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Game Scoop! 830: Our Favorite Nintendo Switch Games
01:14:45
Mario Odyssey, Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom, Mario Kart 8... It's Game of the Century Watch!
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- [00:00]
A
Game of the Century Watch continues with the Nintendo Switch era. Plus, Sam has beaten Ghost of Yote, and there are a couple very cool new indie games we're a little obsessed with. All that and more coming up on gamescoop right after these messages. A new era of power has arrived with the Alienware Area 51 gaming laptops, intentionally engineered to push more power to the CPU and GPU for maximum performance. Combined with Intel Core Ultra 9 processors merging CPU integration, NPU, and integrated GPU into an AI optimized chip, it delivers fast, smart and seamless performance across everything you do. And with the new Cryo chamber design, Airflow is focused exactly where it's needed most. Fused with Alienware's enhanced thermal solutions, it creates a higher power output without raising noise levels, allowing you to play with confidence even during the most demanding marathon gaming sessions. So no matter what you are playing, Alienware ensures every game runs precisely as its developers intended. A new era of power is here. All you have to do is take it. Discover Area51 today@Alienware.com Area-51 laptops One in five Americans have learned a new language on their bucket list. If that's you, make 2025 the year you finally check it off with Babbel, a language app that makes grammar fun and is actually worth your time. Learning a language with Babbel is all about small steps, big wins and progress. You can actually track and feel. Their bite sized lessons fit easily into your daily routine and are also easy to remember. Just 10 minutes a day is enough to start seeing real Their courses are designed by over 200 language experts, real human beings to teach you relevant words and phrases you'll actually use so you can start speaking with confidence in as little as three weeks. Babbel lets you practice real life conversation step by step, without the stress. You'll build the confidence to speak up when it matters, from ordering a coffee to chatting with new friends abroad. And Babbel is more than just lessons. They even offer a large collection of podcasts where Babbel experts reveal language secrets and offer an inside look at local cultures. I've used Babbel to brush up on my Spanish before traveling to Mexico and to learn a little Dutch on a visit to Amsterdam earlier this year. Here's a special limited time deal for our listeners right now. Get up to 55% off your Babel subscription at babel.com Gamescoop get up to 55% off at babbel.com Gamescoop spelled B-A B B E L.com Gamescoop rules and restrictions may apply. What's up, everybody? Welcome to IGN Games Group. I'm your host, Damon Hatfield. And joining me this week are Sam Claiborne.
- [02:27]
B
Happy spooky season, everybody.
- [02:29]
A
Justin Davis.
- [02:30]
C
Scoop.
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A
And Mark Medina.
- [02:32]
D
You could call me Mark Ball X Pit Medina from now on.
- [02:37]
A
Damon, let's go back to I'm Here, Damon. I think that was a little bit catchier.
- [02:44]
D
I'm Here, Damon.
- [02:45]
A
We do have a great show for you this week. As I mentioned, Sam has beaten Ghost of Yote and I want to hear about that in a no spoilery way. And then also there is these games, Ball, Ball Pit, and what's the other one? Mega Bonk that are out now that a lot of people are obsessed with. But first, you'll be happy to know that I think we identified the gremlin in our system, the typing gremlin in our system, and we threw them in the microwave. So I don't think they'll cause us any more hassle. We'll see.
- [03:11]
B
That was a brutal gremlin death.
- [03:12]
C
That was what it was.
- [03:13]
D
Justin, let's just. We just need to see your hands.
- [03:16]
C
Yeah, it's fine. Is it going to turn into like a spider gremlin or like a sexy girl gremlin?
- [03:22]
A
Probably not. Hopefully not. Hopefully.
- [03:24]
B
That man had to get married.
- [03:28]
A
Well, here we go. I mean, now I just want to watch Gremlins. Well, I mean, this isn't good for the audio listeners, but it's really good TV for the people watching the video. Yeah, here it goes.
- [03:39]
D
Wait, so she puts a gremlin in a microwave?
- [03:42]
A
Oh, yeah. Mark, are you ready for this?
- [03:44]
B
Oh, it doesn't.
- [03:48]
C
It's.
- [03:48]
B
And a very similar scene happens in Day of the Tentacle also.
- [03:54]
A
Maniac Mansion.
- [03:54]
D
What is it haunted? Haunted, yeah. But it's a hamster that time.
- [03:59]
A
Yep. And it's funny. It goes. Anyway, Game of the century Watch. We've gotten everything from the early 2000s, Perfect Dark through PS2, Xbox GameCube, through Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PS4, Xbox One. And that brings us to Nintendo Switch finally. And of course, there's going to be the whole Breath of the Wild Slash tears of the kingdom of it all. But I think Mario Odyssey is a pretty good place to start with this one, which I think now we've gone through the hype of Donkey Kong Bonanza. Finish that. I still prefer. I would give the edge to Mario Odyssey myself.
- [04:35]
C
And I know that I would as well, actually.
- [04:39]
B
Yeah, no, I switched. I'm all in on Bonanza.
- [04:42]
D
Now.
- [04:46]
B
What is this? I like Odyssey 3D.
- [04:49]
C
Mario games kind of come in two major flavors, right? There's the platformy ones like Super Mario 3D World and 3D Land and Galaxy 1 and 2. And then there's the adventure puzzle Y ones which are Mario 64, Mario Sunshine and you know, and then Odyssey is sort of the culmination of that style of Mario game. I don't think Mario Odyssey and those other two Mario games get enough credit for being like, like you could take some of those puzzle rooms and like trans, they could make them Zelda shrines or like put them in a puzzle game and they would be right at home. Like it's interesting, it's lateral thinking, it's problem solving. It's a new sort of surprise around every single corner. Just the surprise and delight scale is just absolutely off the charts. And there's wow, how many moons are in that game? Like 800 and some 920, whatever. Like, but the point I'm making is like that's very close to the number of like Korok seeds, right? But like pound for puzzle for puzzle. Like the little, like it's not hard to get a moon. Like you butt stomp on the right spot and you get a moon. But like I think on balance it's a little bit more interesting, you know, than the, than the moment to moment gameplay of like hunting down Koroks and Zelda for example. Like just a really, really delightful, charming gameplay loop made all the better by just like a soundtrack that goes so much harder than it needs to go. Like, like, honestly, like I was glad to hear you bring it up Damon, because I, I wasn't sure anybody else felt the same. Like, I think that game gets overshadowed by the Zeldas, but I think it's absolutely a top tier, you know, goat candidate.
- [06:22]
A
Personally, Personally, my favorite 3D platformer ever.
- [06:26]
D
Oh, nice. Yeah. Odyssey is my, is my second favorite 3D Mario with 64 being number one. I love that game. I, I, the thing I love about Odyssey is, is the movement tech that is there if you know how to do it and that so unlike in 64 where you can get into certain areas that you're not supposed to and there's either nothing there or you know, whatever the game like glitches out where in this game it's, it's kind of like, hey, can I get up on this wall? And you can. And then the game goes, here's some coins. Like you're not getting much but, but, but, yeah, but, but we're Letting you know that you. We know you can do this. And. And here's your reward. Just some coins just to kind of like, it's. It's almost like a dev signature to be like, you're not. You're not sly. We. We knew you would try to get here. And so I, I really like that about it. But I, I. Everything else Justin's saying is also correct. Like the, the game can also be really, really hard, especially with. Yeah, I'm a. I'm a long jumper. And the fact that you bonk when you long jump in this game, if you don't make a. A jump is. It actually makes the game really, really tough towards the later.
- [07:35]
B
Instead of like floating against the wall like you do in 64.
- [07:37]
D
Yeah. Or like ledge grabbing and stuff like that in this game, you just bonk. And so it's. It. But man, it is a fun game. And the transformations are all really, really good. Yeah. I love this game.
- [07:49]
B
It's all about diversity. All the levels are really, really wacky and different and they're. They're not coherent like Mario Sunshine. And then there's the thing. You didn't want me to spoil the end of Ghost of Yote, but, but real quick. Both games go to the moon in the end.
- [08:01]
A
Wow.
- [08:03]
D
Oh, that game took a twist that I had got to finish Yote.
- [08:09]
B
No, they don't. Only one of them does, and that's Mario. And it has a really cool gravity twist. And I love that last level so much, and I think it's really great.
- [08:16]
C
There's that weird, absolutely non sequitur dragon boss fight in the middle of the game that's just like absolute insanity.
- [08:24]
B
I actually have, like, an expectation now that games are going to take you that crazy and that far by the end of them because of Mario Odyssey. I think it set the bar so high.
- [08:33]
C
Yeah.
- [08:34]
D
This is also the game where we learned that Mario is not a human because there are humans in this game and he looks nothing like them.
- [08:42]
B
He also appears topless.
- [08:43]
A
He does appear topless.
- [08:45]
C
You do see Mario's nipples, which Mario. I don't know about that. But there's weird like the, the. The canon of New Donk City now being continued and expanded on and like Donkey Kong sort of recontextualizes. Like, it's very strange, but, you know, I won't hold it against it.
- [09:04]
A
There's big moments like we talked about in Bonanza. There's sort of this gauntlet run at the end of the game that's really cool and exciting and I Think Mario Odyssey kind of started that with the whole end run of In New Donk City with a song, throwbacks to Donkey.
- [09:17]
D
Kong and all that.
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A
And like.
- [09:18]
B
Right.
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A
Plus the capture mechanic creates so much variety and that acts, that's, you know, you get, you capture new. A new creature and now you have a new ability. So that's kind of like the Metroidvania of it. Because now all of a sudden you realize, oh, now I can go back and reach that ledge or get through that wall or do whatever I need to do.
- [09:35]
D
And then we. I, I was just going to say like in Donkey Kong, I remember one of the first questions we had like on the guide scene was like, what is the darker side of the moon for this game? Because it kind of started that trend of like, now we're going to just give you a very hard gauntlet you have to get through. This is your final reward for finishing the game type deal.
- [09:55]
A
Yep.
- [09:56]
C
Yeah. Or I mean, reward. Like it's kind of, it's there for sickos. Right? Like, you know, Nintendo got criticized many, many years of like, you know, their games are kitty mode and whatever. And they figured it out like they've cracked the code on how to make a game that, you know, elder gamers that grew up with Nintendo are going to appreciate the nostalgia and the 2D moments and the Donkey Kong references and, you know, and then they can go for the 100% completion, which is sometimes bananas hard. But then kids can also just sort of hop in and run around and jump and, you know, just be delighted too.
- [10:27]
D
So be a dinosaur.
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C
Yeah, like, and I don't know, like kind of every Nintendo game is like this these days. But like Odyssey I think kind of executes on that promise of like, this is a game for everybody. Maybe the best.
- [10:40]
D
I forgot that this got a Switch 2 upgrade. I didn't know.
- [10:42]
A
I was just gonna say. The final thing I would say is that even though this was the best looking Mario ever, and now it looks even better with the Switch 2 version. They have these throwback eight bit sequences that are just genius and they look so good and crisp and I. It's just like, well, Nintendo could still make a pixel art game today and I think it would look fantastic. I'd like more, more pixel artwork from them.
- [11:02]
D
Yeah.
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A
All right, so that's Mario Odyssey. What would we do about the Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom situation if we were trying to make.
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C
You include them both, Damon?
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A
If we were only picking 25 games from the past 25 years, both of These games would be on the list.
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B
Yeah.
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A
Not saying no.
- [11:17]
D
Yeah, they probably would be. But if the question is, which is better? I, I think Tears of the Kingdom is better.
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C
Same.
- [11:25]
D
I, I think Tears of the Kingdom took everything that Breath of the Wild did and just made it honestly perfect. Like, that game is just too good to exist, especially on that thing. Like the, the thing that blew my mind about Tears of the Kingdom is that it had the rewind feature, right, where you could, an object could move and then you could rewind it and then you discover that everything in that game can, can be that, right? You go to these apple orchards and every single apple can be rewound. And it tells you, like, how is. I don't get how this game runs. Like, I've heard stuff about, like, well, Cyberpunk ran bad because, like, there's just so much going on. It's like, no game has more going on than Tears of the Kingdom and that game still ran good. So, man, what a game.
- [12:15]
C
I think, like, one of the criticism is like, you know, people are slightly dismissive of Cheers of the Kingdom and say, oh, well, you know, I don't like Ultra Hand and I don't like building things, so therefore Breath of the Wild is my favorite. But it's like if you were to, if you were to look at, you know, if you played the game for 100 hours and like, you had it all recorded and you could scrub through that 100 hours, it's like building is like 5% of it, maybe. Like, I replayed most of the game this year on the switch too. I did three of the Sages and I was really struck by, like, the building looms large in your head. Like, your memories of the game are building flying machines and contraptions and rafts, but it's not really like you, if you choose not to engage with that part of the game at all, every single other element is still just an upgrade over Breath of the Wild. Like, I think the storytelling is, you know, more interesting. I think the, the dungeons are absolutely superior to the Divine Beasts. You know, I think the, the ability to fuse things onto weapons, like, fuse is the least interesting of your new abilities. But it's still, you know, it's like I'm gonna fuse a spring to my shield and I'm gonna fuse a sword to my sword. Like, just the, the flexibility for player expression that that system grants you. Like, I think that I, I, I just, I agree absolutely wholeheartedly that I prefer Tears of the Kingdom to Breath of the Wild, but, but I do think Breath of the Wild would probably still make the top 25.
- [13:38]
A
That would mean. Yeah, that would mean even though Tears is better, Breath of the Wild is still better than all but 23 other games released in the past 25 years.
- [13:46]
C
Yeah, that checks out.
- [13:48]
D
I mean, it kind of is.
- [13:49]
A
You agree you get Tears ahead of Breath?
- [13:53]
B
I mean, crazily, I would even venture that Echoes could even be in the top five of Switch games.
- [14:01]
A
Echoes of Wisdom.
- [14:02]
D
Yeah, I love. I love Echoes of Wisdom as well.
- [14:04]
A
Yeah, that one is good, too.
- [14:07]
D
Yeah, Tears just. I mean, it's got three maps. Like, that's nuts. No loading screens in between the three. Obviously the game's offloading stuff if you're not near it, but, like, that's. Man, what a game. Also, they simplified a lot of the building with the Switch 2 version. You can use the companion app, use QR codes, and scan other people's builds now. So even if you're like, I'm not good at building, but I want to drive a crazy car, look on the app and I'm sure you can find one.
- [14:38]
C
Well, and the locked frame rate, I mean, look, this is. What I will say, I've talked about it on the show many times, is like, I was absolutely obsessed and enamored and in love with Tears of the Kingdom, but it was such kind of a love hate. Like, there were parts of the map and, like, towns and cities that I just wouldn't go to. I was avoiding because I'm like, man, it's going to get down to like, 19 FPS. Like, it was such a bummer. And I eventually put the game down, waiting for the Switch 2 version, not knowing it was going to be, you know, two years later, and, like, it feels like. It feels like a new game. Like, and it feels like, you know, sort of fulfilling the promise of, you know, of what the original game, you know, it's like they just had it, like, the developers had it in their head and couldn't quite get, you know, the potato power of the Switch one to, like, pull it all off. And so I'm. I'm just. It was absolute delight to go back to that game this summer.
- [15:30]
A
I would still like to do that now.
- [15:32]
D
I want to go back to this, too.
- [15:33]
C
You, dude, you should. Like, it's so, like, it's. It's like, it's crazy. Like, and if you want the upgrade. Yeah, if you did, like, play this, play this. It's one of those things where, like, when an HD remaster comes out and you're like, this is how I always imagine the game looking in my head. And then you go back to the original and you're like, oh no, that's very much Tears of the Kingdom. Like you see it running on a Switch one and you're like, wow.
- [15:59]
A
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- [16:17]
C
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D
And then you go in there and.
- [16:28]
A
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- [18:43]
B
Did the, the Nintendo Cart thing too. Right. Where they added characters from Zelda.
- [18:48]
A
Yeah.
- [18:49]
B
Places for Animal Crossing and stuff. And it's like, it's weird that world went backwards on that so far at least.
- [18:54]
D
I mean I think it's the same fate the next Smash Bros will suffer as well. Right. Where ultimate is so complete. Everybody's here is like their catchphrase.
- [19:04]
C
Yeah.
- [19:04]
D
And it's like. And then they're going to come out with a new Smash and it's going to have, you know, 20 characters but.
- [19:08]
B
Maybe it'll have an open world and you have to press up to jump around.
- [19:11]
C
Yeah. I think, I think it's a perfect game. I think, you know, like there's not really that much to say about it. Just because it takes this kind of formula and just like just make just perfects it. Like, you know, like there's not, there's not a lot to get into. I will say the jazzy soundtrack, I think it's sort of an underrated. Like I really, the more I played world, the more I kind of missed, you know, the horns and the jazz of Mario Kart 8. And I still, I don't even play Mario Kart 8 that much, but I still kind of wander around my house sort of humming and singing some of the tunes to this day. Like I think it's just become, become a part of me as a person. Yeah. And then the booster course pass.
- [19:53]
A
Yep.
- [19:53]
C
You know, you could take or leave a lot of those courses. Like a lot of them are from the mobile game. Like you know, they're not necessarily the best, but it just made the game. I mean, you're right, Mark. Like, it gave it that. That Mario Kart 8 feeling of, like, it's just the canonical Mario Kart experience at this point.
- [20:08]
A
Yep.
- [20:09]
D
Yeah. I mean, I think. I think again, both this and Smash, I think they went the platform route where it's like, this is the ultimate version of this game. We're gonna just keep adding to it. And this is like, graphically, they're both fantastic. And so it does kind of put them in a bind where you, like, you play Mario World and you're like. Or, sorry, Mario Kart World. And you're like, oh, man, this. This does feel like a little bit of a step back. This is mainly because the open world game. Open World didn't have anything to do with.
- [20:36]
B
This is the Wii U. This was a Wii U game. Like Breath of the Wild, right?
- [20:39]
A
Yep.
- [20:39]
C
Yeah. Which is crazy.
- [20:41]
B
I mean, that means that we had a really great library with the best games ever made.
- [20:45]
D
It kind of did it also.
- [20:48]
A
It also got Wii.
- [20:48]
D
Uh. If you were stuck on a desert island with a Wii U, you would still at least have. You'd have Breath of the Wild. You'd have this.
- [20:54]
C
Did we. The booster course pass isn't on the Wii U version.
- [20:57]
D
Right.
- [20:58]
C
But I think the other DLC was. I don't know. Yeah.
- [21:00]
D
Because. Because this is. This is Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. So that's the one that got all the DLCs.
- [21:06]
B
Remember the BMW or something DLC. It's like a licensed car deals.
- [21:11]
C
Yeah. Mercedes maybe.
- [21:12]
D
I think it was the Mercedes.
- [21:13]
C
Mercedes.
- [21:14]
B
Cool.
- [21:14]
D
I do remember that. Yeah, it's great.
- [21:17]
A
That should have been 10 under.
- [21:21]
D
Probably would be now.
- [21:22]
A
Yeah.
- [21:23]
B
Yeah. All right.
- [21:24]
A
Mark, you mentioned Smash Brothers a couple of times. I'm not really a Smash Brothers guy, but would you nominate it for Game of the Century?
- [21:30]
D
I. I think. I think I would. I would call for someone else to nominate it. Like someone that actually knows what they're talking about. I think it deserves to be up there, but I can't tell you why because I don't know anything about it.
- [21:43]
B
I can't explain why I like Melee the best, but I'm sticking with it because of the.
- [21:48]
D
What is it? Wave dashing.
- [21:49]
C
Melee's just.
- [21:50]
D
He's a Wave Dash X.
- [21:51]
C
Very, very fast. Yeah. I mean, you know, if. If Smash will be on my list. Right. I think it's a clear sort of tier below Zelda. Zelda and Mario for me. But, like, the hype, you know, you already kind of talked about it, Mark, but the hype of like everyone is here is just, you know, it's one of those moments that, like, I'm not sure we're ever going to get in video games. And I think it almost killed Sakurai. So, you know, we'll see. I don't know.
- [22:22]
D
You know, it's got Sora, it's got. Yeah, I mean, I'm loud, it's got Joker.
- [22:28]
C
I'm a relatively casual player and so I, I, you know, I guess I kind of already talked about this with Mario, but Nintendo's gotten so good at sort of servicing all those different play styles of like, you know, if you're a real try hard and like a Smash sicko, like, you know, they fix the tripping and they fix, like, I know people still prefer melee, but like, by and large, ultimate, like, seems to be pretty well respected in that regard. But like, for me, like, I'm pretty casual and I really, really enjoyed like, they took the trophy hunting from previous Smash games and made it. We put 9,000 stickers into the game and I thought the campaign was pretty fun. And I thought the, the, you know, just, I don't know, like all the modes, you know, that's, that's what I'm in Smash for is you can come back night after night after night and, you know, play a different character and play a different mode and set new high scores and like, try to like, I never play Peach, but like, I'll play Peach a few times and learn a skill set a little bit to set a new home run target, for example. Like, it's just a very chill game to play casually, I think. And so, yeah, I mean, I keep meaning to get my kids into it because I think they would like it. But you know, we've not, not booted up Smash for them yet.
- [23:39]
A
The fact that the train isn't it so good.
- [23:42]
B
Yeah, it's really funny.
- [23:45]
A
Okay, Sam, anything else you would nominate?
- [23:48]
B
Pikmin 4.
- [23:49]
A
Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep.
- [23:50]
B
It's. We haven't talked about a Pikmin game yet. Really? And it's the best Pikmin game ever in my opinion. By, like, just. It's not even close. It's just. It just looks and feels so good and I just want to play it all the time. I can't believe how good they made the fourth Pikmin game. That doesn't make sense to me. And then we, I don't. We can't really do anything about this, but Metroid Prime Remastered is better. Than metroid prime on GameCube and it's better than Metroid prime on week. So there you have it.
- [24:18]
A
That's easy. That's an easy little asterisk to take care of.
- [24:21]
C
Yeah, I'm kind of used to, I mean not every Nintendo sequel, obviously not Mario and Zelda, but I'm used to a lot of Nintendo games sort of giving us like there's, there's like a monkey's paw. Like we'll grant your wish and we'll give you Pikmin 4. But there's going to be some weird drawback. Like, you know, there's some fatal flaw that like some stops it from being kind of the perfect game. And Pikmin 4 actually does the exact opposite of like, we're gonna take all the best stuff that you loved about all the Pikmin games and you know, and then we're gonna make the main campaign accessible, but we're gonna make the final post game challenges really, really hard and crazy again. And the new Pikmin types aren't gonna be annoying. They're gonna be fun and interesting. Like I really like they made the perfect Pikmin game. Yeah.
- [25:07]
A
They also have this like creature battle mode where you can just pick one of the enemies and just. It's like a kind of like a boss rush mode. And Kingo loves to play. He'll just play it forever. He just picks a different monster and throws Pikmin at it until they're dead.
- [25:20]
B
There's a lot of games out right now, but if you were looking to play a game, you could find this used somewhere or something and want to play it. Like, you don't need to play the other Pikmin. Oh no, you just, just play this one and it's, it's a RTS about ants and it's really fun.
- [25:34]
C
Yeah. And I actually, they're, they're. I'm speaking from memory. I think pikmin4actually retcons the previous Pikmin game. So not only do you need to have not played them, but I think it's actually like not to worry about it. Don't worry about it.
- [25:48]
B
Yeah. It just seems to unmoor itself from the timeline.
- [25:51]
C
Yeah.
- [25:52]
A
And we don't think we ever covered this on the show. A new Pikmin game was kind of shadow announced with that animated video that Nintendo released.
- [25:59]
B
Yeah.
- [26:00]
A
We don't know anything about the game. Right.
- [26:03]
B
Or that Pikmin is, you know. Well, anyway, yeah, it was at least a Pikmin short.
- [26:08]
A
Yeah. That was a weird thing.
- [26:10]
B
Pikmin is still on the minds of people at Nintendo, as it should be.
- [26:19]
A
Okay, Mark, anything else to nominate?
- [26:23]
D
So I like this game.
- [26:25]
A
Well, okay, hold on. These should be like the best of the best.
- [26:28]
D
I know, I know. But. But hear me out.
- [26:31]
A
Okay.
- [26:31]
D
I'm thinking about. So I love cultural moments in video games, right? So we. 2016, Pokemon Go, right? Everybody played Pokemon Go and Animal Crossing. New Horizons was absolutely a cultural moment for 2020. It's. It came out right when lockdowns happened. And it's not a game I really would have played. If New Horizons 2 or a New Animal Crossing came out tomorrow, I probably wouldn't play it. And yet, really, maybe. But like, but I played 200 hours of new Horizons because, like, that's just what you did, right? In 2020, everybody was playing this game because it was like the one thing that we knew everybody was doing right. And so the game will kind of always have this like, special moment. I. I don't know if I would go back and be like, this is. This is incredible. I. I think it's a really, really good game. It may not be a mark game, but I. I think it deserves at least a word in there about like, how this game did kind of take over.
- [27:31]
B
I mean, it's found its way into human history because of that. Because of a pandemic that will remember for a very long time as they all are, and how it was related to the technology that completely jumped. Everybody worked the way everybody went to school and everybody gamed was all like tied together and this was just part of it, you know, like, I get like just a flood of memories, good and bad from this era. Just seeing this game again. And we had brought up Animal Crossing as a GameCube I did as just an outstanding innovation in sim games. I think. I love it, love the game. Then there's a series of good to okay to great ones, and then there's this one which does enough, I think, to bring it into the realm of like a classic game.
- [28:19]
C
Yeah, I mean, it finally fulfilled that Animal Crossing wish that people had had since the beginning of like, you know, I just want to be able to place anything anywhere. I want to be able to terraform my whole island. Like, I want to be able to go like just as completely hardcore and into it as I want. And instead, instead of having this little teeny tiny sandbox in which you have to express yourself the entire game and the entire island was that. And that. That from an end game perspective was like, really fun, really satisfying. I think watching this footage, it's like I'm reminded, like the writing in the Animal Crossing games is really good and really clever too. You know, like even when the characters are mean to you, like they're meaning kind of like an interesting way that's like really charming. It's great, great game.
- [29:05]
D
Well, and this is where I learned that Tom Nook is not a villain at all. I'd always thought Tom Nook's a villain. He's the, he's the one that like you owe him all this money, homeboy gives you an interest free loan. That, that is the nicest thing in the world. Like you'll never get that.
- [29:22]
C
Yeah, he is a little bit toned down compared, compared to some of the previous ones. But yeah, you're not wrong.
- [29:30]
D
And then I heard the DLC was really good. The Happy Homemaker stuff where you go to islands and, and they'll ask for things and Yeah, I, I hear it's really good. Yeah, I, I, I really do like this game and I, I, but I do, I do think like, yeah, is it, is it more of a. Weirdly, even though it's only five years old, is it a nostalgia thing? Because it's like, yeah, this is speaking about that time. Like I edited the Doom Eternal review from Home. And I was like, we're editing a review from Home. Like, what? Like, and this is, this, this game is. When I did, I had to produce.
- [30:05]
B
This review from Home.
- [30:07]
D
Yeah, like it's well, and I did, I did a lot of VO's for a lot of videos for this. And I was like, I'm doing a VO like at home, not in the VO booth at the IGN office. So there's just a lot to think. A lot of feelings come back when.
- [30:20]
B
I see this to your point of like what, why? You know, it may not be a classic, maybe it's just tied up in nostalgia. I think one counterpoint to that, and we talked about this with Stardew. There's a genre now called cozy games. This is by far the most played cozy game ever. Besides, unless you count like Farmville or something. Right, like, which we didn't call cozy games. It's like Stardew had a resurgence because of Animal Crossing and people played all of these other games because of it. But most people just played Animal Crossing. That's the most, that's the most cozy playing that happens at least concurrently over the years. People play all these other games and add up.
- [30:59]
C
I mean there's not a lot of games that like men and women, young, old, like A four quadrant game. Right. And like, you know, this is. This is one of them.
- [31:10]
A
All right, Justin, any final nominations?
- [31:14]
C
No.
- [31:14]
A
Okay, cool. I think that's actually pretty good. Um, but I did think this is probably a good point to just sort of mention any indie games that have come out over the years that we haven't mentioned yet, and maybe they get looked over. Things like Hades, which we were talking about at the end or right before we started filming, that was a Switch exclusive at launch. It was our game of the year that year. Hades 2 is a switch console, exclusive at launch. Hades is great. Some of the best, you know, writing and the most clever way of doling out story and lore over a roguelike game that you are meant to play over and over again. It's like actually like kind of like baffling how they fit all that in there in a way that didn't feel redundant or repetitive and all just. It seems to be doled out to you at regular intervals as if it were planned. As if they knew how many times it would take you to get through the game.
- [32:00]
D
It's pretty genius. Yeah. Every time you go back to the house of, of, you know, hey, like, there's like new dialogue.
- [32:08]
B
Yeah. Yep.
- [32:08]
D
No matter how far or not far you got, there's just always someone has.
- [32:14]
A
Recorded voice, acted dialogue.
- [32:15]
D
It's like. And you're just. And it's all so good. Darren Korb is. He's just. He's a beast. He's just too good.
- [32:23]
A
Yeah, it's too good. I've been enjoying Hades too as well. And then I would throw in dead cells, which is just, you know, maybe the prettiest modern pixel art, I think. And just a huge, sprawling Metroidvania with so many secrets, secret ways to enter biomes and reach secret bosses and items. And then they've just built on it and expanded it so much. It's an absolutely huge game. This could absolutely be a desert island game for me. The Castlevania stuff is so good. Also, talking about game feel and like Mario Odyssey, just the feel, the joy that comes from just moving your character around the space in the game. This game totally has that as well.
- [33:00]
B
Nice.
- [33:01]
D
Yeah. So something I talked about before the show was a game that I don't know if I would consider it a Switch game, but I played the one hour trial of Balatro on PS5 and then went, this is great. I'm going to go buy it on the Switch because this is. This is a Switch game to me and I never do that, but I.
- [33:20]
A
Mean, I bought Balatro on PC and on Switch and on my Steam Deck and I have it on because I have Apple Arcade. I have it on my iPad. Bellotra is another game that I think.
- [33:29]
D
Works so good on phone.
- [33:31]
A
Yeah, I still think. I, I, I, I would love it if Sam gave Valacho a shot.
- [33:36]
C
That's okay.
- [33:37]
A
It's so good.
- [33:39]
B
I, I'll try. I can give it a try. It looks really fun except for all the parts that don't look fun to me, which is basically the whole thing. But I'll check it out.
- [33:45]
A
Cool.
- [33:46]
B
I, I noticed in the comments that people were a little salty that we haven't even mentioned Minecraft, which I'm pretty sure we mentioned.
- [33:54]
C
But yeah, I don't know. I mean that's definitely, I mean, look, we're not snubbing Minecraft. It's just the format of how we've constructed these episodes. Right. Counts as its release date. No, yeah, I mean Minecraft's absolutely a formative game for me. I've played it alone, I've played it with my kids. I think it's another four quadrant game. It's almost too like this moment. I feel like I've shared this anecdote before, so I apologize if there's hardcore listeners that have heard every episode of the show. But the idea of you can express yourself in a game and you can shape the game world the way that you want. Like that's right. Like every game's like that now. But it was, that was not the case when Minecraft came out. Like there was a world that I had.
- [34:39]
B
Excitebike had it.
- [34:43]
A
Like build a course in excitement.
- [34:45]
C
We there was this valley separating. Like I had one mountain peak where my home was and another mountain peak where like my mind was or something. And it was a pain. I'm like I'm always having to go all the way down the hill and back up the hill to get to where I'm going. And then like that light bulb moment of like, oh shit, like I could just build a bridge. Like, and then I can decorate the bridge. Like I can put glass up and I can build it how I want. Like that was so mind blowing when Minecraft was new and you know, now that sense of like shaping the game world how you want, you know, playing. I always played it single player just because kind of like I'm just gonna log into the game and vibe for a while. But even the seamless drop in dropout multiplayer in a shared world, like that was a really big deal. When Minecraft came out. So yeah, it absolutely deserves a place in the top 25 of the century.
- [35:32]
D
One of the first conversations I ever had with Mr. One Jared Petty was him talking about how his, his favorite moment in a video game, like ever is the first night in Minecraft. Right. Because you, you drop into the world, it's daytime, you're, you're chopping trees, you're doing whatever and then it starts to get dark and you're like, well, shoot. So you build this like the worst house ever and you get in it and then you just hear zombies and monsters and stuff like that. And then you like kind of wake up the next morning and that's when the loop hits you, right? That you're like, oh, okay, I need a better shelter than what I. This hole in the ground. Yeah, Minecraft's great.
- [36:10]
C
Yeah, for sure.
- [36:11]
B
If you like that day, night, cycle, you should check out Castlevania 2 Simon's Quest.
- [36:17]
D
What a terrible night.
- [36:18]
A
What a terrible night to have a curse. I will say about this. I don't, you know, I've, I just, just never spent any time with Minecraft. But because of the movie, Kingo has become interested. And so I was like, oh, we have it on Xbox. I'll just put it on. Here you go. The game just. I, unless I'm missing something, I don't think the game explains anything to you. And so he couldn't figure anything out and he's like, daddy, how do I do this? I was like, I don't know. I've never played Minecraft. So it doesn't have a very nice onboarding experience, in my opinion.
- [36:47]
D
Well, because it, because the purpose is it doesn't want you to do anything. It wants you to do what you want to do. That's, that's kind of the point.
- [36:56]
C
But there's a middle. Like, it doesn't tell you, like, go punch a tree. Like, you know.
- [37:00]
D
Sure, yeah.
- [37:00]
C
It could benefit from having like a three minute tutorial for six year olds.
- [37:04]
A
Like the game is.
- [37:05]
C
It doesn't need much at this point.
- [37:07]
A
How many copies have sold how many years? How have they not just put in a little tutorial? Like, yeah, okay, good idea.
- [37:13]
C
I mean, it's got to be deliberate at this point. Like, they're probably afraid to like, you know, they've sold 200 million copies and it's working for them so far, I guess. Like, they're probably afraid to mess with it.
- [37:21]
A
Yeah. I think there's a whole cottage industry of YouTube channels explaining how to play Minecraft. If your cat could talk, they'd tell you they want a litter upgrade. If you're not buying single ply toilet paper for yourself, why are you giving your cat outdated kitty litter? Make their bathroom experience better for both of you With Pretty Litter, it's soft on their paws, stays fresher longer, and it's easy to maintain. Not just a Pretty Litter Pretty Litter is nice on the eyes, but it's so much more than that. Pretty Litter helps monitor your cat's health, detecting abnormalities in your cat's urine by testing acidity and alkalinity levels and showing the visible presence of blood. Pretty Litter ships free right to my door. It's non toxic and household friendly. Plus it's low dust, controls odors and lasts for up to one month. That odor control is no joke, by the way. The previous brand of cat litter I used was also low odor, but Pretty Litter makes odor virtually non existent. Pretty Litter's non clumping formula traps odor and moisture. It's ultra absorbent. Both me and my cat Same like Pretty Litter a lot. At a glance I can see that Same is looking healthy. Oh, Same is Gray with a white belly and her name is Japanese for shark. Pretty Litter helps keep your house smelling fresh and clean. Try it for yourself right now. Save 20% on your first order and get a free cat toy at Pretty Litter.com Gamescoop that's PrettyLitter.com Gamescoop to save 20% on your first order AND get a free cat toy. Prettylitter.com Gamescoop Pretty Litter cannot detect every feline health issue or prevent or diagnose diseases. A diagnosis can only come from a licensed veterinarian. Terms and conditions apply. C site for details.
- [38:51]
B
You chose to hit play on this podcast today. Smart Choice Progressive loves to help people make smart choices. That's why they offer a tool called Auto Quote Explorer that allows you to compare your Progressive car insurance quote with rates from other companies. So you save time on the research and can enjoy savings when you choose. Choose the best rate for you. Give it a try after this episode@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Not available in all states or situations. Prices vary based on how you buy.
- [39:23]
A
Okay, those are old games. Let's talk new games. Sam, you've beat Ghost of Yote. This is a game that I love. I would love to get back to. I've been playing a lot. I want to play. I wanted to play Outer Worlds 2 because I want to be able to talk about it when when we're allowed to, which is Next week, based on when we're recording this episode this week. But I'm looking forward to getting back to Yote. You've beaten it. What do you think? No spoilers.
- [39:44]
B
Yeah, I took my time beating it because I ended up really liking battling and doing some of the side quests that involved difficult duels. And I liked a lot of the open world stuff. In the end, the game absolutely clinches the ending. It is a remarkable masterpiece, I think. I think it's just incredible Sony game that this team is just one of the most talented teams on earth. And I did not think that for the first 20 hours of this game, but I still love the first 20 hours. But those back 20, I was just repeatedly amazed by a simple framed shot that just looked amazing or some kind of battle sequence, which was just cool. Again, because they're pulling out swords and it goes really quiet and there's flowers everywhere. That happens over and over and over again. But it's great. The story is what we criticized, which is about another story about family members and loss in a Sony game, which I think is a funny thing that's returned to a lot, but that's also part of human culture. I just want to add. I'm not defending it. I'm just saying a lot of stuff is about that. But the way that this game actually does put together like a crew and what amounts to a family is really cute and has the feels and I think it does a really good job. And then what this does that. You know, I respect Assassin's Creed for doing the seasonal changes on a whim. You can change the season. This game handles it by having regions have seasons. Basically, regions have seasons and it works. It's not as impressive technically, but when you get to the point where they're like, okay, you're going to be in a rainy area for a while and they play it up. It's really cool. And then, yeah, just like, I really like the stance Pokemon, you know, the. The rock, paper, scissors when you're fighting stuff. Later game, bosses have you switching out that stuff a lot and you feel good. I felt like this is. I think I mentioned this before. This might be the only game I've ever played recently in action game where the. I felt like I was screwing up the parrying and it was all fast enough that, like, I got good at parrying and I liked it. Whereas a lot of games, I'm like, my character is way too slow for me. We want to sit around and. And wait for a boss fight. This is all Souls games and learn how to parry and learn their moves. I just don't like those boss fights. I really like the bosses in this game. Or just the combat. And then the mob combat's great too. I got no qualms passing on this game as an essential must play for people. It's great.
- [42:16]
A
So you also loved Assassin's Creed Shadows. How do you compare the two of them now?
- [42:20]
B
Yeah, I like them equally. I think they're both by incredibly talented people that made a game about, you know, a very, very beautiful, beautiful Japanese set, historical, romantic game. Like, it's so cool that we're so lucky to have these two games.
- [42:38]
D
I mean, Assassin's Creed Shadows and Ghost of Yote are my desert island games, meaning I just want someone to lock me on a desert island with these games so I can force myself to finish.
- [42:47]
B
Yeah, getting a platinum would be really fun in this game, for example. Like, it just would be great. Like, I can see how great it would be.
- [42:54]
A
Sam. I'm absolutely just taking my time. Instead of pushing through the story, I just open my map and see what's. What's nearby that I can go check out. I'll just go and do that. I've done three of the Yote six. If I decided to just sort of mainline the quest, do you think it would take me that long?
- [43:10]
B
No, I've done the, you know, the.
- [43:11]
A
Snake, the oni and the kitsune.
- [43:13]
D
No, I think the whole game is only supposed to be if you mainline it just north of 20.
- [43:17]
B
So that's 1, 2, 3, 4. And then there's a fifth area. And then it kind of like has an end sequence. So, yeah, you could finish it in five or six hours.
- [43:27]
A
Okay, well, I'm going to keep it.
- [43:30]
B
But here's the thing, though, is that it really. I mean, there is a difficulty level to contend within this game, at least on, like, whatever settings I was playing on. And, like, it is really helpful to get a bunch of stuff like. And specifically, I do recommend. It's a little grindy, I think, for some people, but I liked it. But get the expanded weapons. Will get all the weapons. But then do the one thing where you do a quest where you can do the triangle square attack.
- [43:54]
A
Okay.
- [43:54]
B
You know, I'm talking about.
- [43:55]
D
Oh, yeah.
- [43:56]
B
So, yeah, each sensei, they teach you the weapon and they're like, go do these three battles and then come back and then they'll give you a triangle square easy spirit attack instead of the hold the triangle spirit attack. It's really worth it. And. And the Spear one is so awesome.
- [44:13]
A
Okay.
- [44:14]
B
It's really, really cool. And then the Kusuragama one is, I believe. Well, it's one. Yeah, that one's great too. It allows you to drag people over to you, like.
- [44:24]
A
Yeah, I got that. That one's so fun to do stealth kills that way.
- [44:28]
B
And. And it's a stealth thing.
- [44:29]
A
Yeah, it's so.
- [44:30]
B
So, like.
- [44:31]
D
Oh, cool.
- [44:31]
B
Yeah, it's really well thought out. But the spear one really is awesome.
- [44:36]
D
I just got the adachi.
- [44:38]
A
That's the giant sword.
- [44:40]
D
Yeah, the giant sword. I did that. Oh. So I killed the oni and then I got the odachi, and then I. What are they? The. I knew the people with, like, the face painting and stuff like that. So I did. I did that, and then that was. That's how far I am in the game.
- [44:54]
A
Cool.
- [44:54]
B
Yeah, it's. It just. It gets better and better. It doesn't. Doesn't have any rough start. And also, all those hot springs look really, really delightful.
- [45:01]
A
Yep.
- [45:02]
B
And your horse is great. A good boy or girl love.
- [45:07]
A
I love Ghost View. Might end up being my game of the year. But let's talk about Ball Pit.
- [45:15]
B
Yeah.
- [45:15]
C
Yeah.
- [45:16]
A
Ball Pit is. I've been playing ball Pit and I. I like a lot. But who. Who wants to gush about it? Justin or Mark? What is Ball Pit?
- [45:26]
C
You can go because I. If there's time. I have a different game.
- [45:29]
B
Okay.
- [45:29]
A
What?
- [45:31]
D
Yeah. So a little bit of backstory. So I've become this weird handheld gamer. I don't know what happened. It's not weird, but I'm a PS5 guy. But all of a sudden I'm just like. I'm steam decking it up. I don't know what it is.
- [45:45]
A
That's what I'm playing.
- [45:46]
D
I started playing megabunk, which. Which is silly as megabonk is, and there's a weapon in there that talks about clapping in the enemy's cheeks and stuff like that. It is a genuinely, really, really good game. Justin, are you playing megabok?
- [45:58]
C
No, hold on. We're talking about.
- [46:02]
D
No, no, we're gonna get there. So. So after 40 hours of mega Box, you would think that I would be done with the auto shooter. Roguelike. Nope. So then I picked up Ball Pit last night.
- [46:14]
A
Oh, just last night. Oh, my gosh. Okay.
- [46:16]
D
Just last night. I've only played like two hours of it and I'm. I could tell. I'm in. I'm in for another 40 hours. Just like Mega Bog.
- [46:24]
C
Yeah. So, I mean, it's immediately clever, right? Because it takes breakout and Arkanoid, but turns it into an rpg. You know that slot machine mechanic of this crazy stuff. So it's like. It's not like it takes like five hours for its sort of like juice and like satisfaction to review.
- [46:38]
D
No, you. You immediately know what it is.
- [46:41]
C
It's got that. It's got that roguelike thing that like, either it's a game balance decision, or I don't like some games feel afraid to do it. Where this game just lets you build the most insane. Like, I don't even know. It's not a character build, ball build, I guess, like, I don't know, but like, it just that, like, it's got that Balatro feeling of it just lets you break the game and encourages you to. And wants you to. And then it's just the moments of like, what I can do that I can combine this with this is like, that's what the best Roguelites do. And that's. That's like all this game is.
- [47:16]
D
Yeah. Once. Once I understood what the fusion was. Because you. You start with. What are they called? Just baby balls or something like that?
- [47:24]
A
Yeah.
- [47:24]
D
And so they're. They're just the white balls. And then eventually you'll get a ball that like, does fire damage. Damage. Right. So it's like you do fire damage, but then. And then let's say you get a ball that is a ghost. So it'll go through the bricks and hit everything. Then eventually you can get a fusion and you can fuse the fireball with the ghost, and then you're cooking. And then you could fuse that with one that, you know, hits entire rows.
- [47:49]
B
Yep.
- [47:51]
D
It's insane. Like, I. I got the one where my first, like, big fusion like that was. There's a ball that when you hit it, it'll either. There's two of them. There's one horizontal and one's vertical where when it hits the brick it's supposed to hit. It'll hit all of them in that vertical row or horizontal row. And then if you get a lightning ball, it'll hit that brick plus the five surrounding ones. I then put the lasers together so now it's hitting in all four directions. And then fused it with the lightning and it just. I was just melting and it's. Yeah, man. It's. When those things come together and you start seeing the big numbers and all that stuff, you're like, all right, cool. And then you get put in this completely awful farming.
- [48:34]
A
Okay, I'm glad you said that.
- [48:35]
D
I'm glad I Think so. Good. Because it's also.
- [48:38]
C
It's also breakout.
- [48:41]
D
It's so clever. I. It's clever. I don't think it's fun at all.
- [48:47]
C
Well, I mean, boo this, man. I love it.
- [48:51]
A
I mean, maybe it has to, like, build its way out. I've, you know, I've played for several hours. I've beaten a run with the first character, but, yeah, so far, like, Mark, the farming thing is I could build a couple wheat farms, and I could farm it and get one wheat, and that's kind of it. So maybe it gets more involved later on. I don't know.
- [49:08]
D
It does, because eventually it's like, you could build a house and. And, like, it'll say, like, this.
- [49:12]
B
How?
- [49:13]
D
This is how you unlock this character. And so it's like, it does get more like you. It does kind of make you realize why you're doing it. I just feel like it kind of just slows it down, like, going back to Megabunk. Like, you. You collect silver. That's your. That's your constant progression.
- [49:28]
A
Yeah.
- [49:28]
D
And then you just go to a menu and you're like, cool, I'm unlocking this item, unlocking this character. Good. Back into the run, where it's like, with this, you're like, you're moving plots of land around and you're doing whatever, and then you're sending your guy on his thing again. I think it's clever. I don't think it's miserable. I think it's the worst part of the game.
- [49:44]
B
Yeah.
- [49:45]
A
I do want to just get into my next run.
- [49:47]
D
Just get.
- [49:48]
C
Just.
- [49:48]
D
Just. Yeah, it's really hard for me when you. When you finish a run, it's really hard for me to not just click the restart button because I'm like, I know that I. I should go back to the town and. And do it. Because you can only do it once per run, so it's like, I shouldn't, but I. I want to just get back into breaking blocks.
- [50:05]
A
That's good. Sam, what do you think? You gonna check out this game?
- [50:08]
B
Yeah, it looks fantastic. If I didn't have 10 billion games to play for work pleasure, then I would be able to do it. I mean, I'm playing Pokemon and Keeper right now, you know?
- [50:17]
C
Yeah.
- [50:18]
A
Which I don't think either one you're that crazy about, Right?
- [50:23]
B
I mean, I. I respect Pokemon and Keeper, so, like, I want to keep playing them and find what I like about them, but, yeah, they're not dragging me in. I mean, Pokemon never does at the beginning, and Keeper should, but it doesn't. But I'm going to stick with them.
- [50:36]
A
And then Mark, I haven't played Megabunk yet.
- [50:40]
C
Is it a 3D vampire survivors?
- [50:42]
A
3D vampire survivors.
- [50:44]
D
It's. That's what it is. Yeah, it's a much faster pace, 3D vampire survivors, where, where you know, you can move the camera and stuff like that. It's. It's a lot faster than Vampire Survivors. So it's a lot like. It doesn't take long for it to start being really fun because. Because you're just moving around. They just added a map to the game like yesterday. So that's awesome. But yeah, if you like Vampire Survivors and you like this idea of your character just shooting out in. In thousands of projectiles at a time to kill monsters, like then you'll like this game because I. It's very, very addictive. It has a lot of characters which is, which is great because they all play very differently. Like some will be like it increases your luck every level or increases your lifesteal. Some are just super fast where you can just get around the happen no time at all. And so it's. I. I find it, it's very fun. Very addicting. Again, I've played like 40 hours of it. But there is this weird thing happening where it's like Saturday I was home alone all day and I have my PS5 right there. Got these ghost Iotes and I'm just sitting on my couch on my Steam deck playing mega mock all day. There's something about handheld games. They. They got their hooks in me right now. So. Yeah, because I'm also playing Pokemon as well. Just.
- [52:00]
C
They're definitely kind of like. Well, Pokemon's not this but like Megabunk and Ball Pit are, you know, like dopamine hit the game. Right? Like, they're not like the games can be really hard, but they're not challenging. They're just zone out games. Right? So it's like, you know, if you're stressed and just want to kind of like de stress and relax, it's like they're good candidates for that.
- [52:21]
D
After the first few hours of Megabunk, I muted the music because you've heard it all by the time you played the first few hours. And I just throw on a podcast or a YouTube video, whatever, and I just.
- [52:32]
B
That's nice.
- [52:32]
C
Zone out and just podcast podcast games. That's their new 100.
- [52:38]
D
As a millennial, you know, we always need to be double consuming and these are games that are good for that.
- [52:45]
C
Yeah, I. My daughter is 11. And I went downstairs and she was watching a YouTube video of Zelda. Tears of the Kingdom. And she was playing Tears of the kingdom and the YouTube video was on a computer. And then on the television, she had a Netflix show going. And I'm like, you're melting your brain. Don't. Yeah, don't. Don't do this.
- [53:06]
D
Yeah, I'm not crazy. It's also worth.
- [53:07]
C
Sorry. But then she made a good. She just made. She's like, you. Like, I don't get very much screen time. You really limit my screen time.
- [53:13]
A
So I have to economic.
- [53:15]
D
She's like, I only get an hour. She's like, you mean four hours If I have four screens.
- [53:20]
C
That was exactly like. I'm like, okay, well, yeah, if I.
- [53:23]
B
Could have watched ducktales played by Commando and you know, yeah, Red Nintendo Power, same time. Yeah, I would have.
- [53:30]
C
Yeah.
- [53:31]
B
That's my free time.
- [53:32]
D
The last time. The last thing I'll say about Megabong, I don't know if this is the same with. I. I'm calling it Ball Cross Pit. But it's made by one guy and it's like kind of nuts because Blueprints was made by one guy. And I'm loving this trend of. Of just one developer because Vampire Survivors. The same way someone just kind of tinkers away at a game and then it ends up being the best game you've ever played. It's. It's wild. It's Mega Box been, you know, if you don't count like Counter Strike and stuff like that, right under Battlefield since Battlefield came out as far as like Steam concurrence and stuff.
- [54:08]
A
Really?
- [54:10]
D
Oh, yeah. Megabunk is basically up there. So I just wonder, like, 100k people.
- [54:14]
A
Since release do like, do like execs at EA look at that and go like, what the.
- [54:18]
D
What the f. Yeah. Yeah.
- [54:21]
B
How can we hire one of the.
- [54:23]
A
How can we just pay one person to make our.
- [54:25]
D
Yeah, because they have a 600,000 concurrent game right now. But I'm sure other devs are going like, megabog is selling this game's 10 bucks and it's easily sold, you know, a million copies.
- [54:38]
C
Like, I mean, I. I say this, like, look, I've played and enjoyed dozens of Ubisoft games and EA games and Activision games over my life. But, like, you don't foster an environment like a game like this could never come out of a developer like that. That's just not. It would not get out of, like, it wouldn't get resourced. Right. So, like, I Don't know, maybe there's an opportunity for some self reflection there.
- [54:58]
B
If you were in charge of this company, it would though. You need to have some foresight about stuff like this, right?
- [55:03]
C
Maybe. But then, but then the thing is there's, there's an element of like. Like what was the stat that I read that like there's fewer than. Fewer Steam games now making over 50 grand than they were 10 years ago. So it's like the mega hits like the Balatro's breaking through and the megabonks breaking through like the big are getting bigger. But it's kind of harder for like indie developers and single developers to eke out a living, you know, making Steam games.
- [55:26]
B
Now here's my plea to people that are making games as a single person. So first of all, congratulations, you're a millionaire now you can just stop making games. That's your call, right?
- [55:37]
C
Please don't.
- [55:38]
B
Or you could keep on making games by yourself, which I think is the worst idea ever and I think you should not be allowed to do that. Or you could sell your idea or make a team and have somebody make your sequel. And that is what you should do. And here's why. Because then we would actually have another game after Stardew Valley by now.
- [55:56]
D
But we don't haunted chocolatiers out there somewhere.
- [56:00]
B
Yeah. Or we'd have maybe a third Hollow Knight by now. The scaling without ruining your game is a good idea and possible, that's all I'm saying.
- [56:11]
C
Or the biggest of the big. Like look, be responsible with your money. But if you are literally a millionaire, if you hit the Balatro Vampire survivors, you know, mega bonk jackpot. Your responsibility is now to go on and fund five more games made by one person.
- [56:26]
B
That's why that's part of my employee a team point. Right. It's like, yeah, pay it forward.
- [56:30]
C
Yeah, I'll pay like, you know, I'll. I'll pay you, you know, whatever it is. 100 grand a year, 120, like whatever they need to live for like three years. You go forth and make your own weird game and, and like that's how it should work.
- [56:44]
B
I love it.
- [56:45]
C
Yeah.
- [56:45]
D
I mean that's animal. Well, it's kind of that. That's kind of what Dunkey. You know, that's that publishers.
- [56:50]
B
Yeah. And there are publishers that are look for stuff like this and then like try to, you know, hit it rich. But I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I just wish there was. And there has this has happened before too. I won't name names, but there's been there. It's cool when there's a division within a company that tries to do this stuff also, you know, even Nintendo does this a little bit, right? They try to fund some indies and say, yeah, you can use Zelda for this one. You know, that happens.
- [57:16]
D
Or. Or Obsidian making Grounded, which was like the biggest thing ever that had a team of like four people when that game came out, because it was just like a couple of people in the corner of Obsidian's offices being like, let's make a honey. I shrunk the game or kids game.
- [57:31]
C
Yeah, we're goofing on big publishers here, but they do, they do actually try to, like, pretty hard to try to, you know, try to have output like this, you know, but it's just.
- [57:40]
B
I'm goofing on the single. The single developers right now. I just think it's funny. They're like, I'm gonna take my toys and go back to make more toys.
- [57:47]
D
I. I will say this. I am stoked for the new Avatar game, which is the old Avatar game, but in third person.
- [57:54]
A
But in third what?
- [57:55]
D
Okay.
- [57:56]
B
All right.
- [57:57]
A
That came out of nowhere low on time. Justin, what are you playing?
- [58:02]
C
Oh, well, my game's not new, so I'll keep it short because it's a little random. I've been. I've been working my way through my Steam backlog and I discovered a game called against the Storm, and I'm absolutely obsessed with it. I think I've put 25 hours into it in the last week. So, like, you know, that's a lot for me. It's like every evening, you know, it's a. It's a roguelike city builder. So, Damon, I think you would actually maybe be interested in it too. The best part of every city builder, base builder or, you know, whatever tycoon type game is like the opening hour or two, and then after that you either know that you've won and then you just have to sit there and wait eight hours for the game to play out. Or like what you've built is on fire and you need to restart anyway. And so this game dodges all of that because you build. I'll not get into the whole storyline, but like, each city there's. You start from like a central base and then you're expanding outward in sort of like a caravan. So you place a city and then the next one's a couple more tiles away and the next one's a couple tiles away and There's a meta goal that you're working toward. And so because it's a roguelike, you're in a different biome that gives you access to different resources and there's a few different fantasy races that you can play at and they have different demands. Like the humans really want to eat, you know this, whereas the lizards want to eat jerky. And so even though each city that you build lasts, I don't know, maybe 60 minutes, 60 or 90 minutes, and then you abandon it and you go on to the next one, but it doesn't feel repetitive because the buildings that you have access to and the goals that you're working toward are different in every single city.
- [59:39]
B
Are they planning on adding breakout to this?
- [59:42]
C
I wish, man, but it's really good and like the meta structure, like the stuff you're doing between runs and the permanent upgrades are like, like also really satisfying and really good. So it's, it's, it's had overwhelmingly positive Steam reviews and like, I don't know how this game came out in 2023, I think, and it just, it completely passed me by, even though it's the most Justin game possible out of Justin games. And you know, it turns out once I started playing it, I'm like, yep, this is dangerous for me. It's really well done and it's clearly made by people that like, understand at a deep level what makes these kind of like, you know, Tropico style city builders tick and takes all the best parts from them and strips away everything about them that like, is non essential.
- [60:30]
A
And it is Steam Deck verified, if anybody's interested. Mark?
- [60:34]
D
I'm in. I'm in.
- [60:36]
C
Cool.
- [60:36]
D
I'm in.
- [60:37]
A
Against the Storm. Okay, that brings us to video game 20 questions.
- [60:55]
B
No, I have a show and tell I have to do this week.
- [60:57]
A
Okay, okay, okay.
- [60:58]
B
I'm sorry. I'll make it fast.
- [61:00]
A
Okay. That does not bring us to video game 20 questions. That brings us to show and Tell.
- [61:04]
B
This is in the show notes.
- [61:06]
A
I know it is, but here we go. What are you showing? What are you showing the people that are listening to this, Sam?
- [61:12]
B
So what I'm going to show the people that are listening to this is the new Metroid art book. It's called Metroid Prime 1 through 3 a visual retrospective. That's a little bit of a misnomer because it also has Metroid prime remake in it. But what's cool about it, And I'll go really fast here because I wrote a lot about this on the site, which everybody can check out it's got art, it's got things like storyboards in it, which I'll show up here on Still Store. That real quick. And this one I'm using as an example. All right, put that up in Still Store. So that is a storyboard of the bonus scene at the end of Metroid Prime. And in the description of it, there's notes from Kintsuke Tanabe, who worked on a bunch of great games, including Super Mario Brothers, the first. Sorry, Super Mario Brothers 2 and Super Mario Brothers 2 USA. But he's been working on Metroid prime games. He's a producer, so he did a bunch of notes in here. And that's the best part of this book, is that there's a bunch of behind the scenes stuff. So for this one, he says, when the art director first showed me the storyboard for the 100% ending of Metroid prime, he explained this is a scene where Metroid prime absorbs the material from Samus's cells and regenerates naturally. The ideal rose. Well, then let's use the character to create a sequel. Around that time, I recall that some movies specifically announced as a trilogy from the outset were a hot topic. So I told the team, why not make it into a trilogy? So where did the Metroid prime trilogy came from? It came from them adding a hand at the end of Metroid and showing Tanabe and then him liking Lord of the Rings.
- [62:44]
C
Cool.
- [62:44]
A
Well, yeah, like Lord of the Rings and Star wars and the Matrix.
- [62:47]
B
Yeah, whatever was announced as a trilogy. Right. So that's totally Star Wars Matrix type stuff. There's a ton of his notes in here and a bunch of just really great stuff. So it's not just an art book. And then it has an occasional note from Retro as a development team. And it is really worth it for a read. There's actually a really good meaty background information in it. And I just. I had a really good time. I read it over a couple of nights and it, you know, would fall. I would fall asleep and it would fall on my face and it hurt. Yeah. Check it out. It's really, really good.
- [63:18]
A
Is it out now?
- [63:19]
B
Next week.
- [63:19]
A
Oh, next week. Cool. I think that'll go on my Christmas list. Okay, now that does bring us to video game 20 questions. And our suggestion comes from Spooky, who says, I think it would be pretty funny to do redacted for 20 questions, given all the redacted. And with that, let the questioning begin.
- [63:51]
B
Is this game a spooky game?
- [63:57]
A
In. In a sense, it has Spooky elements.
- [64:00]
B
Oh. Tis the season after all.
- [64:03]
C
I think it stubs the zombie. Okay. Did this game come out in the 70s, 80s, or 90s?
- [64:12]
A
No.
- [64:13]
C
There was one commenter last week, by the way, that was very mad that I asked that question. That's cheating. You're asking three questions.
- [64:21]
B
We ask if it's in three different genres.
- [64:25]
D
Yeah.
- [64:27]
A
We'Re just. Would you open and goofing up here?
- [64:31]
C
Yeah.
- [64:34]
B
Was this an exclusive for a console at some point?
- [64:37]
A
No, never.
- [64:41]
C
Wait, what's the 70s, 80s or 90s? Was. No.
- [64:43]
B
Right.
- [64:43]
A
That's right.
- [64:44]
D
Yeah.
- [64:45]
C
Can you play this game on the Switch?
- [64:48]
A
Yes.
- [64:56]
C
When it was originally released, was it contemporary to the Switch?
- [65:00]
A
No, that's five.
- [65:03]
C
Ported to the Switch later.
- [65:05]
D
Yeah.
- [65:05]
C
This could be Stardew Valley.
- [65:07]
B
Was this developed in Japan?
- [65:08]
A
Yes.
- [65:10]
D
Not Stardew Valley?
- [65:12]
C
Nope.
- [65:12]
B
Are the. Is your character a human?
- [65:17]
A
I'll just. I'll say. I don't. I don't know. I don't know. Can't answer that one. Actually, Actually, I think.
- [65:25]
B
Yes.
- [65:26]
A
I think you at least begin. You start out as a human.
- [65:31]
D
What?
- [65:32]
C
What? Maybe it's Space Station Silicon Valley. Although I think you start that game as a little computer chip.
- [65:41]
D
Start as a human.
- [65:43]
B
Is this from the PlayStation 2 or 3 era?
- [65:49]
A
Yes.
- [65:51]
C
Cool. Start. Start as a human. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.
- [65:59]
B
Was this game on PlayStation 2 or 3?
- [66:02]
A
Yes.
- [66:04]
B
Is the answer to that. It was on 2 first?
- [66:07]
A
No, that's 10.
- [66:09]
B
All right, we got a PS3 game, everybody.
- [66:11]
D
So PS3, Xbox 360.
- [66:13]
C
That was so many questions.
- [66:15]
B
Well, we didn't have to ask if it was from any other generations.
- [66:19]
C
Yeah.
- [66:20]
D
Dart is a human.
- [66:22]
C
Do you. Do you pilot cars or vehicles in this game?
- [66:26]
A
No.
- [66:28]
C
And I'm aware that you wouldn't say you pilot a car, but, you know, get over it.
- [66:33]
D
A car is a mech suit for speed.
- [66:37]
B
So a Japanese PS3 game that also came to other stuff, like.
- [66:41]
C
Yep, not bad. Yeah, you're right. Developer might be helpful. Yeah, we could.
- [66:51]
B
Let's do a three. Three fur. We could do.
- [66:53]
C
I agree. Capcom, Capcom, Namco, Sega, Sega. Yeah.
- [66:58]
D
Wait, Konami. We should do.
- [67:00]
B
Yeah, you want to do Konami?
- [67:02]
D
Yeah, let's do Konami, Capcom and Sega.
- [67:04]
B
You want to just do all four?
- [67:06]
C
No, that's like.
- [67:07]
B
Let's do it.
- [67:08]
C
You got to pick.
- [67:09]
D
Okay, wait, it could be square all.
- [67:10]
B
Yeah, exactly.
- [67:11]
C
No, that's why the four would be good.
- [67:13]
D
Oh, no.
- [67:15]
B
Maybe we shouldn't do a developer. Should we do it? Even do a developer?
- [67:18]
D
Yeah, let's do it. Let's do. Okay.
- [67:20]
C
Is this we could do the E3.
- [67:21]
B
Press conference version of this.
- [67:24]
D
Well, we know it's. It's probably not PlayStation because it's on everything. Okay, so was this made by Capcom, Konami or Square?
- [67:35]
A
No.
- [67:37]
D
Whoa. Okay, well, that's a lot of games.
- [67:39]
C
Was this made by Namco Sega or Namco Sega or.
- [67:48]
B
Koei Tecmo?
- [67:49]
A
Yeah, it was not made by any of those.
- [67:54]
D
Okay.
- [67:54]
B
We mean published. We mean published.
- [67:56]
A
Well, okay.
- [67:57]
D
What?
- [67:59]
B
Well, that was the original question. We were talking about publishers, not creators.
- [68:02]
D
I bet it was published by sega.
- [68:05]
C
No, no, no, no, no. It was made by one of those. It was published by the same thing.
- [68:08]
A
The answer is, was it published by any of those three? Yes, it was published by one of those three.
- [68:12]
C
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [68:13]
B
You gave us the answer. That's good.
- [68:16]
C
It was. Who were they?
- [68:19]
D
I don't remember now.
- [68:19]
B
Koe Namo. Sega, Right?
- [68:21]
C
Yeah, yeah. Tecmo.
- [68:23]
D
So possibly a Persona game. Do you start as a human, then become a monster? Become a Persona.
- [68:33]
B
Is it.
- [68:34]
C
Yeah.
- [68:34]
B
Is this an RPG of a sort of. Oh, cool.
- [68:40]
D
Not Persona, because that's easy. Yes.
- [68:42]
C
Maybe it's this. Who? No, never mind. I wonder if it's a gotcha game. I was originally thinking Genshin Impact, but that's not any of those. That's not published by any of them.
- [68:54]
D
And also PS4.
- [68:56]
B
So an MMORPG could be one of these.
- [68:59]
C
Could be a memorp. Memorpaga. Although you don't get a lot of those out of Japan, especially from. Could be Final Fantasy 14co.
- [69:06]
B
Wait, no, because it's not Square.
- [69:07]
C
Except it's not Square.
- [69:08]
B
Koei Tecmo or I'm also like Sega, remember?
- [69:12]
D
You know, it's got to be. It's got to be on Switch as well.
- [69:16]
C
Yeah, yeah, but.
- [69:19]
B
But Atlas did make some RPG adjacent games, right? Yeah, but did SEGA publish those or.
- [69:27]
D
Yeah, think so. Like they publish like Metaphor.
- [69:30]
C
They own Atlas, I think, don't they?
- [69:34]
D
And think about if SEGA was still. They would have.
- [69:38]
B
What types. What types of RPGs we got here? We got tacticals, MMS.
- [69:46]
C
Action and action. I think it's an action RPG, probably.
- [69:52]
B
So that would be.
- [69:53]
C
What's an example? It could be. Maybe it could be Neo. Wasn't that. Isn't that Tecmo?
- [70:00]
D
Yeah, I think so.
- [70:01]
C
If it's a Souls, like.
- [70:03]
B
And then. Yeah, it'd be interesting because it was on our list from last week and maybe they picked it because of that.
- [70:09]
C
Is Elden Ring published by Namco? Yeah.
- [70:14]
D
Bandai Namco. Yes, it is. Yeah.
- [70:16]
C
Was that in the final three. I've already forgotten.
- [70:19]
D
Yeah, but that's not a PS3. Like, it could be a Souls game.
- [70:25]
C
Yeah, and actually, I don't think Neo is PS3 either, for that matter.
- [70:28]
D
Yeah, the only PS3 would be Dark Souls 1 and 2.
- [70:31]
B
Is this an action RPG or a souls?
- [70:33]
C
Like.
- [70:34]
A
Yes. That's 15.
- [70:36]
B
Good. That's great. We can get this.
- [70:38]
C
Okay. Yeah, I think we can.
- [70:40]
D
I mean, it would just be Dark Souls or something.
- [70:43]
C
It could be Dark. Could be.
- [70:44]
B
Why do you turn. Why do you start as a human in these.
- [70:48]
D
Well, tarnished Dark Souls? Yeah, you're hollowed.
- [70:53]
C
My bad.
- [70:54]
D
That's Elden Ring.
- [70:56]
B
Yeah.
- [70:56]
C
Yeah, my bad.
- [70:59]
D
But so if you want to get technical, you start as a Hollow. So Soul, you don't start as a human.
- [71:06]
B
Souls and Neo are both part series. Right. So we can ask.
- [71:10]
C
I don't think it's part. I think. I think Neo is too.
- [71:13]
B
Sorry, not Neo. What did you say?
- [71:17]
D
Dark soul.
- [71:18]
B
No, you did say. Yeah, you did say.
- [71:19]
D
We did. But yeah, Neo. I don't think neo. I think Neo1 would be.
- [71:22]
B
I was thinking of Near.
- [71:24]
D
Oh, near. Yeah.
- [71:26]
C
That's just an rpg.
- [71:28]
D
Yeah.
- [71:30]
C
I would. I would call that just a more traditional rpg.
- [71:33]
B
Okay.
- [71:34]
C
I guess not. Automaton.
- [71:35]
D
I'm just gonna narrow it down. Is this is the Souls?
- [71:37]
C
Like.
- [71:38]
D
Yes, it's. It's probably Dark Souls.
- [71:43]
C
We confirmed it started on the PS2. Right.
- [71:45]
D
PS3. But that it's now everywhere. But wasn't on Switch when it first came out, so it didn't come out on Switch until remastered.
- [71:55]
C
Yep.
- [71:56]
D
So it probably is Dark Souls.
- [71:58]
C
Okay. Is this game made by Fromsoft?
- [72:00]
A
Yes.
- [72:01]
D
Is it Dark Souls?
- [72:02]
A
Yes. Dark Souls.
- [72:03]
C
Hey.
- [72:05]
D
Yeah.
- [72:05]
A
This is what you're. I thought it'd be fun, spooky fun to do Dark Souls questions next week, given all the fuss I made in the Facebook group. It's. It's the gentleman who has complained that we didn't nominate Dark Souls.
- [72:15]
B
Oh, yeah.
- [72:17]
D
I mean, this is 100. Just. This is a 3D Castlevania game. Dark Souls 1. Okay. 100 is.
- [72:24]
A
Well, so I haven't played it, of course, but as I understand it, when you. You're a human, but then when you die, you become something else, and then you have to become human again. Is that right?
- [72:32]
D
Yes.
- [72:33]
A
Okay. That's how I would drink. That's how I was trying to answer.
- [72:36]
D
That as a whole load. You start as a Hollowed, and then you become a human, but then, yes, every time you die, you revert back to being a Hollowed. Yeah, but yeah, man, what a game. Spawned a genre.
- [72:47]
C
I think you would like it, Damon. I mean, I goof on Soulslikes games a lot and they're not my favorite. But like I said, I played through half of Dark Souls and enjoyed it.
- [72:56]
D
Yeah, Dark Souls 1 is very good.
- [73:00]
C
Well, and it's so distant. Like, you know, they've been building on this formula for a decade now or more. So kind of going back to this one, it feels a little bit like, like, you know, you. You're gonna go up this staircase, then. Oh, haha. Flaming barrel, like runs in you. Like everything felt kind of more new.
- [73:16]
A
Yeah. I wonder what the.
- [73:18]
D
Just for the commenters that are fiercely typing right now, Demon Souls was the first. Yeah, but nobody played that at the time. Dark Souls is what spawned.
- [73:26]
B
Also, it's rude to type while we're doing our podcast. We can hear you out there.
- [73:31]
A
Stop trying to gaslight us. We know that you're typing.
- [73:34]
B
We know that you're someone in Scoop Nation doing 20 questions. It's very distracting.
- [73:38]
A
Well, nicely Job. Thank you for the suggestion, Spooky. Viewers, listeners, if you have your own suggestions for video game 20 questions, email them to me at the email address, gamescoopgn.com and if you're looking for something to play right now that helps support a great cause, head over to Humble live now through November 4th. Grab eight incredible games for just 14.99, including Atomic Heart, V Rising, System Shock, Story of Seasons, Pioneers of Olive Town, Crypt Master Pharaoh, A New Era, Hotel Renovator and Caravan Sandwich. Every purchase supports the Whale and Dolphin Conservation, the leading global charity dedicated to protecting whales and dolphins through research, rescue and advocacy. By joining in, you're not just building your library. You're helping create a world where every whale and dolphin is safe and free. And that's all the scoops that 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. Next week is Game Spook, so everybody please be excited for that. Can we just lock you in now, Mark, because we hear you have a really good costume. Can you just be on Game Scoop?
- [74:37]
D
Really good.
- [74:38]
A
Yeah. My name is Damon. This is IGN gamescoop.
- [74:41]
B
Around.
- [74:55]
C
Foreign.
- [75:00]
A
This episode of Game Soup was produced by myself, Damon Hatfield and Gilbert Adienza. Technical direction is handled by Jobert Atienza. Technical production is by Marian Franzen and Amir Akib. Audio engineering is by Amir Akiv and post production editing is by yours truly, Damon Hatfield. Graphic design is By Nicole Kagempan Gamescoop is an IGN production and part of the Geek Media Network.
- [75:30]
D
Most PS2 games in my brain are black and white because that's all I had was a PS2 and a black and white TV. I grew up very not with money, which is why I have not seen a lot of movies.
- [75:43]
C
I feel like this recontextualizes us goofing on you having not watched movies.
- [75:48]
D
No, don't be sad, because there's no reason I still. Still haven't seen Terminator 1 2.
- [75:54]
C
I was gonna say. That's what I was gonna say.
- [75:55]
D
You could be watching the Martian eight times.
- [75:59]
C
You could be watching two bangers a week, and you'd be caught up in like a year and a half with, like, all the greats.
- [76:04]
D
Sam was just scolding me about it last week, me and Miranda, because I didn't scold anybody.
- [76:08]
B
I said, you guys would both really like Terminator 1 and 2. And I have no question in my mind that if you watch Terminator 1 and 2, they would be great movies that you and Miranda would like. Not everybody would like them. Them, but you and Miranda would like them.
- [76:21]
D
Blame Destin. He's like, oh, just watch Terminator 2. And I watched the first half and I was like, I don't know what the. Going on.
- [76:27]
A
Yeah, don't listen to Destin.
- [76:29]
D
But it's got Auggie. And now I want to watch it again.
- [76:32]
B
The transition between Terminator 1 and 2 is like the transition. Well, this will have no point of reference to you, but like the transition from alien to aliens, which is just interesting and like, it's just. It's really cool.
- [76:43]
C
Incredible sequel. But, like, what bad advice to just watch, too.
- [76:48]
B
It is a great action. Like, if you just. If you respect camera shots and action and stuff like that, you could just watch it. If you're like a cinephile, I'm sure.
- [76:57]
A
A lot of people, like, in. When it was in theaters, I'm sure a lot of people hadn't seen the original Terminator.
- [77:01]
B
Oh, yeah, yeah. Terminator was like kind of a VHS hit. More than a film hit.
- [77:06]
C
Yeah. But it was just the 80s. Nobody knew what was going on in general.
- [77:09]
D
But, like, I really. I like Back to the Future two more than Back to the Future one. But I would never tell anybody to watch two without watching one. Like, that doesn't make any sense.