Game Scoop! 851: Sony's Surprising Slump

Summary

Game Scoop! 851: Sony's Surprising Slump

Date: April 3, 2026
Host: Damon Hatfield
Guests: Nick Limone, Sam Claiborne, Justin Davis

Overview

This episode dives into the annual Metacritic publisher rankings—with a special focus on Sony's underwhelming performance—plus heated discussion about ballooning PS5 prices, retro gaming nostalgia, bizarre new industry headlines, listener Q&A, and a tricky round of 20 Questions. Damon and the IGN crew deliver expert commentary, playful banter, and keen industry insight throughout.

---

Main Discussion: Metacritic Publisher Rankings 2025

(Begins ~[03:54])

How Metacritic Ranks Publishers

• Based on the average Metascore for all games released in 2025.
• Bonus points for games with a score ≥75 (good), penalty for games ≤49 (bad).
• Bonus for games scoring 90+ (“great”).
• Only includes publishers with 5+ releases.

Surprise Results & Hot Takes

Major Highlights

• Sony lands at #21, sparking the episode’s "slump" theme.
• Atari (#20) and Konami (#15) make strong comebacks.
• Square Enix takes the #1 spot with 100% “good” games, led by FFVII Rebirth (PC).

In-Depth Rankings (Select Entries)

• 28: Idea Factory
• 26: Nacon Daedalic — filed for bankruptcy, weak lineup.
• 24: Bandai Namco — 23 games, dragged down by poorly received titles despite Elden Ring expansion.
• 21: Sony — Best game is TLOU Part II Remaster; dragged down by Destiny 2 DLC flops and mid-tier new IPs.
  • Sam Claiborne (11:17): “It’s so weird that they’re the publisher for Destiny.”
  • Justin Davis (11:59): “Sony’s gonna win this console generation convincingly… without releasing any games. Where are all the games?”
• 20: Atari — Only “good” scores via remasters/compilations.
• 15: Konami — “They’re back, baby!” (Nick Limone, 16:10). Strong showing with a new Gradius and Silent Hill, Yu-Gi-Oh, Metal Gear Delta.
• 12: Nintendo — 18 games; best is TotK Switch 2 Edition (95). A surprise low for such a prolific year.
• 11: Ubisoft — Beats Nintendo in ranking; highlights include AC Shadows and Avatar expansion.
• 5: Microsoft — 21 games; highest-rated games include Forza Horizon 5 (PS5) and Indiana Jones.
  • Justin Davis (29:15): “I think Xbox has put out much better games than PlayStation this generation.”
• 3: Capcom — Monster Hunter Wilds shines.
• 1: Square Enix — “Even its worst-scored game was still good.” (Damon Hatfield, 33:29).

Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Damon (13:05): “Atari is back. None of [their games] were bad.”
• Sam (21:16), on Devolver facing GTA head-to-head: “The only publisher brave enough to go up against Grand Theft Auto this year.”
• Justin (29:15), on Microsoft’s generation: “How good was Forza? How good was Indiana Jones?”

---

Segment: The Shock of PS5 Price Hikes

(Begins ~[38:01])

Outrage Over Pricing

• Standard PS5 now $650; Digital Edition $600; PS5 Pro a jaw-dropping $900.
  • Justin (38:01): “Wait, Damon, we need to stop down because you made a mistake. You said $650. There’s no way that can be right... for the base console?”
  • Sam (38:18): “And it doesn’t play games any better than it did five years ago.”
• 50% price increase on Digital Edition since launch.
• Shift from traditional console pricing ($200-$400 historically) to luxury-tier.
  • Damon (43:00): “Atari 2600 was $200 in 1977… PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, [Switch 2] are $500. A family isn’t going to buy a $1000 PlayStation 6... Nothing but the hardest hardcore gamer would accept to pay.”

Why the Price Hikes?

• Supply chain and RAM shortages, inflation, and component costs cited.
• Nintendo’s Switch 2 holds at $450 despite tariffs, contrasting Sony’s increase.

Impact on Gamers and the Industry

• The console market risks becoming a niche for “affluent hardcore gamers.”
• Sam (44:38): “Nintendo knows they need to get those consoles in houses… more than Sony does.”
• The risk: loss of younger consumers and the mainstream audience, driving kids to PC/mobile.
• Justin (42:19): “If you’re a kid… you have to spend $650 or your family does… to buy in and play.”
• Damon (47:37): “If consoles cost $1,000, they’ll sell 10 million. You’ll never have a 100 million-selling console ever again.”

---

Retro and Weird Headline Roundup

(Begins ~[48:35])

Bizarre Retro Revival

• Jaleco’s old catalogue revived: multiple Bases Loaded baseball reissues (including VTuber mashups), and Goal 2 soccer collections.
  • Damon (49:21): “A pixel art baseball game where you play as HoloLive VTubers…”
  • Justin (50:06): “The second-best Vampire Survivors game is a HoloLive fan game that is free.”
• Nostalgia for sprite-based sports games and NES-era arcadey gameplay discussed.

Listener Question: What Resident Evil Games to Play?

(Begins ~[54:50])

• Best order: Resident Evil 2 Remake → RE4 Remake → Requiem.
• RE1 Remake recommended for context, but better played after RE2 or RE4 to appreciate design evolution.
• General consensus: skip RE5 & RE6 for newcomers.

---

Crimson Desert Discussion

(Begins ~[59:03])

• Justin’s deep-dive into Crimson Desert: “31 hours in... I keep liking it more and more. The more time that goes on, the more I’m thinking about it.” ([59:26])
• The game is compelling despite frustrating quest design and lack of polish.
• Nick (61:27): “You can find stuff the game doesn’t communicate at all—you might miss whole systems.”
• Both cast and listeners struggle to categorize it, but agree it’s weirdly addictive.

---

Movie Mini-Reviews

(Begins ~[69:13])

• Sam gives the new Mario Galaxy movie a thumbs up: “It’s just Nintendo references the movie... nothing to spoil.” ([69:22])
• Damon enjoyed “Project Hail Mary” film adaptation.

---

20 Questions: “Solar Striker”

(Begins ~[73:01])

• The crew attempts to guess a Game Boy-era Nintendo-published vertical shoot ‘em up.
• Damon (83:26 hint): “I owned this game, played it a lot, but today I would not have known Nintendo published it.”
• Stumped until the end—answer revealed as Solar Striker (Game Boy, 1990), developed by Nintendo and Gunpei Yokoi.

---

Notable Quotes

• On Sony:
  • Justin (11:59): “They crushed Xbox, without releasing any games. I mean, where are all the games?”
• On Pricing:
  • Damon (43:23): "A family isn’t going to be like, oh sure, let’s just get a $1,000 PlayStation 6."
• On Game Nostalgia:
  • Sam (71:37): “There’s deep cuts that only Game Scoop people are gonna get.”
• On Changing Console Demographics:
  • Justin (44:49): “Sony is creating so much friction to get people into their ecosystem.”

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Publisher Rankings Deep-Dive: 03:54 – 37:00
• PS5 and Console Pricing Debate: 38:01 – 48:35
• Weird Headlines & Retro Games: 48:35 – 54:50
• Listener Q&A: Resident Evil: 54:50 – 59:03
• Crimson Desert Impressions: 59:03 – 69:13
• Movie Reactions: 69:13 – 73:01
• 20 Questions (Solar Striker): 73:01 – 89:31

---

Tone & Style

• Chatty, playful, self-deprecating, and nostalgic—the hosts bounce from authoritative analysis to inside jokes and classic scoop antics.
• Regular irreverent asides (tornado warnings, trivia, unboxing mishaps) keep things lively and unpredictable.

---

Closing Thought

This episode is a snapshot of a transitional moment for the games industry—with major publishers shifting, hardware pricing outpacing fan loyalty, and retro vibes stronger than ever. As always, the IGN Game Scoop! crew delivers insightful (and often hilarious) commentary for fans at every level.

Transcript

[Damon Hatfield]

This time of year always makes me rethink what's in my closet. I'm trying to keep fewer things but better ones. Pieces that are well made and easy to wear all the time. The fabrics feel elevated, the fits are thoughtful, and the pricing actually makes sense. Quince makes high quality everyday essentials using premium materials like 100% European linen and soft flow knit activewear fabric that is moisture, wicking, anti odor and soft enough that you'll actually want to wear it all day. Their men's linen pants and shirts are lightweight, breathable and comfortable. The perfect, perfect layer for spring. The pants strike the right balance between laid back and refined, so you look put together without trying too hard. The best part is that their prices are 50 to 60% less than similar brands. How Quint works directly with ethical factories and cuts out the middlemen. So you're paying for quality, not brand markup. Everything is designed to last and make getting dressed easy. I recently got my wife a Mongolian cashmere sweater from Quince. She loves it, wears it all the time and it was reasonably priced. Refresh your wardrobe with quince. Go to quince.com gamescoop for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com Gamescoop free shipping and 365 day returns. Quints.com Gamescoop. What's up everybody? Welcome to Die GN gamescoop. I'm your host, Damon Hatfield. Joining me here in studio is Nick Limone.

[Nick Limone]

I'm back, baby.

[Damon Hatfield]

We are also joined by Sam Claiborne.

[Sam Claiborne]

Hey, it's good to be here on a sunny Thursday.

[Damon Hatfield]

And hopefully Justin Davis will remain here for the rest of the episode. Will not be sucked out of his house by the tornado that an alarm

[Justin Davis]

is currently going off for to Godspeed there like 99%. This is gonna stay really funny. There's like a 1% chance that that joke becomes super not funny.

[Nick Limone]

Think of how viral this podcast would go though. Like if we just see you get ripped from the room. I don't, I don't want that to happen.

[Sam Claiborne]

But I'm just saying Nick's like, I'm a conscious content guy and what I'd like to. What I'd like to see happen or what I'd like to have happen.

[Nick Limone]

Try to bring the mic with you. That way we can get the last like scream, you know, recreate the Wilhelm stream.

[Justin Davis]

Nothing, nothing against you personally. It would just be better content.

[Sam Claiborne]

We should have Done a T shirt mic for you this time. Did you see there's an anniversary of Stand By Me recently? This is just pre show that we're in right now, right? This is the actual show. We're in the show. Okay, well, there's a. There's, you know, Stand By Me had its anniversary and they showed this scene of Vern like trailing a mic like box out of his pants as he's running up to these train tracks. And it's been in the movie this whole time.

[Justin Davis]

Oh, yeah, that's great.

[Damon Hatfield]

No one ever noticed.

[Sam Claiborne]

And like once you see it, it's like, not like, oh, wow, I would never have spotted that. Like, everybody should have seen that. It's like white box coming out of this kid's pants as he trips over and runs up a train track.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, there's a. In the Goonies, one of the boys calls the other boy by his real name and not his character's name. And that's. That's it. That's in the movie too. It's when they're in the basement of the restaurant.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's so good, Corey.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, exactly.

[Damon Hatfield]

Vegetable Gremlin. I love it. It's in the movie. We got a great show for this week. We have the latest video game publisher rankings that Metacritic puts out every year where they rank publishers by the quality of games they released. There's always some good surprises there. Publishers who are doing better than you would expect and others that are doing worse than you'd expect. We also got to talk about the insane situation with PS5 prices. And then there's some really weird headlines this week that I'll share that maybe you guys missed. Very weird headlines happening in video games this week. But first, a quick psa. I'm going to be out on vacation all next week. The family and I are going to Tokyo and I think Nick is also going to Tokyo. I am, but will be two ships passing in the night. But do not fret, Scoop Nation. Sam will host next week. So there will be no interruption to your scoop injections.

[Sam Claiborne]

Save some of those weird headlines for me. I like to come up with the segment.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, we'll see. We'll see. You gotta be Sam. You need to be able to find your own weird headlines. You need to be willing to get a little bit weird if you're going to host this show.

[Sam Claiborne]

Weird scoop.

[Damon Hatfield]

So with that said. But first. I already did. But first, the video game publisher rankings. So Metacritic does this every year. They use four sort of categories that they're judging them on their Average meta score for all games that they released in 2025. Then they get bonus points for the number of games that have at least a good score or higher, which is a 75 or higher. That they get docked points for their bad games that have a 49 or lower score. And then they get five bonus points if they are. If they get a great score, which is 90 or higher. And they have to at least have released five, at least five games over the year. So that's what they're going on.

[Sam Claiborne]

I just want to point out they could have just used the scores as the points and added them up.

[Justin Davis]

That's exactly what I was going to say. It's like, why not just use the average?

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, that's not what they did. So I got 28 publishers here on this list and coming in at the bottom spot, number 28 is Idea Factory.

[Nick Limone]

Oh, that's a Octopath, right? Or no, that's Algebra Factory.

[Damon Hatfield]

Square Enix.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh, yeah, first of all. But any guess who's going to be the number one publisher for 2025?

[Nick Limone]

Nintendo.

[Justin Davis]

Probably Nintendo.

[Nick Limone]

I was going to say Capcom.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yay. Because they probably put out like two games last year and they were both getting.

[Damon Hatfield]

No, you have to have at least five games.

[Sam Claiborne]

Did EA have five games last year?

[Damon Hatfield]

Let's find out.

[Justin Davis]

Wow.

[Damon Hatfield]

Who came out? Idea Factory put out six games. 14% of them were good. Its best reviewed game was Battlefield Waltz for Nintendo Switch, which had a 77.

[Nick Limone]

Oh, wow, that was very fast. That's impressive.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, yeah, Jovard is a professional, but they have a grp, heavy lineup. Stuff like what? Have you even heard of these? Nick Scarlet, Salvation. It was. Got a really low score.

[Nick Limone]

It looks like a. An ome game, but I. Maybe that's just because they're all beautiful boys.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay, coming in next, number 27 was Arc System Works. All right, six games. Best one was Guilty Gear Strive Nintendo Switch Edition 83. And good, good reviews for something called Dear Me. I was Ellipses. That's got to be a visual novel.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah, that sounds like it.

[Damon Hatfield]

But then they had that new Double Dragon game, which is bad. And a fighting game based on Hunter X Hunter.

[Nick Limone]

Oh, Nen Impact. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

So those are fun. Coming at number 26, Nacon Daedalic. I guess they're the same publisher.

[Justin Davis]

Didn't they just go out of business? I think.

[Damon Hatfield]

Is that true?

[Justin Davis]

I don't know. I think they filed for bankruptcy. Did I? I'll look it up.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay, well, they put out eight games. Best one was Hell is Us. With a 78.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah, that game was pretty interesting. A lot of cool ideas in that one, but it ran horribly on my PC. It would crash the desktop, but. I like the vibe.

[Damon Hatfield]

But low scores for. What is it?

[Justin Davis]

Oh, yeah, Nacon. They did file for bankruptcy.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay, well, they should have. Maybe they should have.

[Sam Claiborne]

This game looks crazy.

[Damon Hatfield]

This is. Which one? This is Hell is Us.

[Nick Limone]

This is Hell is Us.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay, well, they also put up.

[Sam Claiborne]

It kind of looks like a stranding. Like.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, they also put out Ambulance Life, a paramedic simulator, which sounds like Nintendo Seal of Quantity Fair if I've ever heard it.

[Nick Limone]

That sounds like a Gamescom game.

[Damon Hatfield]

And they had Robocop, Rogue City, Unfinished Business, dlc.

[Nick Limone]

Oh, nice.

[Damon Hatfield]

But it was scored low.

[Justin Davis]

Okay, Sam's completely right. That did look like a strand type game strand there.

[Damon Hatfield]

Number 25 is Microids, French publisher. Five games out last year. Best one was Amerazone the Explorer's Legacy on Xbox as an 82. They also had Agatha Christie, Death on the Nile.

[Sam Claiborne]

Those are popular games.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, those are popular games.

[Nick Limone]

Is that like a point and click?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Mystery adventure.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, I don't think. Literally point and click.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, you don't do that anymore. But it's a walking simulator, I suppose.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Lower scores for Siberia Remastered Space Adventure, Cobra the Awakening and Kaku Ancient Seal. You got to rethink these. Some of these game titles.

[Nick Limone]

I remember Siberia. That's wild. I haven't heard that name in a while.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay, here's our first surprise. I think number 24 on this list. So pretty far near the bottom is Bandai Namco. 23 games released.

[Nick Limone]

Jeez.

[Justin Davis]

Wow.

[Sam Claiborne]

Not a lot.

[Damon Hatfield]

About only 43% of them good. Best one was actually Elden Ring Night Rain.

[Nick Limone]

Wow. That game does rule. Can you confirm?

[Sam Claiborne]

I can see Bandai Namco though. They have licenses, so they probably put out a bunch of crap that people are going to buy anyway and it's good business.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. So they put out apparently more games than any other company on this list. And they had eldering and they also had the latest Katamari. But then they've got Tamagotchi Plaza, Sin Duality, Echo of Ada, and Everybody's Golf Hot Shots, which. Yes, that was very disappointing.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah, I heard. I heard about that.

[Damon Hatfield]

Did they do.

[Nick Limone]

What's it? The Vampire Bloodborne Game.

[Damon Hatfield]

The Dust Bloods. That's not out yet.

[Nick Limone]

Now it's. Never mind. The sequel of something. I just had it and I lost it. All good.

[Sam Claiborne]

The Vampire.

[Justin Davis]

The Masquerade.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, the Masquerade.

[Nick Limone]

No, the anime one though. It's a souls.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, Code vein.

[Nick Limone]

Code vein 2, I think. Was that last year? Did that come out this year?

[Sam Claiborne]

They had code vein 2 last year, I think. Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

I don't even remember.

[Nick Limone]

There you go. It took me a minute. Sorry.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay. Number 23 is Annapurna Interactive. Eight games, 47 of them were good. The best one was LEGO Voyagers. And I did not realize that was an Annapurna published game.

[Nick Limone]

Wow. Good for them.

[Justin Davis]

Same trusting.

[Sam Claiborne]

I want to play that still. I forgot about that game.

[Damon Hatfield]

Damn cute game.

[Sam Claiborne]

Looks good.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, it's a cute game. Very short. They also did Lego Builder's Journey. That's a cozy.

[Justin Davis]

That one.

[Damon Hatfield]

Cozy adventure game. I think so.

[Sam Claiborne]

Anybody can just publish LEGO games now.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep, I guess so. But they had some misses. Something called to a T. Something called Wheel World and Roguelite. Creature Collector.

[Justin Davis]

Morsels To A T was the new game from.

[Damon Hatfield]

From Katamari Creator, right?

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, the Katamari creator. And you know, unfortunately, you know, looked very cute, had very fun trailers, but did not critics, you know, didn't really resonate with it. But that one was a bummer that people didn't like it more.

[Damon Hatfield]

Number 22 is play on. Play On.

[Nick Limone]

Play On. Yeah, play on.

[Damon Hatfield]

Ten games released, 48% of them good. Anyone guess what their Highest, their best 2025 game was?

[Justin Davis]

No, no.

[Damon Hatfield]

People may not realize they're the publisher of this game. It's Kingdom Come. Deliverance to.

[Nick Limone]

Oh, that's right.

[Sam Claiborne]

Hell yeah.

[Nick Limone]

Good game.

[Justin Davis]

I remember that now, but I had forgotten. Yeah. In the moment.

[Damon Hatfield]

Something got a really low score. Echoes of the End. Not a good help for them.

[Nick Limone]

It was a like a two player cinematic third person action adventure game.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, okay, here's maybe the biggest. Well, maybe not. This is a big surprise. This is number 21 on a list of 28 publishers. So pretty low. And it's Sony.

[Justin Davis]

Wow.

[Damon Hatfield]

But would it surprise you to learn that they actually put out 13 games last year?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, that would surprise me. But then I remember they had that splatoon knockoff and all that other stuff.

[Justin Davis]

So that was Square Enix, wasn't it?

[Nick Limone]

Oh, that was.

[Sam Claiborne]

No, you're right.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah. Foam Stars.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was Foam Stars.

[Nick Limone]

Rip. Call one out. Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is it gone?

[Damon Hatfield]

I have like no sense of time anymore.

[Nick Limone]

But that was. That was like two years ago. Two, three years ago.

[Justin Davis]

Really? That can't be right.

[Sam Claiborne]

What were Sony's bombs so?

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, their best game was the Last of Us Part two, remastered on PC.

[Sam Claiborne]

I mean, they released out a couple times each year.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep. So that has a 90. But they had Death turning to Ghost of Yote. Those are highlights. But then they. They published a horror party game called Midnight Murder Club.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah, I remember that.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

That's just seems. I had no idea. And it seems weird.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's a good name.

[Damon Hatfield]

They published a Chinese action adventure RPG called Lost Soul aside.

[Nick Limone]

Yes. Oh, yeah. People were very excited about that. And it was kind of just mid reception.

[Damon Hatfield]

And then there were two Destiny 2 expansions that both got low scores. So got. They just got dragged down by all that.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's so weird that they're the publisher for Destiny.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. I mean, you know, speaking. Speaking of losing all sense of time, like, we're in the sixth year of these consoles. The sixth year. Oh, my gosh, now. Which is a little bit. We're in the fifth year because it turned six.

[Damon Hatfield]

Six calendar year.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, exactly. So they're gonna. Sony's gonna win this console generation convincingly. They crushed Xbox without releasing any games. They just. They don't need to make video games. I mean, and I don't mean literally none comment. Like, where are all the games? Like, no new Uncharted game. No new Last of Us game.

[Sam Claiborne]

Like, the theory that we tested, a next gen console watch this week is that this generation is going to go for another freaking six to seven years anyway. And you're going to get them by then. We're going to get everything skewed because, like, how is power people going to afford $1,000 system? You're just going to have to have inflation catch up to it.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, I haven't. I haven't actually sat down and done this, but I want to look at how many games Sony published on PS4 compared to PS5, because it feels like they're like many, many.

[Sam Claiborne]

When you look at lists like this, it might actually be so much more than you think on. Maybe.

[Justin Davis]

Maybe there is some. They do Astrobot. Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, that wasn't last year, though. But yes.

[Justin Davis]

Well, I'm just saying It's a PS5 game.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, yeah. One of the best PS5 games. All right. At number 20 ahead of Sony is Atari. They're back.

[Sam Claiborne]

This is their big comeback here.

[Damon Hatfield]

Atari's back. They put out 10 games last year. 57% of them were good. None of them were bad. None of. They all got good scores.

[Sam Claiborne]

But you didn't review any of them.

[Nick Limone]

Right.

[Damon Hatfield]

Their best one was, see, expansion stuff like this, it gets included. But, you know, people reviewed it. It's the Atari 50 anniversary celebration. The Namco legendary pack, which has an 84 on Metacritic because people reviewed it.

[Nick Limone]

Good for them. That's. That's awesome.

[Sam Claiborne]

I mean, I gave the base game A10.

[Damon Hatfield]

That game is really fun. They put out a lot of reissues.

[Sam Claiborne]

It wasn't ten reissues.

[Damon Hatfield]

Remasters, Compilations. Not all of them work, but they've got. These include games published by Night Dive Studios, Infograms and Digital Eclipse. Okay, they own all those.

[Nick Limone]

Did Nightdive do what? System Shock was that last year OR System Shock 2? System. Yeah, one of them. Yeah, one of like remakes or something.

[Damon Hatfield]

All right, number 19 is PQube. Seven games released. 67% of them were good. Best one was irakura Aria for PC, which has an 83.

[Justin Davis]

Much better than Sony last year.

[Damon Hatfield]

Holding them back were some duds like beyond The Ice Palace 2, which is a sequel to a nearly 40 year old Commodore 64 platformer.

[Justin Davis]

Wait, wait, wait, wait. Jobber, can you scrub back to that B roll?

[Nick Limone]

Oh, are we about to 10 seconds ago?

[Damon Hatfield]

What are we. Is it before this?

[Justin Davis]

No, there's. It'll be with the next line. I think

[Nick Limone]

that tickles.

[Sam Claiborne]

There it is.

[Justin Davis]

There it is. That was. That was it.

[Nick Limone]

It looks very House of Fata Morgana visual novel, which people can't seem to get enough tickles.

[Justin Davis]

What's with you calling them tootsies anyway?

[Nick Limone]

Tootsies are colloquially known as feet or it's feet, right?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep.

[Justin Davis]

Yes.

[Sam Claiborne]

All right. This is a Commodore What? A Commodore 64.

[Damon Hatfield]

This is. This is Iraqora Aria. Not beyond the Ice palace too.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. Okay.

[Damon Hatfield]

Good night.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's a sequel to Strip Poker on the Commodore 64.

[Damon Hatfield]

Or. Please stay with me, Justin. I think PQ has just found a niche.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, this looks nice.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, look. Resident Evil style maps room. Turn red.

[Damon Hatfield]

Turn the room screen. Okay. Number 18 is a publisher I've never heard of. I think they're pretty new. Clear River Games. They're out of Sweden. They released a handful of decent PS5 and Switch games last year. Seven games total. Oh, this is what it is. Their best game was Operation Night Strikers, which is a collection of like Operation Wolf, Operation Thunderbolt, and I think Operation. Well, Night Strikers. Yeah, just Night Striker. Anyway, Space gum. Old arcade games, they get lumped in and because they play it safe and just do a collection of old games, they get ranked higher than Sony.

[Nick Limone]

Nighttrikers just got like a remake, right? Like. Or a new entry I believe came out like late last year or early this year. I remember the Digital Foundry or John Linneman was like all over.

[Damon Hatfield]

I love that getting ready scene in Operation Wolf. It looks so good.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's amazing.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. Okay.

[Sam Claiborne]

This was an era. Big sprites.

[Justin Davis]

Yep, big sprites.

[Nick Limone]

So pretty.

[Damon Hatfield]

So good. I love. I played this game a lot when I was a kid.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, man. The fake 3D with the sprites is so cool.

[Nick Limone]

Oh, what? Space Gun. This looks kind of sick.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, this looks like a new game, right?

[Damon Hatfield]

No, I think that's an old arcade game. Anyway, the listeners have no idea what we're looking at. Number 17 is marvelous. Exceed put out seven games, 64% of them are good. The best one was the Hundred line Last Defense Academy on Nintendo switch. That's an 85.

[Justin Davis]

People love that game.

[Nick Limone]

One day I'll check it out.

[Damon Hatfield]

They also had.

[Justin Davis]

Seems like a Nick game, Story of

[Damon Hatfield]

Seasons Grand Bazaar, which is. It's basically Harvest Moon, right?

[Nick Limone]

Yes, yes.

[Damon Hatfield]

But they also put out less successful stuff like Daemon X Machina, Titanic, Scion and a Dungeon crawler mashup game. Mashup with restaurant management. Cuisineer. Sounds like the delicious in dungeon.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah, that sounds really cool.

[Damon Hatfield]

Cuisiner was a good name.

[Sam Claiborne]

Space Gun's a 1990 Taito arcade game. Light gun game. It looks amazing.

[Damon Hatfield]

Cool.

[Sam Claiborne]

It has graphics like I've never seen before. Like, it's like pastels that they had on Super Nintendo. Oh, man. Gotta look into this game.

[Damon Hatfield]

Number 16 is. Don't nod. They put out five games, 69% of them are good. Best one was Lost Records, Bloom and Rage Tape 1, which is probably an expansion you played.

[Justin Davis]

I remember you talking about that, Sam. It sounded cool. Wasn't it episodic, though?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. It's, you know.

[Justin Davis]

Is there.

[Sam Claiborne]

What's their. What's their big game?

[Nick Limone]

Life is Strange.

[Sam Claiborne]

Life is Strange.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

So it's like a Life is Strange, but it's about like a little bit more of a. There's like a rock and roll theme because the. The kids are in a band. And then also it's in like a kind of a Twin Peaks. They are kind of Twin Peaksy. So it had that code for it.

[Justin Davis]

But that also. I also think that they developed that and then Square Enix published it. And then this was them sort of doing their own thing, I believe. Like.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's right.

[Justin Davis]

Recall happening there, but I might not be right about that.

[Damon Hatfield]

All right. I love this one. Number 15 is Konami.

[Nick Limone]

They're back, baby.

[Sam Claiborne]

Whoa.

[Damon Hatfield]

Keep talking about how they're back. They put out 10 games last year. 68% of them were good. Best one was Gradius Origins. Wow. The greatest collection, which included a new game.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Actual new greatest game in there.

[Nick Limone]

They also had Silent Hill.

[Damon Hatfield]

Silent Hill.

[Nick Limone]

They had Metal Gear Delta Bolt Bangers,

[Damon Hatfield]

but they had a Yu Gi oh compilation. And Eden's Zero and Survival Kids.

[Nick Limone]

I have zero issue with it, but I've never heard anyone pronounce it Eugeo, which is crazy. Yeah. Sorry.

[Damon Hatfield]

I'm not.

[Nick Limone]

It's Yu Gi oh. But I was like, whoa. It took me. Sorry. I was a big Yu Gi oh head back in the day. So it's just one of those things. It stood out to me. It caught my ear.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's animated gif. So I should have known better.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yu Gi oh's Mansion. We. I'm really curious where Sunsoft falls in this list of ancient video game publishers, including Atari and Konami.

[Damon Hatfield]

But I don't know if they put out five games. I don't know if they'll make the list.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Number 14 is Devolver Digital. Everyone's favorite indie publishing house put out 12 games.

[Sam Claiborne]

The only publisher brave enough to go up against grand theft auto this year,

[Damon Hatfield]

60. The 69% nice of their games are good. And best one was Ball Pit.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, dude. But there should be. So it's like. And I guess I'm kind of. We were goofing at the beginning on the kind of convoluted Metacritic, you know, scoring system of, like, you get bonus points for this and that. And it's like, just take the average of your scores. But it's like, maybe you should get even more bonus points if you make something that's like a game of the year candidate or winner. He's like, surely, like ball pits. Like a generational game. Like, it's so good. It should get them more than just five bonus points.

[Damon Hatfield]

Other highlights were the tallest principle reawakened platformer called Shotgun Cop.

[Nick Limone]

Man, that one's really good. That one's really, really good.

[Damon Hatfield]

That's a video game title, all right.

[Nick Limone]

Mitchell has some really cool gameplay of that, and it got my attention.

[Damon Hatfield]

This is news to me. They published Monster Train 2. Whoa. I like them even more.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. I mean, think about the choices this developer made to. Or not developer. This publisher made to find, like, cool games and put them out, though. Like, that's. That's the dream, right, for publishers.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. So Shotgun Cop man of my friend Pedro.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Nick Limone]

But the platforming is done via the shotgun that propels you. It's great, right?

[Justin Davis]

It's like a rocket jump. But shotgun.

[Damon Hatfield]

This game looks.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is this also the N N plus people?

[Justin Davis]

That's what it looks like. But it's not them, but it's clearly evoking that style.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, I like that game a lot.

[Damon Hatfield]

Devolver's Big Mish was big miss was Tron Catalyst.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Nick Limone]

That was a Mike Bissell game, I believe.

[Damon Hatfield]

Was it?

[Justin Davis]

I believe so, yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

What type of game was that?

[Justin Davis]

I. I don't. I don't even remember. Yeah, I think it was. I want to say. I don't. I don't want to say because I might be wrong.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. Tron Aries. That was quite a movie.

[Damon Hatfield]

Number 13 is Koei Tecmo. Nine games.

[Nick Limone]

Dynasty warriors Origins. Was that last year?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep, that was on there. It's apparently well received. But their best game was Atelier Risa Secret Trilogy Deluxe Pack for Nintendo Switch.

[Nick Limone]

You know, one. One of these days I might check out the old Atelier Risa.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. Dynasty Warriors Origins and then Ninja Gaiden 2 black. But its biggest dud was Warriors Abyss. I guess it attempted to add a roguelite element to Dynasty Warriors.

[Justin Davis]

Oh.

[Damon Hatfield]

With mixed results.

[Nick Limone]

That sounds kind of cool though.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

[Damon Hatfield]

And here we are at number 12 is Nintendo.

[Nick Limone]

Wow.

[Justin Davis]

We pegged him for number one.

[Damon Hatfield]

Maybe number 12, but they put out 18 games. The best one was Tears of the kingdom. Nintendo Switch 2 Edition 95.

[Justin Davis]

Perfect game.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

Charts.

[Nick Limone]

Breath of the Wild would have be there as well, I would assume.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep, yep. That's up there as well too. And you know, obviously they had, you know, Mario Kart World, which even though it's disappointing, still very good game. High scores. Eights and. And such. Dunking on Bonanza. We gave that a 10. Right. What do you. There are two games that Nintendo got really low scores for last year. Oh, oh.

[Nick Limone]

The wheel. The. The wheelchair one.

[Damon Hatfield]

Drag Drive.

[Nick Limone]

Drag drive. Yes.

[Damon Hatfield]

And.

[Sam Claiborne]

And was there a Kirby or Princess game or.

[Damon Hatfield]

Everyone's already.

[Justin Davis]

That wasn't Princess Peach. Right. That was the year before.

[Damon Hatfield]

That was the year before everyone forgot about the Nintendo Switch 2. Welcome Tour.

[Nick Limone]

I like welcome Tour.

[Sam Claiborne]

Welcome.

[Nick Limone]

I spent money on that. I like it. I forgot.

[Sam Claiborne]

Totally. It's cute. I played.

[Justin Davis]

You don't need to defend. Welcome.

[Damon Hatfield]

Cool. You think it's something that Nintendo should have charged money for.

[Nick Limone]

Why? I mean, I didn't say that. Don't put words in my mouth. I'm just saying it's a well made and well constructed thing.

[Damon Hatfield]

Number 11 is Ubisoft and everyone's just flipping their tables now that Ubisoft is ranked higher than Nintendo AC Shadows. But they put out eight games and they have 80. One of them were good. The best one was actually the from the Ashes. From the Ashes expansion for Avatar Frontiers.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah, I heard. Good stuff.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, but they put out Assassin's Creed Shadows and the Prince of Persia, the Lost Crown, and then also anno 117 pax Romana.

[Nick Limone]

The lost Crown was last year or like January.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh my gosh. Wow.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

I can't help but notice we haven't got to 2K yet.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep. Oh, yeah. Well, yeah,

[Justin Davis]

it's hard. Like five games is like a kind of a highish bar depending on what type of company you are.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Nick Limone]

Avatar in third person goes crazy. This looks cool.

[Damon Hatfield]

All right, we arrive at the top 10. Number 10 is raw fury. They put out nine games. The best one is Blueprints. That's actually the blueprints. Last year they also did the seance at Blake Manor.

[Nick Limone]

I've heard nothing but good things about that one.

[Damon Hatfield]

And then a point and click detective adventure, Kathy Rain two Soothsayer. But their misses were Post Trauma and a deck builder called Knights and Tight Spaces.

[Nick Limone]

Post Trauma is a horror game, I believe.

[Justin Davis]

Number nine like Nights and Tight Spaces. That game looks so cool.

[Damon Hatfield]

I don't. We didn't get good reviews.

[Justin Davis]

Bummer.

[Nick Limone]

I like the original. It's like a deck builder rogue like. Right.

[Damon Hatfield]

They call it Duck Builder. Okay. Number nine is Dot Emu. They put out eight games. The best one was Absalom, which I played. Just a little bit of it seems like I would like it if I put more time into it. They also had Ninja Gaiden, Ragebound.

[Nick Limone]

Oh, I love that game so much.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, great game. And then Cross Blitz. Some kind of a RPG hybrid game. Yep. And they include their alternate label, the Arcade Crew. Their misses were a deck builder called Shuffle Tactics and a first person shooter called Abyssus.

[Nick Limone]

Cool name.

[Damon Hatfield]

And here you go, Sam. Number eight is Electronic Arts.

[Justin Davis]

Okay.

[Damon Hatfield]

Battlefield.

[Sam Claiborne]

Pretty good year.

[Damon Hatfield]

12 games. 79 good. Best one of those Split Fiction.

[Nick Limone]

Well. Oh, wow, Geez. I forgot that was last year too.

[Damon Hatfield]

I know, I know. All their sports games get good scores. Except for NHL.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, that one should get good scores.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. Battlefield was well received as well.

[Nick Limone]

I enjoyed Battlefield quite a bit.

[Damon Hatfield]

So since neither. What's that, Justin?

[Justin Davis]

Oh, just better video game company than Sony and Nintendo.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, since Nintendo, neither Nintendo or EA are number one. Does anyone want to revise? Pick a different.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, hold on. EA was rated the worst company in the world 15 years ago. Remember that? Yeah, that was great.

[Justin Davis]

What could be number one? Maybe I have a hard time. I'm the same as you. I can't remember. Came out Last year. I don't know. Xbox. I don't know. What are they?

[Nick Limone]

Yeah. Would it be my Xbox Game Studios or Xbox Game Studios?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, Xbox has to be up there, but because they definitely put out more than five games. Bethesda. Do they count or do we just count Xbox there?

[Justin Davis]

That. That's. Yeah. Activision.

[Damon Hatfield]

Let's read on to find out. Number seven is Sega. 17 games.

[Justin Davis]

Whoa.

[Damon Hatfield]

The best one being Sonic Racing Cross Worlds, which, yes, I've been playing recently with Kingo and it's very near Mario Kart quality.

[Nick Limone]

It looks really fun.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's very close to it. It's. Everything is exactly the same and it plays like you would expect. Mario Tartu Cart, including the drifting. The only thing that's different is when you drift, they don't do a little

[Nick Limone]

hop into it, you see.

[Damon Hatfield]

So I miss it so much. That little hop is so.

[Nick Limone]

So game feel, man. It's important.

[Damon Hatfield]

Game feel. It is Game feel. They also did a Shinobi, Art of Vengeance, which is great. And Justin, they had Two Point Museum.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, the two Point games are great. I didn't play Museum. I bought. And I don't remember if it was in a humble bundle or what, But I bought Two Point University for, I think literally $3. And, you know, because it was like some 90 off sale and then I played it for, you know, 20 hours. Like, it was great. I loved it.

[Damon Hatfield]

But Sega apparently had underwhelming releases like Warhammer 40K Space Marine Master Crafted Edition and a very Buggy Football Manager 26, which I don't know why SEGA is publishing Football Manager.

[Justin Davis]

They always have.

[Damon Hatfield]

Always. Wow. Okay, number six is take two.

[Justin Davis]

There they are.

[Sam Claiborne]

Nice.

[Damon Hatfield]

Seven games. And actually the best one is just because of the narrative around this game release. It's funny, but it was Borderlands 4, at least on Xbox, that has a 90 on Medicare.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. Got good scores, though. Everybody ended up liking it a lot. Big deal.

[Justin Davis]

90 on Metacritic. Wow. I wouldn't have guessed that high. I mean, you know, I knew it was well liked, well received, but that's very high.

[Sam Claiborne]

A big comeback for Borderlands.

[Damon Hatfield]

This says that Take Two had generally positive reviews for all of its 2025 games. Not named Mafia, the Old Country. Rude. You like that game, Sam? Do people not like that game? It was great.

[Justin Davis]

Did not get good reviews.

[Sam Claiborne]

I thought it got good. What's the Metacritic score?

[Damon Hatfield]

I'm looking it up right now. It has a 73. Yeah, actually has a 70, which is not green. Not good on Metacritic. Has to be 75. That's interesting.

[Sam Claiborne]

I can't recommend it enough. It's a great game.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay. Number five is Microsoft.

[Nick Limone]

Okay.

[Damon Hatfield]

Wow. Which it does include Bethesda, Activision Blizzard, everything. Highest rated game, Forza Horizon 5. For PS5, they put out 21 games last year.

[Justin Davis]

Wow.

[Damon Hatfield]

Actually, Microsoft's two highest scoring 2025 games were PlayStation products. Forza Horizon 5 and Indiana Jones. In the great circle, those are their highest scoring games. But they also had Tony hawk's Pro Skater 3 and 4, Outer Worlds 2. The lower scored games were Black Ops 7. And then apparently the Indiana Jones DLC was not great.

[Nick Limone]

Avowed was up there too, right?

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, it was last year. They don't mention it, but yeah, what the heck. I think we gave it a seven though. Even though I like that game a lot.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. Yeah, man. How. How good. How good was any Edge on? It's unbelievable. That's a video game.

[Damon Hatfield]

I know, it's crazy.

[Justin Davis]

I mean, my hot take. I don't. Don't hold me. Let me, let me. Let me just think about this. I'm gonna say it and then I'll validate it. Validate it later. But like, I think Xbox has put out like much better games than PlayStation this generation.

[Damon Hatfield]

They've certainly put out more like it.

[Justin Davis]

I just, I'm thinking about like, you know, because in like my thought, I'm like, how good was Forza? How good was Indiana Jones? And then it's like, oh, man. Like, like I know all the discourse around it, but I thought Halo Infinite was really great.

[Damon Hatfield]

I like the campaign a lot.

[Nick Limone]

I still play Halo Infinite to this day. It's always downloaded on my computer.

[Sam Claiborne]

I bet Starfield is better now.

[Nick Limone]

I'll check it out in like April when the DLC comes out.

[Damon Hatfield]

All right. The second wave of it, number four is Thunderful. They put out six games. 90% of them were good. The best one was Islanders New Shores for PC.

[Justin Davis]

I played the original. It's very cool. A very sort of peaceful chill. You know, it's a puzzle game where. I don't know how to describe it. Like you're. You're building a little town and then it's sort of roguelikey where, like, you don't get to choose what parts of the town that you build. And so it's like meditative and peaceful, but like you're plopping down houses and plopping down businesses and you score points for putting them in. That looks.

[Sam Claiborne]

I didn't know that's what this was. They're kind of like making arcade scoring out of A sim game?

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. Yes.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's kind of awesome.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

And then you. And then you build them so you can play it a couple different ways. You can just be like, I want to make something that's aesthetically cool or you can min max. Like. No, I really want to like, absolutely maximize my points.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's got a style going for it too. Was this on phones also?

[Justin Davis]

I don't know. I played it on Steam.

[Damon Hatfield]

Steam Deck game Thunderfall also had Lost in Random the Eternal Die.

[Nick Limone]

That was like I play a spin off or.

[Justin Davis]

Oh, well, no, I played the original then.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

Because I didn't realize that wasn't the same thing. But it was on Game Pass.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay. The top three. We arrive at the top three and number three was Capcom.

[Nick Limone]

I thought they just had Monster Hunter Wilds. I don't remember.

[Damon Hatfield]

That was their best reviewed game last year.

[Justin Davis]

Wow.

[Damon Hatfield]

They put out seven games.

[Nick Limone]

Seven.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. But they were held back by Onimusha 2 Samurai's Destiny remaster.

[Nick Limone]

That's because the kids aren't used to PS2 games nowadays.

[Damon Hatfield]

Not. Yeah, obviously they're off to a very good start in 2026.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah. What else did they have besides those?

[Damon Hatfield]

I don't. I don't have the full list here.

[Nick Limone]

There had to be like a year we're getting Mega man collection or something.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, maybe a collection. Well, Art. Is that published by, you know, Digital Eclipse or something? No, this year we have still Pragmata. We just had a high rated Monster Hunter. And then there's probably a Mega man this year, right?

[Nick Limone]

Dude, I cannot. No, I think Mega Man's gonna be next year. But that said.

[Sam Claiborne]

Really?

[Nick Limone]

Yeah, I think so. But Pragmata.

[Damon Hatfield]

Was that Justin, what was the. As a Japanese title and it's kind of a tower defense game.

[Justin Davis]

Oh, Kunigami

[Nick Limone]

Kitsugami or something like that. Yeah. Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

That was a cool one.

[Nick Limone]

It's like a Pikmin. Like. Yeah, No, I think that was two years ago.

[Damon Hatfield]

Two years ago. Okay,

[Nick Limone]

there you go.

[Sam Claiborne]

That look great.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah. Fun game.

[Justin Davis]

I don't know if it still is, but I played that on Game Pass for a long time too.

[Sam Claiborne]

Did they publish Dragon's Dogma?

[Nick Limone]

Dragon's Dogma is Capcom.

[Damon Hatfield]

Was that last year?

[Nick Limone]

No, I think that was two years ago.

[Sam Claiborne]

Two years ago?

[Nick Limone]

I think so.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay.

[Justin Davis]

Wow.

[Damon Hatfield]

All right. Number two is not a publisher I'm familiar with, but they had 100% good games. Five games all had good scores. It's Gamera Games, formerly known as Gamera Games.

[Nick Limone]

They probably had to change that for legal reasons.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's a Chinese, Chinese indie publisher. All five of their games were had green scores and the best one was Absolum on the PC version of Absol.

[Nick Limone]

Oh, interesting.

[Damon Hatfield]

The whole name.

[Justin Davis]

What else?

[Damon Hatfield]

Which means the number one goes to Square Enix.

[Nick Limone]

Whoa.

[Justin Davis]

Wow.

[Damon Hatfield]

Nine games, 100% of them good. The highest rated game being the Final Fantasy 7 rebirth for PC.

[Nick Limone]

PC, yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

But also more Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest games. Even its worst scored game, Saga Frontier 2 Remastered was still good.

[Nick Limone]

Dang. One of these days I'll get Square Enix.

[Sam Claiborne]

Like selling off companies and contracting and stuff. Last year too. Like they're not publishing Tomb Raiders and western stuff anymore.

[Nick Limone]

They got rid of Crystal Dynamics a long time ago. Like they sold off that. And like the Eidos Montreal, they've been

[Sam Claiborne]

telling the story that they're always disappointed with sales. I mean, and that could be true even with good scores. Right? But yeah, yeah, yeah. They should just add tifa.

[Nick Limone]

Yep, it's easy as that. You heard it here first. TIFA DLC for every Square Enix game moving forward.

[Sam Claiborne]

They actually heard it here second because I said this last week.

[Damon Hatfield]

Also just give TIFA her own game.

[Nick Limone]

But after the Bouncer 2 TIFA edition,

[Justin Davis]

they also they published Power Wash Simulator, which was cool.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's cool.

[Damon Hatfield]

So there you have it, the publisher rankings. And in case you're curious, previous year's number one ranking. The year before was Sega number one. Then Capcom, which would have been after the year of Resident Evil 4 remake. And maybe that was Dragon's Dogma 2.

[Nick Limone]

That was a Dragon's Dogma 2 year,

[Sam Claiborne]

I believe, and probably a smaller Monster Hunter that got a great score.

[Damon Hatfield]

The year before that 2021 was Microsoft. The year of Forza Horizon 4 and Halo Infinite. Then Sega 505 Games. Then Capcom, Bethesda, like EA, Sega again, Nintendo, Take 2, Electronic Arts, Microsoft, and then 2010. The first year they started doing it

[Nick Limone]

was Take 2 for GTA 5.

[Justin Davis]

Okay.

[Sam Claiborne]

Except GTA 5 was CD Projekt never stands a chance. The year they put out the most games, they put out like Gwent at the same time as Witcher.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

So you want to learn a new language, but you're struggling to get beyond the basics. Stuck on free apps aimed at cheap dopamine highs. Well then it's time to try Babbel, the language app that makes grammar fun and is really 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 results. 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 last year. Here's a special limited time deal for our listeners right now. Get up to 60% off your Babbel subscription at babbel.com Gamescoop get up to 60% off at babbel.com GamesCoop spelled B-A-B-B-E-L.com Gamescoop rules and restrictions apply. I don't know about you, but I like keeping my money. Unfortunately, traditional big wireless carriers also seem to like keeping our money. After years of overpaying for wireless IGN Seth Macy finally got fed up with crazy high wireless bills, bogus fees and free perks that actually cost more in the long run and switched to Mint Mobile. Isn't that right Seth? That is right, Damon.

[Sam Claiborne]

The longest part of the process, I'm

[Damon Hatfield]

thinking, is going to be staying on hold with my current provider, trying to break up with them. Stop paying way too much for wireless just because that's how it's always been. Mint exists. Purely to fix that, Mint Mobile is here to rescue you with premium wireless plans starting at 15 bucks a month. All plans come with high speed data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest 5G network. Bring your own phone and number, activate with ESIM in minutes and start saving immediately. No long term contracts, no hassle. Ditch overpriced wireless and get three months of premium wireless service from Mint Mobile for 15 bucks a month. If I were in the market for a new wireless plan, I'd be looking at Mint Mobile. If you like your money, Mint Mobile is for you. Shop [e-mail] Gamescoop that's mintmobile.com Gamescoop upfront payment of $45 for 3 months 5gb plan required equivalent to $15 a month new customer offer for first 3 months only. Then full price plan, options available, taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details. Let's talk about the price of a PlayStation 5 today. The day that we're recording. The day that we're recording this April 2nd. The new price of a PlayStation 5 is now $650. A digital edition is 600 PS5 Pro.

[Justin Davis]

Wait, Damon, we need to stop down because you made a mistake. You said $650. There's no way that can be right

[Sam Claiborne]

for the base console.

[Justin Davis]

No, I'm talking about for the base console.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep. Well, I agree that there's no way this is sustainable.

[Nick Limone]

This is not right.

[Sam Claiborne]

And it doesn't play games any better than it did five years ago.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is that right?

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. We're moving the wrong direction.

[Damon Hatfield]

The PS5 Pro is now $900.

[Nick Limone]

Oh, my gosh.

[Damon Hatfield]

900. So the digital edition costs 50% more than at launch now from 400 to 650% more.

[Sam Claiborne]

I see what you're saying.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. Okay.

[Damon Hatfield]

A 50% price increase on the digital PS5.

[Justin Davis]

It's crazy.

[Damon Hatfield]

It also feels.

[Sam Claiborne]

I was like, Damon and I had a meeting about this topic for next gen console Watch, and I was remarking, like, you know, consoles don't exactly have a history of coming down in price over the generations and that, you know, do we really expect, you know, a system to ever cost, you know, $500 again? But then Damon made the point that generally within the system's lifespan.

[Damon Hatfield]

Right.

[Sam Claiborne]

They do come down.

[Justin Davis]

That's what I would say. That's what I was saying. We're moving in the wrong direct. Is it makes it feel doubly bad. Like, obviously a price rise and a. A big price rise is already just such a gut punch. But it's like what we. We should have, like, you know, a $250 PS5 now and then they shock the world by going to 200 on, like, Black Friday, right?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yes.

[Justin Davis]

We're six years in the Wii.

[Sam Claiborne]

We should have all invested in PS5s and just got a whole garage of them and take them to GameStop and be 25 on each one.

[Nick Limone]

The Wii and what, like, the PS2 dropped to like, $99 over the course of their life cycle, right?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Hell, yeah. The red Wii. Remember that one?

[Nick Limone]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

So cool.

[Justin Davis]

Well, and then it's like, you know, so the Xbox. I. I think the Xbox Series X is.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's that RAM. That's what it is.

[Justin Davis]

It is the RAM. I think the Series X might also be $650. I don't know. If I can be fact checked on that. But like it, it also had a price rise. But it, it was, it was when the console was already kind of struggling and, and it just buried it right. Like nobody's buying Xboxes anymore. And so all Sony had to do is like hang on. You know, they're like, well we're also going to raise the price of our console, but we're going to wait, you know, eight months to do it. What a bummer.

[Sam Claiborne]

Whatever happened to taking a loss on a console and eating that up and trying to put out a bunch of software?

[Justin Davis]

And like who. Like we're just so quickly like we had this, it was this crazy concept two years ago that now is becoming more normal by the day that like consoles are something that are just for like old dudes. And like why would you. It's becoming this thing of like if you're a kid you play on your phone or you play on your computer and like who wants to own a game console anymore? And like just the narrow minded. Like these companies have to look at the big picture and like if you want your console business to be healthy and stable.

[Sam Claiborne]

What's the future?

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, exactly.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, that's my whole thing.

[Sam Claiborne]

All these little stands these PlayStations are on. I just have never used any of these things. It's really funny to see the little. Well this is an action.

[Damon Hatfield]

I don't know how to put it on.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's why you do it.

[Justin Davis]

Apparently my. My PS5 stand is in a drawer under my entertainment center. And then I just. It's just gonna be there.

[Sam Claiborne]

Did you see that little clear thing that was on the end? Like it was. I got like baby grand piano.

[Nick Limone]

I got destroyed in an unboxing video because I unboxed a PS5 Pro and they came out and then people I pulled out. I was like, oh, what's this little plastic thing? I've never seen that before. People like look at this idiot. He doesn't know what the heck this. I was like, I bought an OG one. Dude, be an adult. Just put it in your entertainment console. It's fine.

[Sam Claiborne]

I know. Close it in a cabinet so you hear it go

[Nick Limone]

every time a needs to sound like a jet.

[Damon Hatfield]

Nick, when you're in a gaming video, never say you don't know if something is either just this is the video. Wait, this is the one. Either just don't address it or confidently say something.

[Sam Claiborne]

Going to revisit the trauma.

[Nick Limone]

Y say this is the. This is the summer flange. See, there it is. Moment jobber. What Are you doing this is pts.

[Sam Claiborne]

Why am I even wearing gloves? Well, at least you can get fingerprints on that little piece.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah, see, that's why you wear the gloves. Folks, I know the game scoop audience. I don't even know why I'm wearing.

[Justin Davis]

I'm bringing us back. Guys, I have something on topic to actually talk about. If you are a kid and you like video games, you're video game curious. A, no one's releasing video games anymore. As we talked about on the show a few weeks ago, if you're a fan of Dragon Quest or Pokemon or whatever, you're going to go from being like 4 years old to 11 years old before the next game's even going to come out. And then B, you have to spend $650 or your family does to have you buy in and play this thing.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, it's beyond what people are willing to accept. For 40 years, consoles have cost a few hundred dollars. Atari 2600 was 200 bucks in 1977. 30 years later, 35 years later, the PS4, $400. The Switch was 300 and the PS5, Xbox Series X and the Nintendo Switch to are $500. Like that's it. A family isn't going to be like, oh sure, let's just get a thousand dollar PlayStation 6. Like it's way beyond what. And a normal like nothing but the hardest hardcore gamer would accept to pay.

[Nick Limone]

It's pretty interesting. Go ahead, Nick. Just to juxtapose the PS3 like console launch price because it was what, 599 or something? The PS3, when they said oh yeah,

[Damon Hatfield]

yeah, but yeah, people wouldn't accept it.

[Nick Limone]

You will work two jobs in order to afford this. I was like, now that the shoe is on the other foot, it's a little bit interesting scenario.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, yeah, I know.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

So I mean you're.

[Justin Davis]

I just. And the kid, the kids still want to play video games, right? Like, you know, the interest in this medium is real, but it's like they're just gonna like what's on my iPad? You know, what's on my Android tablet, You know, what can I play on my school?

[Nick Limone]

Roblox and Fortnite.

[Damon Hatfield]

There's no friction to them, you know, pulling up Roblox on a tablet, you know, or Minecraft, you know, like there's Sony is creating so much friction to get people into their ecosystem. You know, Sam talks about them, you know, eating some of the cost to the console. It's gotta be worth it because if you become a fan, we're so weird. And tribalistic about our video game consoles. If you become a fan of that one, you're highly likely to buy the next one.

[Nick Limone]

Yes.

[Damon Hatfield]

And the one after that, they get you for life. If they can get you in. And if you can afford to get into the ecosystem.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah, people just buy it.

[Sam Claiborne]

Like, obviously that's. Nintendo knows that. Right. Like, they are trying to get. I know it was an expensive switch too, but they are trying to get those in houses a lot more than Sony is.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, no, it's.

[Sam Claiborne]

This is like. I mean, this is a product of its, like exact time, like this month, this year too, because, like, because of the RAM shortage and because of projected, you know, just delivery prices, because of the oil problems right now and all that stuff that's happening. But like, we also didn't really see a period in which it went down because I think. Because. Because greed, I guess. So it's like, you know, this, this trajectory is not sustainable. We're also talking about it that way. But it's also like, I don't know how they change it. Yeah, everything's more expensive.

[Justin Davis]

I do feel. We do feel kind of locked in. Like we're boxed in now, which is. Which feels bad.

[Sam Claiborne]

I mean, I think what they do is they change it by not making another one for a long time. As we were just talking about, I mean, console watch. That's not the same day as this.

[Damon Hatfield]

I'm. When I play Resident Evil Requiem, I'm on my base PS5. I have no feelings of, oh, I can't wait for the next generation. Like, perfectly happy playing games that look like this on my system that I already have.

[Nick Limone]

I mean, they're gonna do the PlayStation thing that they did this entire lifecycle though, right. Where it was just the games released simultaneously on PS4, PS5, and then at some point it will be just PS5 only.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Or PS be interesting to see. Like, so they, they take out the disk drive and it's like, what, 50 bucks off.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is that right? Yes. So what else can you take out? Like take out that little stand, make it a square instead of looking like a really stupid George Lucas car and like, you know, and just try to like, pull out things that would make this system cheaper. Like take, take the power supply, put it outside of it, you know, Like, I know it's a redesign, but like, that's the forward thinking that needed to be happening here is like, what are the things we can piecemeal out to make sure that this goes to $400, you know, in six years, it's crazy.

[Justin Davis]

A smaller one, you know, you need to, you got it. You got to make these changes.

[Nick Limone]

Six with one stick of RAM instead of two.

[Sam Claiborne]

One stick.

[Justin Davis]

I mean we talked about Nintendo, like the Switch 2 is expensive, like $450. That's a lot of money for the, for the console. But they, you know, they announced the price of their console and then, you know, Trump announced all the tariffs and then Nintendo said, hold on, we need to talk about the price of our console. And then after a period of deliberation they came back and said, no, we're not raising the price of the console. For now it is going to. Yeah, for now we're going to launch it. $450. And so like, you know, I'm sure that was a very fraught moment for Nintendo. We'll never know. We'll probably never know like what that costs the company and like how kind of tricky, you know, those discussions were. But, but they, you know, this is a company that's been around 100 years and is making decisions because they'd like to be around and successful for another hundred years. Got to have kids playing your games. Yep.

[Damon Hatfield]

Here's, here's the thing. The best selling consoles of all time sell well over 100 million units. PlayStation 2, the PS4 is well over 100 million. PS5 is almost at 100 million. If consoles cost $1,000, they'll sell 10 million. Like you'll just never have 100 million selling console ever again. You'll completely shrink your audience. And the only people who could who are playing your console are affluent hardcore gamers. It's going to be a really small group of people.

[Sam Claiborne]

You know, one other reason why you, you lower your, your console's price over the years is that the second hand market is undercutting you and you're trying to make more systems still instead of just having those ones in circulation. And that's, you know, clearly not going to happen either. That it's. Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Feels bad man.

[Nick Limone]

It does.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay, let's move on to some of these weird headlines which I think are more fun. Who remembers Jaleco?

[Nick Limone]

I remember Jellicoe.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, they made City Connection.

[Damon Hatfield]

They made City Connection and now a company called Citi Connection has like the rights to old Jaleco games. Lots of 8 and 8 and 16 bit games. And then they did a bunch of sports games like Bases Loaded. So three new Jaleco sports games have been announced this week, including two Bases Loaded ones. And this is why it's so weird. Yep. This is why it's so weird. So let me pull this up.

[Nick Limone]

Two of them.

[Damon Hatfield]

Two Bases Loaded, except it's called. Okay. Publisher Hollow Indie and developer Clover Lab, I'm reading from Gematsu, have announced Holo Base, a pixel art baseball game based on the classic Jaleco title Bases Loaded.

[Justin Davis]

Dude, I miss this completely.

[Damon Hatfield]

This sounds sick, but hold on now. Aces Loaded pixel art game where you play as HoloLive or like it's a Japanese V. V tuber. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, so it's weird.

[Justin Davis]

Oh, they're all v. They're all HoloLive VTubers.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes. The players in this new Bases loaded are all HoloLive VTubers. Which I guess maybe if you're. They have fans and people might recognize them.

[Nick Limone]

They. Well, they took over Dodger Stadium last year one night where there was a Holo live night. And I wish I was there in the crowd because this era.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, this era of baseball game is like really fundamentally easy to play. So it's kind of cool to like cram it into that as like a shell because like they're very fun to play with a friend.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, I just thought the. The second. As. As you all know, I've played every garlic like there is every Vampire Survivors game and. And the second best one is a HoloLive fan game that is free.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh my God.

[Justin Davis]

I don't remember the name of it, but if you Google hololive Vampire Survivors fan game, I'm sure you'll find it. It's on Steam. You can add it to your Steam library. It's completely free because it has to be non commercial and it's amazing. It's great.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, the about for this says a full scale classic baseball game. Bases Loaded returns on Hollow Indie. A baseball game where you build a team with hololive talents, fans and mascots inspired by Hollow Base and compete in exciting matches.

[Nick Limone]

It looks like a pretty solid game.

[Damon Hatfield]

I mean maybe it's just. I just said it was weird, right?

[Nick Limone]

It is weird.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

That's not the only Jaleco sports game announced this week. They also announced Jaleco Sports Bases Loaded two.

[Nick Limone]

Which.

[Damon Hatfield]

This one.

[Justin Davis]

Sick. That's great.

[Damon Hatfield]

It says.

[Justin Davis]

Oh wow.

[Damon Hatfield]

Bases Loaded 2, second season was originally released for the NES in 1989. Base or wait is. Where is it? I don't know, I've lost it here. But this is basically. It's a compilation of Bases Loaded games that includes Bases Loaded too, but also. Pro Yaku 88, Katai Bon and Super Bases loaded and Super 3D baseball, but they call it. I want to Jaleco sports bases loaded two.

[Nick Limone]

Wow. Okay, maybe we're on the SEO for that one.

[Sam Claiborne]

The 3D one looks crazy.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. Like though that era of like sprite based sports games is like, look, it's totally nostalgia. They're not like objectively better than what we're getting now, but it's like so arcadey and pick up and play and like so fun and like just takes me back to my youth. Me and everybody else. Right. So like I'm totally on board for this.

[Damon Hatfield]

The third one is goal two. Jaleco Sports goal two includes four games. Three from the NES and one from Super Nintendo. I guess. So in there. In 89 we got goal two on the NES. You can see this in your mind palace. Sam.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yes, it's new very much.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's, it's the word two. But in Europe they got goal numeral two and in Japan they just got goal and they're all released the same year. And then Super Nintendo got super goal numeral 2.

[Justin Davis]

Got it makes total sense.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

I remember going to like a friend's house in Iowa and they would have Bases Loaded. Want to play that? And I'd be like, oh my God.

[Damon Hatfield]

I actually liked Bases Loaded.

[Sam Claiborne]

You know, even though I, it was always fine. But like this, the sports NES kids, I just, I just, it's just difficult.

[Nick Limone]

Can we just play Mega Man X? Come on, come on.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

100%.

[Damon Hatfield]

I mean I've never been athletic or into sports in life. When I was a kid I wanted to play every, every NES game basically. So I loved Bases Loaded, I liked Tecmo Bowl. I like Kings of the Beach Volleyball. I loved all these games.

[Sam Claiborne]

And what about Jordan versus Bird?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, I played that too.

[Nick Limone]

Blades of Steel.

[Damon Hatfield]

You could break. You could break the rim. Smash it.

[Justin Davis]

Yep.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay.

[Justin Davis]

Double dribble.

[Nick Limone]

Double dribble.

[Justin Davis]

That was really good.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Starting or growing your own business can be intimidating and lonely at times. Your to do list may feel endless with new tasks and lists can easily begin to overrun your life. So finding the right tool that not only helps you out, but simplifies everything as a built in business partner can be a game changer for millions of businesses. That tool is Shopify. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10% of all e commerce in the US from household names like Gymshark, Rare Beauty and Heinz to brands just getting started, Shopify has hundreds of ready to use templates that can help you build a beautiful online store that matches your brand style. And you can tackle all the important tasks in one place, from inventory to payments to analytics and more. No need to save multiple websites or try to figure out what platform is hosting the tool that you need. And if people haven't heard about your brand, you can get the word out. Like you have a marketing team behind you with easy to run email and social media campaigns to reach customers wherever they're scrolling or strolling. Start your business today with the industry's best business partner, Shopify, and start hearing. Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at shopify.com realm. Go to shopify.com realm that's shopify.com realm

[Damon Hatfield]

let's check in with the listeners.

[Justin Davis]

Hey listeners.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yo listeners.

[Damon Hatfield]

Remember, you can always reach us at the email address gamescoopgn.com just like Bryden did. Who says hello Damie and the Scoops. My name is Bryden and I'm from the Cincinnati area. I recently, I recently finished the Is it Still Fun? Episode about Resident Evil.

[Nick Limone]

Nice.

[Damon Hatfield]

And just finished listening to the episode on Resident Evil Requiem. The games look and sound absolutely incredible to me. I've actually never played a Resident Evil game. With that being said, my questions are what Resident Evil games are worth my time to go back and play, and what order should I play them in? Requiem looks so good, but I want to play the other main lines that directly lead into this plot. What do you guys think?

[Sam Claiborne]

I have a funny way to start this that we go into the real answer. But okay, first of all, hey, Cincinnati. But we immediately. So we can see, you know, what strategy guides people are playing at any given time. And as soon as people kind of stop playing Requiem, they all started playing Resident Evil 2 remake, which I thought was so cool they went straight to the first Leon appearance. So we can talk about, you know, the Leon story. But that's. That would be my answer.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, if you wanted to, you know, sort of lead up to Requiem, the games would be Resident Evil 2, then you do the remake, then they do the RE4 remake, and then you can do Requiem. However, the original Resident Evil remake that we did, it remade in 2022, remastered in 2015. Very accessible today. Super fun.

[Nick Limone]

It rules.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's a great game.

[Sam Claiborne]

I think we already had this conversation somewhere because I remember saying this, but I think it's better to go back to RE1 after playing the 2 Remake or 4 Remake or something because even it has, it has a little bit of jank and you really understand it more when you play another game with typewriter ribbons that makes a lot more sense. And with puzzles that are in a police station for some reason, I know why it's because it used to be a museum. And then you go back and play that game. But it's so fun.

[Nick Limone]

I. I think I. I would like if you want to be like ingest all of it and understand like the series as a whole, I think one remake to remake, three remake, four remake, Skip five skip six, seven, eight, nine. But that's a lot of. I replayed five recently and it was agonizing like a month ago. I. I wanted it to end, but I just kept going. But that said, for Re 9, the streamlined version, the Cliff Notes do, the Raccoon City saga is what I'm calling it. Re 2 remake. Re 3 remake. You should just play 4 remake as well, because Leon and then Requiem.

[Damon Hatfield]

But I would say. I would say Re 3. Good game, but unessential for this.

[Nick Limone]

Yes. But it is nice to go to areas that you go to in Raccoon City that you see glimpses of in Requiem that you don't get to see otherwise. So I think there's a lot there and I think you have a better understanding of what Raccoon City was going through as a whole with in Requiem. Whereas two gives you a very distilled snapshot of just one location. Yeah, that's my take. Plus I think three just don't spend more than like 20 bucks for. And you should be good because it's like a three hour, four hour experience. Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

But out of all the mainline Resident Evils, they're all great except for five and six, in my opinion.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah, five is they. They had two options after they made four. And I remember when it first I replayed five like a billion times on Xbox 360 and for academic purposes played it about a month ago. They just chose really doesn't hold up the different. I'm sure it's fine for a lot of people, but they just like what if we took out all the cool stuff like exploring and item hunting and what if we just made it about killing? Which is fine, but exactly what opposite of what I want for my Resident Evil game. And it felt like, you know, needles in my arm the entire time. I just did not feel good really playing five in 2026.

[Damon Hatfield]

That.

[Sam Claiborne]

But I am a no punches that Boulder.

[Nick Limone]

It is very funny though. It is a very funny game. There's a lot of good moments like that. But man, the DLC is good though, where you go to this, the new Spencer Mansion. That part's kind of sick, but the rest is bad.

[Sam Claiborne]

I reviewed that, I believe, and I really liked it.

[Nick Limone]

Lost in Nightmares is what it's called. Pretty solid.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. Good stuff.

[Damon Hatfield]

I'm continuing my no Healing playthrough of Requiem. I'm in the final stretch. I'm at the part where the final grace section at the end in the arc. That's right.

[Nick Limone]

Nice.

[Sam Claiborne]

Totally doable, huh?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep. It's actually. Turns out it's totally doable on casual mode. And it's still very fun and still actually scary in moments, like when the girl is stalking you. But, Justin, you were telling us before the show that you've got what, over 30 hours in Crimson Desert?

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, 31 hours. Which I know we've all become used to, you know, content creators and other people. Like, we just become kind of a nerd to like, you know, I've spent 150 hours into this game. I've been playing it 12 hours a day. But, like, for mere mortals like me that I have a regular job and I have a family, 30 hours is a lot, dude. Because that I dated up. That's like 9pm to midnight every single night since the game came out. And I was goofing on the show so much last week we recorded early, and so the games opening, you know, through two or three hours are terrible. Like, they're. They're absolutely terrible. And now I just. I keep liking it more and more and more. The more time that goes on when I'm not playing it, I'm thinking about it. It's. It's been the first game in a long time where I'm kind of like, losing sleep. I'm like, maybe I'll just do, like, one more thing. And like, it's got its hooks in to be bad, man. But Nick, I mean, I don't know how much you're playing it or if you played it very much. It's a deeply confusing game because. Because it's like, you know, like, look, like the quests are bad. The characters, the characters are bad. Like, they. They did patch movement, but it still doesn't feel that great. So it's like, I can't. I don't know. It's casting some kind of weird spell on me.

[Nick Limone]

I understand this.

[Justin Davis]

Kind of hard for me. It's hard for me to search my feelings and, like, understand. Understand.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's how I felt about Resident Evil 5.

[Nick Limone]

Now I'm in complete agreement with Justin here. I know it's one of those things where I know it's not particularly cohesive in any meaningful way. But I can't help but, like, exploring the world. I think that's why I'm playing it. I just like to see what's around that mountain. I do legitimately enjoy some of the puzzle stuff because I like the idea of the puzzles being like, yeah, just figure it out. I don't know, man. You don't have to do it. And I really respect that. I respect that.

[Justin Davis]

I really appreciate that they have this, like, I can't tell. I can't decide if it's good design or bad design. Where sometimes the puzzle doesn't even tell you what you're trying to do. Like, you know, where it's. It doesn't say, like, oh, get the power turned back on like that. It's like, okay, now I'm gonna go out around and turn around how to figure. You know, I'm gonna run all around and figure out how to get the power turn back on. It just plops you into a space and then says nothing. And then, like, maybe you don't even know there's a puzzle. Like, and that can be really cool and exciting and, like, you know, every once in a while, I'm like, I'm just gonna try this, and, like, it does something, and I'm like, oh, like, that feeling of, like, it feels like bombing a wall in Zelda 1. Like, it can feel, but then sometimes it plops me into a space, and, like, you know, there's some weird dragon statue, and, like, the game clearly wants me to do something, but it's like, I can't even figure out what I'm. What problem I'm trying to solve. And it's like, is this good or bad? I don't know, but it's interesting. Like, I haven't played anything like it.

[Nick Limone]

The game does not teach you all of that you can do within its given space. And I think that's to its biggest detriment because there's areas that you can revisit from earlier. Like, you have to go here as part of the main. The main line of the story that you just assume, oh, I never have to go back there again. But I decided to, and I poked around, like, oh, wait, there's, like, stuff to find here that is. Doesn't tell you it, and it doesn't indicate any meaningful way. It does not communicate with you. And occasionally you will stumble across stuff that you're like, how was I ever supposed to find this? Like, normally game in Zelda, right? You learn the shorthand of the original Zelda that there's one bombable wall in every single screen. You kind of intuit that after a while and you get conditioned to it. This game does not teach you any meaningful way that there are secrets within secrets and stuff like that, which is exciting if you are the 1% of players who will find said secret. But otherwise you miss so much stuff in a way where I guess ultimately it doesn't matter because nothing kind of matters. What you find in this game matters in this game, but I do.

[Justin Davis]

There's no but.

[Nick Limone]

Like, I like finding it. I think it's also, like, this illusion that the game is so expensive looking that I'm like, wow, the graphics go crazy. I love this. Like, I like looking at this game and existing within its spaces. But it's like, it does feel a little bit better, though. I will argue against Justin there. I do think. I don't want to vomit when I move Cliff every time now it feels better.

[Justin Davis]

He doesn't move like Red Dead now, where it's like, not that kind of game. It's very. There's so much stuff of like, is this good or bad? I don't know. Like, there's. There's, you know, like, collectibles and secrets and weapons and things like that don't have, like, a shimmer or don't have anything on them. And so you can just walk right by some badass sword and you don't know it's there. Like, you can't pick it up. And like, on the one hand, that's kind of cool and interesting, exciting. Pay attention. Like, be immersed in this world and look at the cave and is the skeleton holding a weapon you pick up. Like, there's not like a visual signal. Like, you just need to clock it for yourself. And so it's kind of a good thing, but it's also, like, kind of a shit thing where, like, just the. The. The friction. Like, the game just fights you a lot in a lot of different ways,

[Nick Limone]

apart from the bosses. I feel like trying to just pick up items, to Justin's point, is also kind of its own battle where I'm like, no, I just want to get this thing that's tucked in between these things. I know I can grab it, but the UI is fighting you constantly.

[Justin Davis]

Like, we. I've played this game every single night for hours, for 10 or 11 or 12 nights now. And I saw a Reddit post that was, hey, like, I'm trying to figure out how to breed animals on my farm. How do I get these animals to breed? They're not breeding. And I've never seen a farm. I've never seen a farm. I don't have any animals. And I don't know what that Reddit post is talking about. It's like, what even is this game? I saw another. I saw one mission is like, like, well, okay, I'll tell you this, David. I've played the game for 30 hours and I've never even come close to the Crimson desert.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, okay.

[Sam Claiborne]

What is the real place?

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. And like, I've never. And like, there's. There's like, there's elephants and stuff in it. It's like, it's this whole other, like, not only have I not gotten to the Crimson desert, but if you look at the map, I'm not even anywhere close to the Crimson Desert. Like, it's unbelievable.

[Nick Limone]

I have seen some footage that looks like it's just a different game where there's like, someone riding a dragon, parachuting, and, like, latching onto another dragon. The dragon gets, like, an anime transformation and gets, like, a suit of armor. I was like, what the heck? And I was like, this looks cool, but how much of the game do

[Damon Hatfield]

I got to play?

[Sam Claiborne]

You guys are lucky because they have a few months to develop that part of the game before you get there.

[Justin Davis]

I saw another Reddit post, like, there's a whole. There's a whole steampunk zone in the game where someone said that their current quest was to clean a bunch of solar panels normals. And like, that's what they're doing in the game now. And I'm like, I just can't. You could tell me, you could tell me anything about this game and I would believe it. I would believe it at this point. Like, so I don't know, man. Like, we. I. I have to give. I have to give one more anecdote of, like, this game just seems to run so hot and cold. Of, like, I'll do the most amazing cinematic, optional boss fight that has, like, interesting voice acting and interesting lore behind it. And I'll be like, oh, my God, like, this game's so good. And then, like, the very next quest I did, this happened to me last night. So I'm 30 hours into the game and I got a quest that tutorializes the fast travel system and, like, how it works. Like, you step on these little pads in the world and it activates a fast travel point. And I have fast traveled a thousand times in this game. It's at the. It's at the end of this quest line, and the quest Is like, you know, you're doing quests for this noble and he's like, oh, my scouts found something like, weird. I think it might be like a weapon. Go check it out. And you go check it out and it's like a fast travel point. And you go back to the guy and you tell him like, oh, no, it was nothing, don't worry about it. And like that was the whole quest.

[Damon Hatfield]

Cool.

[Justin Davis]

And I'm like, why? Like, it's just so baffling. Like for every single thing that's like, it's beautiful and like fun and immersive. Then it does something else that's just completely inexplicable.

[Sam Claiborne]

Did you see him trying to get on that dragon die?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. I was like, well, that looks like. Yeah, it started to look cool and then it was like, oh, you know, he can't get on.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's the mount. Yeah, it's like time locked and all this stuff.

[Justin Davis]

Anyway, I like it, I like it. I just finished. I just finished. Chapter six was where I am in the main story. If that is gonna mean something to people listening to the show.

[Damon Hatfield]

So there's a certain type of commenter on IGN that thinks we're so mad that people are enjoying the game. But no, Justin and Mark Medina and lots of people on staff are having a great time with Crimson Desk.

[Justin Davis]

I mean, even I don't, like, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't. I'd have to again, I'd have to search my feelings. Like my personal score might still be a six. It's like a six that I'm kind of addicted to maybe. Or, or sometimes I think it's like a nine that I kind of hate. Like, I don't know, I don't know. I don't know what you think.

[Nick Limone]

I mean, I used to play bad games on the PS2 all the time that I was fond of, you know, that's fine.

[Sam Claiborne]

You can like you play Castlevania on the Game Boy.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, that's the.

[Nick Limone]

I like Castlevania 64, not the GBA games.

[Damon Hatfield]

I mean.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

This episode is brought to you by Nespresso. Introducing Vertuo up the latest in a long line of innovation from Nespresso. It's innovation you can touch, sense and taste in every single cup. With a three second start, easy open lever and dedicated brew over ice button, it's even easier to enjoy your coffee your way.

[Justin Davis]

Sip for yourself.

[Nick Limone]

Shop Vertuo up [e-mail] very quick extracurricular activities.

[Damon Hatfield]

I'VE not seen the Mario Galaxy movie yet. I'm seeing it tomorrow. Very excited. Sam, I know you saw it. No spoilers.

[Sam Claiborne]

I saw it.

[Damon Hatfield]

Thumbs up, spoilers. Thumbs up. Thumbs up.

[Sam Claiborne]

There's nothing to spoil. There's not really any plot to the movie. Vignettes of Mario and everybody shouting.

[Damon Hatfield]

Just from everything I've heard, if it's, you know, if I'm going to be watching Nintendo references the movie with my 6 year old who loves Nintendo. I can't wait. It sounds so fun.

[Sam Claiborne]

You have nothing to worry about. It's awesome. I loved sitting through it. I don't, you know, like it's. There wasn't enough depth that I want to see it again to make sure I didn't miss anything. Because you really don't. But it really is. Nintendo references the movie. But there's some. It's interesting. Like, so it starts. There's just deep cuts that like when I. I know this sounds cool and I'm saying it. There's deep cuts that only game scoop people are gonna get. But I'm also. They're also really expensive to put in there. So like, why? Like, it's just really confusing. Like everybody can't get the Smash Brothers, you know, references. And there's, there's stuff like that. Like the, the, the very, like the, the illumina. The illumination intro has like the minions. One of them gets a hammer and is like breaking a logo and the other one's playing on a keyboard. No child for 35 years has has heard that.

[Nick Limone]

Donkey Kong Smash Brothers, they've heard or

[Damon Hatfield]

you know, they have heard it in Smash Brothers.

[Sam Claiborne]

But yeah, maybe, yeah, maybe as like the deepest Smash Brothers cut. But it's just like, that's just like, why choose that? Yeah, it's weird. And then, you know, you've all seen that like warts in it. That part, if you look at it, it's in a casino. And why is that in a casino? Because Super Mario Brothers two, when you start a level or beat a level, I mean, you do that part. Do, do do do do do do do do do. Where it rolls, the little slot machine. So they made a section of this movie around that like. And then the bosses from Mario 2 are all in there. These ninja ninjars and stuff. Like all of this like that stuff's not in any Mario game, like Claw Grip and Mouser. And it's just surprising. And then I'll give you one other example. Again, this is enjoyable for me. I'm just confused. Another example is they have Rob as a background thing in it. And the joke is that Rob moves really slow and it makes a noise and it goes.

[Justin Davis]

That's what Rob does, 100%.

[Sam Claiborne]

So you would have had to own a Rob like my man Damon Hatfield here, have hooked it up, have played gyromite with it to get why that's in there. Now it doesn't matter because the joke lands for all these other ways. I'm not saying these jokes are bad. I'm just surprised that all of this effort went in to match these things up. And I just thought it was an interesting take from it, but just in general, It's a gorgeous 3D animated movie that just goes from thing to thing to thing with a bunch of characters, you know, and, you know, everything's just entertaining.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, I. I could not be more excited to see it tomorrow. However, I did see Project Hail Mary.

[Nick Limone]

Ah, I want to watch it.

[Damon Hatfield]

Super, super, super good. Have you seen that, Justin?

[Justin Davis]

Oh, we're going this weekend. Taking the fam.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's great.

[Nick Limone]

No good scene.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's just a very. What's that?

[Sam Claiborne]

One more thing? A throwaway line in Mar. In the Mario movie is, yo, I'm hooked on the brothers. Like Toad says that.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, you'll be hooked on the brothers,

[Sam Claiborne]

which is a reference to the Super Mario brothers rap from the Super Mario

[Damon Hatfield]

super show, which was in the first movie as well. Performance for you, if you know the words. You can join in two. Put your hands together if you want to clap as we chase you through this.

[Justin Davis]

Monkey rapist.

[Damon Hatfield]

Monkey donkey. That brings us to video game 20 questions. And this week I thought I would ask Gemini if someone were playing 20 questions. What are the most useful questions to ask? Gemiini provides some responses. I don't know if they're useful, but would you like to hear what Gemini thinks?

[Nick Limone]

Just a couple.

[Sam Claiborne]

Does it know we're asking about a video game?

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh, yeah. I mean, it also knows all of your names and the types of questions you tend to ask.

[Nick Limone]

What the heck?

[Justin Davis]

Okay.

[Damon Hatfield]

Gemini says if you're trying to play like the Game Scoop crew, the goal isn't just to win. It's to narrow down the search space as efficiently as possible using a binary search strategy. You want questions that split the entire history of video games in half. Here are the most.

[Sam Claiborne]

I say this all the time.

[Damon Hatfield]

Here are the most important questions to ask. So questions one through five are the big filters, and Gemini says these are the non negotiables. If you don't ask these early, you'll be wandering in the dark at question 15. So was this game originally released on a Nintendo platform? This is a classic scoop opening. It immediately separates. It immediately separates the Mario Zelda Pokemon world from Sony, Xbox and PC. Except no, it was this game originally released on a Nintendo platform. Could be Resident Evil Requiem. Yeah, that's not Gemini. That's not very useful. Was this game released after the year 2000? Again, it's right. That splits the Nintendo 64 generation in half. Maybe not that you see it all

[Justin Davis]

the time, but that is a normal opening.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, yeah, it's true.

[Nick Limone]

It's a bold gambit, nailing it.

[Damon Hatfield]

Does this game feature a controllable human character? That one's actually pretty good.

[Nick Limone]

We've asked that. Yeah, yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Questions six through 10, once you have the era and the platform, you need to find the gameplay loop. So like, does this feature combat? Can you play this game with other people? Or was this game developed in Japan? Questions like that.

[Justin Davis]

Can we. How about we all just take. Let's just do it. Let's just do this. Let's use these questions. And I have. I actually have some email I need to go answer. And so we can just let Gemini do 20 questions.

[Damon Hatfield]

The end game. Questions 16 through 20. This is where you go for the kill.

[Justin Davis]

Gemini says, unless we've already won.

[Damon Hatfield]

Is this a first party title? Was this game developed by studio name? Does the title of the game contain the name of the main character? But Gemini says examples like like Zelda or Halo.

[Nick Limone]

Wait a second.

[Damon Hatfield]

Hold on.

[Justin Davis]

No, hold up.

[Sam Claiborne]

Mr. Halo. It's Mr. Halo.

[Nick Limone]

We all know attacking the power of juju.

[Damon Hatfield]

That was the game pro tip for game scoop fans. The cops often get stuck because they forgot to ask about remakes or remasters. If the answer says the game came out in 2024, it might be a remake of a 1998 game. That's the last.

[Nick Limone]

I guess that's true.

[Damon Hatfield]

Gemini calls us the cops.

[Nick Limone]

I don't know.

[Damon Hatfield]

Anyway, let's see if that was useful to you. I don't know. Our suggestion this week comes from Mike, who says longtime gamer, newer game scooper. My suggestion for 20 questions is redacted. For the redacted, let the questioning begin.

[Nick Limone]

All right.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, I'm glad Gemini didn't bring up fare day again.

[Nick Limone]

What was the first Gemini question? Was this on a Nintendo console?

[Damon Hatfield]

How did they word it? Was this game originally released on a Nintendo platform?

[Nick Limone]

Was this game originally released on a Nintendo platform?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes. Oh, maybe there is a thing.

[Justin Davis]

We bifurcated video games into two. Yeah, exactly.

[Sam Claiborne]

Asking binary based questions Search scope.

[Nick Limone]

What was the next question?

[Damon Hatfield]

You want to know the next one?

[Nick Limone]

Yeah. What was the next one?

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, we're gonna do it.

[Damon Hatfield]

Was this game released after the year 2000?

[Nick Limone]

Was this game released after the year 2000?

[Damon Hatfield]

No. All right, the next one is. What's up?

[Justin Davis]

Okay. Have we been doing games? Like, have we been doing. Have we been doing 20 questions? Like, maybe 10 years?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

So the interesting thing about that is the 2000 question begets. It becomes more and more. Like it's in balance now, roughly. Right. Like 26 years is around the start of video games. Close, but, like, it was not in balance 10 years ago. So I don't know. That's it. Like, there's just more and more games. It gets harder over time because more games are coming out, Damon.

[Sam Claiborne]

Right, right. Each day it's. No, no, no, no. It's from before 2000 on a Nintendo console.

[Justin Davis]

Oh, so not an indie game. We can skip that one. What was next, Damon?

[Damon Hatfield]

Is this an indie game? Oh, by the one after that.

[Justin Davis]

What was after.

[Damon Hatfield]

Is this part of a series?

[Nick Limone]

All right. Is it part of a series? No. Oh, ice climbers.

[Sam Claiborne]

Did this come out as an arcade game at some point?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Nick Limone]

Was this on the Super Nintendo?

[Damon Hatfield]

Sounds like Quest 64, not Super Nintendo. That's five.

[Justin Davis]

Same question. NES.

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Justin Davis]

Is this question N64?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Nick Limone]

Was this. Was this on a color screen, handheld?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Justin Davis]

Hold up.

[Nick Limone]

So that means it's a Game Boy

[Sam Claiborne]

on the original Game Boy, yes.

[Nick Limone]

Okay, so a game that. Okay, it's on the Game Boy, not

[Sam Claiborne]

part of a series on the Game Boy. That's all we know.

[Justin Davis]

We did not follow Gemini's advice. And now we're in. Now we're in. Now we're in trouble.

[Damon Hatfield]

Wandering in the dark at question 15.

[Nick Limone]

I'll bring it back to Gemini. Do we play as a human?

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay.

[Nick Limone]

Oh, he's got to think about it.

[Damon Hatfield]

No, I don't have to think about it. The answer is yes. But just remember what that could possibly mean, and that's 10.

[Sam Claiborne]

It means that it could be like a strategy game.

[Damon Hatfield]

The character you're playing as is human.

[Nick Limone]

Okay.

[Sam Claiborne]

A character.

[Justin Davis]

I understand what that. What? That's what the significance of that is.

[Sam Claiborne]

Character you are playing as is a human.

[Justin Davis]

Maybe. Maybe it's like Arkanoid, where secretly aren't you in a spaceship?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. What's that called? It's called Break. What's it called?

[Justin Davis]

Breakout.

[Sam Claiborne]

No, no, no, no. Alleyway. It's called Alleyway.

[Justin Davis]

Alleyway.

[Sam Claiborne]

Did Nintendo publish this game?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Justin Davis]

Oh, okay, okay.

[Nick Limone]

Puzzle game.

[Damon Hatfield]

No,

[Justin Davis]

Nintendo published Game Boy game. Not part of a series. That question actually was a little bit clutch.

[Nick Limone]

You play as a human, but not necessarily.

[Sam Claiborne]

There's like, the first run of games called, like, baseball, tennis.

[Nick Limone]

Tennis, yeah, but that's very clearly a human.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, that's a good point.

[Justin Davis]

Okay, I retract my question. It's not a puzzle game.

[Sam Claiborne]

So

[Justin Davis]

I don't know the OG Game Boy library that well. I mean, you know, besides all the obvious Nintendo games, everybody knows.

[Nick Limone]

I feel like there's a game where you, like, swap pieces to let. Well, that's a puzzle game, though.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. So much. So much was. I mean, picross and stuff like that, right?

[Nick Limone]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, does this maybe a racing game or something?

[Nick Limone]

Yeah, go ahead, go ahead.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, I don't know. I can't even think of a racing game on that.

[Nick Limone]

Like Excite Bike. Well, that's a series, though.

[Justin Davis]

That's what I'm saying, man. They all know if there was an Excite Bike.

[Nick Limone]

What are we at? How many questions?

[Damon Hatfield]

That's 12.

[Nick Limone]

Does this game have a con? Well, it's not part of a series, but is it silly to ask, like, if it has a contemporary version? Like, if there's.

[Justin Davis]

Yes, okay, that.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yes, that is silly.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Nick Limone]

Well, that's a series then, right, at that point.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

What.

[Justin Davis]

What did Gemini suggest we do?

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, how about this? Can you. Can you see your. Can you see the human character while you're playing?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. No, it's not bad. Okay.

[Damon Hatfield]

Sick.

[Justin Davis]

Are you piloting?

[Damon Hatfield]

Sorry.

[Justin Davis]

Go ahead, Go ahead. No, you go.

[Damon Hatfield]

Jim and I. And at this time in the game, Jim and I would ask, was it a launch title? Does it have a Metacritic score of 90 or higher? Is the main character a mascot, or does the game involve guns?

[Justin Davis]

None of these are helpful.

[Sam Claiborne]

The shooting part is helpful.

[Justin Davis]

You can't see your character, so that means. I mean, it's Game Boy, so it's not first person. Unless, look, either it's chess or like something weird like that or, you know, or you're in a vehicle in the game.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah, I'm having a hard time thinking of, like, racing games, though. Apart from Excite Bike.

[Justin Davis]

Are you piloting some sort of craft in this game?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Nick Limone]

I mean.

[Sam Claiborne]

I mean, is Alleyway not a puzzle game?

[Justin Davis]

No, I don't think so. Really? Yeah, I don't. I don't. I don't know. I wouldn't count that as puzzle, I don't think.

[Nick Limone]

I wouldn't count that as a puzzle game.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, it's just an Arcade game.

[Sam Claiborne]

Does this game. Is this game kind of modeled on an arcade game?

[Damon Hatfield]

Meaning what? A specific arcade game?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, no, that's 15 alleyways modeled on Arkanoid.

[Nick Limone]

Maybe narrowing down the type of vehicle or breakout.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, I just, I can't even think of any Nintendo made, you know.

[Nick Limone]

Car game, space game.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, car games on the Game Boy.

[Nick Limone]

Does this game. Does your craft feature wheels?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Nick Limone]

So it's. Maybe it's like a spaceship or a boat. Battleship, Land, sea and air. That's all we've got, right?

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, it's got source space.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's a space shooter, I think.

[Nick Limone]

Was there like a, like a, like a Gradius or something? Not a Gradius, yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

I mean Nintendo would have published weird stuff like R type balloon fighter.

[Nick Limone]

Was there a balloon fighter on Game Boy?

[Sam Claiborne]

There was a brood, but that's a series.

[Justin Davis]

It's a series, yeah. Yeah. There's a lesser known balloon fight on the Game Boy. Everyone always knows the NES one.

[Damon Hatfield]

Your hint is that I owned this game, played a lot, but today I would not have known that Nintendo published this game. That's.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, yeah, that makes sense.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

So that I don't know what the encouragement is to broaden your thinking beyond games that you know are Nintendo games.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, it is. I think, I think you're probably right, Sam. Where they probably published the Game Boy version of like you know, Gradius or R type or something like that.

[Nick Limone]

Space game Is this game.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's just hard to think of this a space game. Is that what you're asking?

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, yeah. Good.

[Nick Limone]

Is this game set in space?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes. Two questions and a guess.

[Nick Limone]

Is there like a Asteroids or a Galaxian or. Or Galaga on the Game Boy or

[Sam Claiborne]

like a cute shooter like Stinger or something like that?

[Nick Limone]

Cuz like Galaga would have been. Was that Namco? So like maybe Nintendo published the. The Game Boy version of it, but it's not an arcade.

[Sam Claiborne]

Everything we're talking about. Yeah, exactly, exactly. Everything we're talking about is a series. So clearly.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

So like a one off spacey game. Like I just don't know if I know the name of it, like what it is.

[Justin Davis]

I mean I can't like so it's like, I'm curious about like is it vertically scrolling or horizontal scrolling or is it single screen? But I don't know that that helps me.

[Nick Limone]

Like am I allowed to ask? I always forget the rules regarding the metagaming of it. But are we allowed to ask like is it a one word title?

[Justin Davis]

I don't know. There's no cops, man. You can do whatever you want.

[Sam Claiborne]

I think generally we avoid the Alphabet and stuff like that.

[Justin Davis]

We didn't. We generally avoid questions. Yeah. About the Alphabet. But we do sometimes we do ask about, you know, the title of the game or something like that, but not often.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. Like is it. Is the character of this game and its title, which is a fun question. I don't know. I don't think I know this game. So it's. It's difficult for me to get.

[Justin Davis]

What's the shooter? Oh, my God. Yeah, I don't know either. Something.

[Nick Limone]

Is the name of your vehicle the name of the game?

[Damon Hatfield]

I don't know.

[Nick Limone]

Okay.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, not. Not tubing. Confirmed.

[Nick Limone]

Is this a well known game?

[Damon Hatfield]

I thought it was better known than this.

[Nick Limone]

All right, maybe we're just blanking, man. Well, we got one and a guess.

[Damon Hatfield]

Give one and a guess.

[Sam Claiborne]

I'm trying to think of any Japanese named shooter type space game at all. And I just don't know. But it could be a pinball game too, I guess.

[Justin Davis]

Could it?

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, if you're paddles or spaceships.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. But we said you pilot a vehicle. Oh, yeah. Another thing I did in Crimson Desert last night was I fought a tank.

[Damon Hatfield]

Cool.

[Justin Davis]

Like with a gun you can call in an airstrike. Okay. Like it's an artillery strike. There's cannons stationed nearby. You shoot it with a special arrow and then they know where to rain their cannon fire.

[Nick Limone]

What else could it be?

[Justin Davis]

I don't know.

[Nick Limone]

Do you shoot aliens?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep.

[Nick Limone]

All right.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. I know this game called. It's called Alien. It's on the tip of my tongue.

[Nick Limone]

Is it?

[Sam Claiborne]

It's not Alien Storm.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, I have one kind of on the tip of my brain too. And then I'm actually not completely sure. I'm not just making it up.

[Nick Limone]

Hey, Ankyo Alien is just a Sokoban game. Right there.

[Sam Claiborne]

That one. That might be it. Hank. Go Alien.

[Nick Limone]

I think that's just a box pushing game, though.

[Justin Davis]

Like maybe. Maybe Alien Storm is a video game. Or maybe that's something that we're just. It's a false memory that's like. Doesn't even exist because I have one in my head of like something. This striker. There's like this strike something. But then maybe I'm just thinking about Desert Strike on the. On the snes and I'm not really sure.

[Sam Claiborne]

Operations.

[Justin Davis]

But I can't. I can't. I can't remember what it is.

[Nick Limone]

I don't know. I mean, is it Hankyo Alien?

[Damon Hatfield]

It's Not Hankyo Alien. Justin got so close to Solar Striker

[Nick Limone]

Strike.

[Damon Hatfield]

Solar Strike developed and published by Nintendo. I think the only schmuff Nintendo's ever made.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah. This looks sick.

[Damon Hatfield]

I liked it a lot.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, they made shmups in the arcade. They made a couple of them pre Donkey Kong.

[Justin Davis]

Wow.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay. Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Space Invaders likes.

[Nick Limone]

It's very manageable.

[Damon Hatfield]

I mean, it's Game Boy. Game Boy, remember?

[Nick Limone]

That's what I'm saying.

[Damon Hatfield]

This would be blurry as heck. When I was playing this in 1990,

[Sam Claiborne]

I think it was called. Solar Fox is one of them, I think is maybe the name of it.

[Justin Davis]

Solar Striker. Solar Striker developed by Nintendo, not just published by Nintendo.

[Damon Hatfield]

I know, it's really odd, right? It's actually Gunpei Yoke.

[Nick Limone]

Oh, wow.

[Sam Claiborne]

What? I'm gonna look up the father of

[Nick Limone]

the Game Boy himself. Honestly. Sounds like a super Nintendo game. Solar Striker even more like a super Nintendo game.

[Damon Hatfield]

I would have guessed.

[Justin Davis]

I mean, the fact that this is a first party developed Nintendo game, you know, and Nintendo, like all Japanese companies, like people work there their whole career. Like, I just. I can't believe there's not references to Solar Strikers. It's not a trophy in Smash, bro. That's a mini game.

[Sam Claiborne]

So I don't recognize the Game Boy box art from America, but I do recognize the Japanese box art and it's amazing.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay, well, if Joburg can really, really cool. Maybe he can pull that up.

[Nick Limone]

Wow. Yeah. I've never heard of this game, but yeah, it looks cool.

[Damon Hatfield]

I had this game and yeah, you're a human. They're aliens.

[Nick Limone]

I mean, all the pieces were there. We just didn't know the name.

[Sam Claiborne]

What do the peas do? Give you more guns?

[Damon Hatfield]

Powering up. Yeah, Gotta power up.

[Nick Limone]

Oh, wow.

[Sam Claiborne]

What?

[Nick Limone]

Wait. What's an impressive boss? This looks cool.

[Justin Davis]

Yep.

[Nick Limone]

That's a whole screen.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, Screen filling bosses. I mean, this looks like one of the bosses in like Life Force.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah. Yeah, this looks great.

[Damon Hatfield]

I would have guessed that.

[Nick Limone]

Is it a short game?

[Damon Hatfield]

It's very short.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. I think maybe six levels. Nicely attempt. Thank you for the suggestion, Mike. In an undisclosed location, viewers and listeners, if you have your own suggestions for video game 20 questions, email them to me at the email address game scoop.com. and that's all the scoops that we have for you this week. Again, I'm off next week. I'll be gallivanting around Tokyo with my kids. So keep. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers. But Sam will be hosting the episode next week in my stead. So thank You, Nick, go to book off the. Oh, so I remember that. The Game Boy. The US Game Boy art there. I don't think I've ever seen the. The Japanese box.

[Sam Claiborne]

Isn't it cool?

[Damon Hatfield]

I love the logo. Is much cooler in the Japanese box.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, it's really cool.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Thank you, Nick. Thank you, Sam. Thank you, Justin. Thank you to Jobert. Working behind the scenes to make this episode possible. My name is Damon. This is IGN GamesCube. And we're out. Good morning, California. Let's turn the servers on. Let's drive and check the chatter. Let's all just sing along. We're flying high it's passing us by Reach out to me if you still believe.

[Sam Claiborne]

Wait, my mic wasn't on and I had a joke. When you are trying to sell your car and it has hail damage and you're just hoping for the best, would you call that a project Hail Mary? Okay, I got there. It was a long walk.

[Nick Limone]

The.

[Justin Davis]

The sirens are going off again.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, I can hear them.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah, I can hear them.

[Justin Davis]

I told Jamie just got home and I told her, I said, I'm going into game. Scoop. Let me know if I. Tornado or no tornado.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, the scoop must go on.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. He died doing what he loved. I can. I can scoop. I can scoop from our bunker if I need to.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay.

[Justin Davis]

Rip. Justin, what do you do?

[Sam Claiborne]

Do you have like an earthen covered basement?

[Justin Davis]

We have a. I mean, I wasn't joking about the bunker. We have a tornado room in our. It's not. They. When we bought the house, they called it a tornado room, and we've been calling that ever since, but it's like a. It's like in our utility room, there's another little room inside that doesn't have.

[Sam Claiborne]

So they really do make houses with that.

[Justin Davis]

I don't think they made it that way on purpose. I think it's just this weird kind of bonus utility store.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is it a pretty new house or is it like an old.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, it is.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's really interesting.

[Nick Limone]

You could retrofit that into a panic room then.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, for sure. It's. It's surrounded by concrete because it's the basement. And then it's just this concrete room in our utility room. I'm looking at the weather.

[Nick Limone]

Is it getting crazy?

[Justin Davis]

I mean, it's just.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is it already stormy or is that not how tornadoes work?

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, no, there's like a huge storm cell that's about to move through, so it is looking a little bit dicey, but it's fine. I'm gonna scoop and then Jamie will come tell me if I need to take.

[Sam Claiborne]

I mean, for the first time in my life, we got a tornado warning in San Francisco, first of all, but I never got them in Arizona either. And it was. You know, they're called water spouts when they're in the ocean. And we got one in Daly City, and it was moving this direction. It was forming. That's what the. You know, like that. That earthquake type alert says. It's, like, forming. Waterspout conditions are forming off of Daly City, California. And it was like, five in the morning, and I was like, like, Helene, do. Do we actually react to this like, I do? Should we actually, like, I really can't tell. But it turned out we did. We went downstairs with the cat and, you know, we have a lower area, but it. Everybody, like, was kind of talking about it all day. It's like, yeah, this is something that can happen.

[Justin Davis]

What?

[Nick Limone]

Yeah, I know it's a very scary thing, but seeing a water. Hearing the words a water spout is forming is probably evoking the coolest imagery possible with like. Like, Linkin park playing in the background and stuff.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, I mean, it's a whirlpool above the ocean.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah, that sounds sick.

[Justin Davis]

I mean, I was gonna say it sounds like something you would fight in Suplex in Final Fantasy 6.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

Like, on your ship.

[Nick Limone]

Dude, that's Typhoon, bro. That's. That's a whole summit.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, totally. And then that's the type of thing that, like, sends, like, showers of fish to, like, some other state.

[Nick Limone]

Oh, yeah.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Which I heard about a lot as a kid, but I don't think it's happened.

[Nick Limone]

I thought it'd be something I dealt with more as I grew up.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, it's like. It's like quicksand.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Not nearly as big a problem as I was led to believe, but weirdly,

[Sam Claiborne]

my wife the other day was like, oh, can you. Did you see the thing on Instagram about quicksand? It's really scary. I'm like, I haven't been scared of quicksand in 35 years.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, it's really scary.

[Sam Claiborne]

Show me what you're talking about. Is this real? And it was like, you know, somebody, like, slogging through, like, you know, very wet sand. It's like, yeah, man. They're trying to get quicksand back. Everybody.

[Justin Davis]

Why isn't anybody doing anything about the Bermuda Triangle? Just letting all these ships disappear.

[Sam Claiborne]

USAA knows dynamic duos can save the day.

[Damon Hatfield]

Like superheroes and Sidekicks or Auto and Home Insurance. With usaa, you can bundle your auto

[Sam Claiborne]

and home and save up to 10%.

[Damon Hatfield]

Tap the banner to learn more and get a'@usaa.com bundle restrictions apply.