Terminator Time Travels to Save '90s Garbage Games

Summary

The Besties – "Terminator Time Travels to Save '90s Garbage Games"

Released: January 16, 2026
Hosts: Chris Plante, Griffin McElroy, Justin McElroy, Russ Frushtick

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Overview

This episode dives into Terminator 2D: No Fate, a modern video game styled as a 2D love letter to ‘90s licensed tie-in games—specifically those often regarded as “garbage” or disposable fun. The hosts discuss not only the new game but also reflect on the legacy and evolution of licensed games from the ‘90s to today. Hilarity and nostalgia intermingle throughout, especially as the Besties riff on the surreal concept that their very podcast is the only thing saving humanity from a future techno-apocalypse.

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Main Segments & Key Insights

1. Liquid Metal Podcasting: Griffin's "Confession"

[00:00–02:28]

• Griffin opens with a running bit claiming to be a T-1000-style Terminator sent from the future to ensure the Besties podcast continues, thus saving humanity.
  • “I'm usually a bad dude. Like they usually use me for killing men who are in the laser war against us. But I learned how to love as a child.” – Griffin [01:04]
• Playful banter ensues about liquid-metal anatomy, knife hands, and the importance of podcasting for world peace.
• Sets a comedic, self-aware tone for the episode: “Now, don't get me wrong. Do I know why this podcast existing prevents the laser war and the corpo takeover and all that? I do not.” – Griffin [01:26]

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2. Introducing Terminator 2D: No Fate

[03:01–04:00, picks up again at 05:08]

• Justin officially introduces the topic: a retro-inspired, pixel-art tie-in to Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
• Chris Bot explains: “Terminator 2D: No Fate is a new video game movie tie in... looks and feels like how you would want it. It's pixel Heaven.” [03:35]
• The Besties briefly joke about the rash of robot podcast hosts, further establishing the playful mood.

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3. Remembering the Era of '90s Tie-In Games

[05:08–06:58]

• Justin, Russ, and Griffin reminisce about childhood experiences with tie-in games, especially ones based on movies their parents didn’t actually allow them to watch.
  • “Terminator 2 was the first R rated movie I ever saw.” – Justin [05:14]
  • “LJN’s LBJ... Annette Bening main.” – Justin/Griffin [06:20]
• The group recalls footage of the original Terminator 2 SNES game, comparing its low quality to the new game.

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4. What Makes Terminator 2D: No Fate Special?

[07:08–12:34]

• The Besties analyze what sets No Fate apart:
  • Captures the vibe of ‘90s 2D shooters but with quality and polish unimaginable at the time.
  • Justin references Blackthorne on Genesis as a tonal comparison: “It’s a deliberately paced, side scrolling action game... defined by the fact that it’s not a Metroidvania.” – Justin [07:45]
  • Chris praises the game’s structure: “Each level is kind of a different style of a different game. But it’s itty bitty. Maybe a third as long... none of the annoying bits.” [08:12]
  • Griffin notes genre-switching—platformer, beat-em-up, even a brief beat-em-up as “nude Arnold.”
  • The game sticks closely to the movie’s plot, limiting creative expansion but ensuring varied gameplay.

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5. Mechanics and Mission Structure

[10:00–13:45]

• The hosts break down level progression:
  • Starts as Sarah Connor with “smart little tweaks” (e.g., melee attack).
  • Brief turn as “future John Connor” with laser guns (“full on Contra”).
  • Becomes “naked Terminator at the bar” for a beat-em-up where instead of dying, losing time is the penalty.
  • Justin: “The surprise is that. And now it's this type of game for a little bit and now it's this type of game for a little bit and now it's done. Now the game's over…” [11:47]
• Russ discusses replay value: After finishing, players unlock “what if” levels by altering movie events, but the overall design is meant to be a one-and-done experience.

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6. Is There Room for Modernization?

[14:43–16:37]

• The Besties compare No Fate to other retro-modern games that add RPG mechanics or upgrades (Scott Pilgrim as an example), noting this game stays true to its era's limitations but gets away with it by being an "art project": “This is our perfect version of... a flawless video game adaptation in 1993…” – Griffin [15:36]
• Russ highlights the game's deviation from the movie’s morality (Sarah Connor mowing down dozens of guards) as a knowingly silly video game embellishment.

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7. Licensing and Pricing Oddities

[16:40–18:09]

• Russ points out the game’s $30 digital price and a $60 physical edition, theorizing licensing requirements.
• Griffin, Justin, and Chris muse about actor likeness rights—Schwarzenegger’s pixelated absence, but full-blown Robert Patrick as the T-1000.
• Griffin marvels at the classic attract screen: “[Robert Patrick] just kind of morphs up and gives you the no, no finger in his full blown Sega Genesis glory.” [17:53]

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8. History & Evolution of Licensed Tie-In Games

[21:08–27:02]

• Chris steers the discussion to ‘90s tie-ins as “cash grabs,” and the group maps how rental culture and gift-giving drove sales.
  • Justin: “This period of licensed games in the 90s is like... a factor of rental.” [21:39]
  • Russ: “Mom knows what you like. You like that movie. So I'm just going to buy the game.” [22:36]
• Capcom’s Disney games and Super Star Wars are called out as rare high-quality exceptions.
• The Besties discuss how tie-in games often had little regard for source material—opaque similarities, wild side plots, or absurd bosses—while the new Terminator game puts fun above faithfulness.

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9. The R-Rated Movie Tie-In Phenomenon

[25:17–28:15]

• Justin provides a list of ‘80s-‘90s NES/SNES tie-ins to R-rated films (e.g. Total Recall, RoboCop, Predator, Friday the 13th)—all “for kids,” even if the movies weren’t.
  • “If adults are playing a game, it's an adult playing a kid's game...” – Justin [25:17]
• The group riffs on buying and playing toys/video games for movies they weren’t allowed to see.

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10. The Modern Tie-In Scene

[28:18–32:58]

• The Besties map key developments:
  • Peaks: Goldeneye, Spider-Man 2.
  • Over time, big direct tie-ins became rare due to rising game budgets and shifting economics.
  • Modern approaches: Collabs/skins (e.g., Fortnite, Call of Duty Fallout crossover) and Disney’s licensing approach are now more common than full movie adaptations.
  • Justin: “The pipeline is moving the other way… games are being developed into films.” [30:32]
• Examples: New Silent Hill, Mortal Kombat, Sonic movies.
• Brief speculation: “What classic film would you like to see get this treatment?” Suggestions include Demolition Man, The Fifth Element, John Wick, Predator.

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11. Honorable Mentions & Personal Picks

[41:49–48:16]

• Book: Justin recommends There Is No Antimemetics Division for its inventive, memory-warping narrative structure. [38:52+]
• Games: Russ revisits Actraiser (sidescroller/city-builder hybrid), while Griffin recommends Quintet games like Illusion of Gaia, Soul Blazer, Terranigma.
• Tech/Games: Griffin discusses the Board ("$500 horizontal screen" for physical-digital hybrids) and Pixel Art Academy (“teaches you pixel art fundamentals with interactive lessons”).
• Family Gaming: Sonic Racing Cross Worlds, Satisfactory (Griffin quit cold turkey).
• Misc: Fortnite’s South Park event, and comments on VR gaming (Superhot, John Wick VR).

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• “If liquid metal, why not abs?” – Russ [01:42]
• “Each level is kind of a different style of a different game. But it's itty bitty. It's like maybe a third as long as it would have been in a previous game. It has none of the annoying bits.” – Chris Bot [08:12]
• “There is a limit to like how much I think this game would keep my attention... But when you beat it, you can... change the events of the movie. So instead... that unlocks 'what if' late game levels.” – Russ [12:34]
• “Should have stuck to toys.” – Ross Foshtick, on LJN's notoriously bad licensed games [07:08]
• “I wanted to highlight... the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers The Movie game... What a unique cultural zeitgeist that was.” – Griffin [24:53]
• “You could get toys back then for R-rated movies, which now... you want R-rated toys?” – Chris Bot [26:26]
• “Isn't it interesting also that... the pipeline is moving the other way, you know, it's going the opposite direction. The games are being developed into films.” – Justin [30:32]
• “I guess I'm just a good dad, guys... I'm the father of the year and possibly the decade.” – Griffin [47:39]

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Episode Structure & Timestamps

• [00:00–02:28] – Griffin’s T-1000 confession and host action intros
• [03:01–04:00; 05:08+] – Game intro: Terminator 2D: No Fate
• [05:08–06:58] – Childhood experiences with movie tie-in games
• [07:08–13:45] – Deep dive: game mechanics, genre shifts, retelling the movie
• [14:43–16:37] – Modernization, replay value, and design philosophy
• [16:40–18:09] – Pricing/licensing quirks and actor likeness rights
• [21:08–27:02] – History: cash-grab tie-ins, SNES era, rare gems, R-rated phenomena
• [28:18–32:58] – State of modern tie-ins, AAA economics, nostalgia picks
• [41:49–46:02] – Book, retro game, and hardware recommendations
• [46:02–48:42] – Misc game picks, tech, family gaming
• [48:42–END] – Listener questions, Patreon, wrap-up/bloopers

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Tone and Style

The hosts maintain a spirited, nostalgic, and playfully irreverent tone throughout, peppering in genuine analysis with regular asides, friendly ribbing, and surreal one-liners. Their respect for the genre’s history is clear even as they dunk on its worst offenders.

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Takeaway

Terminator 2D: No Fate succeeds by perfectly recapturing the spirit of ‘90s licensed tie-in games while surpassing them in quality, brevity, and style. The Besties reflect fondly on a bygone era where disposable game adaptations were a cultural staple and dissect how such projects exist—or don’t—in today’s gaming landscape. The episode is a must-listen for fans of retro gaming, game history, or anyone who ever rented a “garbage” tie-in game hoping it would be good.

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For Further Listening

• King of the Hill or Game of the Year themed Besties episodes
• Previous discussions on "modern retro" game design, e.g., Scott Pilgrim, Shovel Knight
• Deep dives into Capcom’s Disney tie-ins, Super Star Wars, or rental-era gaming culture

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NOTE:
Ad reads, intro/outros, and Patreon plugs have been excluded for clarity and focus on main discussion content.

Transcript

[Griffin McElroy]

Big confession time, guys, and it's embarrassing. We've been doing this for so long. I never talked about this with you guys, but I am a Terminator 1000. And I was sent from the future because if this podcast doesn't exist, it's going to be bad for human. I shouldn't spoil too much, but it's going to be bad for humanity if this podcast ever stops. So I am a liquid metal cyber guy and I'm from the future sent back to make besties.

[Chris Bot]

When you say bad, what do you possibly mean? Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

Corpo like technology. Technology goes like crazy.

[Justin McElroy]

Man, that sounds terrible.

[Ross Foshtick]

Griffin, on the knife hands front, because I know you have knife hands and I figured it was just like a thing that you had.

[Griffin McElroy]

I told you guys that was my. Yeah, I told you guys that was my rheumatoid arthritis. That's actually from a liquid metal sort of cyber guy.

[Ross Foshtick]

Right. So is that everyone in the future has knife hands or is it just you?

[Griffin McElroy]

No, just us liquid metal cyber guys. I'm usually a bad dude. Like they usually use me for killing men who are in the laser war against us. But I learned how to love as a child. I mean, I adopted as my son.

[Justin McElroy]

Okay, gotcha.

[Griffin McElroy]

So then he sent me back in time to make this kick ass video game podcast. Now, don't get me wrong. Do I know why this podcast existing? Prevents the laser war and the corpo takeover and all that? I do not.

[Ross Foshtick]

Okay.

[Griffin McElroy]

I do not know why these two things are connected.

[Ross Foshtick]

I have one follow up question. If liquid metal, why not abs?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, I mean, that's a good question, Russ. I could have abs. I could make them appear right now. I could fold it all in. Fold it in. Fold my metal. Here's the problem.

[Justin McElroy]

See if it changes your timbre. Can you give yourself abs? See if it changes your tone.

[Griffin McElroy]

It will. It will, definitely. I mean, my diet.

[Justin McElroy]

But if that's funny, I'll try the end of it. If it's funny, it could be the end of the thing.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, yeah.

[Chris Bot]

Let me try it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, guys, what's up? You want to talk about Donkey Kong?

[Chris Bot]

Yeah, that's pretty funny. I think that can be the end of the thing.

[Griffin McElroy]

Holy moly. Did you say swole moly? You stinker.

[Ross Foshtick]

Look at that face.

[Griffin McElroy]

Stinker.

[Justin McElroy]

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

[Griffin McElroy]

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

[Chris Bot]

My name is Chris Bot and I know game.

[Griffin McElroy]

Whoa.

[Chris Bot]

Wow. Wow.

[Ross Foshtick]

My name is Ross Foshtick and I know the best game of the week.

[Justin McElroy]

Welcome to Besties. We're talking about the latest and greatest in home interactive entertainment. It's a video game club. And just by listening you've become a member. This week we're going to be talking about a new game that feels old. It's Terminator 2D. No. Fake Chris Plant. What's that? Chris Bot. Excuse me.

[Chris Bot]

Do you think it was maybe a hat on the hat to have another.

[Justin McElroy]

Robot show up so fucking quick?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, I think so.

[Justin McElroy]

You bailed so fast.

[Chris Bot]

Yeah, I kind of realized so fast.

[Justin McElroy]

I try to serve it up to you fresh. He just bailed.

[Chris Bot]

I'm sorry. Terminator 2D. No. Fate is a new video game movie tie in of Terminator 2 Judgment Day. One of these came out back in the day on the Super Nintendo. But this one looks and feels like how you would want it. It's pixel Heaven. And we'll be talking about it more after this break.

[Justin McElroy]

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[Ross Foshtick]

I don't remember playing the original Terminator game. Do you remember what does anyone?

[Justin McElroy]

It's like I don't remember not playing it. It's one of those where like it seems like such a fixed quantity Terminator but. But probably not. Terminator 2 was the first R rated movie I ever saw.

[Griffin McElroy]

Nice.

[Justin McElroy]

So like I'm sure I probably couldn't ask for the game because I didn't want to let on that I had seen the movie because I told my parents I was gonna go see the American President.

[Ross Foshtick]

Yeah, you went to the theater to walk towards the American President and then took a beeline over to Terminator.

[Justin McElroy]

I told my parents we're gonna. Tommy and I told his mom that we're gonna go see Terminator. But I told my parents we were gonna go see the American President starring Michael Douglas and Annette Benning. And then after we got our tickets and we walked in, we just went over to Terminator.

[Chris Bot]

Yeah, you also are a good boy. So if you had asked for the video game, you would have been like, can I have Terminator 2 based on the movie I already saw?

[Justin McElroy]

So now I don't know.

[Griffin McElroy]

But I do remember actually we did have developed also by LJN the the American President SNES game, which was great.

[Justin McElroy]

LJN's LBJ.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, I'm in. Annette Benning main.

[Ross Foshtick]

Yeah, yeah, she had that spreadshot.

[Griffin McElroy]

A lot of people like Douglas, but I. Main Benning. So, hey, this game. Right before we started, Chris did send us some footage of the original Terminator 2 game made by LJN and released probably what, 30 years ago or so. It's so cool seeing that after having played Terminator 2D, no fate. Because while I played Terminator 2D, no fate, I was like, this is just like a super Nintendo game from 1993. And then I looked at the exact same video game made in 1993 by the LJN toy company and I was like, Nevermind, this is 100 million times better. This is 100 trillion billion times better.

[Ross Foshtick]

Should have stuck to toys.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's crazy how much this game captures a vibe and a genre that really went out of fashion with the kind of arrival of three dimensional graphics and polygons and what have you. The people who were still making 2D games at that point were like, that's cool. But we're not going to do any more of these kind of like run and gun licensed heavy shooters. Obviously you have your mercenary kings and your metal slugs and all that jazz, but this is like a different thing. This is a different thing.

[Justin McElroy]

The best version of this is probably, or at least like the gold standard for this kind of game I think is Blackthorn on the Genesis. Like it's a deliberately paced, side scrolling action game that is not, it's like defined by the fact that it's not a Metroidvania type thing. You know what I mean? Like you are not trying to. It looks Like a game like that. But you are not trying to find better keys to unlock secret doors. That is not the vibe.

[Chris Bot]

If you went to like a three star Michelin restaurant and you got a tasty menu and you're like, I want it all based on my favorite food, food from my childhood, it would be this in video game form in that each level is kind of a different style of a different game. But it's itty bitty. It's like maybe a third as long as it would have been in a previous game. It has none of the annoying bits. The visuals are upgraded to heaven. The sound and the music is incredible. And the second you've had your fill, you got that taste in your gut. Boom, you're moving on to the next section. There is no wasted time in it. Because what they get is these games can be so tedious because they are very thin mechanically. So yeah, once you've gotten a taste of that mechanic, you are done.

[Griffin McElroy]

I will say maybe that works to its detriment some of the time because it jumps between genres as you move between sections of the movie. It is a very faithful retelling of Terminator 2 Judgment Day with a little bit of the original Terminator kind of thrown in at the beginning, a scene setting. But it's moving between battletoad style, kind of hell hallways and you know, the more metal slug, slow heavy, kind of platformy shooter. And also there's like a beat em up section, but that never really comes back. It really is just that one sort of section where you're doing a beat em up as a nude Arnold. And I don't know, some of this stuff worked really well, I thought and I wanted there to be kind of more of it. But it's really sticks to the plot of the movie. So hardcore that it. It's not just gonna add more sections where Arnold is beating the shit out of people.

[Justin McElroy]

It really does leave you wanting more, which is rare.

[Chris Bot]

Yeah, let's talk about it from the beginning and just go through a few of these sections to give people an idea how it works.

[Justin McElroy]

Your first thing is like you are Sarah Connor. And I think it's like pre before the birth of your son. It's like kind of a flashback if I remember. Or like you have your son and you're trying to get to him. Oh, they've kidnapped him. Your son's been kidnapped by punks and you got to fight your way, kill your way through a bunch of punks to get to him. But you're just Sarah Connor. So you don't have any like special magical abilities. You walk from left to right with a gun and if you get close enough to an enemy you can tap y to do a sort of like close up maneuver. Which even that is a small thing, but it's really smart actually because in a lot of side scrolling shoot games like this, you get really close to someone and suddenly you feel ineffectual. So having like a clo. Not having to like shoot people at point blank range in a way that feels kind of immersion breaking is actually a really smart little thing. So you have that option like running up on somebody and just meleeing them rather than shooting.

[Ross Foshtick]

Yeah, yeah. Shortly after that it jumps to the future where you're playing as an aged John Connor's. Connor.

[Justin McElroy]

Connor.

[Ross Foshtick]

And he's got like fucking futuristic laser guns and shit like that.

[Justin McElroy]

Contra, like it's full contrary Contra.

[Ross Foshtick]

Yeah, Full on contrast.

[Griffin McElroy]

And then it jumps just for that one level.

[Ross Foshtick]

Well, we'll talk about that because there is elements of that that come back later. And then it jumps back to Sarah Connor and you have like a stealth sequence where you're escaping from the mental hospital. No, no, no.

[Chris Bot]

Before that is Naked Terminator at the bar. Which changes here because not only is it a beat em up, but there are small but important changes like you can't be killed as the Terminator. So what they do instead is the clock just ticks down extra time when you take damage. It's all these little tweaks to make it feel just a little different.

[Ross Foshtick]

Yeah. Arnold is on a schedule and that's really all that matters.

[Griffin McElroy]

One of the maybe all time best needle drops in a video game, by the way, in this section that I don't want to do too many more of these because that is the for me true joy of this game. Mechanically it's pretty straightforward. It feels great. But none of these sections are like really reinventing the wheel or doing anything particularly surprising mechanically. The surprise is that. And now it's this type of game for a little bit and now it's this type of game for a little bit and now it's done. Now the game's over because we did the whole movie and there isn't any more to do. So I hope you enjoyed the game. It's short and sweet and tight and really, really changes its, its whole vibe every like 20 minutes or so.

[Ross Foshtick]

Yeah. The thing that I keep coming back to is it's very confident in what it does and I think it does it very well. I also wonder how it exists within this world of like the modern version of this, right? Which is like has more meta hooks, has more upgrades which aren't necessarily like, I think for this game, for what it is, it's good. But I also. There is a limit to like how much I think this game would keep my attention. I beat the game I played on the easier difficulty and it took me about 2 hours ish to finish it. Like totally finish it. But when you beat it, you can then go back and like change the events of the movie. So instead of convincing what's his name at Cyberdyne to like go and go into the lab and like help you out, you actually kill him right then. And then that in turn unlocks like what if late game levels where you'll have more of the futuristic stuff going on. So that is like an interesting approach to it. I just didn't necessarily feel like, oh, this is a game I'm going to keep coming back to. Was the only thing which I don't.

[Chris Bot]

Think it's trying to be that. I think it's trying to be similar to like a movie. You know, you're going to come back to it every three years and do a playthrough and that's it. But you're right, it is of a different era in that way. I like that. I do. I don't know like what the hell Netflix is up to, but if there was a game that like I would want on a streaming service that I could just play with my family without having to set anything up, this would be it. Like this is the sort of game that would be great for that. And I do think it is largely about being able to see this game in 2D pixel form. That was a big chunk of the appeal back in the day, right. Was like, oh, it's the thing I love, but in the medium that I love and it relishes the. Here is the iconic shots recreated in little pixel animations.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, it's really rad. I want to go back to talking about modern takes on kind of classic stuff like this. Not that I think that there's a ton of stuff like this because I was thinking about the. The beat em up section doesn't feel particularly good and we have so many examples from emu and what's the of like here's a classic Konami style beat em up, right? Or the Scott Pilgrim sort of beat em up adds like leveling mechanics and sort of extra stuff like that loosely sort of River City rampage inspired. But like definitely more changes incorporating sort of like modern advancements. This game doesn't do that really, I don't think at all. And it kind of gets away with it by being a holistic Terminator 2 experience, which is so cool. Like, it's really. I don't even. I don't love it. The Terminator franchise. I don't have like a lot of fondness for the. For Terminator 2, but just like seeing a developer say, like, this is our perfect version of. If they had made like a flawless video game adaptation in 1993 of Terminator 2 Judgment Day. I don't know. It's like very much an art project of like, wow, you guys really set a mission for yourselves there and absolutely crushed it.

[Ross Foshtick]

I also like the fact that they don't hide from the fact, like, yes, we're a video game so we can break the realities of things where when Sarah Connor is breaking out of the mental hospital, she fucking kills like 50 guys. Like, shoots everyone dead. Which there might be, what, a body count of like two people in the movie. So they're fine with that. Which I think is fine. Like, we don't need to stress about ludonarrative dissonance in the fucking Terminator game.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, no, I would rather not.

[Ross Foshtick]

There is an interesting quirk about this game that is more of a buyer beware thing. The normal digital release of the game is $30, like at base price. The physical copy of the game, which is more or less the same thing, is $60.

[Griffin McElroy]

What? Yeah, I don't know about that.

[Justin McElroy]

$60 is wild.

[Ross Foshtick]

So I think. My guess is that there's probably a licensing requirement that any Terminator game that you release also needs to be a physical release. And they were like, okay, but no.

[Justin McElroy]

One'S gonna buy it.

[Ross Foshtick]

So just a heads up if you're.

[Justin McElroy]

I wonder if that could have been like a long. Maybe that was like got appended to a contract at some point. They could just never shake it.

[Ross Foshtick]

Yeah, yeah, I think that's what happened.

[Griffin McElroy]

Any video game cartridges featuring the likeness of the T800 robot?

[Justin McElroy]

Right.

[Ross Foshtick]

I also wonder, does, like, Robert Patrick get money for this?

[Griffin McElroy]

Probably, man.

[Ross Foshtick]

He's in it.

[Chris Bot]

I mean, I'm sure Schwarzenegger gets money for this. There's one likeness.

[Justin McElroy]

I don't think Arnold is in it.

[Ross Foshtick]

No, his likeness is not in this game. Whenever it would be Arnold, it would be like the pixelated version. That could be like.

[Justin McElroy]

But it's definitely Robert Patrick.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's fully Robert Patrick.

[Ross Foshtick]

Not a question.

[Griffin McElroy]

When he in the fucking attract screen of this video game. That I played on my gaming PC, which that alone kicks ass when he just kind of morphs up and gives you the no, no finger in his full blown Sega Genesis glory.

[Ross Foshtick]

God, did we teach them that in the future before they go back?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yes. It's been a while since I've seen the flick actually. I don't know.

[Chris Bot]

The movie's so good man. Should we take a break and then we can come back and talk about the entire world of these IP tie in games?

[Justin McElroy]

Yes, yes.

[Chris Bot]

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[Ross Foshtick]

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[Griffin McElroy]

We are back.

[Chris Bot]

I want to talk about licensed games from the past and the present. I want to start with the 90s stuff because that's what this game is riffing on. And as Griffin mentioned earlier, you go back and you look at the original Terminator 2 video game and like in theory it looks very similar to no Fate. In practice it looks miserable to play this was like a cash grab at the moment to be able to do these sorts of things and hoops. You've played a lot of these games, right?

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, I mean when we, when we were children this was. I feel like we were joking about ljn but I feel like this is like the sub genre of look at their logo.

[Griffin McElroy]

Dude. It really sent me on a trip.

[Justin McElroy]

This to me is like this, this period of licensed games in the 90s is like the. I think it is a. A factor of. Of rental. Yeah. No longer a thing to think about and wasn't really a thing before this. But there was like this period in like the 80s and 90s where a game didn't have to. There was like a. Definitely games cost a certain amount of money but there were games where you could get like a solid day or two out of them. There were like perfect for the Cummings Rent a center, you go there, you pay 3 99, you take it home for a weekend, you do the entire thing. So the game didn't have to be, you know, it didn't have to rewrite your entire summer. You know, it could just be a weekend and then you take it back.

[Ross Foshtick]

And I think there was also the element of gift giving where like oh, mom knows what you like. You like that movie. So I'm just going to buy the game.

[Griffin McElroy]

You like thinking about it. You liked the Mask. Well, Black Pearl Software asked what if you could do it on your Super Nintendo home console.

[Ross Foshtick]

All those shitty Simpsons games especially.

[Chris Bot]

Yeah, I mean not so unlike toys. Right? Like it's the same premise. It just. Now the toy happens to be the video game.

[Ross Foshtick]

I mean there were a few that like broke out though.

[Chris Bot]

Like anything that Capcom made. Right. Like there's a huge difference between Gold Standard Flying Edge and Gavc and Capcom. And yeah, Capcom made the Disney games which I think are probably the most iconic. That's Lion King Aladdin and Lion King.

[Griffin McElroy]

Was, was I acclaimed Virgin Interactive, Virgin Entertainment. They did Aladdin, was the big. Sort of like Capcom and Capcom also did the Mickey Mouse platformers, Magical Quest.

[Ross Foshtick]

And all those who did the Super Star wars.

[Griffin McElroy]

That series that was, I mean lucasarts, right?

[Ross Foshtick]

Those were really good.

[Griffin McElroy]

And jvc, I think.

[Ross Foshtick]

So yeah. It does feel like, especially when there wasn't a direct movie tie in, like they needed to hit a date for, for a movie release. It seemed like they had the potential to be a little bit better. Although a lot of them were still shit. The second you were trying to hit a fucking December 12th release for a movie, invariably those games would be dog shit and those would evolve into mobile games later on.

[Chris Bot]

I do think part of the appeal going back to these games is how little respect they have for their source material. Super Star Wars I think we all remember more fondly now because it is nothing like Star Wars. Like in one of them you fight like a robot spider, Darth Vader or something.

[Ross Foshtick]

Yeah. And there's like when you're going to the Sarlacc pit, there's like 12 Sarlacc's that are jumping out at you as you're shooting lasers and stuff like that. It definitely had a lot of range in terms of what you were doing. But I think again that's why I think we like this Terminator game is because it also was like fuck it. We also need to make this game fun. We don't need to make it authentic to the movie. The events need to be the same, but otherwise like go Ham.

[Griffin McElroy]

I wanted to highlight one example of the game coming out at the same time of the movie, which was the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. The movie game from 1995, which is a kick ass beat em up where you get to be whatever ranger you want and get to live out your Power Rangers fantasy. And it came out the same time as the flick, which also kicked ass. What a unique cultural zeitgeist that was.

[Justin McElroy]

There's also, there's a factor here that I want to touch on. This game is also, I think highlighting and it's a phenomenon that I know no longer exists today. But games that were in this era for the nes, snes, Genesis or whatever, games that are definitely for kids because at this time every game is for kids. Like this is not like if adults are playing a game, it's an adult playing a kid's game. Games are not for adults, but games based on R rated movies. So you had like I'm looking at a list, Total Recall this is just NES total recall, RoboCop 1 and 2, Rambo, Predator, Terminator 1 and 2, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Jaws. There's all these games. Jaws is these games based on movies that you weren't supposed to see as a kid and probably weren't allowed to see for a lot of kids. So it's like, I'm gonna have the Terminator experience and this is how I'm going to ingest this movie.

[Ross Foshtick]

Like buying the novelization.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yes. Well, they had for us.

[Justin McElroy]

That's exactly it. Yeah.

[Chris Bot]

You could get toys back then for R rated movies, which now I don't know if you've been to a Target lately. They have a separate toys section for adults that is like concealed by the video game adults where they're like, you're.

[Justin McElroy]

Just not finding out about this.

[Chris Bot]

You want R rated toys?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, I want to do a quick.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, oh, R rated. Okay, I'm sorry, I was confused because I was going to say I want.

[Griffin McElroy]

To do a quick midstream correction here and say that the original Jaws was rated pg.

[Ross Foshtick]

That's what I thought.

[Griffin McElroy]

That fact kicks ass. It was not an R rated film. It was parental guidance. Maybe if you.

[Chris Bot]

Now I feel better about having turned it to Mosi. This is good.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, I'm not a bad parent.

[Justin McElroy]

But plant. The principle is exact. I mean, ratings aside, like the principle of that is 100% the same. Like I should not have had to try to conceptualize What Friday the 13th is, is about. Based on an ill advised farm or rental from our mom. You know what I mean? Like, that should not be how the tale of Jason Voorhees and spools for me for the first time.

[Ross Foshtick]

Those games are legit. Fucking like terrified me because I never watched the movies. But like those horror games or even the Jaws game, that scares the fuck out of me.

[Justin McElroy]

That's the other thing about it that I think is actually really interesting is that this is a time period where the games, like a lot of these games weren't a natural fit or the movies weren't a natural fit for a game adaptation. Right. Terminator 2 is pretty clean. You're a dude with a gun. But like, how do you make a game out of Jaws? How do you make a game? I think there's some interesting stuff that people had to come up with to rationalize some of this. You've seen some non traditional game design that may not work great, but at least it's kind of interesting.

[Ross Foshtick]

Yeah, no, I think they did a really interesting job.

[Chris Bot]

It's strange because I wanted to say, oh well, this kind of faded. We had goldeneye and then there was a bunch of bad tie in games on the Nintendo 64 and maybe this went away for a while. But really every era has its handful of great or at least good movie tie in games. We have Spider Man 2. Right. We have Take it or Leave it, the Matrix video games, which I personally think I'll take it. Solid. Yeah, I like them.

[Justin McElroy]

And the Matrix rules.

[Chris Bot]

Yeah, there's that Hulk video game. There's a Wolverine game that's pretty good. Like we get these.

[Justin McElroy]

Is there. I don't think that one's a good Hulk movie game, is there? I thought there was something for the PS2 and game two.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Ross Foshtick]

Not tied to the movie.

[Chris Bot]

There's that Lord of the Rings video game. You know, there's stuff now and then that we get, but most of it is utter garbage. Fresh. You were talking about before this how we do seem to see less of it all around, good or bad.

[Ross Foshtick]

Yeah, yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

I can't remember the last movie license thing.

[Ross Foshtick]

So much of it is just the expense of game development is at a point where like it no longer makes financial sense to do this. If you're going to do like a full on 3D open world whatever to tie it with a movie release. The math does not work. That being said, they still do. You know, there's a Stranger Things game they still do like these indie approaches to these releases as another marketing leg. But you're not going to see like a full release for a movie. Yeah.

[Chris Bot]

I think the exception is and it's not literally this movie, the game, but is Disney's approach of rip is worth so much. It has so much inherent value. We can shop around to all the different developers, have no overhead and get them to take the risk on making video game versions of Star wars or Avatar or whatever.

[Ross Foshtick]

Or not even that. You look at Fortnite or you look at Call of Duty like Call of Duty just did a Fallout collab, which obviously it's the same company. Microsoft owns both of them, but still they just. And then Fortnite does collabs all the time, adventure time and you name it. It's much cheaper and easier to release a skin of a character that acts as a marketing tool for the thing you're releasing than it is to make a whole fucking game.

[Justin McElroy]

Isn't it interesting also that you look at just this year you've got a new Silent Hill, Mortal Kombat 2 Street Fighter, Resident Evil. Like the pipeline is Moving the other way, you know, it's going the opposite direction. The games are being developed into. Into films. Yeah, Sonic, you know what I mean? Like, it's. I was looking for examples of movies being adapted into games and I can't, like, it's been years since I can find one that isn't like a. That's like a real, actual like AAA video game, whatever that means anymore, you know, released on a disc.

[Griffin McElroy]

My mind, I don't know if we've talked about this on the show. Cannot. Is incapable of conceiving what the Zach Kreger led Resident Evil film is going to look like. I like, love the work of Zach Kreger. Just seems like such an odd pairing.

[Justin McElroy]

We got Paul Walter Hauser and Zach Cherry, my boys. Like, I need the two of them to be the ones that save the world. Like my guys. My guys.

[Ross Foshtick]

I'm very excited. I think it's. People are starting to really dial it in. I think Fallout's a good example of this. The show is just like, you can lean into the ridiculousness of the video game aspects while also appreciating the source material and showing it respect such that fans and other people can get into it.

[Justin McElroy]

Hey, I want your suggestions. What movie, what classic film would you like to see get this treatment? If you could have the same team, same people, they got to do a follow up, right?

[Ross Foshtick]

Was there a Demolition man game is what I want to know? Because that seems.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, there's absolutely several demolitions. I know. Sega cd. Check me. But I'm pretty sure there was a. I know there was a Sega CD. I want to say it was a 32X demolition man.

[Ross Foshtick]

Oh yeah, there was indeed.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah. With clips from the film.

[Griffin McElroy]

There's a correct answer to this and it is. The Fifth Element would be very, very good.

[Chris Bot]

Well, see, the problem is Ubisoft's very complex for a long time and beyond good and Evil 2 is never coming out.

[Justin McElroy]

But like, I feel like the. The. Would that be the right fit for this kind of thing though? You know what I mean? Like, can you boil that down to the. Because I feel like Fifth Element has to be. If you're to do a film, a game, I think that has to be sprawling and.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, it couldn't be very faithful and be this type of game.

[Justin McElroy]

I guess like John Wick would be like. Yeah, that would be such a. I know that's not an older, but like, that would be so great. I would love to see this team try Predator that has like a little bit more like organic Elements that would be really cool.

[Ross Foshtick]

Yeah. And there is a John Wick. I think John Wick hex came out for what it's worth. But not. It wasn't like.

[Chris Bot]

Not the recreate the movie in the game sort of thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That'd be tough.

[Griffin McElroy]

Was that good?

[Chris Bot]

Titanic?

[Justin McElroy]

There was a VR John Wick thing too, right?

[Ross Foshtick]

Man, you could see a super hot VR collab for John Wick would be fucking sick.

[Griffin McElroy]

Damn, that would be good.

[Justin McElroy]

They did something like it. There was a V.R. john Wick thing. It just wasn't super hot.

[Chris Bot]

I do want to point out, before we get to the question, hey, hey.

[Justin McElroy]

Let your kids play super hot if they never have. I taught Cooper to play super hot. It's fucking sick. It's like I'm training. It looks like I'm training. I want to open the door to her room. Like the scene in Wayne's World where he opens the door of the ninjas training. Like, I wanted to open the door to Cooper's bedroom. Like, yeah, she's been training in here since seven. She's going to be ready for anything the universe has.

[Griffin McElroy]

I got to charge my Oculus Quest now because I do want to play super hot right now.

[Ross Foshtick]

It's too good.

[Justin McElroy]

It's really, really good.

[Ross Foshtick]

Sadly, Meta just shuttered a bunch of VR studios because that's the way things are going.

[Justin McElroy]

So I'm literally watching him plug it in.

[Chris Bot]

Why don't we talk about King Kong the movie, the game. We made it all this time, we didn't talk about King Kong the movie, the game.

[Ross Foshtick]

Super good movie, right?

[Chris Bot]

King Kong the movie, the game. What a game. Movie.

[Justin McElroy]

What a great game. That is a game. I wish more games had taken some learnings from. It's got a really fun way, like King Kong the movie, the game. Sorry. Peter Jackson's King Kong the Movie the game you never experienced. It is a first person action adventure, but like more heavy on the adventure where like the presence of like fire, whether or not you have a torch, is a very big thing. You're like. You get your weapons not like in a classic way, but like you just find guns that someone else has and you can like borrow their guns. It's very narrative heavy. It's like got big cinematic moments. It's a very cool.

[Ross Foshtick]

I think that's when Kong too.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Ross Foshtick]

You up as Kong, right?

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah. I think that's when he was very involved with. I feel like I remember Peter Jackson being. Being very plugged into that, which is the same as Lord of the Rings. Things, right. He was, he was very instrumental in those games.

[Chris Bot]

Just adding one other note here. There is one big movie tie in game that has been tremendously successful in the last five years and that is the Jurassic World Frontier games. The Jurassic World Evolution games.

[Ross Foshtick]

That's where you're building the park because.

[Chris Bot]

They'Re smart enough to be like, yeah, let's pull it back. Let's just let you build a dinosaur theme park. But even that is like you're not recreating the movie, which I think is what we're going for.

[Ross Foshtick]

There is, I think, a new Jurassic park game that is coming out in the future that will, I think, be a little bit closer to at least the vibes of the movies, if not the recreation of the events.

[Griffin McElroy]

The thing. Video game also beat so much ass. It beat so much ass that they remade it and released that I think a couple years ago.

[Ross Foshtick]

At this point. I don't think I ever played that.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh man, it's so good. I mean, it's a third person shooter type game, but it is also a survival horror game obviously where you never know if like the dude you're rolling with is about to turn into a big bloody octopus or whatever.

[Chris Bot]

Nightdive Studios did a remaster of it like at the end of last year. It's pretty solid. Yeah.

[Ross Foshtick]

Cool.

[Chris Bot]

Hey, we got any questions?

[Ross Foshtick]

Yeah, we do as a matter of fact. First, more statements, but a funny note from Michael. He said he thought Justin was. We were talking about most anticipated games. I thought Justin was saying the remake of the end of the greatest RPG of All time as the game description and not the name of the game. People were very upset that we weren't actually saying what game it was.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh yeah, it's a secret. I'm not going to tell you what game I'm talking about.

[Ross Foshtick]

Jay McConnell also wrote in saying, I am unbelievably happy that Griffin is playing satisfactory. It's one of my favorite games in 2019. Remains a favorite of the genre. Griffin, are you still.

[Griffin McElroy]

I had to liberate myself.

[Justin McElroy]

Good for you.

[Griffin McElroy]

Genuinely.

[Justin McElroy]

It's so rare.

[Griffin McElroy]

The only other thing I can remember is like the times I've had where I've been playing wow. And not really enjoying it and being like, what the fuck am I do? Like, satisfactory kicks ass. And also I have like 45 minutes of gaming time per day and I cannot spend all of it playing satisfactory. So I reached a nice sort of stopping point with it and had to peel myself off. That is a game that I think if I was Playing in multiplayer in like a constant server. It would be the only video game I ever play. But it is kick ass.

[Ross Foshtick]

Does it get to a point where if you like stand on a mountain looking down at your creation, it looks like big ball factory. Like it looks that fucking cool where.

[Griffin McElroy]

Everything is kind of like going yeah, man. People have done some shit with this game that is like pretty staggering. And I attempted to do that and I didn't do a great job. And I was like, instead of remaking this, I think I'm just gonna stop. But yeah, it kicks ass. I think it's like. I think it's a really interesting genre that is doing a lot of stuff from other genres I really like. So I do love satisfactory a lot and I'm sure I will come back to it someday. But I had to quit. Cause Terminator 2D. No, fate was the game that got me off of it and it was a perfect kind of.

[Ross Foshtick]

Yeah, it's like a band aid.

[Chris Bot]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

A little bit of a palate. Palate cleanser is maybe offensive because it makes it sound like a clean.

[Justin McElroy]

It sounds really nice. Play a game because it's fun. I mean really genuinely. Like it shouldn't be as much of a commodity as it is, but it's just like it's fun to play.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Ross Foshtick]

We have any honorable mentions?

[Justin McElroy]

I am reading a book that you guys really like called There is no Antimemetics Division. It's by the author is just named Quantum Q N T M is it? And it is a sci fi. Don't go searching for it. I hear the clickety clacking. Just let me tell you about it kills me. Tcb It's a sci fi novel about. Okay, so what the book assumes is obviously there's monsters, right? And in this world there are psychic monsters that the government has to kind of keep track of. So you can imagine your X Files or whatever cross government agency tasked with tracking them, well nested within that group of monsters that are like psychic creatures are creatures that are by their very nature erase memory of their existence. So they are designed, these psychic enemies, these psychic creatures, their abilities, their powers are all sort of manifested around erasing the knowledge of their existence. And that's how they're operating within secrecy. So this agency is people who are trained to notice things outside of what others would notice and are trying to use different methodology to find these creatures that are trying to escape notice. And as the book continues on, what's fascinating is and what I think makes reading it such a cool experience is A lot of these entities have the ability to erase the knowledge of their existence from the characters. But you, the reader, do not have that knowledge erased. So you'll start to see characters operating using a different rule set or a different set of logic and you don't understand why. And then you realize they've forgotten. They don't. They don't. They're kind of losing track of the book as you, the reader are like keeping track of it. And all the different permutations of that, like all the different ways that those like psychic creatures manifest themselves in the different ways that like the agents have to have a protocol of like several different methods of recording. So it's like some people use Dictaphones with a notepad, with a recorder, because different entities have different ways of erasing knowledge of their, of their existence. It's a very cool book. It's called There is no Anti Memetics Division. And it's, it's, it's really what the book starts to uncover is that maybe this isn't the first division like this and maybe that we've done this before on a very grand scale and it's really, really cool.

[Chris Bot]

This is great.

[Ross Foshtick]

I played through actraiser on Super Nintendo.

[Justin McElroy]

All right.

[Ross Foshtick]

That game rules. I had a device that I got ages ago, the Miyoo A30, and just booted it up. Installed Spruce OS, which is a good custom flash, custom firmware, and just ran that game. I wanted to finish it because I'm trying to finish more games rather than just messing with my devices constantly. And so I finished it. And I think what's so special about the game, it's a mix of like side scrolling action game and also like city building. Yeah, and that meta element makes the they like work hand in hand where the action sequences play into the city building and vice versa in both narrative and gameplay ways. And it, I think it overcomes the hurdle that a lot of games of that era did. We're just like, oh, this is just a really fucking hard game. Like it's just super fucking hard. Whereas you can make that game pretty manageable if you just spend a lot of time like building up the cities and doing the little quests and things like that. So I think it's a perfect pairing. Sadly, the sequel is very bad.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, it's a rare miss from Quintet. I think Quintet is maybe a developer that I have more nostalgia for than any other. They only developed, I think like a half dozen games or so, but they are all really rad and a little bit like Weirdly interconnected. My favorite.

[Ross Foshtick]

What's another one?

[Griffin McElroy]

So Illusion of Gaia is the big one. I think all the games were published by Enix, but then there were like really good, just sort of action RPGs like that Soul Blazer is one of them. Terranigma is a really, really cool one that came out pretty late in this kind of like 32 bit life cycle. But yeah, rad, rad stuff. You should play Illusion of Gaia if you haven't. It's a really, it's a really neat game about. It's like if the seven Wonders of the World were like an RPG quest and each one was a different.

[Ross Foshtick]

Very interesting. I'm definitely gonna. I think I might do a run of their games.

[Griffin McElroy]

I have been playing two things. One, I bought a board which is a screen. It is a 24 inch sort of horizontal screen.

[Ross Foshtick]

It's called board.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's called board.

[Ross Foshtick]

Okay, that wasn't taken.

[Griffin McElroy]

No, I guess it wasn't taken. And when you buy it you get this big, big ass nice screen. And it comes with like 50 little figures, little, I don't know, totems, little objects that correspond to the 12 games that are on it at launch. And the games are. I mean there's a lot of different kinds of ones. There's like a match 3 1. There's a sort of Othello style, like territory claiming one. There's one that's basically lemmings except like you're putting pieces down to make the little paths for the lemmings. So you put a little staircase down and then they will run on top of that on the screen. But then there's also like really simple ones like Snake. There's like a Snake game that you control the snake with like a little piece that you move around the board or like a asteroid space shooter where you're moving your ship piece around the board to kind of do all the stuff in that game. There's a little virtual pet thing and you're like pouring a watering can on it to like wash it and do all of that stuff. It is super neat. I've only had it for like four or five days or so, but Gus, my four year old, is quite taken with it and really enjoys just the kind of like tactile, I think experience of you know, moving a little actual physical thing around to manipulate a video game. It is, it's 500 bucks and I don't know that right now it has quite enough going on to justify that. But there are more games sort of coming there's no subscription thing. Like, I think Next Playground, which is another thing I adore and is always releasing sort of new stuff. You have to be, I think, by a game pass in order to do that stuff. This doesn't have anything like that, at least not yet. But it's been really neat and it's been a fun sort of. Their big pitch is like, you know, no more screens in front of your faces as you play games together. Now you just have the one big screen.

[Ross Foshtick]

It's the screen.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's still a screen, but it's flat and on the table, so you're not hiding your face. I've also been playing a. I hesitate to call it game, but an app that is on Steam called Pixel Art Academy. Pixel Art Academy Learn mode. Henry has been very, very, very into pixel art. Messes around with it on his iPad. Basically, every is really developing some skills that has been kind of cool to see. So I've been fiddling around with Godot again and trying to figure out if there's any way I can help him figure some of this stuff out. But there's a game called Pixel Art Academy that teaches you pixel art, and it does so through like a dozen different kind of ways. Like, you can recreate pixel art from other games. It has those as sort of tutorials. But then it also teaches you, like, this is the fundamentals of line work, and this is best practices for making a curved line in pixel art. And then it has review technology that will look at the art that you make and be like, okay, so there's stuff here and here. This line is a little bit. It's pretty sophisticated stuff. And then there's interactive lessons where you make sprites for pico art games. And I don't know, I've put like 10 hours into it. I keep kind of just like when I have nothing else going on, picking it up and messing around. And it's been very, very cool and a neat way to learn about this thing that my son is extremely proficient at. So those are my two things.

[Chris Bot]

Nice.

[Griffin McElroy]

I guess I'm just a good dad, guys. I guess my whole thing for both of my shits this week is I'm the father of the year and possibly the decade.

[Ross Foshtick]

Wow.

[Chris Bot]

And so early in the year already.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, No, I know, but I got the. I got the award. I got the award already, dude.

[Justin McElroy]

That's great.

[Griffin McElroy]

You got the Dodie, I got the Doty. Yeah. Wow.

[Chris Bot]

I mean, I just played Sonic racing cross worlds. My son loves Sonic. I didn't play it with him though, so that probably makes me.

[Justin McElroy]

That's good. He kept it a secret. He was banging on the door actually. Please, papa.

[Griffin McElroy]

Go away.

[Chris Bot]

Go away, Papa.

[Justin McElroy]

I love the blue mouse, Papa.

[Chris Bot]

He has started calling me father and I don't know what to do with that.

[Ross Foshtick]

Oh, no, Father.

[Chris Bot]

Hey. Sonic racing Cross worlds. So good. It's just a great car racing game and they keep adding stuff to it constantly. They just added Pac man for some reason. There's an entire Pac man track where it feels like you're on a set of pixels. It's great, man. That game is awesome. It's good.

[Justin McElroy]

I heard there do Fortnite's doing a South park thing. You guys check that out.

[Ross Foshtick]

They are actively at the moment doing a South park event. There's skins and an area, Cartman World, etc. It's pretty good. People seem pissed because the truth of the stick of truth is in it.

[Justin McElroy]

Did you tell what it does? That's a really cool. It's a cool idea.

[Ross Foshtick]

Yeah, you bet. Whoever gets it can basically decide where the final circle is gonna close in on. So it kind of forces everyone directly to your position. So people have come up with like clever ideas of like doing it in like a bunker. Some asshole, like put it way out in the ocean. So suddenly there's like just a water battle. So it's pretty smart. Yeah. That's cool. Okay. I think we did it.

[Justin McElroy]

Do we?

[Chris Bot]

Thank you.

[Ross Foshtick]

Yeah, let's thank some people. We have some members over at the patreon patreon.com thebesties if you want to join us for content. We got Javier, we've got Matt, we've got Bennett, we've got Subzug, Subzu G. One of those pronunciations is right. Thank you for being members. We have a new Restyz episode. It's actually the big predictions episode which is live right now. If you happen to be a member, you can also vote on who was right in the predictions episode because there's some contention, there's some disagreement.

[Chris Bot]

Very nice.

[Ross Foshtick]

So we've left it up to the listeners to vote.

[Justin McElroy]

I love it.

[Ross Foshtick]

Very excited.

[Justin McElroy]

Next week we're going to do a double header. Memories in Order and Pathologic 3. I didn't know the franchise existed and here I am staring down the barrel of the third one. But I hear it's got a doctor in it, so. Sounds cool.

[Griffin McElroy]

You love those.

[Justin McElroy]

We love it. I love a doctor. That's gonna do it. First for this week on the besties. Be sure to join us again next week for the besties. Because shouldn't the world's best friends pick the world's best Sam. Besties.