What Genre Is Kirby Air Riders?!

Summary

The Besties – "What Genre Is Kirby Air Riders?!"

Podcast: The Besties
Hosts: Chris Plante, Griffin McElroy, Russ Frushtick (Justin McElroy absent)
Date: November 28, 2025

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Episode Overview

This lively episode finds the gang debating the genre-bending chaos of Kirby Air Riders (a new sequel/reboot to the GameCube's cult classic Kirby Air Ride) and reviewing the surprising arcade gem Sectori (SEKTORI). The hosts dig deep into how Kirby’s latest game defies conventional classification, drawing parallels to fighting games and racing games, and share passionate discussion around its control scheme, various game modes, and place in the modern gaming landscape. Later, they rave about Sectori's frenetic twin-stick chaos (evoking Geometry Wars and roguelike elements). The episode closes with rapid-fire recommendations, GOTY list anxiety, and a couple of spicy community emails.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Cult of Kirby Air Riders

• Introduction to the Game
  • New Kirby Air Riders is a "sequel, reboot, or requel" to Kirby Air Ride (GameCube, 2003), directed by Smash Bros. auteur Masahiro Sakurai. (05:35)
  • The original had cult status; some hosts hadn’t played it, missed it during the GameCube era, or thought it was "too baby" compared to more mature games at the time. (06:40–07:41)
• Why Now Is the Right Time for a Reboot
  • Chris: "This is just a fighting game, y’all. This is just a fighting game. ... The actual way that you control characters ... is wildly, wildly different." (09:12)
  • Sakurai’s legacy as a Nintendo icon is discussed—how his transparency and communication set a new bar for dev involvement. (08:26–09:00)
• Game Structure & Controls Debate
  • Unique one-or-two-button control scheme is both a charm and a frustration.
    • Griffin: “The most annoying thing about it for me is this ... adherence to this very unique thing about the original. It's very cool ... but ... let me put that on a fucking button. That's crazy.” (11:44–12:41)
  • The hosts bemoan the clunky “push stick sideways to attack” input, and the confusion that arises from “single button does everything” design. (12:46–13:35)
• Genre Blending: Kart Racer or Fighting Game?
  • Strong similarities to fighting games via character/vehicle choice and control complexity—unlike standard kart racers which only tweak stats, here vehicles fundamentally change gameplay. (09:28–10:21)
  • Russ: "It's a kart racer slash fighting game, but 90% kart racer. It does feel ... significantly different from Mario Kart." (12:46)
• Racing Feel & Mechanics
  • Pace likened to F-Zero; unique “brake-boost” drift and attack loops draw parallels to Burnout and combat racers. (13:24–14:53)
  • Attacking enemies for speed ups—aggressive engagement incentivized, unlike Mario Kart’s mainly nuisance-focused attacks. (14:23)
• Unlocks, Tutorials, & Accessibility
  • Smorgasbord of unlockables reminiscent of Smash Bros (“you turn the game on, it’s like achievement unlocked. … It really is distributed in a very Smash Bros manner.” (17:21–17:38))
  • Overlong tutorials: “Just look at the menu and it will tell you everything. ... The tutorials are so slow ... you will get a feel ... sooner you hop into the game.” (18:36)
  • Griffin: For kids, the heavy tutorialization is a turnoff; his son Henry loves the drama but prefers to watch rather than play due to the weird controls. (17:38–18:36)
• Visuals & Vibe
  • Plant: "Absurdly beautiful if you are into a chaotic, curvy aesthetic. ... The second level ... is a pirate shipwreck ... gravity is being busted." (19:57)
• Single-Player & Game Modes
  • Road Trip Mode: Most beloved, likened to a “mini-challenge” campaign á la Smash Bros or Mario Kart’s battle mode, offering distinct gameplay variety and unlocks. (21:36–22:24)
  • City Trial: Beloved by some, found inscrutable by others—five minutes of open-world upgrades, then a short randomized challenge. Polarizing among hosts. (20:44–23:42)
  • Customization: Deep vehicle options, including textures, lights, downloadable/shared user designs—“really good ... I love that you can change the texture ... and share them online.” (26:24–27:20)
• Labor of Love
  • Griffin: "I am always very, very charmed by games that are so clearly a labor of love ... Sakurai is the best in the biz at communicating with niche fans ... so much about it seems like it's being held up in front of people who have fond memories of the original." (27:20)

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Notable Quotes — Kirby Air Riders

• On Game Feel:
  • “It feels like a game full of modes ... some of them are good and some of them are bad and some of them will have their hardcore fans and some of them will have their hardcore haters.” – Chris (25:07)
  • “Once it does click, it does feel cool, it does feel good. ... There's a lot of depth that I am more interested in learning about than I am in a Mario Kart world.” – Griffin (19:18)
• On Genre:
  • “This is just a fighting game, y’all. Let me explain...” – Chris (09:12)
  • “I agree with that, but that doesn’t make it a fucking fighting game.” – Russ (10:21)
• On Unlocks:
  • "You turn the game on and it’s like achievement unlocked. ... It makes itself known very, very clearly." – Griffin (17:35)
• On Visuals:
  • "It's absurdly beautiful if you are into a chaotic, curvy aesthetic. ... That moment was, for me, that's when, like, the game just immediately clicked." – Chris (19:57)

Key Kirby Air Riders Timestamps

• 05:35 – Intro to Kirby Air Riders and its legacy
• 09:12 – Genre-bending: fighting game versus kart racer
• 13:24 – Unpacking the brake-boost mechanic
• 17:31 – Unlockable structure and Smash Bros. comparisons
• 19:57 – Level/presentation highlights
• 21:35 – Road Trip mode discussion
• 26:24 – Customization gushing

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2. Sectori (SEKTORI): The New Geometry Wars?

• First Impressions & Overview
  • Dropped with little advance notice, but immediately made an impression as “the best Geometry Wars-like I have played since the original” (32:15).
  • Twin-stick shooter, closed arena, rapidly shape-shifting world geometry, and copious modes.
  • Branding lament: "Logo is basically illegible, so a little hard to find on Steam, but if you do, you’re in for a fucking treat." – Russ (32:15)
• Core Gameplay Loop
  • Simple at first blush: “You are the little ship on a 2D plane inside a closed arena. ... Different types [of enemies] have different strategies.” – Chris (32:49)
  • Arena changes shape mid-match, forcing players to react or face instant death. (33:58)
  • Campaign with roguelike progression: "you can unlock ability cards ... spawn into your deck ... roguelike mechanics." – Griffin (34:21)
• Unique Mechanics
  • "Strike" action: a charged dash/explosion move essential for managing overwhelming enemies; refreshed instantly by hitting a power-up. (36:32)
  • “The spawn rate is insane ... and you will have to use this strike to manage things.” – Griffin (36:44)
  • Progression built around deck-building, unlocks, medals (achievements that unlock new ships, customizations, and modes). (35:23)
• Modes & Depth
  • Multiple modes: classic auto-upgrade (score chase) mode, boss rush, gates mode, "oops all offense" booster mode, mutators, and more. (38:18–39:38)
  • Customization: “fun medal system ... unlock customizations for your ship ... mutators.” (40:25)
• Developer Pedigree
  • Lead devs are ex-Housemarque (Resogun, Super Stardust, Returnal), giving it impeccable arcade shooter DNA. (40:52–41:32)
• Difficulty & Approachability
  • Extremely hard—normal mode is harsh even for veterans; progression is not persistent. (43:43)
  • "There are games that are hard and you're not going to enjoy them ... this game is difficult to reach the end, [but] you will be having fun from the drop." – Chris (42:52)
  • Griffin: "This is one that I keep playing because I want to get better at it and that's cool." (45:29)
• Comparisons to Kirby Air Riders
  • “Funny, guys, is I feel like there's a lot of parallels between this discussion and the discussion we just had about Kirby Air Riders, because it's the same way ... there's a rhythm to it ... once you do understand it, you kind of see through the matrix, and that's really, really very exciting.” – Griffin (41:43)

Notable Quotes — Sectori

• “Sectori ... is the best Geometry Wars-like I have played since the original Geometry Wars.” – Russ (32:15)
• “All of this is happening at ... boss fight at the end of that world ... while the literal world around you is changing, while a dozen characters are spawning in...” – Griffin (36:44)
• “Don’t play [Sectori] too late at night ... you will lose track of time and ... have that still just like fucking pumping in your ears.” – Griffin (39:38)

Key Sectori Timestamps

• 31:50 – Intro to Sectori and first impressions
• 32:49 – Mechanics, shifting world, and controls
• 36:32 – The "strike" move explained
• 38:18 – Extra modes and content
• 40:52 – Housemarque DNA and developer background
• 42:52 – Difficulty and learning curve

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3. GOTY Talk & Reader Mail

• End-of-Year List Angst & Recency Bias
  • “The sheer number of games ... coming in at the wire that could make a play for the top 10 is ...” – Chris (45:54)
• Metroid Prime 4: Lamented as a too-late arrival for inclusion in GOTY debates. (46:06)
• Expedition 33: Mixed opinions—length and story engagement discussed. (47:31–50:52)
  • “I would prepare ... there will probably be one person who did not love it. ... not super into it.” – Chris (49:23)

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4. Lightning Round: Other Recommendations

• News Tower:
  • Plant urges the team to play this newsroom management sim: “It is so expansive and also genuinely the closest a video game has ever gotten to what it feels like to actually manage a newsroom.” (51:14–53:43)
• Hades 2, Physical Asia (Netflix competition series), and others receive passing mentions. (54:02–55:34)
• Liberty Science Center: Family activity recommendation, “really highly recommend it if you’re looking for some kid activities.” – Russ (57:59)

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Memorable Moments & Banter

• On Teens and Toothpicks (01:24)
  • Griffin: "I wanna get it out there to teens that it's not just vapes. There's so many things you can put in there and look cool."
• Mock-Genre Wars (09:12)
  • Chris: “This is just a fighting game, y’all.”
  • Russ: “That doesn’t make it a fucking fighting game.”
• Controller Frustration (12:41)
  • “Let me put that on a fucking button. That’s crazy.” – Griffin
• Visual Description (19:57)
  • “Absurdly beautiful ... a pirate shipwreck ... the water has been split and is going in every direction. Gravity is being busted.” – Chris
• Sectori Vibes (39:38)
  • “Don’t play [Sectori] too late at night ... you will lose track of time.” – Griffin

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Timestamps for Major Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | Notes | |-----------|--------------------------------------|----------------------------------------| | 05:35 | Intro to Kirby Air Riders | History, context, and franchise legacy | | 09:12 | What genre is it really? | Fighting game vs. kart racer debate | | 13:24 | Brake-boost mechanic & controls | How it's different from Mario Kart | | 17:31 | Unlock system & presentation | Smash Bros. comparisons | | 19:57 | Level design & visuals | Aesthetic praise | | 21:35 | Game modes (City Trial, Road Trip) | Mode breakdown, pros & cons | | 26:24 | Customization options | Car/vehicle mods | | 31:50 | Sectori introduced | Summary & quick review | | 32:49 | Sectori mechanics and comparisons | Geometry Wars, rogue-lite systems | | 36:32 | “Strike” mechanic & chaos | Signature dash move | | 38:18 | Sectori’s extra modes | Content depth, variety | | 40:52 | Sectori dev background | Housemarque pedigree | | 42:52 | Sectori learning curve | Difficulty & replay value | | 45:54 | GOTY list planning | Recency bias & crowded competition | | 51:14 | News Tower plug | Management sim rec | | 54:02 | Quick hits | Hades 2, Physical Asia | | 57:59 | Liberty Science Center plug | Family/kid activity suggestion |

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Conclusion

In this episode, the Besties explore the fuzzy genre line between racing and fighting (and more) in Kirby Air Riders, pushing back and forth on its successes, quirks, and place in Nintendo history—while Sectori emerges as the late-year indie marvel, delivering “arcade trance” with modern rogue-like flair. The hosts’ banter, passionate genre debate, and sharp insights make it a must-listen for anyone curious about how games evolve (or defy) their genres.

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Best Quotes:

• Chris: "This is just a fighting game, y’all." (09:12)
• Griffin (exasperated): "Let me put that on a fucking button. That's crazy." (12:41)
• Russ: “Sectori ... is the best Geometry Wars-like I have played since the original." (32:15)
• Chris on News Tower: "Genuinely the closest a video game has ever gotten to what it feels like to actually manage a newsroom." (51:14)

Next week's tease: Game Awards predictions and possibly a routine that’s been in development for “48, 49 years...” (59:29)

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If you want a masterclass in game genre nitpicking, Nintendo praise and critique, and arcade nostalgia, this is the Besties episode for you.

Transcript

[Russ Froschik]

Real quick, before we dive into the show itself, I want to do a big call out.

[Griffin McElroy]

This isn't the cold open.

[Russ Froschik]

I know.

[Griffin McElroy]

No, I know. I want them to know this isn't the cold open. It's not gonna be funny. There's gonna be funny stuff later, but.

[Russ Froschik]

This is not gonna be. Oh, you think it's gonna be at the beginning of the show?

[Griffin McElroy]

It's a cold, cold open.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Isn't a cold open.

[Griffin McElroy]

So stop trying to look at what it is.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

What is happening right now is.

[Russ Froschik]

It is a throwing cold sound.

[Griffin McElroy]

Sounds cold.

[Russ Froschik]

Okay, shut up, all yo. We have a huge discount going on for Black Friday. It's only gonna be happening for Black Friday through Cyber Monday. We. We have a big, big discount on our patreon. It's an 80% discount for both tiers. So if you want to get the $5 tier, it's only $1 for your first month. If you want to get the $10 tier, it's only $2 for your first month. Holy cow. That is a big discount. Yeah. So plant reminded me. We should probably put it at the top of the show. So we've done that. Cold open. Coming at you right now.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Oh, and it's a cold open.

[Griffin McElroy]

This. Here it comes. And it's a barn burner. I don't remember what we said. It was an hour ago.

[Russ Froschik]

Griffin, I'm disappointed because we were just starting to record. Yeah.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Oh, oh.

[Russ Froschik]

Actually, I'm no longer disappointed because right before we recorded, you took the toothpick out of your mouth like it was. You were like a hayseed bumpkin hitching a ride on the side of the road. And you've since decided. No, no, no, let's put that. Let's put it back in.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's cool, right? It is cool. I wanna get it out there to teens that it's not just vapes.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

There's so many things you can put in there and look cool and have it be kind of like an affectation.

[Russ Froschik]

Sure, sure, sure.

[Griffin McElroy]

Like a toothpick. I got out because I eated some leftover turkey from a potluck dinner that my wife went to, which, by the way, sweetest deal ever for me. I did not go to the thing, and yet I got to eat their succulent smoked turkey.

[Russ Froschik]

Truly the luckiest of all the luck.

[Griffin McElroy]

It got in my teeth a little bit. Put the thing in there, the little toothpick. And you know what I realized? It's cool to have it in there.

[Russ Froschik]

It is, it is. What else can you put in there?

[Griffin McElroy]

Vape. I said that, right?

[Russ Froschik]

Yeah, you said vape.

[Griffin McElroy]

So there's vape, there's toothpick food, obviously. One of my favorites, turkey. Cause I already said I'd put that juice and that's it. Juice, food, vape, toothpick. Those are the four major food groups. Those are the. Yeah.

[Russ Froschik]

What do you think about, like, a long flower?

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay, so if I'm doing a long flower, are we going in sort of cross, like, across the mouth? Like, I can't have it.

[Russ Froschik]

Sticking well across the mouth, I think is the traditional way to do it. But I don't think it has the panache of just a long dangling flower, like a big sunflower, as if it's.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Kind of growing out of your throat.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, no, that's not typically how one does a flower. I mean, it is cool. And it lets people know. Like when I'm out on the street and I have like a single rose clutched in my teeth. Lets people know what a sort of passionate man I am.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It says, hey, everybody, I ate a Pikmin.

[Griffin McElroy]

I ate a Pikmin. Well, no, okay, again, you are still thinking of. I have taken the flower straight down, right down the barrel. I am still thinking sort of clasp.

[Russ Froschik]

Yeah, yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

Long, wise.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

More of a romantic.

[Griffin McElroy]

Like I'd be interested in a romantic. I'm letting you know. Chewing on it. Look out. I'm not going to seduce you or anything like that. But, like, I want you to know that, like, I am a romantic man. I aim all that romance at a single person, which is my wife. But I do. I have it to spare.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Sorry. Do you want to take that?

[Griffin McElroy]

A vapal.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Do that too, my wife one more time.

[Griffin McElroy]

I am not some fucking puppet for you to shove your hand in.

[Russ Froschik]

Amen.

[Griffin McElroy]

To make me preach whatever joke you want me to do.

[Russ Froschik]

Amor.

[Griffin McElroy]

Unless you want me to do. If you want me to do Bruno references, I'll do Bruno. I don't do Borat anymore. I don't do Borat and you know that. So I'm not gonna fucking dance. For I'm not your organ grinder monkey. You put a penny in the slot and I do my little dance. Unless it's Bruno, I'll do Bruno all day.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah, this reminds me of that. You can put a toothpick in the.

[Russ Froschik]

Slot if you want.

[Griffin McElroy]

You can put a tooth. If the penny gets stuck in the slot. Sometimes you gotta put a toothpick in there.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yep, it reminds me of that.

[Griffin McElroy]

Now I have to get rid of the fucking toothpick. Cause you made such a Big deal.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It reminds me of a line from a movie. G U R U T M that's the Guru.

[Griffin McElroy]

I love that.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Let's get to the show.

[Griffin McElroy]

I love when you decide like and that's the quote from the Love Guru. It has to be the button.

[Russ Froschik]

There's not even a question, not even a doubt. Such confidence.

[Griffin McElroy]

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

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

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

[Russ Froschik]

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

[Griffin McElroy]

Justin couldn't play Kirby Air. Writers not good enough at games made him scared. The Warp star made him. He thought King dedede was going to come out and kill him. So it's just the three of us this week talking about Kirby Air Riders and some other fun, exciting games that took us by surprise. Games like Sektory, which I'm very excited to talk about as well. But Chris, before we get to that, what is Kirby Air Riders?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Kirby Air Riders is a sequel, reboot, requel of sorts of the Kirby Air Riders game that came out long, long ago on a little system called the GameCube. You might not remember that old piece of junk, but you will like this new masterpiece from the director of the Super Smash Brothers series.

[Griffin McElroy]

The things you just said alone have made me very excited for the conversation that is to follow, which is going to take place right after this quick break.

[Russ Froschik]

This episode of the Besties is sponsored by Alienware. You know Alienware's biggest sale of the season lets you unleash peak performance at Black Friday savings. Save on select Alienware PCs like the groundbreaking Alienware 16 Area 51 gaming laptop, taking performance to the next level with Intel Core Ultra processors. Plus you can save on all the latest accessories and displays like the Alienware 27 4K QD OLED gaming monitor. Visit alienware.com deals before those time limited savings end.

[Griffin McElroy]

Important to know the 2003 original was called Kirby Air Ride. Oh very, I would say cult classic insofar as I never played it.

[Russ Froschik]

It's so cult.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's so cult. I didn't play. I had a GameCube definitely, but there's quite a few games that I didn't that I guess I just missed out on. And based on everything I ever saw of Kirby Air Ride, it seemed like that was, I don't know, it made sense for that to be one of them.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Do you think it hit at the worst possible time for you? Age wise? You are 16, 17 in the GameCube with the resident Evil stuff over here.

[Griffin McElroy]

Right.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Comes out, and they're like, do you want to play this Kirby game? And you're like, I'm sorry. Me not baby.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. I don't know. I can't remember what games came out in 2003. That was Tony Hawk's Underground. That was Kotor.

[Russ Froschik]

I don't think it was a cool guy thing. I think it was a definitely cool guy thing. Oh, fair. We had Mario Kart and, like, do I need another?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Kirby was so known to be baby that they had to give him, like, angry eyes to try to convince you. Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm not sure that Kirby carried the kind of cultural cache. Wow. The alliteration is so on point today. Back then with me, obviously, I love this little creep. Now. A lot of that is because of the heavy lifting he did in Forgotten Land, which is one of my favorite platformers. Literally.

[Russ Froschik]

Very strong.

[Griffin McElroy]

Very, very strong little gentleman. And so that's the history of Kirby Air Ride is like. I don't think I'm speaking out of turn and saying it is a cult racing game for the GameCube.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Can I give you my big take of why it's perfect time for it to come out right now?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yes, please.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Probably not the most original take, which is the director of this game, Masahiro Sakurai, is now much better known as the director of the Smash Brothers series, the Fighting Games. Right. And has even made this amazing YouTube series about, like, how to design games. Is an icon in the Nintendo world, not of the Miyamoto status, but just right below it is probably the most recognizable living Nintendo game designer other than him.

[Griffin McElroy]

The extent to which he plugged into the Smash Brothers world and sort of really showed his work is. I don't think there's anything quite like it in the history of games. The extent to which he made the process known there.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I think what has happened is this is a fighting game, y'. All. This is just a fighting game. Like, it's. Yes, yes. Let me explain it. Okay.

[Russ Froschik]

We haven't even talked about what this game is.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Well, I'm going to.

[Griffin McElroy]

This is the way we get in.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It's called a setup, my friend. It's called. It looks like a kind of a kart racing game, right? And you're gonna go around a track, and you're gonna do various laps, and there are enemies that you can collect instead of items, and you suck them up Kirby style, and you get their powers. Kirby style. Right. But overall, if you picture Mario Kart with, like, blocks and you're getting special abilities. It's that the humongous difference. And where I think that this is very, very similar to fighting games and very similar specifically to Smash Brothers is the difference in how each vehicle and character controls and how you mash them up is far more significant than it is in the vast majority of racing games where you are tinkering stats. The actual way that you control characters and how they get around the field is wildly, wildly different.

[Russ Froschik]

I agree with that. But that doesn't make it a fucking fighting game.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I'm sorry.

[Griffin McElroy]

Let's set up what the game is. Okay.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Right.

[Griffin McElroy]

As Plant alluded to, one of the modes is a racing game, I think, pretty straightforward. You move forward on a track and you move forward automatically.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Why not both?

[Griffin McElroy]

Well, it is. There's fighting. You fight while you do it. The big thing about Kirby Air Riders, I would say from a design standpoint, is that it is a game you play with the stick and one button. And then there's like one extra button that you do one thing with. Right. The Y button activates your special ability. When you've charged up your special meter.

[Russ Froschik]

You use it like once, twice.

[Griffin McElroy]

You use it maybe once or twice a race. And then I'm pretty sure most of the other buttons are the Kirby Air Riders. It reminds me of those Tiger Electronics games where you would have like, you know, up and down arrow on one side and then on the right side. There's a great one for the. For Doug, the Doug Tiger Electronics game where the two buttons on the right side are just called Doug and Faster. So you have the special button and then you have the Kirby Air Riders button, which does fucking everything else. You break to charge up a boost dash. You suck up enemies with it. You use the skills afforded to you by those enemies with it. You break and reverse with it. It's really.

[Russ Froschik]

You can get off your cart at times, run around.

[Griffin McElroy]

I think you do that with holding the special button, actually. So that's another instance in which the Y button is used.

[Russ Froschik]

That is one of the exceptions.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

You're framing this as a one button.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yes.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Even though it's not really one button.

[Russ Froschik]

It's pretty close.

[Griffin McElroy]

Pretty close. I think that's the most annoying thing about it for me is this, like, adherence to this very unique thing about the original. It's very cool. Obviously, the ideas have expanded to a point where they needed to add a second button. So at that point, just go the fuck ahead. There's a spin attack that you can do, and you do that by pushing the Stick to the sides real quick. And it feels pretty bad every time you do it. It doesn't feel great. Yeah, it's like you're steering and you want me to fucking. Real quick do this little flick. Because it's like the best way to smash open the ability blocks that you might come across while playing city trial mode or whatever. Let me put that on a fucking button. That's crazy.

[Russ Froschik]

16 other buttons. You're not using y'.

[Griffin McElroy]

All. 16 other buttons. Let me use a fucking button, dude.

[Russ Froschik]

I think there's a lot of people coming out this, though, that are like, fucking Mario Kart just came out three months ago, whatever it was. Why are we seeing another effectively kart racer? So I think there's. It's a kart racer slash fighting game, but 90% kart racer. It does feel com. I wouldn't say completely different. I would say, like, significantly different from Mario Kart. The idea that you're constantly breaking to gain boost and then boosting. Yeah. And it has the pace of like an F0 or something like that. It feels much better, faster than anything I've ever seen in Mario Kart.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yes. This brake boost maneuver is basically, I think the most common use case will be sharp turns. Right. It is a drift that you do and you get a nice boost.

[Russ Froschik]

And obviously there is a drift in Mario Kart.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, of course. But it's a completely different feeling drift insofar as, like, in this game, you really slow down a lot going around those curves because the drift in Mario Kart, it just feels completely different. This idea of dashing and smashing into stuff is a kind of like, tactile action that I think does set Kirby Air riders apart, especially because, like, we've only talked about the, you know, air ride mode, which is the sort of standard road. There's a weird top down mode that feels. I don't know, maybe it's a beloved feature of the game from the original, but feels like a bit of an afterthought.

[Russ Froschik]

Before we get into the other modes, I do want to mention one other big significant difference that we haven't talked about.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yes, yes, yes.

[Russ Froschik]

Is to gain boost meter or whatever.

[Griffin McElroy]

Speed.

[Russ Froschik]

To gain speed as you're racing, there are multiple ways to do it. We mentioned the, like, drift break and then get a boost of speed the other way, which I think is very significant, is to attack enemies and deal damage to enemies using the items that you pick up as you go. So what it ends up feeling is like closer to like a burnout almost where you are really trying to like fuck up the waddle dees that are making their way across this course and the various other people that you're racing against. And that's really the only way you're gonna gain on people is by like really fucking up people.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yes.

[Russ Froschik]

Otherwise in Mario Kart, like, realistically, it's mostly you use it as a way to like act as a nuisance to other people, but it's not gonna help your speed.

[Griffin McElroy]

This is, I think the main offender of the single button scheme for me is the fact that the boost break slide button is the same button as suck up and attack enemies. So it becomes all of a sudden a sort of context sensitive thing where if you press the brake boost button and you are close enough to an enemy, you will suck them up and then you can launch them or absorb their power. But if you hit it when you're not close enough to an enemy, you bring yourself to a complete stop. Like, it just, it just seems so wild to me that they wouldn't just make that a separate. Make that a separate input. But yes, I do agree that that sets it apart and it does make it unique. And when it works, it feels like really good to get like a good line of chugging between enemies and building up speed and going fast and all that. Like, it is generally pretty thrilling.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I'm so torn on the button thing. And my instinct is to just say they should let you remap and do whatever you want. That's that. I also do think that the longer you play, the more you start to have the feel for it. And it's just a very different thing than any of the kart racing games. Some might say it's closer to like a combat type of game. I'm trying to think of the genre. I do want to talk about the drifting though, and how it's different between each character, because I think that's why it's pretty significant. Well, that's why the single button thing can work. Because you can have a character where, okay, you drift and it feels like, yes. Like you're in a burnout game or an outrun game. You can have a character where you basically. 90 degree angle on the dimension.

[Russ Froschik]

Yeah, there's no. You get instant friction, basically.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah. You could have one where it's a really slow, but you have a powerful charge. You could have one that has no charge, but it raises all your stats. And that is, I think the appeal of the game is finding the machine for you. I think what is. Weirdly, I think it's like one of the best kids games and that a kid's going to tinker with that and find that feel. I think adults are more likely to bounce off this game because that's so antithetical to what we're used to that you, you have to unlock the thing that might actually be how you like to play this game.

[Griffin McElroy]

I do like that, by the way.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I do.

[Griffin McElroy]

There's a ton of fucking stuff to unlock in this game and it is distributed in a very Smash Bros manner. This game looks so much like Smash Bros. It's fucking sounds and sounds so much.

[Russ Froschik]

They brought the guy back.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, I love that you like turn.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

The game on and it's like achievement unlocked.

[Griffin McElroy]

You downloaded Kirby and it plays that ba ba sound. Yeah, it really is. It makes itself known very, very clearly. I will say sort of anecdotally, this game has not been a hit with Henry, who is a huge Kirby fan because he. First of all, there's a lot of tutorialization which is tough for him to hang with, but it's kind of necessary because the control scheme is so weird. He likes the very Smash Brosy, like extremely dramatic anime Kirby story that is happening and likes seeing all the characters and is excited about all the unlocks. But it has very much been a game that he wants me to play while he watches, which is still fun, which is still a cool way to do it. But it doesn't. I don't know, it hasn't been the can't put it down sort of experience that other Kirby projects have been a.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Recommendation to the growing ups. I can't speak for the kids here. When you load this game, if you've never played any of these games, it will want you to go to the tutorial. Do that. Don't play any of it. Just look at the menu and it will tell you everything that you are going to learn in these tutorials. The tutorials are so slow and they are literally turn left, turn right. You will get a feel for the game the sooner you hop into the game. Having just read those tutorials, I think that's good advice.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Froschik]

Doing the tutorials reminded me when I was doing admin work where my company forced me to fill in the IT security questions of like, should you give your USB to someone? And there's like a slow meter of the video playing.

[Griffin McElroy]

There's also no amount of tutorialization I think that can really prepare you for what a Kirby Air Riders race is like, as evidenced by the fact that the final chapter of the tutorial is now do this little practice race. And it took us like fucking four tries to actually do it because it's insane. It's so weird to loop all of these different ideas together. It is so unlike any other racing game. And once it does click, it does feel cool, it does feel good. And I feel like there's a lot of depth that I am more interested in learning about than I am in a Mario Kart world, which I picked up, played a little bit and never touched it again after we talked about about it.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Sorry, just one final thing I want to throw in here. It's absurdly beautiful if you are into a chaotic, curvy aesthetic. The second level of this game is a pirate shipwreck in the ocean. But the water has been split and is going in every direction. Gravity is being busted. And you discover that if you are piping through this huge split, you know, splitting of the seas and you can go into the water, they're not hard walls. And that moment was, for me, that's when, like, the game just immediately clicked for me. I was like, I'm going to love this shit. Pure vibes.

[Russ Froschik]

It is also notable because it is probably the only racing game I've played in recent memory that has like a pretty significant single player mode.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yes.

[Griffin McElroy]

So that's what I wanted to talk about is there's kind of two other modes that we haven't talked about yet. The first is City Trial, which was a beloved mode from the original and is. So I think it is the most inscrutable thing in the game because it is five minutes on this open world map. You're racing around, you're picking up other cars, you're doing little challenges, you're picking up power ups for your vehicle. And then once the five minutes are over, you do like a challenge. And the challenge lasts sometimes for like 30 seconds. And then that's the end of the whole match. It's like a weird. I think you have to be very, very, very into how the game feels and works so that all the work you're doing in the let's build up my car and make it super strong or air rider to make that land. But the road trip mode I do think is really great. And that's the thing that I've been enjoying the most.

[Russ Froschik]

Yeah, I played a lot of it as well.

[Griffin McElroy]

Story mode. You're constantly going down this track, moving from event to event, but you get to kind of like choose which event you're going to do next. Like, three different ones will be coming at you down A track. You get to pick the one you want to do, and it'll give you a certain reward. It'll be either a race or like a drag race right down a straight track. Or a mini game where you have.

[Russ Froschik]

To, like a monkey target variant.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

Like, fly through these different gates. And those are just short form enough. And constantly unlocking shit that it is. That is the right cycle for me of, like, dopa. And it's also great because Henry only wants to watch me play it, so he gets to see all the story stuff and gets all the unlockable characters and all that stuff like that. I think that mode's really, really great and kind of my favorite way to engage with Kirby Air.

[Russ Froschik]

Right. It crushes me that Mario Kart world doesn't have anything even close to the, like, depth and breadth of it. Like, if I was unlocking, like, customization items and characters and stuff like that Mario Kart world in a format like this, where it's just like a bunch of mini challenges, I would have been so fucking all over it. And it just feels like all of. I mean, whether it was a time limitation or whatever the decision was, it just feels like all of the effort wasn't put there. And it was put in this case. I will say when I'm doing that mode and in general, regarding the road trip.

[Griffin McElroy]

Road trip.

[Russ Froschik]

When I'm doing road trip mode and in general for this entire game, when I'm presented with races or maybe like, fun, like, drag race modes where anything that's like, feels like racing, I'm pretty into it.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah.

[Russ Froschik]

The second they drop me into an open world area, an open world being like, these are small areas, but, like, third person, you can go in any direction you want. I think the game is not, for me, fun. I don't like doing that. It makes me feel like I'm not in control. I don't feel like it has the tight precision controls that the racing stuff does. It feels shoehorned. Which is ironic because I know the original game also had the city trial, so that's not new stuff. Every time it comes up, I'm like, I'm not enjoying this nearly as much as I am the racing, which is fine.

[Griffin McElroy]

It is similar conceptually to the fact that Mario Kart has the battle mode, Right?

[Russ Froschik]

Sure.

[Griffin McElroy]

But it is much more about battling AI controlled bosses or enemies or whatever. And I agree with you that the control scheme is not quite what I want.

[Russ Froschik]

I mean, battle mode was always cloistered into its own, like, side thing that people barely touch. So it's not like that's weird for this. Like it's. I'm sure there are fans of it and I'm sure there are fans of this mode as well. It just did not click for me at all.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, it's, it's the, It's. Yeah, I, it's not my favorite. I feel the same way. If there's a race, I always go for the race when, when that is afforded to me. But. But then the bosses are pretty mandatory at certain, at certain points. So you do kind of gotta figure out how to, you know, work around it. And I think unlocking different characters also will help more with this because there's like Meta Knight has like a three hit sword attack that is completely different from Kirby's like inhaling and launching something forward. Like can you play as other characters.

[Russ Froschik]

In the Road Trip mode? I was not able to figure out how to do that.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, no, I'm pretty sure you just switch them out before you get going. Before you start.

[Russ Froschik]

I can change my car, but maybe plant. Plant. Where, where do you, where, where is your head at in terms of the like open world versus racing dynamic? Or are you just like completely.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I don't have like a religion on it. Mostly because I, I feel like I'm so early in the overall experience. Not in terms of like, oh, I didn't play enough, but like this feels like a game of like you play this for a very, very, very long time and then you kind of like fall into its vibe. That said, where I'm at right now, I much rather be racing than doing any of the other stuff. It feels. Oh well, you know what? This is actually a segue to the game that we're going to talk about in a second, which is Saktori. But it feels like a game full of modes. Like they just kept making things and some of them are good and some of them are bad and some of them will have their hardcore fans and some of them will have their hardcore haters. And I'm not sure it would have benefited. I'm not sure would have benefited the game. For all of that energy to have just gone into the racing. I think that would have been diminishing returns. At a certain point you just have more and more courses or something Mario Kart style. But yeah, I guess it's the second game this year, racing game this year from Nintendo where there's a lot of filler that I don't necessarily need.

[Griffin McElroy]

You can change your character in the Road Trip.

[Russ Froschik]

Oh great. Because I want to play as the fucking hamsters so bad.

[Griffin McElroy]

And I just couldn't figure out everyone loves the fucking hamster. Hamsterman.

[Russ Froschik]

I do want to mention you're talking about filler. There is one aspect of filler that I think a lot of people will miss because it is really buried in the menus. But for every air rider, which are the cars you can customize them in. Really awesome. Yeah, really good. I love that you can change the texture on them. You could slap lights on them, dangling things, all sorts of aspects. The color that comes out of the back of it, like the whole range.

[Griffin McElroy]

The texture of each of the different components. You can really, really share them online.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Very easily and download other people's. There's like. There's a square cube. A cube, if you will, that you maybe a gamecube that you can race on from the very beginning. And like, there's already plenty of GameCube, you know, alts on Steam Machine. I think that might honestly already exist. I've seen Xbox and PlayStation gamecubes too.

[Russ Froschik]

I'm sure.

[Griffin McElroy]

I am always very, very charmed by games that are so clearly a labor of love. And certainly all games have that to an extent, because they have to be in order to get a game is so fucking hard to make. To get a game across the finish line, there have to be people working on it who care about it a lot. But this feels like such a. And aided by the fact that Sakurai is the best in the biz at sort of communicating with niche fans of his shit. It is such a labor of love. There is so much about it that seems like it is being held up in front of people who have fond memories of the original Kirby Air ride, saying like, hey, we made this for you. And I think that's rad. I think parts of it are not anything I enjoy at all. I think there's enough there that I do really like that I will keep it, you know, keep that virtual game card installed and pick it up and play it every once in a while. And I am curious to see like, what other unlockables and I gotta finish that story, guys.

[Russ Froschik]

Holy shit. Yeah. It's really. Who knows where it's gonna go?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Froschik]

Just to close out this segment, I want to talk about one other fighting and I really like, which is Microsoft Flight Simulator. It really dramatically changes based on which plane you're flying. And basically, I mean, just like a fighting game. Sure, just like a fighting game.

[Griffin McElroy]

Salient points made all around today. All the points we made today were equally good.

[Russ Froschik]

I think so too.

[Griffin McElroy]

And I think we should take a break and talk about other games. The face Chris is making such a.

[Russ Froschik]

Grumpy face from Chris.

[Griffin McElroy]

Not called Microsoft Fight Simulator. I know why you're confused, Russ. If you're a gamer fan, and I assume you are because you're listening to my voice right now on this show, you're going to love fan gamers. Fangamer designs and sells apparel, toys, books and more for many of your favorite games. I'm talking about Hollow Knight, I'm talking about Undertale and deltarune, talking about Pizza Tower, talking about a bunch of other stuff. And they've got plush toys, they've got apparel books. Fangamer also publishes physical games for a bunch of different indie titles like Hollow Knight and Stardew Valley and Tunic and Celeste and a whole bunch more. I got a bunch of stuff actually very recently from fangamer. A sick UFO 50T shirt that has a design with like all of the characters from UFO 50 games, which I love. I got some Hollow Knight plushies that my son is really, really wild about. We've played with a whole bunch. I got a deck of Balatro playing cards that look so incredible and you know, I don't have a lot of time to play cards, but if I did, I would do them with these because they look so freaking cool. Fangamer's Black Friday sale is live now and runs until Tuesday, December 2nd. Check out fangamer.combesties to check out our personal recommendations, get discounts on some items, free shipping on U.S. orders and more. That's Fangamer.com Besties.

[Russ Froschik]

This episode of the Besties is sponsored by Aura Frames. Okay, here's the deal. You probably have a lot of people in your family that maybe don't know technology so well. Maybe they don't know how to figure out something like a smart picture frame or anything like that. This is why Aura frames is so good. These are frames, they come. You can load them with all the photos you want before you give them as a gift to a grandparent or a parent or someone that you have to generally explain websites to. All the work is done before you give the gift. I've given it to my mom, I've given it to my grandma. It's been a huge, huge hit. You can also set it up so that the photos constantly auto update. If you're adding to like a shared folder or something like that, new photos will be added automatically. They don't have to do anything. It's really incredible. If that sounds good to you for a limited time, visit auraframes.com and get $45 off Aura's best selling Carver Matte frames named number one by Wirecutter by using promo code Besties at checkout. That's a U R A frames.com promo code besties. This exclusive Black Friday Cyber Monday deal is their best of the year. So order now before it ends. Support the show by mentioning us at checkout. Terms and conditions apply. Okay, the next game we're going to talk about is a game that I don't think any of us knew existed as of two weeks ago. Did you know Chrisplant before two weeks ago that this game existed or was coming?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

No. I can pretend no, of course not.

[Griffin McElroy]

So brutal to do that at the end of November to drop a fucking hot one on our lap like this.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Do you know how many games.

[Griffin McElroy]

I know, I know, I know. But to have a surprise this late in the game.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I know, man, I know.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's really, really wild. Is Sektori Sektori so S E K T O R I can't say the.

[Russ Froschik]

Branding is super great. The logo is basically illegible, so a little hard to find on Steam, but if you do, you're in for a fucking treat. Sector in my opinion is the best Geometry wars like I have played since the original Geometry Wars.

[Griffin McElroy]

I guess.

[Russ Froschik]

Retro Evolved, not the side mode. Retro Evolved. It is fucking fantastic and detail and has just so much content in it and ways to approach it. And so if. If any of that is appealing to you. An arcade twin stick shooter, very basic how that works.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Geometry wars, which is Sectori they are more or less the same in a lot of ways. You are the little ship on a 2D plane and you are inside a closed arena. It's not infinite and it is relatively tight. It's not like Vampire Survivors and you have enemies that are flying at you and the different types have different strategies. So you have some that just kind of float around randomly. You have some that will try to get close to you, but then when you aim at them, they will try to evade. And back squares. Each one has a different movement where this game just expands so much on. The Geometry wars formula is everything is moving at all times, even the arena. So you are. Imagine you are in a square arena and then suddenly you see the outline of a triangle and everything outline side of that triangle is glowing red. The arena is about to shape shift into that triangle and if you're out of it, you are gone. The arena might shape shift into four separate circles. So you want to get in one of those, and you're going to be trapped in that circle with whatever is in that circle until it's your chance to get out.

[Griffin McElroy]

All of this. All of this is happening at. All of this is happening as it walks you toward a boss fight at the end of that world. As this is also kind of a campaign, there is a campaign that is sort of happening that you sort of like.

[Russ Froschik]

I don't want to use roguelike necessarily, but RPG mechanics that build to boss fights.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'll say roguelike mechanics insofar as you will, at a certain point, unlock ability cards. And you can change. You have like eight stacks of ability cards that you can select before you enter the campaign. And as you hit these unlock points, you can spawn those cards into your drawing deck and then they will give you abilities. Like, this is a bomb drone that will shoot stuff. So I do think it wears its roguelike kind of nature on its sleeve.

[Russ Froschik]

Yeah. There's also another character customization aspect where as you're playing, you'll pick up these pickups that give you a point, an upgrade point, if you will. And you can spend that upgrade point very quickly on the first tier, which is just speed. It'll increase your ship speed. But if you collect more of them, you can get higher tier upgrades like your blaster, or you'll get rocket attacks, things like that that let you again, fully enhance and control how your character evolves over time.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yes.

[Russ Froschik]

And those all play directly back into the card system, which again is like, oh, you're building a deck around, charging around the map, then you're going to want to bring a lot of those cards.

[Griffin McElroy]

There's one more piece of the puzzle that I think really makes this game what it is. And it is what sets it apart enough from Geometry wars that it feels like its own. Aside from all the roguelike shit and the upgrade points and all that jazz, which is not progressive, when you die, it's all gone. It's not like you're getting some sort of permanent upgrade cycle. The one other thing is there is a strike maneuver that you do, and once you use it, it has to charge back up, but you basically dash a short distance and cause an expl that kills all the enemies around you. Geometry wars is very much a game about, like, mob management. Like, you can't let too many enemies get on the screen at once. You have to always be shredding through them because if they outnumber you too much, then they will kill you. The spawn rate is insane. In Sectori. And you will have to use this strike to manage things. It is the thing where it's like, fuck, there's way too many dudes right over there. I gotta strike into it. But if you strike into a power up that is spawned, it instantly recharges your strike. So now all of a sudden you're deciding like, okay, there's a power up down there. If I get it, it's gonna give me one of these power up cards. It'll give me something sweet bonus that's gonna be like, really exciting. I have my strike ready. Can I get through all of those dudes to get down and strike that power up so I can instantly have my strike recharge? Or am I going to have to spend that strike to clear out some of the enemies and make a path? And you are having to make that little micro decision fucking constantly. And it is while the literal world.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Around you is changing, while a dozen characters are spawning in, while a boss fight is on the precipice.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, it's super duper. It is super duper chaotic. But I do think it still has the benefit that Geometry wars had going for it, which is that it is like, easy enough to kind of understand what happened. Right? When you get blown up, it's like, yeah, I let too many. I let too many guys get in there. The boss fights get a little too, like, confusing, I think, from time to time, where it's like, what the fuck was I supposed to do? How was I possibly supposed to deal with that? There's one that every time it spawns in, I'm like, well, okay, that's the run. Because I just simply don't know how to fucking beat this guy. But for the most part, it's like, if you blow up, you kind of know what happened and what you could have done differently. And maybe you invested your upgrade points, you charged them all up for your blasters, but then you got to that boss fight and your ship wasn't fast enough, so you blew up for that reason.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

All of that would be enough. And yet they said, what if we give you many, many more modes, each of them also excellent and each of them unique. And that's the part where it blows my brain wide open first. You want to dive into one or two of them?

[Russ Froschik]

Yeah, sure. So for the people that love Geometry wars and are maybe a little bit stressed out at the prospect of picking perks and stats and whatever it is, there is a mode that is pretty much Geometry wars where it'll just constantly auto upgrade you as you play. So you're really just score chasing, but you don't have to worry about upgrading anything. So if you want a very simple mode like that, that's in there. Retro Geometry wars fans might remember a mode called Gates where you had to fly through a gate and they would keep spawning in and spawning in and that was the only way to deal damage to the area that's in there. Let's see, there's a boss rush mode.

[Griffin McElroy]

There'S a crash mode where you just use the strike attack. And I think you can use it multiple times in a row.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah, my favorite mode is like oops all offense. I can't remember what it's called, but you build up. You're very strong. Yes, you're very strong. But then when you collect enough of your XP from killing things, you become like Super Saiyan, right? Yeah. And the whole point is that you need to basically at a certain point be constantly in Super Saiyan, which means you should always be pursuing the biggest, baddest enemies, diving headfirst into them, and then sprinting to the next power up and always landing that, that boost move that Griffin's talking about.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, it is, it fucking rules, guys. It's fucking great. The music is just slaps ass and it really, it is the type of game I would advise you not to play too late at night because it really will fuck you. Like it really will get you, get you fucking psyched out of your mind in this like trance like state where you will lose track of time and you will stay awake too long and then you will get in bed and you will have that still just like fucking pumping in your ears as you try to fall asleep, it is, it is not a good game for that.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

And the runs, if, even if you do the short modes because you can get 20, 30 minutes in the long run, if you do the short modes, it's somehow more dangerous because it's like two and a half minutes like, and then suddenly you don't realize that you've played 30 of these things and that's an hour.

[Russ Froschik]

Yeah, there's a fun metal system where you're trying to like complete achievements and those in turn unlock like customizations for your ship. Yeah, there are mutators. So if you want to play with like less enemy health or more enemy health or all sorts of variables, I think there's like 50 different mutators you can attach. They just dove so fucking deep into this concept and just kept going and going and going.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Did we mention who made the game It's Housemarque devs.

[Russ Froschik]

Right.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It's a former Housemarque dev. Maybe. I don't know if it's multiple, but yes, Housemarque. For people who remember Resogun, which we talked about I think very early, like maybe the first season of the Besties.

[Griffin McElroy]

This is a PS4 launch title, right?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Correct, yes. This is a studio that for a long time this is what they were known for. Games like Super Stardust, Resogun and then more recently they have transitioned into, I would say more traditional games like returnal third person shooters, stuff like that. But this feels like the continuation of Housemarque.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

In the best possible way.

[Griffin McElroy]

Chemo Factor is the developer listed who made Barbarian the bear based hack and slash game.

[Russ Froschik]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

Which I do remember. That's a fun one. I do want to say it is really fucking hard. It's really super duper hard. And you unlock a lot of the cool stuff through the campaign mode, which even the easy mode is pretty fucking hard. And it is a game that. I don't know. You know what's funny guys, is I feel like there's a lot of parallels between this discussion and the discussion we just had about Kirby Air Riders because it's the same way where it's like there's a rhythm to it and you have to play enough times to kind of like understand the rhythm to it. And once you do understand it, you kind of see through the matrix and that's like really, really very exciting. I think there's just so much familiar here with all of the like, I mean some of the. And I'm pretty sure that pink square motherfucker that like dodges out of the way when you aim at him is the same color and shape and behavior as one of the enemies from Geometry Wars. Like it's, it's, it will take you back into that, that trance like state very, very easily. But there's just, there's a lot of stuff to do here and it's all really, really very fun.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yes, I agree with all that. The only thing that I will tweak on difficulty is there are games that are hard and you're not going to enjoy them for a long time until you get good. Where this game is difficult to reach the end, you will be having fun from the drop. It is not about getting to the end of the level for you to like have enjoyment of this game.

[Griffin McElroy]

No, but there are some fun things you unlock by getting the medals which like, they're, they're. I found myself when I started a Little bit frustrated that I couldn't just like do the different modes that I wanted to do because I haven't unlocked enough medals because I can't beat that fucking one boss that sometimes spawn in.

[Russ Froschik]

Yeah, I kind of wish that there was like half step more of a baby mode so that people could see more of the game earlier rather than having to like. Like normal mode feels fucking legit and I'm sure once you've paid played 20 hours, normal mode will feel easy and then you're up to a higher mode than that.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Froschik]

But I do think that people might bounce off a bit based on the.

[Griffin McElroy]

Difficulty at the jump if you are willing to. If it sounds like something you want to play.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Right.

[Griffin McElroy]

Like I actually would suggest playing the campaign at the normal difficulty and bash your head out against it for a while and then switch to the easier difficulty and it's like Luke Skywalker running around with Yoda on his back and then. Or Goku trying off the ankle weights.

[Russ Froschik]

And I don't think I ever tried anything higher than the lowest possible difficulty.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yes, it actually I think when it's like tutorializing it starts you on experience mode which is the. The lowest difficulty setting. And then there's like the standard one that is like how Sectori is intended to be played. And it's like not how I intend to play Sectori because it's beating my ass down, man.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

And also you should hold off from that mode outside of the training that Griffin is talking about because if you are a score chasing person, the game has not been balanced for that. So you're actually not rewarded for playing the more hardcore mode. If you are trying to climb the leaderboard, you're going to climb it much faster. Just.

[Griffin McElroy]

But if you are a sicko. If you're a sicko like that, you can spend your upgrade points on score points which is like, yeah, I don't know, a pretty huge flex. I feel I don't need to be faster or have my guns work better or give myself extra shields or missiles. I just want the points, baby.

[Russ Froschik]

I was wondering whether that upgrade increased the frequency. You're getting other upgrade points.

[Griffin McElroy]

I've never gotten it, so maybe it just seems like something for.

[Russ Froschik]

Yeah, it did seem pretty people who.

[Griffin McElroy]

Are better at the game. I wish I. This is one that I keep playing because I want to get better at it and that's cool. That doesn't happen to me with a lot of games. So yeah, Sector is a damn. A real late, late game.

[Russ Froschik]

Dark Horse genuinely can say I haven't for sure put it in my top five, but it is a genuine competitor for me.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm definitely going to update my top 10 list for sure. I don't know how else it ranks above that.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah, I'm really. I'm not saying that this is a recency bias game because I agree with that statement, but the sheer number of games that are coming in at the wire that could make a play for the top 10 is.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. Can I read this reader mail from SNES Chalmers who said I'm surprised no one mentioned Metroid Prime 4 for the list of games still yet to come out that could potentially be contenders for some goodie list. Did it slip everyone's mind or are you just not really excited for it? I am excited for it. I have never finished a Metroid prime game. It's not my favorite way to play Metroid. Um, but you know, I play all of them and I. I think they're solid games. I am excited for this one. I just don't. It's coming in so late in the year. I don't.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I don't know how to being real with you. I was so certain that game would get delayed at least one more time that I had fully written it out of my brain as a game that was coming out this year.

[Griffin McElroy]

I like it.

[Russ Froschik]

It's very late. It's very late.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It's very late.

[Russ Froschik]

I am super duper.

[Griffin McElroy]

We. This may be a. An Indiana Jones situation where we have to consider it for contention in 2026's deliberations because I don't know we haven't scheduled out our recordings for the rest of the year. But this game's out December 4th so.

[Russ Froschik]

I think we will have time to include it for at least for contention. I think we will have time probably.

[Griffin McElroy]

Not to finish it. I don't know.

[Russ Froschik]

We'll see. But I mean really finish every game we put up anyway. Like we'll finish a bunch of them but I think it will be something to keep an eye out for. Obviously we have no idea from a quality standpoint. Is it going to be be neck and neck with some of the other games we've talked about? We don't know. But I do like Metroid and I do want more of it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Absolutely.

[Russ Froschik]

Letter from Eric here. Where'd you get the idea that Expedition 33 is a Persona Persona length 70 hour affair. I beat it in under 40 and I'm very slow with games and I played it on hard. How to. How long to beat has it under 30 which is honestly, this is only making me more excited to play more of it.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Sure, sure, sure.

[Russ Froschik]

Griffin, you beat it, right?

[Griffin McElroy]

Didn't you say beat? I did. I logged 51 hours into it.

[Russ Froschik]

Are you just bad? Is that what's going on?

[Griffin McElroy]

I did everything. I really wanted to do all of this stuff because I was. But I also hit a point with it where, I don't know, I had grinded my characters out to be these demigods, and so the challenge wasn't necessarily there so much for me. But there's a lot of different little odds and ends you can go do. And the story kind of takes some pretty dramatic twists in the final act of the game that I feel like you can really only get all of the context for if you go and you do the additional stuff. And so in doing all that stuff, I played it over 50 hours. So, yeah, I mean, it's not Persona length, but, like, that is, I still think, a pretty significant amount of time to invest in a game. But it is. I will grant you that if you don't want to do all that shit and you do want to play it at a. At a, you know, lower difficulty especially, you can.

[Russ Froschik]

That's me.

[Griffin McElroy]

You can definitely blaze through it pretty, pretty quickly.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

While we're on this, I know we did some expectation setting last week. I want to do a little bit more here for expectation 33, which is, I think whatever game wins game of the year this year, there will probably be one person who did not love it. I think that's, like, basically bound to happen. So I would prepare for that, whether that's Expedition 33 or any other game, because I can say right now, not super into it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Didn't like, you have played in and have not been grooving on it.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah, I mean, I was very. I think I was the first person to bring it to the show, and I was vibing with it at the very beginning. But ultimately, I'm just not a big Paper Mario fan. Sorry. That is like, what it's like the core mixture, Mario and. And the story ultimately did not click for me. I completely get why it clicks for other people. It wasn't really, like, what I was searching for. It's a game about grief. And I think games about. I think any fiction about grief, it's like, gonna either click with you or it's really not going to. But I also don't think that rules it out at all for the Gotti this year, because I don't think that there is a consensus game.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's actually Pip, Pepier, Mario. And yes, I agree with you. I think the ending and sort of like, I don't know, twist is not exactly the word I would use, but where the story goes, I think has been pretty divisive. And I really loved it because I sometimes like a very kind of, like, I don't know, philosophical sort of thing.

[Russ Froschik]

They like a big swing.

[Griffin McElroy]

I like a big swing. I do. I do like a big swing in a story. And I also like, people kind of like, debating. There's been so much debate about the ending and not in a Mass Effect 3, like, this was shit kind of way, but, like, you know, people talking about, like, which one do you think is the true. What do you think is the real thing? I don't know. I find that stuff really interesting.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

A thing like this, it matters when it hits you, because I don't think automata is so unlike this in some ways. And I think it hit me at exactly when I needed it. And that's the nature of games that take big swings like these.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

But I'm so excited for that conversation.

[Griffin McElroy]

Hey, have you guys been playing anything else? Doing anything else?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Dude. Dude. I think we'll talk about this more on Rusty's. But I need you all to play News Tower. I desperately need you all to play News Tower. This game is so, so good. Okay, so News Tower, it is a management sim where you are managing a newspaper in, like, the 1930s in New York, and you have to build it up while also building up the tower. And it is everything. Like, you are building up the floors, you are buying the desks. You are putting vents in there so people are comfortable. You're assigning out all the stories. You have, like, a telegram that is letting you know that, like, oh, there was a boxer passed away in the rural Midwest. Is that worth covering? Or do you want to cover these questions about the stock market in New York? Do you want to stay local? You move out through all the different points of New York and New Jersey's neighborhoods. It is so expansive and also genuinely the closest a video game has ever gotten to what it feels like to actually manage a newsroom. Like, very, very much. Like, are you going to choose this story or that story? Here are like, the what the goods and the bads of choosing each. Are you going to choose something that's going to get you a lot of readers but makes you feel gross? Are you going to publish an unfinished story or a story that needed more sources? Like, it goes so deep. Well, then also being like, hey, have you Remembered to hire a janitor because someone just took a dump in the closet because you didn't build a bathroom.

[Griffin McElroy]

I love the look of it. It's somewhat. I don't know, it's somewhat like Fallout Shelter, except everything kind of looks like sort of sticker paper, like, everything you're putting don.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

The games that they've made and the music is that very. I don't know if you ever watched Fantasia 2000, but they have. What is the famous. It's just like beautiful, classic New York piano music.

[Russ Froschik]

Vengabus.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah, that was the one that I was looking for. Thank you. It is so, so unbelievably good. Rhapsody in Blue is the name of the song that I was looking for. But, yeah, I really hope that you will take a moment to check it out also. And this might get you on board for our shtick. It runs perfectly fine on a Mac laptop. So it's a game that you're using.

[Russ Froschik]

But it probably doesn't have controller support would be my guess.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

No, you're gonna want to play this with a mouse. You'll definitely want to play it with a mouse.

[Russ Froschik]

But that is enticing that it runs well on a MacBook Air because, you know, there aren't enough games necessarily that can push the hardware in that way.

[Griffin McElroy]

I don't know that I have anything necessarily new. I've been playing a lot more Hades 2 on the AY and Thor, which feels. Does that feel appropriate? No, those are different mythologies.

[Russ Froschik]

Thor's a different guy.

[Griffin McElroy]

Thor's a different guy. I mean, it's pretty fucking great. I still haven't finished it. I've finished the routes, but haven't kind of finished the meta narrative, I guess. But there's so much shit to. I am so deeply in the new stuff now, and it's. I am glad that I burrowed through kind of the shit I was familiar with because, like, it's definitely got its hooks in me and definitely wormed its way up my list. And just. Rachel and I are on the finale of Physical Asia, which I know I've also talked about on this program, but really, really, really beats ass. Really fucking cool challenges, great camaraderie and kind of spirit of competition between the eight different nations represented. And I don't know, I love, man. I don't really. Aside from St. Louis Blues hockey, we watch every game of that. And I'm familiar with the roster or whatever. I don't find myself being particularly interested in general in the story of athletics or athletes. Like, I don't watch a lot of the 30. Whatever.

[Russ Froschik]

30 for 30.

[Griffin McElroy]

30 for 30. Like all of those things. But there's something about this show and the original physical 100 and especially that final draft show that came out of Japan of just seeing athletes kind of like interact with each other and talk shop in a way that is not like Instagram influencer, like, are you fucking cramming your pro? But just like, I don't know, looking at each other's technique and talking about how like Turkish wrestling, sometimes you actually would send your serum wrestlers over there so they can learn these different. It's just so fascinating. And again, the production value is unrivaled. So I'm definitely enjoying it.

[Russ Froschik]

If you're listening to this, and normally this is a part of the show where we talk about Patreon, heads up, because we are going to be doing a Black Friday sale starting this very day that you're listening to this, which is indeed Black Friday. It's going to be running through Monday. I guess you would call it Cyber Monday. And the sale is a big one. It's going to be. We're going to set it up so that it's only $1 for your very first month of Patreon support on the bottom tier, the. The tier that includes resties and bracket battles, etc. Etc. And if you want to get the ad free, which includes all that other stuff, it's only $2 for your first month, which is an absurd. I think it's an 80% discount, which is wild to me. But you know what?

[Griffin McElroy]

You think that $2 is 80% off of $10.

[Russ Froschik]

It's not.

[Griffin McElroy]

Know that you think. You think that 2 is. I think it is 8/10 smaller than 10.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

You know it in your heart.

[Russ Froschik]

I don't know it in my heart. I'll be honest. I really have to make sure. Anyway, really big discount going on. In theory, if you're not already a member, you can sign up for this. I don't think it works for existing members, but this is for new members. A good way to get people in.

[Griffin McElroy]

Have we talked about what the most recent bracket episode or I guess maybe the next bracket episode it will be.

[Russ Froschik]

The one that is coming up this coming Tuesday. After you listen to this is. Oh, a very exciting one. You could tease it if you want.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, we talked about our favorite aesthetic, basically character creators in games, and it basically kind of turned into like a. Pretty much every game we talked about was from Monster Factory. So it did turn into a bit of a retrospective on that end also. But yeah, a super duper fun one.

[Russ Froschik]

I wanted to send some love to the Liberty Science center which is in New Jersey. It's a bit of a drive for me but some friends were visiting and we synced up with them and man, if you have a young one with you and you want to have a really great day and you're within spitting distance of the Liberty Science center, just really great facility, very spacious, didn't feel super crowded even on a weekend. Great. Like live animal exhibits and fucking dinosaurs. They had a big Soothe the T. Rex exhibit going on right now, giant volcano exhibit, etc. Etc. So I really highly recommend it if you're looking for some kid activities. Amazing props for folks over at the Patreon that are already members. Thank you to Adeline, Cartoon henchmen, Four Eyed Forecast and Elias W. Thank you for being patrons [e-mail] thebesties it's gifting season. If you want to buy a gift from someone, you can do that. You go to patreon.com thebesties gift and you can gift your favorite besties fan a chunk of time as a patron. Get all those bonus features.

[Griffin McElroy]

Thank you all so much. Thank you for listening. Next week I think we're going to.

[Russ Froschik]

Make some fun game awards predictions because next week is going to be right before the Game Awards happen.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yes, we will not have Metroid. I know that next week Metroid comes out. We will not have it, by the way.

[Russ Froschik]

Yeah, we're going to be playing that on launch day, which is indeed when that episode would go up. So we'll talk about Metroid the following week. But game Ward's big time of year.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

You know what game we might talk a little bit about? Maybe, maybe, maybe. Can't guarantee this routine which has been in development for I think it's 48 years, 49 years. Has been in development forever. The closest indie games have to a Duke Nukem ass Vaporware game. It is actually coming out on December 4th.

[Russ Froschik]

It seems very confident that we would be talking about especially if it's coming out December 4th. We're not gonna be ready for that. But something to keep an eye on certainly.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Who knows.

[Griffin McElroy]

Game Awards predictions We're definitely gonna talk about the Game awards. So join us again for the besties next time it comes out because shouldn't the world's best friends pick the world's best games. Besties.