← The Besties
The Besties
Scott Pilgrim vs. Millennial Nostalgia
00:53:38
Scott Pilgrim EX is a spiritual sequel to a Netflix animated series from 2024, a Scott Pilgrim movie tie-in game from 15 years ago, and an underrated beat ‘em up series that debuted on the NES. Or to put it another way: Scott Pilgrim EX is deeply nostalgic, not for one moment, but for the breadth of the millennial gamer experience. Is that… fun? It will depend on your love of Scott Pilgrim, Rivert City Ransom, and the ongoing renaissance of a long-dormant genre.
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- [00:00]
Russ Frushtick
How likely is it. I know we're gonna talk about it later, but how likely is it that the Pom Bon is just gonna be a big fucking man that's ready to fuck?
- [00:10]
Griffin McElroy
So you're discussing the new fire type starter announced for Pokemon Winds and Waves and he's the fire type starter. He looks like a big cute faced dog.
- [00:18]
Russ Frushtick
He looks like a Pomeranian with fire Pomeranian.
- [00:20]
Chris Plant
Yeah, fire Pomeranian spoiler.
- [00:23]
Griffin McElroy
He's gonna grow extra toes. He's gonna grow different joints in his legs. He's gonna stand up big and proud. He's gonna grow boxing f. He will be part fighting type guaranteed.
- [00:35]
Russ Frushtick
Okay.
- [00:35]
Griffin McElroy
You haven't bipedal humanoid fighting dog if I've ever seen one.
- [00:40]
Russ Frushtick
Yeah, you haven't talked about the bulge yet and that's really my biggest concern.
- [00:44]
Griffin McElroy
I haven't talked about the bulge because I don't know what the fuck you're talking about, man.
- [00:48]
Russ Frushtick
Is Pom Bon two evolutions from now, from baby Pom Bon to whatever final evolution is going to be rocking a massive bulge.
- [00:56]
Griffin McElroy
They gave incineroar a sort of chastity belt to kind of like cover up whether or not there's anything happening down there, which I appreciate. I think it's a little bit more tasteful than Machamp's underwear that he's just wearing. He's just wearing them. As for this dog, I don't know. They'll probably put pants on him. He'll probably evolve into pants.
- [01:19]
Chris Plant
It's hard for me to get into your head sometimes, Fresh, but I'm guessing you're picturing kind of a choaniki like Muscle Man.
- [01:29]
Griffin McElroy
That's the dream. Yeah, that's.
- [01:30]
Chris Plant
That would be ideal.
- [01:32]
Griffin McElroy
Yeah.
- [01:32]
Russ Frushtick
Yeah. I think incineroar is really like where my head is probably going because that's their default. I would rather, quite honestly, I'd rather him just be a cute little dog that maybe gets a little bigger.
- [01:43]
Griffin McElroy
Oh, dude, no, dude. Level 36. That dude looks like RFK. Absolutely huge wallaby man. Absolutely.
- [01:53]
Chris Plant
Rule 34 is gonna be sick.
- [02:12]
Justin McElroy
My name is Justin McElroy and I know the best game of the week.
- [02:16]
Griffin McElroy
My name is Griffin McRoy and I know the best game of the week.
- [02:20]
Chris Plant
My name is Chris Plant and I know a Scott Pilgrim game.
- [02:24]
Russ Frushtick
My name is Russ Freshik. I know the best game of the week.
- [02:27]
Justin McElroy
Welcome to the Besties, where we talk about the latest and greatest in home interactive entertainment. It is a video game club for friends and just by listening, you have joined our illustrious ranks. This week we're going to be talking About Scott Pilgrim X. Okay. I was worried you guys are going to correct me and say ex. I was kind of guessing, but Scott Pilgrim. Exactly.
- [02:53]
Griffin McElroy
You would pronounce it X. Yeah.
- [02:55]
Justin McElroy
So what's that? Chris Plant?
- [02:56]
Chris Plant
Scott Pilgrim Ex is a, I would say spiritual sequel to Scott Pilgrim versus the world. The game released in 2010. Very similar to that game. This is a beat em up. Very different than that game is the entire structure which we're going to talk about. The other odd thing about this game is is an unofficial sequel of sorts to the Netflix Scott Pilgrim TV show Scott Pilgrim Takes off. And we'll talk about all that and more right after the break.
- [03:24]
Russ Frushtick
Griffin, you played a lot of the original Scott Pilgrim game and probably some of the remake as well, right? They remastered it a few years ago.
- [03:32]
Griffin McElroy
Yeah, the remake didn't do a ton. It was on the wide spectrum of remakes. It didn't, you know, do much. I really love that game. I really, I read Scott Pilgrim in college, which is kind of like when it is most appealing, I would say, of a story. Love the movie. And yeah, I thought the game kicked ass just as a, you know, came out in 2010 when we weren't really in this kind of like beat em up renaissance that we are in, I would say right now. And so it was very, very exciting to have this like classic style pixel art beat em up with a soundtrack by Onamanaguchi and art designs by Paul Robertson. Like just a really, really solid game that was, I would say, somewhat inspired by River City Ransom, the NES classic beat em Up. Whereas this one, Scott Pilgrim Ex, is extremely inspired by River City Ransom, I was gonna say in almost every way.
- [04:34]
Russ Frushtick
Because the original game was a lit. They were linear levels. Correct.
- [04:37]
Griffin McElroy
Yeah. So it had a sort of level select and you would go through and play through the different levels. Each one was kind of dedicated to one of the different Evil X's. Right. So there was like the movie set level where you're going up against Lucas Lee and then there was the A level on a bus that kept getting like sliced in half during the Roxy Richter sort of like ninja fight. There was a. You were constantly earning money. Like enemies would drop coins and then you could go back to the first level of the game to like spend those coins at this marketplace, which was always kind of a weird sort of way of handling progression. Like you would just have to go back to level one and play through the last half of it. And that weird, like allow you to buy food and stuff that would upgrade your stats.
- [05:20]
Russ Frushtick
Sounds like Something they added very late, sort of.
- [05:23]
Griffin McElroy
But like, I also love, you know, progression hooks in my beat em ups. What's interesting is like, in some ways the game is structurally so different this time around because it does have a more open world style where you are running around between little like side levels that you go off into to like unlock the next progression thing or whatever. And like these odds and end challenges. And then there's like different sort of shopping centers like all around the map that you're running to. So in some ways, like, it's a more elegant solution than you have to go back to level one to spend your money and then maybe play through the rest of that again. But I think the big thing that's different this time around is I would say the pacing. Because you are not playing through these long, long levels. And if you die, you're gonna have to start over. Instead you are figuring out where to go next in this wild version of Toronto and then going in to do a few fights and then you're off to the next sort of location. Yeah, you're doing a bunch of beating up stuff on the way between point
- [06:23]
Russ Frushtick
A and B. Yeah. You're given these many objectives that are like, go to this beach or go to this haunted castle, fight a person there. That person might drop a instrument that then unlocks this thing. But you're basically being led pretty directly through this open world. You can kind of go in a lot of different places. You don't have to go. There's not really an incentive to go to a lot of different places. But it is an interesting structure that again, as you said, very similar to Retro City. What is it?
- [06:54]
Griffin McElroy
River City.
- [06:54]
Russ Frushtick
River City Rampage?
- [06:55]
Griffin McElroy
Yeah, yeah.
- [06:56]
Russ Frushtick
In that way. Like that open world thing.
- [06:59]
Chris Plant
Yeah, it's it. I want to talk more about the River City Ransom part because what is really amazing about this game, and it's released way back on the nes, is it felt like what would become the open world game because it motivates you to use all of the different parts of the city. So similar in this game, in Scott Pilgrim X, you will go into a boss fight and you will lose and you will realize, I don't have enough health or magic to get into this fight. And you could keep bashing it over and over again and keep losing, or you can go to a restaurant and buy a hamburger or nachos and increase your health, increase your stats, and you can go grind some enemies in this open world. And you can get a few different buffs, like a special belt that makes you stronger. If all of this sounds extremely old fashioned and retro. Correct. It is so loyal to that old fashioned thing. It's also loyal to it in that it's difficult. So Griffin's right. Like you aren't going through these humongous levels, but you are doing like let's say five or six screens of fights and then a boss. And if you lose, you're doing all that back to the beginning. You do it all over again.
- [08:12]
Griffin McElroy
You don't get to keep the stuff you have gotten since the last checkpoint. And I think you start with the health you had when you hit that checkpoint. And also you lose money as a penalty for dying. So it's like bizarrely punishing whenever you die.
- [08:28]
Chris Plant
It is not roguelite in any way in that sense of like, oh well if I keep grinding I'm gonna get better. It wants you to have to figure out a different way to go in and actually grind before you go into the fight.
- [08:40]
Russ Frushtick
Yeah, I think for people there's kind of two sorts of people that play beat em ups. There's the people that are like deeply care about score and I don't know, no hitting.
- [08:49]
Griffin McElroy
Tech and shit.
- [08:49]
Russ Frushtick
Tech and shit like that. And this game has a lot of that tech out the ass. It is incredibly complicated, like way more complicated than I think I was expecting. Comparable, I would say maybe not in the RPG settings, but close to Absalom's tech side there's a lot going on.
- [09:05]
Griffin McElroy
I have some feelings about that, but we'll get there.
- [09:08]
Russ Frushtick
But I would say if you're the sort of person like me who is looking to jump into a beat em up game and just like fuck shit up and have a good time with maybe a couple people on the couch, you will, you will want to play on the lowest difficulty imaginable because especially
- [09:22]
Griffin McElroy
if you're playing single player. Yes, it is, it is I think completely and obviously sort of like geared for, for multiplayer. Because like in fights where there's a bunch of dudes on the screen, it is not having someone to off tank the boss for like a second so you can catch your breath. Like stuff like that is like really, really, really tough.
- [09:42]
Russ Frushtick
And playing, I will say playing on the easier difficulty like made the game what I was going to was manageable. Yeah, like I, I was able to enjoy myself just beating shit up and increasing my stats and getting money and going on missions and things like that. I don't really understand why the default setting, let alone the setting below that is still so challenging. I think it's a Mistake from a design standpoint. But you know, whatever. That was their decision to make.
- [10:06]
Chris Plant
Let's talk about the combat. Because the combat in this game is so good and I don't think that's a surprise. The studio tribute they have been making, they made that Ninja Turtles, Shredder's Revenge, they made Marvel Cosmic Invasion, they made Panzer Paladin. A lot of games that we've really liked and this is. It is hardcore. I mean you have the traditional beat em up of just spamming punch and kick. You also have like a block system. You also have tons of physics objects in the world and they all react differently. So you might have various like volleyballs in a gymnasium setting, like a dozen of them. And you can get this chaos happening where they're ricocheting into each other billiards ball style and just filling the screen with objects that'll like knock you to the floor.
- [10:56]
Griffin McElroy
Yeah.
- [10:58]
Chris Plant
It wants you to experiment with all the different weapons that it has. There are also these support characters that you can call in. Surprising number of them to start with that have.
- [11:09]
Griffin McElroy
And you find more. Yeah, it's like a nice, nice hook to. Yeah.
- [11:12]
Russ Frushtick
These are side characters like Young Neil.
- [11:15]
Griffin McElroy
Young Neil and things like that.
- [11:16]
Russ Frushtick
Yeah, yeah.
- [11:17]
Chris Plant
Can you explain how the Young Neil thing works? Because it's.
- [11:19]
Russ Frushtick
I'm trying to remember what his. I know I did one where like two guys to the twins, the Kusanagi twins, whatever their name was, would show up and create like a healing area. I forget what Young Niels was.
- [11:30]
Griffin McElroy
Yeah.
- [11:30]
Chris Plant
Young yell is a stampede of fans fills the screen. It's. I mean it's pretty cool. The Pixart's. Yeah, it's sick.
- [11:38]
Griffin McElroy
I. I think it. I think the combat feels fantastic. I think you can play this game not having much experience with beat em ups and not wanting to engage much with like the deep tech stuff and like still have a really good time. I struggle to really sink my teeth into some of the like more techy sort of fundamentals. And it is stuff that is like native to the genre. Like clash. Like going up against an enemy's attack with your attack to kind of like interrupt it. There's a lot of stuff with grab attacks in this game. Like you get I frames during grab attacks. So sometimes that's the only option to avoid some super attack that the boss is doing. There's a little side hop thing that you can do. But I don't know, I have a hard time sort of folding that into the regular ass beating stuff that I was doing with the character that I finally found that I really enjoyed. There's like seven characters. They all feel very, very different.
- [12:35]
Chris Plant
Ye.
- [12:36]
Russ Frushtick
I was pretty impressed. Who did you land on?
- [12:39]
Griffin McElroy
I did Lucas for a long time, but he's more of a grappler sort of slow style. One that. I don't know, I wanted something that attacked faster. So I ended up going with Roxy Richter, which is the ninja sort of build. And that's what I've been playing through the most.
- [12:54]
Russ Frushtick
Yeah, I was playing as. Who is Jason Schwartzman's character?
- [12:58]
Griffin McElroy
Oh, Gideon Graves.
- [12:59]
Russ Frushtick
Gideon.
- [12:59]
Chris Plant
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Gideon.
- [13:00]
Griffin McElroy
He's fun too.
- [13:01]
Russ Frushtick
Super fun. He has the katana and very quick. I think he's a pressure character. So, yeah, they really do feel very, very different.
- [13:10]
Griffin McElroy
One issue that I have is the progression stuff. I do, again, like that stuff in my games, but in this one, it feels fairly inelegantly sort of added where, like, there is equipment. And if you unlock equipment on one character, you can use it on the other character.
- [13:25]
Justin McElroy
Right.
- [13:25]
Griffin McElroy
Which helps sort of bridge the gap a little bit. But also, as you are playing, you are constantly buying food for your characters to upgrade their stats. You are constantly finding these pickups that permanently upgrade their stats. They're getting stronger and stronger and stronger. And sometimes you have go do that shit in order to get through a boss fight. There simply is no other option. Like, you're just not. You don't have the stats for it. You're gonna get your ass kicked. Right. Which means if you wanna play as another character to, like, goof around with them, they are going to be much, much weaker. And other games do versions of this that kind of, like, gets around it. Right.
- [13:55]
Russ Frushtick
Castle Crashers had a similar system, Right.
- [13:57]
Griffin McElroy
Castle Crashers did have a similar system, right. Where you're upgrading their stats. That was pretty intrinsic, but, like a thing like the. I think it was the TMNT game. Like, you were also unlocking new moves, right? So you're not ne necessarily, like, you have more health and you're not going to get beaten up so bad. And then, like, a lot of this game made me appreciate a lot of the design decisions in Absolum a lot more. And I know it's probably frustrating to, like, big fans of the genre to hear me say that, but, like, the way Absolum would toss these options at you, each run that forced you to, like, engage with the different mechanics. Like I am. I have to use clash. I have to try to clash my way out of attacks because I have a build that, like, is strengthened by that. That stuff. Made that made those mechanics like really fun and surprising to sort of engage with. And also got rid of the. If I want to play as this other character, that's fine because they're not going to be like way, way, way, way weaker than the one that I've been sort of like playing as the rest of the time.
- [14:58]
Russ Frushtick
Yeah. The other boon of Absalom that I found was that because you're working towards a specific build, you don't need to keep everything in your head at all times. So as someone that can't remember all these special moves, encounters and whatever the fuck, I was able to do one or two things that I did really well in a run. Whereas here it feels like I frequently feel like I'm doing the wrong thing
- [15:19]
Griffin McElroy
or the suboptimal thing. That's what I, which is I, I, I do think it's fun to play. I do, I do have a great time playing it. My biggest issue with the game is the structure because I would much prefer to just play through a long fun, beat em up level than the way this game handles it where you're running across the map and then you're gonna do a not so long sequence of fights and a boss fight and then you get the guitar and that lets you go back and open this garage. I was spending so much time spinning my wheels and running around the map, just running past fights at a certain point because I didn't want to do them for the millionth time. And that is unfortunately Henry bounced off of the. Because like, because of that, like the, just the sort of interstitial parts that were not so engaging.
- [16:08]
Chris Plant
15 to 20 seconds of downtime where you're just looking for the word go.
- [16:11]
Griffin McElroy
Yeah. And like managing equipment. Like stuff like again this is like not, I think a objective critique of the game. It's just like stuff that a nine year old is not as interested in. But like, I don't know, that was enough to kind of.
- [16:25]
Russ Frushtick
It's not a min maxer.
- [16:26]
Griffin McElroy
Yeah, it's enough to kind of bump him off the game. I've been enjoying it, but I do think that the dedication that they have done in following the River City Rampage format maybe could have been modernized a little bit more. There's also weird stuff. Some of the little mini games are kind of strange. There's one where you're supposed to get in a fight but you can only throw volleyballs. But whenever I throw a volleyball it instantly fails the challenge. And I don't, I never like could figure out quite why that was was happening.
- [17:03]
Russ Frushtick
Yeah, I ran into similar issues as well. I sort of agree. I think it feels to me that the open world stuff was a way to pad out the experience because you are kind of in the more classic indie game format these days. The idea that you would create one level and you'd only run through it once and that would be the last time you saw of it is like not a very productive use of resour. So here they have very, very densely animated, detailed levels that you are seeing more than once. But it did, you're right, feel a little bit like I don't need to go through this level again. It doesn't bring me a lot of joy again.
- [17:41]
Chris Plant
I think that's definitely the effect that it has. I don't think that was the intention because it is riffing on River City Ransom and that's just how the game works. I think what is tricky and it's. It's where this balancing act when you're trying to do old fashioned genre gets messy is in River City Ransom you were exploring these different places and you would come across fights and you would figure out gradually what to do when you have the direction to go from place to place. On one hand that makes the game much easier and more streamlined and less frustrating. On the other, it makes it weirdly linear, which is the thing that it doesn't want to be. So I don't know. This is the first game that Tribute has self published since 2020. They did that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game and Marvel Cosmic Invasion with Dot Emu and I personally prefer those experiences. Both those games, I think are a bit more appealing to a broader audience. One of the earliest games that Tribute made was Mercenary Kings. Do y' all remember that? Hell yeah. Yeah. And it is a very, I would say, more hardcore experience, incredibly.
- [18:56]
Griffin McElroy
Yeah. Than the incredibly hard Metal Slug style,
- [18:58]
Russ Frushtick
sort of, but with weird meta mechanics that we're seeing in here as well.
- [19:02]
Griffin McElroy
And awesome art by Paul Robertson. Like there is a definite through line between these. I love this studio a lot for these exact reasons.
- [19:10]
Chris Plant
What I admire about them and what I admire about this game is like they are. I mean, Tribute is the perfect name for the studio. They are so dedicated to honoring and recreating and sticking to the early pleasures of these games. The problem is that's just for me personally, not where I'm at, but I think there are a number of people who are listening to this and I hope this is the case where you're hearing our gripes and you're like, that sounds awesome. That Sounds what I am looking for. And yeah, that is what's interesting about this game is the things that we don't like, they're not bad. They're just. They're largely a personal preference.
- [19:49]
Griffin McElroy
Juice, I know that you were not able to play this one because of the twitchiness sort of aspect of it and your recovery, but you're kind of familiar with Scott Pilgrim stuff, I think. Did you?
- [20:02]
Justin McElroy
No, I like sports. I'm a sports guy. No, it is weird. The only thing that strikes me as weird is I was thinking about the gap between this one and the last one. Right. That 16 year gap.
- [20:12]
Chris Plant
Mm.
- [20:13]
Justin McElroy
And it's like, is the nostalgia. Are we just sort of in this stage where, like, nostalgia is like a general sort of vibe, you know what I mean? Because now this game is hearkening back to a game that was hearkening back to another generation before it. Is that like. Is that the Scott Pilgrim aspect of it, where you can just sort of like play in those time ranges? Is that like, what sets this apart as a Scott Pilgrim game? Because I know what that meant earlier when it was like, very tied to the comic and the graphic novel, and that sort of like, retro idea was very tied into, like, what that graphic novel is like.
- [20:51]
Chris Plant
Sure.
- [20:51]
Russ Frushtick
I don't know that this game in particular is. Even though obviously there's similarities in terms of genre and stuff like that. I don't know that this game is super in conversation with the first game. I think it's more in conversation with just like video game history in general. Like.
- [21:04]
Griffin McElroy
Well, and as Chris mentioned, the Netflix series, like, I don't think it follows it in plot, but the. That series really dove into like, the personalities of the different exes a lot more. And you get to play as a lot of them. I guess this time around.
- [21:20]
Justin McElroy
I guess what I'm saying is like, this has been folded back into nostalgia rather than it being something about nostalgia. Right. Like, because a lot of the people who would be playing this in the target demographic don't have nostalgia for this. You know, like, that's different. Like, people playing in 2010 are nostalgic for the generation this is talking about, you know, 16, 20 years prior, but that, like, we're now a generation removed from that. So is this like, is this nostalgia for them or is it more of like a aesthetic?
- [21:49]
Chris Plant
Well, in terms of story, specifically, it is nostalgic for Scott Pilgrim in the way that, like, Scott Pilgrim was nostalgic for old video games and other stuff like that. I think that is what actually I Would have probably stick around longer if it had a story like Scott Pilgrim where this is like, I hope you really care about these characters and get references because you're going to need it if that's what you're here for.
- [22:15]
Griffin McElroy
Oh, yeah, man. This thing starts out with a fucking bang. If you have not. If this is the first piece of Scott Pilgrim media you've consumed, do not expect an onboarding process.
- [22:25]
Chris Plant
Yeah. Also in terms of the game, it is worth saying the team that would go on to found Tribute, the studio that made this, worked on the original Scott Pilgrim. Okay.
- [22:36]
Griffin McElroy
That's where that makes sense.
- [22:37]
Chris Plant
Comes from.
- [22:38]
Russ Frushtick
Interesting.
- [22:40]
Griffin McElroy
Yeah, yeah. I think it's a fun one and I'm obviously like, I love this genre and I'm excited that it is continuing to get these pretty high profile, just banger releases. And it is fun always to see a studio get kind of free reign or at least more than they have with other properties in the past. It very much feels like Tribute was told, like, hey, just. Just go fucking hog wild. Yeah, whatever you want with this thing.
- [23:08]
Justin McElroy
All right, well, let's take a quick break and when we come back, I understand there's some developments in the world of Pokemon. So I can finally get a fucking handle. We'll be right back,
- [23:22]
Russ Frushtick
Justin. This is the one.
- [23:23]
Griffin McElroy
This will be the one, dude.
- [23:24]
Russ Frushtick
This is the one.
- [23:26]
Griffin McElroy
With the power of the Switch 2,
- [23:29]
Russ Frushtick
you will finally be a Pokemaniac. I know you've been fighting the urge for all these years, but this.
- [23:35]
Griffin McElroy
Let me.
- [23:36]
Justin McElroy
Sign me up, put me in coach.
- [23:38]
Griffin McElroy
I'll say this, juice, if you get your kids into Pokemon, birthdays, Christmas, every.
- [23:44]
Russ Frushtick
You don't need to think about it.
- [23:46]
Griffin McElroy
No worries, dude. No worries. Just go with the merch.
- [23:50]
Russ Frushtick
That's right. You're covered.
- [23:52]
Griffin McElroy
Obviously. Big announcement. Pokemon Wins and Waves the next generation has been revealed. Coming sometime next year. Simultaneous global release. Switch to exclusive.
- [24:03]
Russ Frushtick
Yeah, this is the first two different kinds.
- [24:06]
Justin McElroy
You can buy Pokemon Wins or Pokemon Waves.
- [24:09]
Griffin McElroy
I know, isn't that wild?
- [24:11]
Chris Plant
What do you mean?
- [24:12]
Griffin McElroy
You'd have to buy both of them to get them all.
- [24:14]
Russ Frushtick
That's how they've been doing it for.
- [24:15]
Griffin McElroy
That's why I'm boycotting this. Yeah, it looks really neat. It has sun and moon energy. It's like based in a new era or a new area.
- [24:28]
Russ Frushtick
It's a tropical theming.
- [24:29]
Griffin McElroy
It's Southeast Asian sort of inspired. So, like, is that a quote or
- [24:35]
Russ Frushtick
is that you making that interpretation?
- [24:37]
Griffin McElroy
No, that's. I don't know if it's a quote, but it is what they have said about the area. So a lot of like islands and obviously a lot of lands and a whole bunch of waves.
- [24:47]
Russ Frushtick
Yeah.
- [24:48]
Chris Plant
What is different about this one that you all can tell so far?
- [24:52]
Russ Frushtick
It's such a good question. Chris. Plant. Here's the thing that's very different. When you start playing the game, there are three different Pokemon that you have not picked previously. When you start playing.
- [25:01]
Griffin McElroy
New guys. New guys.
- [25:03]
Russ Frushtick
New guys. We already talked about Pom Bomb, the Pomeranian looking.
- [25:08]
Griffin McElroy
And Gekwa is such a strong name for Brute. Browt is such a good name. I don't even care. Brute's the water one, I think, right?
- [25:16]
Russ Frushtick
No, no, no, no, no, no.
- [25:19]
Chris Plant
Grass type, bean chick.
- [25:22]
Griffin McElroy
Pokemon.
- [25:22]
Russ Frushtick
Justin, if you could pull up a picture of Brute and just talk about what you're seeing right now.
- [25:27]
Griffin McElroy
Yeah.
- [25:27]
Justin McElroy
Tell me the spelling on brown.
- [25:29]
Chris Plant
Justin's more of a brown R, O,
- [25:32]
Russ Frushtick
W, T. Traditional spelling.
- [25:34]
Griffin McElroy
Yeah. I love this guy. This is going to be the guy for me.
- [25:37]
Justin McElroy
He looks like a. He looks like if, like if a lime came to life and was your
- [25:48]
Griffin McElroy
best friend, but also wasn't thrilled about the prospect. Yeah.
- [25:52]
Justin McElroy
He asked you about it.
- [25:54]
Griffin McElroy
What if it hatched and the thing that came out of it was still kind of an egg.
- [25:58]
Chris Plant
That's Brute, weirdly has the silhouette of a Pac man ghost, but with chicken legs.
- [26:05]
Justin McElroy
Highly edible.
- [26:06]
Griffin McElroy
Not a ton of info. Highly super munchable, dude.
- [26:10]
Chris Plant
Absolutely super duper.
- [26:13]
Griffin McElroy
Not a ton of info about the game has come out. You have a scooter that I guess you attach to your Pokemon to ride on them. That's kind of a nothing burger. I feel like from a news answer.
- [26:26]
Russ Frushtick
I mean, better than last time when you had to ride on a Pokemon who was also a motorcycle for some reason.
- [26:31]
Griffin McElroy
Yeah. And eventually like just a full airplane. Just a full blown airplane.
- [26:36]
Russ Frushtick
We really just have the setting and the. And the starters. I think at this point.
- [26:40]
Griffin McElroy
I think that is. Well. And I think the platform. Right. A lot of people are pissed off that it is not going to be on the Switch one. I think that's sort of out of touch with the history of how new platforms evolve. Eventually they're going to stop making games for the older one. But also Pokemon. Scarlet and Violet suffered so much.
- [26:59]
Russ Frushtick
Ran like dog shit.
- [27:00]
Chris Plant
I was going to say they stopped making games for Pokemon on Switch 1 like 5 years ago. They barely run.
- [27:06]
Griffin McElroy
It's. Yeah.
- [27:08]
Justin McElroy
But this is the question about this one.
- [27:09]
Griffin McElroy
Way better. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [27:11]
Justin McElroy
I mean, I think there's a question on all the Pokemaniacs minds, really. And it's like there's 10 types that we haven't gotten yet. Type combinations that we haven't gotten. Right. Four of those are normal combos. So you roll those out, you got five left.
- [27:27]
Griffin McElroy
I call them.
- [27:28]
Justin McElroy
I call them the Funky five. Okay. These are the five funky combinations you have not gotten yet. And I would love to know which of the Funky Five you guys would like to see represented in Winston Griffin.
- [27:40]
Russ Frushtick
Do you know of any of the Funky five just off the top of your head as a pokemaniac.
- [27:43]
Griffin McElroy
Oh my Christ. Is there. I imagine Dragon is in there. Yes.
- [27:49]
Justin McElroy
Bug dragon.
- [27:50]
Griffin McElroy
I don't think there's been a Funky five.
- [27:52]
Russ Frushtick
Bug dragon. Flygon is not a bug dragon.
- [27:55]
Justin McElroy
Bug dragon is one of the Funky five.
- [27:58]
Griffin McElroy
Okay.
- [27:58]
Russ Frushtick
Huh.
- [28:01]
Griffin McElroy
I'm not gonna be able to pull this in.
- [28:03]
Justin McElroy
A rock contain the Funky five or Fire fairy.
- [28:07]
Chris Plant
Ground fairy. Right.
- [28:08]
Justin McElroy
Ground fairy, Fire fairy. Ice poison. Bug dragon. Rock ghost.
- [28:15]
Russ Frushtick
Rock ghost.
- [28:16]
Justin McElroy
Crazy. That koffing isn't a rock ghost.
- [28:18]
Russ Frushtick
Fly dragon. Seems like it's gonna happen this, you know, you're in this tropical environment, there's a lot of crazy bugs.
- [28:25]
Justin McElroy
Bug dragon.
- [28:26]
Russ Frushtick
Bug dragon. Sorry, sorry. Bug dragon. Seems like that's gonna happen.
- [28:30]
Griffin McElroy
I'd love it.
- [28:31]
Justin McElroy
That would be cool.
- [28:31]
Russ Frushtick
Which of the Flygon realistic go into a cave?
- [28:34]
Chris Plant
Yeah. Like, oh, I'm going spelunking in this tropical cave. Oh, a rock ghost.
- [28:39]
Griffin McElroy
A bug dragon.
- [28:40]
Chris Plant
Yeah.
- [28:40]
Russ Frushtick
Oh, rock ghost. Yeah.
- [28:41]
Justin McElroy
What if you found the ground fairy? Just a dirty ass ground fairy rutting around down there in the dirt. You always think of them going plant to plant. But what if you saw a fairy just like, hey, how's it going? Like a fairy digging out of the rocks? That'd be cool. Rock fairy. Ground fairy.
- [28:58]
Chris Plant
Put me in the poke store. I want the cuddle the type.
- [29:03]
Griffin McElroy
Matchups against that thing would be fucking gnarly, dude.
- [29:06]
Russ Frushtick
That might be why it hasn't appeared yet.
- [29:08]
Griffin McElroy
Yeah, it might be. Might be op. Yeah. No, I'm excited for. I did not get into Zna Z through A at all.
- [29:16]
Russ Frushtick
I am now 85 hours into that game because it's the only Pokemon game my son will play and he fucking loves it.
- [29:21]
Griffin McElroy
Henry got back into it. Henry plays. So I've left helped him out with some fights that have gotten too tough. But it is not a situation like Scarlet and Violet where we both played the hell out of it and did trading and battling in like the whole nine yards. So like I am genuinely very excited for for that to return. Even though this is not too surprising. It's, you know, look at the water in Scarlet And Violet. And then look in the water in this trailer.
- [29:45]
Justin McElroy
I. I want to say two things. The first is two addendums to my previous question about the Funky Five. The first addendum, according to this Reddit post that I'm referring to, it's worth noting that Dragon Fairy is only used in mega evolution with Altaria. And my second thing is, I'm sorry if that was a activation phrase for any assassins out there. I don't really know how all that works or what that means. So apologies in advance, y'.
- [30:18]
Russ Frushtick
All.
- [30:18]
Chris Plant
I did not know the lore around these Pokemon. Somebody wants a disc, the Disc Pokemon to be one of these. The Disc Pokemon is responsible for all of Area 0 in the Great Crater as the power to bring thoughts to reality. Hence the creation of the paradox Pokemon. The paradox of their very existence.
- [30:37]
Russ Frushtick
Is this tying into this Indigo.
- [30:40]
Griffin McElroy
This is about the Indigo disk. This is like a. Yeah, this sounds
- [30:43]
Russ Frushtick
unrelated to wind and waves.
- [30:45]
Chris Plant
Yeah, it sounds like there was request of like, oh, you know who would be a great, great Rock Ghost? The Disc Pokemon.
- [30:53]
Russ Frushtick
Well, you can't. He's already in there. Oh, he hasn't been shown yet. He's. He's like a mystery force working behind the scenes.
- [31:01]
Chris Plant
Yeah, you can.
- [31:02]
Griffin McElroy
Only Team Rocket comes back for this one.
- [31:04]
Russ Frushtick
Yeah.
- [31:05]
Griffin McElroy
I'll tell you what I am looking forward to is Pokemon Champions.
- [31:09]
Justin McElroy
What if the. Okay, well, listen, listen. What if the final shot of the trailer where they reveal this game, both of these games is. And there's two trailers, right? Because there's two members of Team Rocket. Two games. Each one ends with James or Jesse. Hey, I was farting.
- [31:33]
Griffin McElroy
That wasn't a gap for an answer, Russ. It was clearly a courtesy break.
- [31:38]
Russ Frushtick
Sorry, I thought I was helping him out. That was my bad. You're right, Gretchen.
- [31:44]
Chris Plant
It's your fault.
- [31:46]
Justin McElroy
What if the last shot of the trailer is you zoom in on their eyes and you realize, like, it's Team Rocket. And then you hear them say, we're gonna kill every human being on Earth.
- [31:57]
Griffin McElroy
Okay, man, you're joking.
- [31:59]
Justin McElroy
Team Rocket is gonna kill every human being. Like, it's like Jesse James.
- [32:04]
Griffin McElroy
We're gonna kill every human being on the face of the Earth. I mean, that is basically in a lot of the Pokemon games, the sort of Team Rocket substitute, like Team Aqua and Team Magma were basically like, we're going to flood the Earth. We're going to create a new biblical flood, and we will be the only survivors. Like, holy shit. Yeah, they weren't there. The other guys just wanted to yoink my slowpoke.
- [32:24]
Russ Frushtick
Tails.
- [32:25]
Griffin McElroy
But you want to fucking kill everyone in the. You want to collapse the dimensions. Are you out of your fucking mind?
- [32:31]
Russ Frushtick
Actually tackles this because they deal with the Lysander and whatever his team was on. And that sounded pretty apocalyptic.
- [32:37]
Griffin McElroy
Pretty intense. Pretty intense shit. Yeah.
- [32:39]
Russ Frushtick
So pulling from the headlines these days. Pokemon well done.
- [32:42]
Griffin McElroy
Pokemon Champions comes out soonish.
- [32:44]
Russ Frushtick
That's just where they fight each other. Right.
- [32:46]
Griffin McElroy
It's Pokemon Pokemon Stadium. Stadium. Right. But the new Pokemon Stadium. You can pull your Pokemon from Pokemon Home. I don't know.
- [32:52]
Russ Frushtick
That does not appeal to me.
- [32:53]
Griffin McElroy
Okay.
- [32:54]
Russ Frushtick
I am incredibly excited about the game. We're going to be talking about next week. This is a little bit of a spoiler, but we're going to be doing Pocopia next week.
- [33:01]
Chris Plant
Yes.
- [33:02]
Russ Frushtick
And this game has literally been on my fucking radar since it got announced. Probably. What was it? Six months ago? Something like that. It looked awesome and the reviews have been very good. So I'm very excited to try it. I have not this.
- [33:13]
Chris Plant
The great merger of the Frostic Griffin taste like. I feel like.
- [33:19]
Griffin McElroy
I don't know, man. I mean. Yes. I'm very excited.
- [33:21]
Chris Plant
Because you're a Dragon Quest Builders person. Griffin.
- [33:24]
Russ Frushtick
Well, I love Dragon Quest Builders as well.
- [33:26]
Griffin McElroy
Yeah. I think it's just two great tastes that are going to taste pretty good.
- [33:29]
Chris Plant
Yeah.
- [33:29]
Justin McElroy
Yeah.
- [33:29]
Griffin McElroy
Excited to get it.
- [33:30]
Russ Frushtick
We're there. We're there. We're also playing Eugenics at the same time. So that's also happening. I'm excited. But more excited about Pocopia than I am Winds and Waves. I've. It's been a little while since I've really enjoyed one of the mainline Pokemon games. I think they've gotten a little up their own asses. I hope they take some swings that I'm not expecting. I don't think that they will because they tend to play it a little bit safe.
- [33:52]
Justin McElroy
Fire Fairy.
- [33:53]
Russ Frushtick
Maybe Fire Fairy would change the game entirely.
- [33:56]
Griffin McElroy
Ground Fairy in there. Yeah.
- [33:58]
Russ Frushtick
Thank you, Justin. Good point. We have some reader mail. Unless we had any other thoughts on Pokemon.
- [34:03]
Chris Plant
Please.
- [34:04]
Russ Frushtick
This one comes from Aslam. Regarding. I will take a hit on this one. I was knocking Grace as an FBI agent when we were talking about Resident Evil last week. Oslam says one thing I will say. And I really only picked up on this because I watched the opening of the game three times. Grace is not an FBI agent. I do think she is an FBI agent. But we'll get there. Her wildly incompetent boss calls her a technical analyst. That is a good precision note. And then sends her into the field Alone. And her only companion is her constant PTSD for her mother's murder, which she is currently investigating the same location. She doesn't even get an FBI issued gun. Nothing about her being sent there makes any sense. You wouldn't even send an FBI agent into a weird murder situation by themselves, let alone some desk jockey analyst.
- [34:52]
Justin McElroy
Wow.
- [34:52]
Griffin McElroy
Damn.
- [34:53]
Russ Frushtick
I mean, they're right. She seems wholly unprepared for this scenario.
- [34:57]
Griffin McElroy
She has a badge that says FBI on it. And then when she does find a gun, she immediately starts capping like, Resident
- [35:04]
Justin McElroy
Evil has been in an uphill battle with plausibility for a long time now, and this is just the straw that proverbial camels back.
- [35:10]
Chris Plant
Also, I think the game does a pretty good job of explaining why this is happening. You just have to make it a little bit further.
- [35:19]
Griffin McElroy
I don't actually think there's any excuse for the boss being like, hey, you know that room you watched your mother be murdered in? You gotta go there to look for a different thing.
- [35:30]
Chris Plant
I have a. We will save it for.
- [35:32]
Russ Frushtick
Okay, we'll save it for the spoiler episode, which we're not doing today. I do want to say, though, she is not a field agent and you wouldn't send an analyst into a random crime scene. I'm sorry. There's no justification for it where their mother was certainly, let alone the fact that her mother was murdered there.
- [35:45]
Griffin McElroy
Okay, if I gave you this one about the least scary one.
- [35:49]
Russ Frushtick
Let's do this one about the least scary one. That's fine. This is a question from Dustin. If I'm a scaredy baby like frosh Fair cop. But I am tired of feeling left out. What Resident Evil game should I start with? Good question.
- [36:04]
Griffin McElroy
I don't think 4 is too scary. It's more stressful than anything else. But I think it goes fairly light on the jump scares.
- [36:13]
Russ Frushtick
Four was the one that I, as a scaredy baby, was finally able to get into.
- [36:18]
Chris Plant
For what it's worth, it is most
- [36:20]
Russ Frushtick
scary at the very beginning. That is the scariest part of the entire game, in my opinion. And then it gets progressively less scary as Leon gets fucking yoked.
- [36:27]
Chris Plant
Does he get like a rocket launcher?
- [36:29]
Russ Frushtick
Yeah, eventually, yes.
- [36:30]
Justin McElroy
I find. I find Ari. I find village unsettling for a lot of parts, but it's more creepy. And you do have a lot of agency and power. I think the controls are the big thing where, like, I don't find Code Veronica particularly scary, but when you have that limited control, I feel like that adds to the tension.
- [36:45]
Russ Frushtick
Yeah. The other thing I would Say in favor of Village is post launch they added third person mode and third person mode does make these games less scary. Sure. So I would. I would say Village would be a good pick.
- [36:57]
Chris Plant
Village has like one level. The doll sequence that is. Is tough. But yes, it is surprising because seven, on the other hand, it would be like the number one place.
- [37:07]
Russ Frushtick
Way too scary. I was way I could not play seven. It was too scary.
- [37:10]
Chris Plant
Yeah, it rocks.
- [37:13]
Russ Frushtick
We have one more letter. This one comes from Zack. Did anyone try out Morsels? It's a really weird roguelike with a neat art style. We did talk about it on Rusty's.
- [37:21]
Griffin McElroy
Okay, I played Morsels as well. That is a very, very neat game. I forget something else came out around the same time that kind of like pushed it off my radar. But it was one that I was very much enjoying. Even though I agree with the sentiment here. A little light on what's happening mechanics wise.
- [37:38]
Russ Frushtick
Yeah, they are probably too opaque.
- [37:40]
Griffin McElroy
Way too opaque. And like, I think that's part of the design of the. Of the game. And I don't think it would have been as big of an issue if there hadn't been, you know, some competition for my. My gaming time.
- [37:50]
Russ Frushtick
But cool game if you. Especially if you like the Binding of Isaac genre. Zach mentioned there are a few other Next Fest demos that they tried. You know the Drill, which is a fun time waster that would be good on portables. Wanderbug, which is a really fun bullet hell building. Oh, sorry, Wanderburg. It's a fun bullet hell building on in building on wheels. Flock around a cozy bird watching, good with friends to hang out in. And Cuppy Claw, which felt obtuse but fun to make the claw go up and down. Okay, I get it. So those are some Next Fest titles. I have another Next Fest title that I could talk about in honorable mentions if anyone.
- [38:26]
Griffin McElroy
Yeah, please.
- [38:28]
Russ Frushtick
I played a game called Rune Dice which is currently Next Fest. It comes out Q2 of this year. Rune Dice is okay. So imagine a tabletop and on that tabletop you've spread like 26 sided dies around and each of them have numbers on them and you have one die that has a one on it. And if you shoot that die, like Bust the move style, if you shoot that die into another one, it'll transform into a two and launch up into the air and use physics to try to roll over to another two and that in turn, if it becomes a three, it tries to roll to another three and you try to set up these cool combos. I really liked it. It was very quick. It had an interesting roguelike mechanic to it where you were picking special dice that'll appear on your board. You had like runes and things that would drop down. I don't know about the full game, but I really like the, the demo on Next Fest.
- [39:21]
Griffin McElroy
So this looks great.
- [39:23]
Russ Frushtick
There's also a very good Northern lion video of him playing it and that's what convinced me to check it out.
- [39:28]
Griffin McElroy
Yeah, that'll get you every time.
- [39:30]
Russ Frushtick
The other thing that I want to talk about was not a Next Fest thing, but I did get to the DLC of Little Gator Game, which is excellent. If you like the Little Gator Game, this was the breath of the wild style kids game where you're a gator on a tropical fun island. You're doing a fun adventure. The DLC happens after you finish the main game. Main game's like four or five hours, so not a long game. And it's basically the same length as the main game. So you're kind of doubling up on the game. And it's all taking place in these caves underneath. The big differences here is the items that you're getting like pretty dramatically change the way you can like attack or interact with the world. There's like a spider swing and a pickaxe and all sorts of shit like that. So if you like the Little Gator game, highly, highly recommend the dlc. It's been excellent.
- [40:17]
Griffin McElroy
I've been playing quite a bit of a game that came out four years ago that I, I just missed. But now it's out on mobile and it's called Shotgun King. So Shotgun King is a chess based game where you are the king of the black team and all of your pieces have defected and left. You're the only piece remaining on the board for the black side. And you also do have a shotgun. That is how it starts. And when each match starts, the white pieces start on the other end of the board in the usual sort of chess fashion. Except there's only like four pawns and the king and one knight and one bishop and you have to use your shotgun to kill the king to get up on him. And there's a lot of different sort of mechanics of like your shotgun shoots in a certain arc and has a certain range and you'll blast out this many pellets and each one does one damage. So if you get closer to a piece then you know obviously you're gonna do more damage per shot. But then also like you have to reload by moving around. You can't just stay Put in one place and you have limited ammo and you can't move into check and you can't, most of the time you can't shoot while you are in check. So there's also some chess shit happening too where if you get surrounded and you don't have a safe square to move to unless you have some, you know, other option of getting out of there, like you're fucked, you're. You're just gonna die. So yeah, it kind of like requires some chess sense. But mostly it's a game about having a shotgun on a chessboard. Every time you kill the king it moves on to the next round. And matches run for like 11 rounds and between rounds you draft a pair of cards, one of which will be a benefit to you and your shotgun, usually making it like more potent. Or now you get grenades you can throw or now this one will save you from death once per round, but it is paired with an upgrade for the white pieces. So like as you are improving your own shit, you are also adding more white pieces to the board or making it so that like okay, well now the opposing knights can move diagonally like bishops. So you have to be very thoughtful about like your, your choices. But that's pretty much it. There's like achievements to go for or new shotguns to unlock by like getting your current gun up to a certain, you know, upgrade point. But it is very short, very digestible run based game that is, I don't know, just such a fun weird twist on chess that I have been really enjoying it in my.
- [42:53]
Justin McElroy
What brought you to this game?
- [42:55]
Griffin McElroy
It just came out, just came out on mobile. So it's like a new release. Yeah, so it's been out for a while on PC. I think Russ mentioned that he had played it.
- [43:03]
Russ Frushtick
Yeah, a while ago. Yeah.
- [43:04]
Griffin McElroy
Cool. But this is new to me and it works great on mobile too. So.
- [43:10]
Chris Plant
Speaking of games that are going to be new to people, Minishoot Adventures is now available on Switch.
- [43:17]
Justin McElroy
Oh, that's a good format for that.
- [43:19]
Chris Plant
That's a good game that it is the right spot. If you have not played this game, picture like a shmup mixed with Zelda. When I say shmup, don't let that scare you. Like it's not super hardcore. It teaches you how to play the form.
- [43:34]
Griffin McElroy
I'm bad at shmups and I 100% in this game you can do it too. Don't be thrown by the weird apostrophe that that's just in the title for some reason.
- [43:43]
Chris Plant
Very confusing.
- [43:44]
Justin McElroy
I Don't know why they did that.
- [43:45]
Chris Plant
Unfortunate. The other thing I just want to flag is Starship Troopers Ultimate Bug War. The game is coming out March 16, I believe, but you can play a demo of it right now. And it is the follow up to Bolt Gun, a game that we really enjoyed and I think maybe talked about on Restyz, but it's kind of doing Boomer shooter in more of an open world setting mixed in with all of that. That Starship Troopers goodness. And I'm very curious about the full game, but I would definitely check out the demo while it's still up on Steam
- [44:21]
Russ Frushtick
Juice.
- [44:22]
Justin McElroy
I watched a very good TV show called Wonder Man. Did you guys talk about Wonder Man?
- [44:30]
Russ Frushtick
I don't.
- [44:31]
Griffin McElroy
I don't think we have.
- [44:31]
Russ Frushtick
I might have mentioned it in passing,
- [44:33]
Justin McElroy
but who watched Wonder Man?
- [44:35]
Russ Frushtick
I did.
- [44:36]
Justin McElroy
What about you, Chris Plant?
- [44:39]
Chris Plant
I have not watched.
- [44:40]
Justin McElroy
What about Griffin?
- [44:41]
Chris Plant
My thing.
- [44:41]
Griffin McElroy
I've also not watched Wonder Man.
- [44:43]
Justin McElroy
Great. Can I tell you guys about Wonder Man?
- [44:45]
Griffin McElroy
Please.
- [44:46]
Justin McElroy
Okay, so I know I'm a guy
- [44:47]
Griffin McElroy
I just don't know about.
- [44:48]
Justin McElroy
So Wonder Man's a superhero. We love him. His name's Simon Williams. But that's not really what this show is about. This show is a miniseries. It's part of what they call the Marvel Spotlight banner. It's kind of like the way they're doing like mini arcs or one offs or, you know, I think they're meant
- [45:07]
Russ Frushtick
to be more grounded stories that aren't like MCU style stories.
- [45:12]
Justin McElroy
Both like grounded narratively sort of, but also like grounded, like also like separate sort of from the rest of the mcu. The connection here, that's cool. The ties that are there. And this is very well explained in the show, but Ben Kingsley is, if you don't know, was previously in the Iron man franchise playing a guy named Trevor Slattery who was the Mandarin pretending to be the Mandarin. He was basically an actor pretending to be a terrorist. And it was kind of not great. None of it was great. It was all pretty bad. And that sort of like whole part of Iron Man 3 is sort of a. A dark mark on the Marvel like that era. It's kind of a bad choice that nobody really liked anyway. This series is about a guy named Simon Williams who is the same, is named after the character from the Wonder man series that's not really talked about or addressed. But it is important. He is an actor and he grew up in the. Watching the Wonder man movie that exists in this reality, this Wonder man movie, with his dad at this Wonder man, this Simon Williams is played by Yahya Abdul Mateen, who is breaking great.
- [46:33]
Russ Frushtick
He's maybe like, amazing, fantastic in Watchmen as well.
- [46:37]
Justin McElroy
He's great. Basically, this guy has superpowers. But because of an incident that is explained in a standalone episode, superheroes can't work on movies. If you are superhero, basically an insurance problem. It's an insurance issue, right? So superheroes can't wear movies. So this guy is an extremely serious actor who is trying to hide the fact that he is a superhero or has not. I shouldn't even say superhero, has these abilities, has these powers. Meanwhile, he is under investigation by the government who wants to track and monitor people with these kinds of abilities. So the way they do that is they rope in the Trevor Slattery character who got out of prison before his time, basically. And they say, hey, unless you want to go back to jail, you need to help us keep tabs on this guy. And the way they do it is Trevor taking Simon under his wing in, like, an acting tutelage sense, him coaching him how to become a more successful actor. And of course, he, like, he is. His big dream is that he finds out that there is this Wonder man movie being made and he wants to audition for the role while hiding the fact that he is Wonder man and the. Or not that he is Wonder man hiding the fact that he has these abilities. But the show itself is about acting. It's about him wanting to be an actor. It is like the two of them, like, Trevor sort of like rediscovering a love of acting through Simon's eyes. And it's very much not about, like, abilities and powers and stuff, except in the ways like that makes sense thematically. But it's not a show about that if you don't care about, like, acting and showbiz stuff and that sort of see it as, like, a craft and that, like, it is probably gonna seem sort of desperately up its own ass, but I found it really, like, charming. And the two of them together, Yahya Abdul Mateen and Ben Kingsley together are unbelievable. I mean, like, the two of them are fantastic, but I think it's a fantastic show that is one of the best things that Marvel has done in a long time. And they are not doing pretty much anything to promote it. So there's my best.
- [48:58]
Russ Frushtick
It's also worth noting that Wonder man is the admission by Marvel that Baby's Day out exists within the mcu, which
- [49:07]
Justin McElroy
is, I think, an important thing that it does canonize sometimes. There's shows on that feel so specifically when I Actually texted Travis about the presence of Joe Pantliano in the show, who plays himself. Who plays himself as a miserable asshole. And it's fantastic. And I texted Travis, like, I cannot believe this show includes the line. This guy yelling at him like, baby's day, Baby's day out. Suck Joe Panliano. Like, I can't believe that line is in a real TV show that I get to watch. But it's great.
- [49:41]
Russ Frushtick
I had a lot of fun watching it. I agree. I hope they need more.
- [49:44]
Justin McElroy
Do you need to know nothing? Like, you don't need to know literally any Marvel stuff. I mean, like, none.
- [49:50]
Russ Frushtick
None.
- [49:51]
Justin McElroy
It has more to do with Disney than it does do with Marvel. Like, there's like more stuff about Josh Gad and Olaf than there is about, like, Marvel superheroes.
- [50:01]
Russ Frushtick
Cool. That's a lot of fun stuff. We already talked about what we're doing next week. Oh, I want to thank the patrons over@patreon.com thebesties we have chase B, we have Azure D, we have Corin, and we have Rise with Two Eyes. Thank you for being members of the Patreon. I want to call attention specifically because we have a new bracket Battles episode that is live right this second. You can listen to it. It's about bespoke controllers. And in fact, we're gonna drop a clip in right here.
- [50:31]
Justin McElroy
It had no buttons.
- [50:32]
Chris Plant
Yeah.
- [50:33]
Justin McElroy
And was one of the worst games I've ever experienced to an extent where my review on Joystick or Polygon was just me asking other reviewers, did this work for you? And then reporting what they said. Cause I couldn't engage with it at all. Like, it was truly, truly a nightmare.
- [50:48]
Chris Plant
Yeah. One other thing I should add about Tony Hawk. Ride that precedent, which has nothing to do with the bracket. But they were so desperate because so few people showed up. They had a giant stack of real skateboard decks signed by Tony Hawk and there weren't enough people there to take them. So they just gave me like a stack of skateboard decks. Now I being ethical journalist is like, I can't keep these. I will just go donate them. Let me tell you, going to the Salvation army and trying to explain to them, no, you don't understand. These are real Tony Hawk signed decks. And they're like, no, no, no, no, we don't want these. It was a sad moment.
- [51:31]
Griffin McElroy
I had to play that game.
- [51:31]
Justin McElroy
I'm looking. You folks can't see the video feed, but Plant is sitting on a chair made of Tony Hawk.
- [51:37]
Chris Plant
Yeah, we try not to talk about that.
- [51:39]
Griffin McElroy
I played it during E3 in like one of those hotel room kind of like press previews. I think they probably were doing them in a hotel room so that people. You could play Tony Hawk Ride and nobody was would look at you while you did it because it looked pretty silly wise, which has less versatility for other games. I don't. I don't.
- [51:57]
Justin McElroy
You could play any game with Steven. You could play any.
- [52:01]
Griffin McElroy
I bet you. I bet you if you really jammed around there while you were playing, you know, braid or whatever, you would. One of them would make the guy go. One would make him jump for sure.
- [52:12]
Justin McElroy
Yeah.
- [52:15]
Griffin McElroy
If I could do a plug. I've got a book coming out this next week on Tuesday on March 10th. It's called the Stowaway and it's a choose your own adventure book from the choose your own adventure company. It's great for middle grade readers, but for anyone who likes a rollicking outer space survival adventure, it's 10 bucks and you can pre order it at bit lygryphenstewaway.
- [52:36]
Russ Frushtick
Are you also gonna release a walkthrough
- [52:39]
Griffin McElroy
that will be in the audiobook? Okay.
- [52:42]
Justin McElroy
Are you going to do a let's read?
- [52:45]
Griffin McElroy
I'm going to do.
- [52:45]
Justin McElroy
Yeah.
- [52:46]
Griffin McElroy
I've hired some of my favorite streamers to do let's reads.
- [52:49]
Justin McElroy
I hired some of my favorite readers that is going to do it for us for this week, right?
- [52:55]
Griffin McElroy
On the besties.
- [52:55]
Russ Frushtick
Yeah, that's it. That's it. We did it. Next week.
- [52:58]
Griffin McElroy
Yeah.
- [52:58]
Justin McElroy
Be there, be there, be square. That's going to do it for us on the besties. Be sure to join us again next week for the besties because should the world's best friends pick the world's best games. Besties.