and a phone, and they want to play games on the devices that they already have instead of buying a $500 ticket to be able to have the privilege to then play video games. But most people, they're already accessible on what you owe.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's totally true. So if, if that's the case, then the games we're talking about are mobile games and then laptop games. They're not obviously PC rig games. They're Roblox. That's that. We know how big that is, and we know that people play Roblox on little laptops that they take to school. So, you know, that's, That's a whole class. So it's like what's happening with AAA and, And is cutting out discs from that. You know, I don't know. I, I don't know what the, what the plan for that would entail. Do they save money?

[Justin Davis]

I think so. I think the argument would be like, oh, we dropped the disk drive. And then therefore, you know, we can make the console cheaper or eke out more margin on the console. But, but, but they can already kind of have probably the latter. Right. Which they already did this generation by giving people both options. Yes. Like, I don't see what they lose or what it costs them to have a diskless option and a, And a disk drive option at launch or the.

[Sam Claiborne]

Or the dongle attached one.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah, yeah, I think.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, it is. But also, we. I do want to say, like, we are not past totally past Blu Ray purchasing and watching either. So, like, we're not. We will be. Maybe. But that's another instance that people just have libraries even of DVDs still. And so like having a disc drive attached to your television. Yeah, you can buy one. It's cheap. Just have a disc drive there. But that is another weird legacy that I think people are reluctant to get given. Give, give away. You can. I'm watching the Lord of the Rings DVD behind the scenes on my Xbox One series.

[Damon Hadfield]

Like you're watching that recently.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, it totally works. Watch last weekend. It's great. All those, all those New Zealanders making swords. Yeah, I made. I made 100 swords yesterday.

[Justin Davis]

It's got trees that walk and talk.

[Damon Hadfield]

You. Someone's been listening to Kiwi talks.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, yeah.

[Damon Hadfield]

So we were talking about this on Next Gen console watch this week. And John Davison, IGN publisher and former editor in chief of Electronic Gaming monthly, and Ryan McCaffrey both said there is no way the PlayStation 6 ships with a disc drive. They both hear that.

[Justin Davis]

I don't agree.

[Damon Hadfield]

There is no way.

[Sam Claiborne]

Because Justin, you're like 50. 50, right?

[Justin Davis]

Well, I don't, I don't. I mean, I, I don't. I'm sure they have nuanced their opinion. I agree with Shawn Layton. Like, I think that. I think that they leave too much money on the table. I think that the value of PlayStation boxes and logos being in every Walmart and every Target and all of the electronics section and all the co marketing that you get from everyone on earth that makes and sells these games, like in every mall, like, you can't walk away from that, in my opinion.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. So you're saying the infrastructure of selling hard copies is still rooted. It's. It's blowing away those one, you know, one rack at a time. Like I went to a Best Buy at a Target recently and boy, those game sections are depressing. Yeah, it is really sad. Now they're depressing.

[Damon Hadfield]

And also on principle, I'm not gonna go find some teenager that's working there until I unlock a game for. I'm just never doing that as a shopping experience ever. I want to pick up the game and take it to the counter myself or I'm not buying it there.

[Sam Claiborne]

What about for shampoo?

[Damon Hadfield]

No, I didn't. I don't know. I don't buy shampoo that I have to ask someone to unlock. That's the San Francisco thing.

[Sam Claiborne]

It is, but not everywhere in San Francisco. So the, the safe ways or whatever that I know that are doing that don't go to them anymore.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Even though there might be In a nice neighborhood. And like, it's like, easy parking and stuff.

[Damon Hadfield]

I don't care what it is. If I have to ask someone to unlock it, I'm not buying it.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, it's like, I. There's one that's like all the way down the aisles. It's like, you know, the whole aisle is locked. And it's like toothpaste and, you know, dental floss and Advil. Like, all that stuff. You know, just basics. And you have to, like, walk with a teenager down the line, get everything, you know, I'm just like.

[Damon Hadfield]

And it's not like there's a helpful.

[Sam Claiborne]

I'll just find another place.

[Damon Hadfield]

It's not like there's a helpful Target employee standing right there that can help me. No, they're over. There's one employee working behind the counter way over now next to, like, the. The mobile phone accessories. But there's two people in line already waiting to talk to them. It's like, what. How. How complicated have you made this for me to just pick up a video game and buy it anyway? Sorry.

[Sam Claiborne]

Plus, that was already solved in the 80s and 90s with the great tickets. I love those. They'd have the box. The game box, and then like a little pouch, a little kangaroo pouch on the front of the game box, all hang on a big wall.

[Damon Hadfield]

And it was the box art. And you could flip it over to see the back of the box art so you can see the screenshots.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yep. And they had a giant puffy Game boy kiosk you could play Tetris on.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. So there's like, my. My thoughts on this is there. There are two Justin's. There's Justin's, the. The armchair analyst that's on Game Scoop every week and that thinks about the video game industry. I know that guy, you know? Yeah. Yeah, you know that guy. So does everyone listening and like, that Justin is incredibly sad and bummed out by the move away from physical games. I think it's objectively hostile to the customer. Right. That, like, you can buy this game for $70 that then you can turn into cash. You can trade and sell and loan, and I can give to my kids and I can, you know, give to my niece and nephew, or I can pay the same $70 and do none of that. Right. Like, I can't turn that game back into cash or loan it or do anything with it. Right. But it costs the same. That's complete. It's complete. Like, you know, but the other Justin is like, I don't. I don't buy physical games anymore. Like, I don't have the space, and they collect dust on my shelf. And so, you know, look, like I'm a part of the thing that I just said. I don't. Like, that's the duality of man at play right there. Right. But, like, the. The convenience of being able to. Like, you don't go out of the.

[Sam Claiborne]

Way to buy a game on hard in a hard format. If you really love it.

[Damon Hadfield]

It.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's the only time I do.

[Justin Davis]

No, so I don't. I have. I have. I have literally no physical. Yeah, look at that.

[Damon Hadfield]

Also, look. Fantasy star. Well, that's four, right? $80.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yep.

[Damon Hadfield]

In 1992. Whatever. $80. Back then, that was.

[Justin Davis]

I think I paid $80 for Mortal Kombat Trilogy on the N64.

[Sam Claiborne]

So.

[Justin Davis]

So that's, you know, that's. That. That's my mixed. Mixed feelings on the subject. Right?

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

Like. So. I don't know. Like, I do understand. I do understand, but I. I don't. I don't.

[Damon Hadfield]

Okay, here. Here's some. Here are some.

[Sam Claiborne]

Before we do that, I have one reaction to Justin's thing, which I didn't think about before, which Justin just brought up, which I think we would really lose and would be really sad, and that's gifts. I think you're totally right. Like, I like picking a game and putting it in someone's hand, being like, you're gonna love this game. It's really cool to. I understand. You can send someone a code or make a really nice card. Be like, this. This meant a lot to me. Enter this code. But that's like giving someone $20. I just. I just don't think it's the same. And, like, I'm not criticizing $20. I'm just saying it's different than giving somebody a bottle of wine. These are all different things from each other. And I really like. Like, a bunch of young nephews. No nieces. Which is weird. But they. You know, it. Like, I. There's. They like Mario games. There's always a Mario game they've never heard of or played before. You can get Paper Mario something. Get it? Say, like, hey, you're really gonna like this. It's like. It's like this other one you played, and, you know, they have that game, and then both of them can play it on their two switches, which is nice, you know?

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

We. By the way, real quick. I. My. When I was playing Spyro, my daughters said, they're like, oh, what are you playing? And they're like, oh, dad, you're playing another one of those ancient games. Yeah, yeah, that was, that was what they said. And I'm like, yeah, I can show you ancient if you really want to.

[Damon Hadfield]

See ancient, but I'll show you ancient. Speaking of gifts.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Damon Hadfield]

I have some stats. In 2023, video game related items were the most popular items on U.S. kids Christmas wish list. And my computer keeps locking.

[Sam Claiborne]

What year was it?

[Damon Hadfield]

2023.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay.

[Damon Hadfield]

Only two Christmases ago.

[Sam Claiborne]

That was the most popular.

[Damon Hadfield]

Video games are the most popular. However, of all those video game items, physical games were the least popular item on the list. Least popular than subscriptions, consoles, accessories, and virtual currencies. So kids wanted virtual currencies more than they wanted physical games.

[Sam Claiborne]

Robux. Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. I mean, Fortnite will go offline someday, right? And like, how many billions of dollars of like deployed capital will just poof up in smoke from all those skins?

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah. Sales of physical games peaked. Do you guys know what year?

[Sam Claiborne]

I don't know. 2012.

[Justin Davis]

That's a good. That's a trivia question.

[Damon Hadfield]

This is a good trivia question.

[Justin Davis]

Physical games.

[Damon Hadfield]

Physical games. I have the year that they peaked.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. Did you say 2020, Sam? I would.

[Sam Claiborne]

I said 20. I said earlier. I said 2012. But that might be too early because I just think they were declining not because of digital sales, but because they just were declining.

[Damon Hadfield]

2008.

[Sam Claiborne]

Wow.

[Damon Hadfield]

Physical sales.

[Sam Claiborne]

That was why I was thinking about this. Is that like, it's not just because digital sales. It's not why. It's just because games are expensive and they're. They don't. It's not. We don't have that same shovelware culture where there's 5$. You know, games at. Kids want to play also.

[Damon Hadfield]

But 2008 is also like Xbox Live Summer of Arcade. Digital games actually games being more and more available digitally. Yeah, that was like.

[Justin Davis]

So the, the games industry, like revenue probably Steam climbing, but it's all. It's all mobile. Right. So it's like that, that $5, $10 shovelware. Those are just all on app stores now.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, no, 100%. And the seal of quantity.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Damon Hadfield]

This is also a true stat. Last year in the UK, only 10% of game sales were physical.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, RIP.

[Damon Hadfield]

But I think there's an.

[Sam Claiborne]

That does include, to Justin's point, mobile.

[Damon Hadfield]

It's everything.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Damon Hadfield]

Including PC, which again is 100% digital. So that skews the console numbers. According to Statista, in Q2 of 2024, only 70% of PlayStation games were digital, 30% physical. And that was Last year, April through June last year. So if that's true, if they're still making 30% of their physical sales. That's why I don't, that's why I think, and agree with Justin, there'll be two SKUs of the PlayStation 6. One with the disc drive.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, yeah.

[Justin Davis]

Say it felt like, look, they see they have good business intelligence on the demand. They know how many diskless PS5s are selling now versus the disc version. And so we talked about it at the launch of the PS5, it was like 90, 10, 90% disc consoles, 10% digital consoles. And they can change that mix to whatever they want. If there's weirdos out there that still want to buy their games physically, 15% of the consoles will come with a disc drive. Maybe it just won't be the default. But like I think a two SKU model, that's the way forward.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah, that's, I, I agree with that. If the day comes that they do go all digital though, that will open up opportunity for like a more niche. Like a, okay, our console plays physical media. You know, like, like what limited run games are doing. Like the, like the little. Think about how the play date has actually been really successful and resonate with people and is able to thrive in its own little way.

[Justin Davis]

It has a digital, digital app store on it.

[Damon Hadfield]

No, I'm just saying it's just its own weird unique thing that serves a niche audience. Right.

[Sam Claiborne]

Like I, I, yeah, I mean collectors aren't going away so it's like people do like building shelves of media and that's an audience. It's just, it's not, it's 1% of the, the future audience and that's still a market that somebody will wanna, wanna. I mean maybe, maybe there'll be a third party that puts out stuff on digital that you can play on a digital player but doesn't have the Sony. And I'll have Xbox, but I won't have the Sony exclusives because like you know the GameCube Panasonic made a GameCube that played DVDs because Nintendo wouldn't make one. So you can imagine a company just making like, hey, if you want to play Xbox games on a disc, we'll just make that.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yep. And thinking of that, like the analog, the company also. Exactly. Someone will come up with a solution like that. Okay, let's check in with the listeners. Hey listeners, listeners, remember you can always reach us at the email address game scoop.com just like Aaron from Allentown, Pennsylvania did. And Aaron says that's funny because I.

[Justin Davis]

Know an Allen from Aaron Town Pen.

[Damon Hadfield]

Wow. What are the odds? I listen to you guys talking about the EGM article on Kung Fu Master on Game Boy. We were talking about this last week in the egm. I had heard of the game but never played it, so I did a bit of research. It just led to more questions. So as a, as a recap, in this game you are a Kung Fu master who has to travel to the Middle east and take on some kind of a ruthless dictator named Daddy Long Legs. He has ninjas who is putting scorpion juice in petroleum. That's what you're trying to stop here. So Aaron says it's apparently a sequel to Kung Fu, which was loosely based on an old Jackie Chan movie with some Bruce Lee elements as well. Kung Fu was an arcade game made by Irem, but that Nintendo developed its own version of as a launch game for the nes. The Game Boy version here, this is Aaron talking. Game Boy version here is special in that the story is crazy. For some reason, the localization crew created an incredibly outlandish and convoluted story about the Middle east in Scorpion Venom, when the original plot, though still a bit out there, would have been just as engaging in my opinion. So my Japanese isn't great, but with some help from Google Translate, this is what was on the original Game Boy game called Spartan X in Japan. Them the box said a series of incidents have occurred in which scientists working on a top secret weapon have gone missing. Behind the incident is the billionaire kung fu master, Zap Morgan.

[Justin Davis]

No.

[Damon Hadfield]

And that's it.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay. Oh, billionaire though.

[Justin Davis]

Zap.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah, Zap Morgan. Sounds like a Star wars name.

[Justin Davis]

What's funny is these days you have to pay extra to get scorpion juice in your in your gasoline.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yep, it's true. Aaron says my question for the crew is twofold. Why was localization so crappy back in these early days? I assume it was a money and personnel issue. It just feels. Feels lazy to me. And are you nostalgic for any particular localizations that weren't quite good for me? Some of the Street Fighter two lines in old Final Fantasy games. Yeah. So there's lots of notoriously bad localization back in the day. Congratulations. This story is happy end.

[Sam Claiborne]

Look, those are one aspect of localization, but the real, the real localization issue is that American companies were terrified of selling things that looked like they're from Japan or that the public would know were from Japan. So they took things that looked like clearly inspired by anime, maybe had tons of anime art and they Would redraw them with colored pencil and crayon and just make them look like absolute garbage. You can look at the pages.

[Damon Hadfield]

Mega Man Mini S. Yeah, exactly, exactly.

[Sam Claiborne]

And nothing is super deformed. Nothing is cute. It just. They just didn't bring that over here. Mario was a little bit of an exception. Mario looks the same across the pond. And Sonic, by the time Sonic came out, there was like, oh, an acceptance of like this Japanese look to Sonic. But boy, so many of those games they would take. And then they try to make them more extreme here or, you know, whitewash them or just all kinds of crazy stuff. And so I think we really got lucky sometimes. Like. Like, I think games like Bionic Commando were cool here and like, that was. That was good there. That was censored in Japan. So, you know, they didn't give that same thing.

[Damon Hadfield]

I mean, it was censored here.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, where was it?

[Damon Hadfield]

Much more overtly Nazi in.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's what it is. It's the opposite. Yeah. Yeah. So there's a. There's a. You know, and. And Nintendo had rules about that. For Nintendo, they had like you had to take out crosses from Castlevania and stuff.

[Justin Davis]

Like no religion.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yep.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. Anyway, the. My overall point is that a lot of the times the art we got was crappy here. Didn't look as good. You could get the Final Fantasy 6, which is called 3 here strategy guide and see all this amazing art that was from the Japanese instruction booklets and from all the Japanese promotional material. But you wouldn't have ever seen that in the United States. And here it was like a moogle with a sword, nothing else.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah, the. In Blaster Master, the original Japanese release has like anime cutscenes and it's a full on like anime art style. But Sunsoft completely redid them for release here. So like you said, they didn't want it can't be an anime.

[Sam Claiborne]

Like Ninja Gaiden was a. Was an outlier there. Right? Because they had.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah, but that's less anime looking.

[Sam Claiborne]

You can't hide that. It's. Well, I mean, I thought it was pretty ninjas.

[Damon Hadfield]

Ninjas are like, yeah, unacceptable element of Japanese culture.

[Sam Claiborne]

But they have like cutscenes that had like the manga panels and stuff like which. Which I was pretty surprised at that got kept in. But so much was changed. And like, I'm talking about like C and D tier games too. Like, that's where you get really weird because like you'll have like a. A licensed anime game from Japan that like every kid there, like Knew these characters in here, they would just like either put Bugs Bunny in it or like completely just call it something generic.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah, it's crazy. The reason some of the there's so many like funny mistranslations is because they're done by Japanese people for whom English is not their first language. And the, the industry was in such a young stage. Like they didn't have, you know, people.

[Sam Claiborne]

No qa, the appropriate people to do.

[Damon Hadfield]

That right at the time.

[Justin Davis]

It is, it is a mix. So like some nuance to Sam. The situation you're just outlining is sometimes it was western executives, but then sometimes it was Japanese executives being like, you know, they didn't like this is what Americans want. Right. So sometimes like they were self censoring and like self selecting into like, you know, we have to modify what we made, you know, to make this art play in different territories which you know, is easy to kind of look down our noses at. Like, oh, how horrible is that? But like maybe that was even true at the time. Like the world was a little bit less global place than it is today. Like there was less kind of like one global culture. Like I don't really know, it's hard to say. But like it is sad how much was lost sometimes. Or you see silly stuff like, like Kirby being made all angry all the time on American Box.

[Sam Claiborne]

The other thing is that we just didn't get whole swaths of genre games. So RPGs were really shaky to bring over. So we re. We missed several numbered final fantasies. Several, you know, Dragon Quests. I probably got most of the Dragon Quests, but obviously the Mana series and you know those, those games they really couldn't figure out how to market. And then I think space shooters, top down shooters sort of just shmups. That was another like class or just like there's no way Americans need this many.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah, not this many. We. And we got a lot in the 80s but Japan got so much.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, yeah, it's really interesting. But every platformer came over.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah. All right, this is Todd from Virginia and Todd says I can use an Apple Arcade update. I just got a new Mac Mini and I'm curious about which if any Apple Arcade games are better suited for desktop play. I'm already on Balatro, already got its hooks in me. So yeah, Justin, Apple Arcade games for desktop play. I just, I just found Apple Arcade is still awesome. It's, it's library is just great. It has all the Final Fantasy Pixel remasters now.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's so cool. It's like what well, they started with. With two. Right, but are they all on there now?

[Damon Hadfield]

I thought. I think. I think at least the first four are on there now.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, crazy.

[Damon Hadfield]

Which is like. It's awesome. And then along the same veins they have Trials of Mana, which is a 3D remake of Trials of Mana. I mentioned Monster Train on here a lot. If you like, you know, deck building, roguelike games like Slay the Spire. I love Monster Train and that's on there. Vampire Survivors is on there. And I'd rather play that with an analog stick than, you know, just tapping on my screen. And my last recommendation will be Puyo Puyo Puzzle Puzzle, which is a good Puyo Puyo game. But I. I want to play with the controller.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, man. Desktop play. I mean, you listed a bunch of really, really good ones. One off the top of my head that I would add is balloons Tower Defense 6 is on Apple Arcade. I have literally put 80 hours into that game. It's unbelievably good. And yeah, otherwise I think you covered off on a lot of the biggest ones and best ones. Well, Fantasian. Not Fantasia, the RPG from the.

[Damon Hadfield]

It is Fantasian.

[Justin Davis]

That was called. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Damon Hadfield]

I never. I haven't played that one.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, it's great.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is that retro style?

[Damon Hadfield]

No, modern retro.

[Justin Davis]

I mean, pretty looking. It's like Final Fantasy 7 style. So yeah, I guess that is kind of retro now, but like not. Not pixel art.

[Damon Hadfield]

This is Tony from Omaha, Nebraska. Tony says I've been a big fan of the show for a while now. My girlfriend and I have a weekly tradition of watching Game Scoop every Friday night while playing our switch switches.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's amazing.

[Damon Hadfield]

A few weeks back, Justin was talking about playing SSX. I've recently been playing the Tony Hawk 1 and 2 remasters for the switch. It got me thinking about some of the older extreme sports games that came out on the original PS1, like Street Skater 2 Extreme and more. Just curious what other extreme sports games the Omega Cops played recommend. I think from that time I only played Tony Hawk.

[Justin Davis]

But yeah, there's definitely some survivor's bias of like everyone has these fond memories of like Tony Hawk and SSX and EA Sports Big, you know, the, the NBA street games and stuff like that. But what, what gets lost to the sands of time is like there were hundreds and hundreds of them. Like just endless, like Jet Moto. Like they. They were making these big franchises out of every single weird and crazy sport you could possibly imagine. And they were. And they were almost all shit.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah, I know there are a lot Of Adams. I. I was trying to refresh my memory on what some of the best were, and I found an IGM playlist on the best extreme sports games. But there are a couple entries in there that I was like. Like Mirror's Edge.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, parkour.

[Damon Hadfield]

I don't. I don't. I don't know if I consider it extreme sports.

[Sam Claiborne]

Good one.

[Damon Hadfield]

And also trials. Are the trials games in extreme sport.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is that the.

[Damon Hadfield]

The motorcycle get over the obstacles.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Damon Hadfield]

Game.

[Sam Claiborne]

You love those, right?

[Damon Hadfield]

I loved for a time. They made so many of them.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, totally. Yeah. That's funny.

[Damon Hadfield]

Are we gonna allow those on the. On.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

I mean, this list.

[Damon Hadfield]

Okay.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's an extreme sport. Motorcycling.

[Damon Hadfield]

Okay. But of course, Sam, the. The best extreme sports games predate Tony hawk in the PlayStation 1.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. We were talking about the skating games from. From the days of yore, including TNC Surf Design. TNC Surf Design, two Thrillers, Safari Thriller Safari, Y and then of course, Skate or Die. I'd recommend two, which has the. The skateboard, the half pipe where you can go up in the middle. And if you. If you screw up, your character splits in two and the head is decapitated on the nes.

[Damon Hadfield]

Because the first one has a half five. But that doesn't happen.

[Sam Claiborne]

No, that doesn't happen. It's a pool in the first one.

[Damon Hadfield]

Oh, it's a pool. That's right.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. And then. Yeah, those are the Neon 7. Yeah. And then the Arcade 720 with a crazy controller that's not really working at home very. It doesn't really work at home very well. Has a great soundtrack.

[Damon Hadfield]

It has a great soundtrack.

[Sam Claiborne]

And then I brought up California Games as well.

[Damon Hadfield]

California Games.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. The other one I would shout out is 1080 snowboarding. Very un Nintendo. Like, you know, extreme sports game. I do, by the way. Like, I just watched. I've been. I watched a YouTube video about extreme sports game that was on the GameCube and PS2 called World Tour. W H I R L World Tour. And it was a scooter game. So it's exactly like Tony Hawk. And if people have never played Tony Hawk, they might not realize the game is all two minute runs. And so you have two minutes to get as high a score as you can. But then there's other challenges, like two minutes to get all the collectibles, two minutes to do this, two minutes to do that. Sets the gameplay loop and this game steals that. So, like, you have two minutes. But what's insane about it is that the whole game takes place in like a fantasy land. And like each world is like a different. So it's a scooter game that where you have two minutes but the challenges will be things like like, you know, bop all the goblins or just like weird random stuff. It's like. Yeah. So this is the era of like when I'm talking about just hundreds of just bizarre and off the world, off the wall extreme sports games. Like someone greenlit like let's make a scooter based, you know, extreme sports game. And the most insane thing about this is I know we can't play the music for copyright reasons, but it was all pop punk on the soundtrack.

[Damon Hadfield]

So what system is this from? Is this like PS2?

[Justin Davis]

This is GameCube. PS2, yeah, that era.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Also BMX XXX was in this era.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yep.

[Justin Davis]

And then what if we put Nudies in our extreme sports game?

[Damon Hadfield]

What if?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, with a character designer and then legit good game series with skate. Skate one and two are really, really fun. Love those. As extreme sports games skate for sure.

[Damon Hadfield]

In theory. There's another skate game being working right now. Yeah, in theory.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, it kind of petered out. Like it had, you know, it had its moment. Just like Tony Hawk and I think maybe Tony Hawk brought it down with us. We'll see how this does. And there's so many great indie skate games now like Skate Bird and Ollioli. Just a million of them.

[Justin Davis]

Oh, I did it. By the way, another Apple Arcade game is hello Kitty Island Adventure.

[Damon Hadfield]

Is that. That's a new one, right? Or is that a new one?

[Justin Davis]

It was, it's old on Apple Arcade. And so this is where. This is my. Like, you know, these games catch a second wind where they're on Apple Arcade first and then they catch on like a year later whenever they're ported to Steam or Switch or whatever and get kind of a second life. So yeah, it's a. It's still on Apple Arcade as well.

[Damon Hadfield]

Cool.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, it came to Steam and Switch.

[Damon Hadfield]

Last week and that's a guides game.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh it's. Yeah, it's so popular.

[Damon Hadfield]

Is it an Animal Crossing? Like.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, it's Animal Crossing but it's a little bit Zelda. Like it has a big. It has an open world, you can collect stuff in it and we have a map, an interactive map that's like really cool for it and yeah, it's got a lot going for it.

[Justin Davis]

It's really good. I played it, I played it with my kids a little bit last year.

[Sam Claiborne]

People love it. Disney. It's a little Bit like Disney. Dreamlight Valley also.

[Damon Hadfield]

Got it.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Very popular games.

[Damon Hadfield]

Okay. Extracurricular activities. In the past week, I've watched two kids movies, and both are great. Very different reasons. The first one was the Wild Robot from last year.

[Sam Claiborne]

That looked good.

[Damon Hadfield]

It's very good. That's a Dreamcast movie. Okay, so Justin's seen it. You haven't seen it.

[Sam Claiborne]

Dreamworks.

[Damon Hadfield]

Oh, so, yeah, it's a Dreamcast movie. It looked. It was made on a Dreamcast. Pretty cool, right? No, it's a DreamWorks movie. Actually, both the movies I saw are Dreamworks movies. Yeah, you should watch the Wild Robot. It's great.

[Justin Davis]

Cool.

[Damon Hadfield]

You know, so, yeah, I saw the.

[Sam Claiborne]

Trailers and stuff for it.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah. What's that?

[Justin Davis]

The voice of the robot is a professional actress doing, like, a very compassionate. You know, she's acting like in the movie. We read this book to our kids before the movie was in, like, you know, two years ago or whenever it was. And we did like a robot voice for Roz. It's like, I am roz raz. I'm 1, 2, 3. Like, whatever. And like, that's how we talk through the whole book. And then it was such a mindfuck to watch the movie and then have it be like an actual woman's voice. And we're like, oh, no. And it messed with. Mess with my. My daughter.

[Damon Hadfield]

It's supposed to be a very advanced helper robot, not like a. Yeah, yeah. You know, it's Lupita Nyong'oh.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Cool.

[Damon Hadfield]

And then her. She makes friends with the Fox, who is Pedro Pascal. And it's like, he's. It's like, what? Why is he. He's such a good voice actor. He's great. He's in everything. And Matt Berry's in it.

[Sam Claiborne]

No way.

[Damon Hadfield]

And he's very.

[Sam Claiborne]

What animal?

[Damon Hadfield]

He's a beaver.

[Sam Claiborne]

Perfect. Perfect. I love it.

[Damon Hadfield]

So, yeah, that's just. The Wild Roar is just a great movie. But I also took my kids to see Dog man man, and we had a great time with that. That was so good.

[Sam Claiborne]

But I trailer.

[Damon Hadfield]

The caveat to that is that I think people who have read the Dogman books with their kids will love it. But if you haven't seen it, you'll probably just be like, what the f is this?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. I watched a lengthy trailer and it was confusing and frightening.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah. But for us, we're like, ah, these are all our favorite scenes from the books. And here in the movie. It's great.

[Sam Claiborne]

Wow.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. My daughter went to that for a birthday party. It was A good time.

[Damon Hadfield]

So you saw just. Yeah, I thought they did a great job. I mean, for people who've seen the books, like, I. I actually have a pet peeve. I think a lot of when books are made for movies, they just assume the people have already read the books so they skip all the character development and like they don't really earn what, you know, actually what plays out. That's why I don't like the Harry Potter movies or the Hunger Games movies or whatever. But that's why the Lord of the Rings movies are so good. They did not assume people had read the books. This one document. So go ahead.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, no, you're. I. Sorry, I skipped. I jumped the gun. I was just going to say I agree with you.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah. For people who've read the books. But it's great.

[Sam Claiborne]

And then, I mean that premise is very unethical.

[Justin Davis]

It's gotta. So Dogman doesn't talk. Right. And so this game had the. The movie has a good sort of like silent film. It's a lot of physical comedy and sight gags and. And they all play. It's good. Like it. Like just to be clear, this is not a movie that like, this is a kids movie like Wild Robot. Like the adults are gonna love it and you're gonna cry. Like Dogman is not that kind of movie that one' kids. But like it's very well made.

[Sam Claiborne]

Why isn't it called Dog Cop?

[Justin Davis]

Because he's part man, part dog.

[Damon Hadfield]

All cop. Yeah. The Wild Robot is just a great movie I would recommend to anyone. Dogman. If you know the books and your. Your kids like Dogman. Justin, there are a couple jokes that are for the adults and I'll. I'd like to know after the taping which was the joke that made me laugh out loud so hard in the theater. Theater. Oh, also I said I've never seen anything with Pete Davidson in it. But he is the voice of the main villain in this and I thought he was great.

[Sam Claiborne]

He's good.

[Damon Hadfield]

But then also the secondary villain, that's Ricky Gervais and he's also perfect in it. It's great. So Wild Robot, Dogman. Both great.

[Sam Claiborne]

Nice.

[Damon Hadfield]

Anything else anyone has been watching to share?

[Sam Claiborne]

I. I mentioned. I'll just mention real quick. Severance is really good this season.

[Damon Hadfield]

I still need to start that.

[Sam Claiborne]

I recommend that you only watch the last episode of the last season and because it's been three years and that was absolutely enough to catch. Catch us up. It. It. It worked great. Okay. Thought about doing great episodes. I was Like, I don't, I don't think I can do the whole season.

[Justin Davis]

That was a great suggestion.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, I, I, I didn't know if it would be the one. After doing it, we both looked at each other like, remember everything now? It was like, it was, it was a unique. Well, actually that will spoil it. So I don't want to talk about it. But yeah, any worked out great. And then it's SNL's 50th anniversary. There's like a bunch of hoopla about that right now. Now I love snl. I watch it still. It, it's so bad sometimes most of the time now it's so good in the past, but I'm just like, I'm kind of a fanboy of like SNL culture and what, what it's brought to, you know, rock and roll and what it's brought to comedy and what it's brought to young actors. Right. I think it's all really cool. But there's, there's documentaries on Peacock that they did and two of them, them are amazing ones. One's a writer's documentary about like just how they write the episodes. And it's like it is so panic inducing. They, the writer has to like finish their stuff, you know, by Tuesday. And then the writer is a producer, so the writer has to get the sets set up, the wardrobe, you know, start working with the, with the, the actors in the scene after it gets greenlit. And then it can easily get yanked at the end of this whole cycle, even after dress rehearsal. Like the whole thing is crazy to see. Like, these are some of the most talented people in the world doing something that should be impossible. You get that from watching it. So it's really fun to watch all the celebrities talk about being an snl. The other one, there's, there's other ones. One is a, one is a just documentary on the Blue Oyster Cult sketch. What is it called? More Cow. It's called something else. It's the More, More Cow sketch. It's an hour long doc on that. It's pretty, pretty incredible to hear everybody talk about that and then. But that one, that one's not as good. The, the other really good one is Questlove produced a music one about all the music acts and like the weirdness that happened, like with Ashley Simpson, like, like, you know, getting the wrong lip sync tape. Remember that happened?

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah, she did that good.

[Sam Claiborne]

Famous performances like BC Boys and Nirvana and stuff.

[Damon Hadfield]

Faith the Moore has a great performance on him.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, yeah, it's really, really well done. It's talks about it as like a, a cultural institution of like these people generally did play instruments live on TV and that, that's to this day unusual. Like, that's just not it. I know. Like people like Millie Vanilli lip sync, like most everybody always lip syncs in concerts too, once they get to a certain level. Because business. You, you want to bring the people the thing that they want to see. Unfortunately they're faking it, but yeah, it's. It's great. Recommend those.

[Damon Hadfield]

Cool.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, cool. What did you. You maybe said this. They're all on Peacock.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, they're all on Peacock. You know, Jack White's really funny and, and Dave Gr is really funny too. The Peacock has, you know, new SNLS and stuff. They actually have SNL archives. But they usually, I think almost entirely cut out the musical ax and then they cut down some of the, you know, episode, which is really strange to watch and not fun. Like there's very famous episodes from. I was a kid, like when Charles Barkley and Nirvana were on, like I lived in Phoenix. Charles Barkley was like a huge basketball player and very funny and like everybody liked him. And Nirvana was the guest, like Chris Farley era or whatever. Like it was probably like one of the best episodes ever. But I, I watched, I watched like a neutered version of that recently. I was like, this is so lame. So hopefully somebody has those archived in some other way.

[Damon Hadfield]

Way cool.

[Justin Davis]

There's Adam Driver. I have a book recommendation, so it's not what I'm watching.

[Damon Hadfield]

That's fine.

[Justin Davis]

I've been reading this series called Dungeon Crawler Carl and I specifically want to shout it out because I've been reading them off and on for a while. And the first one is 99 cents on Kindle right now if someone wants to check it out. So that's a deal. Scoop for you. They are. There's been this emerging genre that has a couple different names that is like laser targeted directly at me, where they're called lit RPGs sometimes or they're called progression fantasy sometimes where it's usually like an isekai where someone gets sucked into a video game. But then basically the book is like basically like them progressing through like playing a level one video game. And like the one that I'm reading, Dungeon Crawler Carl is like, some are very, very video game esque. And then some are like, you know, not really. They're more just like anime. Like the character is getting stronger, longer. But this one is so overtly like he has stats like, you know, he's punching these little low level rats and then his like, punching skill is going up and like he's earning loot boxes and, like opening the loot box and he's like, oh, I just got this new, like, you know, suit of armor that like he's putting on. And so it's like, it's, it's, it's very, I want to be clear, it's very stupid, but it's very, like, it's very page turning and kind of addictive. As someone that likes video game, like, you get that feel of like, he's progressing and getting stronger and he's fighting bosses and then at the end of the boss, like, he gets the level map and then he can go, you know, mop up the rest of the enemies from the level map. But he's been sucked into it in real life. And so there's like a battle royale aspect of, like, you know, real humans are like dying all along the way. And that's what the series is about.

[Damon Hadfield]

What's it called again?

[Justin Davis]

Dungeon Crawler Carl.

[Damon Hadfield]

Cool.

[Justin Davis]

And so, like, look, like I want to be like, I read a lot of, like, really good books. Like, I read like actual literature. Like, this is not like, these are. These are stupid, but they're good in like a page turny, like, guilty pleasure way. Like, they're very, they're very fun, quick, easy, silly reads.

[Damon Hadfield]

Cool. All right, that brings us to video game 20 questions.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, my goodness.

[Damon Hadfield]

Our suggestion this week comes from Billy, a listener for 11 years in Toronto. He's got a good suggestion. We begin anew. The streak was broken last week, so you begin anew.

[Sam Claiborne]

What game was it?

[Damon Hadfield]

James Pond Jr. James Pond last week. So with that, let the questioning begin.

[Justin Davis]

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

[Damon Hadfield]

Yes.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, okay. Did this come out as an arcade machine?

[Damon Hadfield]

Machine, yes.

[Justin Davis]

Ooh. Did it come out in the 90s?

[Damon Hadfield]

No.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is it from before 1984?

[Damon Hadfield]

No.

[Justin Davis]

Wow.

[Sam Claiborne]

We got a six year spread, Justin.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is right where we were a few weeks ago.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. Did Atari, a developer, publish this game?

[Damon Hadfield]

No. That's five.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay.

[Justin Davis]

Did it. Did a version of this game come out on the nes?

[Damon Hadfield]

Yes.

[Sam Claiborne]

Was it made in Japan?

[Damon Hadfield]

Yes.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay.

[Justin Davis]

Was the NES version developed or published by Nintendo?

[Damon Hadfield]

Yes.

[Justin Davis]

Okay, so punch out.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, Punch out. Donkey Kong. One, two?

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Or three? Does this have two and three Mario characters in it?

[Damon Hadfield]

Yes.

[Sam Claiborne]

But so does Punch Out. So that didn't eliminate anything.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. Does this have a. Does this have a. Does this have a. A Donkey Kong in it?

[Damon Hadfield]

No, that's 10.

[Sam Claiborne]

Donkey Kong's in. Punch out.

[Justin Davis]

What?

[Sam Claiborne]

He's Dong Jr. Is in the audience.

[Damon Hadfield]

It's just Don. I think it's just Donkey Kong. It's just Donkey Kong, but he's Donkey Kong.

[Justin Davis]

All right, so that.

[Damon Hadfield]

What, 10. 10 questions in.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's easy.

[Justin Davis]

But you. He said no, so that means it's probably Puncha. Is this a boxing game?

[Sam Claiborne]

No, no, no, no.

[Justin Davis]

Wait.

[Sam Claiborne]

You've eliminated Punch Out.

[Justin Davis]

Why?

[Sam Claiborne]

You asked if Donkey Kong was in it. He said no.

[Justin Davis]

Well, but I. Do you think we would count the crowd?

[Damon Hadfield]

I think because it's funny. We.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Damon Hadfield]

Anyway, yeah, I.

[Sam Claiborne]

We can. We can keep Punch out in. In the. In the standings, but I don't think it's Punch Out. But. But we said it does have Mario characters in it. Oh, I. I think it's just Super Mario Versus or something like that.

[Justin Davis]

Oh, yeah, you're probably right. Is it helpful? I don't know. I mean, I know all the games you just listed, but I don't have the Nintendo.

[Damon Hadfield]

What? What the heck?

[Sam Claiborne]

What?

[Damon Hadfield]

What the heck is going on? I hope this stays in. I hope we're. Here we go. Okay, we're back.

[Sam Claiborne]

All right. So does. Does Mario Bop Goombas in this game?

[Damon Hadfield]

No.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay, so it's not Super Mario Brothers.

[Justin Davis]

Not Mario Brothers does have Mario, but it's not. No Donkey. No Donkey Kong in it.

[Sam Claiborne]

There's some other, like, weird sports games and stuff Right.

[Justin Davis]

In the arcade in the 80s and also came to the NES shooting games. Is Mario and Wrecking Crew.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is that Hogan's Alley or something? I don't. I don't think Wrecking Crew is in arcades. I don't know. I bet it might have been play choice.

[Justin Davis]

Is there a Duck Hunt in arcade?

[Sam Claiborne]

Actually, yeah. Yeah, Duck Hunt was. But Mario's not in that. Are we talking about an arcade game that was only a play choice game, or was it like a standalone arcade game, is what I'm saying? But it. Was it only a play choice game?

[Damon Hadfield]

I don't. I can't answer the question.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay.

[Justin Davis]

I still think it might be Punch out. And then we didn't count the Donkey Kong being in the crowd.

[Sam Claiborne]

There could be a golf.

[Justin Davis]

The golf game I did, was that in arcades?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

Is this because it's after 80?

[Sam Claiborne]

It's after 84, so it can't be Donkey Kong 1, 2, or 3.

[Justin Davis]

Is this a sports game?

[Damon Hadfield]

No.

[Sam Claiborne]

That eliminates a lot. But you're not controlling Mario. Do you control Donkey Kong or a. Do you control a Donkey Kong?

[Damon Hadfield]

I. I never said. You do not control Mario.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, okay. I thought I asked that. No, but I just said bop and Goombas.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, okay. Okay. What would you control Mario doing?

[Justin Davis]

I don't know. I can't think of this. I can't think of what this would be. It can't be that deep of a cut. Not a sports game.

[Sam Claiborne]

Does Can. Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

I mean, not Mario Versus. Could be. Could. Do you think it's a shooting game and maybe Mario isn't one of them. Like he says he. In Hogan's Alley.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is this just played with a regular joystick and. And buttons like. Yeah.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yes.

[Sam Claiborne]

Pinball, maybe. Doesn't Mario run the pinball around the flipper at the bottom?

[Justin Davis]

In what?

[Sam Claiborne]

In pinball, it's just called.

[Justin Davis]

Oh, I don't know, man. Yeah, but is that in arcades?

[Sam Claiborne]

Maybe a play choice game? Was this a black box NES game?

[Damon Hadfield]

Yes.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is it a pinball game?

[Damon Hadfield]

No. That's 15.

[Justin Davis]

Is there? It's Excite Bike. Was that in arcades?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, but you don't control Mario in that.

[Justin Davis]

But we didn't say we control Mario. We just asked if Mario was in it. I assume he's appearing somewhere in all of these games. You. And you're on the podium.

[Sam Claiborne]

I can't picture. Tetris is a good one. Yeah, it could be Tetris. This is a puzzle game.

[Damon Hadfield]

Kind of.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

What does that mean?

[Sam Claiborne]

Means it's not Tetris.

[Justin Davis]

No.

[Sam Claiborne]

Dr. Mario.

[Justin Davis]

That's pretty good.

[Sam Claiborne]

This Mario. Dr. No. Oh, wow.

[Damon Hadfield]

Two questions and a yes.

[Sam Claiborne]

That definitely.

[Justin Davis]

Like, we got. We. We got narrowed it into late 80s Nintendo arcade games so early.

[Damon Hadfield]

I mean, there aren't that many black box games Games.

[Justin Davis]

No.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's right. The black box game. So we got Volleyball, Slalom, Super Mario Brothers, Hogan's Alley, Wrecking Crew, Duck Hunt.

[Justin Davis]

Is there a reason it can't be Wrecking Crew? No, it could be.

[Sam Claiborne]

It could be Wrecking Crew.

[Justin Davis]

I think it's Wrecking.

[Sam Claiborne]

Are you a buildy boy in this?

[Damon Hadfield]

No.

[Justin Davis]

One question and a guest.

[Damon Hadfield]

One question and a guess.

[Sam Claiborne]

Clue, Clue land.

[Justin Davis]

I have. I have a question that's gonna make me.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, Balloon fight. Is he in balloon Fight?

[Justin Davis]

I don't think so. That's just in the original Mario Versus.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, it could just be Mario Brothers. We haven't guessed that yet.

[Justin Davis]

Well, I thought that's what you guessed with Mario Versus.

[Sam Claiborne]

No, no, no. That was Super Mario Brothers Versus.

[Justin Davis]

I was picturing Mario Brothers the whole time. And I think the reason I. I'M Might. It might be. That is. There's not Goombas in that, is there? There's only Koopas in that.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's right.

[Justin Davis]

And your question was, do you. Do you bash Goombas?

[Sam Claiborne]

Correct. That's correct. Have we mentioned this game yet?

[Damon Hadfield]

Yes. And that's it. I'm. I'm worried. I'm very. No, no, no, no. You have one. You can guess the game now.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

Which one is it?

[Damon Hadfield]

You have mentioned it.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Damon Hadfield]

Don't make a critical error. Okay.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. Okay. Okay.

[Justin Davis]

What does that mean? So it's not one of the sports ones. So it's.

[Sam Claiborne]

I think it's just Mario Brothers.

[Justin Davis]

Okay, okay, okay. Go for it.

[Sam Claiborne]

I don't know what the critical error means, though.

[Justin Davis]

I don't know either.

[Damon Hadfield]

You're gonna be mad, and Justin's gonna try and protest and send it up top, but. No, no, no, no, no. This is on you.

[Justin Davis]

It means. So maybe you're building boy. So not Wrecking Crew, not a sports game. So we didn't. Was the answer. Yes. You control it with a regular joystick. So it's not any of the gun games.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

And even that. Okay. Okay. Well, let's do it, because I gotta go.

[Sam Claiborne]

I mean, it's gotta be Duck Hunt, Hogan's Alley, or Mario Brothers.

[Justin Davis]

I don't.

[Sam Claiborne]

I don't know what it is, but.

[Justin Davis]

It'S not a shooting game.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, yeah, that's true.

[Justin Davis]

Is it Mario Brothers?

[Damon Hadfield]

No, it is not Mario Brothers. He is the opposite of a buildy boy in Wrecking Crew.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, he's a wrecky Boy.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah. He's not building. He's knocking everything down. Yeah, he was Wrecking Crew, but he.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is a buildy boy. Boy.

[Damon Hadfield]

No. He knocks everything down. You, the player can build a stage, but then Mario's just going to knock everything down.

[Sam Claiborne]

Got it, Got it, got it, Got it.

[Damon Hadfield]

Wrecking Crew came out in arcades in 84, then was a launch system for launch game for NES.

[Sam Claiborne]

How do you feel about this one, Justin?

[Justin Davis]

I don't. I don't have the. I don't have the energy to send this one up to the commission. I like it. I may. I may file a late protest. Like, I'll find out what the statute of limitations is.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay. This is one of my favorites ever.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah. Okay. Well, I wanted to chitchat about wrecking crew for 30 minutes now, but Justin has to go. So that'll be all the scoops that we have for you this week. Thank you, Sam. Glad you could be here in person.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, it was fun.

[Damon Hadfield]

Thank you, Justin. Thank you to everyone working behind the scenes. And thank you to our special guest that made a surprise appearance just a few minutes ago. My name is David. This is IGN Games, people. And route.

[Sam Claiborne]

And the wide shot camera still. Yeah, it's in there. Why is it in that clamshell?

[Damon Hadfield]

It's for the prompter.

[Sam Claiborne]

But the prompter's not unfurled right now.

[Damon Hadfield]

If you. Yeah, if we were using the prompter, that's what it's for.

[Justin Davis]

The whole show is not a prompter.

[Damon Hadfield]

I'm sure.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, we write the whole show out ahead of time.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yep.

[Justin Davis]

It's 10 days.

[Damon Hadfield]

It's not. Yeah, it's not improvised.

[Sam Claiborne]

Justin, people thought you were using your keyboard during 20 questions the other day.

[Justin Davis]

I mean, I was probably answering slack.

[Sam Claiborne]

Legendary stories, awe inspiring sound and endless adventure. 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. With breathtaking sound design and enchanting original music, you'll be immersed into unforgettable campaigns and heart pounding one shots. Ignite your imagination and discover the realms of peril and glory today. Go to realmspod.com or search realms of Peril and Glory wherever you listen to podcasts.

[Damon Hadfield]

I'm Amy Nicholson, the film critic for the LA Times. And I'm Paul Scheer, an actor, writer and director. You might know me from the League.

[Justin Davis]

Veep, or my non eligible for Academy.

[Damon Hadfield]

Award role in Twisters.

[Sam Claiborne]

We love movies and we come at.

[Damon Hadfield]

Them from different perspectives. Yeah, like Amy thinks that, you know, Joe Pesci was miscast in Goodfellas and I don't. He's too old. Let's not forget that Paul thinks that Dune 2 is overrated.

[Justin Davis]

It is.

[Damon Hadfield]

Anyway, despite this, we come together to host Unspooled, a podcast where we talk about good movies, critical hits, fan favorites, Must Sees, and In Case youe Missed Ems. We're talking Parasite, the Home Alone, from Grand Grease to the Dark Knight. We've done deep dives on popcorn flicks. We've talked about why Independence Day deserves a second look.

[Justin Davis]

And we've talked about horror movies, some.

[Damon Hadfield]

That you've never even heard of, like Ganja and Hess. So if you love movies like we do, come along on our cinematic adventure. Listen to Unspooled wherever you get your podcasts and don't forget to hit the follow button.