Game Scoop! 825: Virtual Insanity

Summary

Game Scoop! 825: Virtual Insanity

Date: September 17, 2025
Host: Damon Hatfield
Panel: Sam Claiborne, Justin Davis, Mark Medina
(Ad breaks, intros/outros, and non-content sections omitted)

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Episode Overview

This episode of Game Scoop dives into the aftershocks of a major Nintendo Direct, with the crew unpacking a wave of Nintendo news, retro gaming nostalgia, and the debut of Borderlands 4. They debate pricing controversies, reminisce about Mario Galaxy, speculate on the new Mario movie, dissect Metroid Prime 4’s polarizing reveal, and spotlight the quirky Virtual Boy revival. As always, the group rounds things out with a lively round of Video Game 20 Questions.

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Main Topics & Deep Dives

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1. Mario Galaxy Returns—Game and Movie

[03:02–08:59]

Switch Re-Releases and Pricing

• Mario Galaxy 1 & 2 are coming to Switch 2, and also to original Switch.
• Confusion around the packaging and pricing: previously, All-Star Collection set was 3 games for $60, now it’s 2 games for $70—one of which was already previously included.
  • Damon Hatfield: "That's why people are a little annoyed at this announcement." [03:35]
  • Ala carte options are $40 each [03:50]

Nostalgia & Gameplay

• Damon is excited to experience Galaxy 2 for the first time and introduce them to his son.
• Justin makes the case for Galaxy 2 as possibly the greatest 3D platformer ever:
  • “There’s a strong argument that Mario Galaxy 2 is the best 3D platformer of all time. I might be in that camp.” [04:25]
• The crew discusses gameplay differences between Galaxy 1 (more exploratory) and 2 (streamlined/goal-based), Luigi’s mechanics, and the benefit of a replay.

Mario Galaxy Movie Announcement

• Movie sequel confirmed: Super Mario Galaxy coming next spring.
  • Justin: "I can't believe they're going directly to Galaxy instead of Super Mario World in between." [07:51]
  • Some wish Nintendo would spend more time in Mario World’s classic settings before going cosmic.

Movie Cast Theorizing

• Discussion of possible voice actors for Rosalina, notably Ariana Grande rumored, acknowledged for her “spacey” affect in Wicked [11:07–11:24].
• Sam notes the contrast in casting strategy between Mario and Zelda projects.

Side Commentaries

• Minecraft movie's quality lamented: “I think the [Minecraft] movie just looks terrible.” – Damon [09:24]
• Nostalgia for Yoshi, Bowser as perennial villain, and Nintendo’s approach to anniversaries and series milestones.

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2. Nintendo Content & DLC Pricing Woes

[12:09–14:49]

Donkey Kong Bonanza DLC

• Sam previewed the DK DLC, enjoyed its completionist vibe, especially Emerald Rush mode with destruction-based skill runs.
  • "I think running around the game and getting all the bananas…wasn't that much fun…but this [Emerald Rush] is really cool." – Sam [17:10]
• Online sentiment is largely negative, focused on the $20 price following multiple expensive Nintendo announcements.

DLC, Value, and Perceived Cut Content

• Discussion of whether post-launch DLC (especially so soon) feels like withheld content.
  • Justin: "I don't think this content's cut, but I do think [DK Island] was probably once meant to be part of the main game." [13:36]
• Comparison to Pokémon and the ongoing “Silksong” content pricing discourse.

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3. Metroid Prime 4 Reaction

[20:59–28:50]

Release Date & Impressions

• Metroid Prime 4 confirmed for December 4th.
• Reception to footage is mixed-to-skeptical, especially concerning visuals and marketing presentation.
  • Justin: “I think Metroid looks so stupid. I think the bike looks so stupid.” [21:27]
  • Sam: “If you put [Metroid Prime 4 and Star Wars Outlaws] side by side, it ain’t looking great for Metroid.” [22:30]
  • Mark: “[Nintendo fans] don’t care that Breath of the Wild ran at 30fps…but wild looked good.” [23:00]

Game Reveal Discourse

• Panelists emphasize Nintendo’s history of games previewing poorly but delivering at release (e.g., Mario Wonder).
• Sam: “At some point, we’re gonna see 30 minutes of... gameplay…and I hope that looks good.” [24:16]
• Internal debate about trailers, “bullshot” demos, and what actually excites fans versus what’s shown in sizzle reels.

Marketing and Critical Perspective

• Sam underscores the importance of evaluating gameplay over marketing, providing critical perspective for the audience:
  • “Whatever marketing is trying to tell you…as a critic you need to drop that and say, is it fun?” [28:52]

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4. Fire Emblem: Fortunes Weave Announcement

[31:01–33:36]

• Next mainline Fire Emblem (2026) is previewed.
• Justin: “I have mixed feelings – I really like Fire Emblem, but I’m mad they took over Advance Wars.”
• Series is praised for “rock-paper-scissors” core mechanics, and constant refinement.
• Permadeath is now an option rather than a default, which some panelists miss.

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5. Virtual Boy Returns (?!?): Nostalgia & Hardware Skepticism

[33:36–40:56]

Virtual Boy Games on Switch Online (Expansion Pack)

• Nintendo is launching Virtual Boy games for Switch, available as part of NSO+.
• Two device options: a $100 plastic dock (for Switch 2) and a $25 cardboard "Labo" version.
  • Sam: “It’s just like any of these cardboard things…your phone into. They basically are separating your eyes and…each eye sees a different screen.” [34:25]
• The team expresses skepticism and amusement about the red lens design, physical comfort, and probable lack of use.
  • Sam: “It is the greatest system ever made…and has the best library of any console ever. But the red is a little harsh.” (jokingly; [35:47])

Library, Exclusivity, and Functionality

• Launch includes 14 games; more to come, including some Japan-only titles (e.g., “the horror game”).
• Games can be played without the hardware, albeit without 3D effects.
• Sam is buying both just to keep unopened, for posterity.

Cultural Whimsy

• Reactions range from bewilderment to joy ("this is insane, but I’m glad it’s happening" – Damon [38:23]).
• Panel references the “Bernstein Bears paradox” as reality gets stranger.

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6. Borderlands 4: Early Impressions and PC Drama

[41:37–57:31]

Mark’s Review-in-Progress

• Borderlands 4 is out, and Mark’s played extensively on both PC and PS5 Pro.
  • PC launch was a mess: “everything everybody’s saying about the PC launch is correct. It runs like absolute garbage…I played on a 3090 Ti and it runs terrible” [41:48].
  • PS5 version: “I think it’s great…super fun…this is a Mark game: just shoot things and they die, and there’s tons of numbers.” [42:24]
  • Gameplay loop is fun, with inventive new guns (e.g., Rainbow Vomit shotgun).

Story, Humor, and Structure

• Story feels “more grounded” but is still silly; humor remains intact, especially with Claptrap.
• Open world is more “actual open world” but not without some navigational quirks.
• Mission dialogue now switches to radio if you walk away—a very appreciated QoL feature. [46:12]

Level Scaling & Legacy Issues

• Enemies scale with player, which splits the panel: some dislike always-leveled content, preferring to be overpowered through grinding. [47:20]
• Co-op scaling and loot is robust and flexible.

Randy Pitchford’s Twitter Antics

• Mark, Justin, and Damon discuss Gearbox boss*'s* online persona:
  • Justin: “He’s out there mixing it up with gamers…he’s just bad at it. Just don’t.” [51:11]
  • Panel laments this unfiltered, sometimes confrontational PR approach, especially in light of technical problems.

DLSS Controversies

• Extended discussion on DLSS (AI upscaling) skepticism, its impact on performance, and how it is perceived to shift optimization responsibility.
  • Some worry devs might use DLSS as a crutch, instead of optimizing. [56:16]
  • Sam: “This is all so imminently fixable over time, too. ...Come on, it’s going to be fine, but you don’t need to inflame everybody.” [57:31]

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7. Silksong Progress

[58:18–61:07]

• Sam is deep into Silksong, highlighting its difficulty and metroidvania structure, but admits he’ll lose the thread if he stops for even a week.
• Mark reiterates he’s "too old for Metroidvanias—especially hard ones," to the group's amusement.

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8. Video Game 20 Questions: BurgerTime

[64:57–73:37]

• This week’s game is BurgerTime (1982, Data East).
  • Panel quickly narrows it down through clever questions: era, geo-origin, NES port, and lack of jumping.
  • Notable moment: “Does this game have a pepper button?” (Sam [70:34])
  • Fun facts on the arcade cabinet and franchise deep cuts round out the segment.

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Notable Quotes & Soundbites

• On Mario Galaxy 2:
  ”There’s a strong argument that Mario Galaxy 2 is the best 3D platformer of all time ever made.”
  – Justin Davis [04:25]

• On the Mario Movie Choices:
  ”It took Fast and Furious nine movies to go to space—only two for Mario.”
  – Mark Medina [08:30]

• On Nintendo’s Pricing:
  ”There was a lot of positivity about what’s coming out for Nintendo, but then a lot of, like…what is going on with these prices? Jerry Seinfeld style!”
  – Sam Claiborne [12:26]

• On Metroid Prime 4 Reveal:
  ”I think Metroid looks so stupid. I think the bike looks so stupid.”
  – Justin Davis [21:27]

  “If you put [Metroid Prime 4] and Star Wars Outlaws side by side, it ain’t looking great for Metroid.”
  – Sam Claiborne [22:30]

• On Criticism and Marketing:
  “Whatever marketing is trying to tell you…as a critic, you need to drop that and say, is it fun? That’s the main question you answer as a reviewer.”
  – Sam Claiborne [28:52]

• On Virtual Boy Revival:
  “It is the greatest system ever made, and it has the best library of any console ever. But the red is a little harsh.”
  – Sam Claiborne (sarcastic) [35:47]

  ”This is insane, but I’m glad it’s happening.”
  – Damon Hatfield [38:23]

• On Borderlands 4 Technical Issues:
  ”It runs like absolute garbage…I played on the computer in the background there…it runs terrible…that’s Unreal Engine 5 for you. I’ve said it before on the show: Unreal Engine 5—the worst. It’s just the worst.”
  – Mark Medina [41:48]

• On Level Scaling:
  ”What’s the point of the numbers if they all just equal zero all the time?”
  – Sam Claiborne [47:27]

  ”I put in the time. My reward is I’m OP.”
  – Damon Hatfield [47:40]

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Key Timestamps

• 03:02 – Mario Galaxy (Switch re-releases and pricing)
• 07:43 – Super Mario Galaxy Movie
• 12:09 – Donkey Kong Bonanza DLC & pricing controversies
• 20:59 – Metroid Prime 4 release and reveal reactions
• 31:01 – Fire Emblem announcement & thoughts
• 33:36 – Virtual Boy games/hardware reveal for Switch
• 41:37 – Borderlands 4 reactions & PC performance woes
• 49:15 – The Randy Pitchford social media saga
• 58:18 – Silksong gameplay frustrations & progression
• 64:57 – Video Game 20 Questions (BurgerTime solution at 70:37)

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Episode Tone & Vibe

True to Game Scoop! form, the crew keeps things witty, self-aware, and passionate, with frequent side-banter and playful jabs. They collectively value healthy skepticism, critical distance from marketing spin, and an appreciation for gaming history—while also never taking anything too seriously.

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End Note

Episode 825 exemplifies Game Scoop!’s expert blend of news, analysis, and retro-flavored camaraderie. For Nintendo fans, retro enthusiasts, or those looking to navigate the latest hype cycles with a grain of salt, it’s a must-listen (or read).

Transcript

[Damon Hatfield]

The Virtual Boy returns on Nintendo Switch in a really expensive way. But that's not all. Nintendo recently announced We've got Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 coming back, Mario Galaxy movie, Metroid Prime 4 release date, and Borderlands 4 is here. All that and more on this week's Game Soup coming up right after these messages. Planning any exciting trips this year? I bet something you might not be planning is learning the local language. Well, with Babbel, you only need a few weeks to learn 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 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 I want you to learn another language. So I'm teaming up with Babbel to gift you 55% off subscriptions, but only for our listeners. @babel.com Gamescoop get up to 55% [e-mail] Gamescoop Spelled B A B B E L.com Gamescoop Babel.com Gamescoop rules and restrictions may apply.

[Mark Medina]

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[Damon Hatfield]

Raise the sails.

[Mark Medina]

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[Damon Hatfield]

Captain, an unidentified ship is approaching.

[Sam Claiborne]

Over.

[Damon Hatfield]

Roger wait.

[Mark Medina]

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[Sam Claiborne]

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[Justin Davis]

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[Sam Claiborne]

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[Justin Davis]

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[Sam Claiborne]

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[Damon Hatfield]

What's up everybody? Welcome to IGN Games Group, I'm your host, Damon Hatchfield. Joining me this week are Sam Claiborne.

[Sam Claiborne]

Scoop, scoop, scoop, scoop, scoop, scoop.

[Damon Hatfield]

Justin Davis.

[Justin Davis]

Scoop.

[Damon Hatfield]

And Mark Medina.

[Mark Medina]

I'm here. Damon, the reverb on that scoop.

[Damon Hatfield]

I know.

[Mark Medina]

Thought it was never going to end.

[Damon Hatfield]

That's good. We got a great show for you this week. So much to talk about, especially after that big Nintendo Direct, New Mario Games, Donkey Kong DLC, Metroid Prime 4 release date, new Fire Emblem. Plus Borderlands 4 is out there in the wild. There's lots of. It's been a little bit. I don't know if controversial is the right word, but Randy Pitcher just cannot help himself from replying to every single person who complains about it.

[Sam Claiborne]

I want to know what Randy thinks of retro right now.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh yeah, I love to hear that, but I know, I think Mark, you.

[Sam Claiborne]

Tune that up for us.

[Damon Hatfield]

Mark has been playing a lot of Borderlands 4, I believe, so I'd love to hear his thoughts on that. But let's begin with. But first, let's begin with Mario Galaxy, which seems to be coming back in a big way. First, we've got Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 coming to Nintendo Switch 2. Is it also coming to Switch 1 or just Switch 2? I'm not even sure.

[Justin Davis]

Oh, that's a good question.

[Sam Claiborne]

I think it is because There's a Switch 2 version that has tweaks that they mentioned that are up like, you know, slightly up res or something like that.

[Mark Medina]

Well, and Galaxy One is already on Switch 1.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, that's what's confusing is they put Galaxy in the other collection.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep. Yeah. So you're talking about the All Star collection, which was three games for 60 bucks. And now this collection has two games for 70 bucks and one game that was already in the All Star collection. So that's why people are a little annoyed at this announcement.

[Mark Medina]

You can buy them ad hoc, but they are $40 a piece.

[Damon Hatfield]

$40 a piece.

[Sam Claiborne]

You can pre order the Switch 1 version right now.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay, good to know. So I don't know me, I'm actually looking forward to playing these because I played Mario Galaxy 1, but it was nearly 20 years ago now and I never played Mario Galaxy 2 because it came out. It came out at a time when I was just so completely over the Wii and waggle controls and its SD visuals and all that. So I'm sure it's a great game. We gave it a 10 out of 10. I look forward to playing it now. Plus, it's a. It's the perfect way to Just introduce them to my son.

[Justin Davis]

There's a strong argument that if someone wanted to make the argument that Mario Galaxy 2 is the best 3D platformer of all time ever made, like that I would like, I might be in that camp. Like, I'm curious to replay it myself. It's a really classic argument of like, two is so good and improves on one in almost every way, but it's like very iterative. So it's like it didn't have the same cultural impact or anything that one did. Right. It was just kind of like more of the same, but ever so slightly better. And so then some people like to give the nod to one for being like the bigger deal from like an innovation standpoint. But man, what a package these two are. I will absolutely replay them. And as you said, like, no, I don't like the price tag, but like, I'm gonna play it and my kids are both gonna play it and it's gonna be new to the two of them. So, you know, for me it's. I'm not, I'm not too upset about it personally.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, it looks low res now, huh? It's funny looking at this again, you know, Like, I remember it being like, oh, this is ageless. It'll be fine. And it kind of is, but.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, this is. We're looking at our review from the time.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So it doesn't. I. I think it does need like a little bit of an up port to make it look, you know, kind of shiny and contemporary.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, I mean, like these Mario games, 3D Mario games kind of come in two different flavors. Right. The more platformy ones and then the more puzzle exploration ones. And you know, I don't think you have to be in one camp or the other. I really like them both. But like, most people seem to have a preference for which style of 3D Mario they prefer. And like, we got the most puzzle, most exploration one possible in the form of Odyssey. Right. And now Galaxy and Galaxy 2 are like the extreme other end of, like, it's really kind of just hardcore ish platforming all the way through. Like, it's awesome. Like, it's very Astrobot esque, I guess. Astrobot is Mario.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. I describe it as kind of goalpost based. Right. Cause you're always just getting to some kind of shorter, compact goal. Even if you're kind of revisiting the Galaxy, you won't usually be in the same area. Sometimes it's waggle controls, sometimes it's, you know, this, this. But you're doing it as Yoshi. As, you know, with Yoshi or this one, you're doing it with Luigi. And Luigi level is actually a really, really difficult spin in Galaxy 2, at least.

[Justin Davis]

Yep. I remember that this game has different.

[Sam Claiborne]

As you know, everybody knows Luigi likes to kick a little bit in the air, and that screws everything up.

[Mark Medina]

He does. This one has more of a. Like, it's like, more streamlined. Right. Like, it has, like, level select and stuff like that. I'm trying to remember if I ever played I. I know I played Galaxy 2, but I'm trying to remember what exactly, like, the big differences were.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, I remember selecting levels instead.

[Justin Davis]

A.

[Sam Claiborne]

Interesting. Which it wasn't that great in Galaxy, but, like, the planet is like a castle, right? So there's like, exploration and you kind of discover a pipe, and then you go to a new galaxy. This one is just like, here's your selection screen. And it's like little blobs of 3D that you go down and select.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, yeah, I like that. I actually. I actually prefer that.

[Damon Hatfield]

But you guys, this. The 1 and 2 collection is coming out the same day as Ghost of Yote.

[Mark Medina]

No, no.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Actually didn't realize that. Oh, my goodness. Okay, well, so probably just gonna play Ghost of Yote. But this is cool that it exists.

[Justin Davis]

Great.

[Sam Claiborne]

Amiibo. Yeah, they're really good. Chunky.

[Damon Hatfield]

And then we now know also that the sequel to the Mario movie, which is coming next spring, is the Mario Galaxy movie. The Super Mario Galaxy movie.

[Justin Davis]

I can't believe they're going directly to Galaxy instead of Super Mario World in between.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, yeah, that's true.

[Justin Davis]

I say that half jokingly, but it actually does kind of bug me a little bit. It's like, you know, we all kind of assume Nintendo is going to slowly and steadily build out a big cinematic universe, just like everybody's trying to do. But it's like, you know, if they really are going straight to space and straight to exploring other planets and, like, straight to Rosalina and all that stuff. It's like they teased Yoshi for like, a second half in the first Mario movie. Like, yeah, I wish they would have spent a little bit more time, you know, digging into sort of the world. Ish of Mario. But, you know, whatever.

[Mark Medina]

It took Fast and Furious nine movies to go to space, only to Mario second movie.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, I'm excited to see a real trailer. Like, the Mario movie was a good time, not a great time, and I'll be there for the sequel.

[Mark Medina]

I mean, it's a short time.

[Damon Hatfield]

I would disagree with that. I think it's a great. I think it's at least great fun, super fun movie to watch.

[Justin Davis]

I.

[Damon Hatfield]

A lot of it is just sort of like references, but I like all those Easter eggs in there and everything. I think that's fun.

[Sam Claiborne]

I did too. I saw a lot of neg takes about this movie. They're kind of like hindsight takes. And I was like, I didn't know that that sentiment had happened. And like, I realized why. It's because when you can stream it whenever you want, it's probably pretty annoying to have this in the background with your kids watching it all the time. But I. I liked it a lot. I thought it was a cool movie.

[Justin Davis]

I mean, I'll say this, it is much, much better than the Minecraft movie.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, God.

[Mark Medina]

Oh my God. So I have to take your word.

[Damon Hatfield]

For that because I have.

[Mark Medina]

I refuse to research it.

[Damon Hatfield]

I have not sat down and actually watched the Minecraft movie, but my kids watch it, so it's on. And just one thing, you know, I'm also not a Minecraft person, so maybe it's on purpose. Purpose. I think the movie just looks terrible. Like, they don't look like they're in that world. It looks like there's just people in front of like a really bad green screen or something. Looks bad. I don't know.

[Justin Davis]

Yep.

[Damon Hatfield]

So I don't know. Mario Galaxy. I agree with Justin. You know, they tease Yoshi at the end credits scene, which is. Which is a lame tease because we already saw Yoshi's in the movie. We already saw Yoshi's in the movie.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

So, yeah, you would think it'd be Mario World. And then, I don't know, maybe the Koopalings break Bowser out of. You know, because they have him captive and shrunk down. But Bowser is the. He's the villain in the Galaxy games too. Right. So he can still be the villain. But isn't Bowser Jr. In Galaxy also?

[Justin Davis]

He's in Sunshine. I can't keep track of Bowser Jr versus the Koopa kids of her race.

[Mark Medina]

Most of the Wii games from my memory.

[Sam Claiborne]

It does make sense if it's more of a space adventure. Right. Because that has Chris Pratt starring in it.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, that's true.

[Justin Davis]

That's true.

[Damon Hatfield]

That's true.

[Justin Davis]

He's. He. Yeah. Galaxy movies are his specialty.

[Damon Hatfield]

They announced the.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, right, cuz. Guardians of the Gal.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's right, Mark. That's exactly it. That's exactly the point.

[Mark Medina]

That was. That was for the. That was for the audience members that were very confused.

[Justin Davis]

I have always said that the best jokes are the ones that you have to explain afterward to people and you.

[Mark Medina]

Have to end it with, well, so that's why that's funny.

[Damon Hatfield]

And if we were just looking at Galaxy 1 or 2, then Bowser Jr. Is in it. So they announced the returning cast. The returning cast member is coming back. Who plays Rosalina?

[Mark Medina]

Who?

[Damon Hatfield]

Or we don't know. I'm just wondering who.

[Mark Medina]

Do you think it's funny? Because Anya Taylor Joy looks so much like Rosalina that I'm like, just have her do both. Oh, wait, have her do both. She's just got to do both. I've heard Ariana Grande is what a.

[Damon Hatfield]

But okay.

[Sam Claiborne]

Makes total sense.

[Justin Davis]

She's good and Wicked.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

And she has, like, kind of that. That space case affect that she's been using since she, you know, joined Wicked's cast.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay. Yeah, yeah.

[Mark Medina]

We'll just say. We'll just say her. Okay. There's.

[Sam Claiborne]

But it'll be. They've been loving nobodies for Zelda. So it's. It's kind of interesting that, you know, Mario went with, like, all the. The big guns.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, so this year is the 40th anniversary of Super Mario. Is next year the 40th of Zelda?

[Justin Davis]

I guess it must be. But they don't really like Nintendo. Every five years makes a big deal out of Mario's birthday. I can't quite remember of them doing, like, a logo treatment and all that stuff for Zelda's milestones.

[Sam Claiborne]

Plus, it's the 45th of Donkey Kong. I didn't hear about that once.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, we did get some new dlc. We could talk about that. The Donkey Kong Bonanza dlc. I think it's interesting. You actually got to go and check this out, I think ahead of time, Sam. And you came back really positive on it. But I haven't seen any positive sentiment online, everyone.

[Sam Claiborne]

I think the negative sentiment is largely coming from the price. Right. Which is $20, and the game is already, what, $70 in the United States? You know, that's an expensive price tag for any dlc, and people get angry about that. And then it was in a succession of lots of expensive things. Yeah, Right. So it's like, there was a lot of positivity about what's coming out for Nintendo, but then a lot of, like, what is going on with these prices? Jerry Seinfeld style? Right?

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. I mean, just it feels like. So it's a little bit sus that it's coming out a month after release and that it's $20 and. And you know, I don't subscribe to the, you know, the. The sort of attitude of if something comes out shortly after release and is not substantive, like, it's clearly cut content that they bolted on. But like, a lot of people sort of think that that's the vibe and it just feels like. I also think if you beat Donkey Kong, and I'm not going to spoil anything, but if you beat something, like the end of the game is great, but it's sort of. It's building up to something and then doesn't quite. It just kind of ends and it just feels like running around this island. Here's what I think happened.

[Sam Claiborne]

This seems like the. The cool post game, right?

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. Like, there was the Mushroom Kingdom in Mario Odyssey. And so I. I don't think that this content's cut content, but I do think that they had Emerald Rush and then they said Emerald Rush is not enough to be DLC on its own. So let's also put DK island in there as part of. I bet DK island originally was gonna have, you know, bananas and stuff on it in the NBA part of the regular game. That's what I think.

[Mark Medina]

I think it's just not the greatest look that in this same direct, you. You get this and then you get Pokemon Z, the Legend Za. And they're announcing DLC before the game's even out.

[Justin Davis]

Before the game's even out. And there's no. And there's no Mario Kart dlc, which is the game that people want DLC for.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. So I. I think those two things side by side. There's also this weird, you know, there's the Silk Song of it all happening right now, where a lot of that it's $20 price tag for how much content is there is kind of being compared to literally everything which will die out. But right now it's. It's just kind of at the top of people's minds.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, for Switch 3, you'll get this as a pack in with Donkey Kong plus Emerald Rush plus DK island for 300 bucks.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, it'll only. It'll only cost 80 bucks.

[Damon Hatfield]

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[Sam Claiborne]

So I got to go play this BTS at Nintendo and so I this is before I even knew about the price or anything. Like that. So knowing that, I got to tell you all about what I thought of it, and I thought it was really, really cool because there was nothing that was connecting DK Bonanza to the 90s series. It was connected to Odyssey a little bit through the Pauline stuff. But I really think this is cool to throw that in there. I mean, I think I agree with everybody that it'd be great if this was just in the game, but it does feel like a completion of what the game's content kind of needed. And then I love Emerald Rush. I think it's awesome. I think it's really cool. I think running around the game and getting all the bananas that you hadn't got yet wasn't that much fun for me. Even though I had started doing that, I had started doing the post game challenges, which are called encores. And this is just a lot more interesting than that. It's this really cool time crunchy mode that you can play across many of the layers that it has. You kind of like, plan these cool skill runs. And I just thought it was good. I thought it was like the best use of destruction gameplay and a game that didn't really think out destruction gameplay that well. It thought it out and made the levels work, but it didn't. And nothing ever made me think like, wow, this game is so smart. I can. I can destroy this tree. And this is a really interesting thing. Destroying the street. It was always like, oh, you can do this. And it's either a shortcut or it's not. Everybody knows how I feel about this game, but I like this DLC a lot.

[Mark Medina]

Those perks that you're getting, do they. Are they. Do they last between rounds?

[Sam Claiborne]

No. So when you. Yeah. So it's a roguelite. No.

[Justin Davis]

Yes.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay. It does it. There's 10 rounds and your skills as you build them up. Yes. Last until the end of those 10 rounds, but you do not keep them when you go to the next set of 10 rounds.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's every time. It's like you're starting from absolute scratch.

[Mark Medina]

Okay.

[Justin Davis]

I think it. I think it's so fascinating to me that even Nintendo has succumbed to, like, the perk. Like, you know, you level up and select three perks. It's like it's the vampire survivors of Vacation of just everything.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. What is different, though, I don't want people to be misled, is that if you learn where everything is in a level, then everything's there every time you play the round. It does not shuffle anything. It does shuffle some of the Challenge, like, there's, like, little challenges, like, go kill these three guys on the beach. That'll give you some bonuses. But, like, if you really wanted to just, like, so you're starting from zero, and then if you really wanted to go run and get the elephant skill and then just start, like, eating as much emerald as possible from the mountainside or whatever, you can do that. And you can actually add some other perks that. That allow you to get multipliers on that. Yeah, it's really cool. Yeah. If everybody's mad about it being 20 bucks, I totally get it, though.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. I'm so confused, though. There's DK island and Emerald Run, but do you just do Emerald Run on DK Island?

[Sam Claiborne]

It's not like you can unlock it for the other layers. You start it here, and it's kind of fun because, like, you know, this island doesn't have banandium gems or anything like that. This is a good way to kind of destroy and explore the island, even as funny little quests like, go give Dixie a high five. And you have to, like, where's Dixie Kong? She's, like, by the treehouse. Go around and get it. So it is kind of a cool way to explore this. After you get through the tutorial and then do a few other, like, challenges, and it really ramps up in difficulty, then you can unlock it for the other layers, and other layers have, like, a little transformation when this mode plays out. So, yeah, it's a. It's. I think. I think it's a better way to revisit the game than going back and being like, I'll do all the challenge rooms, and I'll get all the Nandium Gems and stuff like that. Just because it was a fun shakeup.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, I don't know. It seems interesting. I'd like to try it out, but there are other things to play.

[Sam Claiborne]

We'll load it up in the office, and then you can check it out on a. On a lunch period.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, that's a good. That's a good call. Okay. We also did finally get our release date for Metroid Prime 4. That's coming December 4th. The same day as. Say it with me. The same day as Octopath zero. Octopath Traveler zero. Nicely done.

[Sam Claiborne]

Did I get it that right? Yeah, completely. That was completely from the hip.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep, that's right.

[Justin Davis]

Man. I think. I think Metroid looks so stupid. I think the bike looks so stupid.

[Damon Hatfield]

Wait, wait, wait. Do you know the bike's name?

[Mark Medina]

Justin?

[Damon Hatfield]

The bike has a name.

[Justin Davis]

Do you know what it Is it has a name.

[Damon Hatfield]

Viola.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, Viola. I saw the amiibo, which, the amiibo actually looks kind of sick. Look, super Metroid's my favorite game. I really like Metroid Prime. 1, 2, 3. But I'm not precious about the Metroid games. I want them coming out and I want them being good. I think this game continues to just not show that well in trailer form and demo form. We've been saying it ever since they revealed the game. Like, oh, that was a little bit of a weird demo. I believe in retro. Like I hope that the finished product turns out great, but like just I wasn't particularly impressed with the footage we saw this week.

[Damon Hatfield]

I agree with you, Justin. I hope this game is good. I think just it looks generic and it may actually look like Metroid prime did in 2002, but it's not 2002 anymore. Sam, actually had a really good observation that I'd like you to share with the class.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, well, I am actually known for saying Nintendo games look bad before they come out because they don't show them well. So I just want you guys to do all that. And I just wanted to point out that Star Wars Outlaws has an amazing set of grassy landscapes by which you can drive a motorcycle across. And it looks really good on the Switch. And if you put these side by side, it ain't looking great for Metroid.

[Mark Medina]

Luckily, I don't think people care about what it looks like, you know?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yes they do.

[Mark Medina]

No dig on Nintendo fans. But I, I don't think Nintendo fans are, have ever notoriously like, like they don't care that Breath of the wild ran at 30fps, but wild look good. Yeah, I know, but I just, I, I, I can't imagine that this game is going to like, I, I don't think the graphics are going to sway anybody. Anybody that's sold on this game or just, they're just gonna get it and, and that's fine.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, it's certainly not gonna be the box art that sways people. Did you all see that?

[Damon Hatfield]

I didn't see it.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, I know.

[Sam Claiborne]

And the villain slapped Nintendo 2 Switch Edition in like crappy text on the COVID art on the COVID of the game. It's so weird looking.

[Justin Davis]

Well, and how long are they Gonna, are these Switch 2 games gonna say Nintendo Switch 2 Edition forever? Like, is this just what we're gonna be dealing with six years from now? I'm like, you don't need to do this anymore.

[Mark Medina]

I assume Pokemon will be the same way, right? Because it's Also on the original Switch. So it's.

[Justin Davis]

They, they tease the villain who's Silex, which I know because he also has an Amiibo. He's at the very end, he's in, like, the final, you know, here she's in the final, like, few seconds of the footage, who I think is from Federation Force and now is, like, appearing again in Metroid Prime 4 and, like, a very prominent antagonist role. So it's like, man, I don't know.

[Sam Claiborne]

So I think that there's. They're just making some bad choices and showing this game. Like, I don't, I. If I'm gonna do Glass Half Full. You all did think Wonder and Bonanza look good in preview. I thought those look bad. I don't think those games previewed well. And for the same reasons that this did. It's not showing me the core of what I want about this Metroid game. However, at some point, we're gonna see 30 minutes of single player gameplay that has nothing to do with the intro level with Space Marines. And, you know, I hope that looks good. Let me just compare this. Like, there are games that are shown, right, and they look amazing. And there's like, the complete bullshot version of that, right, which can really hype you for a game, right? Like, and I'm not saying this is a bullshot, but, like, watch the Witcher 4 demo from the conference earlier this year. Like, if you want to be hyped for a game. Like, they didn't show much of the Witcher gameplay, but, boy, what they showed looked really awesome. It wasn't just because it was graphics. It was, like, systems and complexity and all this neat stuff. And it kind of showed you what they're aiming for. And sometimes games show really well before launch, sometimes they don't, and you just see these little slices. And that's why it's really important that people go preview games for y'. All. I'm not joking.

[Justin Davis]

We're drawing a distinction between, you know, like, the game may or may not be good, but this is an inside baseball conversation of. It's weird that they're not showing it off different, differently, or better in the run up. And it's not necessarily, like, maybe it means that the game won't be that great, but it has more to do with, like, why is this how they're choosing to present it to the world?

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, I, I, the, the only argument I'll give against that is that this is actual gameplay and that Witcher trailer was completely fake.

[Sam Claiborne]

There's.

[Justin Davis]

That's true.

[Mark Medina]

There's nothing about that.

[Sam Claiborne]

Not according to them.

[Mark Medina]

Well, I believe that that section was built. I don't believe that that is what the game will look like.

[Justin Davis]

Well, they called it a tech demo.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, yeah, I believe it is one tech demo. We thought.

[Sam Claiborne]

But that's not the point. I do want to make sure people understand that's not the point I'm making. I'm point I'm making like if you're going to show something about your game, you can either make something up completely crazy and show it to people and hype them. That's what a cinematic trailer is too. And then it still gets you hyped. But like, why show that? Like what?

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, I mean, that bike, when he does, when they do the wheelie, it's like two frames. I I some of the discourse I've seen. I'm not a Metroid prime person at all. Everybody on this podcast knows that. But people are not loving on that. It looks like an open world game and that like even though metroidvanias kind of just are but like this whole like going across a desert, that's just not what people want.

[Justin Davis]

It's very big to be in hallways.

[Mark Medina]

And also that desert is just awful looking. Like it just does not look good.

[Justin Davis]

Nope.

[Mark Medina]

So I I 100 agree that they every time they've shown this game has been not their best.

[Justin Davis]

In summary, Metroid Prime 4 sucks and Nintendo is dead.

[Damon Hatfield]

We should probably point out I retro I don't I think retro rarely misses, you know, prime prime two, three, even Hunters. Hunters on DS wasn't terrible, right?

[Sam Claiborne]

I like that game.

[Damon Hatfield]

Then they did Donkey.

[Sam Claiborne]

I don't think I like it anymore.

[Damon Hatfield]

But I like Donkey Kong Country Returns. They did Mario Kart 7, they did tropical Freeze. So that's a pretty good track record.

[Justin Davis]

And I think Sam, you touched on something. I believe the most likely outcome is exactly what you described as we're going to get a Metroid Direct a month or two whenever it become before it comes out and it's probably going to look incredible. That's what I think is the most likely thing here is we'll see more unbroken unfiltered FPS gameplay and it's going to look super radio and I'm going to be like, okay, good, great.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. I was actually a little worried about Metroid Dread. And then they showed that kind of like treehouse footage or something and I was like, oh, this is much better. And the more that we saw again, going back to wonder, they did show this really cartoony, different Mario. And I was just like. But once it became clear that it's like, oh, this is made by this team at Nintendo that's making Mario levels for the first time. And they had these really interesting takes on levels. And there's these transformations with. They didn't even show. Like, all that stuff is like made for, I think, a really good game in the end. But I was not hyped for that game because what they should. That's a problem.

[Mark Medina]

And it was very good. I love that game.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, we shall.

[Sam Claiborne]

I have one other thing to say about this. The reason that we all, all care about this is because it's interesting. Like in the inside baseball pile. Just like, hey, how do they show a game? What's. What's video game marketing? Because we don't do that. We are video game marketers. It is interesting for us to see that the thing that we offer you, the audience, is that we can critically assess something and try to separate ourselves from that marketing. So whatever, you know, marketing is trying to tell you about something, you as a critic need to kind of drop that and say, like, is it fun? That's the main question you answer as a reviewer. Right. And then you, you answer a few other contextual things you don't answer. Like, in the end, like, was this marketing great? But that's an interesting conversation for GamesCube. But we're all very capable of just stopping and then evaluating a game. I just did that for the Donkey Kong Bonanza dlc. I will point out I had. I ended up beating the game. I said, I can preview this. I went in and I gave it a fair shake and end up really liking it. That is what we bring you as people that are not marketing video games. That is a. That's what. What Critical. That's my endorsement of the critical industry.

[Justin Davis]

Cool.

[Sam Claiborne]

I think everybody here agrees with that.

[Damon Hatfield]

I do.

[Justin Davis]

Yes.

[Damon Hatfield]

I agree.

[Mark Medina]

I do. Because I. Not to go scorched earth on marketing, but seeing how many people on social media are falling for the whole, like, this is an Xbox, blah, blah, like, that stuff just makes me go crazy. It makes me laugh. Also, just the whole. I've talked about it before, the whole notion of influencers and trusting influencers that are literally exist to sell you things.

[Sam Claiborne]

Because they like the thing you like a lot so you can trust them. Like, I get that. I get the appeal of that.

[Mark Medina]

It's just they're also being paid to like it. So.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, it's just a different offering.

[Damon Hatfield]

Or they're being paid because they like it.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. Exactly.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay, match up rhyme four. December 4th. Oh, I wonder if they picked a month with a four release date on purpose. We're also getting a new Fire Emblem fortunes weave in 2026. Well, I hope with silence so I'm.

[Mark Medina]

We can move on.

[Damon Hatfield]

I wanted to hear from Justin because I think Justin liked three houses the most out of this group. And this is either a prequel or.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, I mean it's all blur though. It's like I like them all.

[Mark Medina]

It's Fire Emblem.

[Sam Claiborne]

I don't know.

[Justin Davis]

I mean we. I have mixed feelings about this franchise, which I say half goof, goofing and half seriously, which is. I really like the Fire Emblem games. I played them all. I like them all. But I'm mad that they took over advance wars and we just don't get advance wars games anymore. So. So, you know, like it's a complicated topic for me.

[Sam Claiborne]

It would be cool if they went like a complete 180, like completely different direction and like change something. But I think also refining what people like about it and trying to pick the things that people like is also fine. Like I don't know, like they are showing there's like this kind of like academy build your area thing. Yeah, I liked Awakening. That was my Fire Emblem and I thought like what I liked about that is the generational stuff. How well thought out that was. And I just hope that's in these usually like, I like the kids that become like super powerful or super interesting. So you can have an in game set of characters that is kind of manipulated by you. And that way it's weird that they don't permadeath anymore. I think that's the weirdest thing about the series.

[Damon Hatfield]

Is that not even an option for like a hardcore mode or anything?

[Sam Claiborne]

No, if it's an option but like what's an. I mean that's what Silksong has too. Like nobody thinks of it as like, oh, that game is famous for Burma death, you know where that's what. That's what it was. You just have to turn off the game.

[Justin Davis]

If you died, restart that battle.

[Damon Hatfield]

Who's this Alucard looking character?

[Justin Davis]

Alucard? Yeah, I mean like they've gotten so much mileage out of the rock paper scissors, you know what is it Spears archers and. And what mounted guys. And like there's way more to it than that. That's like me distilling down this very sort of complex battle system. But at its core it is. It is basically rock, paper, scissors and they just keep scaffolding more and More and more interesting gameplay and combat scenarios on top of that. And it totally works. Like, I'm down to play this model. Like, just give me this game twice, a console generation, and I'll play them all.

[Sam Claiborne]

We're in an era. It's like when the Castlevanias were all out once a year. You know, like, like, don't, don't mess this up. Like, it's gonna be fine. Like, even if you get an 8, you know, out of 10 fire emblem this year, that's. Let's keep them coming. Let's keep them coming. Like, I think it's great. I always, like, look for the. Look for that moment in the game in which most of my characters are like Pegasus or Dragon Flyers. And for some reason they're still pretty strong against arrows. And I can drop units near stuff. And I'm like, this is great. That's. That's the moment. And then I basically stopped playing 10, 10 hours after that.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, I, I never finished these games, but I play them all and like them all. And that finally brings us to the Virtual Boy coming back to the Nintendo Switch Online, plus the expansion pack. But that's not all. There's a whole new piece of hardware that I think is two new.

[Mark Medina]

Two new pieces of hardware.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, yeah, there's the hundred dollar one, which is Cardboardy Joe.

[Mark Medina]

There it is, the Labo edition.

[Damon Hatfield]

And then there's a cardboard one, which I don't think they've released the price for that one.

[Mark Medina]

I think it's. I think it's 20, 25, 30.

[Damon Hatfield]

25 bucks for cardboard.

[Mark Medina]

And then this one was what, like 100?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, this one is 100. But it's just a shell, right, that you put your switch to into.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

What is creating the 3D effects?

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay, here's what's creating these 3D effects.

[Damon Hatfield]

Here we go.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is that this is just like any of any of these cardboard things that you can put your iPhone into. This has been around for a really long time. They basically are separating your eyes. And so each eye sees a different screen. And then they bisect the screen of your. Your phone into two, like, little screens. And then probably on this, there's what you see when you look at the hardware. They're. They're actually doing a little bit of lensing too, where there's a red lens for each eye that's kind of like bending it to be proper and everything that is also doing another thing which is making it so the black background of your Switch 2 screen and the red pixels are being filtered In a way that you don't see the contrast between them as being super jarring. It kind of like smooths it out. It's an old trick. A shaded Plexiglas is over all these arcade machine screens, too. Kind of makes the contrast a little bit easier on the eyes. What I was surprised by, though, is that this would have been a great opportunity to not put those red lenses in and let you select a color palette that wasn't red. It would have been really nice even if it was just like blue or green or something. Like, the red is. It's really harsh. And it's. It's the greatest system ever made, and it's my favorite system ever made. And it has the best library of any console ever. But the red is a little harsh.

[Mark Medina]

That screen of the games, that's like the entire library.

[Justin Davis]

Yep.

[Sam Claiborne]

No, it's not. It's missing some. So we have something to look forward to.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, yeah.

[Justin Davis]

I mean, we. Am I weird for wanting to buy this? Like, I think it's really cool. I think it's like Nintendo. Like, Nintendo knows the Virtual Boy sucks, right? But they're just doing it anyway.

[Mark Medina]

I don't think you're weird for wanting to buy it at all. Because I think there are tons of people that are saying the same thing right now that are like, they cannot wait to buy this thing that they'll use once and never use.

[Sam Claiborne]

They did announce Waterworld for it, right?

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. Blood World.

[Justin Davis]

The only thing that bums me out is that the games. You can't just, like, buy the games. They're locked behind the Switch Online with Expansion Pass. So that's kind of an expensive sub. And if you ever stop subscribing, then you don't get access.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's worth every penny. So I cannot wait. I'm gonna get both pieces of hardware. I'm never gonna open them.

[Damon Hatfield]

Sam, I was gonna say, you own a Virtual Boy in the entire library, right?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, I'm going to keep them in my extent. It belongs in a museum End of Indiana Jones situation, right? Where I just put it on a cart and I wheel it to the Tupperware containers that are sealed against the elements and it goes into storage. I can't wait.

[Mark Medina]

So the Virtual Boy always had issues with how to use it. Right. It's like you could put it on a table and do this whole little guy.

[Sam Claiborne]

But it's like PC gaming. I think people can figure it out now.

[Mark Medina]

But, like, how. How do you do the labo one? Does it come with a strap like Can I strap it to my face? I didn't see that.

[Sam Claiborne]

So no.

[Mark Medina]

Or do I just got to get really low on.

[Sam Claiborne]

What they were showing was that you hold just like the Labo. You hold the switch up to your face and have the controllers next to it. Like elephant ears.

[Mark Medina]

No way.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's what they said.

[Mark Medina]

Are you serious?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. I remember Labo had a few things.

[Mark Medina]

I can't imagine a worse way to play.

[Sam Claiborne]

So you can. Like you're going to have to jury rig a strap. Who knows what they're going to do with it. I mean, I always surprised that the virtual it has those little nubs in the side, but they never made it so you could strap it. They were like. They ended up being worried about it. I don't know why.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, Sam is right. Yeah, yeah. You just hold.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, you can make that a hashtag. People would love to use it in the YouTube comments. That's Sam is right.

[Mark Medina]

And I can't. I can't imagine a worse way to play video game than to hold this cord. Well, well, the red just pierces my redness. Having a great time right now.

[Sam Claiborne]

After you play it, you won't be able to imagine a better way to play video games.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, I think this is insane, but I'm glad it's happening.

[Sam Claiborne]

It is so insane sometimes. I mean, this is the reality, right? This is the Bernstein Bears paradox reality that we're in where we are getting the Virtual Boy as a new piece of hardware and a librarian didn't expect that, but here we are.

[Damon Hatfield]

Do we know, can you play the games without the hardware and just don't get the 3D effect?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, that's what they're showing here. So they've done some kind of of my tv.

[Damon Hatfield]

So we'll get them with our Switch online subscription. We don't have to buy the hardware.

[Sam Claiborne]

I'll just point out too that they're showing Japanese games there and Japanese are some of the unique versions. But they're also just showing the Japanese versions of the American versions like baseball and Tetris and stuff. So it's missing some games. Snow Brothers is a Shin Megami Tensai star. I always say that. Snow Brothers, Jack Brothers, it's a mega 10 universe set game. The Switch 2, for example.

[Damon Hatfield]

Cool. They say 14 for the first 14 games will roll out over time. Only 14 games were released in North America. But like Mark was saying, they. They could swap out Water World with. With a Japanese release or something like that.

[Sam Claiborne]

You know, Esther's Funky Bowling has a different bowling game. It sit in there for the Japanese game. It's called something else. Bowling. That Wario game's pretty fun, though.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. Isn't that kind of probably considered the best one?

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

I mean, Mario Clash is good, too, just in terms of just kind of more traditional, weird games that use 3D in an interesting way. But there's some other fun games. I mean, I think the pinball stuff is good. There's a cool one called. What is it called? Red Alert. That. The Star Fox one. That one looks incredible.

[Justin Davis]

We're still in the honeymoon phase of the switch 2. And my theory is that this is the only window in which Nintendo could do this without getting. Like, if they tried to do this in one more year, everyone would be like, get out of here. But, like. But they're sneaking it in within that first 12 months of the Switch 2. And everyone said, ah, you rascals. All right, Sam.

[Damon Hatfield]

I know there's supposed to be a survival horror game that was only released or a horror game that was only released in Japan. And I saw a box art there that looked like it could be that game, and it's supposed to be good.

[Sam Claiborne]

Maybe it is that game. I'd have to look at that screen to get. I can't remember what that game is. Know what? I have them all, but I can't remember.

[Damon Hatfield]

All right, well, Virtual Boy comes to switch on February 17th next year. Wait, is that. When does that. When does Resident Evil come out?

[Sam Claiborne]

This is it. This is the horror game.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. And this is supposed. I hear good things. That's a cool monster.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, this looks great.

[Mark Medina]

So many shades of red. Look at all of them.

[Sam Claiborne]

Wow, they had body difference. Yeah, this is. I remember this being a lot like the. The Goonies. Parts that were not fun.

[Mark Medina]

What does that say?

[Sam Claiborne]

Password.

[Justin Davis]

Game over. Password.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

It looked like a death metal band.

[Damon Hatfield]

I'm just trying to see when Resident Evil rec room is out. The 27th. Okay, so we have 10 days of virtual Boy before we jump over to.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Resident Evil Requiem.

[Justin Davis]

That's our February.

[Mark Medina]

That's not enough time.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay, Mark, Borderlands 4. How did it turn out?

[Mark Medina]

I think it's wonderful. Wait, am I the only one playing it?

[Damon Hatfield]

I just got. I just got a code today, so I haven't started yet, but I'll check it out tonight.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, cool. Yeah, so I played it pre release. And so everything everybody is saying. Because we only got PC codes pre release, everything everybody's saying about the PC launch is correct. It runs like absolute garbage. I wasn't able to Play on my actual work computer, which has a 4090. Because of just work security stuff, it blocks some games. But I played on the computer in the background there and that is a. That computer has a 3090 ti runs the game terrible. Which is crazy because that card is from like 2022. But that's Unreal Engine 5 for you. I've said it before on the show. Unreal Engine 5. The worst. It's just the worst. So. Yeah. But as far as the game goes, so now I'm playing on PS5 Pro. I think it's great. I think it's super fun. I. After a long year of like games like Kingdom Come, Deliverance two games that I'm like, these look like they could be my kind of game. I'm not meaning to knock that game, but it's like I love open world just exploring games and between like that and like Monster Hunter and stuff like that. This is a mark game. Just shoot things and they die and there's tons of numbers and. And it's awesome. Yeah. So I like it a lot. I think the story is a little like, meh. It's trying to do a more, if you believe it, a more serious story than the first three. Where this one is, is more like. It's still Borderland silly, but it, it feels a little bit more grounded in, in why you're doing what you're doing. I'm still also just like very early, but the characters are fun, but the gameplay just is just so good. It's so good. They, they. They never run out of ways to make enemies die in these games. And it's like you feel like I played so much Borderlands 3 and I, I always wonder like, what guns can they come up with? And then we find out that they came out with a gun called Rainbow Vomit. That is a shotgun that shoots three different elements at the same time. And it's like, I don't know, it's just, it's just a blast to play. Every time I, I boot it up, I. I never want to stop because it's. I think it's just super, super fun. There is like a weird memory leak issue on the console version still where the longer you play, the worse it starts to perform. So you eventually have to like restart the game, but it's only after. It's after like a couple hours.

[Justin Davis]

It's funny. What was it? Skyrim on the PS3 did that or something like that. It's probably not like despawning any game, any. Any gun Ever. Something like that. Like, like, so then you have to reset it.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, it is like there, there's eventually so many things happening that. Exactly. It's, it's because it's mostly happening in the big open world. Because this game is a little different than the other ones, where the other ones were more segmented. You, like, loaded into big open zones. This game is quote unquote, more of an actual open world, but there are loading zones that you can go into for different quests and stuff like that. And it runs beautifully in there. But in the big open world, it runs pretty good, but it can get a little chaotic. There's also. I'm playing mostly co op online and the game runs way better when I'm by myself. If you go to your, like, party settings and click it to like, local, I've heard it runs much, it does run much better, but yeah, I, I, I don't really know what to say. Like, it's Borderlands. It's fun getting new guns. Exciting.

[Damon Hatfield]

And answer a couple of questions for me. Is it funny?

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, yeah, it's funny. I, I think it's still really funny. I think claptrap, super funny. Just like he always is. He's not in the game a ton, like, as, as much as, as like he was in the previous games. But yeah, it's still super funny.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay.

[Mark Medina]

100%.

[Damon Hatfield]

I loved Borderlands 2. I did everything, played all the DLC. I got bored of Borderlands 3 pretty quick. So how do you think I will find four?

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, I think you'll like it better. So the main thing, the main complaints I had for three was that it was too talky, and this game is not nearly as talky, and that's great. This game also does a really good job at switching between the, like, I don't know what you would call it, but it's like a character stalking to you, and then you run away and all of a sudden it just switches to where they're on their, like, like they're on the radio.

[Damon Hatfield]

I appreciate that.

[Mark Medina]

And so it's like if, if Rush wants to tell you about this mission, like, they'll give you the map marker and you're like, cool, keep talking, buddy. And you just start traveling.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, I love that.

[Mark Medina]

And, and it'll just switch to he's on the radio talking to you, or you can, like, run around and loot while somebody's talking. And, and if you just get a certain amount of distance away, they switch to the radio. So there's that. Also, I found Borderlands 3 to be very hard to navigate. The world was very layered in weird ways that you constantly have to open your map map to like see what level of the world you're on. Where this game is, it's just more of a flat open world. Like obviously there's mountains and stuff like that. And I have seen some people complain about like I need to get to this area but like I can't and I need to like follow the mountain line and find where I can get up and then kind of parkour over there. But I don't know. That stuff hasn't bugged me.

[Sam Claiborne]

How does leveling work? Does everybody level with you?

[Mark Medina]

They do. Yeah. So you can just get sucked into the open world stuff and just do side quests and stuff like that, but you'll never over level the content. The, the enemies will always just scale with you.

[Sam Claiborne]

Ah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Can you turn that off?

[Mark Medina]

Cool.

[Damon Hatfield]

Can you turn it off? I hate level scaling. It should never, it should never be required.

[Sam Claiborne]

What's the point of the numbers if they all just equal zero all the time?

[Damon Hatfield]

What's the point?

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, well it's, I mean to prevent over leveling. Right.

[Damon Hatfield]

But that's what I want to do. I want to be over leveled.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's the, that's the, that's the little literal world level.

[Damon Hatfield]

I put in the time. I put in the time. My reward is I'm op.

[Mark Medina]

Well, I mean your reward in this would be that you get cool abilities. But yeah, you're never, I don't think you'll ever be super overpowered until we've seen some late game builds that get absolutely nuts.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

But the co op stuff is also super cool. So like, I don't know, this is probably not a game you'd play with your kids, but like if you play co op, you can play on hard and they can play on easy and the game can adapt to both. You'll get hard loot. The enemies won't like, they take less damage from your guns but more damage from their guns. It's. It totally works and it's really, really cool.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is there a, is there a gun that takes the numbers that come out of people and turns those into projectiles and kills other people? Those numbers.

[Mark Medina]

That'd be cool. There is a funny thing where if you kill an enemy too fast and they're just losing big chunks of their health bar, it'll just start saying oof on the health bar. That's pretty funny.

[Damon Hatfield]

That's pretty good.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. Well, I'm looking forward, I think I Think you'll like it?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, I'm looking forward to checking it out. It's interesting. It's got all these problems on PC and apparently, according to you, it's not even perfect, even on console. So we'll see how the Switch 2 version turns out next month.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, I totally forgot that this game. I don't even know how that's going to be possible. There's no way, man. I forgot that that was a thing.

[Sam Claiborne]

When a developer spends some extra time with the game, they can optimize it for the systems. That was what the correction note said under our Randy Pitchford tweet this week.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

So the developer is responsible for setting.

[Mark Medina]

Dude, Randy Pitchford, he just.

[Damon Hatfield]

What's going on with that? It's been known for a long time. He. I mean, I don't even know what you call it. He just can't help himself. This is a guy.

[Justin Davis]

He.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's a very wealthy guy. Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

So there's no. There's no one to stop him.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, that's what I wonder is his boss at Take Two is that his boss? And Strauss can't just be like, randy, you got it. Just. Just.

[Justin Davis]

Well, and I think. I. I don't know if you want the. I think the real answer is that he makes gobs and gobs and gobs of money for Strauss Zelnick. And so they don't. They're just like. Like, oh, Randy's just gonna do Randy things once in a while, and that's the cost of them putting out games on time and on budget.

[Sam Claiborne]

Like, I don't know, kind of a commonality in American CEOs right now.

[Mark Medina]

So, yeah, I. I've. I've been seeing his messages, and it's like he. He's like the evil version of. Of what's his name? Sean Murray from hello Games Where. Like, Sean Murray just, like, didn't really have a PR person, so he just kind of said, whatever. And then the game wasn't great. So then he just, like, went on this apology tour and he's been doing everything to fix it. Randy Pitchford, same deal. But instead of apologizing, he's just like, no, you're the problem.

[Justin Davis]

I mean, I do. And I don't need to. I don't. I don't need to carry water for Randy Pitchford. So, you know, Randy, stop tweeting, please. But, like. Like, I will say, like, he's trying. He's trying to get in there and wade in and mix it up and be like, you know, like. Like, context Is everything. Like, if it's like, oh, I'm sorry you're having problems, like, you know, Steam has a refund option, feel free take advantage of that. But like, that same tweet can be like, well, you know, Steam has a refund option. Like, you know, it all depends on like how you read it. Like, you know, he's, he's not like hiding in his, he does literally own a castle. Like, he's not hiding in his castle. Right. He's out there mixing it up with the gamers and so I can respect that a little bit, but he's just bad at it. Just, just don't.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, he just, I don't know, it's like, it's just the little passive good aggressive and like, just totally unnecessary. Like, do they not have like a community manager or something?

[Justin Davis]

Like, well, and it just distracts from like how hard is it to be like, you know, sorry, some of you are having issues. We're working hard to get it fixed.

[Damon Hatfield]

That's literally all. It's literally all it has to be. There's, there's never, there's never in, in the history of the Internet, there's never been an example where arguing with your fans worked out well. Just literally, literally never. It never works out well.

[Sam Claiborne]

It does remind me of the magazines that we read sometimes. That kind of like edgy turn of the century developer speak that we saw from like dumping is illegal and stuff like that. It is this old mentality about us versus the world. It's great.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

I guess my issue is that he just doesn't have much of a leg to stand on. The game does run poorly. So this whole idea of just like, basically like kind of waving it off and making it your problem and it's like, dude, you've seen the videos. Your game runs bad.

[Justin Davis]

And also we gave the game an 8. Like they released an objectively like, great game and it's like just the whatever anti media training of just like, you're just making things worse, dude.

[Mark Medina]

The same thing happened with Borderlands 3 where he, he, he did that big speech about how like there's no microtransactions in the game and then it turns out there was microtransactions and he like went after the media and he was like, you guys are screwing me over all this. I, what I meant was blah, blah, blah, blah. And it's like, but that's not what you said, bro. You said there was no microtransactions. The game does have them. And it's like, did that all happen.

[Sam Claiborne]

I missed that.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

I mean, it happened in, you know, 2019.

[Justin Davis]

Forgotten about that.

[Mark Medina]

But it's like. It's like. Like the game objectively runs not good. Like you. There's not. There's nothing you could say about that other than we're gonna try to fix it.

[Sam Claiborne]

He's just a really good illusionist. So it must be working for somebody.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

They're called illusions, Michael. Maybe you can weigh in on this, Mark, Because I was learning about the situation as I was reporting it on the fix. He keeps telling people they've got all these. You gotta mess with the, you know, tweak all of your settings. But he keeps addressing that. There's. I guess there's a certain segment of the population that is suspicious or distrustful of dlss. Is this right?

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. So DLSS uses AI, right? So for one, I can't even remember fake frames. Yeah, I can't remember.

[Damon Hatfield]

Is it just a general. Is it just because there's a general distrust of AI or dislike of it? Is that what it comes down to?

[Mark Medina]

No, no, I don't want.

[Sam Claiborne]

Unless it's for writing your college essay.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. Then it's fine. That's what it's meant for.

[Justin Davis]

People think DLSS has fake. Fake frames. Right. So your. Your. Your GPU isn't actually getting 60 frames per second. It's actually getting whatever, 40 or 30 or 50. And then it's using AI to fill in the missing frames in order for the game to run at 60fps. And like, like everything else on earth, like, its implementation can be really cool and slick and, like, feel magical, or its implementation can be bad.

[Sam Claiborne]

But are you saying that there's. I mean, I. I know. I know this is issue, but I'm just trying to illuminate the answer that Damon's looking for. So what you're saying is that people are saying that it's not really 60 frames per second, it's 50 frames plus 10 fake ones. And that's why they get upset about it 100%.

[Mark Medina]

I mean, there is call to be upset, though, other than, like, my graphics card's not actually doing this. DLSS can cause input lag. So even if you're getting 60fps, if the game doesn't. Doesn't feel good, then that's not good.

[Sam Claiborne]

Because a real frame is. Is taking to account your button presses, and a fake frame is filling in the time to try to trick you into thinking that your button press didn't happen yet.

[Justin Davis]

It might say, I don't. I Actually, you know, I don't know the input leg part of it, but like we. It's also, it's just amusing of like get in there and tweak your settings, bro. Mess you with the particle effect. And it's like because I have a 49, the most popular GPU on the planet, like in my optimization.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. The game luckily has like a auto detect thing, but you probably still have to. But the last thing I'll say with DLSS is people have shown, because Cyberpunk is a big adopter of it. People have shown text getting warped, right. So it's like a name of something's on a vehicle or on a, on a building. And people have been able to look at frames where it's distorted because it's AI and so it's pulling what it thinks that text should say. And so the more that.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, I mean that's like the six.

[Mark Medina]

Figure companies rely generated image fingers totally. Like, yeah, like a 5090 is. And a 5090 probably runs the game fine. But a 5090 is $2,500. You should not have to rely on AI to get 60 FPS. Like you just shouldn't. Yeah, it should be able to do it. And so it just becomes this thing where it's like, what is Nvidia even selling if they have to rely on AI, but they're selling a $2,500 coin hard?

[Justin Davis]

I don't know.

[Damon Hatfield]

I think there's also a worry that DLSS could be a crutch that developers lean on. That feeling that they don't have to completely optimize their game. Right. DLSS will take care of it for them.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. He's literally saying the words this game is built around dlss. So it's like, yeah, it becomes this thing where it's like, did you guys just. Are you just relying on AI to kind of smooth out the imperfections?

[Justin Davis]

Which, I mean the tech can be really cool to be clear. Like, you know, there's a lot of really cool DLSS demos and like implementations out there and Cyberpunk is one of the better ones. Based off the, you know, just the demo that I saw. I haven't experienced it firsthand but like, you know, you're completely right that like it's not a replacement. Shouldn't be a replacement for raw horsepower if you're on like that high end, hardcore end of the spectrum. Right. Like 60 FPS 4K. That's not an unreasonable expectation in 2023.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

If you are running a 4060, even a 4070. And you're relying on DLSS because you only spent $500 on a graphics card. I think that's fine. I think the problem is, like, a 39. Again, a 3090 Ti should be able to run the game fine, and it doesn't. So that's. That. That's an issue.

[Sam Claiborne]

This is all so imminently fixable over time, too. That. That's why it's so funny that this conversation's even happening and that Randy's getting involved because, like, they can absolutely better optimize this game, and everybody does. And, you know, five years later, cyberpunk. Nobody even talks about it anymore. And even a year after that happened, like, come on. Like, it's going to be fine, but you don't need to inflame everybody.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, it's true.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, I look forward to playing it. My wife is on a work trip, so that means tonight I will put the kids to bed a little early and eat a turkey sandwich over the sink really fast, and then I'll just play Borlands 4.

[Sam Claiborne]

I love it.

[Mark Medina]

You're describing my. You're describing my Valentine's Day.

[Sam Claiborne]

You're not doing Silksong, then? You're just gonna skip that one?

[Damon Hatfield]

Not. Not yet, no. Because I've been playing Ghost of Yotei.

[Sam Claiborne]

Did anybody else play Silksong? No, I'm still playing.

[Justin Davis]

I don't play anything but Factorio. Okay. The factory must grow.

[Sam Claiborne]

All right.

[Damon Hatfield]

You're still liking Siltsong, Sam?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, Yeah. I liked it last week, too, and I tried to explain why fans like it, but everybody told me that's not. That's the opposite of what I did, so whatever.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, Sam, in the history of the Internet, arguing with the fans has never worked out.

[Sam Claiborne]

I'm not arguing.

[Justin Davis]

That's true.

[Sam Claiborne]

I'm just letting them have their way. All because I know. I guess Expedition 33. So. Yeah. Oh, no, dude, that game, Silksong, I met a place where, like, you have to do, like, five world bosses to get to this next area, and you have to ring these bells and stuff. I just finished all that stuff, and before I did that, I kind of sequence broke it a little bit, and I went as fast as I could to upgrade my needle weapon, because as I said last time, I was like, I'm really looking for advantages to get me just a little leg up in battles. And you get at least two needle upgrades in this game. One at this point, mid game, one very late game. That's all I know about right now. It is indistinguishable from my original needle. Took a lot of work.

[Damon Hatfield]

But what it's not, it's not doing more damage or anything?

[Sam Claiborne]

Not that I can tell now.

[Damon Hatfield]

You can tell? Okay. Really?

[Sam Claiborne]

It still takes five or six hits in the world.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. There are. It is an interesting gameplay choice, Game design choice of, like, do you do numbers pop out when you hit something or not? Like, that's a choice every game has to make. Make now.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

I think in almost every situation, numbers should pop out.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

I also think I, I'm also, like, starting to, like, I'm so used to this game now that, like, I don't even realize. It's like, when you, like, start realizing the crutch doesn't matter anymore that you're leaning on. You're like, I, I'll just, I'll be ready for a boss fight. I'll just go change all my gear. But usually that just means unequipping my compass, putting something else in there, because you always have to carry the damn compass as one of your offensive weapons. It's, it's insane. Like, why, why am I so used to this now? Why am I accepting this?

[Mark Medina]

I, I congratulate Team Cherry. I, I, I'm so happy that everybody loves this game. The more every time I see it, it's just a. More I will never play it.

[Sam Claiborne]

That was Mark Medina speaking, not Samuel Claiborne. Please don't confuse us.

[Mark Medina]

I mean, every, everybody already knows that I'm too old for Metroidvanias, but Metroidvanias that are like, like excruciatingly difficult. No, thanks.

[Sam Claiborne]

I, Another crazy take from Mark Medina.

[Mark Medina]

I know, I know. Controversy. Yeah, just not a Mark game.

[Sam Claiborne]

I think I have to take a break from this because I have other games you'll never go back to play. And I, I just told Mark this immediately. I was like, I can't stop playing Hollow Knight. No, literally, I can't stop playing it because if I stop playing it, I cannot go back but be caught again. I don't know if people are having the same opinion as me, but the first part of this game is a lot more linear. As I was mentioning, you can't do a bunch of Metroidvania stuff. I'm more in the Metroidvania stuff now. It's getting a little bit more like that. There's side quests basically now, and you can backtrack for those and maybe get weapons, but that's kind of helping my ability to step away because really, if I know the sequence of areas. Hollow Knight felt different than Silksong. Like I I feel like I could get get back into the game here.

[Mark Medina]

This is Sam explaining to his wife at night over dinner and he's like here's the thing. I could quit.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

I'm you know, I'm playing this game on Steam Deck and it and it's it's such a good Steam Deck game. I hope people in the end play this on Switch and Steam Deck but it's hurting my hands a little bit. But it is good.

[Justin Davis]

Good.

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[Justin Davis]

Eczema.

[Sam Claiborne]

Isn'T always obvious, but it's real.

[Justin Davis]

And so is the relief from EBGLIS.

[Sam Claiborne]

After an initial dosing phase, about 4 in 10 people taking EBGLIS achieved itch.

[Damon Hatfield]

Relief and clear or almost clear skin.

[Sam Claiborne]

At 16 weeks, and most of those people maintained skin that still more clear at one year with monthly dosing. EVGLIS Lebricizumab, LBKZ, a 250mg injection, is a prescription medicine used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40 kilograms with moderate to severe eczema, also called atopic dermatitis, that is not well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin or topicals or who cannot use topical therapies. EBGLIS can be used with or without topical corticosteroids. Don't use if you're allergic to ebglis. Allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. Eye problems can occur. Tell your doctor if you have new or worsening eye problems. You should not receive a live vaccine when treated with Epglis. Before starting Epglis, tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection searching for real relief. Ask your doctor about ebglis and visit epglis.lily.com or call 1-800-lilyrx or 1-800-545-5979.

[Damon Hatfield]

Alright, that brings us to video game 20 questions. Our suggestion this week comes from Glen Kirby in Barnsley, merry old England, who we've heard from before. Good to hear from you, Glynn. No, no hints, no sort of long spiel from Glenn this time, but at least you know where Glenn is located. And with that, let the questioning begin.

[Sam Claiborne]

We won last week, right?

[Justin Davis]

I don't think so.

[Damon Hatfield]

I don't know why it's always so hard for me to remember. Last week, what was the game?

[Sam Claiborne]

We got it. I think we clinched. No, maybe we didn't.

[Mark Medina]

I wasn't here, so you probably won.

[Justin Davis]

Was that la. No, that's when I was in the office.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. Yeah, you were here with tear.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, that was Muramasa.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, that's right.

[Damon Hatfield]

Muramasa.

[Sam Claiborne]

We didn't win that one.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, that's.

[Sam Claiborne]

Have you ever heard of Muramasa? The Demon Blade Mark?

[Mark Medina]

What the heck? That was a 20 questions game.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, it was pretty hard. However, that means that it probably is not that game this week. So we've eliminated one without asking any questions.

[Mark Medina]

Could have given me 20,000 questions. I would have never got it.

[Justin Davis]

Do you. Do you. Do you jump in this game?

[Sam Claiborne]

No.

[Justin Davis]

No jumping. It's not Mario or Zelda. Could be Ocarina of Time or Metroid. You still. Well, look, Clarif. Clarifying question.

[Mark Medina]

If I run off.

[Sam Claiborne]

Don't use another question.

[Mark Medina]

If I run off a cliff, does my character jump real fast?

[Justin Davis]

I. I want. I want. We can send this to the commission if we need to. I want this to count as my original question. Does your. Does your character that you control jump in this game?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Justin Davis]

Okay, got it. Not. Not Ocarina of Time.

[Mark Medina]

Not Ocarina of Time. He definitely jumps.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. Snow jump button.

[Mark Medina]

He back.

[Justin Davis]

Remember Remember how revolutionary that was when that game came out? There's no jump button. He'll just do it. It in context.

[Damon Hatfield]

It works well.

[Justin Davis]

It's like what?

[Sam Claiborne]

I was pretty worried about that when that. When that was being bandied about targeting.

[Mark Medina]

There was also no jumping in Dark Souls. And then Breath of the Wild and Elden Ring came out and they were like, there's jumping. And people were like, oh my God.

[Sam Claiborne]

We need T shirts to say there's no jumping in Dark Souls.

[Justin Davis]

Can put Tom Hanks on it with.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is there. Yeah. Is that just.

[Justin Davis]

Is.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is this from the last century?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Sam Claiborne]

AD Cool.

[Justin Davis]

Well, is that this century or is that last century?

[Sam Claiborne]

The last century. The previous. Now the previous.

[Justin Davis]

Gotta understand. Wait, where are we 90s from 1900s game.

[Mark Medina]

Okay.

[Damon Hatfield]

The 20th century.

[Mark Medina]

No jumping.

[Justin Davis]

Do you control a vehicle in this game?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Sam Claiborne]

And it can't be bump and jump because that has jumping as vehicles in it.

[Justin Davis]

It. Yeah, I assume with no jumping. I thought maybe it was a ship or car game.

[Sam Claiborne]

I'm thinking.

[Justin Davis]

Or boat.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's Berserk.

[Mark Medina]

Is this game exclusive to the platform it was released on?

[Damon Hatfield]

Not anymore.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, was this originally an arcade game?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes. That's five.

[Justin Davis]

It's looking good. Looking good for Berserk.

[Mark Medina]

Or Centipede.

[Justin Davis]

Was this game made in Japan?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Sam Claiborne]

Can't be Berserk. No, that was exidy. Right.

[Justin Davis]

I don't know.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's not Berserk.

[Mark Medina]

I don't think. Dude, I'm. I'm out.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is this from before 1983?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Justin Davis]

You might be right. It might be a Centipede.

[Sam Claiborne]

No, no, that was made in America. That was made by.

[Justin Davis]

Oh, yeah, you're right. Right. Yeah, yeah, you're right.

[Sam Claiborne]

But are there robots in this game?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Justin Davis]

What does that eliminate? Robotron.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, it could be wizard of War. No, it's Berserk and it eliminates Berserk.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, I forgot. Wait, wait. What was the answer to Japan?

[Sam Claiborne]

It was not made. It was made in Japan.

[Justin Davis]

Was made. Okay, so Space Invaders, Pac Man.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's got to be a Namco game. There's not a lot of. There's Sega and it's.

[Justin Davis]

It's not. It's not Mappy or no. Rally X.

[Sam Claiborne]

You said pre 83. Right. So.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Gremlin.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. But.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, did this game have a. I have two questions. Did this game have a port on the nes?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay, thank you for that. And what did this game originally use a joystick in the arcade?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes. That's 10.

[Sam Claiborne]

Interesting. Interesting.

[Justin Davis]

I mean, could still be. Well, Space Invaders didn't get ported to the nes, did it? Did Pac Man?

[Sam Claiborne]

Pac man did, yeah. And three different cartridge iterations. Or at least two. No, three.

[Justin Davis]

Is it help? Is it helpful to know if this is a maze game? What about a single screen game? I guess it almost has to be 383.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. I mean, there's like tank games and stuff.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. But you're not in a vehicle.

[Sam Claiborne]

True, true. Is this game about eating.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well? Well, there's no eating in the game.

[Mark Medina]

What?

[Sam Claiborne]

Interesting.

[Mark Medina]

Maybe it's the characters eat off screen, but it's.

[Justin Davis]

Maybe it's Burger. Maybe it's Burger Time. Or Tapper.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. Oh, you know, you don't eat in Burger.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, it probably is Burger Time because there's a jumping.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's a Bandai game.

[Justin Davis]

Isn't there jumping in Burger Time?

[Sam Claiborne]

No. You can only run across burgers and throw. Throw pepper. Yeah. Does this game have a pepper button?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is this game Burger Time?

[Damon Hatfield]

It is Burger Time. Yes.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Is it about eating? Well, you're making burgers but nobody's eating them.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. You're the chef.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Look at him.

[Damon Hatfield]

Not Namco. Data East. Data East.

[Sam Claiborne]

Sam, I said Bandai, right?

[Damon Hatfield]

I think. Well, you said Bandai or Namco, but it's neither of those.

[Sam Claiborne]

I said bandai and I was wrong.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes, yes. Burger time. 1982.

[Sam Claiborne]

Burger time.

[Justin Davis]

When I was 11 or 12 years old, in 96 or 97, one of the very first things I can remember doing on the Internet was downloading Atari Romney.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh, nice.

[Justin Davis]

And then I downloaded a virus onto my family computer and broke it.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, no.

[Mark Medina]

Was it worth it? Perfect for the.

[Sam Claiborne]

Because they were Atari ROMs, not Super Nintendo ROMs.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. And that was the only way I played Burger Time was like an Atari ROM of Burger Time.

[Sam Claiborne]

Remember when Super Nintendo ROMs are kind of hard to emulate versus other things or Game Boy?

[Justin Davis]

And they also took, you know, they were like 4, 5, 6 megabytes and they took a while to download on dial up. That's right. Right. That's right.

[Damon Hatfield]

I love this game. This is one of my all time favorite arcade games.

[Sam Claiborne]

You.

[Damon Hatfield]

You own one of these, Sam?

[Sam Claiborne]

I have the cabinet maybe 10ft that way.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep. Cool.

[Justin Davis]

I do think Burger. Burger Time's up there with like Donkey Kong. Like, I don't think it's as good as Donkey Kong, but like, it's really, really good. It's a classic and it's kind of been a little bit like forgotten.

[Sam Claiborne]

And it has a lot of replayability and interesting stuff. This level particular this person's playing really well here. This level has an interesting situation because you have to have to run up this ladder as fast as possible to start the level or there's like an instant death scenario. It's really mean.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Is this really how burgers are made?

[Damon Hatfield]

This is how burgers are made. Yep.

[Sam Claiborne]

I actually learned from this game to always add an egg.

[Justin Davis]

I. I don't know if this is how burgers are made, but I don't know enough. It doesn't seem like it, but I don't know enough to disprove it.

[Sam Claiborne]

I never played this game as we'll.

[Mark Medina]

Leave it to the professionals.

[Damon Hatfield]

I play. I also. I played in arcades. I also rented it on NES and then in recent years, killing it. In recent years, there have been some bad ports. Oh, there's also Burger Time two. That's insane. I think it was only released in Japan. It's so much more colorful and there's like boss fights. It's a. It's a wide. It's like a boss fight. It's like an asset trip of a game.

[Sam Claiborne]

Before that there was a Data east tape based medium for arcade. And there's a game called Peter. Exactly. The Peter Pepper's Ice Cream Factory that came out for that. And it's Peter Pepper who's the star of this. And you can tell his name is Peter Pepper. Not because he throws pepper, because he has an H on his hat. Who knows? But yeah, maybe for hamburger. I don't even know what's going on with that. But yeah, he makes ice cream cones.

[Mark Medina]

In that case, it's his people's symbol for hope.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, this level's great.

[Damon Hatfield]

Nice job.

[Mark Medina]

That's a tall burger.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. You can tell this is the NES version because the actual version is vertical screen, not horizontal screen.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep. Nicely job Burger time. Thank you for the suggestion, Glenn Kirby in Barnsley, Mary, Old England. Viewers and listeners, if you have your own suggestions for Video Game 20 questions, email them to me at the email address gamescoopgn.com and heads up that a special edition of IGN Fan Fest is coming October 15th. Streaming across all IGN platforms. IGN Fan Fest 2025 Fall Edition will see the likes of Keanu Reeves, Aziz Ansari and other celebrities stop by to reveal exclusive looks at major upcoming movies and streaming series. We'll also be announcing brand new video games and showing off never before seen looks at some of the year's biggest titles. Fans can expect new looks at games like Jurassic World, Evolution 3, Dispatch, Anno 117pax Romano and WWE 2K25, along with sneak peeks and breaking news for movies and series like Netflix's Splinter Cell. Death watch kicks off October 15th. Everywhere you get IGM. And that is all the scoops we have for you this week. Thank you, Sam. Thank you, Justin. Thank you, Mark. Thank you to Jobert, working behind the scenes to make this episode possible. My name is Damon. Gonna edit the heck out of this ending. My name is Damon. This is IGN Games Scoop. And we're out. This episode of gamescoop was produced by myself, Damon Hatfield and Gilbert Adienza. Technical direction is handled by Jobert Atienza. Technical production is by Marianne Franzen and Amir Aqib. Audio engineering is by Amir Akib and post production editing is by yours truly, Damon Hatfield. Graphic design is by Nicole Kagempen. Gamescoop is an IGN production and part of the Geek Media Network.

[Justin Davis]

I like that every once in a while, like, the Damon autopilot gets, like, interrupted, and then it's like, wait, where am I?

[Damon Hatfield]

It's like, I haven't thought about it.

[Sam Claiborne]

Would have made a really good virtual boy game.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh, actually, I don't know.

[Justin Davis]

All.

[Damon Hatfield]

All the enemies looking in the same color.

[Sam Claiborne]

Nothing would have made a good virtual boy game. We all know that. But we have to put on a good face for the audience.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's like the game when you're just looking at, like, a screenshot of them, they look so cool. But when you're actually playing them for any extended period of time, that's when everything goes south, goes sideways.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's why it'd have been nice to choose a nice, you know, teal virtual boy experience. When you put it on your face. Elf needs food. Mark encountered error.

[Damon Hatfield]

Mark is about to die. Mark, do you know what game Sam and I were referencing?

[Mark Medina]

Nope.

[Damon Hatfield]

Cool.

[Mark Medina]

I thought you just wanted to be dead.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's a game called Gauntlet. Oh, we could have gone with I am error, which is Zelda 2 reference. Just a guy named Error. Hey, everybody, I'm back.

[Damon Hatfield]

Thanks, everyone.

[Mark Medina]

Bye, everyone.

[Sam Claiborne]

Thanks, everyone.

[Justin Davis]

See you.

[Damon Hatfield]

And Doug.

[Mark Medina]

Here we have the Limu emu in.

[Damon Hatfield]

Its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug Limu.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is that guy with the binoculars watching us?

[Mark Medina]

Cut the camera. They see us.

[Damon Hatfield]

Only pay for what you [e-mail] Liberty Liberty. Liberty.

[Sam Claiborne]

Liberty Savings Fairy underwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company Affiliates.

[Mark Medina]

Excludes Massachusetts Bundle and safe with Expedia. You were made to follow your favorite band. And from the front row. We were made. Made to quietly save you. More Expedia. Made to travel savings vary and subject to availability. Flight inclusive packages are at all protected.

[Justin Davis]

It's the biggest nightmare ever, but nobody's.

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Going to lose sleep over this one.

[Justin Davis]

Well, maybe the makers of Platoon.

[Ad Read / Sponsor Voice]

Because for the very first time in.

[Justin Davis]

History, a small independent film has swept.

[Ad Read / Sponsor Voice]

The weekend box office grosses.

[Justin Davis]

Sa.