Baby Steps is Video Game Heaven and Hell

Summary

The Besties – "Baby Steps is Video Game Heaven and Hell"

Release Date: September 26, 2025
Hosts: Griffin McElroy, Justin McElroy, Chris Plante, Russ Frushtick

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Episode Overview

This episode centers around two big topics: a deep-dive review of the quirky climbing game Baby Steps and an in-depth, often hilarious roundtable on the wild west of handheld retro game consoles in 2025. The crew also shares some quick impressions on recent game releases, with side tangents about bodily clones, digital nudity, and favorite gaming moments of the year.
Main theme: Grappling with games that push players out of their comfort zones, whether that's physically clumsy controls or the chaos of today's handheld retro emulation landscape.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

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1. Baby Steps: Taking Clumsy Hiking to a New Level

What is Baby Steps?

• Developed by creators of QWOP, Ape Out, and Getting Over It, Baby Steps is a physics-based walking simulator where players meticulously control each of the protagonist’s legs to ascend a mountain.
• Premise: Every step is individually controlled; you literally learn to walk again, battling muddy slopes, creekside cliffs, and unpredictable physics objects.

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Why Is it Different from Other Bennett Foddy Games?

• Less Punishing Than "Getting Over It":
  • Griffin: “I have not had any experience remotely that rough in Baby Steps… It is fun to play a Bennett Foddy game and feel like I am progressing and not like that is going to be snatched away from me at a moment's notice the first time that I fuck up.” [05:07]
• Slow and Steady Wins:
  • Chris Plante: “You can go fast, but you're rewarded for going very slow… actually looking at the way your legs flex and your feet take a grip on the environment.” [06:19]
• Russ: “It’s in my top five and maybe in my top three of the year right now. I am completely fucking smitten by this game.” [07:25]

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The Zen of Failure and Exploration

• Falling is Part of the Design:
  • Justin: “I found it strangely zen… I felt like I was meeting the game on its own level.” [08:25]
  • Russ: “They want you to fall. They want you to walk maybe a different way than the way you walked because they want you to find the weird shit that they made.” [11:45]
• Exploration Is Rewarded, Not Just Progress:
  • Chris Plante: “You can either look at life as like punishment, as a series of like falling down, or you can look at it as like this playground where you could voluntarily choose to jump off that diving board and go… pursue all the adventures that are in the wrong direction…” [14:28]
• Accept Frustration as the Point:
  • Justin: “If this was most games, what I would be complaining about is saying, well, if that is the experience that makes...this pleasurable, then the game should be doing more to put me into that mindset… But I think if they came out and said this is gonna be frustrating, just embrace it, then it wouldn't...feel the same.” [15:09]

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Humor and Narrative

• Improv Writing, Socially Inept Protagonist:
  • Griffin: “The writing is so fucking funny… your main character Nate is this sort of...deeply, socially inept kind of guy who lives in his parents’ basement ...every character he meets, he does not want to talk to. He wants to get out of the conversation as quickly as possible.” [16:31]
  • Russ: "All the side characters are Bennett, and the main character is Gabe [all improvised]." [22:24]
• Meta Jokes & UI Gags:
  • Russ: “At one point he's like, oh, just use your grappling hook. And it gives you a UI element of a grappling hook that you absolutely can never get.” [17:40]
  • Russ: “When you're skipping cutscenes, they change the interaction each time...like a quick reload, like Gears of War…” [17:49]

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Masculinity, Manosphere Satire, and Nudity

• Social Commentary:
  • Chris Plante: “It is very much about, like, dudes who are too online, do not have opportunities for social connection, feel ostracized from society and get sucked into like basically manosphere culture. And the whole game from there opens up to be about masculinity and like the pressure to do certain things.” [19:53]
• Yes, There Are a Lot of Cartoon Penises:
  • Russ: “There are more cocks in this game than I've ever seen. No joke in any other game ever.” [19:40]

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Personal Stories & Memorable Moments

• The Great Swing Fiasco:
  • Chris Plante: “I found that exact same tree with that exact same swing… Turns out they had a little bit of moss, a little wet moss on him. Slipped, didn't even make it to the fucking swing…” [12:35]
• "Hoops moments" as the team's slang for major faceplants:
  • Justin: “And is that sort of our slang term for fucking up that we're all agreeing on? Hoops. Like a hoops moment is something where you've made a mistake and embarrassed yourself.” [24:53]
• Russ's auto-save disaster:
  • Russ: “So I made it to the hat. I go to bend down for the hat, and I fall ass over teakettle...I quit the game. I reload the game. I am in midair, falling.” [27:35]

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2. 2025's Retro Handheld Console Madness

The State of the Market

• Totally Overwhelming: Four major brands, dozens of models, and a naming system only a spreadsheet could love.
• Companies Discussed: Anbernic, Ayaneo, Ayn, Retroid, and upstarts like "Game Console" and "Mangme."
• Constant Hardware Arms Race: New consoles every six months, tons of knockoffs and sub-brands.

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Highlights & Recommendations

• Anbernic RG477M:
  • Justin: “It’s a really nice form factor...not so expensive that it makes me nauseous to carry it with me.” [52:13]
  • $250–$400, plays up to PS2 at high settings
• Ayaneo Pocket DS / Flip 1S:
  • $500–$1,500; dual-screen and Windows/Android options
• Retroid add-on for dual screens:
  • Griffin is awaiting delivery; $70; attaches to various handhelds
• Mangme Air X:
  • $80, shockingly high quality for the price

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• Griffin, upon seeing a new model: "I simply cannot be bothered to fuck around with a Windows-based retro gaming handheld." [38:40]
• Justin, describing "Game Console": “This is the hottest new player in the space. A company called Game Console. That rules.” [47:06]
• Russ on candy-bar form factor: “I don't hold a fucking candy bar like that. You're crazy.” [43:47]

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Buyer Beware: Chaos & Confusion

• Justin: “A lot of these companies… are all kind of dipping from the same well and in terms of parts, which is like phone parts that are not used anymore... That is where we're getting the hardware.” [41:16]
• Naming insanity: Every company has its own system, many look and feel the same, pricing often does NOT reflect capability.

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3. What Else Are We Playing?

• Silksong (finally out, big hit for Griffin & Russ)
• Final Fantasy: The Ivalice Chronicles (Tactics remake, getting love for its updated design)
• Slime Rancher 2 (now version 1.0; chill farm management fun)
• Mega Bonk (Vampire Survivors-like, 3D, very addictive, low-poly carnage)
• Hades 2 (out of Early Access; “a lot to keep track of,” but rewarding)
• Silent Hill F (early impressions; “not very Silent Hill, but very much its own thing,” “gorgeous looking game”)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Baby Steps philosophy:
  • Chris Plante [14:28]: “You can either look at life as like punishment, as a series of like falling down, or you can look at it as like this playground where you could voluntarily choose to jump off that diving board and go…”
• On motivation:
  • Justin [26:07]: “You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, Fred. And I felt that a lot playing this game...If you're continuing to engage with it, you're doing that of your own accord.”
• On the slew of weird tech:
  • Griffin [47:29]: “I'm so nervous what’s going to pop up.”
• On multi-Griffin clones:
  • Russ [01:19]: “Wait, are you the dumb one? And I didn't realize you were.”
• On in-game nudity:
  • Russ [19:40]: “There are more cocks in this game than I've ever seen. No joke in any other game ever.”

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• 00:00 – 03:21 | Multiplicity/Cloning cold open
• 03:21 – 28:58 | Baby Steps: review, impressions, philosophy
• 29:01 – 53:12 | Handheld retro consoles: state of the art & recommendations (starts with Justin's presentation; detailed breakdown begins ~30:41)
• 53:12 – 61:49 | "What else are we playing?"—Silksong, Final Fantasy Ivalice Chronicles, Mega Bonk, Hades 2, Silent Hill F
• 62:21 – End | Patreon shout-outs, next week’s episode preview

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Tone & Style

• Signature Besties banter: Candid, self-deprecating, nerdy, and peppered with inside jokes and detours.
• Language: Cursing, jokes about nudity, and a distinct “best friends at a sleepover” vibe.
• Balance: Earnest insights alternating with zany stories and tangents, often about bodily functions or childhood TV references.

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Summary Takeaway

Baby Steps is a game about giving up control, embracing failure, and enjoying the weird, meandering journey rather than rushing to the summit. For the Besties, it’s one of the year’s surprising joys—punishing but fair, silly but profound, and packed with memorable moments.
On the hardware front, handheld retro gaming has never been wilder (or more confusing), but the hosts offer helpful guidance for anyone looking to jump in.

Besties’ Verdict:

• Play Baby Steps with an open mind and a sense of humor.
• Don’t stress about the handheld console hype machine—pick what matches your budget and nostalgia needs.

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Next week: Ghost to Yote (Ghost of Tsushima spiritual follow-up)

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Find the newsletter and Justin’s full retro console master list at besties.fan.

Transcript

[Griffin McElroy]

I fucked up pretty bad. You guys remember how I was talking about there's so many games out, too many games to play and master and complete.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

You were talking about that.

[Justin McElroy]

I remember that.

[Griffin McElroy]

And how I was gonna do. I was gonna make a Multiplicity machine so that I could clone myself.

[Russ Rushik]

Wait, are you the dumb one And I didn't realize you were.

[Griffin McElroy]

This is the problem, Russ. So I did it. I made it so I could platinum all the games. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I have four Gotten. Which one was the original? Sort of the original guy. I don't even know if I'm him, which is like.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

There's actually. There is a trick to this. Cause I've actually seen the source text Multiplicity, which is what you studied. To be an expert in the multiplying of people, you need to look around and kind of look like, is there a sexy one? Because if it's a sexy one, they're all pretty.

[Griffin McElroy]

I mean, they're all pretty. They're all stopped. They're all pretty sexy.

[Russ Rushik]

That's true, Russ.

[Griffin McElroy]

You can't say that. You can't agree with that. I'm allowed to say it about myself.

[Justin McElroy]

You're a married man.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Is there kind of like a clown one? It's always, like, getting into pranks.

[Griffin McElroy]

No, there's five sexy ones. One of them's just been grinding away on Silksong, trying to platinum that one. And he looks sexy while he does it, but it's like me, but not me. And sweatier. Super duper, duper sweaty, super wet, super sweat.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I'm guess that's not the original one.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, and I don't have a belly button. Like, I don't have a belly button, so. And no nipples. And smooth down there. And so.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Hey, hey, hey. Hey, Griffin. Yes? You mind just taking your headphones off for a second?

[Griffin McElroy]

Sure, sure.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Hey, guys. This one doesn't have a belly button, so I'm pretty sure it's Griffin.

[Russ Rushik]

Yeah, that's true. Right. Justin, you remember.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Okay.

[Russ Rushik]

He never had a belly button.

[Griffin McElroy]

Is it okay? Can I come back?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Can you come back?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I have some great news for you.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay, cool.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

You're the original Griffin.

[Griffin McElroy]

All right. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, no, that makes sense. Good. Awesome. Well, I'm gonna go put the other ones in the incinerator.

[Justin McElroy]

If I seem like I didn't know what you guys are doing, it's. Cause I wasn't listening that part. It's not part of the show, so I don't think I should have to listen to that part.

[Griffin McElroy]

Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. No. If I'm uninvited from the talk, then everyone can pretty much.

[Justin McElroy]

Okay.

[Russ Rushik]

Michael Keaton was just.

[Griffin McElroy]

Non stop it, dude. Non stop.

[Russ Rushik]

I. I mean, literally, like, he was just like him and Andy McDow just like every scene. Yeah, dude with a different hat on.

[Griffin McElroy]

Bird man.

[Russ Rushik]

He won.

[Justin McElroy]

My name is Justin McElroy and I know the best game of the week.

[Griffin McElroy]

My name is Griffin McElroy and I know the best game of the week.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

My name is Christopher Thomas Plant, and I know the best game of the week.

[Russ Rushik]

My name is Russ Rushik. I know the best game of the week.

[Justin McElroy]

Welcome to the Besties, where we discuss the latest and greatest in home interactive entertainment. It is a video game club. Just by listening, you, my friend, have become a member on this week's episode. Long in development is Baby Steps from the people that brought you QWOP and Ape out.

[Griffin McElroy]

Getting over it.

[Justin McElroy]

Getting over it. And Majora's mask.

[Griffin McElroy]

Whoa.

[Justin McElroy]

Not right. That one I made up. What's baby steps again, though? I've forgotten.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Baby steps is a game where you take baby steps from the bottom of a mountain to the top of a mountain. One big problem. This isn't your part papa's video game. You're gonna have to take each step individually, one leg at a time.

[Russ Rushik]

Is that it?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, that's traditionally how steps are. That is my strat for steps irl.

[Russ Rushik]

Cool.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Cool, cool, cool.

[Justin McElroy]

So Baby steps, a game where walking is hard. Absolutely the funniest tutorial moment I've ever experienced my entire life. There is nothing funnier than when this game says, press the stick to move forward and you press this and you.

[Griffin McElroy]

Fall in your face and you immediately beef right in the mud.

[Justin McElroy]

It's so. It's so good. It's so good. But that is how Baby step says hello to you. No longer will push forward to move forward. That good old classic standard of ambulation in video games. It has failed you because you are steering the legs.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah.

[Russ Rushik]

You will literally have direct control, one to one control over your two legs. You don't have to worry about the arms pretty much. You can pick stuff up, but that's it. But all of it is in the legs. And the level of control you have is like every. There's the X, there's the Y. You've even got the Z in there.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. It's really, really great. I had a fun experience actually yesterday. Travis and I did a stream where I controlled the body. Actually, we took turns, one of us controlling, like, the tilt and the camera and the Other person controlling the legs.

[Russ Rushik]

And it's horrible.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's. No, it really. Actually dividing up the kind of like left br. Right brain, like that actually made for a really unique. I've played quite a bit myself. I don't know. I really actually like the experience because it kind of really cements how much this game requires you to, I don't know, juggle, spin two plates very, very fast at the same time with, I will say, for a Bennett Foddy game, fairly unpunishing at the beginning. Like, there's not a lot of. I mean, getting over it is the quintessential version of this where Bennett Foddy is constantly taunting you with, as you like, each and every mistake that you make, you lose possibly all of your progress. I have not had any experience remotely that rough in baby steps. And so it is fun to play a Bennett Foddy game and feel like I am progressing and not like that is going to be snatched away from me at a moment's notice the first time that I fuck up.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

There's a key difference between getting over it. For people who remember this. The one where you're the nude bald dude in a giant black cauldron with a hammer, he'll be wearing a baby.

[Griffin McElroy]

He could. We might have full pants on down there.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

He might. That's so true. And you're trying to climb up like a mountain of trash. That game, to me, is a game about refining fast motions because you have to kind of sling yourself with this hammer. This game is, you can go fast, but you're rewarded for going very slow. And, like, actually looking at the way your legs flex and your feet take a grip on the environment. So if you kind of lift the camera up or lift it far down, either way, but wherever you can get a good look at your toes, you're gonna spend a lot of time looking at them. And you can see the ground give way beneath your foot. So if as long as you have purchase with, like, let's say, your right foot, you can test out the environment around you with your left foot and look to make sure that you have some grip. And then you can put the next foot in front of you. As y' all were saying, with that X, Y and Z movement, you can really place your foot down to an exact spot where you want it to be.

[Griffin McElroy]

And you'll have to.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yes. Especially when you start climbing.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Rushik]

I was not expecting to like this game as much as I do. I will tell you off the bat, it is definitely in my top five and maybe in my top three of the year right now. I am completely fucking smitten by this game. I haven't. Although I appreciate the artistry and the design of specifically Bennett Foddy's games, this is the first one I've like genuinely enjoyed playing.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Rushik]

And because there's a few reasons you mentioned at the top, like this is not as punishing as any of those other games. There are moments in this game where you can lose a fair amount of progress.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Absolutely.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yes.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah. Can I tell you, but even in.

[Russ Rushik]

Those moments like at Most you're losing.

[Griffin McElroy]

30 minutes, it's not a fall all the way down again with a single mistake. And I don't want to play this game anymore.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I want to hear Hoops your take. Because Frosh just said a thing that was very funny to me. He said it's not a whole lot, it's just 30 minutes which is so editing.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah. That was like the experience I had right before we started recording was climbing to the top of a hill and then there was a gap where there was a creek sort of. And I took a wrong step and in the creek and I slid all the way down the creek and then through this like little waterfall person size gap where I just kind of like slurped down.

[Russ Rushik]

Perfect.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

To the third. And then I literally. It took 30 minutes to walk back up to those rocks and I actually went backwards because I didn't understand where I was. You know what I'm saying? So like I went the wrong way around and ended up back where I started. And then as I was crossing the gap I took a wrong step and I went into the creek and I schlorped through the creek into this person sized hole and slid back down to the exact. That's great damned place as before. But it was like. But can I say though, I know my reputation. It was a very. I found it strangely zen. I found it strangely sort of like I felt like I was meeting the game. It was if I like I was meeting the game on its own level. I felt like it was there. It saw exactly what happened. Do you know what I mean?

[Griffin McElroy]

Like it knew exactly what happened.

[Justin McElroy]

That was exactly as designed.

[Russ Rushik]

The game is designed, first of all, it's designed for you to fall in those situations. It's also designed for you to know for pretty sure when you do fall at certain moments how devastating it's going to be. Like it telegraphs that it's never a.

[Griffin McElroy]

Surprise if you fall in that creek. You're like yeah, that makes sense.

[Russ Rushik]

That's going to go bad.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, I knew 100% when I saw and I. Did I walk up to that creek very carefully or did I walk up to that creek like, what's up, bitch?

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm back.

[Justin McElroy]

I'm about to walk over you.

[Russ Rushik]

So I think the game is fair in that way.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, for sure.

[Justin McElroy]

I do it. And it's also fair because if you're just like the basic walking around. For me, it was very much like riding a bike. Except if the bike changed in size from every few minutes. Right. Cause I would feel like I'd get in a groove.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

But it would not be fast enough for me. And I would want to push the pace. And if I would just go slower, probably fine. I'd be making a good. But nope, I got to push it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

That's when I would get frustrated, is when I would just stand up, fall right over and I would feel like, why can't I get it? Like I can't find the rhythm again. And that can be really frustrating.

[Russ Rushik]

So what I really like about the falling of it, and this happened to me too. Usually it happened when I was intentionally doing something very, very stupid.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Rushik]

I'll give you an example. I was walking on a main path, very safe, no real threats around. And there was a swing hanging from a tree. A tree swing, if you will.

[Griffin McElroy]

You have to.

[Russ Rushik]

And at the top of the tree was like a fruit or something. And I was like, I'm gonna try to eat that fruit now.

[Justin McElroy]

That now the tree swing situation shit against you constantly. It's constantly like all fruit, man. Look, there's a torch. Don't you want that?

[Russ Rushik]

There was a cliff on the side of the tree swing. And when I stepped on the swing, I found out for the first time that the tree swing was actually a physics object. Because there are apparently physics objects you can walk on in this game as well.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Which means if you put weight on it, it's gonna start moving around.

[Russ Rushik]

It moves like a swing. Yes. And it was then that I continued forward, attempting to it and I fell. Now when I fell, I had no way to get back to where I was. There was seemingly no pathway to get back to where I was. But I ended up just kind of walking and finding other pathways that went around different paths and took me to like weird fucking. I found a cardboard box fort that was full of like crazy ass platforming materials. They want you to fall. They want you to walk maybe a different way than the way you walked because they want you to find the weird shit that they made. That is the game. It's not even though.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yes.

[Russ Rushik]

They're pressing you, they're saying, hey, get to the top of this mountain. Whatever. It's kind of not the point. It's more about having a fun, weird experience.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Rushik]

So I think that.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah, Fresh, a couple of days ago, after you had sent me a video of this, I. This will shock you. I found that exact same tree with that exact same swing. And I said, you know, not today, Satan. I know exactly what this little trick is. I've seen this before. And then I said, but what if I did pull it off and send the video to Fresh and there's like. There's like two stones before you get to the swing, right? I was like, okay, just step on the stones. Turns out they had a little bit of moss, a little wet moss on him. Slipped, didn't even make it to the fucking swing.

[Griffin McElroy]

Didn't touch the swing.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Zipped right down this hill. I did find a way up. You wanna know how long it took me? 45 minutes. Made my way all the way back there, and I was like, now I'm gonna do it. Got onto the swing and then what I realized, Fresh. Did you go back to the swing ever?

[Russ Rushik]

I looked at it, but no, I did not.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Here's the great trick about it. When you put your weight on the edge of the swing, it lowers you just enough that your other leg can't get onto the tree. So basically, you have to kind of do a hopscotch move if you want to pull that off.

[Griffin McElroy]

And that's easy in this game.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Oh, so easy. That is when I said, no, thank you. And that is also when I realized what the game is, which is exactly what you're saying it is. You know, you have to embrace the Zen. It's not about finishing the game. If you play this game and your goal is purely, I want to get to the end, and I want to get there as soon as possible. You are going to have a miserable time, Like, a truly miserable time. If you play this game and you say, I just want to see where it takes me. It's going to be up and down. I'm going to see this as a fun experience. You're going to have a great time. There is a moment, probably like, halfway through the game where you are very, very, very high on this mountain, and you will see in the distance a little ledge coming off, and you will walk over to it if you so choose, and you will discover that ledge is a diving board. And that diving board Encapsulated the entire game for me. Because you can either look at life as like punishment, as a series of like falling down, or you can look at it as like this playground where you could voluntarily choose to jump off that diving board and go like pursue all the adventures that are in the wrong direction but are like, the whole reason you're playing the game, the whole reason you're playing the game is to overcome these obstacles. And if, yeah, again, if you're fighting it, good golly, is it going to be miserable for you?

[Justin McElroy]

Okay. But I really struggle with this plant because I'm split, I should say, because I very much agree with you. I think that's right. I think that if this was most games, what I would be complaining about is saying, well, if that is the experience that makes. If that's the mindset that makes this pleasurable for me, then the game should be doing more to put me into that mindset. To not, you know what I mean? To not make it look like that. Because I don't think. I think there is a tension there because you do have to have the urge to move forward. Right. And you do have to have. You have to treat it as a linear experience in that regard a little bit. And I feel like it does. If the game came out and was like, hey, don't get frustrated, don't worry about it. This is just an exploration experience. That's a different thing. Right. They want the frustration too. But I think if they came out and said this is gonna be frustrating, just embrace it, then it wouldn't. I don't think it would feel the same.

[Griffin McElroy]

Feel as good to find that yourself. I think they actually very elegantly introduced this idea through the writing and the cut scenes that you will get with the characters which are so fucking funny. Like it has this game, which is already.

[Justin McElroy]

The frustration for me is I wanted to see more of them. That was the only. I want more. Come on.

[Russ Rushik]

And falling will lead you to more.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yes, absolutely.

[Russ Rushik]

Way more. From like.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, because you'll go different routes and you'll reach different checkpoints where you will run into these characters. And the writing is like, the gameplay is so fucking funny and the writing is also very fucking funny. Like this. Your main character that you're controlling, Nate, is is this sort of like socially, deeply, socially inept kind of guy who lives in his parents basement and is like binging one piece when he gets sucked away another world style into this climbing experience. And every character he meets, he does not want to talk to. He wants to get out of the conversation as quickly as possible. Also does his best to appease them without having to engage with them in the conversation. There's a guy who's an experienced, avid hiker who's like, did you get your map? Oh, you got to have the map, man. And flashes it in your face and a little UI pops up for two seconds and then disappears.

[Justin McElroy]

That's the best. That's so fun.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's really, really. It's good. And I think it introduces like, it shows you the different ways that people have of getting up this mountain while also providing a little bit of incentive because, yeah, I wanted to see more of those cutscenes.

[Russ Rushik]

The game is filled with AAA jokes like that. At one point he's like, oh, just use your grappling hook. And it gives you a UI element of a grappling hook that you absolutely can never get.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, yeah.

[Russ Rushik]

My favorite of those is one that a lot of people probably won't see. But I had seen a couple cutscenes because I reverted a save. So I'd seen a couple cutscenes before, so I was skipping them. And when you're skipping cutscenes, they change the interaction each time you do it. So one time you have to hold down the button. One time you're doing like a quick reload, like Gears of War. One time you have to tap the button a bunch of times. Just as like a fucking Boy Games thing. So many funny little jokes like that.

[Justin McElroy]

I. I struggled a little bit with that main character because I. I couldn't tell if that was supposed to represent me as a player, like if that. If that was the. The way I was perceived by the creator of the game. And that made that put a little bit more of a mean spirited sort of thing in the initial, I think stumbling that I had because it felt like I was the jerk for wanting to play it a little bit. And I don't think that was the intent, but that was definitely the feeling that I had early on.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I have some great context for that. But again, this is the tricky thing of it wants you to do the hard stuff to then get the story. But if you get hats, like, did you see the hats around the world at all? Hoops?

[Justin McElroy]

No. Wait, what do you mean hats?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

They're like hats that you can find.

[Justin McElroy]

I'm looking at the ground so I don't fall. How would I see a hat?

[Griffin McElroy]

That's fair.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

They're like little hats. On each stint of your climb, you can find in hidden places. And you'll put this hat on and it's a challenge because the hat will come off if you fall. And we'll get back to that in just a second. But if you take the hat to a campfire, which is like the core checkpoint, you'll get the usual cut scene where like some dude climber or a donkey who is not wearing pants and has a giant dong, which we'll talk about also we'll chat with you.

[Griffin McElroy]

Is that the nudity? Is that the nudity that you.

[Russ Rushik]

There is more. There are more cocks in this game than I've ever seen. No joke in any other game ever.

[Griffin McElroy]

Let's circle back to that. Let's put a pin in that conversation because I would like to circle back to it.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yes, yes.

[Justin McElroy]

Meat on the bone, guys. Come on.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

To wrap up the narrative part. So you go to the campfire, you're wearing the hat, and then it will cut to this Atari style story where you are literally just bouncing around an rpg, like environment, Atari visuals, and you are, I assume, this guy in his real life. And that's where you start to learn kind of what this game is about. And it is very much about, like, dudes who are too online, do not have opportunities for social connection, feel ostracized from society and get sucked into like basically manosphere culture. And the whole game from there opens up to be about masculinity and like the pressure to do certain things. And that is how we can loop back to the tons of dongs.

[Griffin McElroy]

Because, yeah, I just want to say, when you start this game up, it says there's nudity in this game. Do you want to turn it off? And I said yes, because one, I knew we were going to stream it and two, I thought this was going to be a really funny game to play with. Henry, who is 8 and Russ forewarned us, hey, this game is 90% super kid friendly and 10% not kid friendly, even fucking remotely at all. I have not hit anything that feels like, I don't know that I wouldn't want to play it with him, but.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Have you seen a donkey?

[Griffin McElroy]

I've seen a donkey. He didn't have a big wiener or anything.

[Russ Rushik]

Oh, no, no, no. You saw a normal donkey. You didn't see a humanoid donkey?

[Griffin McElroy]

No, I haven't seen.

[Russ Rushik]

With a giant cock.

[Griffin McElroy]

No, I haven't seen that.

[Russ Rushik]

Here's what I'm gonna say for people. I've played this game with my four year old, but in very, very selective moments. Generally speaking, if you're playing just the normal walking around game, you're Fine. You might want to lower the audio. You can lower the, like, talking audio because it does say, like, shit, sometimes.

[Griffin McElroy]

It'S really funny because he doesn't do it every time. But then, like, he'll do a little spill and be like, oh, fuck crazy.

[Justin McElroy]

It's like, it's not proportionate to whatever happened. Like, yeah, like, small fall shit.

[Russ Rushik]

Yeah. But when the cutscenes start, it's. I would say, odds on that you're going to see at least one large cock, if not multiple. And I don't know what happens when you do the nudity thing. It probably blurs them out. But you should probably know that there's a fair number of cocks in this game.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

So much.

[Russ Rushik]

It should be noted all the cutscenes are improvised, which I didn't realize until.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, really?

[Russ Rushik]

Yeah, it's all improv.

[Griffin McElroy]

That makes so much sense from the fucking jump, dude.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

The two craters. All of the side characters are Bennett, and then the main character is Gabe.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay.

[Russ Rushik]

I love this game. I think it offers the, like, level of, like, stuff that I nerd out about. Regarding, like, things that I felt like I earned. Like, I earned an experience because you were literally, like, deciding every step. When I play Death Stranding, even though I really love Death Stranding, especially two, there are moments where it just, like, automates the. The hard parts where it's like you're running through a craggy stream and the AI is just deciding where to put your feet. And the fact that you are making all of those choices yourself in this game just makes getting to the other side of the stream such a fucking exciting experience.

[Justin McElroy]

If you were playing Death Stranding and you were like, ah, easy mode, I just walking around is like, this is the game for you. This is where the real. The real big dogs play.

[Griffin McElroy]

I don't know. You can joke about that, but I also feel like if you have too much shit or your weight is misaligned in Death Stranding, it is a genuinely unfun experience because it is different. It is so different from how it always. Than how it normally sort of feels in this game. Like, as hard as it is on purpose, as, like, antagonistic as it is sometimes with its, like, challenges that it presents to you. I don't know, man. Like, I know how this guy moves. I kind of know what is expected of me and how to deliver on that. It's a question of, like, execution and strategy and routing and everything. But, like, I actually. I don't know. I am really surprised at how approachable I am finding this game from it.

[Justin McElroy]

Feels fair in a way that death stranding doesn't necessarily where like, fair isn't the right word, but it's the same challenge that anybody else would have with navigating that.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Real quick, before we wrap, can I share my video game achievement of 2025?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. Is it related to baby steps?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It's related to baby steps. So there is a point again around halfway through where you'll come out of a cave and you'll see this bridge, big tall set of stones that you can climb up to get to the next area and you'll climb up those set of stones and then you'll get right to right before the top and the final stone will be too high for your leg to be able to get up. And it's like, ah, you sucker, you fell for it. You're gonna have to go find a different path. So I go and I find a different path. I do get all the way up there. I'm now hiking somewhere else where I, I have a hoops moment. I slip, whoop and I fall down.

[Justin McElroy]

And is that sort of our slang term for fucking up that we're all agreeing on? Hoops. Like a hoops moment is something where you've made a mistake and embarrassed yourself. Is that the.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Lock it in. And I whoop and I go falling down the side of the thing and my hat falls off and I'm like, where are the fuck is my hat? My hat fell on the top of that one stone that you cannot reach. So I had to, I was like, I'm gonna get this damn hat. So now I couldn't climb up to get the hat. I had to go all the way back around, go high, high up. And then I had to kind of walk down the side of a cliff to be able to get this hat. I did this for an hour, maybe an hour and a half. And it truly became that thing where I am convinced that I know how to do it and actually getting down the side of the mountain, doing the opposite of what the game wanted me to do to get this damn hat that I didn't even need. But I really wanted to see that little story beat. I have felt like a damn video game God. And like even if I don't finish the game though, I think I will. That was more rewarding than finishing a trillion other video games.

[Justin McElroy]

There's also something very self directed about it. Like you can't get too frustrated cause you know exactly what you're doing. Like our dad used to say all the time from this old cartoon super chicken. You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, Fred. And I felt that a lot playing this game. It's like, I mean, look at it. You know exactly what this is. If you're continuing to engage with it, you're doing that of your own accord. Like, no one's making you quiet.

[Russ Rushik]

I have one last anecdote that I'd like to share. There's a moment mid to late in the game where I've overcome a pretty sizable challenge. It's like a giant mine sequence that took, like, a while to figure out. I was very proud I made it to the very top. And at the very top, there is a large girder sticking out over a ledge. And at the end of the girder is a hat, a construction hat. And I'm like, I have walked across these sorts of girders a thousand times in this game. I'm a fucking master at this. I know how to do this. If I fall, I lose all the progress entirely, but I know how to do that. So I walk across the girder. And as I'm walking across the girder, I'm like, But honestly, I'm gonna hard quit the game because I'm not doing this fucking thing again. And I'll just, like, reload the save. So I made it to the hat. I go to bend down for the hat, and I fall ass over teakettle. I'm in midair, losing all of my progress as this is happening. I quit the game. I reload the game. I am in midair, falling.

[Justin McElroy]

No way.

[Russ Rushik]

It auto saved as I was falling, and I was like, bravo. I'm fucking doing this again. I don't care. Well done, guys. And I had a blast. I found new stuff when I was down there. I found a new way up. It was great. That's the magic of the game. The fact that I kept going is really telling of how much enjoyment it is, like, by.

[Justin McElroy]

By making traditional progress. So frustrating. It does kind of prompt you to kind of make your own. It's like prompting you to make your own fun in the. In, like, in the sense that, like, well, I mean, I might as well enjoy myself. I'm hiking all the way up back up this way. I might as well. Like, you know, you can't get too frustrated about it. So it lets you kind of. It's something beyond, like, the reward of progress. It's the. Sometimes you'll get in a groove and that'll just feel really good. Like, it'll just feel. And if you think about it. If you notice you're in a groove, you will fall over.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's like signing your name and someone's like, hey, think. What are you doing with your signature? It immediately like, yeah, yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

So it is another sort of meditative thing a little bit like, because you are like if you think about what you're doing, it's harder sometimes. Like if you can sort of zero your brain out, just kind of roll with it. Sometimes it's easier.

[Russ Rushik]

Yeah.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Such a weird moment when you realize you're not thinking about walking anymore.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Spent so much time in doing it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Good game. We have a lot to talk about. Can we transition seamlessly to an ad break? This was it. That was it.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Well done.

[Griffin McElroy]

Perfect.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

Justin, our man on the scene, man on the street, man in the web, has prepared for us a presentation that you've been teasing out for weeks now.

[Justin McElroy]

Well, it's just, it's an extremely, extremely daunting time in the world of handheld retro game consoles. It's a world we've dipped into previously a lot and there's just like so much happening right now and it's such a really, truly bizarre space. So I wanted to go ahead. I've linked you guys to the document.

[Griffin McElroy]

So are we going to make this available to the.

[Justin McElroy]

You can find that here in our, our, our mailing list. I will send that out. Does that sound good? So this is kind of a big picture view of things as we've sort of approached them on the show before. I've got the four sort of biggest players in the space laid out and what they're up to. And then I got some one offs that we're going to check in with. So let's go first up to Amber Nick. Amber Nick is classic for releasing a ton of different consoles. The first one and this is the first two I want to talk about are out right now. The 34xx SP is a really. This has been since this year they've released this. You can pick one of these up for between 60 to 100 bucks depending on what kind of like stuff that you, what kind of things that you want preloaded in it, where you want to ship from, et cetera, et cetera. All these game consoles have a lot of different options depending on what you want with them. But this is a flippy kind of guy, shaped like a Game Boy SP but has the like dual thumbsticks at the bottom left and right.

[Griffin McElroy]

Do you have one of these bad boys?

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, I do. They're really cute. If you want to, you can get one of these right now. Right. And the reason I want to talk about these that are right now is to kind of give you a lay of the land for where we're at. The other one that's out right now is the 477M. This is from Retroid and this is one that I really really love a lot. It has a snap. Well it's the Dimensity 8300 which is kind of up there in terms of like Android gaming right now. This is probably the most powerful chipset there is. An Elite 8 Gen 3 I think it is that's in some of these that are coming out now. But there aren't as there hasn't been as much work in like the emulation front with the apps.

[Russ Rushik]

And what is the chip? This chip in particular. Like what platform wise, what are we talking about?

[Justin McElroy]

So you could do everything like everything with this chipset and this device which is the 477m again and that means metal shell. Stupid but it's metal shell. The four set, their RG is retro game. So like to give you. It's like that's what. That's how much and it's like a 4.7 inch display and it is a.

[Russ Rushik]

What's the second seven for what? You said 4.7 inch display. What's the second seven for?

[Justin McElroy]

The second seven if I will actually tell you is for the generation of devices. So if it ends at a 6, if the last number of an Anbernic device is a 6, it's the generation before this. This is the 7th generation so it ends with a 7. You can play anything in this. I've played PS2 games upscaled 4x with all the shaders. There is not a lot of work that has been done playing PS3 games on Android but if you can do it, you can do it with this.

[Griffin McElroy]

Are these all Android? I thought Anbernic was Linux.

[Justin McElroy]

No, Anbernic does a variety of them. This one you can pick up to give you again a range. You can between 270 and like 400 depending on what you want preloaded all these devices, a lot of them at least you can buy them with an SD card that'll come preloaded with a lot of games on them. If you want to do that, you can certainly do that. In my experience Those cards are one filled with a lot of crummy ROMs and the quality of the cards is.

[Russ Rushik]

Really bad so I don't know they'll crap out. You're better off getting a Cheap card from an established retailer.

[Justin McElroy]

The other one that's kind of cool from. From Anbernic that is on the way. It's almost exactly like that other device the one we just talked about. It's got the that same four by three aspect ratio which is great for pretty much all the retro gaming stuff except for you know until you get into true widescreen content like this is a great way to see your games without a lot of extra extra black space wasted on them. But this is the very same Device but the 47 6H the H means horizontal and what does that last 6 mean Russ?

[Russ Rushik]

The generation model to generation 6th generation.

[Justin McElroy]

So this is less powerful than the last What? Yeah see you're getting it. This is the last powerful.

[Russ Rushik]

Yeah the problem is this only works for Amber Deck. All the other companies have different naming.

[Justin McElroy]

Conventions so it actually gets worse. That one you can pre order now is available to pre order now. I think it's going to be shipping out soon but this one will be closer to like 140 bucks so this will not be able to do your like your upscaled PS2 or Gamecube you would be able to do with this like most low end PS2 stuff and most GameCube stuff at just sort of like a 1X and it's always a trade off with these if you want more shaders that make it look like an old close to the old experience and that's going to slow your frame rate down or whatever but that's Anbernic. Ayaneo, another A company. Go ahead.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

What is the difference between Ayan and Ayaneo?

[Justin McElroy]

Different company. Ayaneo is. Ayaneo is the upper they're the priciest one. Ayaneo is the Lamborghini the sleek Lamborghini of these devices these are the ones they will put their Device the Pocket S2 is probably the priciest like latest new thing that is out right now and that costs like $700 and that's like terabyte of storage can run everything like including most switch stuff like it's out there. So Ayaneo has a bunch of new consoles the two that are getting the most discussion right now and the reason it will become obvious this is the year where flip consoles are becoming more of a thing where dual screen devices and Ayaneo has two of them and this is confusing so I wanted to mention it. So there is the Ayaneo flip one sds I shit you not. That's what it's called.

[Russ Rushik]

I mean easier to understand than the Anbernic naming convention.

[Justin McElroy]

Arguably, yes. Except for they have a device called the Ayaneo Pocket ds. So that does. That does complicate things a little bit.

[Griffin McElroy]

Which is from a layman's sort of perspective, nearly fucking identical.

[Justin McElroy]

It almost looks nearly identical. The difference is that the Ayaneo Flip 1S costs about twice as much. It costs over eleven hundred dollars because it is a Windows handheld. That's so crazy.

[Russ Rushik]

Oh, it's a Window.

[Justin McElroy]

It's a Windows handhel, a Windows one. So it's 7 inch OLED on the top and then the bottom screen is not an oled. The bottom screen is an lcd. And if that's gonna mess you up.

[Russ Rushik]

I think that's okay.

[Justin McElroy]

I think these are in the same. I think there's an Android limitation. From what I understand, the flip 1s is like a. It is Windows based, so it is like a much pricier thing. These range from. Let's see here. The lowest is 16 gigabytes of RAM and 1 terabyte of storage. And you can get that early bird for 779. That's the pre order price right now. And that's in the black configuration. If you want a 64 gigabyte one with two terabytes of storage, you can get that in the retro power colorway for fifteen hundred dollars.

[Russ Rushik]

For something that like, it's wild to me because you look at the Steam deck, which has been around and obviously is getting long in the tooth, but like, has been around since 2020 and like still can more or less do it. And the fact that these come out every single year, if not six months, I threw this.

[Justin McElroy]

That one's kind of an outlier in the space. Like I threw that one in because that Ayaneo is also making the Pocket ds because that is the one that I think is probably most comparable. And Russ, like, I know you're a flip. An owner of the retroid flip 2, which kind of kicked off this whole thing this year. This is probably a closer competitor that you can pick it up for 500 bucks. Early bird, you have two screens, right? There's a 7 inch OLED at the top screen, that's 1080p and then a 4x3 LCD.

[Griffin McElroy]

This is for the Pocket DS, right? Pocket DS.

[Justin McElroy]

It's in the lower configuration, so. And it also has two thumbsticks, a D pad, four buttons on the right, you know, so you can play all of your. This is really making like DS and 3DS in a form factor that is closer to the original Experience that to me is I think why a lot of people are excited about these.

[Griffin McElroy]

Is it Android as opposed to Windows?

[Justin McElroy]

This one is Android.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yes.

[Justin McElroy]

Android and two screens right now is still a little bit.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, it doesn't know what to do. I'm still not quite sure how it works.

[Russ Rushik]

I Android wasn't already was kind of struggling with one screen to some extent.

[Griffin McElroy]

So I've got quite a few of these bad boys. I simply cannot be bothered to fuck around with a Windows based retro gaming handheld. That is a lot of. That is a lot of toggles to flip for a machine that is arguably not built for that.

[Russ Rushik]

I mean that's what the ROG isn't.

[Griffin McElroy]

The ROG that the ROG is that right. But I switched over to Bazzite because I couldn't stand like trying to navigate Windows and it really.

[Justin McElroy]

I should mention though the Windows consoles are on a different trajectory price wise and power right. Like the most recent. That new Lenovo thing is like. It's more impressive. It's like $1,800 and it's like twice as much as their last handhelds. The Windows handheld space I think is.

[Griffin McElroy]

Frankly it's fucked man. It's crazy. The ROG ally is like 650 bucks and I can play pretty much anything on it.

[Justin McElroy]

That's why we're here in the sewers. Ayaneo is. So those are the two flip things from Ayaneo. They are also doing. This is great. The Conker Pocket Fit guys is. This is the way it's pitched. The first masterpiece from Conker. This is Captain Capital K O N K R Konker.

[Russ Rushik]

Who is the Konker?

[Justin McElroy]

The Konker is a new. It's a new company now don't be confused just because they are [e-mail].

[Russ Rushik]

Oh I see.

[Justin McElroy]

And it is a sub brand right? It's a sub brand because Ayaneo's whole thing is that they're too expensive. So Conker is the Pocket like the Conquer Pocket Fit is their first under this label that they're calling Conker this has a Snapdragon 8 Elite mobile platform Snapdragon G3 Gen 3. That is this. That is the best chip in terms of what is available right now for the drivers that are available. Driver support, your turn drivers, whatever that is the best chip in my opinion is available right now and it is in a handheld widescreen presentation. Two thumbsticks. It's a 6 inch 1080p LCD screen. So you're not getting the OLED thing.

[Griffin McElroy]

Nice handhold.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah. It's got the handles, it's got the inline triggers for all, you know, whatever games you want to play on. It's got an 8,000 milliamp battery which is. I know it doesn't mean anything but it's pretty good. And you can get this guy. You can get this guy for 240 bucks. That's crazy.

[Griffin McElroy]

Why would Ayaneo partner with that? I feel like that really shows how crazy expensive a lot of Iania's other stuff is.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Are they all the same company?

[Justin McElroy]

Like aren't they like there is some debate about. This one is definitely, absolutely the same company. Like this is 100% the same company. Because it is A lot of these companies it is confusing because they are order. They're. They're all kind of dipping from the same well and in terms of parts which is like phone parts that are not used anymore. Right. That's like the source of this stuff like the panels and the. And a lot of that things. That is where we're getting the hardware and everything. These are, this is phone hardware that is being repurposed. So a lot of them are coming from the same place. You see the same screens and chipsets use a lot. Which is raised some questions about like how independent are these companies?

[Griffin McElroy]

Right.

[Justin McElroy]

Whatever. Which gets even more confusing because do we all understand this device? Right. The Honker Pocket Fit is probably the best like in terms of like a deal. But make way for the Ayaneo Pocket Air Mini, a flagship DNA entry level price, premium experience from Ayaneo. Finally this is the tagline. An Ayaneo retro handheld that everyone can afford.

[Russ Rushik]

Oh they're doing everyone.

[Justin McElroy]

No man, it's the same thing again. They're just doing. They're directly competing in this case they're saying this is Ayaneo, the same company making a device very much like the Conker Pocket Fit which is being made by their sub brand. But this is their own Ayaneo bargain device.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Rushik]

How much is that one?

[Justin McElroy]

This one is going to be start at and I've included a link because this isn't part of the pre order thing. This is just coming down. I've included a link because the company just recently revealed the pricing. A lot of these companies are doing these press releases in discord channels. That's where a lot and like they're just talking directly to CEOs so like. But you can look at the pricing in this. But basically you could pick this guy up for the early bird 32 gigabyte version is like 75 bucks now.

[Russ Rushik]

Oh yeah, that's not bad.

[Justin McElroy]

This is much, much, much, much, much less powerful than the Pocket fit in in. $70 is actually a pretty good price for what they're offering here. Which makes it an even more confusing product, right? I don't know man. I don't know. Ayn has two products. There's the Odin 3 which is in that same like high end. People call it a candy bar. So if that is helpful to you. Screen in the middle, controls on either side versus a handheld where the Game Boy form factor the screens at the bottom.

[Russ Rushik]

How is candy bar relevant analogy?

[Justin McElroy]

It's to help people visualize like it's a. You hold it rectangular.

[Russ Rushik]

I don't hold a fucking candy bar like that. You're crazy.

[Griffin McElroy]

I hold a candy bar by the sides horizontally and smash my face into it. That's how I eat a Candy Bar.

[Justin McElroy]

The Odin 3 is their big 6 inch 120Hz OLED. Top of the line. Great guy. And that guy is coming out for. Let's see, 330 is the base early bird price on that. And you can. I'm sure it goes all the way up. But that is also. That has an 8 Elite chip in it. Which is interesting just because the Snapdragon Gen 3 chip that is in the other devices that we've talked about. There's been more work on the drivers and stuff available for them in terms of retro gaming. Because a lot of this like the gaming work hasn't been done on this hardware because it's being used for phones and there has been the same demands. Right. So it'll be interesting to see if some of that work catches up when you have the Odin 3 out. Because that's gonna be a big release. Cause the Odin 2 is a huge one. And then Ayn is also doing their own dual screen thing. The Ayn Thor. If that's something that you want to get into. If you want to try the dual screen thing, this has a 6 inch OLED at the top and then a smaller screen on the bottom. And this is.

[Griffin McElroy]

Is that one out? Are any of these dual screen ones out? I don't think so.

[Russ Rushik]

Right.

[Justin McElroy]

Pre order. This is on pre order.

[Russ Rushik]

Optimistic.

[Justin McElroy]

None of these dual screens are out. The only one that is out that I want you guys to look at because you're gonna think Retroid hasn't done anything this year recently. That is very interesting. They do have a dual screen add on out for 70 bucks that Griffin mentioned. He is waiting on Griffin. Can you Talk about this real quick.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, it's been apparently out for delivery for the last two days because you order these things and I believe most of them come from mainland China.

[Justin McElroy]

Hey, I think China's making exactly as many of these things as we buy, guys. I think that's the secret keeping the stars apart here.

[Griffin McElroy]

Fair point. It is $70 and there's two models, one that is made for Retroid devices and one that is made for quote, other devices. I heard from a few channels. Good. Rust specifically mentioned that it fits really nice on the Ayaneo Pocket Ace, which is my sort of like off court buddy of choice. But it attaches and from what I've heard, the hinge is pretty decent. Obviously adds quite a bit of bulk, but you can turn your retroid pocket 5 into a dual screen handheld.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It's.

[Griffin McElroy]

It is Android based and so there is quite a bit of tweaking that you're going to have to do to get it to work, but it seems like a really solid option. And considering how none of these other DS style handhelds are out yet, it's kind of the only game in town. And it's 70 bucks, which is for this market, not too terrible. So I'm excited. As annoying as I think it's gonna be getting one of these handhelds to work with the, the second screen, I'm looking forward to getting it.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I have a question about a thing I see in the list. One of these is just called Game Console. What is that?

[Justin McElroy]

Oh yeah, that's the hottest new player. Will you guys click on that one? This is the hottest new player in the space. A company called Game Console that rules.

[Russ Rushik]

How is that not taken?

[Justin McElroy]

This company called Game Console and this device is the. Everyone remember. Say it with me now. The XF40H.

[Griffin McElroy]

What do all the screens website. So nervous what's going to pop up.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Powered by Rock Chip.

[Justin McElroy]

You should look for this one on AliExpress. That's how we're, that's how we're playing with this guy. Okay. If you're looking for a game console, this comes in like five different colors. There's a pink one, there's a blue one, but I threw it in here because it's like crazy form factor for like 40 bucks. And it's got tool, you know, it's got two thumbsticks, it's got all the controls and it plays a lot of stuff. It's not going to play like your latest and greatest PS2 and GameCube upscaled, but it's going to cost 50 bucks to play almost everything.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. It's got a unique one by one screen which I have. No. That I've ever seen before.

[Justin McElroy]

Yes, it is a one by one. It looks kind of like Amber Deck had a device called the RG Cube XX. It's a similar style to that which is another one by one. But this is a budget. It's like 50 bucks. The reason I'm mentioning this is because it's to give you an idea of what sub 100 bucks is going to get you. There's also the Mang me M A N G M I Air X which sucks that they. I have to read all these fake brands out loud. You know people make up fake brand names all the time but they don't think about the common folks like me. They're gonna have to say them out loud repeatedly. But the Mang me Air X you can get for 80 bucks plus a free carrying case. It just like comes in there. It's got a really. It actually looks really, really cool.

[Griffin McElroy]

I like the look of this thing a lot.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, this is one that actually. Hold on, I have one here.

[Russ Rushik]

Wait, do you really a Mang me? He's going to get his Mangi original Mang me. Oh, here it comes.

[Justin McElroy]

So this is one that a lot of people have been talking about because it is such like a great value. This device is another candy bar, two thumbsticks. This is their first offering from Mang me. It's powered by the Adreno 610 GPU, the Snapdragon 662 which doesn't mean anything.

[Griffin McElroy]

To you, but if you blogger it for us. Come on. Here we go. Come on, show it.

[Russ Rushik]

Oh, it looks like a lot of other costumes.

[Justin McElroy]

It looks like a lot of. Yes, okay. But if you hold the device, if you feel the device, it feels like a really good quality. The build quality on this is really, really good.

[Griffin McElroy]

Like I said, hold it up to.

[Russ Rushik]

The camera and I'll get the sense of it.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah. Can you just imagine holding it?

[Russ Rushik]

No, I'm feeling it.

[Griffin McElroy]

It does look a lot like other stuff, but not 80. Eighty dollar stuff.

[Justin McElroy]

They all look like each other. I mean that's kind of the point. Oh man. This is preloaded with big ideas. Veggie Tales, Larry Boy and the Bad Apple. It just has one PS2 game and that's it. Veggie Tales. Crazy fuck.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

But you can get one of these guys for 80 bucks and it's going to play a ton of. A ton of stuff and it looks beautiful. It's got really nice RGB sticks. The sound. Look at this gigantic speaker in the back. I'm not normally the biggest fan of like, I usually like an upward firing speaker, but it sounds really good and it has different fan modes so you can, you know, increase the speed if you want to run something a little higher end and burn through your battery faster. It's just a lot of flexibility for not a ton of money, which has gotten a lot of people excited. When you see what less than 100 bucks will get you.

[Griffin McElroy]

I want to make sure we have time for honorable mentions and we're going to put all these in the. In the email. What are you currently. Can you lead off with like what are you currently fucking doing?

[Justin McElroy]

Sorry, can you guys just real quick before we look, I do have to do my last one. It's the 1x sugar. Will you guys please look at the 1x sugar?

[Griffin McElroy]

I've seen the 1x sugar. It's the fucking craziest thing in the world.

[Justin McElroy]

It's made by a company called onexplayer.

[Russ Rushik]

The Wonder Sugar Sounds like the candy place at the airport, right?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

It is the same chip as the 477M.

[Griffin McElroy]

I hate it. This trailer is making me dizzy, man.

[Justin McElroy]

G3 Gen3. It will be. It is a device that is all things to all people. It has two screens and it's a transformer so you can have it. So you're holding it in a DS style with the controls at the bottom and the screen at the top. You can also flip the second screen around to the back so it's just like a regular candy bar device. You can flip it so the controls are on the sides and you just have an extra screen in the back. So if you like one of the.

[Russ Rushik]

Durability is going to be great.

[Justin McElroy]

Everybody, everyone hates it. Everyone who's touched it despises this thing. That's the best thing about this space.

[Russ Rushik]

It looks like the Game Boy like that had that light and magnet like magnifier.

[Griffin McElroy]

It does. It looks like a Game Boy DMG with like all the fixings.

[Russ Rushik]

Yes.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, it is wild. It's also like. It is also like $700.

[Russ Rushik]

Love it.

[Justin McElroy]

And I've heard like the build quality is not that great either. It seems like a wild product. A truly, truly wild product. A truly wild space.

[Griffin McElroy]

But Griffin, you were asking what are you rocking with? Like what do you take with you if you are. When you are traveling? What is your current sort of go to guy?

[Justin McElroy]

The RG477M is a really nice form factor. It's a really nice, like, that's the one that was out in the. In the more recent months, like 250 bucks. It's not so expensive that I, I. It makes me nauseous to carry it with me. Like, I do have a case and I protect it, but it's not like, I don't know, there's some stuff that I. It makes me have palpitations just to leave the house with it. So I feel comfortable and it's durable. It feels more durable in that sense, so I don't mind taking it with me. A lot of these devices, you pop them in your bag and if it still has all the buttons when you've reached your destination, then it's like a pretty, pretty big triumph. But yeah, that one is the one I've liked the most. I have used that to explore a lot of older game libraries that I wasn't really familiar with before. But that one is one that is out now if you want to get one to start out with. I mean, a lot of those budget ones are great. And then the 476H seems like a really good middle ground if you don't want to spend quite so much as the 477s. But yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

Where are we going to post this master list that Justin is creating?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It'll be at Besties fan. You just subscribe. If you get the newsletter, it'll be in this week's issue of the newsletter. What won't be in this week's issue of the newsletter, though, is Griffin, there's something that you missed in Baby Steps. I just wanted to make sure you had a chance to take a look. It's in our slack right now if you want to give a look at that.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's not a wiener.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Tell me what you're seeing.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, it is a wiener. Thank you so much.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

You're welcome. I just wanted to make sure that you saw it. Want to talk about other stuff we're playing?

[Justin McElroy]

I don't think in today's modern workspace, I don't think texting people, just messaging pictures of people.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

To be clear, this is not just a normal wiener. It is the donkey from the game. And this is what happens when you restart the game.

[Russ Rushik]

Okay. And it's useful that you're recording this. So we have a record from a lawsuit standpoint to just point back to it.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Right.

[Russ Rushik]

Thankfully, it was just sent to all of us and no one else.

[Justin McElroy]

Thank goodness for that.

[Russ Rushik]

That is a miracle.

[Griffin McElroy]

I have been playing so much stuff this week. It really is. Cup runner thrower. I finished silksong 100%. I know Russ did.

[Russ Rushik]

I also did. Yes.

[Griffin McElroy]

Fucking fire. Absolute banger. Really, really good. I'm sure we will have much more conversations about Silksong in the future, but I'm really happy with my time with it. I've been playing a bit of Final Fantasy the ivalice Chronicles, which I believe we're going to talk about more extensively next week, correct? So I can save some of it for that, but I'm really enjoying that too. It's a game I've tried to break into a lot of times and it has never really clicked for me.

[Russ Rushik]

That is the remake of the original PS1 Final Fantasy Tactics, correct?

[Griffin McElroy]

That is correct, yes. So some of the stuff from War of The Lions, the 2007 PSP game, is missing, but what is there is really I'm enjoying a whole lot and it has smoothed off a lot of the rough edges that have made me bounce off the game before. Slime Rancher 2 is now out of Early Access. As of this week it's out in 1.0 and we probably did an episode on it when it was first in Early Access. We did like two or three years ago and I really, really, really enjoy that game. It's very chill, it doesn't ask a lot of you. It's like a farm management game, but you have this vacuum gun you use to suck up slimes and you build little pins for them and feed them to get their plorts which you can sell at the market that you then use to upgrade your pins and your tools and you go out and explore and do all that stuff. I don't really know how much is new in the 1.0 version, but I didn't play a lot of it originally because I was waiting for this and it's really been a lot of fun. My boys have been enjoying it a lot too. And the only other one I wanted to talk about is megabonk, which Chris Plant posted in the Besties Slack. I think like yesterday or the day before, but God damn. Mega Bonk is a follow up to Air Bonk. It is the follow up to Bonk Bonk.

[Justin McElroy]

No, it is a Bonk's adventure. There isn't a bonk. What are you talking about, man? You mean Air Bonk?

[Griffin McElroy]

The original name in Japan was Bonk Bonk. And no, Mega Bonk is Bonk Zonk Bonk. Mega Bonk is a Vampire Survivors, but it's in 3D a la risk of rain 2. I guess I didn't play that much of that one, so maybe I shouldn't make comparisons to it. It has a sort of low poly sort of aesthetic. Kris compared it to EverQuest, which is close enough. And I feel like it looks like.

[Justin McElroy]

If they were making a PSA about games like EverQuest, it looks like the game that would be in the psa or like.

[Russ Rushik]

Yeah, or like a Law and Order episode if it was like a toothpaste.

[Justin McElroy]

Commercial about video games. That's kind of what it looks like.

[Griffin McElroy]

But it were when you're like, Chex Quest. It looks better than Chex Quest when you're, like, in it and you have a swarm of, you know, fucking nasty little skeletons or whatever coming at you and playing and just tearing ass through all of them. It feels so good. It's so fast. And there's so much shit to unlock. My God, there's so much shit to unlock. So, yeah, I've only played a couple hours of it, but it was one of those, like, I'll check this thing out that Chris posted in Slack. And then like, uh, oh, I was supposed to get shit done today.

[Russ Rushik]

So you got megabonked?

[Griffin McElroy]

I got megabonked in a big way. Also. Hades 2 is out. And I downloaded that and played a little bit and I was like, I can't. I don't have space. I can't right now. Like, I will, but I can't right now. There's too much other shit popping. Have. Did anybody else hit that one?

[Justin McElroy]

I did, Yeah. I downloaded Hades 2 1.1.0. And I've played a lot of Hades 2, but I did kind of stop, like, back in April or so because I knew that eventually the 1.0 release would be out. I mean, it's so. I don't know how to talk about this other than to say, like, if you like Hades, then you should probably play Hades 2. And it's really good. And there's a lot of. There's a lot of stuff in Hades 2. And I wonder if you are walking into this, like, fresh, how it would hit you, because there is a lot of currencies and upgrades and different stuff to keep track of in Hades 2. And I've been following those kind of organically as the game has been updated. And even I'm kind of like, there's a lot to keep track of. I do wonder about that, if that's gonna be kind of overwhelming for people that haven't been sort of like, following along. But maybe it'll be less confusing because they'll get like tutorialized in it in a way that like, I wasn't. As I came up through it, I played.

[Russ Rushik]

The last time I played was like a year and a half ago when it first launched on Early Access. And so I booted up again and I, I ended up starting from scratch because I only had like five hours or so worth of progress and ended up like getting back to where I was very quickly. And I haven't really had a problem because it's just like, oh, I need more flowers. And I'll just see when I get more flowers. Like, I'm not mentally internalizing, like, oh, I really need this currency. So I'm gonna chase it. I'm sure that might happen later, but early on it hasn't really.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm in my head a little bit because I did the same thing. I didn't want to play it after we played it and talked about it originally because I wanted to wait for 1.0. And now I'm playing it and I'm like constantly second guessing. Like, was. Was this how it was when I played it a year and a half? Like, I feel like I'm looking for the things that are new and obviously I think it's probably like later game areas that you unlock that they tweaked.

[Russ Rushik]

A bunch of stuff in the. In the whole game. I watched a video of like biggest changes and a lot of it is just like balance tweaks and the way like power.

[Justin McElroy]

You gotta remember, like, you gotta know also that there were throughout the process massive chunks of the game that were coming out. So like, there were whole big areas that were like, not available. So those have been the biggest updates has been like, now you can get to this. When you started playing, it was. There was. You hit a lot of walls.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, I think it's. I've bounced off it a little bit genuinely because there's so much shit out. And I feel like Hades is a game that completely envelops my, my time and, and energy. And as much as I'm looking forward to that, like, I don't know, there's. There's a lot. There's a lot.

[Justin McElroy]

Chris, to piggyback off that because it's the only other little thing that I had because I wanted to pick Deep Rock Galactic Survivor also hit with Christ man. And it's really great.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

So we will probably be talking about a number of these games as A or B segments in episodes to come because, like, hearing about Hades 2, it's just kind of wild that we have not had time for it. So we'll get to a lot of this. Dear listeners, related to that, I have been playing Silent Hill F, which is so interesting and I think we're gonna talk about that in two weeks. So I won't go a whole lot further other than to say like, hey, if you've been thinking about this game, two pseudo words of warning. Not very Silent Hill ish, but very much its own thing. And there's no fog.

[Griffin McElroy]

No fog. It's loud as fog.

[Russ Rushik]

A lot of fog.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

A lot of fog. But you are a teenage high school girl in Japan and it's.

[Russ Rushik]

And everyone's really happy.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

And hey, for a moment they are. And also the combat is atrocious.

[Russ Rushik]

Okay, so you've described every Silent Hogan. Congratulations.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Great, great. Then as long as you have that in your head, you are. I think you're gonna really pretty much.

[Russ Rushik]

Every silent ho game.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

The music, I'm like just blown away by the camera work. Like the framing. The way this game looks is cinematic. Gets thrown around a lot in games because they like wannabe movies. But this is like holy, holy moly. This is a gorgeous looking video game. So if you're thinking about checking it out, check it out because we will be talking about it in the coming weeks.

[Russ Rushik]

I have nothing else to add. Everything that I've played, Silk Tong, Hades, et cetera has been mentioned in some way. Go with God.

[Griffin McElroy]

I love it.

[Russ Rushik]

I do want to add, actually, there is one thing. Go over to patreon.com thebesties we have some members I want to shout out. Giuseppe, Lily, Beau and Mary, Queen of Scoffs. Thank you for being members. [e-mail] thebesties we have a new tier, in case you haven't heard, 10 tier which includes AD free episodes of the main feedback. But if you stay at the $5 tier, you get all the bonus episodes. So you're not really missing out. But if you wanted to experience ad free episodes of the main feed and if you wanted to throw us some extra bucks, we certainly appreciate it. We love all of you equally though. And I think that's gonna be it. Juice, what are we doing next week?

[Justin McElroy]

Wow, Russ, that's a really, really personal question. I feel like we've been working together long enough now that you know that I do have some, I mean, boundaries that I'd like to, I guess, kind of respect. Next week we're doing Ghost to Yote.

[Griffin McElroy]

Fuck yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, man. Because like Ghost of Tsushima but now and later and different.

[Russ Rushik]

It's actually different island.

[Justin McElroy]

There's a lot of different stuff.

[Griffin McElroy]

So lots of ghosts, though. Really scary from what I've heard. Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

We'll be back with that and so much more next week on the Besties. Be sure to join us again next week for the Besties because shouldn't the world's best friend pick the world's best games besties?