Game Scoop! 806: Nintendo’s Nightmare Scenario

Summary

Game Scoop! Episode 806 Summary: Nintendo’s Nightmare Scenario

Release Date: April 9, 2025

Hosts:

• Daemon Hatfield (IGN & Geek Media)
• Sam Claiborne
• Justin Davis
• Mark Medina

---

1. Nintendo Switch 2 Pricing Saga

[00:00 - 24:56]

The episode kicks off with an in-depth discussion on the Nintendo Switch 2's pricing and pre-order delays. Daemon Hatfield expresses skepticism about Nintendo's ambitious pricing strategy:

"I just think that I'm not making an argument that it's too expensive for what it is. I think it's too expensive to reach the broad mainstream appeal that the Switch one reached." [15:36]

Mark Medina echoes these concerns, highlighting the $450 price tag:

"That's greed, you can quote me on that. It's greed." [15:17]

The hosts compare the Switch 2's price to other consoles, noting its higher cost relative to the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X:

"The Switch 2 costs more than a PS5 with Astrobot, more than Xbox Series X. When you look at the best selling consoles of all time..." [24:56]

They critique Nintendo's approach, suggesting that the elevated price may hinder the Switch 2 from achieving the same sales milestones as its predecessor. Sam Claiborne introduces the concept of "greedflation," linking the price hike to broader industry trends of increasing game prices without corresponding enhancements.

2. Mario Kart World Pricing and Game Monetization

[04:38 - 24:00]

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to the pricing of Mario Kart World, which is set at $80, drawing parallels to the ongoing inflation in game prices. Mark Medina criticizes the price increase, especially when compared to older console generations:

"That's more than a PS5. And yes, the PS5 is five years old by now, but like, yeah, that is quite expensive for a screen that's looks prettier but it's not an OLED." [05:17]

The hosts debate whether Nintendo's pricing reflects a shift towards maximizing Average Revenue Per User (ARPU), contrasting it with other publishers like Ubisoft who integrate extensive in-game monetization:

"It's not just greed. It's an actual concept of greedflation." [15:21]

Justin Davis adds that while Nintendo maintains a largely monetization-free approach, the high upfront costs can deter a broad audience:

"They can cut down what they can get for... it doesn't mean that this doesn't have some cool hooks." [15:57]

3. Listener Email: Getting into Metroid

[53:00 - 57:25]

Pat from Verona, New York, reaches out seeking advice on entering the Metroid series. The hosts provide recommendations on the best entry points:

• Sam Claiborne suggests starting with "Metroid Prime Remastered" or "Super Metroid."

"I think there's an equivalent 2D entry, though, which might make a little bit more sense. If you do care about the plot..." [54:27]

Justin Davis emphasizes the merits of "Zero Mission," offering a modernized take on the original gameplay mechanics:

"Zero Mission would be a good point. I mean, Metroid Dread would be a reasonable starting." [56:19]

Sam Claiborne reinforces the accessibility of starting with either Metroid Prime Remastered or Super Metroid, highlighting the seamless integration into the series' lore.

4. Assassin's Creed Shadows and Current Gaming Picks

[34:50 - 44:02]

The discussion shifts to Assassin's Creed Shadows, with Sam Claiborne enthusiastically sharing his gameplay experience:

"I'm playing the crap out of that game. I can't put it down." [34:57]

Daemon Hatfield and Mark Medina weigh in on the game's progression and updates, contemplating its depth and replayability. They touch upon issues like mission availability and gameplay mechanics, with modifications introduced through recent patches to enhance user experience.

5. Mass Effect and Kingdom Come Deliverance

[35:00 - 58:54]

The hosts delve into their experiences with Mass Effect and Kingdom Come Deliverance. Mark Medina discusses playing Mass Effect 1, while Justin Davis shares his immersive journey through Kingdom Come Deliverance:

"It's really immersive that way. Like, characters... the city feels like it's actually scaled to feel like a really, like, like a city." [47:07]

Justin Davis praises the sequel's improvements and expresses excitement for its upcoming release:

"It's a game of the year candidate. So like that huge jump up really makes me excited to be like, you know, I've heard the sequel as like the vision for what they were trying to do with the original but couldn't quite pull off." [50:32]

6. Video Game 20 Questions

[60:42 - 67:53]

The segment introduces a playful game of Video Game 20 Questions, where the hosts attempt to identify a game based on listener Lane's clues. After a series of inquiries about the game's exclusivity, platform, and features, they deduce that the game in question is Snipperclips:

"It is Snipper Clips. Cut it out together." [66:29]

They reflect humorously on past mix-ups, such as confusing Doom 64 with Duke Nukem 64, highlighting the sometimes challenging nature of content accuracy.

7. Conclusion and Upcoming Events

[67:53 - End]

The episode wraps up with Daemon Hatfield promoting upcoming events like IGN Live, encouraging listeners to take advantage of early bird discounts:

"Early bird pricing for it's a significant discount on the regular price." [68:46]

He also shares personal plans to attend a Star Wars Night at Disneyland, teasing the integration of new attractions like the Star Wars Projection Light Show in Galaxy's Edge.

Closing Remarks: The hosts express gratitude towards their team and listeners, highlighting their involvement in various IGN and Geek Media initiatives. They briefly mention other podcasts under the Geek Media network, fostering a sense of community and shared passion for gaming.

---

Notable Quotes:

• Mark Medina on Switch 2 Pricing: "That's greed, you can quote me on that. It's greed." [15:17]
• Sam Claiborne on Metroid Entry Points: "Metroid Prime Remastered or Super Metroid... It's completely different." [54:27]
• Justin Davis on Kingdom Come Deliverance: "It's really immersive that way. Like, characters... the city feels like it's actually scaled to feel like a really, like, like a city." [47:07]

Key Takeaways:

• Nintendo's Switch 2 faces significant challenges with its high price and pre-order delays, potentially impacting its market performance.
• Game Pricing Trends continue to rise, with debates around consumer value versus publisher revenue strategies.
• Metroid Series offers various entry points for new players, each providing a unique experience within the franchise.
• Assassin's Creed Shadows and Kingdom Come Deliverance highlight evolving gameplay mechanics and immersive storytelling in modern gaming.

For more detailed insights and lively debates, listen to the full episode of Game Scoop! 806: Nintendo’s Nightmare Scenario on your preferred podcast platform.

Transcript

[Damon Hatfield]

There are new developments in the Nintendo Switch 2 pricing saga. We'll dig into that. Help someone who wants to get into Metroid and share what games we're gaming. Coming up after these messages on gamescoop what sort of promises have you made to yourself this year? Getting in better shape? Eating healthier? Saving more money? Traveling somewhere new? What about discovering a new culture by learning a new language? With Babbel? You can, in just a few weeks this year, speak like a whole new you With Babbel, the language learning app that gets you talking. Babbel's quick 10 minute lessons, handcrafted by over 200 language experts, get you to begin speaking your new language in three weeks or whatever pace you choose. And because conversing is the key to really understanding each other in new languages, Babbel is designed using practical real world conversations. Babbel's tips and tools are inspired by the real life stuff you actually need when communicating with a focus on conversation, you'll be ready to talk wherever you go. I've used Babbel to brush up on my Spanish before trips to Mexico. It's useful for learning an entirely new language, but also for those who, like me, haven't used a second language in years and could use some refreshers. Need proof that Babbel gets you talking? Studies from Yale, Michigan State and other leading universities continue to prove Babbel works. One study found that using Babbel for 15 hours is equivalent to a full semester at College. With over 16 million subscriptions sold, Babbel's 14 award winning language courses are backed by a 20 day money back guarantee this year. Get talking with Babbel now let's get more of you talking in a new language. Babbel is gifting our listeners 60% off [e-mail] Gamescoop get up to 60% [e-mail] GamesCoop spelled B A B B E L.com Gamescoop Babbel.com Gamescoop rules and restrictions may apply.

[Sam Claiborne]

McDonald's meets the Minecraft universe with one.

[Justin Davis]

Of six collectibles and your choice of.

[Sam Claiborne]

A Big Mac or 10 piece McNuggets.

[Justin Davis]

With spicy nether Flame Sauce. Now available with a Minecraft movie meal.

[Damon Hatfield]

At participating McDonald's for a limited time. A Minecraft movie only in theaters. Foreign what's up everybody? Welcome to IGN Games Scoop. I'm your host Damon Hatfield and joining me this week are Sam Claiborne.

[Sam Claiborne]

Hey, I'm excited to still be in the midst of the Nintendo Switch 2 announcements, we're still waiting.

[Damon Hatfield]

The situation is ongoing. Justin Davis, Scoop. And Mark Medina is here.

[Mark Medina]

I'm here, Damon. I want to share. I want to share something with the Scoop audience.

[Damon Hatfield]

Please do.

[Mark Medina]

I got my first tattoo.

[Damon Hatfield]

Ooh.

[Mark Medina]

And it's the death stranding Odradex sensor.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh, my goodness.

[Mark Medina]

I hope people like it. It's so cool.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's just, it's from that angle. It's hard to show it off, right?

[Mark Medina]

Well, yeah. Well, yeah. I mean, I can't, I can't dislocate my arm, but there it is.

[Damon Hatfield]

Wow.

[Sam Claiborne]

That looks like a painful area to get a tattoo.

[Mark Medina]

Half of it hurt, the other half didn't.

[Sam Claiborne]

Interesting, interesting. That's where the nerves stop.

[Justin Davis]

What are you gonna get next?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, because I don't know, be addictive, right?

[Mark Medina]

It kinda, it kind of does feel that way now that I've gotten one done. I. My, you know, former IGN employee Stella Chung wants me to get property of Stella Chung across my chest. Still thinking about it. Not quite sure yet.

[Sam Claiborne]

You could also get another. A five pointed thing, maybe a Mario 64 star.

[Mark Medina]

Exactly.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

I don't like the way you think, sir.

[Damon Hatfield]

I don't think I realized you were such a death stranding fan, Mark.

[Mark Medina]

Well, it's on. It's on me forever now.

[Sam Claiborne]

He's more of the movie than the game.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

The fourth.

[Mark Medina]

I will be. I will be. Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Directed by the Quiet Place Part one guy.

[Mark Medina]

Which.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, I was gonna look up who that director.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay. Okay.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Quiet Place Part one. That was a good one.

[Damon Hatfield]

Which I hear I haven't seen it, but I hear good things about anyway. Yeah. So we've got a big show for you this week. There's ongoing developments in the Nintendo Switch 2 price and pre order situation. I've got some updated thoughts on Assassin's Creed Shadows and Justin wants to share something new he's playing. And then we have a question from a listener who wants to get into Metroid but doesn't know where to begin. But first, yeah, after we talked last week. Oh, I want to get your thoughts on this, Mark. Last week we recorded right after the Nintendo Direct talked a lot about pricing. A lot of people have sticker shock, particularly with Mario Kart World and the games are going to be $80. But also I have some. I think the 450 price tag creates a lot of challenges for Nintendo if they are hoping to replicate the success of the Switch one. But then after that, after we recorded came the news that they are delaying pre orders here in the US Indefinitely while they sort out the whole situation with tariffs. And I think we heard just today that now pre orders in Canada have been delayed as well. I know we have several Canadian members of Scoop Nation, so first of all.

[Sam Claiborne]

We have people on staff that have pre ordered it in the UK and Australia now.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh, wow.

[Sam Claiborne]

So.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, that's exciting.

[Sam Claiborne]

Those people have their, their pre orders behind them.

[Justin Davis]

The Canadian pre orders also being delayed definitely reeks of like the Nintendo's just punishing the whole class. Like, you all need to put your heads down now. But only he was goofing off. I don't care. Canada, you don't get your pre orders either.

[Mark Medina]

Mexico's next.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, keep it up. Mexico, you're next.

[Damon Hatfield]

Mark, what's your, what's your thoughts on the price of the console and Mario Kart World?

[Mark Medina]

Man, it's. That is pretty expensive. Like, that's more than a PS5. And yes, the PS5 is five years old by now, but like, yeah, that is quite expensive for a screen that's looks prettier but it's not an oled. So that kind of sucks that, that they've gone back down to lcd. Like, I mean it's, it's a downgrade for something that costs a hundred more dollars. And then, yeah, I don't know, they're showing like cyberpunk running on it and it still just looks like the PS4. Like they're equating it to the PS4 Pro version and you're just like, the PS4 Pro version. Like, come on, dude. Like it's. That's a tough pill to swallow. And then, yeah, $90 for Mar. 80 if you get it digitally.

[Damon Hatfield]

No, no, no, no, no. Not here.

[Mark Medina]

Mario Kart World.

[Damon Hatfield]

Not here. It's only €90. It's not 90.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, okay, wait, how much is it here?

[Damon Hatfield]

80.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's 80.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, it's 80 and then 70, right?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, there was some missive. No, it's not 70. It's 80 and 80.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's 80 across the board.

[Mark Medina]

Really?

[Sam Claiborne]

No matter what, you get it.

[Mark Medina]

80 for digital. Ridiculous. Yeah, no, Mario Kart World looks great. Yeah, I don't know if it looks $80 great, but it looks great. And it, and it, it. That gives me zero hope for Grand Theft Auto 6. Like that game's going to be 100 bucks for the base version. Like now that they've broken, they've ripped that band aid off. Like, there is no holding these companies back now. It. Because I, you know, when we were growing up, games were Always like, like during the PS1 era, they were like 50 bucks, right? And then 60 forever. And then now very recently 70 with the new console. So the fact that we've already made the jump from 70 to 80, man, it's. It's gonna go. It's gonna go crazy. But as far as the actual, like, games and stuff, Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong looks sick. Donkey Kong looks dope. I can't wait for that game.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, yeah. Sam agrees.

[Mark Medina]

I bet he doesn't.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, there's a. You know, I saw one person agreed with me in the comments, so that's.

[Justin Davis]

There are dozens of us.

[Damon Hatfield]

There are singles of us.

[Sam Claiborne]

I actually saw a lot of people because, you know, it's like, it's so. It's an interesting divisive situation where it is, you know, people that have been burned by Donkey Kong don't forget. Right. You don't forget that you moved from Banjo Tooie to. Or Banjo Kazooie to Donkey Kong 64 and you were like, what is this? This is so much worse. And you know, and then of course going from, you know, Yoshi's island to Donkey Kong Country 2. One is pretty impressive. But, you know, those are great games. A lot of people like them. But like, the comparison to Super Mario Brothers is not a comparison. And the comparison to Super Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooie from Donkey Kong 64 is not a comparison. Those are in different classes, they're in different realms. Hence my disappointment that instead of a Mario game, we're getting a Donkey Kong game. Doesn't mean that this doesn't have some cool hooks. I watched three hours of it or whatever.

[Justin Davis]

It's completely. If this were Mario and he had like big metal arms and was tearing parts out of the ground, you'd be like, oh, this looks so great.

[Sam Claiborne]

No, I wouldn't because. Because I'm disappointed that it's about mining into the interior of this kind of drab looking landscape. It's getting drabber and drabber the more you mine. I just don't like that. I like the idea how crazy Odyssey got. And even, even the Galaxy games where it's like wherever you land could. Could just be the craziest thing you've ever seen and completely creative. Obviously Mario Wonder ended up that way, but they did not show it that way. They showed a very cartoony early set of Super Mario Brothers levels at first. And it was like, this doesn't look very good. Right. So it's got room to impress me.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Which it's Got to do. And I watched again, like, three hours of gameplay, and it didn't change. It looks exactly like it does in the trailer. It's like, okay, you dig around a lot and this is what you do.

[Justin Davis]

Did you see the leak? I don't know if it's a leak. I don't know what the word is, because it came from Nintendo Korea. I think of, like, it sounds like young Pauline is like, one of your, like, a little companion.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, I. I did see the leak. Yeah. It looks really.

[Justin Davis]

I don't know. I. I think this game looks incredible. I can't wait.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, I. I did expect it to be, like, basically a voxel game where it's like, I. I'm. I'm wondering what the limitations are on, like, you know, burring into the world, but I. Because if they come up with, like, okay, you just can't do it here just because, like, that could probably be kind of start getting kind of lame. But I don't know. I think it looks cool. And then. And then I. I'm a sucker. Tears of the Kingdom looked insanely good. And I'm gonna pay for the stupid upgrade so I can play it again.

[Damon Hatfield]

Bucks?

[Mark Medina]

I never finished it. How much was it?

[Damon Hatfield]

10 bucks for the upgrade.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, that's not bad.

[Justin Davis]

It might be 20 for the upgrade.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, 20 is a.

[Justin Davis]

No, I'm not. No, I'm not sure. But the. Because the game is $80, and so that's. I'm basically.

[Damon Hatfield]

Those are 80 too. Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. Jesus.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is that. That's the pair, though, right?

[Justin Davis]

No, well, no, no, it's just choose the.

[Mark Medina]

They're 80 a piece.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Wow.

[Sam Claiborne]

I thought there was a cartridge with both of them on it.

[Justin Davis]

I don't think so.

[Mark Medina]

That's weird to think about. The fact that Breath of the Wild is a 2017 game is selling it for 80 bucks.

[Damon Hatfield]

I am happy.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, it does look cool.

[Damon Hatfield]

I'm happy to report the upgrades are 9.99.

[Mark Medina]

Hey. Yeah, see, that's. That's a good sweet spot because that's what PlayStation charges. That's not much. Yeah, I'm happy with that. I just want to play them again. They look really, really good.

[Sam Claiborne]

What are the base games? I can look them up too.

[Mark Medina]

Probably still full price.

[Damon Hatfield]

You mean the. The Switch 1 versions? Tears of the Kingdom was seven.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, is that what you have to buy? Do you have to buy the Switch 1 versions of both games and then upgrade them or.

[Damon Hatfield]

No, you can just buy the Switch 2 version, which are.

[Sam Claiborne]

And is there a box? Like a box Art for it.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep. That sounds okay.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

But you have to buy them individually.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. Or upgrade for 10 bucks if you already own them.

[Justin Davis]

Or.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, or buy a cheap used version of Switch 1 and.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, why wouldn't you?

[Damon Hatfield]

And maybe for $10 you're still getting it for less than 80, right?

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, yeah. Which is, which is what PlayStation does, right? They'll do these $10 upgrades like they're about to do one for days gone. You could just go to GameStop and find a used copy of Days gone for like $10 and then there you go, pay the 10 upgrade fee, you're fine. But what they do is they hurry up and they rip them off the store and sell them for 50 bucks. So that way you can't do that.

[Justin Davis]

But I mean I, I'm the same as you though, Mark. I talked about it on the show last week. I, I, Tears of the Kingdom is my fav gen and I like deliberately forced myself to stop playing it just because I was like, Switch to like Switch 2 is going to get closer. It's getting closer. And at that time I didn't know it was going to be two years away, but I'm like, I got away and like seeing all the footage and seeing just everything running smooth and nice and the load times, I just, I cannot, I cannot wait.

[Mark Medina]

Well, in that app to be able to like for like I took forever trying to build the like bike everybody was building. Whereas like that hover bike and like it took me forever to get it right. Yeah. And now it's just like, here's a QR code and you get my creation like instantly I was in our wiki channel. I'm like, we gotta like make a page of all the cool creations people make because like I just want you to see the things now.

[Sam Claiborne]

Did you see the Nintendo Treehouse when they what, what they were sharing with the QR code? It was like this like crazy like undulating dragon.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. That's so cool. Yeah, I watched all seven hours of that treehouse. Miyamoto built that actually.

[Sam Claiborne]

Seriously.

[Justin Davis]

They also announced that like you can store items, like the items get sucked out of your game and get put in your personal box like in the app and you can share them, you can share them with other people. Like I could share diamonds or whatever with you, Mark, but you can also share them with yourself. So I think like, I think how this works is like I can send all those items up to my personal box in the Zelda app. And if I started a new game, I can then Just download those weapons and things. So I'm not completely. Completely starting from scratch. Like, that's so cool. I know. I'm pumped.

[Mark Medina]

I. I used to do that on World of Warcraft all the time. I'd make a level one, and then I'd send it, like, 10 gold and all this, like, stuff. Yeah, no, I love it.

[Sam Claiborne]

Damon, are you so excited that they added just countless lines of Zelda dialogue for you to listen to?

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, I mean, as long as they're adding. Adding new Japanese lines, I'll definitely be listening to it.

[Sam Claiborne]

My old office where I left off.

[Damon Hatfield]

My stuff, I can't.

[Justin Davis]

They added new.

[Sam Claiborne]

So amazing to revisit it here.

[Damon Hatfield]

I cannot believe anybod can stand listening to the English voice track for Zelda.

[Justin Davis]

But it is cool. It is nice. You can run around the depths and there's all these audio logs of Master Koga and, like, the journey that he went in down there to sort of, like, reconstitute the Yiga Clan and, like.

[Sam Claiborne]

Because he thinks he's dead.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. They show it off on the treehouse, and there's only, like, you know, it's like 10 seconds of it. And he's like, is this the afterlife? Like, he doesn't even know what's going on. It's great.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's really funny.

[Mark Medina]

That is kind of how it feels down there. Yeah. I'm gonna be one of those weirdos that probably starts over, though. I think I was, because I'm like, almost at the end of the game, but I don't know. I don't know what I'm doing. So I'll probably just start over.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, I'm happy I made it all the way to that last push towards Ganon. But whatever, I'll just start over again. Amazing game.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

But getting back to Mario Kart world, today we have some quotes from analysts about why they think Nintendo was charging $80 for this game. So this is analyst Dr. Serkantoto, who you'll find commenting on just about any Nintendo news story when they have comments from analysts. So he's talking about. He says, quote, they, Nintendo look at the industry and see Sony charging $700 for a PS5 Pro. Or rumors about price hikes for blockbusters like Grand Theft Auto 6. Nintendo was also encouraged by the fact that they got away with the $70 they charged for Tears of the Kingdom in 2023. And even simpler, I think they raised software prices because they think they can. And I think that's. That kicks to the heart of this.

[Mark Medina]

It's Greed, you can quote me on that. It's greed.

[Damon Hatfield]

I think it's Nintendo got it. Nintendo saying, we understand the standard cost of a new video game in 2025 is $70, but we would like to have more money than that. And that's all it is. Right.

[Mark Medina]

It really ain't deeper than that. We'd like more.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

I mean that's the whole. It's not just greed. It's an actual concept of greedflation. Right. It's just like when you realize that like your supply chain has come back after Covid and you're like, but I don't need to lower my prices ever again. Yeah, you don't. Then there's inflation.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. Once those prices come up, it's. It is almost impossible for them to come back down. Grocery prices and stuff like that. And so especially with games.

[Damon Hatfield]

Now, to be fair, Nintendo, Nintendo's much less aggressive about in game monetization than other publishers. Right. In general, you buy a Nintendo game and you're set. You buy it one time and you're set. There's like, there's the big booster course expansion for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, but just in general, you know, whereas you think about something like Assassin's Creed shadows that costs $70 less than Mario Kart World. However, it has its whole in game Helix store and they sell packs of Helix coins and the large pack costs $35 just to buy, you know, additional in game items.

[Justin Davis]

So you know, Nintendo doesn't DO edition is $120 to begin with.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So Nintendo's just, they're not doing that. If there's a $10 tax on not adding that junk to my game, I guess I don't mind that much.

[Sam Claiborne]

We don't know what their DLC plans are for this.

[Mark Medina]

That's.

[Damon Hatfield]

You're right.

[Mark Medina]

I.

[Justin Davis]

But even if they do have DLC plans, it's not going to be $30 worth of Helix coins to buy some, you know, it's not going to be Ubisoft. Right. So like that's a really important piece of nuance here. And we talk about game prices, everyone's like, well, but the $50 PS1 games on the 90s, that would be $110 in today's money. And what that's missing. So there's this concept of arpu. Arpu, which is average revenue per user. Right. And so it is true that video game prices, like the price of buying into the game has not kept pace with inflation. Games, they're cheaper now than they were in the 90s in terms, you know, inflationary standards, but, like, they're making money off all this other stuff, all the stuff that Damon talked about. So it's been a little bit of, like, the best of both worlds of, like, if you just want the game, you can buy the game for 60 bucks or now 70 bucks. But if you're a crazy hardcore fan and you play this game as a lifestyle and you're really into it, you can buy into all these extras, and you can get the collector's edition, you can get the digital Deluxe edition, and then that gives the publisher the opportunity to sort of, like, make more revenue and drive up their ARPU as well. And so, you know, I. I hope that that's not a shift away from, like, well, okay, I've been doing this a long time. I know what the answer is, is that publishers are just going to do both.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, yeah.

[Justin Davis]

They're just going to. They're going to charge you $90, and they're still going to have the season passes.

[Sam Claiborne]

So I have. I have some good news for everybody. There has been a time in which game prices went down a whole lot, and that was 1983, in which there was so much of a glut of games in the market that were bad that all games went to a dollar bin, and they were, you know, $30, $40 before that. So they all got hundreds of percentage point drops in price, and then the game industry went away entirely. So you can look forward to that.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. I mean, I will say I've easily spent over $100 probably on Marvel Rivals, but I've also played it for almost 200 hours. Oh, no. Yeah, that's fine.

[Justin Davis]

You see in the Mario Kart treehouse footage, by the way, that they showed some, like, crazy dragon that was, like, swimming in the water off in the distance.

[Mark Medina]

I missed.

[Justin Davis]

I know. I'm so pumped. Sorry. That was a little bit of out of nowhere in Mario Kart. Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

I'm excited for this game because, for one, I love Forza, so if they could capture that Forza Horizon magic, I'd be very happy. But also, just like, this game comes out two days before IGN Live, and so I'm, like, pushing our, like, IGN Live people to be like, please make a, like, Nintendo Switch to Mario Kart World Lounge for all of us to. I mean, if we could get switches in America, but, you know, so we can all play together, that'd be so fun. At IGN Live.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, hopefully.

[Sam Claiborne]

Damon, scale from. On the IGN scale, what would you give Donkey Kong right now.

[Damon Hatfield]

I give it a seven. I think it looks good.

[Sam Claiborne]

See?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, I think it looks good.

[Sam Claiborne]

We got some sevens going. Give it a 6.5.

[Damon Hatfield]

I'll give the. That Donkey Kong model an 8. I think he looks great. I saw some people complaining about the model, but I think he looks great.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. What about the little rock guy?

[Damon Hatfield]

I haven't gotten a good look at him.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's called a goomba mark.

[Damon Hatfield]

I know people have been posting a lot of, you know, this game.

[Sam Claiborne]

What about the little turtle thing?

[Damon Hatfield]

This game. This game that I bought in the early 90s would be this much today, adjusted for inflation. And I have a very clear memory of my grandpa buying me Bionic Commando at KB Toys, which was Sam, what, 1988. Bionic Commando 89. For some reason, I can see the price tag on the box, and it was $55 or $54.99. But it's just crazy. That's like 150 bucks adjusted for inflation. It's like, wow, Grandpa, thank you.

[Mark Medina]

Cartridge production, though, was, like, so expensive.

[Sam Claiborne]

It still is.

[Justin Davis]

I have a N64 games are notoriously. It's a big part of the reason why the console lost versus the PS1. Right. Because it was so expensive to make the carts and all the PS1 games for 50 bucks. And then I think I remember. I have a vivid memory. I guess it's not that vivid because I don't remember the exact price, but Mortal Kombat trilogy on the N64, I think, was like $85 or something like that.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. Majora's Mask was that expensive.

[Damon Hatfield]

I know.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. I mean, it's like games, like, not only were they wrapped in plastic, you know, the cartridge, but then, like, every game was a tiny motherboard. Like, that's. I don't know. It's expensive compared to, like, discs.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay, getting back to the price, before.

[Sam Claiborne]

We round out this segment, I want to put a little bow on it by saying I disagree with all of you and I think the price is too high.

[Mark Medina]

You heard it here first.

[Damon Hatfield]

Good.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. I think all your takes are just insane. Nobody wants games to be priced that high.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay.

[Sam Claiborne]

You're all right. David, you were advocating for it the.

[Damon Hatfield]

Right way, I think.

[Sam Claiborne]

Mark. Justin, I just can't. How high can it go me?

[Mark Medina]

I'm like, make it pricier. Come on.

[Justin Davis]

Let's see.

[Sam Claiborne]

We'll see how that. How that affects the comments.

[Mark Medina]

I'm not.

[Justin Davis]

Look, I've been saying for years that games should cost more.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yes.

[Justin Davis]

There we go.

[Mark Medina]

It's too cheap. 700 for a PS5 Pro? Yeah, it's too cheap.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay, so the console itself is $450. At least that it was before Nintendo learned about the tariffs. It's going to be at least $450. There's an article today on Forbes saying somehow are saying it could increase over, over time to like $530. We'll see. Let's stick with the 400.

[Mark Medina]

I saw the five. I saw the five.

[Sam Claiborne]

They better let us pre order it now.

[Damon Hatfield]

I know.

[Mark Medina]

So dude, that's $600 to. If it was 530 for. If you want a Switch at Mario kart, that's over 600 bucks.

[Justin Davis]

You know what's crazy is those consoles. I read a report today that the, the consoles are in the country. They're already here in the United States. But that, but that's not how tariffs work. Like based off their country of origin and stuff. Like they're still subject to the tariff. Like, but they wouldn't have been like if Nintendo would have launched the console now, they could have just put them for sale at that price.

[Mark Medina]

But now they're White House and they're just changing the price tags on them.

[Damon Hatfield]

I just, I just can't imagine what discussions are happening in meeting rooms at Nintendo and in Kyoto right now trying to figure out what to do.

[Justin Davis]

Nothing good.

[Damon Hatfield]

I know, it's just insane. But let's stick.

[Sam Claiborne]

But they could. I mean it is interesting to just really quick speculate on like what would they do instead of raising the price. There are things they can do. They can make the price of other things more expensive. They can take stuff out of the box. They can not do a bundle. They can do things like this, right? They can. I mean they can cut down what they can get for.

[Mark Medina]

Could be. Is it without the bundle though, right?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, that's without the bundle.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's right now.

[Damon Hatfield]

They could eat part of the cost.

[Sam Claiborne]

It'd be the only version available.

[Damon Hatfield]

They could eat part of the cost, which is what other manufacturers do. But Nintendo doesn't. Right?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

So that's.

[Sam Claiborne]

That is a difference. I mean, I always remember the idea of consoles in general has always been, you know, you eat the cost so you can sell software. But I just heard this recently that people don't think Nintendo does that.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, no, they never don't believe that Nintendo, they make a profit on every console sold. Well, so $450. I just want to share some stats here. Like as Mark pointed out, you can get a PS5 slim digital with Astrobot for $400 today. So it's more expensive than a PS5 with Astrobot. That's by itself. Without Mario Kart World, you can get a Series X Digital for 435 bucks or 400 at GameStop if you have their pro membership. I just think that I'm not. I'm not making an argument that it's too expensive for what it is. I think it's too expensive to reach the broad mainstream appeal that the Switch one reached. And what happened to Mark?

[Mark Medina]

Oh no. Oh no.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay, we're back. Mark has replaced his camera. We can continue. So I was just saying the Switch 2 costs more than a PS5 with Astrobot, more than Xbox Series X. When you look at the best selling consoles of all time, the holy trinity is the PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS and the Nintendo Switch. They're all within 10 million units sold. 150 to 160 million. You have a big drop off there when you get to the Game Boy, which includes the Game Boy color. And that's only at 119 million, basically. So you have tens of millions of units difference outside that holy trinity. So my point is, when you just look at this list of the best selling consoles ever, when the concerts up, there's just nothing. That's a $450 concert. There's nothing that's over 400. The only one that's around 400 is. Was the PS4 which was launched at $400 in 2013. That's. That's what? More. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. That's like the sixth best selling console ever. But then it's just the PlayStation and the Wii. Those are both 300 or the Wii was 200 or 250 I think when it launched. There's just nothing in that range. Even when you get down to the PlayStation 3, which launched at $600. Of course the price eventually came down, but that was its launch price. It managed to be the 8th best selling console of all time. That sounds great, right? But that means it sold. Where is it? Why have I lost it? 87 million copies. That's the. That's the spread between it and the $400 PS4. So the point I'm making is just that I. At $450 for just the console with. Even without a game, I just don't see any world where Nintendo gets anywhere near 150 units. 150 million units sold. In fact. It's hard since there's such a big spread between the Switch and anything else. The Switch 1 may be the last console to ever reach 150 million units sold.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, right.

[Justin Davis]

I agree. It's hard to imagine a scenario or an environment where the Switch two outsells the Switch and like, you know, but maybe, I mean look like maybe, maybe that's Nintendo's calculus as well. And rather than like maybe then they're like well okay, effort, $500 console. Like they have the market research and other stuff that tells them they're not going to outsell themselves. So you know, who knows since the.

[Damon Hatfield]

Prices come down for the PS5 some, you know, there's always room for the price to come down, down the line or you know, have some attractive bundles. But I just, I just don't see the Switch being able to get the Switch to being able to get to where the switch one is. I think $300 is like a nice, that's such a nicer price. It feels also like, I think if you're getting switched to with Mario Kart 8, I think parents are going to be a little bit more reluctant to hand over their 500 purchase to their little kids.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, I don't think the Switch one's ever had a price drop. So I don't, I don't know.

[Justin Davis]

Never got one. I got a cheaper model.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, that's a cheaper model. That's a good point. Yeah, that's 250 probably. I can't remember now.

[Justin Davis]

200 maybe 200. I don't remember either.

[Damon Hatfield]

This is a good point to check in with the listeners.

[Justin Davis]

Well, hey listeners.

[Sam Claiborne]

But okay, good, let's do it. Is it about this topic?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes, but it's about games. The price of games, not the price of hardware.

[Justin Davis]

It's about video games. Is that the same topic?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, well, sometimes we go extracurricular.

[Damon Hatfield]

Viewers, listeners, remember you can always reach us at the email address at [e-mail] Just like Reese from Brecon Scotland did. Don't know if I'm pronouncing that correctly. Apologies. If not, hope the Omega Cops are keeping well. They say with the release of the Switch 2 and the ability to be backwards compatible with Switch 1 carts. Do you think this will create a price drop in Switch 1 games? I always thought one of the reasons Nintendo games tend to hold their value is because they are usually locked to one system. Also the fact they are going to be improved on Switch 2 via upgrade should make them less desirable and in my mind cheaper. What do you think? Yeah, so price drops never drop scam prices.

[Sam Claiborne]

I mean they just don't do it.

[Damon Hatfield]

That's not.

[Justin Davis]

I don't agree with the logic. I think, I think if the games are playable on two consoles instead of one, they have more utility and the price is likely to go up, not.

[Sam Claiborne]

Down just after market used games will continue to go down used prices.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, well, because what is Breath of the Wild still?

[Sam Claiborne]

That's because more are out there, by the way. It's not because there's, you know, more and Switch 2 or something. It's like once you have there's only so many kirbys you can print before it starts getting a little bit cheaper in the aftermarket.

[Damon Hatfield]

Nintendo selling Supply Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for $60 today. But it has been discounted by 50% down to $30 in the past.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, yeah, I was just talking about this in another context today. So Nintendo does do discounts, but they don't ever do it in like you know, the, the down to. Down to bargain bin prices. They cut them down to 35 bucks.

[Damon Hatfield]

Breath of the Wild's all time low for the physical version was 63% off $22.49. Although today. What is it? Where is the Nintendo Eshop today? It's selling for $60.

[Justin Davis]

I was just gonna say speaking from memory, I think last Black Friday first party Nintendo games hit like 24 bucks and that was like the overwhelmingly like the lowest, you know, like 30 or 35 is. What's more normal, like once a year. That's about. About the best you can get. Yeah, but you know, Black Friday.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Sam, did you have something to share?

[Sam Claiborne]

I guess I'm just happy that we'll be, you know, forcing Nintendo to develop Super Mario Brothers in the United States from here on out and then everything will be better. Because that seems to be the point of this.

[Justin Davis]

I mean I really think it's. It's only going to take them about three months to switch Switch to production to a factory in Ohio.

[Sam Claiborne]

I mean, I think it'll be. I suspect that Miyamoto would move. Move to the west coast of California, see him at Safeway.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, I mean he'd probably move to Seattle though, right?

[Sam Claiborne]

I hope not.

[Mark Medina]

Wait, did they. Oh yeah. They closed their Redmond offices. Huh? Oh, bummer.

[Damon Hatfield]

Wait, Nintendo of America.

[Sam Claiborne]

I think plenty of Seattle area offices still.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, yeah. One more point I wanted to say about the potential of Switch 2 getting anywhere near Switch 1 sales is that the PlayStation 5 which launched at $500, is currently at 75 million units sold. And Sony itself has said it's over the hill. So I don't know I don't know if the PS5 will even make it to 100 million units sold. It's just none of this bodes well for the console business growing and the console market growing, which Phil Spencer is always saying he's worried about. Like, the console market is not growing. And I don't think you grow it by raising prices like this.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, but by the way, that brings up too that like this is the other shoe is going to drop. Like the Nintendo system is going to go up in price, but not. It's new, but because everything's going to go up in price. Yeah, sorry. Like, if this continues, you're a month away from the PS5 costing more. Like it's just gonna, that's just how it works. So, you know, Nintendo is in this really unfortunate position of timing to be like, first of all, they could have waited to announce the price until after they, you know, a widely shared date in the United States was, was passed. Right. They could have done that or they could have, you know, waited for competitors to see how they reacted, like all this other stuff, but they didn't really. That now it's all really crazy.

[Justin Davis]

It would, it was impossible for them to time it worse. They could not because they could have launched the console a month earlier or they could have announced the price one week later.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, yeah, but I, but I think.

[Mark Medina]

The consensus is that even without tariff stuff, 450 is still fairly expensive. Right. Like, yeah, it could obviously get worse.

[Sam Claiborne]

But Mark, I think, I think they were assuming there would be a tariff still with that and still took the price into account. But it wasn't until we got the, the actual numbers and they were far more than, than anybody projected across the board that that's when the, the, the change has happened. Right. So it's like a lot of people are making this assumption like, like, oh, now that there's the tariffs in place, the price is going to go even higher. Like, I think you can make the assumption that the price was already going higher because of the threat of tariffs. Like, that's like, that's what's happening and it's going to happen to every single piece of thing that comes into the United States.

[Justin Davis]

So I, I mean, like, Razer announced today that they're just pausing sales of laptops.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, they have to.

[Justin Davis]

It's like that's their, I mean, I know it's not literally their whole business because they have chairs and controllers and stuff, but like, that's, they're, they're a company that makes laptops. That's what they do. And they're like, maybe. Maybe. We're just going to sit tight for a sec.

[Mark Medina]

Can't even make them on that. I was gonna say you can't even make them on the penguin island. They put tariffs on that, too.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, and it's weird. They don't even make shaving supplies. They only make laptops and stuff.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay, don't worry. For three quarters of us, California will negotiate its own trade deals with Nintendo.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, we'll have.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, we're gonna become our own country. Sorry, Justin.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay, we'll see about that. All right, I think that's enough. We've exhausted the Nintendo Switch to price discussion.

[Sam Claiborne]

Honestly, it exhausted me.

[Damon Hatfield]

I want to touch on Assassin's Creed Shadows. Who is still playing Assassin's Creed Shadows? Sam?

[Sam Claiborne]

Mark, I'm playing the crap out of that game.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay.

[Sam Claiborne]

I can't put it down.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay.

[Mark Medina]

And, yeah, I'm still. I'm still playing slowly. I'm in a Mass Effect book club, so I'm. I'm trying to, like, you know, share my time, and then I'm playing a redacted game.

[Sam Claiborne]

Are you reading the Mass Effect books in this club?

[Mark Medina]

No.

[Justin Davis]

I was wondering. The same. Video game.

[Mark Medina]

It's a video game club. Yeah. I've never played mass effects 1, 2, and 3. So we're what? Only Andromeda?

[Damon Hatfield]

It's so crazy that Mark likes Andromeda and if he's never played Trilogy.

[Mark Medina]

Andromeda is my favorite Mass Effect. We'll get.

[Sam Claiborne]

We'll get.

[Justin Davis]

We'll get back to Assassin's Crew. What. What Mass Effect are you on?

[Mark Medina]

We started with one. It's me and my friend Lindsay, and we're. We're playing through Mass Effect 1. I just rescued the Liara. Liara. Yeah. And so that's where we're at. That was. My goal for week one, was to get to her, but apparently that's, like, already halfway through the game. Like, I guess Mass Effect 1 is, like, notoriously short.

[Sam Claiborne]

It really would have been funnier if you started with Mass Effect 3. You really missed out.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

Are you boyish Shep or girl Shep?

[Mark Medina]

Girl Shep.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, that's the way. This is the way.

[Justin Davis]

That's the. Yeah, that's the right answer.

[Mark Medina]

Yep. And then.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, well, we'll check back in. So you haven't done Noveria yet. So once you're curious about what decision you're going to choose to make with the Rachni Queen.

[Mark Medina]

So I.

[Justin Davis]

Save it for later.

[Mark Medina]

Wait, which one. So which one's the Like Ice Planet. That's that one right here.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. Okay. So I just got there and it's like, Liara's mom is there. And so, like, we're about to go talk. Well, I mean, as far as I know. So we're about to go talk to her. The comments are going to be pissed about this conversation. Like, what is.

[Justin Davis]

What is.

[Sam Claiborne]

Have you. Have you. Have you been moon bugging around?

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, the Mako is. It's fun. It's fun. Just kind of bouncing around. And so I'm playing the Legendary edition, obviously, on PS5, and it looks great. It doesn't look bad at all.

[Sam Claiborne]

You know, most of the moon bugging is like nothing but that. Sometimes it's like you come across a sphere hanging in the ether, you touch it and you live a lifetime. And it's like. And then it just goes like, all right. Back to gathering resources.

[Justin Davis]

They make. They make us pretty bad.

[Mark Medina]

It's. The game is. Is clunky as all heck. Like, I'm playing as a vanguard. I hate using spells. It's the worst feeling thing ever. So, yeah.

[Justin Davis]

Vastly improved.

[Mark Medina]

I keep hearing it's just like, get through the slog that is Mass Effect 1 and you're gonna like 2 and 3. So much better.

[Sam Claiborne]

Didn't feel like a slog at the time, but two is really good.

[Justin Davis]

The jump up, like Mass Effect 1, it's not bad. It's like, okay. Like, yeah, all right. And then Mass Effect 2 is like one of the greatest games ever made.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, nice.

[Justin Davis]

Such a ridiculous jump.

[Sam Claiborne]

10 out of 10.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep.

[Justin Davis]

Yep.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, I can't wait. So. Yeah. So. So splitting my time, but I. A new patch for Assassin's Creed just came out, and so I'm. I'm E. Thank.

[Justin Davis]

Thank you. Thank you.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. Yeah, right. You can see what I spend my time doing all day. I know all this useless stuff.

[Damon Hatfield]

I just love the vibe of these games. Like this. The music and all the. The voice acting and like the. The voice that reads out all the lore and like.

[Mark Medina]

That. That's the music for every area so far. It's just. That just looks like.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well.

[Mark Medina]

And Seth Green is Joker.

[Damon Hatfield]

Wow.

[Mark Medina]

Seth Green is Joker. He's really great. And then Garrus is cool because he sounds just like Kai from Avowed, just like, with a little bit of a voice module on. So it's. Yeah, he is like that, so it's great. So I'm running with Garrus and look at him go. Look at it. Yeah, it's great. I've not seen that place. I've not seen a jungle place. I just did the volcano, which is.

[Sam Claiborne]

I think it's this area footage of the uprest versions. Right. Because.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, yeah. This has got to be the look.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. This is what it looks like.

[Sam Claiborne]

Assume this is what I remember it looking like. But then when I watch videos of mag, it does not look like this. So it is cool to see that press.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay. Assassin's crews. Last night I hit 40 hours and I realized I was starting to feel kind of bored.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's a lot.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. Which is fine. You know, I played this game for 40 hours. I enjoyed my time.

[Sam Claiborne]

How much of the the central circle have you killed?

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, that's part of the problem. I think I've reached a point where now a does has no missions to do. I think I've done every. At least I have everything I can do right now. I think I only have missions.

[Sam Claiborne]

You did the story. Now a missions.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. And you need all of it. Yeah. Even like side content. Like, the only missions I have available to me are for Yasuke, which is like, you know, just. Sorry, I just like, his playstyle is just not what I want to do.

[Sam Claiborne]

And well, I do have a tip actually. Playing as Yasuke. Just a few of the mainline missions actually opens up a bunch of net. The more missions now I can play.

[Damon Hatfield]

And that's. That's what I tried to do last night. I was like, okay, I'll go do these Yasuka missions. But they're far away from me and it's just kind of like a hassle to get places.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay, well, damn it, Go have fun getting there.

[Damon Hatfield]

I want to just run, buddy. I want to just run there. But I'm like running up a mountain in the densest foliage I've ever seen in a video game. And then it gets too steep and oh, now I'm sliding down. And if I bring up my like, guided pathway, it wants me to go this like, extremely long way around. It's going to take five, ten minutes. Like, just let me run to my location.

[Mark Medina]

I got you, buddy. Okay, so the patch. The patch that came out today. Patched in. That came out today. It's out now. Patched in. Auto horse running. So now you could just set your destination and start your horse to auto run there and sit back and have a beer.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. The thing is, if an open world game has a horse, I will never use the horse. I just don't ever use horses. I want to just run everywhere. Fast travel basically regular speed or in like.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, it's not fast. It's just.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, but yeah, no, you call your horse, set your destination and then as Mark said, drink a beer. But what's nice about this game is that you can just like you do in a Waymo. The what's nice about this game is that, you know, it's like Red Dead where once your horse is autopiloting, you can like spin the camera and it looks amazing.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

You know, ride it. Riding a horse was the original Waymo.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

You just say horse, take me home.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. And the autopilot's there. Yeah, yeah, sure.

[Justin Davis]

Well, if you got a smart horse. I fell off the game too. I mean, I feel I loved it two weeks ago and then I played it two more nights and I realized that the game is just, it's so humorless and like, just kind of like I shared on the show, like, oh, the central mystery of what's in this box and who are these bad guys. I was invested in it and after a couple more nights it seemed to be going nowhere and I'm just like, I don't think I'm invested in this anymore. Like, I also put the game down pretty quick.

[Sam Claiborne]

The Assassin's Templar stuff that starts to come out is pretty interesting. I was ignoring that and then I started playing the main character missions. So that was cool. But what I like doing is, you know, I'm trying to stick to non side questy stuff and just do mains and main some of that. The core stuff. But what I like to do more than anything is go to a new location and see it and see what's around. And so I'm. Instead of doing the tree hill running stuff, which I do sometimes when I get frustrated. Frustrated. And we'll just want to get to a nearby area. And it is funny when you're sliding down a hill over and over again. But yeah, you know, like right now I'm in the southeast region and I hadn't been there very much and like it's really different. There's all these like canyons that come out of the ocean that go up into the mountains and they have. Instead of a path running alongside a river, it has like a little tiny red bridge all the way up going back, like crisscrossing across. And then at the top it's like all pine forest and hot springs. And it's like really different. It's just super cool and just like whoa. And it goes on forever, that area, you know, and it's just, I'm, I, I like seeing the diversity. So I'M enjoying the in between stuff. You know, always in. In exploration based adventure games more than the main stuff. So that's just how I'm playing it. So I'm definitely still playing it.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, there's. There's just so many games right now I really want to play. Blueprints. It looks amazing.

[Damon Hatfield]

I feel like that's.

[Mark Medina]

I really want to.

[Damon Hatfield]

And now it's like the highest rated game of the year.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, I mean I've been playing that too, but I didn't wanna. I wanna put more time in it before I really share.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, but.

[Justin Davis]

But I mean, it's great. Like, I'm happy to share that.

[Damon Hatfield]

To start, it's out in two days and it's on game pass and PS plus, I believe.

[Mark Medina]

Oh.

[Damon Hatfield]

So I'll check that.

[Mark Medina]

I didn't know that. Yeah, that's awesome. And then I really want to play south of Midnight. But yeah, there's just no time. And then I never got very far in Indiana Jones because I really wanted to wait for the PS5 release to get the platinum and that comes out next week. So there's so many games right now to play.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

So it's hard to like stick with one.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, because I was.

[Justin Davis]

Well, you could just do what I do, Mark, and pick something just random.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, I'm just gonna go back and play Legend of Dragoon and just, you.

[Justin Davis]

Know, that'd be a Justin thing to do for sure.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, because I was feeling a certain way about Assassin's Creed last night. I picked up Avowed again for a month or for the first time in a month. And I was having a great time.

[Sam Claiborne]

We were able to pick it up. Cool.

[Justin Davis]

I've never. I like. Obviously some games have classes that you like more than others that are more flashy than others. But like Avowed is like such a clear. It's like the Magic caster class is overwhelmingly the best one. Like it's not. It's not even close. It's like that feels like that's the canonical way to play that game.

[Damon Hatfield]

What's the. Your dwarf companion's name in about? It's an M, I say, I think. Okay, well you have Kai, the big blue guy, and then you have the dwarf guy. So I, I did a mission last night. I'm going to talk about a mission. If you don't want to hear about it, you can skip forward. But eventually you. So a big. A big thing that happens during the game again, spoiler alert, is that you get killed. Right. And then you're brought back and Then you have a mission to go and find your killer. And like, like in any good sort of RPG with choices, you get to decide if you want to attack him or talk, talk with them and then let him go. So, whatever. Like, you talk to your companions. And Kai was telling me he thinks I should spare him and let him go. And the dwarf guy was like, you, he's going to come back to haunt you. You should kill him right now. Well, I let him go. I ended up letting him go. And then I went back to the ambassador who had sent me on the mission, and I told him where the thieves were, the bandits or whatever were hiding out. And he was like, cool, we'll go in there and take care of them and kill them or put them in jail. So then Kai was like, that's a shrewd decision. And the gnome guy who was telling me to kill him, he was like, oh, I can never trust you again. You're someone who's not to be trusted. It's like, what, you were just telling me to kill them. Anyway, that discrepancy bugged me. Justin, a few episodes ago, you were expressing interest in kingdom come deliverance 2, but thought maybe you'd want to play Kingdom Come Deliverance one first. How's that going?

[Justin Davis]

No, I mean, just to rephrase, I feel like I have a compulsion where I'm forced to play Kingdom Come Deliverance one first. And it doesn't matter how good the story recap is or anything. It's just part of me and who I am is I gotta go back and do the original. And so, yeah, no, I got Kingdom deliverance on the PS5. It's the PS4 version. I don't think it's like, up res or anything. And it was $10. And, man, I am loving it. I've been playing it all week. I'm kind of obsessed. Like, I think many people, including us on the show, have described the show as kind of like Skyrim but without dragons because it's medieval in a medieval land. I think that that description does the game a disservice. It's so much more of, like, a medieval life sim than I thought it was. Like, characters. Characters like NPCs. If you go up and talk to them, they'll roast you. If you're wearing, like, dirty clothes or if you haven't had a bath in a while, they're like, yo, you really smell. Or like. Another thing that really surprised me is, like, if you go talk to somebody in their house at night, they're like, what are you doing here? Get out of my house. Like, leave. And like, stuff like that is like, the world just reacts so much more how you expect it to. And like, just the level of. I wouldn't describe it as like a massively hardcore game because it's still video gamey, but just it's really immersive that way. Like, the city feels like it's actually scaled to feel like a really, like. Like a city. Like, it doesn't feel like it's kind of a fake city. Like a lot of the Skyrim ones do. Another really good example of this is because it's the Medieval ages. It's what, 1402 or 3. Like, your character is illiterate. And that's like, actually a gameplay mechanic. Like, you have to learn to read if you want to read any of the skill books that you're collecting. You have to eat food and slink, sleep. And like, I didn't eat food for a long time and my hunger bar was really low and my character got super woozy and the screen got blurry and they, like, almost fell over. Like. So, like, just the simulation aspects of it are so much more immersive than I thought it was. And, like, I'm, like, I'm completely invested. I'm completely hooked. I love it.

[Damon Hatfield]

Cool.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is the combat annoying or fun or.

[Justin Davis]

The combat is kind of annoying, but I have heard that it has a learning curve. Like, the other thing about this game is, like, you're basically the idiot son of a blacksmith. Like, you have no skills. You can't do anything. It's pretty funny. Like, you swing your sword like a little baby. Like, you swing your sword like a little girl when you first start the game. And then you have to, like, skill up in it, right? Like, you have to get better. And so your character is scaling up. Like, their strength is going up and their combat stats going up. But, like, the. The me is the player. Like, the game has a big learning curve on, like, how to do sword combat. So, like, my skills are scaling up too. It's got a little bit of a. It's not the only game to ever do this, but it's got, like a swipey system where, like, you can aim low or aim high or swipe right or swipe left. And so you have to learn to sword fight too.

[Sam Claiborne]

So in Kingdom Come two, do you get, like, knocked to the bottom of a spaceship shaft by Ridley and lose all of your ability to swing your sword?

[Justin Davis]

I was just gonna say, I don't know if the game has a Metroid. Like, you know, sorry, you. You're illiterate again.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, you sure you're playing the same. Are you playing the same character in two?

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, you're the same.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, you are, Henry.

[Damon Hatfield]

Interesting.

[Justin Davis]

And so, like, I just. It's so much more impressive and so different than I thought it was. And like, everything, like, if what you imagine would kill the idiot son of a blacksmith will absolutely kill you. Like an angry dog will kill you. 1, 100%. You can't go toe to toe with like a soldier at the start of a game. Like, they're basically like tanks. They're wearing this armor and like, you can't. You just like, you can't win. So like. But instead of it feeling weak and annoying, it's just this very satisfying progression every time I skill up in anything or like, get a new, like, hat to wear. And then like, my character bleeds left less often when I'm in combat. Like, I can't. Like, I'm kind of obsessed. Like, so I don't know, like, I'll report back in, in another week or two, but so far it's like, it's much more immersive than I expected it to.

[Sam Claiborne]

But do you feel like you've played enough of it now that you can drop this and just go ahead and start Kingdom Come to.

[Justin Davis]

I mean, I don't want to, but it is like, it does make me hype. Like, the game, it runs at 30fps on the PS5 because it is just the PS4 version. So like, and that game's from like 2018. So like, it's not that pretty and it doesn't run that well some of the loading times. Like one time, the loading time was so long that I thought the game had crashed. It just sat there forever just like loading a dialog scene. So like, like that would be the only thing that would make me do what you're describing. Be like, okay, I played half of this game, but like the original got like sevens mostly. Everyone's like, it's great, but it has some technical issues. Whereas the sequel, like, we gave it a 9. It's Metacritic is like 92. It's like a game of the year candidate. So like that huge jump up really makes me excited to be like, you know, I've heard the sequel as like the vision for what they were trying to do with the original but couldn't quite pull off. And so it's like, if that's true, damn. Like, I can't wait to get into it. But for now, I mean, I'm having so much fun with one that I'm happy to stick with it.

[Damon Hatfield]

Sounds like a Mass Effect 1 to Mass Effect 2 situation.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. Or. Or Witcher 1 to Witcher 2 and 3 is how I've also heard it described.

[Damon Hatfield]

That's good.

[Justin Davis]

Mark, you didn't play it, did you?

[Mark Medina]

I played the second one.

[Justin Davis]

Okay. I just, I didn't know. It feels like this would be a mark game. I was thinking.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, it came out at a time that I. It's like I will eventually go back to it. It came out at a time that it was like so busy and you know, like it came out right when Monster Hunter and Assassin's Creed was, was kind of almost coming out. So it, it's like I kind of had to choose work wise what I was working on. And I was working on Monster Hunter so never went back to this.

[Justin Davis]

It does so much clever stuff. One more anecdote of like all the skill checks are. It's just, it's just smart about how it does stuff. Like the skill checks are you versus that other person. So like you can use intimidate, but you're never going to intimidate like a guard. They're going to be like, get out of here. But you could intimidate like a milkmaid. So it's like, it's smart about like. Well, my stats on this are low, but they might still be higher than the person I'm talking to. So like, I don't know, I just, I really like it.

[Damon Hatfield]

We're watching gameplay. He's just been walking through this field for several.

[Mark Medina]

This is it. This is it. This is the game.

[Justin Davis]

It does have a good horse.

[Sam Claiborne]

Damon would never use it.

[Damon Hatfield]

I would never use the horse. Well, Sam brought up Ridley and speaking of Ridley, our next email comes from Pat in Verona, New York who says as a lifelong video game player, one of the gaming blind spots in my history is the Metroid series. I've always been interested, but it seemed there are always other games that receive my time and attention. With the newest entry on the horizon, I feel now is the perfect time to give it a try. Since I know is a beloved franchise to the scoop crew, I thought I would ask you all to help me in picking the best game to get into the series. So Pat, everyone has their favorites, but I think, correct me if I'm wrong, everyone would agree that if you're jumping in first you have to play Federation Force.

[Justin Davis]

That's a joke. That's a joke. Please don't Turn off the episode and go buy it.

[Damon Hatfield]

I kid. I can't.

[Sam Claiborne]

Prime Pinball.

[Mark Medina]

That's the, like, DS1, isn't it?

[Damon Hatfield]

Three DS?

[Mark Medina]

Oh, no.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's a terrible multiplayer. Cutesy multiplayer game. Yeah, I just. I was just kidding.

[Justin Davis]

I think. I think there's two points of entry.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep.

[Justin Davis]

You can get Metroid prime and there's Metroid Prime Trilogy on the Switch would be a great way to play it. Or Super Metroid.

[Damon Hatfield]

Hold up, is the Prime Trilogy available on Switch or just prime remastered?

[Sam Claiborne]

Just prime remastered.

[Justin Davis]

No. Nobody knows.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay, got it.

[Sam Claiborne]

And it's. And it's incredible. I gave it a 10.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep.

[Sam Claiborne]

I. It. That was my first Metroid game. So I, I can confirm that. There's no problem with starting there. You can totally start there. It's not a big deal to have that be your first Metroid game. I think there's an equivalent 2D entry, though, which might make a little bit more sense. If you do care about the kind of plot and you don't need to care about the plot for prime, it's completely different. Like, they just barely reference the other games in the prime series.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's a.

[Justin Davis]

It's.

[Sam Claiborne]

It takes place at a different time. So. But yeah, Zero Mission is on Switch's situation.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's a Game Boy advance game shot.

[Sam Claiborne]

And it is a really, you know, it is, you know, identical to Super Metroid, but it takes place before it.

[Justin Davis]

So, you know, Zero Mission is a remake of Metroid 1. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Zero Mission would be a good point. I mean, Metroid Dread would be a reasonable starting, like, first Metroid game too. I don't like. Look, Super Metroid is my favorite game of all time. Said it on the show many times. But I don't think the lore of the game and like, the linear. I don't think it matters that much.

[Damon Hatfield]

It really doesn't.

[Sam Claiborne]

One thing that Zero Mission does, it does soften the corners of even Super Metroid, which is like, boy, did that do a lot of work to make Metroid a fun game. Because Metroid and the Game Boy Metroid are not that fun in their original formats. So Super Nintendo, the Super Nintendo version was incredible for that. So playable, so accessible. But even compared to the Super Nintendo Super Metroid, Zero Mission does add a bunch of, like, it really helps, like, with the map and kind of explaining how you're really. The whole game is about finding false walls and uncovering the map. Like, you get a better sense of that maybe from Zero Mission, and then you can apply your skills to. I Think what ends up being a harder game in Super Metroid. So there's that too.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Zero Mission has like even little things like mantling up ledges and stuff like that. Like the game. The game feel is really nice. I don't, I don't think like the game world and like scenario is overall as good as Super Metroid and it.

[Sam Claiborne]

Has like the Shine Spark puzzles, which I think are like the really cool kind of deep cut stuff that are really, really hard to do.

[Justin Davis]

That's true.

[Sam Claiborne]

Fusion has that also. But I wouldn't recommend Fusion.

[Justin Davis]

In summary, Super Metroid Zero Mission, Metroid Prime Remastered or probably. I mean, honestly, Metroid Dread. You could start with any of those if the. And then just play them all. Except for you. You don't need to play Metroid 2 or the original in the NES. Probably.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. If the whole point is to prepare for Metroid Prime 4, probably go with Prime Remastered. But everything.

[Justin Davis]

That's a good point.

[Damon Hatfield]

Everything Sam and just are saying about zero emission and Super Metroid or that stands those. If you're just someone who's like interested in video games in general and the history of video games. Like you have to experience what Nintendo did with Super Metroid all the way back then. Like it was. It's so, it's. It's so moody. It has such cool style and atmosphere. It's like. And it's so different from everything else Nintendo was known for at the time. It's amazing. Mark, do you have any take on another. Oh, wait, go ahead.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, another funny thing about Zero Mission is that it introduces the concept of the Chozo, which are key parts of the Metroid prime series and not part of Super Metroid.

[Justin Davis]

There's Chozo statues in Super Metroid. I mean, they might not.

[Sam Claiborne]

You don't talk to the Chozo and have flashbacks and like, stuff like that.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Remember they added in Zero Mission that whole area.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Where you're in the Zero suit. That's where Zero Suit came from.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. You don't talk at all in that game.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, I mean, I famously, you know, too old for metroidvanias is my thing.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh, that's true. That's right.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. A little too old for them. Grow out of them. But no, I, I've actually. The only Metroid I've played is. Is Super Metroid and then Met Red and they're both great. But like, I don't have any sort of like working knowledge of them at all. I do have Metroid prime for the Switch. So I, I should Give it a go before four comes out.

[Damon Hatfield]

That's great.

[Sam Claiborne]

That game is incredible. It'll draw you in right away, too.

[Justin Davis]

When I played Super Metroid for the first time, it was the 90s, and I guess technically the Internet existed, but you know, there wasn't. You couldn't just look up game guides, you know, yet that didn't really exist. And so I got stuck in Super Metroid, right? Like, I was super stuck and I was in the Meridian and couldn't figure out where I was supposed to do and what I was supposed to do. Then I finally figured it out and I got through it and was like, making new progress in the game. And then I remember being upstairs trying to find a save point, desperately trying to save. Find a save point so that I could lock in that progress. And my mom being downstairs screaming at me because I was going to be late for a band concert.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, no.

[Justin Davis]

I'm like, you can just hold on.

[Mark Medina]

Just hold on for one minute.

[Justin Davis]

She's like, we gotta go now. You're gonna be late.

[Mark Medina]

I'm like.

[Sam Claiborne]

Like.

[Mark Medina]

She doesn't understand. Cool.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, parents just don't understand notoriously. And then my kids try to pull that on me. And I'm like, I know what game you're playing. I know that you can just save anywhere.

[Mark Medina]

I know that every time you touch a blade of grass, it's autos saving.

[Justin Davis]

Yep.

[Damon Hatfield]

That brings us to video game 20 questions. And real quick. Apparently last week, people point out, we the game mark. The game was Doom 64 last week. Oh, got it. But apparently we were showing footage of Duke Nukem 64. And I don't know how that, like, I don't know how that would happen since Gilbert would, you know, he would. He would look up, he'd pull an asset. Doom 64. I don't know how that would be Duke Nukem 64. And also, apparently those games look very, very similar because none of us notice any difference.

[Justin Davis]

I mean, I played a lot of Doom 64 and like it a lot. And I did not notice.

[Sam Claiborne]

We commented on the gameplay. We were looking at the. Yeah, it was like 3D.

[Mark Medina]

You're like, I don't remember him chugging beers and having all these women around, but. All right.

[Justin Davis]

But we had. We had some of those details wrong. In Doom 64, you don't actually aim up and down. You shoot up and down. But you aim like, let's say there's an enemy above you. You just aim at them and then it shoots up automatically.

[Damon Hatfield]

Weird. Okay, interesting.

[Justin Davis]

Up and at them up and at them.

[Mark Medina]

The goggles. They do nothing.

[Damon Hatfield]

Our suggestion this week comes from Lane from Reno who says I'm coming up on my 10 year anniversary as a member of Scoop nation. I figured it was time for my first ever write in. Thanks for the soon to be decade of entertainment. And with that, let the questioning begin.

[Justin Davis]

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

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Justin Davis]

Could be Space War.

[Sam Claiborne]

This game ever appear in a cartridge format?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Mark Medina]

All right.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, we knocked out the Switch along with the Game boy Advance and DS's.

[Justin Davis]

And very late in 64 games.

[Sam Claiborne]

Unless it's an indie game, which we can go ahead and ask and.

[Justin Davis]

And engage.

[Mark Medina]

Was this game exclusive to a platform when it came out?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes, and I was incorrect. Oh, apologies.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh no, it's a game as cartridge.

[Damon Hatfield]

Has appeared on a cartridge. Apologies.

[Mark Medina]

We get three questions back.

[Sam Claiborne]

I don't think.

[Justin Davis]

I don't think I've ever seen an engage cart, now that I think about it.

[Mark Medina]

I didn't know there was engage carts.

[Justin Davis]

Oh yeah, that was its whole thing.

[Mark Medina]

I thought. I thought you just downloaded them. Huh. All right.

[Sam Claiborne]

Was this original exclusivity Nintendo based?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Mark Medina]

Okay, so.

[Justin Davis]

So What? So that's GameCube, Wii or Wii U? Probably.

[Mark Medina]

Well, if it appeared on a cart, then you would think it's got to be Switch.

[Justin Davis]

Oh, well, yeah, but I mean, I guess the fact that that was a little ambiguous makes me think it was maybe didn't start with the Switch. Yeah, maybe that's. I don't like, I could be wrong.

[Sam Claiborne]

It sounds like it got a digital release first maybe, and then got put on a Switch.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, that could be.

[Mark Medina]

Hmm, let's see.

[Sam Claiborne]

So let's see. Was. So we know it's published by Nintendo or we know it was a Nintendo exclusive, but we don't know if it was developed. Published by Nintendo. So I'm going to ask was this developed or published by the Big N?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes. That's five.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is this a Mario universe adjacent game?

[Damon Hatfield]

Nope.

[Justin Davis]

Does this game star a character that is in the Super Smash Brothers ultimate roster?

[Damon Hatfield]

Again, you need to familiarize yourself.

[Mark Medina]

You need a poster.

[Damon Hatfield]

Not being a Smash guy, but I. I do not think so.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay.

[Justin Davis]

It's not Game and watch.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's not. Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

Ice climbing or Toon Link or Kirby. Okay, that it's so. But that means it's not Splatoon either. Could be arms every. Every week.

[Sam Claiborne]

Did this game originally not come out on the Nintendo Switch?

[Damon Hatfield]

So for a double negative.

[Mark Medina]

No, wait, hold on.

[Justin Davis]

Wait.

[Damon Hatfield]

Did it originally not Come out for Nintendo Switch. The answer is no.

[Sam Claiborne]

So it came out for Nintendo Switch.

[Mark Medina]

Did come out for Nintendo Switch.

[Justin Davis]

But it's a Nintendo developed or published, so. Okay, so Game Builders Garage. One two Switch Ring fit. One two Switch or arms.

[Sam Claiborne]

You're thinking of the weirder digital ones.

[Mark Medina]

Well, yeah, I'm thinking of something that's like, maybe you would think one two Switch did not come on a cartridge, but it did. Or arms. Yeah, Snipperclips is pretty good.

[Sam Claiborne]

Was this a launch window game for Nintendo Switch?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, it's gotta be. Well, snipper clips never came out physically, I don't think, but they might have.

[Justin Davis]

They might. They might have.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. I. I guess it depends on like limited run games and stuff. Like if those are counted. I. I don't know. I'm feeling 12 switch.

[Sam Claiborne]

Should we ask about multiplayer?

[Mark Medina]

It's just. I mean, they're all multiplayer, right?

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh, yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's gonna be either snipper clips or 12 switch or something like that.

[Justin Davis]

Launch era. What? I mean, I'm trying to think about what else was around back then. They had that jumper up game.

[Sam Claiborne]

That was so cute.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, it was really cute.

[Mark Medina]

I cannot believe the Nintendo Switch 2 is launching with a tech demo that you have to pay for. Oh, I don't care.

[Damon Hatfield]

We're supposed to talk about that. I missed. I still can't believe I forgot to bring that up.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's really funny. I watched the full video of it too, and it was like, it looks so boring.

[Mark Medina]

Dude.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's so boring that it has to be a pack in. It was so boring is crazy. Yeah, but I mean, I mean, I want to get a tour of the controller and everything. That's fine. Like, I want to feel what that. What the sand feels like inside versus a rubber ball. But like 10 bucks.

[Mark Medina]

10 bucks?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. Again, Nintendo's like, you can buy an.

[Justin Davis]

Actual rubber ball filled with sand for less than that.

[Damon Hatfield]

We understand this looks like it should be included, but we would like you to pay us for it.

[Mark Medina]

Yep.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Right from Bill Trenin's mouth.

[Justin Davis]

They have like, these executives have very polite and very corpo speaks.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

What they're basically saying is like, suck it down, nerds.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, Well, I can't. His justification was like, they worked really hard on it and it's really cool. And I'm like, astro's playroom came installed on my PS5, bro. And that's like an actual game, so I don't want to hear it.

[Sam Claiborne]

Anyway, we said the name of this game yet?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes. That's 10.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

Is it a co op. Is it a co op puzzle game?

[Mark Medina]

Yes, it's Snipperclips.

[Justin Davis]

Is it Snipper clips?

[Damon Hatfield]

It is Snipper Clips. Cut it out together.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Which I don't know.

[Mark Medina]

I was actually disappoint. Disappointed to not see Snipperclips 2.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, yeah, it's a little bit weird. This developer hasn't done anything for Nintendo since. I think there's just some memes, like some mobile games. But it seems like the developer had this idea for a game and they came to Nintendo with it and Nintendo ended up publishing it. So you would think they would sort of like form a relationship there, but nothing else has come of it.

[Justin Davis]

Well, this developer is SFB Games and I was just on their Wikipedia page like literally like last week because they made Crow country, which is this really beloved sort of PS1 style horror game that took off and I was like, oh, SFP games. Like what else have they been up to? And I'm like, what? They were the developer of Snipperclips. It's just so weird and random.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, it is random. This was a cool game. I guess I thought it was like an eShop only game, but there's. You can buy a card for it from Amazon right now.

[Sam Claiborne]

What is this rated?

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

I do like this game.

[Justin Davis]

They did like a dlc. Wasn't there like a. Like a.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's Eclipse plus.

[Mark Medina]

Oh.

[Damon Hatfield]

And it was only. It was the same year. 2017 is only like six months later. Yeah, yeah. This was a cool. This is a cool game and I don't think there's really anything like it that I know of even to this day.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, for sure.

[Mark Medina]

I. It's like they could have done stuff with the mouse controls and stuff. I get that. It's like it was a Joy Con kind of tech demo, but like, like the Joy Cons are new. They do new stuff.

[Justin Davis]

I don't know. Nintendo doesn't get out of bed unless a game is going to sell 5 million or more units anymore.

[Damon Hatfield]

Gotcha.

[Mark Medina]

Makes sense.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, nicely job. Thank you for the suggestion Lane from Reno. Viewers, listeners, if you have your own suggestions for video game 20 questions, email them to me at the email address game scoop.com and it is spiel time. Want to let you know, of course, IGN Live is returning this June, June 7th and 8th here in LA and right now we're running an early bird discount. So through April we are running early bird pricing for it's a significant discount on the regular price. 15 for a single day ticket instead of 25. Or you can get the VIP pass for 30 instead of 40. You can find [e-mail] ign live or is it just ign live? Is it just slash live?

[Justin Davis]

It's just slash live.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay. IG.com live so we can get those this episode of Game Soup was produced by yours truly Damon Hadfield and Gilbert Atienza. Technical direction is handled by Gilbert Atienza. Technical production is by Marian Franzen and Amir Raqib. Audio engineering is by Amir Raqib and post production editing is by me. Graphic design is by Nicole Kagempen. Gamescoop is an IGN production and part of the Geek Media Network. That's all the scoops we have for you this week. Tonight my wife and I are going to Star Wars Night at Disneyland. Please be excited for me. Should be good. There's a whole new like Star wars projection light show in Galaxy's Edge. Yeah, definitely gonna check that out.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, yeah. Yep.

[Damon Hatfield]

To be awesome. Thank you Sam. Thank you Mark. Thank you Justin. Thank you to everyone working behind the scenes to make this episode possible. My name is Damon. This is IGN GamesCube and we're from the folks behind Outside Xbox and Outside Extra comes the Oxventure podcast, where the supernatural action horror comedy of the weird west has returned in a new season of tabletop RPG Deadlands. Each week on the Oxventure podcast, we visit a treacherous frontier full of monsters and magic where even the trains run on the souls of the damned.

[Sam Claiborne]

Our five players have only overcome impossible.

[Damon Hatfield]

Odds and now find themselves running a monster hunting agency for hire. But when sinister forces threaten one of their own, it sets in motion a whole new adventure. They may not all survive, so join us in Oxventure Deadlands only on YouTube.com oxventure and on the Oxventure Podcast, available wherever fine podcasts are downloaded.

[Mark Medina]

Deadlands is an Oxventure production and part.

[Damon Hatfield]

Of the Geek Media Network. Next Gen Console Watch is the Igen show discussing the latest gaming hardware. Whether it's the PS5 Pro, Nintendo Switch 2, or something new from Xbox, it's all fair game. A Next Gen Console Watch hosted by myself, Damon Hatfield, a 20 year IGN veteran. I am joined by my co hosts, Ryan McCaffrey, host of IGN's Xbox podcast Podcast Unlocked, and Max Scoville, host of iGen's PlayStation podcast Podcast Beyond. I will try to keep these console war discussions civil, but no promises. Listen to Next Gen Console Watch on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Friday.