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**Jake Edit: ALL of them, ALL OF THEM are worse than Circus Charlie because it's a classic, TIMELESS arcade game! Who even picked this episode topic?!

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Le Matos's music is fantastic check out: https://lematos.bandcamp.com/

Turbo Kid is well worth it for Metroidvania fans: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1733250/Turbo_Kid/SUMMARY GO HERE

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A game critics indie darling, but is it actually a gem? This week Press B looks at Blue Prince and debates whether it's potentially game of the year, or RNG grind.

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Transcript: Wulff: When building your dream home is a nightmare. Today on.

Jake: Welcome everybody to another episode of Press me to cancel. Your favorite, I don't know, contractor building construction, podcast games. I don't know. I am your host this week, Sick Jake and I'm joined by two friends. And this week we are going to talk about indie critic darling Blueprints and discuss whether the game is good or is it RNG hell. And to join me this week I'm with Wolf. How you doing this week?

Wulff: Surviving RNG hell.

Jake: And with our, I guess of all the people on press B, our number one AAA gamer, Chard. Chard, how you doing this week?

Chard: What am I, a triple A gamer? Wow. I need to stop moving my shoes into different rooms of this house because every time I go to pick them back up, that room isn't there anymore and it's get really bad.

Jake: Gosh, I wish I had as many rooms as this house. Actually. No, you know what? I take that back. I don't need 45 rooms in my house because I would have to clean them all.

Wulff: That would be hell to clean.

Jake: Yeah, imagine if I can clean that. Gosh.

Wulff: All right, so this week my wife, when I see a house that's like 2,000 square feet or more, she's like, who's going to clean all that?

Jake: Yeah, it's a good point. All right, so we're talking about a game called Blueprints, which is from what's, what's the name of the DogU bomb software. Dog Bomb. Yeah. And I had all these notes, Ted, though, I'm so bad guys. Oh, I want to do this right. Wiki Blueprints. I had notes.

Chard: Mind palace.

Jake: Yeah, Mind palace. Tonda Ross is the, the main developer behind that, behind this game, Blueprints. It, I don't want to call it a rog like deck builder. I feel like that's a disservice. It is at its core very much a carefully crafted puzzle game. From what I was reading on WikiLEAR today, he based this actually on a book which I'd never heard of. It's called Maze Solve, the world's most challenging puzzle. It's a, it's a book that came out in the 80s that is very much actually like blueprints and that is a, it's a not choose your own adventure, but it's like a puzzle based book where you flip pages to go to various rooms in a house. 45 rooms, much like blueprints. And at the time it was actually a contest. You could actually win $10,000 by playing through this book and being the first to solve it. So it's kind of interesting. That was the origin of his idea, but he's. He worked on this game for, I think it was eight years that I saw.

Chard: And that's what I saw.

Wulff: Wow.

Jake: After 25 hours of me playing blueprints, I can see why this is a game where I. I heard about a couple weeks ago, a lot of games critics on their various podcasts and YouTube channels have been. Were secretly talking about a game that they were loving, but they weren't allowed to talk about it because of embargoes. And then I heard a few let it slip that it was blueprints. So I was really interested to see what all their hype was about. And then it did release. And I think with game critics and those type of folks, it's probably going to be a game of the year contender for them in terms of the amount of work and crafting in this unique world that has been built. But for a lot of gamers, especially on Steam, people didn't like it. There's a lot of criticisms about it being too hard, confusing, relying on RNG and the whole nine yards. So it's kind of an interesting disparity between critics and us average gaming folks. So I want to talk about with you guys, because I think of the three of us, we're probably maybe varied on whether we like this game or not. I'm kind of curious to see what your guys take is on it. So for those who are not aware, Blueprints is. I'm going to use the word roguelike, although I feel like it doesn't fit all those bucket check boxes. But you are basically, your name is Simon, you're the character, and you've inherited a mansion from your. Your dead uncle. But it comes with a stipulation like the Haunted House clause, where you have to actually go to the house on Mount Holly, I think it is. And your goal is to solve the puzzles and navigate to the secret room 46 in this mansion. And you do that by entering the mansion and drafting rooms at random. From think of it like a deck of cards. And you're building this mansion room by room, and every single room has been very carefully crafted. At a glance, you may zoom through a hallway, thinking it's just a hallway. But there's a lot going on in the game that you don't quite pick up right away. But at its core, the first mission is build a path of rooms to the top of the map where it's room 46 or room 45, the antechamber. And then that's how you beat the game, and that's how you get credits. But there's a whole lot more going on. Every room is a puzzle. Every room has clues. There's books of lore literally everywhere that tells a. A backstory to the world. That was quite surprising to me. And even when you get end credits, there is still countless puzzles and fun stuff to. To explore. So I kind of want to talk with you guys and get your first impressions. We're going to start with the episode. We're going to avoid spoilers because we want to. Want to pitch you on this game and see if it's something you would enjoy playing. But I do want to spend the last part of this episode talking about some of the secrets we found and maybe some tips on how to beat this game, because I'd hate for anybody who's bought in this game to have bounced off it and not at least seen the credits because I think this game is worth beating this year. So who wants to start? Charter or Wolf? Who wants to start about your opinions and first impressions of blueprints.

Wulff: All right, Char, do you want to start?

Chard: You go for it, Wolf. It's you.

Wulff: All right.

Chard: You got some things to say?

Wulff: Well, I. I will say I'm. I'm really, really enjoying the game.

Jake: Okay. I wasn't sure that comes with.

Wulff: That comes with an asterisk. I'm really enjoying the game. Except for the room drawing mechanic, because the RNG of the room drawing mechanic has screwed me more than anything else in this game.

Jake: Okay.

Wulff: So I really love the puzzle design. I love the. The aspect of exploration and navigating your way north in this five by nine structure. And by five by nine, I mean, it's like five rooms wide, nine rooms deep, and you start at the third, like the middle room at the bottom. So you. Every time you go up to a door, it presents you with three cards. Those three cards are a room that that door opens to. So you never see the same room in the same. Well, not never, but it's. The rooms are not stationary, except for maybe one. Yeah, we'll get into that later. But yeah, other. Other than that, the only rooms that are stationary is the starting room and the anti chamber. Anti chamber, not anti.

Chard: That's my fault. I called it the anti chamber.

Wulff: And so you. You. Every time you open a door, it swings. Like, it's like, all right, pick your room that you want this room to be from the three that you've got. And there are mechanics in place to where you can reroll and later there are mechanics in place that you can rotate the rooms. But most of the time, you're stuck with those three. Us. There we are.

Jake: Make sure we're still live. Okay, that's great.

Wulff: Yeah, we're. We're still live area.

Jake: Okay. Interesting. All right. We're still good.

Chard: Sorry, guys. All right. Okay, you were saying.

Wulff: What was the last thing you heard me say?

Jake: Rotating rooms.

Wulff: Okay. So aside from those, usually you're going to open a door and just get the three options you've got and the directions they're facing, and that's it. Now what Those different rooms have different properties. Some are bedrooms, some are shops, some are just hallways, which is the weirdest, lamest descriptor for a room.

Jake: But that's what they are.

Wulff: Those are a room descriptor, and they do. Going on for them. The spare room. Actually, we'll come back to that because I find the spare room very interesting. There are also special rooms, I think. I don't know what the type is called, but they're blue.

Jake: Well, like, the blue is almost like generally room, I think. Right. Because, I mean, the basic. The first couple rooms you see and it's. The first five rooms you see are like the den, which is just, you know, a den, and there's a table and two doors and a gem.

Wulff: They generally have some sort of thing going on in them, though.

Jake: Right.

Wulff: So, like, they have a puzzle or they have some. They have something to interact with.

Chard: Right. You get something from it. Gems or keys.

Wulff: So they'll have. They'll have a puzzle or it'll have something that affects another room or something along those lines. That's what the blue rooms are. Or it's just goodies. Because I think the closets also count as a blue room.

Jake: Yes.

Wulff: And you're. You're showing a puzzle on screen right now. When I first figured out that puzzle, I was like, I'm a genius.

Jake: So. Yeah.

Wulff: Was really wild.

Jake: Yeah. Explain what the dartboard puzzle is for the audio listeners so they understand what it is. It's like the first puzzle you get in the. In the game is the dartboard.

Wulff: Yeah. And I actually did come across something that kind of explains it in a classroom.

Chard: Oh, you found it in a classroom? I found it in one of the rooms that has other information on it that just talks about whatever. And it's a little drawing in the bottom corner of the postcard. And if you have a magnifying glass and you hover over it. That's how I learned how to do it.

Wulff: Was.

Chard: It had all that.

Wulff: I've not seen that yet.

Chard: Yeah, that's cool.

Jake: For those who are listening to the audio, it's basically. It's a room where the feature is a dartboard and the dartboard is a. Is a math puzzle, basically. And it starts out with. With different sectors of the board that are lit up, and you have to click the numbers in a certain order to open it up and get keys from it. And it's a reliable source of keys for all your runs. But what you don't realize is that every time you complete it, it gets harder. The next run, and it gets harder and harder. And it starts with basic math and minus and then eventually division and then fractions and then reversing digits and then.

Wulff: Negative integers and all sorts of crap squares.

Chard: Crazy. Yep.

Jake: It's nuts. Yeah. But it's like the first, like, rival puzzle you get.

Wulff: Yeah, yeah. And all the information is just there on the dartboard with colors. That's it.

Jake: Yeah.

Wulff: Yeah. Which I did consider, like, could have a negative impact on anybody who's colorblind.

Jake: Huge. Yes.

Wulff: Because the colors are green, yellow, violet, and violet, Pink, indigo.

Jake: Yeah. Oh, okay.

Wulff: The best way I could think to describe them. And then it's very strange. I'm not going to spoil how it works. But yeah, all the information is there on how to do the addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division based on the colors and the placement of those colors. And then you have to click on the outside number on the board. That is the answer to the question for that particular puzzle. It's really cool.

Jake: Yeah.

Wulff: And then what was the other thing I was saying before the dart board? I was talking about room types.

Chard: Yeah.

Wulff: And then there's red rooms, which usually have a negative. Sometimes they eat your stamina. Sometimes they just make red rooms more common to appear. Sometimes they take your money. And so I really dislike the red rooms. I gotta say.

Chard: Yeah, red rooms are awful.

Wulff: Never like, yeah, I'll take this one. I'm like, I guess the only time.

Chard: I grab a red room is if there's.

Jake: If it's.

Chard: If a cross. Like if there's a four door for it. Because then I go, okay, I have a choice. And then maybe I don't have to come back to it. And. And the one that takes your money is I. I can suck that one up a little bit more than half the other one.

Jake: The one takes one coin, but it's also a three.

Wulff: First time you go through it.

Chard: Yeah.

Wulff: Which I do wish it clarified that, because when I first got it, I assumed it takes half your stamina every time you go through it. And I was like, I'm only gonna have to go through this once, and I have a lot of steps left, so it's okay. I'll do it. Right.

Jake: Yeah.

Wulff: And I walked through it again. I was like, wait, took it the first time. Okay.

Chard: No.

Jake: And the worst part is, is when you drop when you first put the room down, but you don't enter it. But just putting the room down, it takes half your steps. That's what it does. Like, that's how the game's working. You draft a room. If it has an immediate effect, it hits you immediately, which is good and bad. Right. Depending on the room. So. And it's important to know. To know that, because you can draft a room and not walk into it right away. And sometimes you don't want to because you do have a limited step count. I think it's 50 at the beginning of the game. And when you run out of steps, the day resets, the house resets, and it's all over again. Right.

Wulff: To reduce confusion, steps are every time you go through a doorway, essentially, every time you go from one room to another, one named room to another named room, you lose a step. So it's not like you have 50 steps and you got to make it count across, you know, maybe 17 rooms, and that's your day. No, I'm going to.

Chard: I'm going to throw another caveat to that, because there. There is a point where you can go outside and walk around outside, but it's pretty much any kind of archway or entryway will also count as a step against you. So if you're like, oh, I'm just walking around outside. No big deal. Watch that, because you'll lose steps if you're passing back and forth underneath a grate somewhere.

Wulff: Right. And I did that at the beginning of the game, and I assumed outside didn't mess with you, because I ran around everywhere I could outside at first, right. And it didn't take away steps from me. And I was like, okay, cool. And then later, I unlocked more outside and went through there, and I was like, wait, where'd my steps go?

Chard: Y.

Wulff: And I thought it was, like, a timed thing, and I was like this. What happened? I don't get it. So I kept trying to, like, rush there and back as quick as possible, thinking it was timing, and then I started to put it together. Like, oh, no, the name changes from here to here. And that's why I'm losing a step there. Okay, fair enough.

Jake: Right? Yeah. Right. And like, you can increase your step count as you play through the the day. Right. If you pick up any kind of food item, depending with an apple, I think is plus three steps, meals can be as much as 20. So there's definitely ways to kind of get your step count up as you play through the run.

Wulff: Yeah, there are definitely ways to be a walk star in this game.

Jake: A walk star? Yeah.

Chard: It sounds like a restaurant down the street.

Jake: Gosh.

Wulff: But I've had days where I think the day that I actually completed this and got credits, I had used like 154 steps and I still had, I don't know, 36 remaining or something. So I had a particular good day that day, I will admit. Like, at one point I thought I was closer to beating it than I was. And then at another point I thought all was lost on a run and then later realized I didn't actually enter the antechamber when I could have. And so I literally burned through about 70 steps doing nothing when I could have gotten the item out of the antechamber and gone and done the rest of the stuff.

Jake: Yeah. And we'll say that for the last.

Wulff: I could have beat it on 19 and didn't. So I was very upset with that once I realized that was the case. And it took me another seven days. By days. Usually, you know, let's. Let's say in any given roguelike or road light roguelite you play a run is what they're. What we tend to refer to them as or whatever. But in this, those runs is a day. So each new attempt at trying to complete it is a day. So that's what we say by day one. Day 17, day 33, whatever those are. Like, that's how many runs you've had.

Chard: Yeah, I've had a few pretty. Because I was runs up here today. I had a strong run and I. I had gotten to the antechamber but couldn't. Could not enter it at the point that I was at. So I was looking around, I had enough gear to do some things to do it, but I ran out of steps and I wanted to toss my steam deck across the freaking room. I am the only one. I am the only one on the podcast that has not rolled credits on this yet. The only one.

Jake: Okay.

Chard: So I'm the one who's.

Wulff: To be fair, I only did it today.

Chard: Working on it, that was.

Wulff: I had four or five runs in a Row where I made zero progress on anything.

Jake: Okay, so well, if you got today, maybe that's day 25.

Wulff: Day 25, day 26. I sent it to you. Let me check that in.

Jake: Something like that. So I beat it. I got credits at. And I don't want. I shouldn't say beat the game because getting credits is just, it's just, it's a goal. But it's not the only game. Yeah. And I got, I got to the credits at day 31 and chard you, you're only at day 15. So like you. You still have much, much more stuff you can do because it is.

Chard: It is a rogue.

Jake: Like elements to it. It can be beat one day.

Chard: It can't be beat. It's impossible.

Jake: But the more you play it, the more you unlock to make things easier. So like it's hard now. Like there is a Steam achievement in this game and I think it's on console as well. One of the Achievos says beat the game in the first day. So it is possible, I guess to beat this game in one in game day.

Chard: I don't know how.

Jake: I don't know how either. But I think when I look at people playing it on Reddit and whatnot, the average seems between day 20 to day 30 plus. So like, it's not like you beat this game in the first couple runs. It's a roguelike. It takes time to get to the end credits and it's more of the journey with this game than anything else. It's not necessarily the goal.

Wulff: Yeah.

Jake: So, I mean, so like Wolf, you.

Chard: Said dungeons easier than this game.

Jake: Well, it is not an easy. It is a difficult game. Right? It is a difficult game in that it's. There's definitely a resource management aspect to it, which I wasn't expecting how deep that goes. Right. Because I mean, maybe to explain a bit, there's. There's keys to open some locked doors. Some doors are locked, some aren't. There's gems which you can use to draft when you get the three rooms to draft. Some of them may have gem costs. Better rooms have gem costs. And then there's coins, there's money. Right. Which you can use for the stores. And the difficult thing when you first start out is that there's. That everything resets on the beginning of the day and you have to accumulate resources to kind of proceed. But as you play it's a roguelike, you eventually make things easier in that regard. So it is definitely a game that gets easier the more runs you do. And there's times when my runs were 10 minutes and for me, I didn't look at it as I lost rng. I look at it as well. Did I get any kind of clue or did I get any bit of backstory or lore in the game? Like did I find a new book or a note or letter that tells me some story that to me was good enough? And I'll explain in the last half of the episode a bit. Another goal I had where I didn't feel like a run was wasted and if it was like five or five ten min, It's. It's so quick to just pick up and do another run right away. And it's. I didn't feel it was that impactful to me. So I didn't, I didn't mind. I didn't call it a failed run, a waste of time. I just kind of rolled with it and that was just, I guess, the way I looked at it.

Wulff: So I, I want to say I've had fail runs that I refer to as a waste of time because I did not discover anything new. The run took me 30, 40 minutes and I got near the end and couldn't get into the antechamber for one reason or another. Usually because of bad RNG, not pointing the direction I need the doors to go.

Chard: That. That was my big thing.

Jake: Yeah.

Wulff: And I will touch on that a little bit. There's an item in the game called a compass. That thing is fucking useless.

Chard: Yeah, no kidding.

Wulff: Says it makes doors more likely to point north.

Chard: Oh, is that what it's supposed to do?

Wulff: Yeah, that's what it is supposed to do. No, it doesn't. Okay. So I was at rank eight, which is the eighth, the eighth row up from the bottom. Right, Right. You want to get into the ninth row or you know, a door. Anti chamber door from the eighth row up, whatever. But I had both sides of the antechamber opened. I just had to get up to it on one side. I had three attempts to make a door go north and I had a compass. Guess what? Didn't happen.

Chard: Okay, you didn't go north.

Wulff: How many doors went south? Oh, all like probably seven out of the nine.

Jake: Yeah, that's. That's. There is definitely RNG there. But part of it too, I feel like is when I say deck builder elements, I mean that in that all the rooms you get. Of which it's basically 45ish. Right. In a. Think of it as a deck of cards and you're drafting them as you build your house and Once, for the most part, once you've used a room, it's gone. There's exceptions to that. It's a video game but so it pays off. If you, for example, draft the closets or the single dead end rooms in the corners on the bottom of the map, use those red rooms that you can manage in the beginning. Put them in like I'll put the chapel near the beginning so I'm not constantly going in and out of it and losing money. I'll put the, you know, the bathroom which is useless. Red room does nothing. I'll put that in a corner so that you know it's there. Or I'll put the closets not. I won't cut off, you know, if I have a three way pathway to take, I won't close off one of those pathways with the closet right away. I'll try and explore a bit more and use more rooms and I try and weed out the rooms I know are not going to be useful the top of the map early. So I can manage it and that's, that's why I do. And by doing that, for the most part I've been okay at the top of the map. Getting to the antechamber on the side I want. Not all the time for sure, but more often than not I do. And then there is there, like you said, there's ways to manage and get rerolls in the game. Like there's items that you get even early on in your playthroughs that will help you reroll draws and whatnot. And that does make it easier. But there's definitely luck involved. Absolutely. For sure.

Wulff: Yeah. There's also ways to sort of enhance your next days run.

Jake: Yeah.

Wulff: There'S a couple of rooms. One that lets you start with extra gems the next day. One that lets you start with extra steps the next day. Is there a money one? I don't know if there's a direct like add money to your pockets the next day room. But there is a way to increase the money you start with. And I say that because I have 13 allowance on the every day.

Jake: Yeah.

Wulff: So.

Jake: So there's a. There's a couple advanced rooms but I'm going to save it for after we. We give our impressions and I'll talk about. Yeah, it's like overall. It's overall wolf. Then like would you still keep playing this game? You saw credits today. Do you think you'd.

Wulff: Oh, I'm still gonna keep playing because I have seen like if you look around you can spot other puzzles that you can't access yet, or puzzles that you can, but you don't have the answer to yet as you progress and open up new areas.

Jake: Okay.

Wulff: And so I've got like 1, 2, 3, 4, maybe like 7 or 8 goals right now after rolling credits.

Jake: Yeah. Yeah, that was pretty much my take on it as well, is when I got to credits, I think I still had 10 or so rooms on the. Because you have a directory. Rooms in your. On the option screen so you can see what you've explored. There's still at least 10 that I had unexplored, I'd never even seen before. Lots of rooms that were completely new to me when I stumbled across them. There was, when I got credits, at least five puzzles I wanted. I genuinely wanted to solve and go and do. So there's that. But the more I played it post credits, I found something. I found one item that adds a bunch of rooms to your deck. And I found out each one of those rooms has its own puzzle that's part of a larger puzzle at play. And when I saw that, my mind was blown. I'm like, this is going to take me 10 hours to solve, but I want to do it. I want to solve it. So I'm pretty invested in the game. For me, it's just like the careful design of the rooms. I think the graphics really do well for this kind of game. The atmosphere, I think, is on point. It's not a horror game, but it's definitely atmospheric and there's definitely tension involved, especially when the steps are dwindling and like, you know, you pass the kitchen five rooms back, you could probably make it, but. But if you keep going, you might be able to get something on the way, and you want to keep going and making that push, that. That push, that risk reward mechanic is really on point. But even the music, like, the. The higher you go in the map, the better that, like, the music becomes more intense and more. More impactful. There was some cutscenes that were, like, out of nowhere to me that are very mysterious and awesome. But just for me, there was a story that is told in the mansion. Even every bedroom you come across, there's notes and books and diaries, and it all gives you pieces of a larger puzzle. There's history about the land and the world you're in, which is pretty wild. And I thought, oh, this is neat world building. But once you get credits, some of the stuff you find later on, you realize this is probably part of other puzzles that you can unravel, and that's really freaking rad. There is a lot here and like, Even now, like 25 hours in, it's just there is more and more stuff I'm seeing that I just. I genuinely want to solve. And that's. That's pretty rare for me. This is like, I go back to Inscryption and Tunic, which I think is games that we mostly. That most of us liked on the podcast. Like, Tunic was one of those games where you beat the end boss, but there's a whole other meta puzzle and I beat that meta puzzle. But there's a stuff even further, deeper down that road I did not want to touch because it was too much for me. But the deeper, wider puzzle in this I actually want to engage in. Right. Like Animal well, was another game right. With this. I think I liked it a lot. I think, well, if you were like hit or miss on it. But there was like a end game after credits puzzle in Animal well, that was neat, but it wasn't enough to hook me. Like, this game is like Blueprints has its hooks in deep for me in terms of what I want to peel back on this game, so.

Wulff: Oh, yeah, I am. Oh, yeah, Go ahead. Chard.

Jake: Yeah. You haven't really said much, but we want to hear. I want to hear your thoughts because I feel like you. You probably want to bounce off this game.

Chard: No, I don't. I don't. I actually don't want to bounce off this game at all. But it is. I share Wolf's frustration of the RNG aspect of the game that. That drives. Drive me insane. I. I get annoyed when I get, like the same eight rooms every single run that I do, and I don't see anything new and I don't catch anything new. When I get like one or two new rooms, I'm like, oh, cool. Something like, like Jake said, what did I learn on this run? What did I open up? What did I unlock? Because you do unlock some things that are permanent if you get to them, and they are very helpful. There's certain rooms that will help mitigate bad rooms. There's certain rooms that'll help do all this other stuff, and you can kind of launch those at the beginning of each run if you choose to do so at certain times. So when I unlocked that thing, that was like a big. A big win. I was like, okay, cool, I can do this all the time. But then, of course, all those rooms are randomized and you may not get stuff you want out of that room either. So it's like, it's A gamble. And it's. It's fun. I really enjoyed this game. This was not something. When. When Jake had mentioned it and described it at first, he described it as, this is like our. Well, it's not our generations, because Myst is our generation, but this is like this generation's mist. Right. This is the kind of the game that we grew up playing. 3D art, puzzle solving. There's no risk of death, but there is risk of failing. You know, and.

Wulff: Yeah, and.

Chard: But you. You know, it takes the roguelike element or the roguelite element of the restart, where you get to restart and do it over again and keep playing ad nauseam until you solve the puzzle or whatever. That dartboard. I must have hit my head against the wall for hours just trying to solve it as it stood, because I. I'd click on it, and it would change, and I'm like, oh, all right. I'm already onto something here. And I'm not even. I wasn't even close. Like, I wasn't. Didn't know it had any mathematics to it. I just was looking. I was looking at directions. I was looking at patterns. I wasn't looking at arithmetic when I was trying to solve that one. So I just keep hitting my head against the wall. And then the box gems, which is one of the earlier puzzles you get that tells you, like, two. One's a truth, one's a lie, and one always has the die or gems in it kind of thing. I don't know how many times I felt that one going by going, none of this makes sense. I don't know how to get the riddle, and. And I don't like games that make me feel stupid. That's why I play Dark Souls, because I just hit my head against the wall till I win. No, I know that's. You can't.

Wulff: I will say there. So there is a room that lets you up. Well, there are ways to upgrade some of your rooms.

Chard: Yes, I did solve one of the. I did get one of those items that helped make those make that a little bit easier.

Wulff: I've probably had five to seven of those now.

Chard: Okay.

Wulff: But one of them that I got to upgrade was that parlor with the box puzzle. And one of the upgrade choices was to give me two attempts at those boxes.

Chard: Oh, that's cool.

Jake: Okay.

Wulff: So I picked that one.

Jake: Did you?

Wulff: I have failed it once since doing that.

Jake: Nice. I took the one that gives you an extra gem. Personally, I wanted the extra gem because I've been pretty good with that one. It's not math. So I was pretty good at the riddles on that one.

Wulff: So generally I would say yes, but sometimes it's so vague that it's just not really possible and you're still left guessing.

Jake: Some of the ones I'm getting now, it's like, one will say, like, the blue box has the gems, and then the blue box will say the. The white box has no gems, and then the black box will be, like, blank or something. Like, it's. It seems like such a silly thing.

Chard: That are missing gems.

Jake: Yeah. Or there's one where it's like any. Any box that has blue in the word change to black. Right. Like, it gets pretty creative with the variations in this puzzle, because this is another one. Like the. The two puzzles that change every run are the dartboard and the. And the three gems. The two first puzzle rooms you get. You see them every run. For the most part, you want to do them because, you know, the dartboard gives you keys. The. The. The gem boxes keep. Give you gems, and you need both those resources. And once you got the mechanic, it's easy. Two gems, two keys. Right. So you want to do them all the time. But they do get harder. And there are some of them where I'm just like. You want to smack your face against the screen. It's awful, but it's. But it's fun. I like the riddles. I. I get it. But I'm surprised at how many variations of this puzzle has been built into this game. Like, nothing repeats. It's always something new. And that's, yeah, pretty awesome.

Chard: No, it's been good. Like, I haven't seen a single one of those phrases reused on any of those puzzles that we've gone through. So, no, I think my biggest thing.

Wulff: Is very similar, but not the same yet.

Chard: I think my biggest thing is my impatience tends to win out at times. And then when I get irritated and I restart a run and I'm on day 18 after 17 was so close. I literally just throw stuff onto the map, not thinking about what it will do for me or how to position it so it will benefit me just so I can get back to wherever I was to continue on going forth. And you can't do that. You. You gotta. It's a new run, it's a new day, it's a new start, it's a new path. You gotta find a different way to get up there. You can't keep doing the same thing you've been doing. And that's my biggest thing is I get so irritated with the damn Thing because, you know, I'm in a room where I can't see what. I'm lying down and I'm so close, and I hit. I just close my eyes because you can't see which one you're picking. And it slams down. It's a goddamn red bathroom. And I want to. I want to lose my mind over it. It's just. It's ridiculous, but in a good way. It's very challenging and it is very intended. The music is very ambient. The sound effects, the graphics are beautiful. The game just really lends everything to itself in a very, very perfect way that a person like me that's more into, you know, my RPGs and my action RPGs and. And my. My murder games. This game is very. A good night, go to sleep kind of game. And that's kind of something I was looking for. Like, when I'm done with a long day at work, I could sit down and I can do two or three runs of blueprints and see what happens with it. And if I don't get to the end, then I turn off and go to bed. I'm not, like. I'm not so mad that. That I can't sleep. You know, it's like playing Binding of Isaac or Gungeon or something where I was. I was right there and that one stray bullet took me out or something that. That happens in those particular games. I think this is a fantastic game, and I'm. I'm more excited to uncover more of the lore of. Of the world and the person and the mansion itself than just beating it. And I think maybe that's my other thing is because I'm trying to dig deep before I even can get. I need to get past the house to dig deeper into the lore of itself. So I'm like. When I first started this up, I was literally looking at every picture, every drawing, taking pictures on my phone so that I have it so I can review it. I've got so many pictures of this game on my Steam Deck window, my little Steam deck window, so that I can review it later and blow it up if I need to see something. This is a really well done game. It's extremely clever.

Wulff: Yeah.

Chard: And I. I would. I would recommend this to anybody who just wants to play. I don't want to say mindlessly, because you have to be very attentive to what you're doing. It's like playing chess and. And observant of what's going on, but it's not. It's not so Extreme that you're going to lose sleep over it. You know what I mean? It's not so action packed that you're like your adrenaline is going to be rushing. Like Jake said. It does get a little stressful when you see that step count going and you look at your map and you've got 10 steps and the room is nine steps away and there may be food in there and you don't want to kill your run just to try and get back to get to something. Because maybe my dumbass put one room on one side that had a door on it that needed an electronic lock. I turned the electronics locks off on the other side of the house and to get through that, that had a key card in it, by the way. I grabbed the freaking key card to get in there and I'd go all the way back across the house, turn it back on, go back over, and I lost my steps halfway through. And that was, that was a really good run. So, you know, you gotta, you have to be attentive to where you're putting the stuff down and pay attention to what each room does. I mean it's, I mean that's duh, right? But I mean it's not as duh as you think.

Jake: And like you need to be, you need to be adaptable on the fly. Like you may have a certain preference of how you attach you, you do each run where like I, okay, I love using the shovel I need or I need the hammer and I want the hammer this run. But you don't always get the same items every run and that can be a bit frustrating. But you have to be learning to kind of roll with the punches. For me, the one puzzle I was stuck on was something called the pump Room. And I couldn't do it. I said I'll try it again next time. And there never was a next time. I got credits without ever seeing that room again. And I wanted to try to tackle that room again, but it turns out I didn't need it. And that's the thing with this game is that there's multiple ways to achieve your goals and you're not always get the same, you're not going to get the same layout of the land as you normally do. And that's okay. You just have to be flexible.

Wulff: Yeah, I've, I've only messed with the Pump Room. I think I've placed it twice, successfully messed with it once and I had a lot of steps that run. So I was actually able to do multiple things with the Pump Room. So you know it drains different bodies of water around the house. I was able to drain one.

Chard: I had the pool next door to me. So I was watching the water in the pool, I was like, oh, okay.

Wulff: So I drained to the pool so that I could go down and get the loot.

Jake: Don't spoil anything else. Let's, let's maybe at this point let's just say that I think out of the three of us we all recommend this game then.

Chard: Yeah, I, I, yeah, it's a, it's got Charmon seal of approval. I think this is, this is a lot of fun. It just frustrates the hell out of me because I'm not good at it yet, but I will.

Jake: Yeah, yeah, that's definitely a recommendation for me. I love this game. This is one of my favorite games, not only of this year, but I think of the last five years. It definitely ranks high for me. This is, this is a great game. This is, this is up there with how much I love Tunic.

Chard: Honestly, look out, Monster Hunter Wilds, you've got a competition.

Jake: Seriously?

Wulff: Actually, yeah, this is a really good game and honestly the roguelite part of it is one facet of the game. You're always going to have to to some degree, I'm guessing, partake in some of a run before you can participate in other puzzles around the property. And those puzzles are really interesting. Like I've actually got notes, I have notes that I've been taking.

Jake: Yep, you have to.

Wulff: So that way I can keep track of stuff. And I also, I have a ton of pictures too. Chard. I have both.

Jake: I have 100 photos or screenshots from this game on my Steam deck. It's obscene. Yeah, I did what Chard did. Every screenshots, every step of the way, every note, every clue and I go back to them all the time. Okay, so we're gonna say that I think all three of us recommend the game. It's also like 35 bucks, which I think is a steal. It's on game pass. If you're paying for game pass, this is a no brainer. So I think anybody who has not played blueprints, you should go out and play it. All right, I want to talk about. There's a lot of folks I've seen who have bought in this game and are bouncing off it for various reasons. So I want to spend. If you're, if you have not played blueprints, please go buy it and play it and come back for everybody else who has played blueprints and you're here to Vent and tell us how much you hate this game or you're stuck and you can't get to the antechamber and you can't get credits. I'd like to give some tips. Or maybe we can talk about some rooms that we saw that are really cool. Then there might be some interactions that people are not aware of. So I stopped you at Pump Room, Wolf, because I want you to explain the pump room and explain what that does, because I think when I got credits, I never used to be vague.

Wulff: About it, but spoiler warning.

Jake: Spoilers.

Chard: Yes.

Wulff: Yes.

Chard: Here we go.

Jake: Okay.

Wulff: Okay. So continuing with the pump Room, I was just messing with it to figure it out. At first, I didn't even bother reading the instructions. And I don't know if the room itself has instructions. I know there's another room, the library, where you can check out the instructions.

Jake: Yes.

Wulff: Not the biggest fan of the library and its mechanics, but that's fine. It works. But, yeah, I just. I winged it and figured it out. And first I was able to. I was like, okay, I want to mess with this. I want to drain the pool. So I had to figure out how to drain the pool, and I wanted to see if it would actually do it because I didn't have the pool room right there. It was like five rooms away. So I drained the pool according to the little map on the side, like the little chart showing where the water was, and then went over there and checked it out, and there was loot down there. There was coins and maybe something else. I don't remember, but I thought that was neat. So I was like, okay, that means this actually does directly affect. Because this was still pretty early on for me when I found this, like, we're talking day five. You know, I just.

Chard: Just to add for the pump broom. This is going to piss Jake off. So. So my job requires me opening closing valves and stuff for work.

Jake: Okay.

Chard: I'm not kidding you.

Jake: For.

Chard: Because I got to get the flow to the proper part of my pump that I'm working on at work, right? So this thing's pretty good how it's set up. In reality, I was flipping switches, going, hey, look, that's how that should go. While following the pipes on where they need to go. Like, feeling about work right now, and I'm draining left and right, watching the levels going like, yeah, this is my job. I do this for a living.

Jake: So what. What messed me up in the pump room? And I figured. I eventually figured it out. So for those who are stuck, like me is Go behind the pumps, and there's another pump behind them. But there's also a little toggle switch where you can direct the flow from tank one to tank two. There's a third tank, depending on the room you're.

Wulff: Depending on the body of water you're pulling or pushing.

Jake: Yes. Yeah, that's right. It's not for everything. And that's what's messing me up right now, is I got the pool down to, like, one step above dry. And that's my issue, is I've never been able to drain a room except for the kitchen, which doesn't even matter. So I never really messed with it very much.

Wulff: But yeah.

Jake: Did you figure out what to do with the kitchen?

Wulff: I had to fill the kitchen so that way I could drain the well.

Jake: The fountain, right? The fountain, yeah.

Wulff: And so in draining the fountain, I had to fill the kitchen. And I was like, the kitchen has water. I was like, I guess that makes sense. But what. So I went back to the kitchen, and I looked at the faucet, and I turned it on, and I just left it running. And I walked around a little bit and left it running. And then I had enough time to go back and check, and I was like, I wonder. So I went back and checked, and sure. And, like, the water level hadn't lowered. I was like, okay, so that's not a way to get rid of water. Gotcha.

Jake: Unfortunately. And the neat thing with the pump room is whatever changes you make in the pump room do stay in effect until you change it in the future. That's one of the things that crosses the run. So I drained half the most of the pool, and it stayed that way until I came across the pump room again. But there's a couple things that are useful for the pump room, but the main one is, I think this is the fountain. You drain the fountain, which is in the front of the house, and it's one of the ways to go into an area underground. And that's where a lot of people are probably stuck playing this game, is that there's an underground, and you need to get to the underground to ultimately get to room 46.

Chard: There's a door or there's an opening if you go into the front of the the for the house. Like, you leave the house, you go in, you walk past fountain, you go downstairs, and these. There's these. Like a. A vista is the best way to describe it. And it's got those four points, the four flame things or whatever. And if you turn around, there's an there's an opening, but it's, but it's boarded up. And I was like, there's got to be a way into that. I'm assuming that's how the fountain, the word.

Wulff: I think I found where that access point is on the run that I actually got credits, but I didn't have what I think I needed to be able to get through there. So I wasn't able to do anything.

Jake: Gotcha. So there's a large amount of secrets in the underground. But the thing that the takeaway, I think, for people who are stuck is there is more than one way in the underground. If I'm not wrong, there's, I think, five ways to get into the underground. The fountain is one of them. So when I got credits, I didn't go through the fountain, which I think is a common way to do it. I actually went through the tomb. So the tomb is an outdoor room. You can draft randomly. Yeah. There's a bunch of puzzles in that tomb. Yes, There's a, there's a, when you do the tomb, there's a puzzle that opens a way to get in the underground. And that's how I did it. So that's why I said, like, I've only gotten, I've only gotten through the antechamber once to get credits. I haven't seen a single puzzle in the tomb.

Wulff: Yeah, I, I, I know what the puzzle is. It's the arms, right?

Jake: Yes. There's various statues. And I'll say for those who want.

Chard: To solve it, I didn't even look at them.

Jake: If you look at the statues, all the statues are different. They all are basically careers. It matches what you find in the chapel. So if you go, which is a red room, which just takes your coin every time you go into it. Next to me in the chapel, look at the stained glass windows, and it tells you what you need to puzzle out. There's also a clue in one of the books in one of the rooms that also says, hey, look at the chapel and look at the windows. So that's the neat thing with this, is that every puzzle that you're stumped on, there's a clue somewhere in the house that will tell you what to do. Right. Like, the other thing I had an issue with was there's like a bunch of safes in the house. Right. And for the most part, those safes have lore bits behind them. And the code open them is usually within that room. But I didn't know that. But there is a room you, you later draft that tells you straight up there's. When you see a safe, basically this is like the code is somewhere in the room. I don't want to give it away. So there's clues to all the hard.

Chard: I've seen a few red papers that say code to safe is this.

Jake: Yes, yes.

Chard: But I haven't.

Jake: The other thing with that is one of the first rooms you get. Security room. Yeah, go ahead.

Chard: Yeah. Okay.

Wulff: The security room on the desk there is a notepad that says memos on red paper are false, memos on green paper are true. So if you see a red memo, it's lying to you.

Jake: Okay.

Wulff: There is an exception or two and I've seen specific specifically in one case what that. Except what one of the exceptions is. And so. But I. I honestly have no clue what that. Where that exception is.

Jake: So I don't know what that room is. The note you just described in the security room, if you take the magnifying glass, which is an item that's very common.

Chard: Yeah, yeah.

Jake: You read the. You put the magnifying glass of the note, there's small text that says unless the note is handwritten, that's the exception. So it's like red is lying. Unless it's handwritten, then it's true. And it's all there on the note. So that's the thing that's wild with this game. It's all there.

Chard: It's all in there.

Jake: Guys, come on. That's why I'm saying if you're stuck in a run and you can't go any further, but you have access to a magnifying glass in some way, if you can buy it, you know, in the commissary, it's worth going through and looking at the notes with it because there's shit there. And that's one of the things that chard you mentioned. There's like a little tutorial slip in one of the rooms. I think it's the nook. And it just tells you basically how to draft rooms. But if you magnifying glass over it, it tells you the clues to the dartboard puzzle. And there's lots of that examples all over the house. So the magnifying glass is like an important item and you want to use it in every single room if you can and keep notes. This is where notes become important. So like I have notes now. Have I been to the room? Yes. Have I used the magnifying glass in the room? Yes or no? Because that is also key. So that's the thing is wild to me. The other. Because that's one of the notes that you see in the house. It tells you. It says west indoors are more likely to be locked or something. But it's in red, which means it's false. So the other tip for this game, if you're stuck, if you're. If you're ever having issues with keys, go to the west side of the house instead and explore there. You're less likely to encounter locked doors. The higher you go, the more locked doors you get. But the west side will be less on, will be less locked. That was one of the things I took away. You had mentioned key cards charred. That's something that everybody should be doing early on. With the security computer is there's a lock, there's an option to change tinker with electronic locks, you can make it so that locked doors or electronic locks show up more frequently or you can make them show up less often. You can also choose the default lock behavior when the power's out. So you had mentioned that you can turn the power off and on. Yes. So on the security computer, you can make it so that when the power goes out, all electronic locks are turned off.

Chard: That makes sense because I didn't add those two together. I just. Every time I saw them, I turned them off, thinking, well, if they're off, then that means I can go through them. And then this one today that I lost because I ran out of steps because I had to run across the house to turn back on because I had a goddamn key card screwed me. So there's things that again, you're learning as you play, right?

Jake: Yeah. So like if you have a key card, then then it makes sense to go to the security computer and make it so that more electronic locks appear. So it's that security to maximum. So you have more electronic locks because you can open them. And the avers. And same thing. If you have a. If you find the circuit breaker early on and you can disable the power to the locks, then make sure you're on the security computer. You turn that, that locks will be off. So, like, you can tinker with that. That saved me a lot of headache in a lot of my early runs by tweaking the locked doors issues. That's cool. But so I really want to express to people who are stuck in this game, paths are. There's definitely different paths to get to the end of the game. Right. We said there's the underground, which is a big part of it. There's definitely multiple entrances to the underground fountain tomb. There's a bunch of Others actually the antechamber itself. Like, as for all of us who played, there's three ways into the antechamber. There's three different doors. Each of those doors is opened by a lever. Right. Have you guys seen all three levers yet or.

Chard: No, I've only seen one. I only found the one.

Wulff: I believe so, but I never remember where any of them are. Except the one in the garden.

Jake: Yeah, that's the only one I've seen. It's funny you mentioned that, because the Secret Garden is how I did it. That's how I got credits. But I feel like I've stumbled upon the Secret Garden. Right. It's a key you use at a certain spot, and you get this green room that has. Has one of the levers. The other two, for folks who are probably stuck not with the Secret Garden, is the greenhouse. The greenhouse has a lever plain sight, but you need a broken lever piece to get to work. So I feel like a lot of people will go to the greenhouse as their first way to get to the antechamber. The other way to do it is the a room called the grand hall, which is a crazy wild room that has seven doors, four of which are actual exits. But the other doors are compartments, and there's lots of cool stuff, like items and stuff in there. But one of them is a switch to the antechamber. So that's the thing.

Wulff: That's right.

Jake: So if you don't get the Secret Garden key in a run, you have the greenhouse. You also have the Grand Hall. The grand hall sucks if you don't have a lot of keys. But there's another room you get fairly decently. It's called the foyer. And if you draft the foyer room, which is another hallway, it ensures all hallway doors are unlocked. So if you can get the foyer and then get the grand hall, the grand hall will be completely unlocked and all the stuff is there for you. So, like, it's like cool combos like that are really, really worthwhile. I know you mentioned the upgrade bits where you can upgrade rooms. The first upgrade, like what I had access to, it was like the dartboard. It changes the billiard room into the speakeasy, and it just makes it. So the dartboard now does easy math problems. I could not have turned that on fast enough. So I don't have to do the squiggly line math anymore on that stupid dartboard puzzle. I don't get maybe some of the better rewards that you can get from upgrades, but I thought that was Worth it. So I thought that was neat, but.

Wulff: I thought, over here, upgrade for that room.

Chard: Yet over here, promoting synergy like a boss.

Jake: You have to. This is. But this is the thing, right? One of the cool. One of the first upgrades I got, I think the first one I did get was you have the nook, which is basically a corner room that gives you a key. I took the reading nook, which I think, Wolf, you took the same thing. And I love that one because what the reading nook does is it ensures that when you. If you have the reading nook, when you go to the second door in that room, it always gives you the library as one of your draft options. The library is great because it gives you a higher chance of a rare room to pull on that door. So it's like a neat combo reading nook in the corner. You get the library. Library usually leads you to something else. If you have gems. And that's. And that's the thing. The gems is what can hit you. So there's like a lot of great room combos that I thought are really good in this game.

Chard: I have a question about an item, since we're in spoiler territory. The wrench that allows you to change the commonality of something or the rarity of something. You want to turn everything common. Right. And then maybe turn like. Like the gym, like, into a rarity so that you don't get it as much. Is that where my head. That's where my head goes.

Wulff: It doesn't work on every room. It only works on rooms that are marked with a gear. Right.

Chard: But does that make it more common? If I kick it to the common.

Jake: Yes.

Chard: Levels, will I get it more often?

Wulff: I did that with the laboratory, and so I see the lab all the time.

Chard: Okay.

Jake: Yeah.

Wulff: I made it common. And I love messing with the experimental features.

Chard: Yeah, me too.

Wulff: So to the point now where I have unlocked a way to access terminals. Once a day, I can access a terminal that hasn't been accessed yet.

Jake: Yeah.

Wulff: And so if the first terminal I come across is not the laboratory, I generally access the laboratory. If I've already accessed the laboratory, if I've been in the room for a while, or like, if I've been around for a while, I will go for the office so I can spread money around. So I have ways.

Jake: Does it give you a lot of money that way?

Wulff: I do it all the time. I've had it give me 16. So it can give you quite a bit. Yeah, yeah.

Jake: The. The laboratory. I didn't even think to do the experiments outside the house. That's actually a good move because that. That laboratory can basically break the game to your benefit. Right. Like the. The one I had today was the. The first trigger is if you see a red room, lose five steps then. And then I had. The second step was set your steps to 40. So every time I hit a red room, it resets my steps to 40. So basically a whole lot of steps for that run. It was pretty awesome. I've seen the one that will increase your allowance by one coin every time you trigger it. Another one.

Wulff: I've done that quite a bit. That's why I've got 13 allowance.

Jake: Yeah. Because like, there are allowance bonuses hidden in the harder puzzles. But I feel like you get more of them from the laboratory experiments. Like that's how you break the game to your benefit. I'm just waiting. I'm trying to find. That gives you more gems. I want permanent gem upgrades. I have two each run. But I want more than that. And I don't know if that's.

Wulff: That would be nice. I gotta figure out how to do that. You know, I have not set foot in the greenhouse yet.

Chard: No, I've seen it, but I haven't dropped it.

Wulff: Yeah, I drafted it. Well, I. I didn't draft it. I drew it for the first time today.

Jake: Okay.

Wulff: After I beat it, after I got credits, then I finally saw a greenhouse in another run.

Jake: There's definitely rooms you don't see, you just. You don't encounter. Like the. More rooms. Whenever you see a room that in their draft options that you have not seen yet, you should take it because I think. I think it leads to unlocking other rooms is way I think it works. Also, some rooms only draft on certain sides of the house. Like the garage, which is very important. Right. Because it lets you go outside for the first time. The garage is only on the west side of the house. Right. Not the east. The east, I think, has the greenhouse.

Wulff: It comes with three keys. And then if you have the car key, you get more goodies.

Chard: Stuff out of the stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you can unlock, like Jake said, you can open the garage door if you get power to the room. And a whole bunch of cool shit.

Jake: That goes on with that.

Wulff: Yeah. That gives you access to a daily bonus kind of room.

Jake: Yeah. And that outdoor shed. One of the options there was a shrine and. Yeah. The altar. The bonuses you get from the altar. Once you know the right amount of coins to deposit, you can get a bonus for multiple days that lets you rotate rooms for gems. One that, like, affects red rooms. Another one that gives you berries that you can use for a random room, and more often than not, gives you a rare room every time. Like, there's a lot of cool stuff in that shrine, and I've done some really great runs with that. What was the one I told you earlier, Wolf? Oh, the hovel. Right. The hovel makes it so no room cost gems, but instead, it takes steps. Well, if you're. If you've stuck in the game long enough, you probably have a lot of steps. The hovel is great for exploring the house.

Wulff: I want to tell you about my run, where I actually had 90 steps to start my day. And I had the hovel. So I was like, all right, I don't even need to worry about gems. I would not. The game would not give me a room to go north of the second row. It would not. It just. I got screwed at the row it was on. I was like, I had so many steps and so many ways to spend them, and you screwed me.

Jake: That's so weird. I've never. I've never had that.

Wulff: This is the kind of stuff I've dealt with, which is why I hate the rng of the car drawing.

Chard: Yeah, same.

Jake: I've never been screwed that early in a run. Like, never. Like, there's always been some way to, like, redraw rooms or. Or something. Like, I'm getting the drawing studio so I can redraw rooms. Or it's the nook to the library, and the library gives me something decent. Right. There's. I've never been stuck like that on the second row.

Chard: Yeah, I ran out of steps to rank three, and I was like, what the hell? Because they're all. They're just giving me nothing but reds, and I'm trying to get pathways open, and everything else was either a circuit breaker room or a closet or a one, you know, a bedroom you can go get steps in. But the one time with no way to leave, it wasn't a pass through. I was like, what in the hell? And I was like, well, I'll take the gymnasium. It's got four doors I can go in through. Yes. Sucking your half of your out. It's like, come on, dude.

Jake: Well, it's two steps, right, for the gymnasium.

Chard: Which one is the one?

Jake: Oh, the weight room is the half your steps. That one sucks.

Wulff: Yeah.

Jake: I hate that one.

Wulff: That one sucks.

Jake: Yeah. But you know what's funny for me is until I saw credits, I never got the wrench. I didn't get the wrench till after credits. And I've only gotten it once, so I've only changed the rarity on. I've changed the rarity on the. The boiler room now because that's one of the rooms I wanted to tinker with. And I almost never got it, but I haven't seen it since. The other one was the workshop. So there's crafting. In this game, you can combine items. I've only seen the workshop twice, and there's a few times where I've had an inventory full of all kinds of items. I've had batteries, shovels, compasses, everything I could use to make new stuff. And I haven't gotten the workshop and it's driving me nuts. I only find it when I have nothing in my inventory. So I like, have you guys messed with that at all?

Wulff: One time.

Jake: Just one time. Okay.

Wulff: And it was able. I was able to make a dowsing rod by combining the compass and the shovel.

Jake: What does that do?

Wulff: So I'm going to say I. I greatly prefer the shovel to the dowsing rod. But basically what it does is when you draw your three cards rooms, it'll like, wing around a bit and point at the one that's gonna have extra items.

Jake: It's neat, but I think I.

Wulff: Is neat. But by the time I was able to do that, I was near the north end of the manor and I was like, that's not all that useful anymore.

Jake: Yeah.

Chard: Yeah. I've found. I have found more places to dig and the shovel twice. And every time I get the shovel, there's no place for me to dig. Every single.

Wulff: Early on, I found the shovel so often that it was just ridiculous. Like, yeah, I was. Most runs, I would get either the shovel or the sledgehammer. In like, my first 14, 15 runs, I've had the sledgehammer, and in a lot of them, I got both.

Jake: What?

Chard: Yep, once.

Jake: So you know what it is? Chart is the green rooms. The courtyard is great. I love the courtyard because more often than not, there's usually a shovel or sledgehammer in that room. Every time I should.

Chard: I should probably stop trying to find paths and just use the rooms. And if I run out of paths, then get what I can out of the rooms and move on.

Jake: Yeah.

Chard: Because my thing is I. If I see a green room, but there's only one way in, I don't. I don't drop it. I. I need. I need a way out. So I get mad because I've run out of a path. And when I get to that Very last step, like, getting the red bathroom. I wanted to put my fist through my tv. I was so freaking mad, dude.

Jake: That.

Chard: Because it was. And it's in the. When you go in the dark room, which is a red room, the next room, you pick. You can't see what they are. It just has the three of them. And you pick whichever. And I was like, I gotta pick something. So I picked it. And it was the damn bathroom. And it was my last door before I ran out of doors to keep going. And I was. Oh, God, I was heated. I was heated.

Jake: But if you use the. The bathroom when you earlier on the run, like, you control when you drop it. If you can use it earlier, then you know that it doesn't come back up to haunt you later on. I think that's the big trick for the game is use those shitty rooms early so that you can kind of navigate it. Or if your room is dead early, at least you know it's early. The. The shovel's neat. Like, that laboratory is funny as hell. Like, one of the combinations. I will add dirt piles to the driveway so you can trigger it. So you're just creating a. A. Just a ton of. Of dirt holes on the driveway to dig up. The fun one was adds two chests to the front lobby. I had that one in an easy trigger. I forget what the trigger was. I think it was like every bedroom after the second spawn two chests in the front hallway. And I found, like, all the bedrooms and the aquariums I have count as all room types, so they counted as bedrooms. And I have a bunch of aquariums. So I had like 12 chests in the front of the. Of the house. And I had the sledgehammer. So I'm just whacking them open. I got so many resources, but I just sadly didn't. I couldn't do anything with those items. But I had so much from breaking the game that way. That part's really, really fun. I know there's a way to make something that lights candles. Like, there has to be, because I see several rooms where it looks like you have to light fires, like light candles as part of a puzzle. But I have not been able to find one or build anything because I haven't had the workshop enough. So that part's kind of frustrating.

Wulff: Yeah. I found in the route I used to get into the basement and actually get credits, I came across a part where there was a hidden room card that I had to dig up.

Jake: A room card, really?

Wulff: Yeah. It was marked on a piece of a map somewhere else. And then when I got to this side of it, I was like, this is what I've been looking for. So I wandered around, and it was just. It wasn't even a dirt pile. It was literally just a spot that you have to stand in and dig.

Jake: That's funny. Okay. Crazy.

Wulff: And it found me lost and found, which is a red room that gives you two rare items, but every time you enter that room, you lose one of your inventory items at random.

Chard: Oh, good.

Jake: I'm bad. Well, you know what? That could be worth it, I think. I haven't. See, I've got.

Wulff: It has its. It has its benefits, but. Yeah, that was interesting. There was something else. Oh, yeah. In the. The clockwork room. It also had another room down there that I don't know if I've actually drawn yet.

Jake: Yeah, you had mentioned about saving money and gems for future runs, so I didn't want to spoil it in the beginning of the episode, but I'll say it now. There's the freezer. Have you guys gotten the freezer yet?

Wulff: I have not placed it yet, because every time I see it, I'm like, no, I don't want to freeze my funds right now.

Jake: Yeah, Right. So it locks your gems and money for the rest of that run, but then you have those gems and money for the next run, and that's. That's been huge for a few different things. I'm at the point now where there's. There's stores I've unlocked now that the cost of items and they're. They look like really awesome, unique Items is like 40, 50, 60 gold plus. And I'm like, I can't afford these, so I need ways to get money.

Wulff: Every run. The showroom or something like that.

Jake: That's one of them. And then the bookstore is another one. And then there's also a gift shop, and they all have really expensive items.

Wulff: I've bought a book. I've bought the first three things in the gift shop. I'm so upset because I had spent a bunch of money that I didn't need to spend, not realizing it. And then I got the showroom, and it was sale. Sale day because I had found something that made everything 50% off. And had I not spent that money, I could have afforded the master key.

Jake: Oh, which. That locks all the doors, right? All the basic doors.

Wulff: Any basic locks it unlocks.

Jake: Yeah.

Wulff: That'S great. I wouldn't need to worry about that. But now I was a dumbass early on and bought a bunch of gems. And then after I did It. I was like, wait, this was a stamina run. I picked the hovel. The gems are useless.

Jake: It's really cool how much you can do, but for anybody who's still listening and is stuck, there's definitely a different path. I didn't. People complain about the boiler room because you use it to power up other rooms, Right? There's a puzzle in the laboratory you can't do without power. So, yeah, the boiler room will let you do power, but you have to place it and line up rooms, and that can be very frustrating. It's not the only way to power up rooms. There was other ways to power up rooms, but I beat. I got credits. I got to stop saying beat the game, but I got credits without using the boiler room at all. Like, the way I did it was literally, I found the secret garden key I kept in my coat check until the run was lining up where it would be useful. I used it. I got the antechamber, and I used the. The tomb to go underground, and I beat the game, and that's how I did it. But there's so many ways in the underground. There's so many ways in the antechamber. There's multiple ways to win this game. And I think people get too stuck on the boiler and that RNG thing because it does not pop often. People are right. It's rare.

Wulff: Yeah. Well, what is? Because the boiler, it looks like you can send the power three directions. The only one I know about is the lab. And doing that, I think, opened up the ability to access other terminals. Right.

Jake: So it does. A lavatory is one. If you can supply power to the furnace room, that does something for you. And, like. And the way. And what's kind of weird is that.

Wulff: No, I placed it once, and I was like, this is useless.

Jake: Well, what's weird is useless, if you.

Chard: Freeze your funds and you drop the furnace, it'll unfreeze your funds.

Jake: Yes, but you still get the bonus. You still get the bonus for the next run, but you've unlocked it. You can keep going. But, yeah, the furnace also does something else on top of that. And the freezer room, if you get heat to it, gives you stuff. So there's. There's that combination. But what's weird about those room, the boiler room, though, is you have to look at the ceiling of all rooms. Not every room will carry power. There's, like, ducks, and you can. You can see the ducts. Like, the hallways have it, red rooms have it, but not every room has it. So you're trying to build a path with the boiler is very frustrating. So, like, the other way.

Wulff: Is that how that worked?

Jake: Yes, that's how it works. And that's why people. That's why people get pissed off. Because to line up the room is a whole other level of rng. But you don't need it, though. But you can do it.

Wulff: No. And I. Apparently, I just lucked into it because I was like, all right, clearly the power is going one of three directions here. So I just, like, I tried one of them, and I ran over to the lab, and there was no power. So I ran back to the boiler room, tried a different one, ran back to the lab. It had power. I was like, all right, that's. I don't know how I was supposed to know, but I did it.

Jake: Yeah, it's totally. If you looked in the rooms, you'll see the ducts, and they'll tell you if power is going through that room. That's freaking funny. But, yeah, I've only gotten the boiler room a couple times, and I see that people look at that room thinking, oh, I must power things up to use the extra pump or the extra reservoir tank in the pump room. Yes. That's one use of the boiler room, but you don't need it. There's ultimate pathways. Even the. I won't say where, but even the basement portion of the game where you need to go to the basement to get the final room unlocked, even that thing is one of several ways to open the last door in the antechamber. There's other ways to do it, but you need to look at item crafting and other features. So there's definitely multiple paths to beat this game, which is good because the game is hard. And I'm at the point now where I realize how rare it was for me to get the tomb, unlock that pathway, and get the secret garden key to get to the antechamber. And now having that all line up for me in one run was pretty. Pretty awesome. But I don't know if I'm going to get that again, so I have to figure out the pump and the reservoir and all that stuff.

Wulff: I have a question for you, if we're not opposed to talking about this, because the way you beat it, the way you got credits, sounds very different than the way I got credits. You used the tomb to get to the basement.

Jake: Yeah.

Wulff: Where does that spit you out in the basement?

Jake: I'm trying to think of. It's like it's on the one. It's on the One side next to the cart. I think it's next to one of the minecarts. Because I had a. Less. Yeah. Because I had issues. I had issues trying to go through the fountain and through the. The foundation elevator. Whereas with the tomb, I was able to go around all that stuff because. Yeah, there's an issue with the minecarts I had with the foundation. Yeah. Because one of the things. The underground is there's a lake and there's a boat, and I've never used the boat. I've never had a reason to. Because with the tomb on one side and the foundation elevator on the other, I was able to go through both sides. It took some walking, but I was able to do it. And that's how I got through the game.

Wulff: I want to explain that I've been to the basement.

Chard: I didn't take my earbud out, but there's so much shit that I am completely missing.

Jake: It won't help you charge. It's confusing no matter how much, you.

Chard: Know, I'm sitting here like deer in the headlights right now.

Wulff: What? So I. The first time I got to the basement was through the fountain.

Jake: Was it? Okay.

Wulff: And I wasn't able to access the chamber with the puzzle to get to the. Like to open up the last part to get to the antechamber again.

Jake: Yeah.

Wulff: I wasn't able to do that from there. There was a cart blocking my path.

Jake: Yes. So how you're supposed to do it. Did you take the foundation elevator?

Wulff: I didn't have the foundation at that point.

Jake: Okay. Okay.

Wulff: The first time I got there, I hadn't seen the foundation yet. It was day nine, and I was like, hey, cool. I'm making great progress. And I got down there, and there was nothing I could do. I had moved the cart. I think I took pictures of a couple things because that's how I found the information about the secret. With the magnifying glass.

Jake: Yeah.

Wulff: The lost and found room. And then the second time I got to the basement was through the foundation, and doing that got me to the other side. The cart was still moved. So I was able to just go in through there. The cart was out of my way. I was able to solve all that puzzle and go get the. Go open up door 46.

Jake: So I want. So then moving the minecart persists from run to run is. Must be what it is. So then that might make things a little bit easier. Maybe I did that because I've been. I made several trips to the underground just messing around. I must have Moved the minecart to make a future run easier by accident. This game is just full of headaches.

Wulff: Yeah. I saw that there was like a doorway ahead of the minecart and then there was this doorway to the left. And the doorway to the left seemed like it was something important, but I couldn't do anything from it from here. So I pulled the minecart back like, okay, maybe this will stay. And sure enough, it stayed. So it's. There's. There's a lot to this game.

Jake: Yeah.

Wulff: There are about so many puzzles. There are. Have you guys seen. What is his name? Al Zahra.

Jake: Have you seen the rumpus room yet? Have you used the machine?

Chard: I've used the machine, yes.

Jake: Yeah. So I've seen a few of those cut scenes.

Wulff: Four of those now.

Jake: Have you?

Wulff: I don't know what any of them are, but they show locations that are like, I've not seen this location, but it looks like I'll be able to get there at some point.

Jake: Yeah. And I've never seen them. Right. I haven't seen them either. Yeah.

Wulff: The fact that it's showing these things, these premonitions and like I don't understand what's happening in them. One of them, it looked like it was something from way in the future. Like I don't like that. Must be some weird meta ending or something.

Jake: Yeah, there's. There's a lot of cool stuff in the underground that don't. That does not make sense. Like there's these red letters you can find in certain really off the beaten path situations. I've gotten a few of those and those have a lot of really interesting lore stuff. I won't say it here, but that's what hooked me on the game now is post credits is I want to unlock the rest of the lore. I want to hear more of the story and it's. It's interesting. The one thing I know we're going long but the. There's. Every room has a chess piece. Have you guys all have both seen that and have you been keeping notes in them?

Wulff: No.

Jake: Have you guys not kept.

Wulff: Not.

Jake: So you want to keep notes of every. You want one of every chess piece. You want to know what room has that chess piece and a note somewhere because that will come into play later on. That was a cool ass puzzle. I'm still trying to get. I know what to do for it, but I'm still trying to find rooms that have a king piece and I've only found one. So like getting, getting a setup on my map with all the different chess pieces has been challenging, but I know what to do when I have that lineup for me. But that was really rad to see those because I noticed, like, the nook has a rook, and like, you know, the security room has a night piece and, like, pawns everywhere. And, like, I know that means something. So I was screenshotting them all and keeping notes. I'm glad I did. The other one is every room has two drawings. You guys have probably seen those. Have you guys messed with that at all?

Wulff: I have most of it solved.

Jake: Okay. So I haven't started solving yet, but I've been taking notes, trying to figure it out. But that's another puzzle where even if a run is doomed, just capturing which spot on the board has what drawings. I feel was worthwhile to me to kind of note down these things. And again, these are all puzzles that are not part of the credits. They're not part of the main game goal at all. They're just all other stuff. And that's just so weird to me. It's great.

Wulff: I have four rooms I have not been able to solve, and I have no clue what those clues are. But given that I've solved everything else, I've kind of deciphered it.

Jake: Yeah.

Wulff: Like, at this point, I'm at the tail end of a wheel of fortune. And so.

Jake: There'S definitely some puzzles where you can just, like, brute force it. Right. Like, even the dartboard, like the math I'm at now were the stupid squiggly lines and whatnot. And I thought I was real smart until I hit the six squiggly lines. And it took me forever to figure that one out. But there's a point where I just brute force it until, like, okay, not this one. Catch back up again. Not this number. And I went around the wheel until I figured it out. Like you sometimes you brute force the puzzle. There's one where you have these statues you have to place in a certain order. And there's riddles on all of them. I had, like, three quarters of them I figured out on my own, but there's, like, a couple I couldn't figure it out. So I'm just messing with them, shuffling around. And eventually I got the. I got the thing open. So I don't feel bad about Bruce forcing some of this stuff. I've only had to spoil one puzzle in the game so far, and I won't say what, but it's the gallery.

Wulff: I had to spoil that same puzzle. And honestly, there was no way I was going to solve any of those. Even the first one I thought I had, I didn't.

Jake: Yeah.

Wulff: And there was no way I was getting that. I was like, nope, this. I was not going to solve these. So, yeah, Chard, don't feel bad about cheesing that one if you get there, because that one is stupid.

Chard: I feel stupid only being able to sell the damn dartboard one. I felt real good about that for a little while.

Jake: No, but, like, I think it's a game where don't feel bad if you need to look up at the answer to one of these puzzles or ask for a hint or whatnot. Because, like, there's so many other puzzles to figure out. Like, if one puzzle is. Is screwing your. Your. Your mindset on the game, just look it up. I think, honestly, there's just. There's just so much more.

Wulff: I found a thing. Have. Have either of you guys seen the treasure map yet?

Chard: Yes. Yes, I found two of them.

Jake: Okay.

Chard: You found the treasure, though?

Jake: I found two, yes. Yeah.

Wulff: So, I mean, Chard never finds the shovel, apparently, so that would be part of it.

Chard: I found it, like, twice. I've dug up one thing because I was like, oh, I know where there's something to dig up. And I ran down and dug it up, and it goes, there's nothing here but a hole. And I was like, you and ran away.

Jake: Is it. So do you think it's persistent, then? The treasure maps are fixed, or you think they're random?

Wulff: My first treasure map I saw three times before I actually dug it up.

Jake: It was the same spot.

Chard: Yeah, mine looks a couple spots that I've been to, wondering if. If does the. Does the treasure map trigger what's in there? Or can you get there without the treasure map?

Wulff: I think you have to have the treasure map and the shovel.

Chard: That would make sense. That would make sense.

Jake: That makes sense because when I got.

Wulff: To that spot, he kind of whipped out the treasure map and was like.

Jake: Oh, maybe around here it triggered the.

Chard: Okay, okay, that makes sense, because that makes sense. I gotta play this guy.

Jake: Metal detector, right? The metal detector gives, like, finds other items and rooms, but the items aren't there unless you have the metal detector. Yeah, right. That was one of the things where I'm like, am I really missing gold coins everywhere? I'm like, no, I'm not.

Wulff: Yeah.

Chard: Because I look now in the spot that I find them, and I'm like, yeah, never anything. And then I get the stupid metal.

Wulff: Detector, and then you walk by. It's all beep, beep and I'm like you.

Jake: I was just there.

Chard: Damn it.

Jake: Yeah. Yeah, it's pretty.

Chard: Well, I got it. We gotta. I gotta play this. Let's wrap this up because. So I can smartly.

Wulff: I do need to say I don't like playing it as much on the Steam deck as on my PC.

Jake: Really?

Chard: I believe that. Okay.

Wulff: I don't. Like, you said it wasn't an issue, but I think sometimes the text is too small, which is what one of the asterisks is on how playable it is. And then the other thing is, I find that I don't tend to really take everything in as well because with the mouse and keyboard on a big monitor, I'm investigating and really keeping track. Track of things. And then on the Steam deck, I'm just like, eh, go this way, go that way.

Chard: Maybe that's my problem.

Wulff: Like, it highlights things for me, which is like, it. It's kind of nice, but it also makes me lazier about playing.

Chard: Right. That could be my problem.

Jake: I don't know. Because, like, there's a zoom shortcut in the Steam deck. It's a steam button L1 that will zoom the screen.

Chard: Yeah.

Wulff: It's a pain in the ass, though.

Jake: It is.

Chard: I play it on my tv.

Wulff: Especially when I'm like the TV and.

Chard: Play it, but it's still with a controller. Like, I'm still playing with a controller. So I don't get. Like Wolf says, you're not using the mouse to look around with the mouse hand. So that would make sense because I'm turning my body, you know, with the controller, and I don't see anything that's grabbing my attention. I leave. Or if I put down a spare bedroom, I just haul ass through it because I don't think there's anything in there. Because it's a white room with a bunch of all over the place.

Wulff: Yeah. The spare room. You made it into a spare bedroom.

Chard: I've made it a few. But it's just a hallway. Right. Is this the white room with.

Wulff: Yeah. Spare room. You could upgrade it later to where it becomes a spare bedroom or a spare. Something else, like spare hallway or. I don't remember what the third option was. I made it a spare bedroom. And so now very often I will find a sleeping mask in there.

Jake: Oh, nice. Yeah. Because right now it's useless as a hall. It's a hallway, basically, without the upgrade. Okay.

Wulff: But the amount of things that are like bedrooms, and I'm like, all right, bedrooms are great for stamina. So sure, yeah.

Chard: Hell yeah.

Wulff: And the bonus is probably about one in three times. I'll find a sleeping mask in there, huh? It's. It's fairly common.

Jake: Yeah. Like, I got a roll boudoir with two dice, and those dice are godson. I use them all the time. So every time I get a boudoir, it's two dice plus a bedroom. Okay. Yeah, there's a lot of cool stuff. Yeah, there's.

Wulff: Yeah, there's like.

Jake: Like I still have room.

Wulff: Oh, yeah. I have a feeling that the way you beat it is extraordinarily different from the way I beat it. Is going to be extraordinarily different from the way Chard beats it. Like, it's. It's.

Chard: No, no, no. I might follow the things you guys just talked about tonight and.

Wulff: Well, have you seen the foundation yet?

Chard: No, I have not.

Jake: You don't have a foundation.

Wulff: Okay.

Jake: Oh, then no wonder you're back. Chart. The foundation is like. Once you have that unlocked, it becomes a lot easier to get around. So like, because it's. It's a fixed room, so you always know where it is. Mine has the door always pointing up, which makes things easier and just. It's just always there. I don't know.

Wulff: So stupid.

Jake: Well, yours is like.

Wulff: Oh, I wish mine was way down there. No, mine is a T. Okay.

Jake: Mine's like row.

Wulff: So that's guaranteed one room that I will never get to go north from.

Jake: Okay. Okay. Mine's higher up, which sucks, but it is on its side. So it's always. It's always like going up. So that's. That's why it's decent for me. But yeah, once you have the foundation, it doesn't move. But there's stuff around that room and there's always dig spots in there. So. And there's. It's, you know.

Wulff: Yeah, I don't know.

Jake: But it's also way to the underground, right? So like, there's different ways of the underground. But yeah, like the. And like, once you get allowance and you have guaranteed coins every run, once you have the. You unlock the thing that gives you two gems every run. That makes things a lot easier. And the game gets easier the more you play it, so definitely keep at it.

Chard: Day 18.

Wulff: Still hard to see that two gems thing.

Jake: Yeah. Yeah, the gems can be frustrating. Anyway, great game. Game is great. I know when we talk about game of the year, this is. This is probably gonna be one of my two picks. Like this is. This has been awesome game.

Wulff: Honestly, I spent last night we. I. I told you guys, I've been Playing Gunfire Reborn with a friend of mine for a couple months now. At this point, last night, the first, like, 10, 15 minutes of our gaming session, I was telling him about blueprints, and I was like, it's probably not for you, but I think your girl would dig it.

Chard: Yeah.

Jake: Yeah.

Chard: I told my wife the same thing. She goes, what are you talking about? In the episode? And I was like, blueprint. She goes, what? Like the game that I've literally been telling you about and playing on the TV the last couple of nights. Oh, this is the first time I've heard you mention it. I was like, no, it's not. It is not.

Wulff: No. He said it sounded really cool. He had read articles about it. He was like, it sounds really cool, but I don't think it's for me. And I was like, yeah, I don't think so either, but I do think she would enjoy it either.

Chard: So now I'm jonesing to go find all these things you guys brought up.

Jake: Like, there's one there. When I. When I beat and got the credits, I couldn't stop thinking about the stuff that I haven't figured out yet. Like, there's a red door. Yeah. I found somewhere that I can't open, and it's just there. And I know there's probably something neat behind it, and. But I'm trying to figure. I have nothing that points me toward it. I've not seen any other keys that, you know, make sense for that door, and I want. I want to figure out how to open it. Like, there's just so much in this game, like, eight years to make this game makes a lot of sense. When you. When you realize the chess pieces, the drawings, the. The soil map.

Wulff: I didn't even know about the chess pieces. Like, I don't even know where that puzzle is. The drawing room. Like, once I figured out the drawings were a puzzle, I was like, oh, my gosh.

Jake: Yeah.

Wulff: And so I drew up my little chart.

Chard: Jesus God.

Wulff: Started keeping track of it.

Jake: Yeah. So.

Wulff: And I have to wonder where the hell the last gas line is, because I got three or four of those.

Jake: So I have all four of those. That was. That was. That was fun to do, too. And you both could probably do it. So.

Chard: Killing me.

Jake: There's a lot. No chart. It's. There's so much in this game. Like, I think I'll be talking throughout the year.

Wulff: I've meant to mention this a couple times. I've been solving the. The. The answer keys for the classrooms in case that comes back up.

Jake: So that's what I meant earlier in the episode where I found a room outside. One of the. One of the options for the outside room adds eight classrooms to your. Your pile of rooms. And each one of those classrooms is its own puzzle. And I have an idea what it's for. And it has to do with, like, the. The history of the world. There's different kingdoms and the sigils and heraldry that they do. Heraldry flags, guys. Like, the colors and symbols mean something to some kind of puzzle. And I've only gotten bits and pieces of it, and I think the classrooms are part of it, but that's the kind of puzzle level you're at, where it's like, yeah, I've only. Tunic in the manual is nothing compared to what they're doing here with fucking heraldry and K histories. In a game where you're in a house, like, it's. It's weird how far it goes. It's weird.

Wulff: That's the one. Like, when I get those puzzles, I have to open paint over here and start screenshotting all the. The. The sheets. So that way I could go through and compare and be like, okay, this is right, this is wrong. This is right, this is wrong. And then have an actual answer key and then take a picture of it.

Jake: It's. It's crazy. It goes so deep. Like. Like, char. This game is. Is. Goes so far. Like, it's nuts.

Wulff: And I'm like, I'm just. I'm doing that because I assume ultimately it will lead to a puzzle where I need to have this information.

Jake: Yes. Because I'm pretty sure it does.

Wulff: Yeah, I haven't seen it yet, but I've also only been through four grades, and I think there's eight, so.

Jake: Yes.

Chard: Right.

Jake: Yeah, it's crazy, right?

Wulff: All right, guys, this is a really cool game. Highly recommend. And, like, if you have someone. If you're playing it and something stump stumps you, talk to someone else playing it, get some insights. If. Yeah, if you really get stuck on a puzzle, look it up. Don't feel bad. There's a hundred thousand more puzzles you'll get stuck on.

Jake: There's plenty of other stuff that you're good at. Like, I'm no good at math, man. So when I had the option to make the math on the dartboard easier, I'm taking it. Screw math. But there's a lot of that. Anyway, we got to wrap it up, guys. We are part of the Superpod network of podcasts. Superpodnetwork.com. there's a lot of great podcasts. Just like Press B over there. Check them out. Otherwise you can find Press B to cancel anywhere you listen to your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Spotify, fuck SoundCloud, not there anymore. And any other place you listen to your podcast. Or of course find us over at YouTube at presbyter cancel or visit our website at presbytercanced.com there's a link to our Discord Come come join us in Discord. I love talking about this game. Go talk in the channel about blueprints. Just use spoiler tags for the folks who are earlier than us. But this game is one I'll be playing throughout the year. For me, I know for you. So I think Wolf, are you doing anything that you want to shout out real quick?

Wulff: No.

Jake: No charge. What are you doing up lately?

Chard: Clear Obscura Expedition 33 hits the shelves on Thursday. I will be making video recordings and putting them up on my YouTube channel to watch my first initial playthrough of one of the most anticipated RPGs coming out this year from an unknown French studio. I am so freaking excited about this game, as is a lot of the people that are talking about it in our inner circle. So yeah, you'll be seeing my first, my actual first reactions of this game as we play it. They will be recorded. They will be posted on YouTube. So I won't be doing anything live just because it's easier to post them and record it and then nobody misses anything as we play through the whole thing. If I sit and wait on it for a couple days for one reason or another. So that's what I've got coming up and I'm very, very excited to share that with everybody.

Jake: For me personally, I have my Sisyphean game to continue my progress there. I'll probably install it, I don't know. When I beat Blueprints later this year, we are press me to cancel. Thanks everybody. Have a great week.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Press B is a member of the SuperPod Network; a gaming collective of fellow podcasters and shows.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

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Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Press B is a member of the SuperPod Network; a gaming collective of fellow podcasters and shows.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Press B is a member of the SuperPod Network; a gaming collective of fellow podcasters and shows.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Read transcript

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Press B is a member of the SuperPod Network; a gaming collective of fellow podcasters and shows.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Press B is a member of the SuperPod Network; a gaming collective of fellow podcasters and shows.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Read transcript

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Press B is a member of the SuperPod Network; a gaming collective of fellow podcasters and shows.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Read transcript

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Press B is a member of the SuperPod Network; a gaming collective of fellow podcasters and shows.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Read transcript

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Press B is a member of the SuperPod Network; a gaming collective of fellow podcasters and shows.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

You can also watch this episode with our faces and gameplay on our YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NUKNnhyqlA

For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Press B is a member of the SuperPod Network; a gaming collective of fellow podcasters and shows.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Read transcript

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Press B is a member of the SuperPod Network; a gaming collective of fellow podcasters and shows.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Press B is a member of the SuperPod Network; a gaming collective of fellow podcasters and shows.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Press B is a member of the SuperPod Network; a gaming collective of fellow podcasters and shows.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

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Read transcript

Special thanks to Dave for joining us this week, please check out his podcast Remember 64 as well @remember-64 on YouTube.

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Press B is a member of the SuperPod Network; a gaming collective of fellow podcasters and shows.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Read transcript

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Press B is a member of the SuperPod Network; a gaming collective of fellow podcasters and shows.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

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In our Press B tradition the crew reveals if they conquered their gaming goals for 2024; then we pick new tasks for 2025. Will they be goals worthy of Sisyphus and risk the almighty Wheel of Pain?

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Press B is a member of the SuperPod Network; a gaming collective of fellow podcasters and shows.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Press B is a member of the SuperPod Network; a gaming collective of fellow podcasters and shows.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Press B is a member of the SuperPod Network; a gaming collective of fellow podcasters and shows.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

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Read transcript

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Press B is a member of the SuperPod Network; a gaming collective of fellow podcasters and shows.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Read transcript

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Press B is a member of the SuperPod Network; a gaming collective of fellow podcasters and shows.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Read transcript

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Press B is a member of the SuperPod Network; a gaming collective of fellow podcasters and shows.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Press B is a member of the SuperPod Network; a gaming collective of fellow podcasters and shows.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Read transcript

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Press B is a member of the SuperPod Network; a gaming collective of fellow podcasters and shows.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Press B is a member of the SuperPod Network; a gaming collective of fellow podcasters and shows.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Read transcript

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

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Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

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Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

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Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Read transcript

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Read transcript

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Episode 218, we rank every '2d' gameplay Zelda game. 👀

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Read transcript

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

What happens when Jake writes the episode summary each week? He drops COLD HARD TRUTHS! Like how Metroid Prime might actually be bad. The rest of Press B likely disagrees, but lets find out this week as we discuss and rank every Metroid game in the franchise. Which ones stand the test of time? Watch and find out!

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

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Transcript: Chard: All right, fellas, let's jump in that intergalactic spaceship and let's go hunt some space pirates and some floating jelly beans. I don't know what they are, but we're going to talk about them today. Metroid catalog and the tier ranking system today on.

Jake: They're damn delicious. That's what they are.

Chard: Wow. Hello and welcome, everybody, to another episode of Press be to cancel. I am your host this evening, Chardmonk. With me, as always, are three out of the four greatest people I know on the planet Earth, zeebs and other numerically alphanumeric planets that we're going to land on during this discussion. Sick Jake, werewolf, and my boy guy prime. Guys, how are we all doing today? Sick Jake, how are you doing today, sir?

Jake: Great. Glads Friday, as always. Really looking forward to kind of running down these games. I love this franchise.

Chard: Excellent. Werewolf, how about you, sir?

Wulff: I'm doing pretty darn good. I just got a new prescription for my glasses yesterday. I'll have those in a couple weeks. And I just beat bloodstained, so.

Chard: Wow, everything's coming up. Milhouse. Yes, DP, how are you, my friend?

GP: Doing great. Feeling wonderful. Glad to be here. I love french fries.

Chard: French fries are delicious. Samesies treat samesies.

Jake: Fries are good.

Chard: Get. Fries are good. The local, the local canadian fries are good.

Jake: Let me tell you guys about poutine. Have you guys ever had poutine before? They have poutine down there.

Chard: Listen, this is a Christiane. This is a christian podcast. Let's not talk.

GP: Yeah, we're not the seven minutes in, don't be bringing up, I don't know.

Wulff: If we want to make that association right now.

Chard: As you, as Jake mentioned, we are going to be talking about one of our favorite franchises. Wolf has got it subtly placed in his background. I am also wearing it on, bearing it on my chest right now. We're going to talk Metroid. And initially we were going to kind of discuss a couple of our favorite games out of the tier. We thought about a Mount Rushmore thing. We thought about ranking brackets, but we just did a brackets not too long ago. So what we're going to do is something mildly different but still very popular amongst the children and the gen Zers these days. We're going to, we're going to do a tier system. A tier system of, I believe. Is it Jake, is it every game in the, in the catalog?

Jake: I mean, if it's in the Wikipedia, then it's on my list.

Chard: Yes.

Jake: Just like what the kids like.

Chard: Fantastic. So Gen Z will definitely be following.

Jake: From Wikipedia and rank things.

Chard: We're gonna bring that Riz. No, Cap?

GP: Yeah, I need to. I need to change some of my things.

Jake: Like let him know it's gibbony Riz now, right? Isn't that what it is? Yeah.

Chard: Wow. You want to see four old dudes talk? Totally out.

Wulff: Gibbity outhouse. Right?

GP: That's what it is. My dad. But I hate you, son.

Chard: Yeah. All right, well, I don't know. We're going to go in particular order. I'm assuming we'll go by the year and we'll just start with the first one and kind of travel away. So I guess the process will be, we'll call out the ranking of what we think, discuss the game. If we've played it, there's a good possibility that it's on the list, but we haven't touched it. We've already admitted to a few. And then are we just. You're going to just pick. The four of us will have our letter numbers up here, Jake. Is that what the plan is?

Jake: We can all agree, I think, on ABCD or s tier. I think. I think we all agree on everything.

Chard: For the most part, or single grade.

Jake: For each title of this episode.

Chard: You just want us to argue about something. That's fine.

Wulff: I have a question. If we're ranking these, are we ranking them against the franchise or are we ranking them as video games in general?

GP: Because it gets.

Wulff: Dude. Yeah.

Jake: Well, okay.

Chard: I assume it was against the franchise.

GP: Just because on their own merits.

Chard: Really think so?

Wulff: Well, because they're like, they're all going to be A's and B's at worst for the most part, if we do that. But if we're ranking them against the rest of the franchise, I think there's going to be a little more variation.

Jake: I think I agree with Wolf on that one. Yeah, I agree.

GP: I'm.

Jake: I mean, they're all great game. Well, most of them are great games.

GP: So that throws all my stuff just right out.

Chard: Let me get my. Let me get my tear.

Jake: If you want, I can pull up some mystery envelopes. We can just shake this really up, you know?

GP: Okay.

Jake: Let me tell you.

GP: What did this thing end up coming up with the voting machine?

Wulff: It came out 50 50, and that was with Jake voting in it as well.

Chard: I also vote. I actually. I actually made it 50, so you're welcome.

Jake: Did you? Yeah.

Chard: Yeah. Because after I.

Jake: Yes. Game. But that's. That's fine.

Chard: Don't believe you. All right, let's get through this list. We got. We got to. Sure. We got at least ten minutes to get through this list.

GP: Yeah, let's do this.

Chard: All right.

Jake: It's fine. It's fine.

Chard: All right. So, first off, obviously, is the. The predecessor to all Metroidvanians. It is Metroid. It is Metroid. Metroid one from 1986. Metroid hits this, the Nintendo, not the super, the Nintendo entertainment System. And blowing us all away with not only the fact that it was, it was a backtracking, you know, puzzler game back then. We also found out the protagonist was female, which was pretty unusual for the time. Usually, you know, somebody in a full suit of armor to typically was a male. Was a male protagonist, but at the end, took her helmet off, and it was Samus. Samus was a chick, and we all flipped out about it. I thought that was a cool. A cool thing, that they're back in 86. So what are our rankings on Metroid? I'm going to give Metroid. I want to give it an a or b, personally. It's obviously got its issues, a lot of. A lot of problems with it, but with the problems comes some really cool shit. I wouldn't call it polished because it is an eight bit, you know, first time metropolitan vanian and working through it. But, man, without it, you wouldn't have any of the other cool stuff. You wouldn't have the bloodstains. You wouldn't have Castlevania, Symphony of the nights. You wouldn't have, like, all that really cool stuff, the stuff we play now that we. We play fairly religiously. So I'm leaning on an a or a b for. For Metroid, for myself, you know, I.

Jake: Don'T know what this one. I know you got to respect it for being the first one in the franchise, but if I were to play this game again, I have beaten it a couple times, but if I were to play it again, there's a really great ROM hack that adds a map to it, because without a map, this sucks, right. And without the ability to save, just. Just the thought of that password screen keeps me up in sweats at night like, it's. The passwords were the worst with this when you were a kid, and the lack of a map was. Was a slap in the face, especially when there's multiple areas, like corridors that look identical, they look the same, colors, tiles, everything. And without a map, it's very confusing. I think this is a game that was implemented much better later on. I respect it for what it is, but I would never play it again today in 2024 without that hack, to give you a map, honestly, I think it's more of a c or a d, to be honest with you. Maybe a diphthere. I like.

Chard: Really? You're really good. Really kicking it in the shins there.

Wulff: Well, I'm gonna. I'm gonna meet you guys in the middle there, and I'm gonna say it's a b or a c. And that's because, for me, while, yes, it is dated, you have to think this game came out in, what, 86? So for the technological limitations of the time, you have to think of all the wild shit they did to make this game fit on a cartridge. And it's a massive game. It's a huge map.

Chard: They.

Wulff: They really played some programming tricks on that little NES cartridge to make it work, and they did a really good job. And this was also the age of when, you know, you whipped out a piece of graph paper and you mapped out the games a lot of the time.

Chard: Right.

Wulff: So this was not something that was foreign at the time. Back then, it was like, I got to make a map. I got to write down the pat. You had a book of passwords, and you had a book of maps, right?

GP: Yeah.

Wulff: It kind of fits for the time, but, yeah, it does show its age. However, like, again, this was the first of the Metroidvanias, really, in terms of what we think of them now. Yeah, there were, like, one or two that came before, but this is the one that really kicked off the popularity. And even back when I was a kid and I sucked at this game, I wanted to play it so much like, I play it pretty regularly and always terrible at it and still went back for more, like. So that says something for it.

GP: Right on. Yeah, I agree. Out of all you guys, most with Wolfenhe, I'm going to rank this to be. I think it's very analogous to the original NES Final Fantasy for what it was at the time that it came out. It was wildly impressive graphically. It did what it was supposed to do. They really used the extent of the cartridge, you know, to what they knew about. Hold on a second.

Jake: Yeah, but the original Final Fantasy was good, though.

GP: Okay.

Wulff: But I like that it's all fantasy, clunky and.

Chard: Yeah, very buggy.

GP: And it had things, you know, again, analogous to. Well, it didn't have a map. Well, Final Fantasy, if you were aiming at a bad guy that died, you know, between the time that you selected to attack him and your turn, it was a missed turn. So they've re released it and fixed those kind of things, and they've done that with. With Metroid. You know, there's ports or various versions that have the map, so I'm going to put it at b. I love the game. I think what they accomplished was great. I think laying the foundation for the graphics as well as the music was a very impressive feat in and of itself.

Jake: Yes.

GP: So I lean much more into the b than a c, but conversely, it's not an a. So I think b is right.

Jake: So it is technically impressive for a game, for sure. I like, I love how even. It uses all the buttons on the damn controller. Right? Like, even for missiles, you have to hit select, I believe. Right. So it takes advantage of everything they give you. I do like how the map is huge. The finding of the missile tanks, the e tanks, all that hidden secrets. There's a lot there. I mean, this is, this is the Metroid in Metrovania. This is what defines the genre. So I definitely appreciate it. I just. I. Look, we couldn't afford graph paper in Canada. Okay?

GP: That's why you have it. I grew up with d and D players. Like, how to do this shit. I did not do it, but the people around me did. I also want to say in the sacred timeline, this is where it branched into. This is. Okay, if you're a completionist, there's no way that you know that. Before Metroid comes out. Yeah, I think that's where, like, that thing got awoken. And some of us were like, no, I have to do all of it.

Chard: Yeah, well, shit, you didn't even know the stuff was out there. Like, it took. It took somebody showing you. It's the first example of, like, we all played Baldur's gate three together and found that there were things that nobody else did. Yeah, that was the first of it, of being like, did you find this missile tank or this e. This e tank over here? Like, what? No, I didn't know it was there. And then you have to backtrack and go find it and. Yeah, and then just, like GP said, it just unlocks that completionist in you to go and hunt that stuff down. So this. This was the first, um. The first time of my life that I spent way too much time of my life on something I shouldn't have.

GP: Well, and I'll talk more about this later, but also the sequence breaking, which I didn't know about as a kid, but that's a whole other sub genre that is just.

Chard: I mean, think about. Think about growing up and having so many linear games in front of you. Final Fantasy being one of them, you know, you. You have to do things in a certain order to progress. This was one of the. This was one of the first groups of games where there was you. You could go, I don't know how true. Metroid, the first Metroid is obviously, in later installations, there were different variations. We could almost. We can almost claim that it got more like open world a little bit. It's still very linear, don't get me wrong. But we can also discuss that this was the first chance of, like, being able to freely explore in other areas, at least in later installments, that that allowed for that until, you know, Zelda came along and did the same thing. So these are the kind of games.

GP: That did that, but you have the option to explore. Yeah.

Chard: Right?

Jake: Yeah, I do. Like how it's not a straight up platformer. Like, there is more freedom of movement in how you tackle certain areas that. That's fair. So I guess we're leaning towards b. I guess I can't talk you guys.

Chard: Down to a c. No, no.

Jake: All right. Okay.

Wulff: I mean, I'd go b minus, but okay.

Chard: I mean, sure.

GP: How about double b's?

Jake: Double B's. Okay.

Chard: All right.

Jake: I can live with a b. It's far. B minus. That's fine. I think. I mean, you can't. You can't not respect the damn game that made the franchise. I get it.

Chard: Right? Okay. Yeah. I'm going to be honest with you. This next one that came out, I'm a big fan of, but I don't think a lot of people are. And it makes me sad because I really enjoyed this installation of the game. I thought it was really cool. 1991, we had Metroid two return of Samus on the Game Boy, the black and white original game Boy. This game burned many a battery out in my game Boy. I played the everliving crap out of this, and eventually in my adult life, went out and got the badge for it where you actually had to beat it in under 2 hours. So that was pretty cool. I really enjoyed playing the game. Yeah, well, you know, streaming allows for all kinds of different abilities that it didn't allow in the past. You know, you have 30 minutes game times when you're younger, when you're 42, you could sit in front of your computer for two and a half hours and nobody says boo to you until, you know, it's one in the morning and you have to go to work. But that's different. I really like the aspect of this game. I know it's in black and white. It's its original Game Boy. You know, it is what it is. Or green and white, whichever, you know, whichever version you're playing it on. But I thought the. I really, really thought the mutations of the Metroids found on the. On the Metroid home planet was a really, really cool aspect. And I liked having to hunt those guys down. It really changed up the way things were done. It just seemed really cool. And I. And it felt like there was always an achievement to go out and find, regardless in the game, because you were just exploring new areas and finding out where the metroids were and. And taking them down as you went. So I. I would give this one, and this is me. I don't expect anybody to follow along with me on this one, but I am going to skew the medium a little bit. I'm giving this one an a because I had a lot of fun with this one. Yep. I had a ton of fun with this chart.

Jake: I.

Chard: It. Don't worry, the next one will definitely not be an a. It'll be much higher. But I really like this game. And again, I don't expect anybody to come along with me on this ride. And I'm sure everybody thinks that it's as 90 even think that. But the gameplay, the fun in it, it had a map, even the music was pretty good in certain areas when it wasn't just ambient beepings and bloopings. I love this game. This is one of my favorite Game Boy games that was released back. Back in the nineties. So come with me on this trip if you want to. I'm not going to convince anybody to join me because there is a different version of this later on in the list, but yeah.

GP: Yeah, I was going to say, didn't they redo this with the Super Nintendo equivalency or.

Jake: No, it was on three deciseconds. It was the same company that later did Metroid dread, and I played the three deciseconds one. We'll get to it. I have some words with that one, but.

Chard: You don't have to like it. I'm giving it.

Jake: I don't. So I'm gonna. Again, you know what? Much like the first game, this one is very technically impressive for the Game Boy. Like, they do a lot with the Game Boy. I'm always impressed with every great game Boy game and what they squeeze out of those cartridges. And I'll give you. The music is okay for the Game Boy. And the sprites look really good. Like, you have a full size work.

Chard: On the Game Boy. You gotta say is pretty. Damn. It's almost better than the Nintendo sprite work on there.

Jake: What? It. What? What threw me off of this game, and I didn't like it. I've eaten it once, and I'll never go through it again. I didn't like hunting the Metroids. I hated how it was a counter and you had to find them all. I just found that really tedious to the point, and I didn't like it. I felt a lot of them were very much the same. Right. There's different variations, mutations, but they're mostly the same. And I got. I got really bored of this one. I got really tired of it. So I. I don't know what to give it.

Wulff: So for my end, this is a game I didn't get to try till I was kind of older. Like, I tried it a little bit at a friend's house who. He absolutely loved it. I had a number of friends as a kid who loved this game. I have friends now who loved this game, and I am. I've never been a huge fan of the way it plays, and that's just because of the game Boy technical limitations. Like, it's. It's rough. I don't mind the counter, though. I do think it's weird that there's only, like, 50 metroids on SR 388. Like, they're kind of an apex species. How are there just a handful of them? Yeah, but, uh.

Chard: Can't kill everything. Yes. I don't know, but, uh.

Wulff: Yeah, like, I like the idea of where they went with it. It was cool that it was put on Game Boy for the second one. And did that one give you a map in the game?

Chard: I thought it did. I could have sworn that there was a map in that game, but it may not. It may be in a later installment, but I remember for some reason, looking at it. Yeah, I think there is one. Because when I played it for retro achievements, I was like, I got to figure out where the hell how to get up to here and this there that. I swear, not. Okay. I don't know. Oh, you know what I was doing? I was looking on a map online. Never mind. Disregard. But, I mean, I had a map, but it wasn't in the game, so never mind.

Wulff: I will say, mechanically, they improved on Metroid when they put it on Game Boy.

Jake: Yes.

Chard: That's.

Wulff: That's pretty damn awesome. So, while it's not a game that resonates with me, I do think it. It is deserving of a good grade.

Chard: I think it's crazy that they didn't release two on the Nintendo or something during that time. I I always thought it was weird that it just fell on the Game Boy and then they just kind of left it there. It was almost like it. It was almost, it almost went like over everybody's heads that, you know, the next one is obviously the third of the installment, but it was just like Samus or return of Samus on the game.

Wulff: I don't know if you remember, but.

Chard: Like, which one is that?

Wulff: Saturday morning cartoons and Disney afternoon were absolutely littered with commercials for this game when it was came, when it was released.

Jake: Really?

Chard: Remember?

Wulff: Hey, the marketing was huge.

Chard: Yep.

GP: I'll have to look. I'm sure if I saw the commercials, it would, it would awaken that inside me and I'd be like, oh, yeah.

Chard: I was doing the script power movie.

Wulff: Trailer voice and it had, I think it had 2d animated Samus running around shooting things. And.

Jake: I just remember captain n the cartoon in the late eighties and mother brain was in that stuck with me with the franchise. Yeah, there's a five year gap between Metroid and Metroid. That's. That is a pretty wide gap. But we're gonna see that later on too. Like, there is not a lot of love for this franchise in Nintendo. It's kind of strange. I think I'm gonna give this d for me. I think it.

Wulff: No, it had like, claymation in the commercial. That's what it was. They stop motion animation.

GP: Kind of like Final Fantasy. Three.

Chard: Three.

Wulff: Next.

Chard: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

GP: Next. Yeah. Great. Good call. So I'm gonna abstain from having a strong opinion on this one. I never really played all the way through it, if I remember correctly, and I like to think that I do. I borrowed a copy from my friend Brian when I was probably like early teens. And anytime you kind of, like, mess with the aspect ratio of my games, I don't like it. Same thing with Game Boy, mega man games. They zoom in so much.

Chard: Yeah.

GP: I feel like. I don't feel safe moving. And so I know I've started this one on the game Boy, but I know I never really got further than maybe 20 minutes. And I'm sure I've seen people play it or some version of it, and I probably enjoyed watching, but I can't say I know enough to be like, well, here's. Here's where I come down. So I will go with, like, the standard middle of the road c and assume that that is acceptable. Otherwise, just take me out of that one. All, all in all.

Chard: But I don't think. I think.

GP: I'm sure there's worse. Metroid. Say again?

Chard: I said, I think my curve brings that up to a c, which I'm totally fine with.

Wulff: Sounds about right. Like I said, I'm. I don't think I can accurately rank this one because it just didn't resonate with me. But I did play the crap out of am two r. I beat that 100% of it. So the concept was strong. I just never played through the original.

GP: Am two r. That's what I keep thinking about. Yeah.

Chard: The fan game of Samus returns that they wanted.

GP: Yeah.

Chard: So. And then Nintendo finally did it in 2017. Took you long enough.

Jake: So Metroid, two for the Game Boy circumflex. That. That seems fair. I can. I can live with Z. Yeah.

Chard: All right. Okay, here's the one that's probably going to get gushed about the most out of this. And we're just going to.

Jake: We're.

Chard: Yeah, this is total. This is a hidden gem, as we like to call these kinds of games. Here in the Preston. We're going to talk about 1994 Super Metroid, arguably my favorite in the entire series. I can't say the same for everybody else, but you can't. You can't not rank this into a higher tier. This took everything from both the first two games and made it spanking amazing. This game was spectacular. Maps, tons of upgrades, places to visit, people to see. It brought back Gridley or Ridley and raid. Gridley, raid, whatever. There's a. There's a town.

GP: Clearly you know this story well, and.

Chard: When I. Yeah, when I drive through it, I would always say this, but no. Ridley and Crane and all those. And a bunch of new guys and the guy melting in the lava.

Wulff: Croco Meyer. That was. That was awesome when that happened.

Chard: Exactly.

Wulff: Threw me for a loop.

Jake: So many skeleton.

Chard: Yeah. And.

Wulff: Yeah, yeah.

Chard: It's your first jump scare, and you.

Wulff: Don'T actually have to fight him, but they jump scare you. They. Yeah, they completely throw it out of left field like you thought he was dead, and you start walking, and they give you that jump stare that you're like, oh, crap.

Chard: Yeah.

Wulff: And then you know you're in for something with this game.

Chard: It's from. From top to bottom. I've played this game religiously. I would love to get the badge for this one, but there are some things in there that are pretty difficult, like a. What is it, a three tank run or some b's? And I'm like, oh, I'm not that good. But you could save the animals at the end. The mother brain fight at the end is, is just reminiscent of the first one, and then. And then kicks it up to fucking eleven. When you get out there to fight the second half of that battle. Spoiler alert. Sorry, but this game is fucking.

GP: It's 30 years old, buddy.

Chard: Yeah, get over it.

Wulff: I mean, the way it pulls on you emotionally at the end of that game is wild. The amount of crazy. They really did a great job, and I know I'm stepping on you here. I'm sorry. They did a great job in this game of really making you feel like you're on an alien planet and things are unnerving. Like, this is what the original Metroid was going for, and Super Metroid nailed it because they got to do that with the music and the sound effects and the various, you know, the different sprite styles from area to area so that it really could convey a feeling and an emotion and make you uneasy as the player.

Chard: Right. The sequence breaking that you could do in this one and the wall jumping to get past some things that you couldn't normally do. This. This is s tier Metroid. In my personal opinion. This would be. This would be the one that everything has to beat, in my personal opinion. I freaking love this game, and I just love the changes that they did to it. I love the speed running, the speed booster shoes and all the stuff that you did with that. It just really, really, like you said, took what they started with. With the first two and just made it, made it really good. So super Metroid, to me, s tier, top tier, hard to beat. My favorite of the Metroid series. Can't. Can't get any better than that. Even the music, this, the squealing at the beginning of the title screen with the little Metroid and the. In the tube, that was my ringtone for like 800 years. It's also was my watch face until I changed to the fallout thing. But, I mean, I had that as.

Wulff: A text notification for a long time.

Chard: It's so good. It's so good. And the music is just fucking ba ba ba ba ba. It's just so fucking good. It's really, really.

GP: Was that Superman?

Chard: That's a little bit of the music.

Wulff: In super Metroid felt very cinematic.

Jake: It did, for sure, yes. Especially the ending. The ending battle with met with mother brain. That whole sequence, especially when you get powered up, the hyper beam, that whole sequence will always stick. In my brain is music. The scene, the giant Metroid baby like, filling the screen, it was so huge. That was really, really good.

Chard: And then the. And then the self destruct where you're running. I know they did that. They did that in the first one, but you literally felt panic when you were jumping from platform to platform to get out of there. You know, it's stressful. It's. It's great. There's so many emotions in this game that I just. I love it. I love it to death.

GP: I I agree. This being s tier for the series. Further, if you take out Final Fantasy two, I would put this probably in the top three best games for the super Nintendo up there with Link to the past and Final Fantasy six. But it accomplished so much. Wolf, I could not agree with you more with what you said about this feels like the perfect version of what one was trying to accomplish. You know, like, oh, this is what we meant to say. We just didn't have the vocabulary for it at the time. And just the inclusion of the upgrades, everything they were able to do with the map. And, I mean, it's. You talk about it being cinematic. If you look at a movie franchise, the first one to come into my mind is rocky. Each rocky movie kind of has its own feeling and each world and each kind of sublevel of. Of the game. Super Metroid has its very own distinct taste and feeling and vibe and what they accomplish, not just with the color palette, but the mapping and the design and the soundscapes. Yeah, it's definitely s tier, so, yeah.

Wulff: They also really made it feel like a living, breathing alien planet with all the different types of creatures and biomes and everything.

GP: Stepping on a tongue or a tonsil or something like that. Or I. Right, okay. Yeah. It was very contrary in that way. Super safe. But, yeah, I'm with you.

Jake: Yeah, I like this. This is my favorite metroid, I think, especially from that era. Just in terms of, like, the variety of the state. Like the areas like you guys mentioned. Just atmospheric all around. Right. Just the. The weather effects right from the get go, ship lands, it's raining. Rain.

Chard: Yeah.

Jake: Right. There's foggy areas and then there's the heat areas where there's lava. And you have to have the right suit for it. Just atmospheric, right from the get go, right from the beginning, intro was atmospheric. We're in the ship, basically, and you have to escape the ship after the fight with Ridley, and you're running for your life. And then you're right at the very end of the game, you're running for your life again and you could totally lose in the last two minutes. I've done it before. I fucked it up trying to escape because I missed a jump. Just atmospheric all the way through. The only, the only negatives I have on this game is wall jumping. I felt Washington really hard for me to grasp as a kid. I still have issues with it even today. It doesn't feel as clean as it could be. It's been done better in the later Metroid games, but just the fact that it has wall jumping is pretty unique, I think, for its time on the SNES. And I'm with UGP. I struggle to pick my top three SNES games, but this is usually within that range. Right. Like, usually, you know, for sure, top five.

GP: An argument could be made for three, in my opinion.

Jake: Yeah.

Chard: Yeah, you're right.

Jake: And absolutely.

Wulff: Yeah.

Jake: For me to point out too is that. Sorry, real quick is it has the horror elements that we see in later games in the series. They start with here where there's the dark rooms and you have to use the light visor that, the scare, the jump scares with Krakamire, I just think there's a, there's a horror elements where I didn't expect later on the franchise, but going back to super Metroid, they're always there from the beginning.

Wulff: Yeah, yeah. Like this franchise was heavily inspired by the alien series of movies. And this is the one that really nailed that feeling. And I mean, I loved the alien. I was, I probably saw the first two alien movies way too young, but I saw them and I love, like, I was not ten yet when I saw them. I absolutely loved them. And when I got to play Super Metroid, I was like, oh, yeah, here we go. And there are two games on this list that qualify as s tier in my mind, and this is one of them.

Chard: Yeah, I agree.

Jake: Yeah.

GP: I mean, yes. Let's, let's address real quick some of the obvious connections to the alien franchise, which, by the way, I had a tougher time as a kid watching land before time than I did.

Wulff: Same.

GP: Alien or aliens?

Wulff: Oh, land before time was so awful, I didn't understand why all my friends loved it.

GP: No, it was terribly scary and sad.

Wulff: Give me alien or Godzilla land before time is so boring all the time.

Jake: Godzilla?

Wulff: Yeah.

GP: I mean, yeah. Ridley, Ripley, you know, the whole, the whole mother.

Jake: Okay.

GP: Which might not have been till three. I don't remember my alien franchise super well sometimes, but no, I mean, yeah. Strong female protagonists just kicking ass and saving the day, taking names. Yeah.

Chard: And alien blood. All right, all right. So I guess we're all in agreement that super Metroid definitely needs a super rating of superiority. And getting it that s tier where it belongs. So fantastic. The riz gets on arisen. I'm sorry. Connect our younger audiences. No cap. Let's go ahead and move on.

Jake: Give it a Metroid.

Chard: I don't know, you take all the seats. All right. So up next in the franchise, 2002 Metroid Fusion comes in hot. Which Game Boy was this? This was Game Boy Advance. Game Boy advance. Thank you. So this, I've played very little of Metroid Fusion. I have played it, but not enough of it to give it like a good rousing to me, this was one of the games that I kind of with. I'm with GP on the whole, I wouldn't say claustrophobic thing, but definitely the animation and like this, I guess the smoothness of the game because it's pretty smooth when you're playing. It just felt very awkward to me playing. It's. I know I. Fusion gets a lot of love. It's, it's not talked about as a bad game whatsoever. There's only one in this one in this series that we've, we'll talk about that gets kind of like a lot. But Fusion's pretty high up there on a lot of, a lot of Metroid fans lists. I can't give it, I'm going to abstain from giving it a decent rating or a rating of less or no. So I'm giving it a c just because I don't know enough about it to hate it or enough about it to love it. But it does look cool. But for me, it's very awkward to play on that system. I really need to play it on like the steam deck and just, and just sit down and play it. That way I can give it an opinion. I've seen speedrunners play it and it, and it seems pretty cool. I like the, the ricocheting rockets off of things that, that are metal when you're fighting like what is it, mecha, Ridley or whatever. Like some of that stuff's pretty cool in the animation. I just need more time with it to give it really a good vibe. Does anybody else have a more, a better opinion about it than I do? GP, what do you think it's okay.

GP: To kind of change the order and go second? Are you guys okay with that?

Jake: Yeah, go for it.

GP: Okay, I'm going to, I'm going to start off by saying this. I'm going to give it a b, which might be a little high, but the reason for it is you couldn't really do this today. I think this game came about it was released so in tandem, and it was so intimately related to Metroid prime. The overlap there was so intertwined that I think they created this because people liked having a mobile version of Metroid, but we didn't have the switch, we didn't have steam decks. This was, yeah. So that said, it accomplished what it wanted to and it did it very well. And then being able to, you know, if you've done x, Y and Z infusion, then in prime you can get this suit, or vice versa if you've done certain things, yada, yada, yada. So that was all very cool. That said, my favorite thing about Fusion is metroid prime, so I can't really justify putting it any higher than a b. And I feel like a b might be generous, but I think it's deserving of a b or a b if we're getting into the weeds with it. But it was a fun and exciting thing. I played it right after I got completely addicted to prime, which we'll talk about here in a few minutes. So I was riding high on the metroid wave at that time. So that's my answer and that's my reasoning. Courage.

Chard: This is the beginning of a cluster that we had of none that we have like, that we have never seen in Metroid during this time where we were just, we're just getting pummeled. It was like a smashing pumpkins album every other month. We were just getting hit with a new Metroid variation of some kind. Billy Corgan took up the reins of the Metroid franchise. We're just like. We're just gonna make all kinds of shit just like he does with his music. So that's your, there's your Billy Corgan reference for the week, guys. Thank you. Next. Whoever. Yeah, keep going. Sorry, I didn't mean.

Jake: You want to talk? You want me to go?

Wulff: I'll go. For me, I was super excited about Metroid fusion. This was the first Metroid game we got for eight years, and it looked a lot like super Metroid, which I already knew I loved. So I was like, I'm in. For me, the thing that threw this one a little bit was the way the story unfolded for the player because they really wanted to do exposition dumps every little while. And so it was like now all of a sudden Samus is talking to her ship's AI or something.

Jake: I don't remember the computer system of the station or some nonsense.

Wulff: It might have been that I thought it was her ship's AI, but I guess it might have been the computer system on the station. But you're on this like Zoo state. Zay zoo space station. I can say words.

Chard: Zoo station. There's a u two reference. Let's go.

Wulff: And you know, you're running around trying to kill the x virus, I think it was called. And this is basically the metroids only natural predator. Right. And so you're running around that they've apparently got a metroid on the ship or supposedly, or they were experimenting with it to try and do away with metroids. I don't remember exactly what it was, but both of these are species that are just supremely invasive. And so either way you take one off of their home planet and everybody else is fucked. This is the one. Yeah. You end up fighting like a scary version of Samus in this. This is the first time that you have to fight yourself. And it's scary and more powerful. Like it's, I want to mention the kind of things in, I'm jumping quite ahead here, but with Metroid dread, those robots that chase you around and you can't really stop them. There are points in Metroid fusion. Yeah, the, I think that's what they were. There are points in Metroid fusion where you have to deal with that dark samus or that ex samus, whatever it was called, sa x sachs. That's what it was. And you cannot let it interact with you or you're dead. Like you have to sneak around at points. So this was kind of the start of sneak around, a little bit of stealth in Metroid, and that was pretty cool to me. However, the way the story unfolded and some of the mechanics and boss fights were just frustrating more than anything. So I can't give this anything more than a b. I think it was good. It was a nice run back to Metroid, but it was a, it wasn't the strongest 2d metroid. So yeah, I think it's about even with the original Metroid on that front.

GP: That's fair.

Jake: Yeah, I'm with, I'm with you, wolf. I think my the biggest problem I have with this game, and I'll be fair, I have not beaten this game. I fell off it the few times I've tried to play it. I've tried three times to try and sit through this game. And the biggest barrier is that stupid AI computer of the station and how it talks so much. Like when I go back and play Super Metroid, it's like the perfect game. It's timeless. It still holds up. I don't need dialogue. I mean, it's the intro is good enough. From there, it doesn't matter. Just playing the game and being immersed in that world is the story enough for me. And that Nintendo does that a lot. Like we've seen with like Zelda's and stuff where they don't need a lot of that exposition, they don't need that story when the story is the game itself, but Metroid really tries to shove it down your throat. And as interesting as some of the Metroid lore can be, there's just, it just felt a little bit weird with this, with the X virus and the computer talking all the time. I also didn't like how I felt more stuck on a rail with this game, super Metroid. I mean, yes, you could. I mean, forget the sequence breaking. I know you can totally do that, but I still feel like more wide open spaces to explore, whereas Metroid Fusion felt a lot more smaller, which made sense because you're on a station, but it didn't feel like you as much freedom to go your own way in that one. So for me, not the greatest graphics are amazing. Totally showcases what the Game Boy advance can do. It definitely takes the SNES 16 bit style sprites and goes with it. The animations are much more detailed. I didn't care for the suit. You end up with that, that stupid CN blue and yellow. That's kind of weird. I get why they do it. She's now an alien now it's fine this. But the story was weird. Metroid stories always been strange, but it was a bit too weird for me. I I mean, I think I lean towards c, but I can live with a b for this one.

Chard: I think they pivot the story on, on fusion in a really weird way. It's like trying to introduce something new because it's like, oh, we know we've done this the last three years. It's kind of old. Let's try something different. But it just felt like it was way out there. Like just, just too far. Bridge too far, you know what I mean?

GP: They were also taking a big swing with prime, which is just coming out at that same time and changing that to an FPS game. I think they really said, well, the fans are going to want, I mean, something closer to a super metroid. So they came out with something that was a little more true to form for what we knew to kind of ease us in to the, the murky waters of first person shooter just in case it did not take off like it did.

Chard: All right, well, okay.

Wulff: I did came out on the same day.

Chard: Did they come out the same day. I didn't know.

Jake: Yeah, apparently, totally cross marketing for sure.

Chard: That's crazy. All right, well, without further ado, since we've already dropped to talk about it, and it came out the same exact day that Fusion did, let's go ahead and switch gears and, and switch our perspectives and jump over to Metroid prime, as we have given a Metroid Fusion a resounding b b ranking for that one. All right, so Metroid prime, let's talk a little bit about Metroid prime. I'll go ahead and start us off. Metroid prime was such a great, it's a great perspective break.

Jake: It.

Chard: It was Metroid, but it was first person. You're, you're seeing the arm cannon. The things that they did with this game, and this was one of the first things I met Wolf doing was playing Metroid prime and what he did in this game, which I always forget about that.

Wulff: You're always the one to remind me.

Chard: What I did with that, because it's such a cool idea. When Wolf streamed back in the day, he had some really, really cool aspects that he did with his stream that went with, like, when he played Spider man. He was upside down. He dressed like Princess peach for. No, princess Daisy for Mario. Ghosts. Was it goals of ghosts that you were doing that?

Wulff: Oh, no, I would. I did it for doing Mario two as just like Princess Peach that day.

GP: He was a pioneer with heart rate monitors.

Wulff: I went on the ghouls and go, or, yeah, just ghouls and ghosts, or ghosts and goblins for any.

Chard: Give me the key. Give me the key, you piece of garbage. One of my all time favorite wolf lines.

GP: That was my ringtone for the longest time.

Chard: Anyways, as we steer back to the Metroid rails that we just went off of, Metroid prime was a great adjustment. It was a different perspective. You were seeing through Samus's eyes. You, you were, you were tackling the same kind of metroidvanian platforming, but with, through her eyes, as opposed to the side scroller that we've all grown and loved. I think what they did with it was great. They did very cool details, which is what wolf did. There was a, every time there was an explosion of light anywhere near you, like a missile blew up or something, you would see Samus's eyes reflected back in her helmet and her face, like, usually mostly her nose and her eyes, because, you know, the face mask was over that, and we'll stream this. He put his, his face over that, but it was the opaque, I guess, whatever the whatever transparency, there it is. You'd see me see him. It was a really cool thing that he did and I loved it. But I thought Metroid prime was freaking awesome. I loved that game. And it felt more anxiety ridden when things were attacking you face on as opposed to running from something sideways. Now you've got a metroid on your ass literally sucking. You see the inside of this thing sucking the life out of you. And it was a trip. This game, fate. It was just, it's, it's great from front to back. I love Metroid prime. I'd be willing to give it an s tier because they totally pivoted on this thing and took you away from your normal side scrolling, platforming and put you in literally in the driver's seat of the character and they still kept you doing the same exact stuff. You were just witnessing it firsthand as opposed to side to side. I thought that was a really cool change. Great change for the franchise. 100%. I'm going prime with an s tier ranking on this because prime is sick. I put down my off my soapbox for me.

Wulff: Like, this was, this was rad. Like, I was so excited to play through this. I'm. I've never been a huge first person shooter guy, so I was hesitant about that. But playing it like this took what happened with Super Metroid and dug it in even further because now you have to be spatially aware of everything around you. You have to manage light sources because the game has that you, you know, you're sneaking around trying not to get caught sometimes you're just, there's so much going on, you can't see everything. And that is an issue. And I mean, sometimes, and I don't mean that in a negative way. It's like, it's not an issue for the mechanics. It's just, it's an issue like, you have to deal with that constantly, right? So, like, trying to make you feel like that lone bounty hunter fighting for your life, they just, they dug it in even further here. And that was amazing to me.

Chard: Even the morph ball, like with the light coming out of the middle of the morph ball when you're rolling. I just. Just little aspects, little details like that. I was like, this is cool.

Wulff: Yeah, yeah. I absolutely love this game. This is probably my other s tier game on this list with you, with you.

GP: Interesting.

Chard: Jake is not amazed.

Jake: Gp let me go because I don't want in this one on a bad note. This game sucks.

Chard: Wow.

Jake: Sorry.

Chard: Wow.

Jake: First off, the one thing I'm gonna say there is positives, though. I have this game graphically, graphically. I cannot deny how amazing this game looks like. Just graphically. It's amazing. The visor effects, the lighting is awesome. It's definitely immersive. Is definitely immersive. I'm going to give it that. But it's immersive to the point where I don't like it is my take on it at this point. When Metroid prime came out, I had a chance to play two real. I had a chance to play, you know, quake three and all that kind of gameplay, first person shooters. So I, in my head, a first person shooter was a certain, played a certain way, right? Much more responsive movement of them, of the. Of the shots. Much more better view, field of view when you can see things. Faster paced action. This game, though, is not a fast paced game. It's. It's slower and methodical. It kind of reminds me of. I don't like halo, if that makes sense. Right. You are definitely. You feel like Samus and that you're a heavy, bulky armor and you move like that. I mean, there's other stuff to it too. But I didn't like how slow the gameplay felt. While the exploring was interesting and I liked shooting the bubble doors in a 3d environment was neat, but I felt there's too much of an emphasis on scanning everything. I really didn't like scanning in this game. It kind of just. It didn't feel as action. Yes. As the original games. Right. I really love the 2d platforming and the 2d gameplay, but when you translate to the first person view, it just. It just felt weird to me and I never could get dig with it. Music fantastic. Visually stunning. Like when you're wet, the water comes down the visor. Like you rarely see that. That was really awesome. But I just. I just bounced so hard off this game and I have tried several times to get back into it. I can't. So I'm not going to letter rank it. I think I would agree with you guys being s, even though I can't stand this one, but I know how many people love and adore this game and how groundbreaking it is for the franchise. I mean, hell, I'm even excited for retro prime four, even though I not. I know I'm not going to play it because I don't like the franchise. But yeah, it's. I just can't get into this one. It's just not a metroid for me, I guess.

GP: Shake you ignorance.

Chard: Keith.

Jake: Sorry, it's bad.

GP: So this came out my freshman year of college, and my roommate bought this game, James, and he got addicted to it. And then kid down the hallway, Joel, got addicted to it. And I'm watching them, and they're like, you've got to play this. And I'm like, no, I'm a freshman in college. I have things on my plate, and I don't have the bandwidth in my brain to do this. This is a giant game. And long story short, I had the bandwidth. If I just got rid of all my classes, found the bandwidth, I didn't sleep much unless I was in class. Anyway, I. This. This is a game that I got addicted to, and I loved it, and I, okay, sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. Just when I thought, okay, I've beaten it. I've completed everything 100%, gotten all the endings. I thought I was done. This is when I discovered sequence breaking, and then I just, it was like I restarted everything, and I got good at the striping and all these things. I'm sorry I'm blurry because I'm moving around so much, but I really fell hard for this game when it came out on the gamecube. That said, I lean toward a high a. If we're just looking at the initial release of it, every time they've released a new version, they've changed it so you can't do the sequence breaking, which pisses me off. To me, it's much cooler if the devs put it in there and they're like, yeah, they figure it out great. But if you get pissed off and you want to change the code because you don't like that, people are figuring out your flaws, I mean, eat a fat one. You know what I mean? Now, when they came out with the prime trilogy and incorporated the Wii controls, I was skeptical because I loved the original version so much, but the way it translated was so awesome and so well done and what it made me truly appreciate. Okay, if you go back to, like, the old fighters, you know, street fighter and mortal Kombat, you know, throwing the ice, you know, from sub zero or doing the Hadouken, you know, the down forward motions and low punch and the timing of all that and how you have to choreograph and get the muscle memory, I realized after, like, a week of playing Metroid prime on the Wii, that's exactly how your brain works, even on a macro scale with, you know, the nunchucks and shit like that. I was so impressed. In hindsight, once I figured out, like, oh, my God, I had to rewire some shit to get this done. But it played smooth and people speed run it and it really is something that you can just do to your level of comfort how much you want to be involved in. You can complete it. You can be a speedrunner. You can just play it casually. Either way, whatever you do, it is fucking great and it is fun. So if we're looking at just the original release on the GameCube, I would give it a. Or a high a. But if we're looking at it in, you know, with the Wii version included. Absolutely s tier up there for me with Super Metroid. So I'm gonna say s. Thank you for listening to all of that. I know that was a lot. That will be my longest spiel tonight.

Jake: Yeah.

Chard: Until we get to Metroid prime trilogy.

GP: I kind of buried the lead on that one. Stick around, everybody stick around.

Chard: We still got good stuff.

Jake: That's interesting though, GP, that you would, if you consider this game as a standalone, that it would be an a for you. But. But with the other versions of being an s. That is interesting because this has been re released a couple times now. That's interesting.

GP: Well, I'm starting conversations with cousins and friends about that with like all the different Final Fantasy versions. Like with the pixel remaster. Sorry, a four. You guys know how much I love Final Fantasy Four. But to play the pixel remaster, it's cool. But it's not the best version out there because I mean, even if you look at like the Game Boy advance versions with like the bonus dungeons, you know, aggregate. Yeah, four is still my favorite game of all time, but just standard four, like, yeah, maybe it's not top three for the Super Nintendo. Maybe it's a five or even a top ten, things like that. That's how I'm thinking.

Chard: GP and I are going to sit down one of these days and coffee, talk about our opinions about Final Fantasy and the pixel remasters. We've been trying to schedule a time to sit down and actually do it. So we're going to have some good stuff to really dive into because he and I have some very good opinions about how we feel about those guys. So. But we'll. Again, we'll veer into that lane because I'll go. I'm trying to stop myself from going off on a tangent because I fucking will. And it has nothing to do what we're talking about. Steer the car. All right, so s tier from Metroid Prime. I think that's. I think that's a resounding yes all around. Even if Jake, even for somebody who doesn't like it.

Jake: I can't deny you guys one last.

GP: Thing I do have to say about prime. Early on, one of my friends back in 2002 complained that they changed too many things. And I thought he meant the aspect ratio or the first person of it. He didn't like that they took out the flipping. I forget what it's called. Like the charge jump.

Chard: The screw.

GP: Well, the screw attack. Yeah. I'm like, can you imagine how vomit inducing that would be to see that first person? Also, I'm pissed off that the original version came out in 2002 because that from 1987 is 15 years after the original metroid came out, and that's 17 years ago from now or whatever the fuck. So we are now further along from, you know, prime's release. Right. Metroid came out closer to prime than we are today. So I hate that. Anyway, thank you.

Chard: I need a Metroid Prime VR mod with the screw attack.

GP: You shut the fuck up. Nobody will hear from me ever again. I think also if they. I mentioned Contra earlier, if they had done a first person shooter in the Contra world like they did for Metroidv prime, it's the same thing if they handled it that way. Just to be immersed in that world and look around and see all that shit and hear the music. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

Chard: That'd be sick.

GP: Yeah.

Chard: I think you may sue. You may. You may try to shut us down, but we're giving you some gold fucking nuggets right here.

GP: Yes, do it.

Chard: Speaking of gold nuggets, we're going to move on to 2004, where we're looking down, looking down the barrel of two more metroids. Were they released on the same day? I wouldn't be surprised if they were. But we're looking at zero mission and Metroid prime. Two echoes. But we'll start with zero mission first and get our debate about that one. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, zero mission is a half. I wouldn't say half assed. Half ass is bad way to use it.

Jake: What?

Chard: No, no, don't you be.

Jake: Search this game, sir.

Chard: Hold on. I'm not besmirching. What I'm trying to understand was this. Nothing. Some sort of twisted. Not twisted. What's the best way to put it where it's not negative? Was this a remake of the first one?

Wulff: Yes.

Jake: Thank you.

Chard: That's what I was trying to say. It was like. But it's not. Totally like. It's not. It's. It's got its own story, but it's.

Wulff: A remake of the first one of the first.

Chard: Thank you. That's what I was trying to go for, the reimagining. All right. As you could tell, I don't play a lot of this game. So that's how we preface this. I give it a c. But if it's anything like a reimagined version of the first one, I need to sit my ass down and play it because I've heard good things about it.

GP: It has a map.

Chard: It has a map. So Jake must love it. He's going to s tier this one because it has a map on it.

Wulff: Jake, do you mind if I try to convert chard here?

Jake: Yeah, go for it. Then I'll talk.

Chard: There's not much conversion. It's kind of like if I were religious and I was, like, sitting in a church and you were like, hey, you want to believe in God? I'm like, well, I'm here. I'm listening. Like, there's not much to convert.

Jake: Sit your ass down and eat this wafer and drink this wine, because we'll break down. Why? This game is fucking fantastic.

Chard: Let's go.

Jake: Please do.

Wulff: Now Metroid zero mission. Okay, so I'm converting him.

GP: Age of Empire, also with you.

Wulff: Yeah. Okay, so they did not come out the same day for these two. It was February and November of 2004. Metroid Zero mission. Now this was a great follow up to what super Metroid did and what Fusion tried to do. Yeah, they got, they brought back the original Metroid, but they did it like Super Metroid. And, yeah, this game also had dialogue, but it wasn't super dialogue heavy like Metroid, Fusion, Washington. And honestly, a lot of it was sort of Samus's interior monologue, just thinking about what's going on. So it's just, it was giving thoughts to the character as she's experiencing what she's experiencing. Seeing as Metroid was very thin on plot originally, they tried to work some in and they did an amazing job. And they even added, like, a huge section of the game that explained some things that were in super Metroid that didn't really make the most sense, like the ghost ship. You find out why the ghost ship is there in Metroid zero mission. Okay, that's really cool. You play through a chunk of this game without the suit because your suit is destroyed and taken from.

Chard: Let me interrupt real quick. Does this. So it's a reimagining of the first one, but it takes place after super Metroid.

Wulff: No, it was just released ten years after Super Metroid.

Chard: Okay. It's if you story does the lore match up with super Metroid and some.

Wulff: Yes, I think canonically.

Chard: Cursor.

Wulff: Yes, canonically, this is the official story of Metroid.

Chard: Gotcha.

Wulff: So if you go back and play this, you're getting the full plot of what happened Metroid before Metroid two before Super Metroid. This leads up to all that. Cool. And so you get to see why Ridley and Samus have sort of this rivalry that they have where there's like true hatred for each other rather than you're in my way, I'm gonna kill you. Like, they actually have animosity toward each other that you kind of see throughout the franchise. This explains it. And then this also gives you that same sort of horror feeling that super Metroid gave you because you, like I said, you have your suit taken away now. You're very weak. You don't have your powerful charge shot. I don't think you have much of anything. Like you have like a stun gun or something.

Jake: Pea shooter, but you have a zapper and that's it.

Chard: It's a lot of sneaking, I think. I've seen some people speedrun this.

Wulff: Not a lot, not a lot. But there is a chunk and you know, you're doing it through the enemy ship. So like you've got all that. So it's a, it's the full original game with a mini map where the areas actually look different from each other. And they added new mechanics and new story and new areas. And like this game really did well. Like, I played through this game like twice in a row when it came out.

Chard: Well, now I know what to play after the podcast done.

Jake: Yeah, I'm telling you, this is, this is the, if I want to play the beginning of a franchise, this is the one I recommend people to play is zero mission. I think you can skip the original NES one unless you're a real fan of the NES. And I do love the NES. If you're new to the franchise, you have to start with zero emission instead. Otherwise I think you're going to bounce off it. If you start with the NES one, the controls are better than Super Metroid, right? Like, I like Super Metroid a lot, but it's, it's a bit clunky with the, the angle shooting and the wall jumping. All of those issues I had in Super Metroid are gone in zero mission. I really like how, yes, there is a map, but I like how much like, Super Metroid is more wide open in how you tackle where you're going to places. But what was neat from Fusion was where it would kind of tell you where to go next on a map, but you felt confined to a path, a rail. But in zero mission, yes, you get the Chozo statue. It tells you where the map to go, but it doesn't give you the map for you. You have to kind of still explore your way there. So you have a general, like a compass direction, where to go, but it doesn't hold you by the hand as much. So you kind of get the best of both worlds. You get the exploration, you get the way you tackle things on your own. You're exploring, but you're not being held by a computer's hand the entire way.

GP: So that, that did that exact same thing, which is very, very cool. And that reminded me quite a bit of how they handled that. So.

Jake: Yeah, yeah. Just like a compass direction, and I really appreciate that. I think this is a great way to get into the franchise. Sprite work is awesome. It's fantastic. Zero suit samus at the end is fantastically as well. The bosses are memorable. They definitely took a lot of. A lot of. A lot of stuff I loved in Super Metroid, but then bringing that flavor of the original back was really well done. It's just such a great game. Music is banger front again. There's enough plot, like you said, wolf, there's a little bit of dialogue, but I couldn't tell you what it is. All I remember is the gameplay and the atmosphere. Much like Super Metroid has the atmosphere telling the story, I feel like I still have that with zero mission. This is one of my favorite games in the Game Boy Advance. I think this is one that I could keep the cart plugged into the game Boy the entire time and be happy. Like if I was on a desert island. This is the Metroid I would probably take. I like it that much. Just everything, graphics, music, gameplay is so solid and tight. I love it. Everything about Metroid I love is in zero mission. I think for me, this would be an s tier game.

GP: Okay, I'm gonna throw it a on this one. If you have nostalgia for Metroid, yes, always go back and play the NES, but similar to what Jake and I think to an extent, Wolf saying, but don't let me misquote you if I'm misremembering. If you're just now kind of coming into the Metroid universe, you know, with dread or any of that kind of thing, and you want to go back and see kind of what the earlier stages were like, this would be the version you'd want to play. I think if you didn't grow up or have. Have a lot of experience with the Nesdez, that version is not going to be for you. But this one has zero emission. Very much will be and give you a good idea of where it all started. So, yeah, I don't have a ton to say. I would put an a on it as well, especially if we gave the original Metroid a b. I think that's fair and accurate, and I'll stick with that.

Chard: Okay, I'm converted. I'm going to fire this thing up on the old steam deck and I. And give it a little bit of run. I know Jake has talked about this a lot in previous discussions that we've had about any kind of super Nintendo game or Game Boy game or anything that we've had in the past. He talks very, very highly about zero emission, and I didn't realize it was a retelling or a similar version of the first one. Had I known that, I might have actually jumped in to this game a lot sooner, because I always hear mixed messages between fusion and other MH and.

Jake: Yeah.

Chard: And zero mission, and I get them all mixed up, like, which ones we should, which ones you should spend the time on, which one you should, blah, blah, blah. And now that I understand that zero mission is aces, I will be making. Making my way around to that franchise for sure.

Wulff: It's. It's Metroid one with, you know, super metroid sensibilities, but ten years of experience on top of that. So nice, right?

GP: Yeah, there's a lot going on.

Chard: It's a shame they put these, like I say, it's a shame because it's handheld, but it feels like these games could be. It's so much better to play them on a bigger scale. Right. Like, now that we get to play it with emulation, we can use our big screen tvs and our computers and stuff, so you can really get that big feel, because that's what I liked about super metroid was it was so big and it was big on your tv at the same time. The rest of the metroids that were released that weren't prime were always. The 2d side scrolls, were always on the DS or the three deciseconds or something.

Jake: Yeah.

Chard: Where you didn't get. Or the advance, like it's on the handheld, so it's not as. It doesn't. It's so silly. It's my thing. It doesn't feel as epic because it's in your hands, not in your living room.

Wulff: No, I I. I completely understand. That. That was an issue I had with the Castlevania franchise for a while. Like, all the 2d entries were on handheld, and I was like, come on, I want to play these on a big screen, not a three inch.

Chard: Exactly. These are epic games, and you're making me play them.

GP: Game boy.

Chard: Game boy.

Jake: Nowadays with modern. I mean, you can take your steam deck and plug it into your tv, or you can. You can put it. You can play these now on a big screen, and they totally hold up. Like the. The Game Boy advances. Sprite work is just as good as a snes. Right. Hands down is better in a lot of ways.

Wulff: Well, I think it's funny. Yes. I just complained about having to play all the castle, like, a bunch of castlevanias on a handheld, and then I played through almost the entirety of bloodstained on my steam deck. So, I mean. But the screen is way bigger than a GBA.

GP: Yeah. The screens are much different than they used to be.

Chard: Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. I digress.

Jake: Because we are s or a, then.

Chard: I do.

Jake: You guys, I would not be opposed.

Wulff: I would not be opposed to this getting an s, but let's put it on there.

GP: I like it.

Chard: You guys have nothing but positive things to say about it. I'm with it. I'll give it an s tier. Okay.

GP: Yeah. My only conviction is that it's not a b. Yeah. A is fine. S is fine.

Wulff: Yeah.

Chard: Yeah.

Jake: Okay. All right. S tier.

Chard: All right. Next up, a few months later release or a few months earlier release. I think it's later. The sequel to Metroid Prime. Metroid prime. Two echoes, which I.

Wulff: Solid C. Solid C echo.

GP: We don't have to. We don't have to dwell on the sea too much.

Chard: We're just gonna rush this one. This introduced to the prime series, if I'm not mistaken. This was the last of the prime series that I played. I enjoyed it for what it was, but I don't think I finished it.

GP: Oh, you gotta play corruption, but it's.

Chard: More of the same, right? It's more of the same with the.

Jake: Two colors of beams.

Wulff: Yeah.

Chard: Yes, yes. Yeah, that's. That sounds revolution.

Wulff: The one with, like, you're on the light and dark versions of the planet. Stuff.

GP: Like that version. Yeah, all that stuff.

Wulff: Yeah. Dark aether and light aether. And it was. It was a weird one. It had some cool ideas, but it was kind of stale compared to the original. Like, it. A lot of mechanics overstayed their welcome in this one.

GP: Yeah.

Chard: I'm willing to give it. I didn't finish it. I'm willing to give it a b, b minus, because, I mean, it's. It's prime. It's more the same kind of stuff. I like the light and dark aspect of the game. I think that's a cool, you know, shift in things, but I like weird shit like that, so that's. I'm cool with giving that guy a b. Yeah.

Jake: The little I played of this one chart, I didn't care for the light and dark mechanics very much. And I'm. I think I kind of also felt a little bit stale. But I'm not really into these games either, so I'll lean on what you guys are saying, but I would be fine with a c or b, I think.

Chard: Maybe more c. Yeah, whatever GP kind of puts the nail on. I'll probably go with that.

Wulff: Yeah.

GP: Well, again, I side with Wolf on this one. Um, and the reason for the sea is actually kind of unique. I don't know a lot about the development history of primes two and three. So at one point, it feels like maybe they wrote these in tandem and said, we have to break this into two separate games.

Chard: It did feel like that, yeah.

GP: But then, pardon me, also thinks, okay, were they going for kind of like the Empire strikes back sort of thing? Because two is definitely not, though. I'm sorry, I'm in my feelings about it. Two is not near as good as one, and I'm going to give it a c. An argument might be made for a b, but I think it has to be a c because of the virtues of prime three, which really, I think not undid some of the wrongs from the second one, but they took note of what the shortcomings were and said, okay, well, story wise, we can clean this up quite a bit and make this a more enjoyable experience than two. So two and three I put together, because one is not great, the other is pretty solid. So I think. And this will go into the next one with prime three, I'm going to give that a b, but for that reason, this one has to get a.

Chard: C. I'm fine with that. I'm absolutely fine with that. All right, here we go. Metroid prime. Now, this is a big. This is a classic. I know everybody on this podcast is definitely at least played, if not badge, hidden gem on retro achievements. Metroid prime pinball. I see. I have nothing. I have nothing.

GP: Too much plot. It is very plot heavy.

Chard: There's a lot of dialogue. A lot of dialogue and a lot of.

GP: Lot of bing bong booing, you know, just.

Wulff: Can I make a couple quick points?

Chard: Go ahead.

Wulff: I played the demo of this at best Buy, and it was fine. But yeah, I'm not a huge pinball player. However, it's kind of hard to go wrong with a pinball game. So I'm sure the game is decent. I want to say it's probably like a b.

Chard: Okay.

Jake: Yeah.

Chard: What's it on?

Jake: It's pinball system.

Chard: Was it on? Yes. So.

Jake: And it took advantage of both the screens. And so that was a novelty. It was the full playing field. It's a pinball game and it's not. It's actually a good pinball game. And it just happens to coincidentally be Metroid themed, which. It's cute. It makes sense because the big power up in the Metroid series, you turn to lebal. Why wouldn't you have a pinball game about Metroid? What I find with a lot of pinball, pinball games on handhelds is they usually shaft you with like one or two stages, and it feels like a ripoff. This doesn't have that problem. I think there's five environments in this game, and solid graphics. Music is decent. It's a solid physics.

Chard: No sonic, you know, it's up there.

Jake: Well, so few games are. Yeah, yeah. Like, honestly, like, I mean, is this, is this s tier? No, of course not. Is it a good Metroid game? No, because it's a pinball game. But I think it's worth a be in terms of, like, it's not a bad game. It's. It's a. It's just a good game, right. Just a pinball one. It's less Metroid, more pinball. So I eat myself.

GP: I like the part of the game where you launch the ball and then try to not let it go down to the bottom part of the screen using the flippers.

Chard: That's a solid strategy.

GP: Yeah, I mean, I really. It's a broken game. If you look into game Shark. I fucking whatever grade letter is the most. I don't give a shit. That's what I'm voting. I have nothing bad to say about it. I don't want it to come off that way. I'm not huge into video game pinball, but only because I like actual pinball so much. I like the theming of Metroid, so that's a positive. Pinball is very unoffensive in any setting. So I. Yeah, I have no strong opinions on this one. So there we go.

Chard: All right. I give it v. Fine.

Jake: B.

Chard: You've swayed me to a b who's.

Wulff: Your friend who likes to play. Bing bong, bing bong, bing bong, bong booie.

Chard: Okay. 2006 Metroid prime. Hunters. See, I played this. Yeah, I've gotten.

Wulff: Also, I played the demo of this at the store, too. Oh, this is like, as far as Metroid electronic, and it was best buy. Yes.

Jake: Not. It's not Federation force. This is hunters. You didn't like hunters?

Wulff: Oh, hunters. Which one? That was. Okay. Federation forces. F. This is probably a diphthere. This one was still not good either.

Jake: Yeah. Sound like me. Yeah.

GP: Give it.

Jake: Hunters is mostly. There is a multiplayer mode in it, but it's a single player game, and it's first person view, much like Metroid prime, but it's on the fucking ds, which technically, that is a marvel. Whenever I see 3d on the DS, I'm always amazed. I know it's better than an advanced, but still, I've not played it, but what I've seen of it, it looked okay. I don't know if I'd want to play a first person shooting game on the Nintendo DS, though, personally, especially when it's like, one screen is gameplay. One screen. I think it was hud, if I remember.

Chard: Stylus.

Jake: Yeah, and the stylus. I hate the stylist anyway.

GP: Just very cyclops view.

Jake: I'd agree. I'd agree with the D. But it's important to play this, though, because Metroid prime four pulls characters from hunters. They're going deep with lore on four.

Chard: So I'll be long playing that one.

Jake: Yeah.

GP: Gave me a list of Metroid video game titles and said, which one of these was not an actual game? I would have been like, yeah, I don't remember. Hunters. We'll go with that one.

Chard: That's like. It's like Mega Man. Maverick Hunters is what that reminds me of.

GP: No, Maverick Hunters was good, though.

Chard: Was it?

Jake: Yeah, I liked it.

Chard: I didn't care for that one.

GP: The PSP?

Chard: Was it the PSP? Yeah, putting the cape. I thought it was on, like, Game Boy color or some shit.

Jake: Ds. No. Maverick Hunters. Yeah, it may be PSP. Yeah.

Wulff: Yeah, Maverick. Yeah. Maverick Hunter X or something. That was PSP.

Chard: Yeah.

Jake: That's a whole other episode. We can rank.

Chard: I will correct. I will sit corrected. All right. Bring more that ring.

GP: D. D tier. Give it the D. Give me the ping pong. Or not ping pong. Give me the pinball.

Chard: I take pinball over hunters. Noted.

GP: Yeah.

Chard: All right, GP, you probably have the most to talk about this, because I have already claimed to have not been able to play this one, because I don't know why. I know it came out on the Wii. I had a Wii. I think I bought it. But during that time, there was a lot of tumultuous life going on and the turmoil did not allow me to get a good run at Metroid prime three, which makes me sad. So please tell we're not talking about Federation force. I love it. It's already ranked. We still got like five games in between under there. But we already ranked and they're fine. Metroid prime three, corruption. Go.

GP: Yeah, I kind of already said a lot of what I wanted to say about it. I mean, by virtue of two, I'm going to give this one a b. I think it was a correction of the ship after two. And I liked it. I didn't love it, but it was still fun. And the controls, I still enjoyed the. The dark samus thing kind of from, you know, we talked about earlier was back and they did it, I thought, in a fun way. And yeah, I don't think I would have liked it if I didn't have the player's guide. That is. One thing I will say is typically, I don't like to play through a game for the first time with, with the player's guide. I usually wait to beat it and then go back and do the player's guide, but I wasn't captivated enough or something. I knew I wanted to finish it, but I used the player's guide and never really felt good about it. But there we are. To me, it's a b. It's fun. It's not great, but it's better than two was.

Wulff: See, I would say this was an a. This is the first one that brought in the Wii remote controls. It did them great. This one, like you said, righted the ship from echoes and again brought in the dark samus stuff in a fun way. It took you to multiple planets, so you get to see all these different alien planets and places and the story behind it if you do all the scanning, because that's where the lore is, much like items in Elden ring. There's a lot of plot buried in there that gives you insights as to where mother brain originally came from. And it kind of goes deep into how this world functions. So why is there a mother brain? Well, it's an AI. It's a biological AI that mankind has created to, you know, man, all sorts of different things. And so that's how mother brain came to be. Like, it explores a lot of that, explains a lot of that. And I thought the game was really well done. So for me, it's an a. Yeah.

GP: I'm not going to hate on an a. Shit. Maybe I just need to go back and play it again. It's been however long, what, 1415 years probably since I. Well, no, whenever. Whenever it came out on the trilogy version for the Wii is when I first played it. But yeah, yeah, if you guys both agree on an a, I'm fine with it. So for.

Jake: For me on this one, I think the. The move to a Wii was a good one. The graphics look really good for the. For what it is. I think for me in the Wii, I love that system. But a lot of the games graphically were not that impressive. Metroid prime three was one of those games that was actually pretty impressive for the system. I. As much as I don't care for the. The Wii's controller setup, it worked for prime three in a way I didn't expect. It was a bit of a novelty, but it still worked. And I thought that was pretty solid. I think I would lean toward an a on this one as well. I think this was a solid entry for the franchise. I think the five year gap between this and two and the first one. Sorry. They definitely learned things. And the music was good graphics. Yeah. Graphically impressive enough that I think is an a for me personally.

Chard: Sold.

GP: Okay.

Chard: Absolutely sold. I. Okay, so how do we rank this next one?

Wulff: I was just thinking about and doing some math in my head. Basically the easiest way to think is it's if you average a three out, they kind of fall into an a. But then you give Metroid prime one and two the Wii remote controls and it definitely edges them into the a. So there you go.

Chard: Okay, that's fair. So next was the release, the release two years later of the Metroid prime trilogy on Wii. So all three of them came off of the GameCube and were deposited sweetly crestley onto the Wii remote. And we got to use the novelty of the Wii remote. I unfortunately only played the GameCube styles and I think I might have briefly touched on because I do remember using the Wii remote on three, but it wasn't enough for any kind of memory to be formed from that. So I'm fine with giving prime trilogy whatever system it's on. I don't care. The gameplay of it is great. I like the first two. I'm sure I would have loved the third one. Totally fine with giving that an a.

Jake: I think when we look at like. Like the idea of having compilations especially for that. That genre like that era, like the Super All Stars was such a fantastic compilation. And then you have Metroid prime trilogy. It's hard to argue against a game that is three solid games in one package for one price. It's just weird that it's two years after corruption. Isn't that kind of weird that you, if you bought corruption two years later you can get all three and one?

Wulff: It's because of the change in controls. The Wii remote controls were so. To the GameCube controller, okay? And I know it's, it like it's, you know, it's. People think of it as gimmicky, the waggle controls, all that. And it's not something you can really do these days unless you have a Wii or Wii U. But at the time it was solid controls. Like, yeah, I don't think I can ever play it another way and think, oh yeah, this is better than the Wii wrote Wii remote controls, which you.

GP: Do have the option, if I'm not mistaken, of using the GameCube controller on the. I don't know about corruption, but on the, on the trilogy, am I wrong with that?

Wulff: I don't know. I downloaded the trilogy on the Wii U and I played it there all with the Wii remote. I didn't even bother trying anything else, so I can't say.

GP: But no, what Wolf said I 100% agree with is had they just re released the trilogy two years later without any sort of changes other than it's a compilation, it would have been very weird. But to go, they saw how well they did the controls with corruption on the Wii. They said, oh man, can you imagine if we put this with, with the first one? And then of course they're going to throw the second one in and put the price tag on it. And here we are. So I think it was justified.

Chard: Cool. All right. All right. So we'll give the trilogy on the Wii a nice little a. And now we are looking down the barrel of another. Mh.

Wulff: Yeah, other m. Has any of you played this all the way through again?

Chard: I'm the first boss done enough to know it exists.

Wulff: What did you think of it in terms of just. Yeah, what did you think of it? Let's hear.

Jake: For me. So I felt it was also very front loaded with the story. I did not like that at all. It felt more like fusion in that regard. I was glad to see a 2d Metroid, but with 3d graphics, which was. Was fantastic. The 2d parts were okay, but I didn't like when you had to switch to the Wii remote to point the screen to fight bosses. That was really rough to me, very clunky. But again, I only played it the first part of the game, so I did not like the control, the back and forth between first person and the 2d gameplay at all.

Wulff: Okay. So I want to throw out there. I've read a number of reviews and what people think of this on like, Reddit and stuff, and essentially, it seems to come to mechanically, the game is really good. Story wise, it's garbage.

Jake: Right?

Wulff: And so for me, that seems like it would put it in a sea.

GP: So you know how, like, with Star wars, especially the original trilogy, there's a lapse in time between a new Hope and empire and then Return of the Jedi. So the things that we see are really awesome. But if you were to go back and look at, like, the day to day lives of everybody, that would not be a great set of movies. Like, the interim. That's kind of how this is to me. It's like Samus's downtime, or, you know, when she's not out there just kicking ass.

Chard: Samus.

GP: Samus takes on the bureaucracy. I don't know.

Wulff: Well, no, the problem with this one is what I've read is that Samus is portrayed in a way that makes her seem very not confident, very weak emotionally and confidence. Like, she's just. It's not the character that we know Samus to be. And so that was the better on her own.

GP: Like, I think you could make that, you know, she's meant for the stars. She's meant to be the loneliness.

Wulff: But this also takes place after so many of the Metroid games. And then in this, she's, like, scared of things that she should not be quite so scared of. Like, she's on edge a lot and nervous, I guess. And she's just written in a way that makes her feel like you're the. You're controlling the damsel. Listen, instead of the hero, Earth.

Chard: Earth prices have inflated.

GP: Conversation there.

Chard: Well, yeah, Earth's prices have inflated, and she's worried about the price of tomatoes. I, you know, it is what it is. You just gotta learn to live with it. Samus goes to the supermarket. You know, it's. It's kind of, hey, they brought back the.

GP: The corkscrew kick or whatever, if I'm not mistaken, today. But, yeah, I didn't care for it. I didn't make it very far. Kind of in a similar way of, like I was saying with Game Boy, you know, if you mess with my aspect ratios too much, it's the same reason I didn't play Mega man seven or eight. It moved differently. It didn't feel right. Took me out of it. So I don't think I bought it. I think I was gifted this game. And yeah, I started it and didn't get very far. Bought it for really only ever bad things.

Wulff: Never touched it. I've been to, but just never did.

GP: I say it's probably a d. I don't want to say it's an f. I don't know if there's any f tier Metroid, but if there is, you wait.

Jake: Yeah, I'm fine with the c, honestly. Like, if the gameplay is solid throughout wolf, then I think C is fine. It just sucks that they really shafted the character. Samus Rand is one of the few badass characters in gaming that I like a lot of, but I think a c is to ruin. That is weird to me, especially with Samus. So. Yeah, but I'm fine if gameplay is good.

Chard: So C, great, go with that.

GP: Okay.

Wulff: Yeah, I think seeing as we have limited experience with it, I think C is fair based on what I've read online. So.

Chard: Brilliant, right? Who wants to. Who wants to briefly dump all over Metroid Prime Federation forces so we can move?

Wulff: I mean, it's got two f's in the title.

GP: Three I never played. I didn't know this one existed.

Jake: Yeah, so this is the one where.

Wulff: There'S no Metroids and no Samus and no single player.

Jake: It's mostly.

Wulff: It's a multiplayer only multiplayer. And it's on three deciseconds. Right?

Jake: Like, yeah, it's.

Wulff: They were like, let's make a Metroid game with none of the things people think of when they think of Metroid. That'll be a success.

Jake: So this happens six years after M came out. Six year gap between the franchise and you come back with the multiplayer game where you don't play a Sam and it's on the three ds. Like, come on, is this the spider.

GP: Woman or whatever that was version where, like, if we don't pump a game out, we're gonna lose the rights. Where Samus. Oh, this is during her smash brothers stint. So she's not available.

Chard: She's unavailable to get busy.

Jake: Remember, if I remember right, this was released more of as like an experience, like a demo of what the three ds could do because it was a first person game. It had the 3d. Because the three deciseconds had the. That 3d effect. Right. I. And this is kind of a showcase for that at stores, but yeah, gameplay, I've played a little bit of it. I did not like it. I didn't like. The character designs are very blocky and super deformed for some reason. The fact that you're not Samus, from what I remember, wasn't great. Yeah. I think this is the f in.

GP: Our list, thanks to that new ninja Turtle movie that's told through the eyes of the Foot clan.

Chard: Right? The one guy.

Wulff: It's not even the eyes of the foot clan. It's like the eyes of Fred from New Jersey.

GP: Oh, yeah, no, I know. Fred from Jersey owes me dollar 20. Forget about it.

Jake: F for this one.

Chard: Yeah, yeah.

Wulff: I think it's a Metroid game. Goes. It's not much of a Metroid game.

GP: And Fred from Jersey, if you're watching, I'm sorry.

Wulff: I. Yeah, we're not picking on you. We're just saying, like, that would not be a good ninja Turtles movie.

Chard: Fred from Jersey is our new mascot.

GP: Oh, hold on. Fred from Jersey, you're on. Yeah, press b. What do you got?

Chard: All right, what Fred's got is the, the next, the next drip in our where of Metroid. I'm trying here. I'm trying to, I'm trying to speak to the gen Xers here, okay? Oh, jazz ears. I'm Gen X. Metroid returns. So Metroid Samus returns. This was the reinvented reimagined. After the season, desists for the AMSR two kept finally getting thrown out there. Nintendo said, you know what? Let's just fucking do it. Let's just finally do it. And they made their own remaster. I've played it. It's, it's a lot of fun. It's it's, it's okay. It's, it's not, you know, it's just more of the same amitroid two with added color and a little bit more effect to it. I still prefer, still prefer. I, you know, I like the grabbing on the ledges, but I'm with you. GP on the aspect ratio thing. It just, it just messes with my ad. Things are too quick, it's too smooth. It's played on a small surface. I don't know. I actually like the AMSR to remake better when I, when I messed around with that. I know. Don't cancel us, but I'm sorry. It just, it was a really good.

Wulff: Another metroid two remake. Am two are.

Chard: Am two are. Thank you ever another Metroid second remake.

Jake: That.

Chard: That's what I was, you know, am SR or am arsm. Whatever. Acronyms are fun. Anyways, this is it. I liked it. It's fine. It was cool when I realized what it was. I still like the Game Boy version. Just. It's a nostalgic thing for me. It's just, you know, reliving the past. So I give it a c. C or a b?

Jake: Yeah.

GP: Have you ever been pressured into doing something that you didn't want to do? But, I mean, was not a horrible thing? Like, for example, you're babysitting your nephew and he's like, uncle GP, because that's what he called me. Will you take me for ice cream? And I'm like, no, I'm not going to take you for ice cream. Your mom's going to be back in ten minutes and then he just will not relent. And so you're going to get ice cream and you're licking the ice cream. You're like, I'm glad I have this ice cream, but I didn't really want to do this. That's this experience. It should have been called Metroid. Now, will you all shut up, please? It was a half hearted to placate the fans.

Chard: Definitely felt I have it, but.

Jake: All right, no, go ahead.

GP: I'm sorry.

Wulff: I've not played this, so I can't say one way or the other, so I will remove myself from this one.

Jake: Okay, so here's the thing with this one. So it was for the three deciseconds. This was made by mercury Stream. Mercury stream, I think the name of the studio was. And they're the guys who did dread afterwards. Five years later, Mercury.

Wulff: Didn't they do Castlevania lords of Shadow?

Jake: I think so, yeah. So they did returns. So what is good about it? The graphics? Pretty good, pretty solid. It looks great on the three deciseconds. I really like the combat. Like, the controls are really good. They added like a counter move, which you do see in dread. And we'll talk about it in a minute. So there's a counter move and. But they force you to use that counter move in pretty much every boss encounter. And that felt very frustrating and clunky because you couldn't tackle the boss in your own way. You had to constantly use the counter. So I appreciate trying to make the gameplay a little bit different with Samus returns, but it just didn't work. And then add in the same issues I had with the original Game Boy one, which was your goal is to take on metroids. And there's a lot of similarity in the different metroids you're hunting, and there's that finite amount of them. So, I mean, I. It's interesting. I'm glad they did it, but it's not, and it's no better than the original Gameboy one. In my eyes, the clunky combat with the same repetitive hunting and metroids didn't work for me, so I think it's a c for me. Okay.

GP: I mean, I'm glad I got my ice cream. Yeah, yeah.

Chard: Metroid. Metroid. Play cleat.

GP: Yeah. Nice.

Wulff: I wanted a metroid. I just wish it weren't like, just.

GP: Not under these circles.

Wulff: I didn't want Nepalitan. Metroid.

Chard: Jesus.

GP: A little eye contact.

Jake: Left the strawberry in the package. You asshole. I don't want strawberry. Metroids.

Chard: Right. Angry makeup, nighttime stuff. Okay? I'm trying to make it PC as best as I can. Okay, fine, I'll do it. 2021, the release.

GP: No, not if you don't want to.

Chard: Yeah. Well, no, and if you. Yeah. 2021, the final. Finally. Finally. A release. A new release. A new Metroid. That wasn't a placation. That was not a redone, something from the past. It was his own thing. It was his own beast. Metroid dread was released for the switch. And I actually own that. I actually got that for Christmas, and I actually played it, and it was a lot of fun. I did play it. I. And I, and I beat it to. I even got to the last guy, and after about 400 million times, I finally beat that guy. Who's pain?

GP: Not watching the podcast. You can tell us. Did you really play it?

Chard: I really did play it.

Jake: I haven't. Can you play it five times for us on loop? Just, just beat it down for us like GP?

Chard: I'm not GP. I'm not that good. But I did play. I love Metroid dread. This was a great callback to what I remember and what I was wanting now. I liked prime. I love prime. I thought 3d stuff. I mean, the first person stuff's great, but you always have a longing, right? For what it was originally, what you were playing with originally, the, the Emmy shit. Oh, that stuff was super stressful and super frustrating at times, but when you finally like. I don't know, I think the worst part about the Emmy stuff was when you got the power up to it to take out the Emmy. Finally, after you beat the boss and you absorb whatever power you were gonna get, and you were, like, trying to line up the damn line on, on the switch with the stupid control, and then you didn't have enough time because it was timed as it's crawling at you real slow, and you just see the laser sight missing its head? Because you're like, I can't get the goddamn thing to like. And then you die hundreds of times. Did I die? To Emmy? But I liked it. I. I'm not a big espionage sneaker game guy. I don't. I'm trying to play Metal Gear solid for GV so I can appreciate it to the way he does instead of just shitting it on all the time. I'm actually playing through one and three so that I can give it a more honest opinion other than I just impatient and can't do it. So it felt. It felt good in dread. And then there was enough action. And I liked the way that the stage estate changed when you changed something. Like there was a. The lava stage would get frozen over and then there was all totally frosted over. So I had to figure out how to get through all the old stuff. There was a little bit of backtracking that I was kind of like, I'm going to hit my head against the. Against the fucking wall. Because all this was open and now none of it's open. And I got to figure out a way around that. And it did. It seemed like they were just trying to take what they had and stretch a little bit more out of you, but I, you know, I'm giving it a good b plus and a a minus kind of game. I I was glad that it came back the way that it did. It felt good on the. On the switch and when you played on the big screen tv or on your monitor or something, it looked fantastic. Was a lot of cool, cool aspects to the game. So I think Metroid dread was a great callback and we need more of that. I would like some more Metroid dread esque type games because that was a lot of fun.

GP: Are you upset that the next thing is going to be prime four? Would you rather them do, like, a dread?

Chard: Nope. Nope. I like the interchange. Like, I'd be fine with a first person and then a side scrolling, first person, side scroller. Just kind of jump back and forth like, like, give me my old stuff. But I still like, I still like prime. I think prime is pretty cool.

Wulff: Yeah, Chard really nailed it with what he said. Like, this is. I loved Metroid dread. I thought it was really, like, a good next attempt at Metroid that we had seen. Just kind of sit there for a while untouched, particularly a 2d entry. And like you said, it stressed me the hell out. Like, I could only play this game for so long before I had to be like, that's enough of this for today. You know, a lot of games. I'll be like, I could just play it, play it, play it. This one was like, all right, I did that. Let's come back later or tomorrow and do some more like this.

Chard: And you're just freaking the fuck out. Like, you're sitting there playing it, and you're trying to get past Emmy. I'm sorry. I don't mean to interrupt everybody. And then, like, my parents were visiting because I got it for Christmas, and they were at the house at the time, and I'm, like, trying to sneak past this thing, and then the alarms go off, and somebody goes, hey, chardonnay. Because my parents call me that. I go, what? What? Oh, sorry. What?

GP: I'm back on earth.

Chard: You know, it really does. It really does lock you in very, like, you're very locked into the game while you're playing it. And then, like you said, once you get out or you beat the Emmy or whatever, it's like, okay, I need. I need, like, 30 minutes, dude.

Wulff: I. Yeah, you need some breathing time before you can continue playing.

Chard: Yeah, yeah.

Wulff: But, yeah, this, like, dread is a spot on title for this game because it's. You're constantly, like, whenever you go through an area where an Emmy is, you're like, oh, no. Yep, this again. And it's not like you don't want to play it. It's just like, oh, how am I gonna die? And how many times here, right?

Chard: It is like the resident evil series of Metroidvania.

Wulff: But I. I would give dread an a. I thought it was a really good 2d Metroid game.

Jake: Yeah. When I bought this, I loved. I loved dread, too. I thought it was really great. Runs gray in the switch. The Emmy stuff is interesting. When I first played dread, I almost felt it was out of place. But then going back to the earlier games, you do recognize that there are horror elements in those games not quite like Dredd has. Dredd is very stressful, but where it fails a bit is that there's maybe just one or two too many encounters with Emmy. I think it was once or twice to be fine, but it just felt like you're doing the same thing, but a different maze layout, but it was the same mechanics. You're escaping, getting the power up, and then you take her out. It was a bit too much. I tell you, though, what I really love, though, it's Metroidvania for a newer generation who may not have the patience for the older metroids, where you could get lost very easily and confusing where to go. So there's generally no confusion where you go into red for the most part because it does change the map to such a degree where you still have to explore a chunk of the map in backtracking. But by locking out certain areas with environmental effects, you know, you don't need to explore that section. It kind of sells. It tells you no explore over in these two sections or three sections. I felt that was a bit more accessible to maybe people who are newer to the genre, although I did, I laughed when I saw people complaining how to find certain areas. You have to shoot blocks to make them disappear, which is the trope in Metroid, right. You're new to the game. If you knew the franchise and you play this for the first game in Metroid, that is kind of jarring and it's kind of, kind of a pain, but I thought it was a good callback as well. This is definitely a love letter to the original games. I love how when you start it up, it even says in the opening it's Metroid dread. It's Metroid five. Right? Like it's. It's. You got the first game, second Super Metroid fusion, and then this one. It's the fifth game, even though it's 515 years later. It's like that. It's like that Beverly Hills cop movie that just came out. It's a sequel to a 30 year old movie. That's what it's like.

GP: I haven't watched it yet.

Chard: I've heard really?

Jake: I heard it's really good. Yeah, I hope so. Dread. Dread is really fantastic, from music to graphics to everything. It's not s tier. I'm with you, Wolf. I think it's a solid a. It's weird to have when this game comes out in 2021, people were kind of questioning, is it enough value in the game that you're playing for the $60 price tag? I think there is, but there's definitely not much in the way of replay value, which is something we're kind of used to having in modern games. This is less of a modern game and it feels like a retro game, and I'm fine with that $60 price tag, but I can see why I, other people would be upset with Dread being $60. So I know. I think it's a solid a, though. I think it's definitely one to play. Give me more of this. I want more of Dread. I hope we get Dread two or Metroid six from Mercury Stream. Give it back to them because they did a great job with this one, I want to see it, but I want to see it in less than ten years. I don't want a 15 year gap. And I don't know if we're going to see it again because it did not sell nearly as well, I think, that other games have in the franchise.

Wulff: Yeah, this one also got dialogue too. And you actually hear Samus's voice, but she only speaks in that alien language. She does not speak English. She speaks in Chozo or something.

Chard: Right, right.

Wulff: That was interesting.

Chard: Space. Chocobo.

Jake: Spaceshocobo. Yeah.

GP: This. Yeah. This game came out, and I remember wanting so badly to play it that I avoided it like the plague, you know, to avoid spoilers and all that kind of stuff. And I have not played it yet, and I still avoid it because I'm really looking forward to it being my game of the year, probably this year or next year, whenever I do finally get around to it. So again, I kind of have to abstain. But from what I know about it, it's the counter opposite of other end wherever. I have no experience with it, really. But I've heard so many great things about it. I'm really excited to get to it whenever that does happen, so.

Chard: Well, good. I was going to say that there's a pretty good twist in it, and I don't want to ruin it for anybody or you, so we'll keep it to that. But I like the story in it. I think it's got some great, great attributes. It feels like a Metroid five. It definitely brings back all the things that we liked about it. Reminds me of a newer version of Super Metroid, which is what we wanted. It's what I wanted to. And today's youth isn't used to seeing Metroid on the side. They're used to seeing it, you know, front first, front, front and center. You know, they're. They're used to the primes, not what the four of us grew up playing. So, you know, it's a different aspect for it. I definitely give it an a. I think. I think dread is a great callback to what us retro players grew up playing and where the Metroidvanians came into and, yeah, I think it's a great ending or maybe beginning of the next set of Metroid six, maybe. I don't know if they, they keep doing the mega Man X's and the mega man's, that would be pretty sweet. So that's that. That works for me. Okay.

GP: Okay.

Chard: We've got one more on this list. I would love to burn through it. Because I'm burning through this chair right now, if you hadn't noticed.

Jake: Yeah, real quick on this one.

Chard: This last one was just released this, this last year, which is basically just Metroid prime remastered, which was sent out on the switch so you could replay it on there. I have not played the remastered, so I don't have anything to say about it. If it's anything like their fucking original, that I'm just going to give it the same grade that I gave it when I first played it. I'm going to give it kind of an s tier with better graphics, I guess. I don't know, it. Does anybody have any. Is there anything outside of it looking prettier that that makes Metroid prime remastered?

GP: They took out the sequence breaking stuff. Like I said, they're. They still haven't re put it in. No, the real. The one reason I even bought it for the switch is because they changed it. Give me the original formula. Let me sequence break it on my handheld.

Chard: Let's drop it down to a be, then an a or a b.

Wulff: Yeah, I would say this is an a. I would. I would be okay with that. I haven't played it like, I was like, again, no waggle controls. I'm not really sold on it anymore, but unless the switch does allow that with the joy cons, I'm not sure.

Jake: I can't recall they did that. I know they definitely put a lot of work into standard modern controls for Metroid prime in this. And I've heard nothing but good things about the, the modern control scheme for this. This is definitely from understand. I think this is an a. I think I agree with you, GP. Like an a. Sorry about the sequence breaking, but it does. They definitely put a lot of work into making it look better. I can definitely see how this is a stepping stone to bring in Metroid prime four in the future, hopefully near future. And if you like the original, I think you're going to love this one. Especially when it's like, what, 20 years, 21 years since it for the first one came out, right? I mean, it's bringing to a whole new audience, so that's exactly good.

Wulff: Okay, quick, I'd like to correct myself. Apparently it does have the waggle controls. However, it sounds like the gyro is not quite as accurate as the infrared from the Wii U remote or from the Wii remote.

Jake: So. Yeah.

Chard: Okay.

GP: The chucks.

Chard: All right.

GP: Okay, cool.

Chard: Well, here is our list, everybody. You can get on discord and tell us how terribly wrong we are, or tell us how. How you couldn't agree more with all of our choices. I think this is a pretty solid list of all the Metroid games here, so.

Jake: I think so.

Chard: I don't think too many people will argue with this one, to be honest.

GP: Yeah.

Chard: Unless somebody out there. Federation forces the greatest Metroid game I've ever played. What are you guys talking about? Please come and tell us that on the discord. Blow us up. Give us, give.

Jake: Not friends to play multiplayer. What's wrong with you people? I can see it. Yeah.

Wulff: To be fair, I looked it up and some people think it's a decent spinoff, but I don't know, it never appealed to me. And what I tried at the demo, I was not into it at all.

GP: Fair at best point.

Jake: I definitely say everybody should try out hunters with before Metroid prime. If you're interested in prime four coming out, go play hunters. That it'll be lore relevant. If you care about the Metroid lore.

Chard: We love our lore. We love our lore here. Press be to cancel.

GP: God save me, I do.

Chard: All right, great list, guys. Great episode. Good stuff. Let's go ahead and do the sign offs and the send offs from everybody, guys. Jake, do you have anything that you would like to announce or anything you're doing? And then coming up, just.

Jake: Just that I'm making amazing progress in Elden ring. I should have picked taken that as my sisyphean game at the start of the damn year. I'm actually having a real blast with it. I just finished who I'm in crumbling something. Azula or whatever.

Chard: Crumbling from Azula.

Jake: I'm there and I'm at the boss, the Malacath, the beast, clergy guy. I'm fighting him now. He's tough, but tough in a fun way.

Chard: So the mandehead for fucking rainy.

Jake: Yeah, but it's I. That game. I tell you, I almost want to do another episode on a chart because there's. I have thoughts now that I've played such a big.

Chard: Let's do it. Let's revisit. Let's revisit. We can have a once I. Once I finally be rude on you and I can. We can revisit. We record that.

GP: Okay.

Chard: Werewolf. You're not sweltering in this heat much like I am. Holy crap. Well, that's because you're downstairs.

Wulff: Well, it's getting. Yes, I am downstairs. And the sun doesn't get to hit this room very long. All the heat here right now is coming from all these damn light. That's what I'm suffering from.

Chard: Like a southern a southern prosecutor losing his case right now.

Wulff: I do declare.

Chard: What do you got coming up, Wolf?

Wulff: I did like I said, I just finished bloodstained. Oh, my gosh. I can't remember. Ritual of the night for the first time. I finally played through it, and then I played through with one of the alternate characters. Absolutely loved it. Had a blast. And I picked up the DLC for it this morning and beat two bosses in it already. And it is very much like Simon's quest. It's awesome. I'm loving it.

Chard: Nice.

Jake: Great. Good.

Chard: I've not played the DLC for that. I haven't played that one in a while. I just beat that game.

Wulff: Well, the DLC just came out like two weeks ago. It just kind of out of nowhere, too. Okay.

Chard: Love a shadow. Love a good shadow drop.

Jake: Perfect.

Chard: GP, sir. What do you got? You got anything going on?

GP: No, like I said last time, I'm working on really one big project. So I haven't had a ton of time for games. But I will say this episode has got me in the mood to play through a couple of Metal Gear games and of course, the random prime series.

Chard: So not random, but random.

GP: I do have. Yeah, and I want some ice cream. Damn it. So probably gonna go get me some.

Chard: For those of you, for those of you who are listening and not watching, we showed off several of our metal, Metal Gear solid games during my small guy trying to. Trying to relate with GP with his espionage game.

GP: It's like ribs. I don't think about ribs all that often for food. And sometimes somebody says like, hey, you want ribs? I'm like, fuck yeah, that often. But when I do, I'm like, yeah, I want those ribs.

Chard: All right. And of course, sinister is out this evening, but let's go ahead and give him a shout out with DJ Spinistar. Please go and give our DJ buddy a follow and a like and a love if you haven't already, and go listen to him drop some fat beats on Mondays and Tuesdays. He's a. Well, yeah, it's always Mondays, sometimes on Tuesdays. But he's been hitting those. Those bricks pretty good. Also, he hangs out with solar caic on Saturdays as well. So when you're done listening to us Saturday morning, go over there and check that out too. And you could find me hating my life with promised Consort radon, trying to figure out whether I'm going to quit elden ring altogether or just do this until I retire because I don't know what else to do. I've never ran into a boss. As hard as I have since ever, I can't think of a single fromsoft game that has put me in this position since I did what all in the family sympathy of the night retro achievement that took me 10 hours to get. That's no joke. That was a ten hour stream before I popped that achievement. So I'm just trying to treat it like another Ra game. But beyond that, you catch me over at twitch, www. Touch dot tv, forward slash Chardonnay. You know me, you know where I'm at. Just listen to the cursing. It's easy to find. That's all I've got. I don't think there's anything else that's coming up. Gentlemen, this has been a fantastic episode. I love our list. I love you guys, and I love Metroid. So until next time, this is press b to cancel. The best metroids have been recognized.

GP: The galaxy is at peace.

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Read transcript

In a world of Steam Sales, platform exclusivity, and just banger titles released this year, our backlogs have never been larger. This week, Chard and Jake talk about FOMO trends and that deep-rooted sickness that causes them both to buy games they will never, ever finish. Also a good excuse to talk about games they've been playing lately.

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Read transcript

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Read transcript

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

For a deeper dive into a pair of our favorite Soulslikes check out the below episodes:

Elden Ring Episode 108
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtgh56O3laI

Tunic Episode 119
https://www.youtube.com/live/4tue_UbdZG4?si=sVGheEoOHB4H4kor

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

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Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Read transcript

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Read transcript

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

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Read transcript

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

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Read transcript

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

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Read transcript

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Read transcript

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Find out more at http://pressbtocancel.com

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

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Read transcript

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel

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Brand new year means brand new gaming goals here at Press B. This week we wrap up last year's game selections, then we pick new goals for 2024. Will we go for challenges? Or just nostalgia? Everyone has games that they should have beaten in their backlog, tune in as we discuss ours.

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The bad games of N64, the bad games of N64, What are you gonna do when they come for you? The bad games of N64, the bad games of N64, What are you gonna do when they're just no fun?

You've got the Hexen 64, it's oh so bland, With repetitive battles in a barren land, Superman 64, a real disaster, Flying through rings, it's a gaming master!

The bad games of N64, the bad games of N64, What are you gonna do when they come for you? The bad games of N64, the bad games of N64, What are you gonna do when they're just no fun?

Clayfighter, it had so much hype, But it ended up being a major gripe, And then there's Starshot, it's crude and crass, Not quite what you'd expect, alas!

The bad games of N64, the bad games of N64, What are you gonna do when they come for you? The bad games of N64, the bad games of N64, What are you gonna do when they're just no fun?

So take a trip down memory lane, Remembering the games that caused us pain, N64 had classics, that's for sure, But it also had its fair share of bores!

The bad games of N64, the bad games of N64, What are you gonna do when they come for you? The bad games of N64, the bad games of N64, What are you gonna do when they're just no fun?

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This week, Wulff and Chard rave about everything from the sound and music to the awesome sprite work and gameplay, in what could be a game of the year pick.

Just don't mind Jake; he just doesn't like good games.

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View the video version of this episode on the Press B To Cancel YouTube channel.

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Special thanks to Chris for joining this weeks episode, check out 1H1D at: https://www.quitthebuild.com/1h1d Or right here on YouTube

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Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel @pressbtocancel.

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Press B To Cancel now on Youtube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel @pressbtocancel.

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Press B To Cancel now on Youtube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel @pressbtocancel.

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Press B To Cancel now on Youtube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel @pressbtocancel.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Press B To Cancel now on Youtube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel @pressbtocancel.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Press B To Cancel now on Youtube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel and Instagram @pressbtocancel.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Press B To Cancel now on Youtube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel and Instagram @pressbtocancel.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Press B To Cancel now on Youtube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel and Instagram @pressbtocancel.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Press B To Cancel now on Youtube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel and Instagram @pressbtocancel.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Press B To Cancel now on Youtube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel and Instagram @pressbtocancel.

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We journey through time, exploring the similarities and differences between the newly released Super Mario Bros. movie by Illumination and the original 1993 movie cheese fest.

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Get ready for a mic-drop moment as we pit some of the most iconic, groundbreaking, and legendary retro consoles against each other to determine the ultimate winner. It's a battle of the titans, tune in now to find out which console will come out on top! Press B To Cancel now on Youtube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel and Instagram @pressbtocancel.

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In this milestone episode, the Press B team takes on a tournament to determine the worst ice levels in video games. From slippery slopes to frustrating puzzles, they'll be discussing the most infuriating levels across various genres and consoles. Who will come out on top as the ultimate loser? Join the conversation and let us know your picks in the comments below!

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On this week's episode of Press B, join our hosts as they dive into the world of video game villains and battle it out to crown the ultimate bad guy! We've assembled (scientifically and randomized) brackets of 12 of the most iconic and memorable video game villains, from Bowser to Sephiroth to GLaDOS. Listen in as they debate and discuss each villain's strengths, weaknesses, and overall impact on their respective game's story and gameplay. Who will come out on top and be crowned the ultimate video game villain? Tune in to find out!

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Transcript: Chard (A): If he dies, he dies. Greatest video game vitillins today on.

Wulff (B): Um.

Chard (A): Welcome, everybody, back to another actual, live bless you episode of Presbyter cancel tonight. I am the blessed host of this evening's episode. But I'm not alone. As Jake say. No, I'm not alone. I'm with four of the greatest villains I know running amongst us here. Jake, how are you, sir?

Jake (C): I'm doing good. Thanks for being having me back.

Chard (A): Thanks for being having back. Thanks for being having back, too. You hit me. I'm just werewolf.

Jake (C): I'm distracted setting shit up and oh, crap.

Chard (A): How are you set up if we're running?

Jake (C): I always set stuff up.

Sins (D): The intro.

Chard (A): No, even every mad scientist has an evil contraption werewolf. How are you, sir? No.

Wulff (B): Is the audio long?

Sins (D): There we go.

Chard (A): There it is.

Wulff (B): Okay, so I unmuted after the sneeze. Cool.

Chard (A): It works.

Wulff (B): Just muted after the sneeze. Great.

Chard (A): Your reverse machines work great.

Wulff (B): I apologize for that sneeze.

Sins (D): Hey, I caught a light sneeze.

Chard (A): Of the evening. I guess I also made my own pretty hate machine. Citistar, how are you?

Sins (D): I am Valaneous tonight.

Chard (A): There's a pill for that GP. How are you? No whimsical, friend.

GP (E): Speaking of Charlie, speaking of whatever those erection pills were that you sent me, they are nuts if we can keep this episode under 2 hours, because at the end of about an hour and a half from now, I will need to go to the Er. Two and a half hours ago, my.

Chard (A): Wife accidentally washed those pills, and now I cannot get my pants to fold. Guys, just as bad as that joke are these people that are on our list today. You like that, Segue?

Jake (C): That's pretty damn smooth.

GP (E): We go hard.

Chard (A): We do in the paint, as a matter of fact. Sports reference. Sports ball.

Sins (D): Sports ball.

Chard (A): Guys, it is march. Radness. We continue fourth on our continuation of brackets bracketeering the brack on tears. Isn't that a Jack White band? No, we're talking music, and we're definitely talking music and sports today. And unfortunately, these guys have come along. We're going to break these guys down. We have several selected villains that we are going to do in our own scientifically, whimsical, Canadian lies way of discussing who tyrannically. Sorry, tyrannically is what I meant to say.

Jake (C): I have whimsical back. I'd rather be whimsical. But, you know, out of our no.

Chard (A): There'S no Whimsical out of our list of these people. Now, we know there's other villains out there. We dug very deep on the surface of these to try and figure out which one of these villains would be good. Some you'll know, some we won't know. It'll happen, trust me. And some you will probably rant rave that these were poor choices, but guess what? We're the host, so we pick what we want, because that's how things work around here.

Sins (D): If it's not on our list, call out in the comments or come yell at us in discord there you go.

Chard (A): Yeah, that 100% of us have full time jobs. It's very difficult to find a list when you're having people yelling at you all day. Well, okay. Sorry. 90% of us. Wow.

Sins (D): Jeff throwing down early.

Chard (A): Time job.

Wulff (B): You take care of it.

Chard (A): That's not easy. That beautiful background behind you. That's beautiful. That's hard work.

Wulff (B): I don't get to see it as.

Sins (D): Much as I used to in Chat. Jeff's throwing down early.

GP (E): Let's ease up on the spoilers.

Chard (A): What do you think?

Jake (C): Kafka may not even be there.

Sins (D): Kefa didn't make our list.

Jake (C): Yeah, he's a small time you guys.

Chard (A): Are using the Kafka didn't make our list. Chard Monk didn't make the stream.

Wulff (B): All right.

Chard (A): It's kind of a one, and it's like, if there's one thing that comes with me everywhere, that's not my wife, it's Kefca. Let's just be honest, all right? I do. I'm trying to get a Kefca tattoo, as a matter of fact. That's not a joke. That's true. Let's go ahead and fire things off. We're going to start with our first two villain matchup back to back here. Our first selection is Joker Mark Hamill.

Sins (D): Mark, joker.

GP (E): Need to specify that.

Chard (A): And Bowser from Mario from the Mario Brothers series.

Jake (C): The Marios. Yeah.

Sins (D): We're specifically talking video game versions of these villains. So Joker, Mark Hamill, I know that there's similarities, but it is the video game arkham series and not the cartoon series, where he's the Joker.

Jake (C): Right. He's great in both, but specifically the video game in this case. Yes.

GP (E): Also, when we're talking about let's read.

Chard (A): Everything'S about video games here. Right.

GP (E): But also, is the metric or the rubric that we are saying for best villain, meaning, like, most iconic, most likable, most successful. What's the metric here?

Jake (C): I think we have to be well rounded with this. Right. We have to look at their impact in the game, their successes, their character. I think it's a well rounded we should look at all angles when we're talking about these villains.

GP (E): Yeah, agreed.

Wulff (B): Yeah.

Chard (A): We got to think about some longevity issues that are in here too, because Bowser has been an iconic villain for a long time, while the Joker has been an iconic villain, but not in video game tropes for as long as Bowser.

Jake (C): Okay.

Sins (D): And if we do look at backstory, then Joker actually comes all the way in from whatever 1930s or 40s or whatever it was, right? If we're talking backstory.

Chard (A): Right. Not joaquin. Phoenix's. Joker, by the way.

Sins (D): No.

Chard (A): Still a great movie.

Jake (C): No.

GP (E): I could do an entire podcast episode on why that movie upset me.

Chard (A): All right, who wants to go round robin on this first? I'll go. I'll tell you what, I'm going to just announce this right now. I know Sinister said he would go last, but I'll tell you what, as the host, I will be the tiebreaker of going last. I will make that decision.

Sins (D): This is how Kefco wins call me a tyrant. This is how Kefko wins.

Chard (A): I'm trying to ease everybody's mind on here. Although I do like it when GP says, all right, Char, well, you and I, our opinions don't matter. So what do you pick?

GP (E): I'm going to go and call it Chard. You and I, our opinions don't matter.

Chard (A): So who wants to go first in this round?

Jake (C): I'll go for this one. Yeah. The randomized brackets are really cruel here because this is a tough matchup. I mean, Bowser is one of the longest standing video game villains. It was randomized. We discussed this off this, off the stream. It's randomized, scientifically, accurately, through the AI. Anyway, bowser has been a longtime villain, but Mark Hamill, forget the animated series, forget everything else in his career. Just the arkham joker, like Arkham city and Arkham Asylum. He is so good. His voice acting is just iconic as this villain. He's chilling. He's just scary. He's such a great villain and such a great performance in the Arkan games. I mean, Bowser is great and all, and he's a big part of the Mario franchise. But I mean, come on. Joker, I think, is the villain. I think he's like, such an iconic villain. I like Bowser, but I think especially the more recent Mario games where they had the opportunity for things like me voice acting or a story, they don't really do that right. Like, even in Mario Odyssey, the story was Bowser's kidnapping Peach to get married. It makes no sense, and it's barely even a damn plot. So even though he's like, iconic looking, he's not really impactful in the storylines to Mario. Not that there is one to begin with. I mean, he's memorable, I guess, because of nostalgia. But I think Mark Campbell's performance as the joker in Arkham is so damn good.

Sins (D): All right, I want to go next. That's why I was holding up my finger there.

Chard (A): Because I was getting my bingo card out?

Sins (D): No, because I was going to make the argument, you already did this, but I guess I'm going to probably drive it home a little bit. Bowser, while being a long term video game villain, he hasn't actively tried to murder at mass levels. His whole goal is to marry Peach and rule the mushroom kingdom. Right? And then here's the Joker who has literally tried to kill everyone through infection or some other whatever, and he does it with almost a lack of reasoning or care. We've done this trope before, but some people just want to watch, so well. Ben right.

GP (E): Specifically, your Mark Hamill impression is horrible.

Sins (D): It is.

Chard (A): I thought that was Bowser.

GP (E): I should have said that.

Jake (C): Jack black.

Sins (D): But one thing I want to point out, and this happened, I think this was in Arkham Asylum. The first of kind of the video games that we're talking about at the end, he actually has destroyed the cure and he is infected and he knows that Batman is going to save him. And so he goes into this just balls to the wall. Because he knows that no matter how bad of a villain he is, his hero is going to save him because he knows Batman is that good. And so he is just that bad that he is like I will destroy my chances of even surviving this because I know that the hero is going to save me. So I also vote joker.

GP (E): Interesting. I hear what you're saying, Sinistar, and also I hear what you're saying, daddy, but I think that it's tough. I think the more iconic villain here in terms of video games is going to have to be Bowser. Which villain do I find more ultimately captivating? Interesting? Would I rather party with all those things going to go to the Joker? But if we're just talking across the spectrum of pop culture, I don't know, it's tough. If the Joker did not exist in movies, TV shows, or anything other than the Arkham series, I don't think he would be as prolific as Bowser, who is primarily in the video games. Yes, he's been in some movies, dennis Hopper, but that's not what he's known for.

Sins (D): We don't talk about Super Mario Brothers.

Jake (C): Yeah.

Chard (A): John Lang Guizamo was excellent as an Italian plumber.

GP (E): Okay, first off, John Lang Guizamo is great in about anything. I'll watch him read the dictionary. Johnny Legs, if you're watching, I love you. Hope I can call you Johnny Legs. The other part of that, though no, again, I think if the Joker didn't exist outside of video games, he would be a cool villain, but I don't know that he would be as prolific as Bowser. So I think I got to vote Bowser, even though, in fact, right now, I'm wearing my Batman pajama pants. You guys know I'm a big Batman fan. I got to give it to Bowser. I'll lock it up.

Wulff (B): All right.

Chard (A): That was an incredible twist of events I did not expect.

Wulff (B): Let's look at the lengths that Bowser will go to accomplish his goals.

Chard (A): He is willing oh, you're going to read the book.

Wulff (B): No, he's going to read the he.

GP (E): Is the biggest employer of the Mushroom Kingdom, I wager that.

Wulff (B): But he's willing to go to the moon to accomplish his goals. He is willing to. What was the other one? He'll work with Mario if he absolutely has to.

GP (E): Mario RPG. I like that.

Wulff (B): Which he's done. He can set aside his personal differences to achieve his goals. And when a villain really wants to accomplish what they want to accomplish, they have to learn to be able to move forward with the circumstances they're given. And Bowser always does that. Bowser also lied to his child about who his mom was. Who the fuck does that? That's dark.

Jake (C): That's how bad a villain he is. He lies to his children. He's a bad daddy. That's what.

Chard (A): His nephews we have the daddy of daddy.

Sins (D): I want you to remember somebody who knows something. I want you to remember this argument for later. Because me? Yeah, because there is a villain that we are going to bring up daughter issues.

GP (E): No, I don't want to know. I have done my way to ignore the list that you all do some research.

Chard (A): I know what you're going to talk about.

Jake (C): Okay, real quick. Bowser versus Mario. Can't we all agree that Mario is killed more than Bowser? So isn't Mario a better villain than Bowser anyway? So that automatically disqualifies.

GP (E): That goes back to what I was saying though. I mean, Bowser is the largest employer of the Mushroom Kingdom. You have the Princess Kingdom who rules over all these individuals. And then you have the Plumber who comes in and kills them all trying.

Jake (C): He's a bad employer. He's a bad boss, but doesn't make him a bad guy.

GP (E): Look, yes, we all know horrible employers, but in the end of the day, is he not putting food on tables? I don't know.

Chard (A): It sounds like the premise for horrible boss is three.

Wulff (B): Yeah. How many things does Bowser kill? We never see him kill anything unless he kills Mario. Right. Have you watched Mario brother throwing yoshis into lava pits and off of cliffs?

Sins (D): Yeah, never mind. Never mind punching yoshi in the back of the head to make him eat things.

Chard (A): Yeah, right.

Wulff (B): Friends. He's throwing off of cliffs and into lava pits.

GP (E): For what it's worth, count for a lot. It's mutually.

Wulff (B): Mario is the villain.

Jake (C): I think so. Browser's biggest crime is just not having his fortresses up to safety.

GP (E): That's not true. There's the kidnapping and presumed attempted rape, which you can't sweep that under the rug.

Chard (A): That's true.

Sins (D): Trigger warning.

GP (E): Sorry folks, nobody's a piece of shit. But I think if the issue is iconic have we voted? Did everybody go?

Wulff (B): I said bowser. To me. Bowser. No line is too much to cross for him.

Jake (C): Okay.

GP (E): Yeah.

Jake (C): So it's two to two, I guess, right?

Chard (A): Yeah, the tiebreaker is wow.

Jake (C): There you go. Your opinion does matter.

Chard (A): It does matter. It never matters that far. Okay, well, on that note, listen. You guys say that Bowser hasn't killed a whole lot of people. I've watched Cindy Star play Mario Brothers. That's not true. He's killed a lot of people.

GP (E): You're thinking of gravity. You're thinking of gravity and spatial awareness.

Chard (A): He did design spatial awareness. That's true. The big villain here is actually gravity and spatial awareness. That's true.

Sins (D): In a trick twist, the first bracket goes to gravity and spatial awareness.

Chard (A): Aka Bowser. Listen, bowser turned the Mushroom Kingdom people into bricks and Mario did kill them. That's where I thought you were going with that wolf. I got to lean on this whole thing with me and the Joker. The Joker and Mark Hamill. Fantastic. Let's think of it this way. I'm going to do how my discussion on the phone went today. Listen. Mark Hamill. Incredible actor. Wonderful job. Top tier, couldn't have done any better. Top notch. However, not going to cut it in this bracket. I got to go with Bowser on this one. And purely because, like GP said, if it wasn't for the Joker being iconic and other things and in comic books before he was put into video games, he's everywhere. It's not really a video game character. He's everywhere. Bowser is a video game character. He was created for gaming and gaming likeness and then has spawned into Dennis Hopper playing King Cooper and the whole nine yards. I'm just saying that if we're going to the roots of video game villains, got to go with Bowser. And it may be the nostalgia again talking. Don't know, don't care. I'll go with bowser. So I've noticed that the bowser fight.

GP (E): In Super Mario World. Sorry for the Super Nintendo. After you jump on him and he's in his little thing, he pops out and she's waving. She's like hell. Not to show my sensibilities here, but that was terrifying to me as a kid. She's obviously not wanting to be there. Don't do that.

Sins (D): Yeah.

Chard (A): Horrible, right?

Sins (D): And Bowser, don't stand on her when you're flying your little weird propeller chair.

GP (E): That's a TARDIS. There's more room down there than what you think.

Jake (C): Yeah, figure it on the inside than isn't.

Sins (D): I don't want to hear about Bowsers down there. It's fine.

Chard (A): I was going to say it's an undetectable extension charm.

GP (E): I love that. All right. Bowser.

Jake (C): Bowser.

Chard (A): Okay, so round two. So round one goes to Bowser of the Mario franchise. That's fantastic. I'm excited about this one. I'm really excited about this next matchup. We had discussed this amongst our MPs together as a team and we were kind of very him and ha. But Jake actually had a very solid point about this. Could have some really good discussion going into it. So without further ado, I had a good point.

Sins (D): No, it's getting delayed.

Chard (A): As I am told quite often when I say see, I say things that are smart, I usually get retorted with, well, a broken clock is right twice a day, too. So I'm going to hit you with that one. 1%. One in a row, Jake. One in a row.

Sins (D): Except for you're running in military time. And it's once a day, sir.

GP (E): My anxiety can't handle this. What's the bracket? Is it like two minutes?

Jake (C): Come on.

Chard (A): Don't a, I'm going to pronounce this the way I feel it needs to pronounce. Do not at me. This is Magis from Chrono trigger fame.

Wulff (B): What?

Chard (A): And Handsome Jack versus Mages and Handsome Jack.

Sins (D): All right. Can I go first?

Jake (C): Only you called megas.

GP (E): Maybe.

Chard (A): Not called magic. Called magic. Thank you.

Sins (D): Look, we're going to have a GIF versus GIF argument here. It's fine. Like my juffed, I'm going to start with Magis. So my experience with Magus Magus, Magus, magus is so far I have only had him as the villain, and I ran him off. I haven't seen some sort of redemption story, but I've heard tell of redemption story.

Chard (A): Should we have Citizen mute his headphones for this discussion after he's done making.

Sins (D): No, well, it's fine.

Jake (C): He's already past the point of the spoilers for that anyway, right? Like you did the NC Palace. I saw you stream it.

Chard (A): Yeah, no, he did not go to the end of the he's in the area, like right before one of the boss fights.

Sins (D): It's fine. It's okay. That game is 30 years old. However years old it is.

Jake (C): Yeah, there is a redemption in that. He's not the big bad, right? In crone trigger. It's Lavos. That's the big bad.

Sins (D): And that's kind of where I'm going, is even knowing that he's a redemption story. He did start the whole Lavos mess, right? Well, didn't he kind of kick it off? I mean, it's fine anyway, but with the redemption story, he feels a little soft. He feels a little soft as far as a villain goes. Now, Handsome Jack handsome Jack literally places a floating space station in orbit that can nuke basically whatever he wants. And when his daughter, who has the Siren abilities, accidentally kills her mother through a fight with another person, he decides that he's going to imprison her to power his station. So if you want to talk a daughter arc, if you want to talk a father daughter arc, here's a guy that's like, well, sure, you accidentally killed your mother, but you know what? You're now my power source and enslaves her and then proceeds to basically destroy any vault hunter that decides to show up on Pandora. He purposefully murders, unless they have the chance to open the vault for him specifically.

GP (E): But he was honest about who the mother was, and I think that counts. I agree. Handsome Jack for the win on this one.

Sins (D): Yeah, I'm going Handsome Jack over. Magus. Magus. Magus.

GP (E): Have you guys heard of Dragon Ball Z?

Chard (A): Yeah.

GP (E): Who is the greatest villain from Dragon Ball Z? Here's a hint. Not Vegeta.

Chard (A): That's true.

GP (E): Okay, well, I'll close it there, but no law applies. And between these two I got to go. Handsome Jack. Though I do very much enjoy Maggis.

Sins (D): That's two for Handsome Jack, then.

GP (E): His Majesty. No, too much. Sorry.

Chard (A): Booker T. Booker. Majesty. Booker.

Sins (D): Yeah.

Chard (A): Wrestler do you want to go or.

Wulff (B): You want I have a quick question. Is Handsome Jack's daughter, serif or Seraphim, whatever her name was. Whoever.

Sins (D): No, he enslaves her later when his I think his daughter ends up dying and he ends up putting the other Siren in her place.

Wulff (B): I didn't finish. I only got like maybe halfway through or something.

Sins (D): Yeah. Angel. Thank you.

Wulff (B): Angel. Yeah. Thank you, jeff but McGuff, he was an asshole.

Chard (A): I love it.

Wulff (B): But his intentions were in the right place. He was trying to do something for the greater good. He wasn't trying to be a villain. And his end goal was to save the world, not destroy it. Right? That's not much of a villain. He's Chronos nemesis for a time, but he's not the villain of the game. Handsome Jack is a villain. I got to say that's coming from I knew about his redemption chance the first time I played Chrono trigger, and I still said, Fuck that, Maggus. You're going down.

GP (E): He's not your gus. He's Mcguss.

Wulff (B): Yeah, he's Mcguss.

Jake (C): As a youth, he was Janus. As an adult. He's megas janus.

Wulff (B): Janice.

GP (E): Which would you rather be called? Anus.

Chard (A): Look, we don't get to pick her.

Jake (C): Names that her parents bestowed on us. And he was named J Anus. And that's just the way it is, my kids.

Wulff (B): Question. How do you pronounce his sister's name?

Chard (A): Shala.

Wulff (B): I'm sorry, I derailed the conversation there.

Sins (D): Quick aside, quick aside. I do have to give Handsome Jack. He did create. Or he bought, actually. But without Handsome Jack, we wouldn't have butt stallion but.

Chard (A): The iconic.

Wulff (B): But my vote is Handsome Jack on this one.

GP (E): Yeah.

Jake (C): Okay.

Chard (A): Well, Jake, looks like you're, in my opinion, don't matter. So what do you got, bud?

Jake (C): I tell you. Here's the thing. Okay, fine. So you want to argue that Handsome Jack is maybe the more sinister, the more evil villain. That's fine. Villain does not necessarily always mean evil. Sometimes it could just be a jerk and that could be a villain, right?

GP (E): Are you talking about Kirby?

Jake (C): No. Kirby has many villains. Can you do those? Misunderstood.

Chard (A): Anyway, is this a veiled attack?

Jake (C): No. So maggus. Magus magus magus magus maggas. His aura, okay? His look, his garb, the cape, the rubber gloves, the dark slick back hair, the paley pasty white skin, the red eyes. The theme music in the boss battle with Megas is fucking iconic and is one of my favorite boss encounters. And you don't do boss encounters against friends. He's the bad guy. Is he the world's most evil villain? No, but he's a pretty awesome bad guy.

GP (E): Conversation is, though.

Jake (C): Handsome Jack is just evil.

Chard (A): Sure, but he's just rich.

Jake (C): He doesn't look cool. He's got a cool horse, he spends his money.

Sins (D): He's handsome. Is he?

GP (E): We will have other episodes where we discuss handsome doable dude in video games. Is that is not this one.

Chard (A): Wow.

Jake (C): Ride his crystal horse all he wants. He's not the best bad guy in this match.

Sins (D): He purposefully diamond horse. It's a horse made of diamonds. Literally of diamonds. But he is so handsome that he put his face on a whole bunch of doppelgangers on purpose.

Jake (C): Look, is Batman the best hero because he's rich? No.

Chard (A): He's arguably not a very good hero to begin with, but let's not get into that debate.

Sins (D): Jeff. Jeff is correct.

Wulff (B): In Chat, this isn't about heroes. This is about village.

Sins (D): Jeff is correct. In Chat, Handsome Jack succeeded.

GP (E): Now, is it not Handsome Jack.

Jake (C): It's Handsome handsome also, am I not wrong?

Chard (A): Who cursed?

Jake (C): Wasn't it not Magus who cursed, Frog? It was maggus, right?

GP (E): Glenn?

Chard (A): Magis.

GP (E): Not to dachshund, but Glenn, yes.

Jake (C): Who cursed? Glenn.

Chard (A): Glenn of 600 Ad. Sorry, dude, my bad.

GP (E): Wow. Everybody's going to go hunting for Glenn now.

Sins (D): It was Maegus.

Wulff (B): To be fair, Cyrus had no business dragging Glenn around with him to fight McGuff.

Chard (A): They were buggy. I go everywhere. Dennis Star, he doesn't drag me around. I just fucking chill up.

Wulff (B): How many squires? How many squires? Just Glenn. He's the only one taken advantage of by heroes in that game.

Chard (A): Cyrus is so good, he doesn't need multiple squires. He only needs g. Lynn all right, so we're going to go with Mages on that one, Jake? Is that what you're saying?

Jake (C): Yeah. I'm saying magus mages cool.

GP (E): Please agree. How to pronounce jump. J Is it Forest Jump are we having.

Chard (A): I don't know a lot about Borderlands, I know a lot about Chrono Trigger, and I'm going to go ahead and chime in on this one. Magus is not a villain. He is a man of circumstance and time. Literally of time. He's a man that is trying to get revenge. Sinister plug ears earmuffs sinister ear muffs. Thank you. He's a man that's trying to get revenge on what his mother did to him and his family and how and his sister and all the shit that went down with there. The man was just trying to get back at him and unfortunately, people were getting in his way to get it done. Yes, it is the Vegeta complex, we will call it that. It is vegeta. It's literally vegeta.

Wulff (B): Literally trying to what his family broke.

Chard (A): With the risk of how this sounds, it's Vegas. It's what it is. It's what it's going to be. We're going with it. I don't care. Don't die on me, Jake.

Jake (C): Really?

Chard (A): Vegas? Yes. Handsome Jack, you could put your there you go. Handsome Jack is so fucking twisted that in his brain, he thinks he's the hero.

GP (E): Well, that's the hallmark of a good villain.

Chard (A): Yeah, he thinks he's doing the right thing, but it's so fucking twisted and fucked up, he doesn't care. He still thinks he's right. He still thinks he's getting roll up. I did research today. I've barely played any Borderlands, so I have plenty of people here to tell me if I'm wrong or not.

GP (E): You knew he was from Borderlands.

Chard (A): Like we are killing off all the Volt hunters because he thinks he's doing it right and he's doing world dominance. Thinks he's the hero. He thinks he's saving his daughter by turning her into the power source for his doomsday device. So as much as I love Mages, or Ages, or Mcgaggas, or Janus Forest Guillumpus, I'm going with Handsome Jack.

Sins (D): It's Forrest.

Chard (A): I did not stutter. So, I think Handsome Jack is going to be the true villain out of these two. I think that Mages is a really good story and could be a really like on its own debate on on his experience. His depiction is direction, but for actual villainry, I got to go with Handsome Jack on that one.

Jake (C): Look, Handsome Jack doesn't have a theme song. Just saying. He does not have a clip.

Chard (A): Mages theme song is easily I had it recreated for my stream. That's how good it is.

Sins (D): I love that Handsome Jack gets not one, but two games, right? Two entire games of him as the villain.

Chard (A): If Chronocross wasn't garbage, then maybe Mages could have had two games too. But unfortunately they decided to shit all over that one. But listen, in terms of cool factor, if we're talking cool factor and badass fights and great lead ins and music and shit, majors wins nine times out of ten and twice on Sundays. He's incredible. But in the villainry department, without spoiling it for Sinistar, heads of Jack wins. You're good.

GP (E): What constitutes as a theme song for a villain? The reason I ask there is a song my dad used to hum when I was a kid and he would not important.

Chard (A): Let's move on. Was it an original piece?

Jake (C): Wow.

GP (E): I don't know.

Chard (A): Made it up as he went. That it's his this was fucking dark. You want to go dark? I'll dive right into that black pit with you. Right.

Sins (D): Sorry, YouTube.

Chard (A): Everybody said he was going to be agreeable.

Sins (D): Yeah, he's agreeably. Tainting all of every story with his.

GP (E): Dad always up on the backstory on the lore. The GP.

Chard (A): Lore. Doesn't the GP lore.

GP (E): Yeah.

Chard (A): All right, guys, let's move on to the next one. So I just recently got to know one of our villains in this particular bracket, and I'm pretty excited about it because she's fucking funny as shit. She kills me, literally. Tries to at least a couple of times. And then this other one is we went with the human form, the later form of this in particular. So we're going to go with Gladys from Portal and Ganondorf Ganondorf, the dorf in the later versions. Ganondorf Dorphy. Good old the zelda. This is a good bracket montage.

GP (E): It also sucks because gentlemen, these are great bad guys. Start your bad AIS.

Sins (D): Who's starting this one?

GP (E): I don't want to.

Wulff (B): I will start. So we've got the humanoid gannon. Ganondorf. Or we've got genetic life form and disc operating system.

Chard (A): But she's so funny.

Sins (D): Have you played number two? Yeah, I've been playing no, jimmy, have.

Wulff (B): You played the show? Yeah.

Sins (D): Okay.

Wulff (B): Portal two.

Chard (A): This would be the time where I pull out my steam deck and say, yes, I've been playing on my steam deck, but it's in the living room because I was playing it on my steam deck.

Wulff (B): Absolutely. I've played portal one and two. I love those games. But glados. Oh, man, I don't know. This is a tough one because Gannon is just such an evil prick who is relentless, right?

GP (E): What an. Ahole, absolutely.

Chard (A): But he has a smug look on his face too.

Jake (C): Don't punchable face.

Chard (A): Big fucking nose, asshole.

Wulff (B): Gladys isn't even really capable of emotion. She's just doing what needs to be done.

Sins (D): No, but she is an asshole prick too. With the whole parents thing. Your parents don't love you. Or this air is recycled from outside. I'm just kidding. Or I saw a deer today, but you don't get to.

Chard (A): Stasis.

Wulff (B): She is definitely endlessly demeaning, I will give you that.

Chard (A): Which most people, when they come out of stasis, tend to lose a little bit of weight and are fatigued. You don't appear to have lost anything. Damn, bitch. Call me fat man.

Sins (D): When she has celebration for the character's parents, confetti comes out.

Chard (A): Oh, I'm sorry, they don't love you.

Wulff (B): It's just a insults and attacks constantly.

Sins (D): Just verbal.

Wulff (B): Not just verbal, but you know what I mean, because she does try to kill shell numerous times.

Sins (D): What about when she's in the potato? She actually kind of has a personality with feelings when she's in the potato.

Wulff (B): I think that's partly because she doesn't have the personality core limiters.

Sins (D): Right, right.

Wulff (B): So it's really all the Tweaking to her systems that have made her how she is. She was not inherently that way, but at the end of the day, those tweakings to the systems are still Gladys and not the original person that she was based on. That worked for Cave Johnson. At her core. She's Cave, johnson's assistant. But the personality limiters have made her glados. Right. And that's what we see as the villain in Portal. And then you've got Gan, and again, like I said, he's just a relentless reincarnating self aggrandizing wanting to take over the world. Bastard, right?

GP (E): Yeah, he's the archetype.

Wulff (B): Yeah.

Chard (A): I don't know.

GP (E): Part of what makes Blatant so kind of scary and chilling is because her motives were kind of unknown. To what degree? What is her end game? If I die in this building, is she going to continue mocking my corpse?

Sins (D): Well, and that's the thing that I want to bring up is that's the thing I want to bring up is yes, Ganondorf has continued to try to take over the world. Right? But here's the thing about Gladys. The world has already ended and she's continuing on with this last person.

Jake (C): Is that the lore for Portal?

Wulff (B): We don't know for sure.

Sins (D): You don't know? But there's no humans. You don't ever see any other humans.

Jake (C): Right? Well, the facility is empty except for the one character.

Sins (D): Well, but there are allusions to basically saying like, this is post the end of humanity. There are illusions to that.

Jake (C): Okay, you guys kept saying Ganondorf is wanting to take over the world. He does, though, in Arcarena of Time, he actually ends up taking over the world when Link is stuck in a time thing. And when you come out as adult Link, the world is basically an apocalypse. Gannon rules everything. So he kind of does win in Link to the Past. He maintains dominion over the entire dark world. So he's always had in some capacity like this. He controls vast number of people and, like, takes him down. But he still he wins to a degree. Right?

Wulff (B): Yeah. Well, he also you come into Breath of the Wild, and Gannon has already won. You're well past Gannon winning.

Sins (D): That's true.

Wulff (B): Gannon is supposed to be the physical form of evil in The Legend of Zelda. Right. Like, that's what Gannon is, no matter what iteration of it. Gannon is the physical manifestation of evil in Zelda.

Sins (D): Right.

Wulff (B): Whereas glados she's got goals with psychopathic tendencies. Right. And it's hard to say which is scarier, kind of no, this is crazy, is scary and Gladys is crazy.

GP (E): And you don't have enough information because of the Starkness and the scarcity of anything in the Portal games, your knowledge of what is is severely limited. But you know that there's this very irritating but oddly charming, funny, sexy, early bond kind of voice talking to you.

Sins (D): Anyway, Gannon, real quick aside, real quick aside, there's a poker game on steam poker night.

Wulff (B): Poker night at the inventory.

Sins (D): Yeah. And the second one, Gladys, is the dealer. And it is delicious. It is absolutely delicious.

Chard (A): I just had dinner, too.

Wulff (B): This is a tough one.

Chard (A): I forgot Wolf hasn't been yeah, I.

Wulff (B): Think I have to it's it's very close, but I gotta go Gannon on this one.

GP (E): I agree, Gannon dorf. But who would I rather probably have a conversation with? Gladys?

Sins (D): There's two for Gannon. There is a scene in my mind there is a scene in my mind in Portal Two when Wheatley has been helping or you've been helping Wheatley get the system activated again and all of a sudden that elevator starts going up and all those switches start flipping. And then you see Gladys peel herself off the floor in her cybernetic bits and pieces and it is terrifying. And then on top of that, for those that have VR whatever, that steam that VR. No, but I'm talking the game that they made where you can like but it's all portal based game stuff.

Chard (A): Oh, is it really? Yes.

Sins (D): And Gladys gladys is massive and terrifying.

Wulff (B): So they did something.

Chard (A): You can play portal on VR.

Sins (D): No, it's its own game. I can't remember what it's called. There's a scene where you assemble the little dudes that are in Portal Two.

Wulff (B): And there's a scene where you okay, this is a thing that they built to sort of teach you how to use the valve index.

Sins (D): It was prior to valve index. This was during live.

Wulff (B): Okay.

Sins (D): But if you go into that, you put that headset on it, you look up a gladys, it's called the lab. That's what it is. It's the lab.

Chard (A): The lab.

Sins (D): It is terrifying. Yeah, it is terrifying. I'm going to say Gladys because to.

GP (E): Me.

Sins (D): There is nothing more sinister than what seems like the world has already ended and the villain is still going. Like the villain has one last toy and is still going. So I'm going to vote for Gladys because it's not even trying to take over the world. She just wants to experiment on these people.

GP (E): Just wants to watch the world burn. I think I just came up with that.

Chard (A): That is kind.

Sins (D): So gladys here.

Jake (C): So I was already to say Gannon but then sister is making a good point and then Wolf said something that's sticking with me where it's just like Gannon is the embodiment of evil. Sure. But Gladys is crazy and crazy is scary and terrifying.

Wulff (B): Yeah, crazy beats scary is what it was. I think.

Chard (A): Crazy hot. Crazy hot scale, right?

Jake (C): So Link against Gannon. Link kind of knows where he stands with Gannon, right. At all times. He's evil. He's the bad guy. His mission is defeat Gannon. He knows this. They could enter a room together and they know where he stands with Gannon. He's just the bad guy. Glados you never know. Is she throwing you a bone, throwing you some cake, trying to get you to help you? Or is she just experimenting as another trap, another twist, another minor cake.

GP (E): There will be cake. You will.

Sins (D): Spoiler. Warning for those that haven't played portal one I'm going to say this. There is a line where she says in one of the experiments she says I lied to you but I won't lie to you again. And then later, like a couple of experiments later she says you will be baked and then there will be cake. And you think it's a slip of the tongue.

GP (E): But there is no tongue.

Jake (C): Yeah, it's not.

GP (E): There's only a disk operating system.

Jake (C): The other thing is too is Gannon.

Chard (A): Is he's the bad guy.

Jake (C): He's kind of like created these dungeons or added his minions to these dungeons. His final tower is constructed by him. It's really not effective at all. Really. Link easily trounces the final dungeon arcane of time and makes it to the top. It's not much of an obstacle. Whereas Gladys has made a maze of traps and just terrifyingly difficult puzzles to torment and torture the player. I actually think Gladys I think is the better villain in this case. I didn't think I'd go this way but I'm going to vote Gladys.

Sins (D): All right, one last thing. And this has no voting like tie to it whatsoever. I talked to Chard about this but the anger module is voiced by Mike Patton.

GP (E): Also Ganondorf I think has to win with horse riding abilities. So not that's part of the official you ever see Gladys on a horse? I've not.

Chard (A): How fortuitous that I am here yet again. Being the tiebreaker between you chosen charge.

Jake (C): Your opinion matters again.

Wulff (B): Yeah.

Jake (C): Two for two.

GP (E): Wow.

Chard (A): Two for two. That's never did it right there.

GP (E): What do we got?

Chard (A): I'll approach. It the same way that my phone call went this morning. Gannon Dorf is a fantastic additional fuck it. Gannon is an evil motherfucker and he's repetitive, but it's the trope. It's the same thing, right? I'm going to kidnap Zelda user.

GP (E): It's consistency.

Chard (A): My shit is pretty consistent and nobody wants to hear about that either.

Sins (D): It's true.

GP (E): Charge. Deuce. Moving on to the next round.

Chard (A): That is my shit.

Sins (D): In a surprise twist, not only do we have gravity going one round, but we have charged shit going on round three.

GP (E): What kills more people? Gravity or charge?

Jake (C): Please continue.

GP (E): I'm sorry, I'm done interrupting.

Chard (A): I am Gwen Stefani. Shit.

GP (E): But one more thing.

Chard (A): Okay, Fenda?

Wulff (B): Yeah.

Chard (A): I got to go. Gladys. So here's my thing about Gladys. Sinister literally pulled the thing from my brain is the thing coming up and you're flipping all the switches on and Gladys coming in, following that. Gladys remembers you killing her, and she constantly reminds you of it the entire time you're running around inside the fucking maze. And every time you feel like you're going to get out just puts you further, deeper in and then gives you some fucking snide comment about you. That's horrible. And it's literally it's the kid with the magnifying glass on the anthill. That's exactly what it is. She is playing with you the entire time.

GP (E): One of my favorite things about Portal was discovering that it was kind of a psychological horror game going into it. You don't know it. It's fun, it's cheeky. It's a puzzle game.

Chard (A): You just think it's a puzzle game.

GP (E): Oh, my God, I'm getting shot at. As you're learning more, I really don't.

Chard (A): Want your learning the entire way. Yeah, she's twisted. She's twisted. Fuck. And she does want to kill you, but unlike Gannon, wants to take over the world and links just in the way of that. That's pretty basic, right? You're in the way of me. Or he's already done it and he's trying to maintain his evil persona and links. He's the fly in the ointment. He's the monkey wrench in the gears. I got to kill this motherfucker. Gladys is just like inkling of hope. You may have no, take that away. Oh, hey, I'm going to give you a little bit. No, I'm going to go ahead and take that away. And you're just going to keep getting worse and worse. She goes, I'll kill you eventually, but right now, this is just too fun.

GP (E): It's that whole going back to talk about my dad real quick in a weird coincidence.

Jake (C): I'm kidding.

GP (E): Please, go ahead.

Chard (A): Yeah, I got to go. Gladys and it's fresh with me. It's a fresh thing with me. So it's still like, on the brain with her. I've been really impressed as I think Jake said it, where it was like this. You think it's just a puzzle game. GP and Jake both said it. It's a puzzle game. And I just never got into how interesting the puzzle aspect of it was. But there's so much more into it, and she's so fucking twisted. I remember fighting her at the end of the first one. It's like, this is crazy. All the shit's going down. Gladys is my winner for this round.

Sins (D): And for me, one of the things I absolutely love is I went into that game thinking it was just a bear puzzle game. Just a bear puzzle game. And then it has this very cool backstory of what Gladys is doing to you.

Chard (A): Anyway. All right, so Gladys, winner of the over Ganondorf. Perfect. All right, I'll try and speed these up because we're already 52 minutes in and we still got at least three more to go. All right, our next one ridley from Metroid series and Salvanis from the Warcraft series. Now, I know there is a lot of deep knowledge amongst this panel for at least one of these characters. I'll go first. So please have added gentlemen, give us.

Jake (C): That Lord dump GP.

GP (E): Well, okay, no, I don't want to retread things that everybody here clearly already knows and it would be insulting to the audience to go over too much. One of the things that I like so much about Ridley is actually tangentially to Glados. It's this idea of the unquantifiable entity. We don't exactly know the motivations right away. We just know there's, in the case of Ridley, this big, imposing figure that we have to figure out how to take down. And the fact that Ridley comes back several different times for the series, I don't know. And then, of course, the other person that you named who I mean, what.

Sins (D): Needs to be said about Sylvanis?

GP (E): What else can you say that hasn't already been said and documented in the annals of time? But that said, Ridley I always thought Ridley, aside from being kind of scary or whatever, just a really cool bad guy. And then the revelation of Ridley being in prime when you first see him and all that kind of thing and then you think you've taken him down with the space frigate and then just for him to I don't know, it was some cool shit and a dope looking bad guy.

Chard (A): That's my I think you pronounced annals wrong. It's j annals.

Sins (D): Analyze anals.

GP (E): I thought you were going a different direction. Anyway, yeah, so that's me, of course. I'm kind of a Metroid fanboy, so yeah, that's where I fall between that one and.

Wulff (B): Runner.

GP (E): Sylvana.

Chard (A): Windrunner was my maiden name.

Sins (D): Ilvana.

Wulff (B): Let me give you guys some backstory on Sylvanis and Ridley.

GP (E): Please.

Chard (A): You mean Kerrigan?

Wulff (B): Yeah, I can do some backstory on Ridley, too. Actually, I did some reading about him today. Fantastic. I want to preface this by saying if we were counting expanded lore outside of the Games, ridley would win. Okay? Because Ridley, shown outside of the Games in the manga is one evil, soulless son of a bitch right? But once you limit your lore base to just what's in the video games, Sylvanis wins. And it's not entirely because she's just a bad person. Because she's not entirely a bad person. She was actually someone of great stature and honor who her soul was ripped out of her by the Lich King, and then he turned her into a monster. And she's been wrestling with that ever since. Her soul was split in two when that happened. When it's together, she is at least someone who is trying to make a better world for the people like her, the Forsaken, the undead that don't answer to the Lich King. Right? But when her soul is ripped apart, separated, the evil part is pure evil and commits genocide. Right? She burned down the world.

GP (E): That's Sylvana.

Chard (A): Sylvana Winchester.

Wulff (B): She was willing to do whatever it took for other people's nefarious devices. Right. But when her soul is whole, she actually means well and does not get her hands all that dirty unless she absolutely has to for the greater good of the Forsaken first, the Hoard second. She's for her people first and then for her faction second. But that's still way up there, right? It's just the fact that her soul can be separated again makes her a scary villain because she will go to great darkness to achieve things.

Chard (A): Remember that episode where Sylvanus and Dean were fighting the Lich King outside of the hotel? And then the yellow eyed Lich King, he throws the holy water and he says, hey, ass face, and then he throws on her, and then Sylvanus gets trapped. Her soul gets trapped in the cage with Satan or Lucifer. I remember that.

Wulff (B): It wasn't as face. It was ass butt.

Sins (D): Yeah.

Wulff (B): Okay, you're a short ass, but.

Jake (C): I want to build on what Wolf said. So the thing with Savannah so when we're making this list of villains, I think we had to put a Blizzard villain on here. The problem is a lot of Blizzard villains are very formulaic, right? Like, we joked. Carrigan. Right. There's also the lady who played Diablo in Diablo three. Kind of some similar personality traits, I guess. But Sylvanus, though, she's a long standing character. Going back to warcraft three and then World of Warcraft. Yes, in World of Warcraft Three, or sorry, Warcraft Three, she was the bad guy, but she's under the control of the Lich King Arthur when she freed herself in World Warcraft and built up a faction of basically the undead who opposed the Lich King. She's not necessarily a bad guy. Yes, she's looking for people and very Xenophobic, maybe you could say. But she's still looking out for people. So I don't think she's evil then. And there were recent expansion. This is why I want on the list. She becomes the bad guy in that expansion. I think she goes to, like, the afterlife. I don't know the warcraft lore, but she goes to the afterlife and makes a deal with the jailer, the demon. And part of the deal is that she becomes alive again. But she has to kill people to feed him souls. And that's why I felt she was, like, such a great villain. But by the end of that Expansion, she's redeemed her soul. Pieces that are split are burst together, and she feels remorse and guilt and all those things. And by the end of that Expansion, she's no longer a villain. She's trying to redeem herself. So that, I think, does not make her villain. Just like megas. I was all ready to say she was the big, the winner in this. But when I read that last bit of lore today at the end of the expansions, that's what happens to her. That's her fate, is she redeems herself. And she's out there in the world now trying to gain due penance to make up for the atrocities that she's committed. I think that turns around. And much like Meghan, I think she's maybe not the better villain in this case.

Wulff (B): Yeah.

Sins (D): All right.

Chard (A): Sylvanus's origin story is going to premiere on The WB here real soon, too.

Sins (D): So, are you saying that's two for Ridley and one for Sylvana?

Jake (C): Ridley is not a great villain. Like, Ridley, to me, is super Metroid, and that's it, right? You shoot him in the intro and then you have a boss fight with him.

GP (E): Sorry, did Ganondorf show up in a bunch of other properties I don't know about?

Wulff (B): Other than Ridley?

Chard (A): Mega Ridley? Holy shit. That thing is mega.

Wulff (B): Ridley is not Ridley. Right, but it's made of himself to show how powerful he is.

Jake (C): Oh, I thought it was him.

Chard (A): That's a pretty evil trope. You know what? I'm going to make an evil robot of myself just to prove you how fucking evil I am. That seems pretty evil.

Jake (C): That's the robot I'm delegating.

Chard (A): I may not have seen that episode of Supernatural, but I'm telling you, that's pretty fucked up.

Wulff (B): Two things we never actually learn of Ridley's personal motivations in the Games. Also, he just works for Mother brain.

GP (E): Kind of a dick, non quantifiable entity. Why is this person destroying Henchmen then?

Jake (C): Not a villain? Is that the argument?

Sins (D): I guess.

Wulff (B): Yeah. He's basically a cooper kid.

Chard (A): What is it, two and two still?

Sins (D): I'm going last. I haven't voted.

Chard (A): Okay, well, you know what?

Jake (C): I think I might go back to savannah has been a villain, right, in the past. I can't even see the name. Windrunner has had a villainous past. She may not be a villain currently, but she was. Ridley's just a henchman and has always been a henchman. He's just a schmuck. All right, you know what? It will flip me. I'm Sylvanis.

Sins (D): Okay? So sylvana. Sylvanis. Ridley for GP. What are you charred last?

Chard (A): Go.

GP (E): No, real quick, please keep in mind to the two other guys who still need to vote here, if you vote Sylvanis, that means that Sylvanis will show up in another bracket and we're just going to have to talk about her some more. We all have to act like we know what's going on.

Wulff (B): She's a better villain.

Chard (A): No, I'm going, Ridley, because I've seen that episode of Supernatural and it wasn't very good.

Sins (D): So now it's two and two, right?

Wulff (B): Yes.

GP (E): Okay, that's announced my retirement. Go ahead.

Sins (D): I'm going, Sylvanus, because no werewolf is absolutely right. We talked about how these are specifically the video game villains versions and Ridley in the video game is just a boss. Sylvan just a boss and not the final boss.

Chard (A): All right, that's fine. No, that's fine. You could be a bad guy for like, a segment and then be good again and still be a better villain than a person that's a villain all the time. That's fine. That seems to make perfect sense.

GP (E): That's all it is. You're just a temporary asshole. That's all it is.

Chard (A): That's fine. I'm sorry I didn't eat today. I was hangry. Best villain ever.

Jake (C): Have a snicker.

Chard (A): You're good.

Sins (D): Except for I didn't eat today and I'm an asshole means I actually fed human lives to the Lich King. That's fine.

Chard (A): I fucking slept 3 hours. I guess I'm the best villain today. Cool.

GP (E): If somebody would just give don't worry.

Chard (A): And my advanced DG, all my soul shards will come back together and I'll stop eating a dick. Cool. Your soul shard villain.

GP (E): I love that.

Chard (A): They're all in my kitchen next to my advanced GG shaker. Terrible pick. Let's move on. So what everybody's been waiting for? Let's go. We got two final fantasies back to back, but I'm going to throw you a curveball. Yeah, we're going to pick. Everybody likes Sephiroth for some reason is picked on here. I don't know why we went with Sephiroth. There's better villains than that, but not Canadian. So I guess I don't have to understand.

Jake (C): I didn't make these brackets. It was a group.

Chard (A): Of the gods. Section two.

GP (E): Versus what?

Chard (A): I love all the squids. It's just Kafka. I'm just fucking with you. It's Kafka. Kafka versus Sephirothko. This should be an easy one.

Sins (D): Kafka, look.

GP (E): Life, dreams, hope. Where do they come from? Where do they go? Such meaningless things. I'll destroy them all. Kafka for the win. Forever and always.

Sins (D): Where did you go?

Chard (A): Oh, must be exhausting.

GP (E): We talked earlier about how one of the benchmarks of an interesting villain is a strong willed person who believes they're doing the right thing thanos Ultron. Just use some comic book tropes. The great thing about Kefka is Kefka doesn't really have the ideals of right or wrong. They are bat shit crazy in a similar way to the Joker, but to a very, very successful degree.

Sins (D): We talked about how crazy is scarier than evil. Kafka is crazy when he man killed an entire kingdom.

GP (E): Yes, the kingdom of Doma poisoning. And he becomes all powerful and in a way that's what he's after. But he doesn't really care about being powerful. He just cares about destroying the power is not the goal. Ending everything is the goal. The power is just the means for it. And.

Sins (D): The power to destroy a world was in Kafka all along.

Chard (A): Yeah. And all of us.

Wulff (B): Yeah.

GP (E): I don't know about all right, that's two for Kefka.

Chard (A): How did Sephiroth even get a fucking.

Wulff (B): Heyday, Sephiroth looks cool.

Chard (A): Yeah.

Jake (C): He is a big source.

Wulff (B): An angry toddler.

Chard (A): Yeah.

Wulff (B): He is just mad about his life circumstance.

Chard (A): Genetically enhanced toddler.

Wulff (B): That's all it is. Whereas Kefka and we're going to bring it around. We're going to bring it around. Kefka is the joker. If Joker had magic.

GP (E): Yeah, that's exactly right. That's a mic drop. Don't drop the mic. But that's right.

Chard (A): There goes the thing is, somebody lied.

GP (E): To Kefka about who his real mom is. And the reveal of that in the game, I think was one of the highlights of Final Fantasy Seven, because he believes he was an ancient, but turns out he wasn't. He ends up being descendant of this other horrible thing that came to Earth. So big twisty reveal there. You don't have to have a big twisty reveal with Kafka. He just did the thing he said he was going to do.

Wulff (B): Yeah, he's just horrified. All he cares about is himself. That's it.

Chard (A): I don't even think he cares about himself. I think he doesn't care about anything.

Wulff (B): No, he cares about him. If he didn't care about himself, he wouldn't name things after him. He wouldn't say, I'm rebuilding the world in my image.

Chard (A): He is, right?

Jake (C): Yes.

Wulff (B): An egomaniac to the umpteenth degree. Right. He wanted power, so he became a general for Emperor Gestalt. And then Gestalt was like, no, stop. And he was like, you're stupid. You don't know what you're talking about. I'm not stopping here. And so he kept going and kept going and kept going. And then he succeeded, and then he kept everybody down afterward. Even after he was a success, he still didn't care about anybody but himself.

GP (E): Yeah. The closest thing Kepka ever cared about, in my opinion, in my estimation, is trying to get people to understand why nothing matters, and he doesn't really care that they understand it, but he still poses those questions. Why do people cling to life knowing it has to end, and that once you're dead, none of it will have meant anything? Like, that's? Some lofty ass shit for six year old me. And I'll say this. Even if Kafka was we'll say, Dr. Wiley, I would probably still vote for him based on nothing other than the Kafka Tower fight battle music fair. I'll stop now. I'll let everybody else talk.

Chard (A): You're good. So is that three for Kafka?

Wulff (B): I vote Kafka.

Chard (A): All right.

Sins (D): Jake, you don't matter.

Jake (C): Yeah, I know. The story of my life.

Chard (A): I'll just say.

Jake (C): I thought when the brackets were randomly selected in this. I thought there'd be more of a fight and more balanced fight, but I guess I was wrong. I mean, the brackets fate was wrong.

GP (E): That speaks to Kepka. I'm sorry. Would easily beat see how Gladys feels about it. Charge.

Jake (C): So Sephiroth's greatest achievements is he burned a village down and he killed Eris.

Wulff (B): Or Erith well, I mean nearly destroyed the planet with a giant comet, if you recall.

Jake (C): Yeah, but then Kafka literally destroyed everything.

GP (E): The weapons, the giant elemental weapon beasts. He took down Midgar, which is the source of all the horrible stuff.

Wulff (B): Transformers.

GP (E): Yeah. Sephiroth is a badass again, that doesn't.

Chard (A): Take away from Sephora screamer off.

Jake (C): I think I'm going to go back to what you said earlier. Crazy is scary. Like, crazy is terrifying. And Kefka is going to win. But I was hoping that Sephiroth would have more of an argument for him. But ultimately, I think kefa. This one.

Wulff (B): I've always thought that Sephiroth was just like an adult child having a tantrum.

GP (E): Scary or pure than a child. The quote from Bebop or crazy.

Jake (C): No, but GP, when you mentioned the backstory in Sephiroth and where he came from, I completely forgotten. He thought he was an ancient. And there's a whole weird thing there that the story in fanface seven was always just confusing. I still never understood. I was hoping the remake would expand on that when they finally finish whatever, how many parts they do.

Chard (A): We're going to leave out all that important stuff.

GP (E): I think we took out Liquid, am I correct? I'll mention this real quick. The reason I thought Liquid Snake would have been interesting for this is because the whole premise to Metal Gear Solid is we have these two genetically almost identical twins who are manufactured, and then one is believing himself to be the inferior clone, and the other one superior, and it kind of goes back and forth. So then Solid Snake ends up winning. And the big kind of twisty thing there, because they do that in that series a lot, is that in fact, Solid Snake was the inferior one, and that theming. And that twist kind of speaks back to the only thing, in my opinion, that really makes Sephiroth super interesting is realizing or finding out eventually you're not what you thought you were.

Wulff (B): You heard it here first, folks. Solid snake is Danny DeVito. Confirmed.

GP (E): Anyway, all right, sorry.

Chard (A): Thank you for that Kafka sweeps. Okay, I'll cut it short. I don't need to go on my die triad for that. You know how I feel about that. All right, we'll go into the next one. Robotnik eggman as depicted by Jim Carrey in the recent films and Dr. Wiley of the Mega man series.

Sins (D): Gentlemen, can I start this one?

Chard (A): You have your doctor's degrees, you have your eight years in college and in what do they do in practice? Residence. That's it. Resident, please don your white lab coats and. Vote.

Sins (D): Okay, my vote.

Chard (A): Sorry, you can go first.

Sins (D): My vote. Who cares? Move on.

Chard (A): Because we'll have a fucking awkward leg if that's the case. And Kefi will automatically win.

Sins (D): Fine. Dr. Wiley. Because Mega Man I don't know, I always felt like eggman robotnik was like I always felt like he was a joke. Honestly, I always did. At least Wiley was. I don't know, he felt like robots should always be subservient. So let's go. Wiley wins.

Wulff (B): They're both pretty egomaniacal and kind of inept. Let me say something here. How many eons of injustice is Dr. Wiley responsible for? Start with Mega man. He is responsible for the events of Mega Man X, which lead to the events of Mega Man Zero, which lead to the events of Mega Man ZX. All of that is Wiley's fault.

GP (E): Yes, he even comes back as surges in my mind palace in X Two. I know there's a subreddit there, but you're exactly right. I don't want to step on you. I'll wait for my turn.

Chard (A): Go ahead.

GP (E): Sorry.

Wulff (B): No, and even if you look at the Battle Network aspect, I'm pretty sure he's responsible for all of those six. And then it goes on to what? Star Force? Which is a spin off of Battle Network. So regardless of Mega Man timeline, you follow, wiley is responsible for everything. Maybe he didn't Wiley all along, but he did the most damage.

GP (E): Yes. I'll kind of make my case here. The bad thing about Wiley is he failed a bunch. I can name at least eleven instances in which he did. With that said, whatever it was, he died. His final fuck you to the world was leaving the Zero virus like his last send off was apocalyptic levels of horseshit. But the pro for him being voted is, like you said, the longevity. His legacy of evil is top tier. So if you look at Robotnik, kind of a silly bad guy. I don't really fully understand the story there, why he hates Sonic. Here's the thing though. If you're going to say a pro about Robotnik, and this will lead into his con, he's actually faster than Sonic the Hedgehog. If you make it to the end of Sonic Two, as I recently did, there is a foot race that happens and it doesn't matter if you're running a Sonic or if you're in your little run like Naruto. Yeah, and Naruto runs all the way to the end. So he is faster than the enemy that he is trying to beat. And his enemy, Sonic, the only thing he's famous for is his speed. So why go through all the extra stuff? Why build the giant robots? Why do all that stuff when you can just say Sonic, I bet I can beat you, and we'll go our separate ways?

Wulff (B): That he's got to think it's jewelry, right?

GP (E): Yeah, I mean, can't blame that.

Wulff (B): All he's really after is the the bling bling.

GP (E): So, you know, that's robotics kind of.

Chard (A): Cue the ring sound. Cue the ring sound.

GP (E): Sinister, would you put the the ring sound in after you make the shiny thing? And anyway sure, and show me every step of the process. But the thing is I love you so much, Sinister. You're my best friend. I got to give it to Wiley for those reasons.

Chard (A): Oh, man, there's so many inside jokes in this episode. I think you and I might have a similar answer being Sega kids at one point in our lives.

Jake (C): Yeah, for me, when I look at this matchup, they do feel very similar in that they both fail a whole lot. And I'm not as familiar with the X lore and ZX and all that stuff. I only know the classic Mega Man games and Dr. Wiley there, where even when he's not the bad guy, he still kind of is, but he still loses every damn time, and he keeps making invention after invention, and they all fail to make a man. So I don't know, but it's also.

GP (E): The sorry, go ahead. I'm sorry, I don't mean to keep interrupting.

Jake (C): Yeah, not to say Robotnik is this supervillain. He also loses a Sonic every damn time. What does it say when the most brilliant mind in that franchise loses to a blue little fur ball? Every time, right? Like every single time. Yeah, he's faster than.

Sins (D): All that means is that Sonic was the true villain all along.

GP (E): Look, either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.

Jake (C): So here's where I'm going to fall on this one, because I think both of them are inept villains. From my experience in the franchise, I played with them. They both lose all the time.

Sins (D): I come back and come down.

Jake (C): No, well, I care for the sake of the science in this bracket, in this tournament important, it's relevant. We're doing dedication here, dedication. We're professional at Press B. So, look, don't let me forget, my point comes down to shit, I lost it.

GP (E): Well, while he's searching Sonic, which one are you picking?

Chard (A): Robotnik or Wiley?

Jake (C): Who's more recognizable as a bad guy? If you went to the streets and you asked ten people who's actually a villain of these two names, if you name drop Robotnik or Eggman, and you name drop Wiley, most people are going to say, who the fuck is Dr. Wiley? Nobody, nobody knows who that guy is. But I think more people know who Robotnik is. I think he has more of a legacy as a bad guy good or if he's bad at the job or not. He's more recognizable. So my vote is robotnik.

Chard (A): I think the only reason Robotnik benefits from that concept is because of the movies and their recent, recent release. I think if you took James Carey out of this whole picture and you don't have this movie series and you go and ask people, who do you know, I think Wiley would win, personally, because there's more games with a minute, I think it would still be close. I'm not saying that it would be a sweep or a landslide, but I definitely would think that more people would know Nintendo game Mega Man, at least the originals, than they would Sonic stuff. That's me personally. I'm a Sonic kid. Not over mega, man. I love Mega Man, don't get me wrong. But my hang up on Robotnik and why I think he was worse than Wiley is because he trapped animals in all his fucking machines. He was captured woodland creatures and had them power his fucking machines, which is what Sonic was doing. Now, I'm going to bestow some knowledge on you gentlemen, because many, many years ago I had a magazine. It was a Disney Adventure magazine. Within this little book was Sonic's origin story before it came out. Now it was in the was it.

Wulff (B): When he was brown?

Chard (A): Yes, when he was brown.

Wulff (B): I know it.

Chard (A): Yes. Okay, good. Someone will believe me. Yeah, I used to have kids.

Wulff (B): I am very familiar with this.

Chard (A): They used to be friends.

Wulff (B): Yeah.

Chard (A): And then Sonic got his powers by some scientific experiment gone wrong. And Eggman got his powers by trying to eat an egg next to the same machine that gave Sonic his powers.

Wulff (B): Yeah, the whole mishap that happened turned Sonic blue and made him even faster than he already was. And unfortunately, Eggman was eating a hard boiled egg or something, and Egg transferred to him. Robotnik is kintibor backwards. That's how he got his name. But again, this isn't the game, lord. This is random.

Chard (A): I'm so happy you knew that, Wolf. That makes me happy that you recognize that. All right, good, because I thought you guys were going to stare at me like I was talking on my ass. If I was the only one who knew that story, I guarantee you I.

Wulff (B): Think I saw that in the game pro, personally.

GP (E): But wow, you guys are colluding. I think somebody paid off somebody to tell their story.

Chard (A): Anyways, I picked Robotnik over Wiley myself because I was a big Sonic fan growing up, and I still am a big Sonic fan growing up. And he has some cool inventions. He made mechasonic. He has the big fucking Wiley robot that's a big pain in the ass to fight. Those are some cool shit. Now I know that Mega Man's got every single fucking robot man ever and woman now ever created and thrown out there that he had to fight so much, in fact, that we were refucking cycling the names of cold in different adjectives and verbs. Because frost man, ice man slippery man frozen after so many degrees, man has to be there so hard man. Flash man. Fucking light man. Fucking woodman. Fucking flash man. Fucking blade man. Metal man, sword man. Kintaro man.

Jake (C): You know what's really, truly evil? What's truly evil? Is the hit boxes on the sonic tube end, boss. That's true evil right now.

Chard (A): You're not wrong. How many deaths did I get out of that shit? So, yeah, Wiley wins this one. I'll stick my flag on the Robotnik Planet and you guys go fly away and like, why the world? That's fine with me.

GP (E): Real quickly. Well, I will admit eating an egg next to a reactor or whatever is a cool origin story. The thing that makes Wiley kind of awesome is he was the mirror image on a different path than Dr. Light. Like, they were besties and then they diverged, and I think that's very cool. I think that's more compelling than, I want to eat this and hope nothing bad happens.

Sins (D): It didn't involve enough hard boiled eggs.

Chard (A): That's when we thought eggs were healthy and they actually weren't, and then they were healthy again.

GP (E): Okay, to that. And this is a bit of a rabbit trail science when it comes to eggs is very confusing. They say it's good for you. They say it's bad for you. Only the white parts are good. But I find the white part of the egg cuts up my gums and I don't like eating that part.

Chard (A): Okay. And that's how he became a supervillain.

Sins (D): That's the wrong white part of the egg.

GP (E): We'll move on.

Jake (C): Okay?

Chard (A): Fantastic lightning round. Fantastic first round, gentlemen. Fantastic first round. Very are we ready for the lightning round?

Jake (C): Yes.

Chard (A): All right, first off, in the lightning round, bowser of the Mario Saga versus Handsome Jack of Border Lawns. Come on, gentlemen. Go.

Jake (C): Bowser. Bowser.

Sins (D): Handsome Jack.

GP (E): Are you saying that to be shitty, though?

Wulff (B): No, wait, I'm going to say Jack.

Sins (D): Is a better villain.

Wulff (B): I'm going to say Bowser again. Earlier, we were trying to say how little he's done, but honestly, he made Mario do the work for him. He turned the kingdom, the Mushroom kingdom, into bricks and let his own nemesis kill them for him.

Chard (A): Kept him employed.

GP (E): Bowser moves on.

Chard (A): Yeah, that's three for Bowser and Handsome Jack. But Bowser. Okay, good.

GP (E): What would you have said, George?

Chard (A): I would have said Handsome Jack, because that man thinks he's the hero.

Sins (D): Yeah.

Chard (A): And that's fucked up. There's nothing worse than someone doing the wrong thing and thinking they're right the entire time.

Sins (D): No, not even scary.

GP (E): Because of how I load the dishwasher. I would like to say I didn't.

Chard (A): Mean to personally attack one.

GP (E): I'm very proud of him.

Sins (D): I want to point out, it's not thinking that they're right, it's knowing that he's right.

Chard (A): Right, exactly.

Wulff (B): Quote Malcolm Reynolds. There's nothing worse than a monster who thinks he's right with God.

Sins (D): Yes.

Chard (A): And that guy. Yeah. Malcolm Reno's. Good old Malk. Lightning round.

Wulff (B): Firefly, man, firefly.

Sins (D): Yeah, I got you.

Jake (C): I got the reference. I get that reference.

Chard (A): I left those nerd goggles at home.

Sins (D): Apparently, that man over there is playing Gallagher. That's fine.

Chard (A): Semi lightning rounds. Gladys versus Silvada Winchester.

GP (E): Oh glados got lucky.

Jake (C): Yeah, glados is the actual villain here.

Chard (A): Gladys yeah. Glados, you go back to the cage with Lucifer. Savannah all right.

GP (E): Sorry about your soul.

Chard (A): Moving on. Top three. Okay. Why'd you put robotnik? Dude, it's Wiley, first of all. Yeah, he's trying to cheat, okay?

Wulff (B): Trying to give robotnik the golden buzzer. What the fuck?

Jake (C): I'm not even going to dignify this with an answer. Okay, the brackets are randomized, I slipped up.

Wulff (B): The wins aren't.

Chard (A): Okay. Wow. I'm starting to wonder about this Canadian AI. System. More so than I normally do. All right, guys, top three. Let's start picking our top three.

Jake (C): Hold on. Keska versus Mary Wiley. Yeah, let's hear it. You didn't do the last one.

Chard (A): Okay, I'm sorry. Keska versus Wiley.

Sins (D): Go.

Chard (A): Well, you see what happened.

Wulff (B): Wiley had the staying power. Wiley's impact lasted till well, I mean, so did Kefka's, probably.

GP (E): Yeah, Kefka.

Chard (A): Thank you.

GP (E): He changed face of the planet.

Jake (C): Yeah. Forever.

GP (E): He rearranged existence. That's pretty impressive. As far as villain credentials, he killed.

Chard (A): An entire kingdom because he wanted to.

GP (E): Wiley repurposed some robots.

Wulff (B): Yeah, but like you said earlier, his final fuck you was the zero virus, which is very long that lasted.

GP (E): Yeah, I'm not trying to take away.

Wulff (B): From last, but interstellar travel.

GP (E): Hold on now.

Chard (A): Wow.

GP (E): I was just trying no, I love the devil's advocate.

Sins (D): That's great.

GP (E): The yellow devil's advocate.

Chard (A): That's the last we'll hear of Wiley for tonight. No, we won't.

GP (E): He'll be back.

Wulff (B): He'll just wear Sunday all along Clark Kent levels of incognito and it works.

Chard (A): I'm not doing it. It's this weird fucking foreign.

Wulff (B): Believe me.

Chard (A): A robot fighting usual hair, mr. X. Okay, final three. Let's pick our top three. Mario Brothers Bowser Gladys of the Portal series. And Kafka. The Final Fantasy series. Gentlemen, what are three, twos and ones?

GP (E): I know the answers.

Jake (C): Bowser is going to be three, right?

Sins (D): Bowser's three.

Chard (A): Yeah, I got a bowser. I want to go bowser Gladys.

Sins (D): That's what I like. I'll go with that one.

GP (E): I would have gone Kapka. Bowser. Gladys.

Jake (C): I think Gladys more iconic than Bowser, I think, just in terms of being a villain.

GP (E): Okay, glad metrics. Who do you think has more tattoos in the world? You think there are more bowser tattoos or more glados tattoos?

Chard (A): I don't know, but I think it.

GP (E): Makes myself because I have one of each.

Sins (D): I'm now thinking of getting a glados tattoo, now that you've mentioned it. And not a bowser tattoo.

GP (E): If it's not a tram stamp, I send it back.

Chard (A): Bowser and glad. I was looking each other in the eye.

Sins (D): Yes. With Kafka sitting above them.

Chard (A): That's right.

GP (E): I'm going to get the aperture logo around my nipple.

Sins (D): It'll be great.

Chard (A): No, I think bowser, you should have a portal going into one and out the other.

GP (E): There we go.

Sins (D): Three out of the three. Bowser to me is the softest of the three. No, because sure it is.

Jake (C): Van.

Sins (D): He got Mario to do his evil bidding and destroy people. But at the end of the day, who does he really want to kill?

Jake (C): Nobody.

Sins (D): Right?

Wulff (B): Nobody. He just wants to get married.

Chard (A): Mary just wants to fucking smoke a bowl and chill out. But Gladys wants fucking hot down here, bro.

Wulff (B): Glados want to blaze it.

Sins (D): Fuck wants to fuck with whatever your.

GP (E): Name is, so long as you're in the one building. Bowser's evil knows no bounds.

Chard (A): He's been like the hell world running around and shit.

GP (E): No matter where the whistle tornado takes evil, too.

Sins (D): Who's to say that anybody else exists in the world? Gladys is literally thinking, this is the last person alive.

GP (E): Because.

Wulff (B): Hold on. Can I bring us back to when we were playing grabbing the mic, super Mario 3D, world on the switch when the remake came out, right? I got to the end of that game, and first you get to world seven, and Bowser's got this whole carnival kingdom suspended on an island in the air that is held up by a glass pipe, right?

GP (E): Bonn yes.

Wulff (B): And then all day, you finish that world, and he's got another fucking island up in the sky suspended on another glass pipe. The engineering prowess of this man's army is a hook.

Chard (A): Engineering prowess? And we're going to talk about an AI that's trying to kill you inside.

Wulff (B): Of a he could ever change. Clearly, if he can suspend two islands on glass pipe whoa.

Sins (D): Glass pipe is a far cry from building robotics. He's a far cry from building robotics.

Jake (C): The only robots he builds are the mechacoopas and they're fucking wind up. He can't even do batteries right. His biggest crime support with his seven.

GP (E): Kids wind up makes it smarter instead of batteries.

Wulff (B): Clown, cop.

Chard (A): And it doesn't matter because just waiting for Peach to come out and 420 blaze it with him.

Wulff (B): Capable villain on his own. But he has such he commands things and they get done. Whatever he commands, it's done.

GP (E): Gladys doesn't delegate. No villain, arguably, has been better at delegating than Bowser.

Wulff (B): And they listen.

GP (E): They listen and they listen. And he names his children interesting things. And he says, there's eight worlds here that need to be guarded. I got the last one. I need to have seven kids. And what's he do? He has seven kids.

Chard (A): Hopped or two if I had seven kids.

GP (E): I'm not saying he's not weird. I'm not saying he's cooler than Gladys.

Wulff (B): Wait.

GP (E): I'm saying he's a more prolific villain.

Sins (D): Who did he knock up?

Chard (A): Leave me alone.

Sins (D): Who did he knock up? Since he's trying to get with Peach?

Wulff (B): We don't know.

GP (E): We don't know.

Wulff (B): But he only has one.

GP (E): You're right.

Wulff (B): They're his sisters and brothers. Children who we don't know. We assume he's just taking care of them, maybe even Bowser family. And we don't know it. I don't know.

Jake (C): Like babies. Kids.

Wulff (B): Thought his name was Bowser. Cooper.

Chard (A): The Bowser brothers the almond browser.

Sins (D): I'm saying bowser's three.

Jake (C): Yeah.

GP (E): Who else agrees with that? I think we all know Kepka wins.

Chard (A): Yeah.

Jake (C): Hold on now. Kafka versus Gladys.

Chard (A): You hold on now. Really?

Wulff (B): Kefka versus imaginable power.

Sins (D): Yeah, I have to give it to Kafka.

Wulff (B): Living space crazy really doesn't want to.

Chard (A): Just because he wants to be different and he doesn't have to be.

GP (E): Early on, Kefka was going to win.

Sins (D): Gladys and Kafka are both crazy, but Kefka has the power to destroy worlds.

GP (E): Yeah.

Jake (C): If you gave Gladys, if you let her out of that complex, could she not destroy things?

Wulff (B): She doesn't care to be out of the complex.

GP (E): Did anybody let Keska do anything?

Wulff (B): No, he just got a whole song about doing science to make the world better.

Chard (A): She'd be like handsome jack. She'd think she was right. Yeah, that's pretty scary. But it's not Kefka's.

Wulff (B): Purview is very small compared to Kefka's.

Jake (C): Okay. All right.

GP (E): Closer than I thought. Dentist. We get it.

Chard (A): Yeah. The minute you put Kef on here, you knew it was going to go to number one. You knew that if I didn't put.

Jake (C): Them in the brackets, there'll be butiny.

Wulff (B): Just to make this official, how many people agree with Kefka as number one? Okay, that's four of us.

Jake (C): Fine. Look, your toothpaste has not been scientifically proven to prevent cavities and tooth decay. Fuck you. But that's okay.

GP (E): I wish we could see the report from that last dentist that ends with fuck you. That'd be hilarious.

Wulff (B): Sound like Gladys has three votes for second and two votes for third. So it sounds like it's Kefka, Gladys.

GP (E): Bowser and Jeff is saying we're predictable. I think sometimes you can predict things because it's just inherently correct.

Chard (A): Yeah. If we're never wrong.

Sins (D): Is correct predictable.

Jake (C): I know I'm never wrong.

Wulff (B): Let me posit this to the listeners and viewers as the man who didn't, if you think there's a villain worse than Kafka, come in the discord and share it with us, please.

Sins (D): There you go.

Wulff (B): Comment on the YouTube, comment on the video.

Sins (D): Come into.

Wulff (B): Video game. Video game villains.

Sins (D): Press.

Chard (A): Also, we're going to premise this. It's okay to be wrong because Jake's on the show.

Wulff (B): Shit.

GP (E): Wow. Now? Yes. Just because we as a group decided to kept the one it's not official until Jake where that's by hosted wiley might still win. We don't really know.

Sins (D): I keep realizing that Jake has the power to you're an excellent host right now. He could be like click. Thanks, guys. See you.

Jake (C): Yeah. Gladys pulls off her hat and it's widely all along. I am curious, though, for listeners if there is a better villain for this list because we did struggle a bit trying to determine what villains put on this list.

GP (E): We labored.

Jake (C): So there's a lot out there and it's tough.

Chard (A): There was laboring.

Sins (D): Yeah.

Chard (A): Or chugging. Dr. Robotnik.

GP (E): Good job.

Chard (A): That's the Canadian version.

Jake (C): Which is different than the American dr. Robotnik for sure.

GP (E): Do you guys even have eggman up where you live? I don't know.

Jake (C): Why is he eggman all of a sudden? He's been a robotic in North America for decades. Why they changed his name? Because he's always been in the movies. He's eggman in the movies.

Chard (A): I don't know. That maybe copyright.

Wulff (B): Yeah, I don't know.

Chard (A): I mean, they have a giant blue hedgehog where they don't have a copyright for ignorant.

GP (E): March Radness has been fantastic.

Chard (A): It's sonic.

Sins (D): To do the required to do the required like this subscribe tell your friends, go to press btcancel.com where you can find our discord to come. Tell us how wrong we are.

GP (E): Yes. More than anything, the key takeaway is tell us why we're wrong.

Sins (D): Yes.

Jake (C): Tell these other four enthusiasts why they're very wrong.

Sins (D): Thank you. Or Gladys fans, unite. Let's go.

Jake (C): Yeah.

Wulff (B): Okay.

GP (E): One last thing. If I were going to get a blue and an orange portal tattoo on my body, it would be the armpits. It would look like the toss of armpit hair.

Chard (A): Just better yet, you have them shave the armpit hair and then whatever's on the other side, have them draw that in the portal so when you lift it up, it looks like you're looking at the tattoo part of the way you got it done it. Wow.

GP (E): I've got a $25 budget for this.

Chard (A): It looks like you're going to get the sharpies out because that's how that sharpies and the needles.

Sins (D): Jeff just brought up. Andrus from starfox. Who. Andross, yeah. We would happily take on Kafka. Moving on to another round.

Chard (A): No way. That andros beats out Sylvanis Winchester. No way. What a fantastic episode. It's good. Great. We made a whole hour and a half, as is our normal bracket time. So I want to thank the five of you that's including me, I'm thanking myself for coming out and doing this. Guys, let's do the round robin. Gentlemen, where can they find you?

Wulff (B): Jake?

Chard (A): Take it away.

Jake (C): You can find me on Twitter, sicjake and sometimes on YouTube. I've been de rusting with Battodes. It's rough. Leave it at that.

Chard (A): Where Wolf? Where can they find you, my friend?

Wulff (B): Mostly here. Hopefully soon. On YouTube. I've got a couple of videos I've recorded. I just haven't uploaded them because I don't get down to the office enough lately.

Chard (A): All good, Jake. I mean GP. Jake, you already went. Stop stepping in front of GP. GP.

Jake (C): We are both handsome. Thank you.

GP (E): You can find me on you can find me on Twitch under S-I-C-J-A-K-E. Search Google for it, tell you meant it. And I am sinister.

Chard (A): GP. If you had a doomsday device, I'd power it. And Cinnastar. Where can I find you?

Sins (D): Twitch TV cinestar 77. Where I think I'm at about the back quarter of Chrono trigger.

Chard (A): You'd like to think that, wouldn't you? And you can find me on Twitch. C-H-A-R-D-M-O-N-K twitter advanced. GG drink up. Enjoy. No taste. And here Friday nights with these wonderful gentlemen who have yet to fire me doing something wrong. Guys, thank you so much for being here. We will see you next week with more march. Radness wolf send us out.

Wulff (B): The Kempka is a lie.

On this episode of Press B, we dive into the world of video games based on movies and explore some of the most disappointing and frustrating adaptations ever made. From poorly executed gameplay mechanics to shoddy graphics, we discuss why these games failed to live up to the hype of their source material. Join us as we relive some of the most cringe-worthy moments in gaming history.

Press B To Cancel now on Youtube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel and Instagram @pressbtocancel.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Transcript: GP (A): Alright, everybody. Hello and welcome back to our podcast. Press B to cancel.

Jake (B): You had to do the opening line.

GP (A): Can I say hi first or you want the because I was going to lead into it.

Chard (C): All right.

GP (A): I have this. Okay.

Jake (B): You're right.

GP (A): If it please Your Highness, I will.

Jake (B): Okay.

GP (A): All right.

Sins (D): Okay, everybody start over.

Wulff (E): I thought we'd do a poldo, but in Dead. Hellos.

Chard (C): This is our first podcast. We've never done this before.

GP (A): You can host if you want to host.

Jake (B): No, it's okay. I'm good. It's all right.

GP (A): Since you copy did you not? Okay. No. So this episode is a little bit different, which is my fault, but I want to touch on that. And then I'll do the opening line and then we'll do our introductions. But I want to say this, everybody. It's march. Radness. I'm thrilled this is going to be a particularly fun episode because we're all in a hateful mood, if you weren't already picking up on that. This is one of those rare gems, a hidden gem, if you will, of an episode where we all get to just trash on things. And I think we all enjoy that. Except for Jake.

Jake (B): My second favorite hobby, no gangster things people like.

GP (A): So without further ado, I don't have an opening line. I have an opening bit. We'll say it that way. And this is, I think, kind of explaining the logic of what this episode is going to be. So let me paint you a picture with my imagination brush. Okay. The process I'll wait. The process begins when a video game developer says, wait a minute, I have a thought. I'm going to have a thought. Yes, it's gone. The process of original thought stalls. And secondhand, creativity is the order of the day. Let's just loosely adapt a popular movie into a video game, says one of the drone workers. I love it, says the suits. One voice speaks up from the darkened into the room. If we do that, you got to ask yourself one question do I feel lucky? Chill out, dickwad. We'll make money off of this. The process is rushed at best, and the day comes to present the new trash to the old money. This is garbage. A trash heaps the size of the moon. But it'll sell. That's no moon. You should give him his dignity. This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen, says the one voice from the darkened in the room. Yeah, it sucks, but we spent too much money to abandon it. When can we release? How about Friday the 13th? Wasn't that bad luck? Look, Friday the 13th is better than Monday the whatever. So the day comes and it's available to the masses. The reviews suck, but your allowance has to go somewhere. You close your eyes, praying so hard that the game will be at least a little bit fun. I'll be as good as you want me to be. Forever. God, just please don't let this suck. You hear the voice of God respond. Just wear the most excellent promise you can make. You go home, you open the box, the cartridge stares at you as if to say, I'm not really bad. I'm just drawn that way. Every evening I died, and every evening I was born again. Resurrected. You play and you play and you lose life after life. And that was my childhood. This game was as terrible as the developers knew it would be. A house of condiments and nothing more. The game was so bad, it ruined lives, ended marriages for the world. It was released on a Friday, but to me, it was a Tuesday. But that was life. And life finds a way decades later. We no longer have cartridges. We have subscription services. Multi pass. I met you guys. The podcast was if a hand reaching out to me saying, come with me if you want to live. Guys, we're going to need a bigger podcast. Jake, I am your father. Today on actually holy fucking okay. But well, in a good way, right?

Sins (D): Oh, fucking epic. Don't talk over the intro.

Jake (B): Over the extended intro.

GP (A): It's extended the extended intro. That's all the time we have today.

Sins (D): Yeah.

GP (A): Welcome back into Press be to cancel. So if you pick up on what we were talking about today, video games that were poorly translated no, let me re hit that. Movies poorly translated into video games. And in continuing with the spirit of March Radnus, we are doing this bracket stylize. And I'm over the moon excited. But before we get into that, I want to go through today's deus. We've got the full crew here today. Let's start off with Mr. Werewolf. Say hello. How are you doing today?

Wulff (E): I'm doing all right. I'm doing all right. It's going to be a lot worse from here, I'll tell you that.

GP (A): I love the optimism is what I like. This is all uphill. It's going to be great. My man. Chardmuck. How are you, sir? Welcome in.

Chard (C): Now, that's one big pile of shit.

GP (A): Oh, man. I love it. I love it. Sinister. Welcome in. How are you, sir?

Sins (D): I'm doing well. And I have one question for you.

GP (A): Okay.

Sins (D): Have you seen this boy?

GP (A): Why is Wayne's World not on our list anyway? And then, of course, sick Jake. How are you, my friend?

Jake (B): I'm doing good. I'm looking to an episode full of us agreeing and coming together in harmony and peaceful debate.

GP (A): I don't see that happening at all. But it is so good to have you. And I want you all to know there are no other groups of four people I would rather argue this with than you all. So let's jump right into it. These bracket episodes tend to go long, and I don't think this will be the exception, because if there's one thing we all enjoy doing, it is bashing the things I do want to point out a couple of things for anybody who's going to be upset that the list is not longer. We could do this all day. We're very Captain America that way. When we started the list of, hey, what should be on here? It was tough. Something to remember. There's more games out there than what's on this list. That just suck. But today we are voting for the shittiest adaptation of a movie into a video game. When you hear me vote for the worst possible thing, just please remember I'm.

Sins (D): Supposed to real quick.

GP (A): Yeah.

Sins (D): If you think we didn't put a movie to video game adaptation on the list that we should have put in the comments or come to our discord and blast the fuck out of us.

GP (A): Yes. Let us know where we messed up so that we can discuss it.

Jake (B): Seriously every week.

Chard (C): Also, I need to point out that not only did GP go with Wayne's World after have you seen this boy? That's where my fucking head went to. And I think I have a problem up top.

GP (A): Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so let's jump right in the first bracket as determined by a random, I guess, program. Is that right?

Jake (B): Completely random.

GP (A): I came from the Super Nintendo called Superstar Wars. I believe sinister. That was one of your entries. Why don't you start us off by talking about Superstar Wars courage?

Sins (D): It was not my entry, but I'm happy to talk about it because I played it today and I made it through the first level. And I question how this is a Star Wars game simply for the fact that well, okay, no, that's not true. I don't question how this is a Star Wars game. I question how this is actually tied to A New Hope, because you are Luke Skywalker at the beginning, running through the desert like he was doing, obviously, in A New Hope tattooing run.

GP (A): Thank you.

Sins (D): Running into scorpions that shoot things from their tails.

Chard (C): Listen, we don't know much about the flora and fauna of Tatooines. Let's not.

Wulff (E): I'm sure we all remember the beginning of the movie, how he just forced his way into the jawa.

Chard (C): I specifically recall the scene of him absolutely annihilating this jaw sandroller.

Wulff (E): Right.

Sins (D): Hold on, folks. Because we took care of Return of the Jedi at the beginning of this game because you fight the Sarlac in the Sarlac pit as the first boss.

Chard (C): This was him coming home to his aunt and uncle before everybody, before they showed up. We didn't know what he was doing beforehand. He wasn't in his room fucking watching hollow grams and doing unquestionable things to himself. No, he was running around in sand, biting the local Sarlac pit and having a run in with the jaws.

GP (A): Off the hip straight in his face. I have to point this out because this is my favorite thing about the game. When you shoot a bad guy, they don't explode. They don't fall over. They go flying off the side of the thing. And it is the greatest thing in this video.

Chard (C): We all know gravity on Tatooine is much weaker than it is in most atmospheres.

Sins (D): But I will say this. I was waiting for when I had to negotiate with the Jawas for Droids, and it never happened.

GP (A): You negotiate with your blaster. Yeah, I'm sorry. Off. That's what it is.

Wulff (E): And they do.

GP (A): You shoot them in their face, and they fuck right off.

Jake (B): Oh, boy.

Chard (C): Got a handful of cold fusion with your name on it. You're lucky jawa.

GP (A): Guys. Somebody get that scorpion.

Jake (B): This is on the list.

Sins (D): This is Jake's game, but I played it today, so I figured I could talk about it.

Jake (B): So there's three of these games, one for each of the movies, and the reason why I want this one to be there the first one, and I know it's kind of from the movies, but it's a Star Wars game, and you don't have a lightsaber for I feel like a good chunk of this game. It's Blasters only there's multiple characters. There's Han Solo and Chewbacca, but you're mostly Luke, and it's Blaster for most of this game.

Sins (D): I feel like, well, Blasters was seeking missiles at certain points, obviously, in the movie.

Chard (C): Yeah, you know what?

Wulff (E): I can kind of forgive that, because in one of them I don't remember which one I think it is the third one. Maybe it's the second one. I don't know. But he talks about how he used to shoot whomp rats for, like, target practice. Right?

Sins (D): Oh, I think I shooting.

Chard (C): They're only 2 meters.

Jake (B): Seeking missiles.

Sins (D): I think I shot wamp rats in.

Wulff (E): The first level, so I can allow the fact that it's just like Blaster for the most of the part of the game, even though his health bar is a lightsaber, which is weird.

Sins (D): I think that this video game has proven that Luke shot first.

Jake (B): He wasn't even asked, but they were answering it anyway.

GP (A): Yeah, you just so many legions of Star Wars fans by saying, card shot first. He wasn't even into. Also, is this really what's going on in the Jawa vehicles?

Sins (D): Yes.

Chard (C): I was going to say the Jawa security system is extremely well designed, I have to admit.

Jake (B): It's a death trap.

Wulff (E): Well, yes and no. I mean, if one kid who's just a farmer can bust in, it's not that well designed.

GP (A): I'm just saying it just seems intense considering they probably don't have orders every day.

Chard (C): Okay. Not all of us have that ability.

Wulff (E): He doesn't know that he's got the Force. He's just bringing four because he just.

Chard (C): Doesn'T know what it is yet. I've got a mole on my neck. It could be mo. I don't know.

Wulff (E): Effectively turned Luke into a hoodlum.

Sins (D): Yes.

GP (A): Good contra. Did it better.

Chard (C): He's a Manchester United fan, too.

GP (A): All right, so I guess we're just coming after everybody today. Luke shot first, which is nobody knew about.

Sins (D): What is this game against?

Chard (C): Health Sword.

GP (A): Yeah.

Sins (D): Health sword? Yes.

GP (A): You can.

Wulff (E): By cutting them, it extended the lightsaber that he doesn't have.

GP (A): Yeah, right. It's a metaphoric. Lightsaber. Okay, here's a question. Which was the worst video game adaptation of a movie? This or jaws. Jawas.

Wulff (E): What the hell?

GP (A): You don't remember this part of the.

Chard (C): Okay, this is one of the leads joinTo you don't know.

Jake (B): Joinko come on. Now.

Sins (D): It'S an amalgamation of Jawas smashed together and then pushed into the log.

Chard (C): No, I thought that was Java's. Like Cousin.

GP (A): No, it's in the extras. Okay. Does R Two know how to do platforming?

Sins (D): No, we learned that in the prequels that he has jump jets.

Jake (B): Yeah, he has jump jets. He's a mess.

GP (A): Yeah, I'm just saying, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense looking this thing up.

Wulff (E): I have just learned of Wikipedia. I just want to throw that out there.

Jake (B): I love Wikipedia up there with alpha memory. It's good.

Sins (D): Okay.

Chard (C): Why does Jaw looks like he man on top of that? Sorry, keep going.

Jake (B): Jaws was GP. That was yours, right?

GP (A): Yeah. Okay.

Wulff (E): Explain jaw. Jaws was based on loosely based off.

GP (A): Of a great movie called Jaws for the Revenge.

Wulff (E): This time it's loosely that's the first one where Jaws roars. Right?

Jake (B): You know the scene in Jaws where you're bombing jellyfish from an airplane?

Chard (C): Yeah, absolutely.

GP (A): What are we going to do? We need points. Let's just got that. Okay, this one, I'm glad is on the list because it's LJN, and people famously hate Lgn, and for kind of good reason. But actually, this is a guilty pleasure of mine. I do love this game. I grew up being afraid of it because it was difficult. My brother couldn't beat it, and if my brother couldn't beat it, I wasn't going to try it. Plus, it was about a giant fucking shark. Checked off all the boxes of things that I was afraid of. I had a discussion with my wife last night about it, whether or not I should really attack this game, because, again, it's got a sentimental spot right here in my ticker. But she's like, the game is short. You can beat it in no time. And there's really no development of anything. And she's not wrong. It's LJN, but it's on the top tier level for LJN, if that makes sense.

Jake (B): The low bar is low.

Sins (D): As a movie tie in.

GP (A): As a movie tie in. You remember there were no scenes. It was just going from one port to another port that was still pretty close and then going back, trying to get a radio and collecting conch shells.

Sins (D): I feel like this was reskin.

Chard (C): Are you doing the ocean?

Sins (D): Somebody was like, hey, we have this underwater game. Let's reskin it and call it Jaws.

Jake (B): No.

Wulff (E): Yeah. I feel like this was a rush job of a licensed game and, you.

GP (A): Know, how I know it's not a good one. It doesn't have Mario Van Peebles. If they really cared about people liking it from the movie, give me Mario Van Peeble and Michael Kane.

Wulff (E): Michael K. This is a game I had as a kid, and this is a game that I repeatedly would go back to play. Like Josh crap out of me three.

Chard (C): Times the size of the freaking boat on the map. Just FYI.

GP (A): I can hear this music, though.

Wulff (E): Yeah. This is a game that I always found kind of fun, even though it's frustrating as hell. Right. I would repeatedly go back to it sometimes with Game Genie, sometimes without, but I would always try Genie. Right. It drew me back in constantly, and I had fun with it when I'd first pop it in, at least for a little while, until things started really going downhill for that particular run. And then I'd be pissed at it and be done with it for a couple of weeks and then pop it back in again. It's a game that constantly drew you back even when it frustrated you. It's inexplicably fun because it's all frustration. Right.

GP (A): It should not be as good as it is, by all accounts. Yeah.

Jake (B): The gameplay loop of the scuba diving and collecting shells and shooting fish and manta rays. Is that from the movie? I don't know. Maybe not. But it is fun. It's like a schmup. It's a schmup with the exploring on the overworld. I think this game is actually a lot of fun.

GP (A): And you don't get a lightsaber for most of it.

Sins (D): Yeah. You don't get the lightsaber on the end of your piercing bow of your ship.

GP (A): Let's talk about that. To beat the game, after you've taken down and depleted Jaws's power bar, there at the bottom of the screen, your first person view on was that the stern or the bow of the boat waiting for the shark to come so you can ignite an electric pulse to make him jump out of the water. And then somehow you boost the speed of the front end of your boat and spear him with it. And then he falls to the bottom, and then a seaplane flies off into the sun. It says the end, and you've wasted 20 years of your life. Yeah. There we are.

Chard (C): I've never seen a boat move that side to side like that.

Sins (D): Yes. Really?

Jake (B): This defined the first person shooting genre.

Sins (D): Really?

Wulff (E): First person stabbing?

GP (A): Yeah. You ever stabbed.

Sins (D): Oh, there it is.

Wulff (E): Yeah. You never on a boat when it's going completely sideways like this?

Sins (D): No. Well, I've especially not been on one.

Chard (C): That has, like, just go into hyperspace. Why did it do the little fucking star? Is this tie in with Star Wars?

Sins (D): It's doing the Kessel Run in seven parsecs.

GP (A): Nice. So here's the thing. If only Jaws Four had been Jaws a video game, it would have gotten better reviews. This might be the only entry on the list where the game itself horribly adapted from the movie. But if only if only the movie had been so good. So I don't know. What do we think? Which is the worst of the movie game adaptations? Jaws at least has a shark and a boat. Star wars has shoot in the face.

Sins (D): I'm going with Star Wars because the only thing that really applies is Luke Skywalker and a blaster. Everything else in this game has nothing to do with the movie.

Wulff (E): Yeah, like the cantina fight. Really? There was like somebody got decked, and then they run. It's not you come into the cantina, guns blazing, like it's the old west.

Sins (D): I don't know how you the jawa fortress that you have to move your way through to apparently get androids.

Jake (B): Uncle Jawinko. What's wrong with Uncle Jonko?

Chard (C): Uncle Joeyko is kicking into there. He's trying to watch the prices. Right? And Luke, did anybody else have joinko.

Wulff (E): Jeans back in the early 2000s?

Chard (C): Joey?

Sins (D): So my worst of these two is star wars, the video game.

GP (A): Okay, so that one for star wars.

Sins (D): Super star wars.

GP (A): Superstar wars. Jake, what say you? Jake?

Jake (B): Yeah, I'm with you. I like Jaws. I think Jos is a fun one. Lgn makes a lot of trash. And I know that this is not a great game, and it's very simple. If I bought this as a kid, would I have liked it? No, but when you were in the world of emulators and you can play every game for ten minutes and not feel bad, yeah, it's good. I think John's great. So superstar wars, with the difficulty spike in it, it's soberly, hard, and complete nonsense all the way through the game with the giant Sandwalker, the Sarlac pit. It's so off the rails. And I know they're trying to expand things from the movies, but I just feel like as a movie tie in, it's not that great. So superstar wars is the worst of the two.

GP (A): Okay, wolf, what do you say?

Wulff (E): I feel like Jaws strays a lot less from the source material than superstar wars does. So I got to say, superstar wars gets my vote. It's the worst of the two.

GP (A): All right, well, I've been saying this a lot lately, but chart, you and I can say whatever the hell we want. Who's your vote?

Chard (C): I think Jaws garbage. I think it's awful. I think jaws. I'd surprised. I'm shocked. That game looks and plays terribly. I remember it playing it as a kid being like, what the hell am I even doing? And the boat goes side to side again. Listen, I need you to do the.

GP (A): Cheebos for the story.

Chard (C): Luke has a story we are unfamiliar with at this point in time. He could be a marauder of jawas and just playing dumb and playing innocent. He might have gone into most Eisley's cantina and just completely annihilated everybody in there. Last week, and that's why they're pissed at him.

Wulff (E): Do me a favor for a second. Do me a favor. Imagine you play Jaws and then you watch Jaws four. How disappointed are you? Now imagine you've never seen the Star Wars movie A New Hope, and you play super Star Wars, and then you watch the movie it's based on. How disappointed are you that Luke isn't killing everything and everybody?

Sins (D): And where are the fucking scorpions?

GP (A): Yeah, nobody gets in the space.

Wulff (E): You know why?

Chard (C): There are no scorpions.

Wulff (E): How many Jaws survived that first movie?

Chard (C): Roll it around.

GP (A): I love passion. I want everybody to know.

Chard (C): Look, I don't know why we're able to have this discussion.

GP (A): If Werewolf is raising his voice level, it means something. Yes, there's a P in something. Okay? Something. If Chard is speaking loudly, it means.

Chard (C): I need water because everybody else is louder than me. And I'm trying to get over that. If you can't agree, be louder.

GP (A): I feel like Luke from Superstar Wars, the video game, was probably the inspiration for Ray from the sequel trilogy in that he's just inexplicably Opie and just able to kill anything with little to no effort. So I'm going to go with Star Wars as well. And so Star Wars moves on to the next bracket. Okay, very good. So second bracket. Actually, both of these are going to be ones that chart had brought up. So we're going to start with you on both of these chart. The NES Friday the 13th.

Chard (C): Oh, God.

GP (A): Tell us, why does this game suck as a movie adaptation?

Chard (C): I don't understand how the movie and the game even marry you to one another. You're a child. You're a child. A camp counselor at Camp fucking Crystal Lake running around in a goddamn circle. Are there wolves in the original? I don't remember. Friday the 13th. Were there wolves out in the middle of the damn woods just completely ruining your life?

GP (A): Who was the bad guy from the first Friday the 13th movie? Do you guys remember?

Sins (D): It was actually sorry, hang on. It was mom.

Chard (C): Yeah, it was mom. The game's adaptation of the movie is absolutely asinine. And let me tell you about the fucking music. Holy God. Hey, Jim, we need a song for this, man. I only wrote, like, 13 minutes for this thing. That's fine. Just loop it. When a kid's in trouble. When a kid's in trouble, just make it sound like a car horn and make it happen the entire time. Also, let Jason just get beat up by rocks. That's fine. Chase Jason off with rocks, and then we're going to have zombies. Where are zombies in this fucking movie?

Sins (D): I thought they were wolf men.

Chard (C): I know what the hell they are.

Jake (B): They were not in the movie.

GP (A): Yeah.

Chard (C): Yes. Well, I mean, they could be disgruntled Vietnam veterans that are still in their gilly suits that are popping up out of nowhere. I don't know that would make more sense than what the hell is happening in this game right now.

GP (A): Let's assume these kids that you're playing as are five foot tall. Okay? We'll just say that maybe they're short. Whatever. How are they jumping 15 foot in the air? I don't know, 6 meters in the air?

Chard (C): And why?

GP (A): Ridiculous.

Jake (B): And why you give kids s'mores?

Chard (C): Each counselor that you play as have a different stat, but they all look the same, so I don't remember who I'm playing. I'm playing his white shorts guy, Mark. Get fucked, Mark.

GP (A): Whatever.

Chard (C): He does the same. Anybody here? Freaking battle axe. When did that come in? None of this makes any goddamn sense.

Sins (D): No.

GP (A): Here's what I want. Shard, I want you to 200% this. I need the chivos, please.

Chard (C): No.

GP (A): Please.

Chard (C): I tried to do this on a randomizer in a charity event and it was awful.

GP (A): Everybody in discord, go ahead and sign off if you want charred to get the chivos on this, please. That would be great.

Chard (C): Not happening.

Jake (B): Dragons layer or Friday 13th chivo setbuilding right.

Chard (C): For complete edition achievements. How's that sound? Because that's what we're doing.

GP (A): Nobody wants to self promote until the end of the episode. Clearly. Okay, thank you. I'll mess with you. Okay. Says the game makes no sense when compared to the movie. And even if it wasn't based on the movie, still a shit game. Yes.

Chard (C): Are those yetis, like, what is appearing in the woods?

Jake (B): I think I saw bigfoot.

Chard (C): That seems like a bigger to me. Not only is there a murderer, an undead murder running around, but there's cryptids in the goddamn forest on top of that. Seems like a big deal. I don't know.

Sins (D): What were you going to say?

GP (A): No sinister. Have you played this?

Sins (D): Have you watched a number of people play it, though?

GP (A): Say what?

Sins (D): I have not, but I've watched a number of people play this.

GP (A): What are your thoughts? What's your take on this?

Sins (D): My thoughts are I'm in complete agreement with Chard, honestly. Because really, it is running in a circle, going into cabins, finding random shit or nothing may or may not help or nothing. Notes that tell you, oh, it's in the woods. You go into the woods and I don't know what I'm looking for, but it's there.

Chard (C): What's in the woods? Candy, sex, a dead body. Why am I going into the dead woods?

Sins (D): All of those will be better than this game, including the dead body.

GP (A): Wow. Okay.

Sins (D): You finally get Jason, not his mom. You get Jason and you have, like, an asteroid contest.

Chard (C): He runs away three times.

GP (A): He's an undead zombie. He's not an idiot. Wolf, what do you think about this game? What's your take?

Wulff (E): I hate this game. It's absolute trash.

Chard (C): Thank you, Wolf.

GP (A): I love it.

Wulff (E): And somehow I put it in more times than Jason revived himself. I had this game growing up. I wish I did.

GP (A): Yeah, right. Because when you're a kid and you're not allowed to see the movie, but you own the game. You feel like you're getting away with something.

Wulff (E): No, but you're not. The movies my parents were not overprotective.

GP (A): But I'm still not allowed to watch it.

Wulff (E): I wasn't super into horror movies. Aside from, like, aliens. Right. I love the Alien franchise. I didn't watch a bunch of I knew Freddie Krueger. I had seen a couple of those. I knew Jason. I had seen a couple of those, but I didn't know them well. But you know who Jason is, right? Like, you're seven years old. You know who Jason is, especially. This game is such trash. And it was like, you know what? Jason needs more Castlevania and NASCAR.

GP (A): I feel like they made this game.

Wulff (E): It's all that's what this game is, a loop of lifters.

GP (A): This game was made and put out just so Castlevania Two would look better by comparison.

Sins (D): I think you're right.

GP (A): Yeah.

Chard (C): You're not right.

GP (A): Okay, go ahead.

Chard (C): Even the programming on the change and pass and all that stuff, change is not even centered. Somebody just threw it the fuck up there, and it's, like, drifting into the boundary of the box that they put it in. This game is so just and why do the children's faces look angry that you're trying to save above? Are those your lives? I don't even know that character you're.

Wulff (E): Playing as.

Sins (D): Why does Mark's face look like he's a demon? Why does his face look like he's a demon?

Chard (C): Not everybody problems, and Jason is not one of them.

Wulff (E): This is great. We're being murdered.

Jake (B): Okay, look. So there's a Friday 13th game that came out a couple of years ago. It's kind of like, was it dead by daylight? Clone or whatever?

Chard (C): Yeah.

Jake (B): So one of the skins you're going to lock for Jason is the purple jumpsuit, the blue mask callback to the NES game. This game had an impact on this franchise.

GP (A): 40 years later, they gave him a skin. I don't know.

Sins (D): Yes.

Jake (B): Okay, now, that also in our last week's episode. We talked about Ninja games and how we all liked the games that made.

GP (A): You that was seven days ago.

Jake (B): Yes, exactly.

Chard (C): At least.

Jake (B): But games have made you feel like a badass. Do you not feel like a badass when you're on a campground jumping 20ft in the air, hurlaxes constantly feel like.

Wulff (E): A whim because everything is decimating you for hours out of your week? You are garbage.

Jake (B): GP.

GP (A): Yeah.

Jake (B): Okay.

Chard (C): Is this a good game?

Jake (B): No.

Chard (C): But is it worse than the game?

Jake (B): It's up against.

GP (A): The next one. The one thing I do want to say about this game that I enjoy is that you don't know when you're going to encounter Jason. And in that way, it reminds me of trying to find the Technodrome from Ninja Turtles. When you go through a door, you turn a corner, and there it is. You're like, Oh. Thank God.

Wulff (E): Okay, everybody's favorite part of the Ninja Turtles game.

GP (A): Yeah. Right? So Friday the 13th or Jurassic Park on the NES. On the NES? Yes. Okay, I'll start this one off. No, Chart will start this one off because it's his game. But then I'll go after him. I've got a very brief thing to say.

Chard (C): You go ahead.

GP (A): I think this game, Jurassic Park for the NES is a better game than Friday the 13th by virtue of the other ports, were not as bad. So at least it had some good version of it out there. Or comparatively good. I think Jurassic Park is better than Friday the 13th for the NES. That's all.

Jake (B): No, that's a cop out. We're not talking about other ports of this game, which are different. We're talking about this game, Jurassic Park, NES. Is this game trash or not?

GP (A): DNA? So I'll take this one. Thank you.

Chard (C): We need to clarify something here, too. BTW, the reason this game was selected by me was because you specifically requested that I relate the movie to the game as an adaptation.

GP (A): Yes.

Chard (C): When the hell does Alan Grant carry a freaking bazooka at any point in the game that was going to be deleted? Scenes walk into one of the many facilities and find question mark boxes on them that have fucking bobs in them for some god awful reason. That hurt you. When did that happen? When did he get fucking eaten by a Tyrannosaurus rex in a boss fight? I don't remember. A Triceratop stampede being the biggest pain in my ass in the entire goddamn game. No. Lo and behold, this man is armed to the teeth more than fucking Rambo, and he's running around here shooting copies because he doesn't I don't remember copies being in the movie. They were in the book. I'll say that. But they weren't in the movie.

Sins (D): They were in the movie. Yeah. No, they were in the first one.

Chard (C): Where were they in the first one?

Sins (D): They were there for a moment.

Chard (C): Not existent. That's where they were. They were in the movie. The little lizard guys. They were not in the movie. They were in the book. They weren't.

GP (A): Do they have the BARBASOL can? That's what I want to know. Is Newman with the barbecue can anywhere in this?

Jake (B): No.

GP (A): Does anybody say, hold on to your butts?

Sins (D): No. I was going to basically say what Chard said, which was, as a movie adaptation, this is like you start with.

Chard (C): A bazooka, it looks like a trash can. A it looks like a child picked up a PVC pipe that was broken on the road and was like, hey, it's my bazooka. And then they went with it.

Sins (D): And then I don't remember in the movie, when they were looking for ammo. When they were running around looking for ammo.

GP (A): They got the bad guy. Correct. Friday the 13th had the wrong damn bad guy.

Sins (D): That's true.

Wulff (E): There were only six dinosaurs in the original Jurassic Park movie. Six different species of dinosaurs, and the little ones were not one of them. So there you go, Charlie.

Sins (D): All right.

Wulff (E): Also, you know what? This game did not have enough Jeff Goldblum. Damn it.

Sins (D): No.

GP (A): Nothing has enough. Jeff.

Chard (C): Where is the part of the movie where they're getting chased by little volcanoes? Where's the lava field in Jurassic Park?

Jake (B): When do they go to Mars? In Jurassic Park.

Chard (C): This is kind of you guys asked me why I selected this game. I even got the inquisitive. Jake, why did you pick this chart? You sound like Jerry Seinfeld. Why is it that we pick this game for our podcast?

Wulff (E): Can I start this off human, please?

GP (A): Yeah.

Wulff (E): So let's start the voting here. Jurassic Park, I don't think, is as bad a game as Friday the 13th, but I think it is a far worse representation of its movie than Friday the 13th. And so I vote Jurassic Park being the worst of the two here. We're talking about their adaptation.

Sins (D): I am going to concur, because at least I know they got the bad guy wrong in Friday the 13th, but at least there's a crystal lake, and there are camp counselors, like there is.

Wulff (E): There'S a crystal lake, and Jason is scary as hell.

Sins (D): Well, his mom in the first one.

Wulff (E): But that's fine with giant piles of dino poo. Once the game came out, we were seven movies deep, so Jason was established. All right.

Sins (D): Okay. Yeah, I'm with you. There is no scene that I have seen in scene that I've seen in Jurassic Park, the video game that was.

Chard (C): In the movie, except for your dino DNA.

GP (A): Those are good things. Those are good things. I think I might be switching up to Jurassic Park on this one. Yeah. So is that three of us so far for Jurassic Park?

Chard (C): Jake, what are you again, jason could be wait, who say who? Jake, do you want me to go last?

GP (A): I'll go.

Jake (B): Yeah, I'll go real quick. So when you mentioned Jurassic Park for the NES chart, the reason why I question it is because I thought it was universally accepted that the SNES game was the worst of all of them. And that was boring because that's a game where you don't have bazooka in that game, but it's the same egg hunt. It did have some neat first person sequences, but there's no guns in that one, from what I remember. Literally, there's, like, a hide and seek of eggs. So that's why I thought that was worse. But watching this and the volcanoes, the lava fields, the giant bazooka shooting cannonballs that are like mushroom clouding enemies, this does not feel anything like a Jurassic Park game should be. And my vote would also be that this is the worst of the two. I think Friday 13th is good. No, none of these games are good, but I agree it's more fitting of the movie. And it had a legacy, an impact in a later game. Nobody's going to remember Jurassic Park at the NES. I think it's the worst of the two.

Wulff (E): In defense of the Jurassic Park game, even though I already voted, it's the worst of the two. The Super Nintendo game. I have a buddy who absolutely loves a Super Nintendo game. And to be fair, it's got some really good music and some really cool design elements in it. I don't think it's a terrible game by any means. It's just not representative of the film.

GP (A): Got you. And that makes sense. It's a hard thing to remember. Like, we're not voting. Which game sucks more? It's which one's the worst adaptation? What do you got?

Chard (C): If we were going on games that were terrible and which of these two I would rather play, I would pick Jurassic Park as the one I would rather play versus Friday the 13th.

Sins (D): Right.

Chard (C): But we are specifically on the vein of adaptation. So jurassic park.

Jake (B): Fuck that game.

Chard (C): Absolutely not. There's no representation. I think it's a clean sweep through all of us that Jurassic Park is going to move its way up to in the brackets as worst movie adaptation of this particular fight.

GP (A): Okay, very good. Well, then let's move on to the next bracket, shall we? Okay, fight Club for the PlayStation Two. Would you start us off on this one? Talk to us about Fight Club.

Wulff (E): Sure. Okay. So this is a game. Let me preface this with I love the Fight Club movie. The reason I love it has changed over the years. But I absolutely love the movie. It's still one of my all time favorites. I have the soundtrack. I pop that into my CD player sometimes. Listen to that. I've read the book multiple times. And the game came out for PS Two back in the day. And I was like, I don't know, because all the reviews and previews of it in the magazines were like, it's a fighting game. But I was like, Fight Club is not a fighting movie. One of my buddies thinking, man's, action film. Right? Because it's barely an action film at that.

Sins (D): It includes such action as hitting golf.

Chard (C): Balls off of the roof, peeing into.

Wulff (E): It'S almost a Kevin Smith movie with how heavy it is on the dialogue over anything else. Right?

GP (A): Okay.

Wulff (E): Nightclub. The game was like, you know what? Let's take nothing about the movie except a handful of characters that you see beating the crap out of each other in the bar's basement and make an entire game out of those fight scenes, those handful of fight scenes in the game. And then we got this guy right here for PS Two. Well, it was also on Xbox and the entire game. It's this weird story about how you're this dude who's looking for Tyler Durden, but everybody's like, how'd you find out about Fight Club? You aren't supposed to talk about Fight Club. He's like, I don't care. I'm looking for Tyler Durden. And he's just getting his butt kicked the whole time. Right. It's so stupid.

Sins (D): As you fight in front of Paper Street House, just like in the movie.

Wulff (E): Yeah, exactly. A lot of fight on the house. Some of the locations I can forgive. Like fighting outside of the bar.

Chard (C): Sure.

Wulff (E): That happens in the movie. Parking lots at the airport. Sure. I can see that being used as a location for Fight Club in various cities.

Sins (D): The port on a container ship.

Wulff (E): But never in Paper Street soap Company's garden do they fight? That does not happen.

GP (A): Okay.

Wulff (E): This game is just goofy. And then it's got like Genesis SNES era cutsceeds, right? You're seeing them on screen right here where it's all stills, but then there's voice acting over it and sound effects to stills. So you hear people beating the crap out of somebody, but you don't see it. You see like a snippet in time from it. It's dumb. There's Bob. You see him and he's got boob.

Chard (C): Physics, which is very honestly, my brain goes to that. Bob was the first character to design and they worked really hard on him and it took too long. So they just slapped everybody else together.

Wulff (E): I want to defend this game. Now that I've crapped all over this game, let me defend it just a little bit. The actual fighting game mechanics of this game are not terrible. And it brings some neat ideas to the table where your characters are actually getting beat up through it. And that's not something I remember seeing a whole lot of, especially in that time. You see it now, but even still, it's not a super common thing. Right? Right. And sometimes if you go for a rematch, your characters are still beat up from their last fight, which is pretty cool. Not just yours, but the person you were just fighting. So they keep that, which is neat.

GP (A): Okay, real quick, though, and I'm going to make my bit short because these episodes go long. But yeah, the reason this one for me might went out from the entire day, and here's why. Chuck Palinick, the author of Five Love and the movie is brilliant. Also. It's a nihilistic take on the toxic effects of consumerism. Right?

Wulff (E): Yeah.

GP (A): And so the fact that they made this game, all of the good it flies in the face of what the movie is about.

Wulff (E): Exactly. Those were my words earlier.

GP (A): Yeah, but no, that's what I'm saying. This has to be the worst adaptation by virtue of that alone. It is like saying you remember those Bible games they used to make for like, the NES? If you had one of those, but it was really just like pro Satan, that would be the right. That would be a horrible adaptation. So that's my bit on this. I don't care if the fighting mechanics were fucking brilliant. This is undoing the point of the movie in the book. So that's me.

Jake (B): Also, if they had taken this story, the plot points of the movie and interspersed them with battles between it, I could have come around on this game maybe a bit more. But the fact that the story has nothing to do with the movie, really. It's just the characters.

GP (A): Yeah.

Jake (B): And the fact that it's told not in cutscenes, but static images. Like you said, this is a Genesis game. It's pretty freaking sad.

Wulff (E): I think I could have forgiven this game if it were based on Project Mayhem and that mission and then interspersed it with Fight Club moments. Right. But then it wouldn't have been Fight Club. Right. It would have been Project Mayhem. And then they would have been like, well, we can't sell this as Fight Club.

Sins (D): I mean, they could have done Fight Club, like, colon Project Mayhem, right? Yeah.

Wulff (E): But this game definitely needed a little bit more of the film's actual intent in it, and it completely missed it.

GP (A): Okay.

Chard (C): There's a thing that I can mildly appreciate as I agree with everybody's comment. How this completely undid the whole point of the fucking movie, which is what I think is ironic and I thought it was funny, is at least.

Wulff (E): That.

Chard (C): Era of PlayStation Two and Xbox 360 when they released movie games like this, it always seemed like that they may have a main character or something, but it was around what was going on. Let's take the Matrix game that was released during that time as well, right. It was based on the movie. You weren't but it was its own thing, right? It was its own kind of thing. But you're not Tyler Durden or the narrator in this. You are a guy that's trying to find him. This game completely does not even have any reason existing. And if they could have just changed the title to, like you said, either the Project Mayhem thing or Man Fights Dude With Tits, I don't know, whatever they want to call it, at least they could make the spin off of this is, like, based off of Fight Club. The fighting things of Fight Club or whatever. Make it blood sport. Just call it fucking blood sport.

Sins (D): I think I'm agreeing with you that Matrix, when it came out, the video game, they also introduced the entire little short story. Matrix Video made it so that you're like, oh, we have this entire universe. Right? And so the video game is in this universe. Okay. I agree with every point. I have a couple of additional points that are huge strikes against this game, and one of them is, why do they have bone breaking cutscenes? Because that happened in the movie, right.

Jake (B): Revolutionary.

Sins (D): They showed the X ray, and they showed somebody smashing an arm. Anyway, and then the other one, and I think this one buries this game forever. And this might put it in. I might predict that this makes number one of the bad. Fred Durst is an unlockable character yeah.

Wulff (E): Hanging out on their front porch for three days, right?

Chard (C): Yeah, of course he was. He was totally in the movie.

Jake (B): Did he do the soundtrack for the movie at all?

Chard (C): Was the soundtrack of the game?

GP (A): Was skater said no.

Chard (C): The Dust Brothers, wasn't it?

Sins (D): It was the Dust Brothers.

Chard (C): It was the Dust Brothers did the whole soundtrack.

Wulff (E): And the Dust Brothers get, like, three tracks in the game. And then another guy, Scott Clawson, does the rest of the soundtrack, except for the opening demo movie that introduces you.

Chard (C): I don't know what it's called.

Wulff (E): It literally opens up with a Limp Biscuit song after the if this is your first night, you have to fight and then fight, and it's Limp Biscuit. Is this limp biscuit? And then you hear Fred Durst little whiny singing at a point. We're like, oh, yeah, it's definitely limp biscuit.

GP (A): That's the sound. That was accurate.

Jake (B): That was bang on.

GP (A): Yeah, we all agree this is a flaming pile of shit.

Sins (D): Yeah.

GP (A): Let's move on. I think this one's actually a fun game. I'm not going to say anything other than that this is when it charged Dick Tracy. I like, yeah.

Chard (C): Dick Tracy had a huge difficulty spike. It was quite difficult to get past. You had to put Fight Club against it. Fight Club has completely drained me of, like, anything.

Jake (B): Dick Tracy.

GP (A): What do you even do? You drive around, you interrogate, you solve little puzzles, and the game can be played multiple different ways.

Sins (D): I just watched Spin off the board.

GP (A): Yeah, you can pick up a superfist, superfisted that guy.

Jake (B): Like, when I played this game as a kid, I got more lost in Dick Tracy than I did in Roger Rabbit. I just didn't know what to do in this game. I just couldn't figure it out. The side scrolling stuff was okay. I just didn't know where to go. So that's why it was bad for me. I just didn't know how to play the game.

Chard (C): I guess these Grand Theft Auto, pre Grand Theft Auto, overhead map driving games like this and Roger Rabbit and all that stuff, the problem with this and again, it's not a movie problem, it's a game problem that, like Jake said, you get so freaking lost. And the fucking difficulty spike in this game is just ridiculous. But because it's against Fight Club, it's going to survive.

GP (A): Yeah.

Sins (D): Tracy, the worst carries on. This isn't going to survive.

GP (A): This is a much better this will.

Chard (C): Survive on a positive note, other than it's got the same character. I haven't seen Dick Tracy in freaking years, but I do recall it being, like, very off the cusp on it. But it's Roger Rabbit. It's essentially the same goddamn game with less tunes in it.

GP (A): Not much better than Roger Rabbit and more guns.

Chard (C): It is much better than Roger Rabbit.

Wulff (E): It's only a little argumentative, but I.

Chard (C): Remember a lot of people points hiding and staying in one spot or walking towards Dick Tracy and just let Warren Beatty, like, give him a fucking shiner in the face. But my memory fails me. I'm an old man. Yeah. Sorry. Fight Club. I'm still on the fight club, Tracy.

GP (A): Fight club to go on dick Tracy the game.

Jake (B): At least it has the characters. At least it has the theme. Is it the doctor somewhere? I don't think so, but I think it's more in the spirit of the movie than Fight Club is. Like we just discussed at length. Fight Club the game is like one scene from that goddamn movie and completely skips the whole point of that book in the movie. My vote is Fight Club is the worst of the two.

Wulff (E): Yeah.

Sins (D): Concur.

GP (A): Okay, well, then let's advance Fight Club and you'll like this, Segue. We'll start us off the next bracket. Roger Rabbit. Who framed Roger Rabbit? Okay.

Wulff (E): I love this game. I love this game. Really? Yeah. I had this game as a kid, and I loved it. It's so cool that you can go find Benny the Cab and drive him around town instead of just walking around and dodging cars, getting run over, things like that. Birds stealing Roger off the ground and flying away with him, weasels being dickheads.

GP (A): And random wind up before you punch. Yeah, there's some charges.

Wulff (E): Yeah. You wind up your punch to deck things and people and cartoons and whatever have you. It's kind of cool because you can't just walk up to a person and talk to them and then punch them and they'll still want to talk to you. They're like, Buzz off, or something like that. Right. They get mad at you, which is nice. It makes sense.

Jake (B): It's true to life.

Wulff (E): Yeah. This game throws a lot of the aspects of the movie away. It does. But at the core of it, it's still find the will, get to Toontown, stop Doom from destroying the tunes.

Sins (D): So you're saying the story, the core skeleton, aligns with the movie?

GP (A): Yes.

Jake (B): You have to get you're not wrong.

Wulff (E): Now, the difference is you're not finding the will. You're going around finding pieces of the will, pieces between the city, the countryside, and Toontown, but at the same time.

Chard (C): Going around goddamn hands out of his jacket.

GP (A): Look, but you're right. To me, I do have nostalgia with this game. I grew up thinking it was a good game and then playing it as an adult and being like, oh, this sucks so much worse than I remember.

Wulff (E): No, I'm not saying it's an amazing game. I'm saying I love it.

GP (A): Right.

Wulff (E): There's a difference.

GP (A): Yeah, sure. No, I get it. I get what you're saying. Guilty pleasure. Absolutely.

Wulff (E): Yeah.

GP (A): And for whatever reason, there's a memorable, albeit short, soundtrack to it. It does hit certain beats, like you said, from the movie. It's not great, but there are definitely worse things on this list.

Wulff (E): It also has many locations from the movie. Right. You got RK. Maroon Studios. You got Valiant location of work and residence. You've got the mountains, the nightclub.

Jake (B): Right?

Wulff (E): Yeah. You have the ink and paint. You got Toontown the Factory made it into the game.

GP (A): Oh, my God. Yeah. And you got to wait for this idiot, Roger Rabbit. He just keeps getting knocked down. I'm getting frustrated watching this. But as far as adaptations goes, again, it could be worse. Does anybody have anything else they want to weigh in with? Who? From Roger Rabbit?

Jake (B): I want to know what it's up against GP, because that's what I want to know.

Sins (D): Yeah.

GP (A): Okay. No, this is good. This game needs to have this discussion. So sit down and buckle up. Et. For the Atari 2200.

Wulff (E): Et.

GP (A): I think, is going to advance. But let's talk about et.

Sins (D): What do you want to say? Jake, what do you want to say?

Jake (B): Just that, I mean, for the longest time, et. I always thought was the urban legend. That it was so bad that they buried in a landfill. And then that was true because they dug them up. There's a whole thing where they dug them up.

Sins (D): Well, it wasn't so bad that they buried it. It was it didn't sell. Right. And and part part of that this is, I think, where the discussion is going to come in. So I had this game as a kid at nine years old. I didn't think this was a bad game. But I also, at nine years old, didn't mind baseball with its four players on the field and literally whacking them anyway. But no, the thing is, as far as a movie tie in goes, and we'll get to the other part of it, but as far as a movie tie in goes, like, you're hunting pieces of the relay, right? The communication device. And you're being chased by the man. Right.

Chard (C): The man in the yellow hat. Is he looking for George?

Sins (D): Your whole purpose is what? Et's purpose is you're trying to go home. Right. So it is the skeleton framework of the movie. Now, is it a good game? No. And part of the reason why is.

Jake (B): Because where in the movie were there holes every five fucking no.

Wulff (E): I want to contest your statement. And that's not even it not the holes. Not wandering around the forest. How much Alien do you get in this game?

Sins (D): Well, zero.

Wulff (E): You get Elliot in the game. You get Elliot after et. Leaves. After Et. Leaves is when you finally see Alien. You don't see Et. Arrives, wanders around, does all this stuff, leaves. And then you see alien. What bearing did he have on this game?

Sins (D): Now, that said.

Chard (C): Neck out to change this idol.

Sins (D): They gave the developer, like, six weeks. They're like, this movie is coming out. Get this shit out by christmas. Like, seriously, that was, like, the level mouth in them.

GP (A): Then I will say this also. Technically, this is the second canonical Star Wars game that we have.

Sins (D): That's true. But there is the piece of this that it got buried in the desert because everybody says this caused it, but it was not the cause of the fall of video games. But it was a contributor. It was a pretty good contributor. Video games had already started going downhill, and then this piece of trash came out.

Jake (B): Yeah. The attractive I 600 hit a point in its lifespan where they were just pumping out games without any thoughts about quality. It was just quantity as much as possible. But this game yeah, it didn't cause a crash. It's just a trend that led to the downfall. And it just kills me that Spielberg actually signed off on this game. He saw it.

Sins (D): From what I heard, he literally looked at it and was like and walked away.

Jake (B): Yeah, good enough. But he got a pitch for this game and the developer gave him the pitch and then got signed off on this.

GP (A): Think about where video games were back then. Do you think he knew what he was looking at?

Sins (D): Well, I also think he has the part of it in the pitch that was like, you gave us six weeks. This is what we can get you.

Wulff (E): Yeah.

Jake (B): I remember playing this as a kid, and the thing that got me is one of the holes, there's a flower, and if you raise your neck, you can grow the flower. I just kept trying to figure out what was the point of that? Did I do something? Is that progressing? What the hell am I doing in this game? I never could figure it out.

Sins (D): I don't think there's progression from that.

GP (A): At all between the two. I think this one is the worst. So my vote would be for this one to move on. But I'd be shocked if this one wins the whole thing. For example, if this one goes up against Fight Club, this at least has Et. In it. The game is uttershite, and I wish it wasn't. I'm glad that the reports of its shittiness has been at least a little bit over exaggerated, but it is still horrible.

Jake (B): I do want to say that I was also going to say Roger Rabbit would be worse. But then when Wolf explained the plot points of the game and you're not wrong, they do line up with the story. And if we're looking at game in terms of adaption of a movie, roger Rabbit is actually the better adaption than whatever the hell Et. Is.

GP (A): True.

Jake (B): Yeah. My vote would also be for Et. To move forward as the worst of the two.

Sins (D): Yeah.

GP (A): So we got two for Et. To go on. It sounds like three with Cinnastar. Four. Is it swept? Et. Moves on.

Jake (B): Looks like it.

GP (A): Okay. All right. So let's see. Next one. I love this movie. Fifth Element, PlayStation One.

Jake (B): Okay.

GP (A): And that was brought to us by Jay.

Jake (B): Yeah. Let me pull up some footage of this one while I'm talking about so this one I brought up because I bought this game. I bought this game. And you know why? It could be three reasons. One, it was $10.

GP (A): Okay?

Jake (B): Two, it advertised having cut footage in the movie in the game. Because there is scenes in the movie in the game.

Sins (D): It does.

Jake (B): And three lilu fucking that I like. Millie Jehovich. So those are my three reasons for buying this game as a horny teenager. So sue me. I bought it. And you know what? Compared to Fight Club, which is PS Two. This is PS One. PS two fight Club has static screens for the cutscenes. This actually has movie footage. And it's not that low res. It looks pretty good.

Sins (D): No, I'm the gameplay.

Jake (B): Yeah. My God, the gameplay is terrible. It's just the side hops, the roll, the Tucker roll, the gun mechanics. It's just so hard to play. And to make it worse, it's not just a shooting game. It's a fucking 3D platformer. A 3D platform on the PlayStation, which is already hard to do. Right? But this is like a notch above bubsy. And that's not saying much. Like, this game controls like ass.

Sins (D): I like that in the very beginning of the intro, it spoils the movie.

Jake (B): Oh, yeah.

Chard (C): The whole thing. I'm assuming they went, these people had to have seen the movie. They bought the game but spoils the.

Jake (B): Movie, but yet not telling you anything about what you're doing in the game at the same time, which is unique.

Wulff (E): But that opening cut scene, I watched it and I was like, okay. If I had not seen the movie, I would have no freaking clue what the hell is happening right now. It's just now, everything. They're just like, look at all these high concept ideas. You get this right? You get that right? You get these things right? No, I don't understand anything that just happened. You haven't even shown me Gary Oldman yet. What's happening?

GP (A): Or did they? And he's just so good an actor. You couldn't tell Homer Simpson, though, by the way, he has Simpsons running physics. So, as somebody who hasn't played the video game, though, how closely does this align with the movie plot?

Sins (D): Not at all.

Jake (B): It's been a while since I played it. But it's kind of the movie plot. I mean, kind of, but you mostly get the plot from the movie scenes.

Chard (C): But they're levels themselves where Lilu is literally karate chopping the fucking police.

Sins (D): Right?

Chard (C): I don't remember that part in the movie. Shouldn't get bite until she does her studying of the world. That's when she starts getting fucking aggressive.

Jake (B): But in the movie, there's a scene where she's escaping the police, and that's the well, they got to, like, pat things.

Chard (C): Defending it.

Sins (D): Where was the part in the movie where Corbyn uses a computer to break open event?

Jake (B): It's got Ruby rod. It's got a 3D Ruby rod.

Chard (C): I don't want to play it. If I can't be Ruby rod, I don't want to play it. He's in it, but playable, though.

GP (A): There's got to be a game shark code for that.

Wulff (E): Frames at you between levels.

Sins (D): I remember this part of the movie where Lilu is literally doing jungle gyms to get from building to building instead of diving off the building and into the cab.

Chard (C): When did she have grenades? When were grenades used?

Wulff (E): Not only does this game not seem to hold all that close to the movie, but also the developers were like, grenades. The developers were like, hey, we really enjoyed Bubsy three D and Fade to Black. Let's mash them together and it'll be a huge hit. Two of the worst PlayStation games I've ever played.

GP (A): Somebody played this and said, we got to get on it with Spiderman.

Sins (D): Why did the train stop and go backwards?

Jake (B): Yeah, do trains do that?

Chard (C): What, did she run on the train tracks?

Sins (D): She was stuck on the a wall.

GP (A): Oh, my God.

Jake (B): It's a bad game, man.

GP (A): But the question is not, is this a bad game? It is, is this game better than Terminator? Two for dos.

Sins (D): Oh, shit.

GP (A): Yeah.

Jake (B): You guys play this one.

Sins (D): Okay, as far as a movie adaptation goes, okay, there's a scene where you escape the hospital by taking out the T 1000. There's a scene where you escape as far as it goes, there is a scene where you are riding your motorcycle with John Connor on your back, trying to escape the diesel that is driven by which, by the way, in the manual, it was described as an automated lorry. I may have gotten the European manual, but there is a scene where you.

Chard (C): Are there is a scene where you.

Sins (D): Are driving away from the truck, trying to escape. There is a scene where you have to repair the Terminator's arm, which there was a scene in the movie where he repaired his own arm. Now, the one scene that I struggle with is there's a scene where you have to put the Terminator's face back.

Jake (B): Together as a slidy block puzzle.

Chard (C): It's great.

GP (A): Yeah.

Sins (D): Now, as far as gameplay goes, this game is trash. This game is trash. The controls are bad. You remember as a kid, we all got those little slidy number puzzles as like in our Christmas stocking?

Chard (C): It's like we did that on Scorn.

Sins (D): Yeah. Every child loves that game, so why not put it in here twice?

GP (A): This is LJN.

Sins (D): And Ocean.

Jake (B): LJN is on a lot of this list.

Sins (D): If you want to at least talk movie adaptation.

Chard (C): Look at this cop chilling on the fucking brick wall like he's Wilson from Home Improvement asking how things are going while he's shooting at you.

Wulff (E): Today.

Sins (D): I get that there's one scene in this video game that doesn't really align, but, like, otherwise well, too, because there's the face puzzle, but other than that, the game does actually follow the story, the plot. So as far as an adaptation goes, is it a bad game? Fuck yes. Does it follow the story? For a decent amount.

GP (A): Okay, that slide puzzle things got me.

Sins (D): There's a scene where he takes on the T 1000 in the Metal Factory. Like that actually happens.

Jake (B): That happens, yeah.

Chard (C): Each character, the sprite of the character, they both look like the dude that played Bishop in Aliens. I can't remember his real name, which upsets lance Hendrickson.

Jake (B): Lance Henderson.

Chard (C): Why do they look like Lance Hendrickson in this?

Sins (D): It's a good club.

Jake (B): However, before this episode, Sinister, you gave me some video footage to use and it was like two minutes.

GP (A): Right?

Jake (B): You could only last two minutes in this game because how trash it is.

Sins (D): It is so bad.

Jake (B): You got me the full playthrough of it on YouTube and it's eleven minutes short as game. It's like the plot of T Two condensed into eleven fucking minutes, if you can stand it that much.

Sins (D): Now, they do use a few actual like, this came on one floppy disk back in the day. So to give you an idea of how much space it had and it had FMV footage. Now, sure, they were literally 3 seconds long, but from the movie itself, actually, in the trivia, they took that specifically from the trailer because they actually didn't have the movie footage when they made this game.

GP (A): That's how you know it's going to be shit when the game comes out before the movie is insane.

Jake (B): Yeah, but they had all the major plot points in this game, though.

Sins (D): I'm going to be disappointed that this one doesn't move on as the worst, because in its comparison, it did roughly follow the movie. But don't play this game, people. Don't play this game.

GP (A): Okay, then let's get to it. Let's get to the voting on this one. Which was the worst video game adaptation of a movie? Fifth Element for the PlayStation One or Dos Terminator Two?

Chard (C): Fifth Element.

Wulff (E): Fifth Element.

Jake (B): Yeah. This is weird. When I saw T Two Citizen, when you show them T Two, I thought that for sure would be the worst.

Sins (D): If we were going on gameplay, this one would lose.

Jake (B): But you're right, in terms of movie.

Chard (C): Adaptation, we're out of our element a little bit here because we usually are complaining about gameplay or.

GP (A): Wow.

Jake (B): Yeah. When we look at in terms of terms of movie adaption, because Fifth Elvin is trash. But I'd rather play that more than T Two, like a child that walks.

Chard (C): Into the middle of a conversation.

Jake (B): All right, fifth Eleven is the worst.

Sins (D): As far as adaptation.

GP (A): So we've got one more bracket to do. Yes. And then we'll get to the finale here. Okay, Wolf, your game dirty Harry.

Wulff (E): NES, where do I begin? All right, so this is a game. It's called Dirty Harry, but it is not based on any one movie from the Dirty Harry franchise. Instead, it's supposed to be its own story within the Dirty Harry franchise. So for those who don't know, Dirty Harry is actually five movies, right? Dirty Harry was just the first of the five.

Sins (D): Right.

Jake (B): I just didn't know that.

Chard (C): Loose, no.

Jake (B): Bond type situation. There's more movies?

GP (A): Yes.

Jake (B): Okay.

Wulff (E): Around the character of Harry Callahan.

Sins (D): Live free or Dirty Harry.

GP (A): Die. Harry.

Wulff (E): Let me read you the story of this real quick. Harry Callahan is a San Francisco police detective who rarely follows police protocol. A powerful drug lord known as the Anaconda has created a burgeoning drug smuggling operation by recruiting all of San Francisco's drug gangs. Harry must crack the case and take down the kingpin himself on Alcatraz. Literally, the villain is already based himself in a prison.

Chard (C): That's hilarious.

Wulff (E): Now, I can't say with certainty that I've seen any of the Dirty Harry movies. I probably have. I don't remember them, but I feel like there's not a whole lot of lasers shooting across the floor in dirty, hairy films. Don't know how many snakes he's jumping on.

Chard (C): Listen, I don't know how many of you have been to San Francisco, but in some of these rundown buildings, there's fucking snakes out there.

GP (A): Okay?

Jake (B): Do you shoot them with a gun? Well, you know what?

GP (A): You guys are American.

Chard (C): Maybe you do jump on them to daze them.

Jake (B): Okay?

GP (A): Punch him across the screen.

Wulff (E): For whatever reason, you're like cool guy 80s movie dude instead of Clint Eastwood. Throughout this entire movie, you look like.

Jake (B): Charlie Sheen with those glasses.

Wulff (E): Yeah.

Jake (B): You don't look like Clint Eastwood at all.

Wulff (E): No. But to this game's credit, it uses two digitized lines from the Dirty Harry franchise.

Sins (D): Go ahead and make my day.

GP (A): Yeah.

Wulff (E): You turn it on and it's, Go ahead, make my day. And I think when you get a game over, you get the go ahead. Do I feel lucky.

GP (A): Okay.

Sins (D): I personally remember in the movies when he kicked open chests of drawers to find things. I remember that.

Chard (C): When did Michael Jackson show up in the film?

Jake (B): Why did Criminal change color all of a sudden?

Wulff (E): You can buy a suit from some dude just tossing a flipping a coin.

Chard (C): In all Michael Jackson.

Wulff (E): I don't know what it does in.

Chard (C): San Francisco, but you're just buying a.

Wulff (E): Suit in the back. Not even a back alley is literally like the hallway second changing clothes with him.

Chard (C): He's on his way to do the Criminal movie. Now you look like Saturday Night Fever. Now you look like John Travolta.

Wulff (E): I always thought those snakes had, like, belts.

Jake (B): They do. Yeah.

Sins (D): GP.

Chard (C): Are you okay?

GP (A): I got to say this. I got to say this. It looks horrible, but I do kind of want to play it.

Wulff (E): I kind of want to go play it again, too.

GP (A): Honestly, I'm not pro drugs, per se, but can we appreciate the fact that somehow this one drug unified the entirety right. Of the drug cartels?

Chard (C): Maybe we're missing their act together. Maybe we're missing the point. Maybe we should be saying yes instead of no.

GP (A): But I will say no. I'm going to keep that. I'll tell you guys off air. John Mulaney did a really good bit about a Clint Eastwood movie called The Mule, and how just a lot of his movies seem to be just really fantasizing how op Clint Eastwood is so he can one man who doesn't follow police protocol, which I don't think would be a policeman for very long. That's not true. Yeah, I'm going to get myself in trouble here, but, yeah, he could take down the entirety of the drug cartel. Come on, man.

Jake (B): You're not wrong, though.

GP (A): The fact that you're already in prison or on Alcatraz is really funny. I'm glad you said that.

Wulff (E): I would believe Sylvester Stallone and his mom doing more damage than that.

GP (A): He's not reading anybody their rights. He's just opening fire.

Sins (D): Judge, jury, and executioner, man. Come on.

Jake (B): Is that a bat left? Is this Star Trek? Is that a Kligan? What's he making them with?

GP (A): When they die, though, they disappear. They fall down. They don't go flying off the screen.

Sins (D): He holds up the bat left. He's, like, running around. He's like, I will fuck you up.

Wulff (E): I think it's a trash can lid.

GP (A): Okay. The bulletproof trash can lids. I love that.

Chard (C): Yeah, of course.

Wulff (E): It makes it even funnier to think.

Chard (C): Of, like that all through the South Bay.

Sins (D): I like the realism of the drunken bum hobos in the buildings.

Chard (C): I like the realism.

GP (A): They're notoriously. Anyway, go ahead.

Jake (B): So just to clarify, this isn't actually based on a movie, though. This is just the character, right?

GP (A): Character, yes.

Sins (D): But it is named after the movie.

Wulff (E): It is named after. But I believe we're already four out of five movies deep by the time this game comes out.

GP (A): Yeah. So it's kind of like Friday the 13th in that regard. I don't see this one moving forward by virtue of who it's up against. Ladies and gentlemen, street Fighter. The movie. The video game.

Jake (B): What a game. What a game.

Chard (C): The game that became a movie. That became a game.

GP (A): Yeah.

Sins (D): All right.

GP (A): It was released on a Friday, but.

Sins (D): To me, it was a Tuesday.

GP (A): Tuesday.

Sins (D): So really, I wanted to start this discussion by saying simply one word about this video game. Why.

Chard (C): Not?

GP (A): Who was wanting this?

Sins (D): Who was saying, we have this video game that we made into a movie. Let's make that movie into a video game.

Wulff (E): Well, Capcom, of course.

Jake (B): I'll tell you what, guy.

Chard (C): Julia.

Wulff (E): This was Capcom's answer to Mortal Kombat while still keeping a street fighter. This let them venture into the digitized graphics area without abandoning the Street Fighter name. Right. And without throwing out the window for one game.

Jake (B): Well, I mean, it's not a good game. Much incentive to do more of these.

GP (A): How many platforms came packaged?

Jake (B): PlayStation, Saturn, at least. If not, and then it's, of course, arcade. I play this in the arcade, but it's at least the PS and the Saturn.

GP (A): If this game didn't come packaged with a little bit of cocaine, then I'm saying it deviated from the movie.

Sins (D): Right?

Chard (C): I want to know, just watching this.

Sins (D): When M. Bison flies through the air, does he have his cool movie shoes in Street Fighter? The movie, the video game?

GP (A): I don't know. Rest in peace, Ral. Julia. Man, we lost him too soon. This is another case of prolific actors whose final projects were kind of below their acting ability. I would also like to mention I'm going to hurt myself for this one later on, unicron played by Citizen Kane, orson Wells is his final movie role. It's Orson Wells. He absolutely should have probably done a more prolific or more important, I should say final project. But he was a big part of my childhood just for that movie alone. And again. Here Ralph. Julia. Iconic for a number of things, certainly not this, right?

Chard (C): I don't know. He still sold that whole character.

GP (A): Yeah, it was a horrible adaptation. And then they tried to explain his powers somehow. He is the part that made the movie.

Sins (D): I'm sorry. I'm going to talk about the movie for a second. If you watch the movie and you look at the movie as like, whoever wrote the script was actually doing it as a parody, it's great. It is front to back fantastic. As long as you go into that movie realizing this is a parody movie.

GP (A): That'S interesting.

Jake (B): Raul Julia is a professional actor and he gave the role his all. That's all there is he did to get to this game, though. Yes. It's a dig at MK and a chance to try to do the stop motion animation. It actually doesn't look that bad in terms of the graphics. The animations are pretty fluid for what it is. I mean, it's no Street Fighter, too, but it looks good. But I'm replying this in the arcades and the controls were janky as hell. And that's why I remember this game being so trashy. Is the controls sucked?

Chard (C): Now, as far as an adaptation jesus Christ.

Sins (D): As far as the adaptation goes, does this actually carry any of the story from the movie?

Jake (B): I don't know. Is there a story?

GP (A): Was there a story in the movie? Right?

Wulff (E): Yes.

Jake (B): You know.

Chard (C): Adaptation of the game to the movie. To the game, then the game and the movie.

GP (A): This is horrible, guys. This is the same level of cringe for me as, like, the ending videos from Twisted Metal. It's just that level of hard to watch. But that said, which is a worse adaptation, this or Dirty Harry for the NES?

Jake (B): So I'm just looking at the story stuff from a match. And there's an ending screen for Ken has nothing to do with the movie. And there's no intro, so there's no story mode in this. It is a fighting game, though.

Chard (C): Characters.

Sins (D): Why is Cammy in the background and James doing her go go dance? When did we go to a club?

GP (A): I was a fight club.

Wulff (E): Can I mention Tom did not have any faith in this game in North America? The home concept version in North America was released was published by acclaim North America and Europe. Acclaim published it.

Chard (C): At least they got Vegas chest rightfully oiled for the stop motion.

Sins (D): Well, and I don't remember I don't remember Kylie Minogue. I thought she actually wore more in the movie than it's like because this is Cammy, the video game cammy. I thought she wore more clothes in the movie. I thought Kylie Minogue wore clothes.

Jake (B): I thought at the end of the movie they all kind of wore their video game inspired outfits and that's what they're pulling from, I think.

Sins (D): Okay.

Jake (B): I think that's what it was.

Wulff (E): Ralph Julia was not actually in the game, by the way. He was supposed to be. He met the staff who were working on the game and was going to be in it, but he was already sick, so he could not participate. So they got his stunt double.

GP (A): Okay.

Wulff (E): But he had intended to partake.

Jake (B): I want to say that in terms of, like, the story adaption this versus Dirty Harry. Dirty Harry is not really based on a specific movie. This is movie characters, but not really based on the movie either. Was it cool in that regard? No, he's not either.

GP (A): Can both games go away? Is it really important that either of these move forward?

Sins (D): Yes, it is.

Jake (B): We have to be one is worse than the other.

Chard (C): I'm picking Street Fighter because there's characters in this movie, in this game that were not in the movie, but were there snakes in Dirty Harry movie?

Wulff (E): But Dirty Harry is implying it actually has a subtitle, I guess, in some parts of the world. So it was treated as its own story. But okay.

Chard (C): Dirty Harry.

Wulff (E): Does this game have a story mode? Does it have where you go through and there's cutscenes? Because a lot of Street Fighter games actually do give you story and an ending. Does this give you anything from the movie in that regard?

Jake (B): I fast forward to the ending of this play through and there's a short static screen about Ken living the good life after the matches, but nothing to do with the movie at all.

Wulff (E): Wow.

GP (A): I don't know. But it does have Ming NA win.

Jake (B): She's great. I do like her.

Sins (D): And Kylie Minogue. I mean, come on.

Jake (B): Yeah, I don't know much about Kylie.

GP (A): Minogue, but Ming Naw.

Chard (C): Can'T get you out of my head. Kylie Minogue.

GP (A): Okay, cool.

Jake (B): I think Dirty Harry is worse than this. I never thought I'd say that, but I think it's worse.

Sins (D): Okay, well, I'm going to vote for Street Fighter the game. The movie. The game.

Chard (C): I'm on the street fighter train too.

GP (A): Yeah. That's where I'm going down mostly because I want to see how this one's going to fare against some of these other ones.

Wulff (E): I got to go Street Fighter with you guys because it's just okay. It's not.

Chard (C): Dirty Harry not a movie stop anything.

Sins (D): This is literally called Street Fighter the movie. The game.

GP (A): Yeah.

Wulff (E): Street Fighter. The movie. The game should have had plot points and cutscenes from the movie. Dirty Harry was like, let's insert this as an additional entry into the franchise. And I mean, at least it's true to Clint Eastwood running around as a dirty cop killing a bunch of people, right?

Sins (D): Yeah, that's true.

Jake (B): If he was looked dressed like Charlie.

Sins (D): Sheen with sunglasses and occasionally Michael Jackson.

Chard (C): There was more cocaine in the last game than Dirty Harry game. And they were trying to form a drug. They were getting together as a drug cartel.

Sins (D): Yeah. The Dirty Harry game was about drugs.

GP (A): Okay.

Chard (C): Drugs and bonding.

GP (A): Round two. Now that we've discussed these games, I think we can all this is lightning Race. Okay. Round two. Star wars or Superstar Wars for the Super Nintendo versus Fight Club for the PS Two?

Jake (B): Fight Club. Come on.

GP (A): Fight Club.

Jake (B): Fight Club is so stupid.

Wulff (E): Fight Club.

Jake (B): It flies in the face of what that whole property is about.

Wulff (E): The existence of the game already does an injustice to the movie.

GP (A): This one, I know which one I want to and I know what I'm going to vote for, which, by the way, I think we all agree, right? Fight club moved on.

Sins (D): Yeah.

Chard (C): Yes.

GP (A): Okay.

Sins (D): As the worst.

GP (A): Okay. Very good. Yes. As the worst. Et. Versus Jurassic Park.

Wulff (E): I mean et. Does photo Jurassic Park?

GP (A): Yeah.

Chard (C): Jurassic park.

GP (A): Et.

Sins (D): Has a bit of the movie in it.

GP (A): Jurassic park just makes no sense.

Wulff (E): Just at a park full of dinosaurs with bazooka.

Jake (B): At least the plot in Jurassic Park on the NES is you're just finding these eggs and you got a bazooka, which has nothing to do with the movie at all. God, that's trash also.

GP (A): Yeah.

Wulff (E): Why is he running around collecting dinosaur eggs while murdering dinosaurs? What's the name?

Sins (D): They're easier to carry.

Chard (C): They're easier to carry dinosaurs in that game that weren't in the movie.

Sins (D): Have you tried to carry a live animal versus a tag?

Jake (B): You have several packs. Yeah. You guys are right. Jurassic park is worse in that regard only. It's just can we get a clip.

Chard (C): Of Jake saying, you guys are right, please, so I can put that on my strength?

Jake (B): Yeah, I'm going to scrub that from the episode. We'll edit that out. Don't worry. Okay.

GP (A): Jake, when editing this is about as honest as when he randomizes the how.

Jake (B): Wild, though, is Et. Fuck you.

GP (A): This was randomized.

Jake (B): But how wild is it that Et is not in our top three of worst movie movie?

Chard (C): Because we're talking about adaptations, we're not talking about gameplay.

Wulff (E): You know what that'll be next year's March Radness, we'll do this exact same set of games just as the worst. I don't want you to get a worst movie adaptation. How's that?

GP (A): No, let's do it during the year next March Radness. There's so many shitty, horrible games. I don't want to just keep doing the same twelve. We got to do a whole other set of shitty ass games.

Jake (B): There's so many bad games out there.

GP (A): But we can do the same.

Sins (D): One and two need to move on to the next list, right? We need to go yeah.

GP (A): Yes, I like that a lot. Okay. Dumping element or street fighter? Movies, video games.

Sins (D): Oh, dear God.

GP (A): Which one was a worse movie adaptation?

Chard (C): Fifth Element.

GP (A): Okay. Street Fighter at least has movie characters.

Sins (D): But there are cutscenes. There are cutscenes for Fifth Element in the game.

Jake (B): Yeah. So Fifth Element is closer to the movie than Street Fighter, the movie. The game is to the movie.

Chard (C): No, because Street Fighter the movie. The game actually has the actors superimposed.

Sins (D): Into the game, fighting and fighting.

GP (A): With the special moves.

Sins (D): I'm with you. Okay. Fifth Element is my vote.

Jake (B): No. Because Fifth Element actually has the plot cutscenes.

Wulff (E): Does it? I have no idea what's happening in that game at the first level, but they're still there.

Chard (C): No grenades. Fucking grenades. Where does she get grenades from? She does one or two.

Sins (D): Look, you don't scale where she puts her grenades. You don't.

GP (A): Carry on.

Jake (B): But she has a grenade in the movie. That one scene, and they just ran with it for the game. I think Street Fighter is the worst movie adaption. Doesn't have any plot points for the movie at all.

GP (A): Yeah. Okay, so I think we've got two so far for Fifth Element because that's mine. Two for Street Fighter. Wolf, you're the deciding factor.

Wulff (E): I'm the tiebreaker here.

Jake (B): Wait, what is the worst game?

Chard (C): Wait, GP. You want Street Fighter or you want.

GP (A): Fifth Element to move on?

Sins (D): No. Yeah. Which one do you vote for?

GP (A): Because I've Fifth Element.

Sins (D): I voted for Fifth Element. That's three.

Chard (C): That's three for fifth.

GP (A): That's three. Okay. I'm sorry.

Wulff (E): Okay, then it doesn't matter.

GP (A): But what were you going to say? What you like?

Wulff (E): I don't know. I have no idea what's happening in the Fifth Element. If I just play the video game honestly and at least Street Fighter, you know what's happening. You're fighting.

GP (A): Yeah.

Chard (C): You're fighting in the street.

GP (A): Yeah.

Chard (C): Fucking ass.

Sins (D): By the way, how beautiful was Blanc's character in the movie?

Jake (B): Chef's just so awful. The fur and he was too skinny. Yeah.

Sins (D): Just watch it thinking it's a birdie, and it's great.

GP (A): He's wiring.

Chard (C): It's not ripped. He's wiry.

Jake (B): Okay, so we got our three GP.

GP (A): We'Ve got our top three. We can slow down a little bit if we want to, but for anybody who is not following along very closely, that's me. The top three. Fight Club for the PlayStation Two, Fifth Element for the PlayStation One and Jurassic Park for the NES.

Chard (C): My order which one of these was my order? And I feel like people will agree with me on this. My order will be number one, fight Club.

GP (A): Preach.

Chard (C): Number two. Street Fighter. The movie, the game that didn't even advance. Sorry. Fifth Element. And then Jurassic Park.

Jake (B): No.

GP (A): Exact opposite Jurassic Park. No. Fight Club. You're right. Fight Club.

Chard (C): Fight Club's number one.

Jake (B): Fight Club is number one. Yes.

Sins (D): Anybody?

GP (A): Jurassic park was a worse movie adaptation than was Fifth Element.

Chard (C): I could see that. All right. Fight Club.

Jake (B): Fifth Element.

Chard (C): Jurassic park.

Jake (B): Yeah.

GP (A): Those are the three, but that's not the order.

Sins (D): No, it's Jurassic Park. Fifth Element. Jurassic. Jurassic park is a worse adaptation than Fifth Element.

Jake (B): You're right.

Chard (C): Fifth Element is three. I agree with that.

Sins (D): Yes. Anybody disagree?

Wulff (E): No. I think I'm on board with that. Right.

GP (A): It's just that bad. I mean, Fight Clubs and getting the board apart.

Chard (C): We're literally picking games that we all hate and we're all agreeing.

GP (A): And I love how easy it is.

Jake (B): I love how smooth we go together in harmony. Yeah.

Chard (C): A lot better when we're all on the same page than it is. Circus Charlie is a great game, and everybody says it's the dumb fucking is.

Jake (B): And you wish it was a movie adaption, but it's not.

Sins (D): What are you saying?

Wulff (E): Can I just say that I do not regret spending $4 on Fight Club, the game oh, no.

Sins (D): Watching you play it today I would have paid $4 to watch you play it today.

Wulff (E): It was a fringe fest. That's what it is. It does not hold true to the game at all. And it tries to parade as though it's holding true to the game. Right. Opening cutscene is like, hey, look, Project Mayhem. Or yeah, holding true to the movie opening cutscene is like, hey, look, Project Mayhem. They blow up a building, you see glass fly out of it, and then it zooms out and shows the building. And the explosion is the fiery eyes with the green face spray painted on the side of the building. Okay, Project Mayhem. Already they're letting you down. Like, this is what the game is. Not right now.

Jake (B): That is your reward.

Sins (D): And then at some point, you feel like you feel good because you have unlocked Fred Durst.

Chard (C): I feel so bad for.

Wulff (E): I also want to mention you can unlock Abraham Lincoln. Because they talked about they wanted to fight. If they could fight anybody, it would be Abraham Lincoln.

Jake (B): This game shouldn't exist.

Chard (C): This is a game that shouldn't exist.

Sins (D): You know what?

Jake (B): It flies in the face of the source material in the worst way this.

Chard (C): Game is, and that's why it's number one.

GP (A): But it's so well stated. And the point to the movie is so articulately provided and fed to the consumer that for the game to dumb that down and take you in the opposite direction really is a punch in the dick. And I'm glad this is the worst game. I'm glad we could all agree without much debate because I do feel strongly about that one.

Wulff (E): That was like and of course, I guess this and that's why.

GP (A): Next time we do this, fight club advancing to the next fight club at Jurassic Park.

Sins (D): Have to jurassic park.

GP (A): Well, no, don't do that because we already know Jurassic Park is going to lose, right?

Sins (D): I guess that's true.

GP (A): Unless the brackets end up because, I mean, somehow PlayStation Five controller was one.

Wulff (E): Of the best, if we ever do.

Jake (B): And that's just how it lies. And I don't want to hear any slander about my method for randomizing these things. It was perfect.

GP (A): Yeah.

Wulff (E): If we ever do this, it only.

Chard (C): Works everything on it.

Sins (D): Yeah. I hear you, Wolf. I hear you.

GP (A): God, I needed this, fellows. I needed something where I could just be negative for a minute and unload some negativity.

Sins (D): And we can all agree in our negativity.

GP (A): Yes. We all had each other's back. It wasn't like, guys, I'm going to present this controversial topic. This game is a great game. And everybody's like, no, it sucks. We all know how bad each one of these sucks. There is not a redeeming thing, really, in any of them. That's not true.

Sins (D): Where we were, like clamoring over each other to worse the other person's worst. We were trying to yuck other people's. Yuck.

GP (A): It was the player haters ball. And I loved it. Loved every minute of it.

Sins (D): And Fred Durst won.

GP (A): Congratulations.

Chard (C): You are the worst. Congratulations, Fred Durst.

Wulff (E): It's just one of those days where you don't want to wake up.

GP (A): Everything sucked.

Sins (D): Don't add us, Fred.

Chard (C): Everybody sucks.

Sins (D): Sometimes. You want to justify absolute BOP, trashing a video game and an artist that did a song in it.

GP (A): Yeah. My wife and I, we were in the car the other day and we listened to there's a dis track between Corn and limp biscuit. Oh, yeah. Say what you want about Fred Durst, his guitarist.

Chard (C): Westmoreland incredible.

Jake (B): West great.

GP (A): Brilliant. There was some good stuff to Lent biscuit. Unfortunately, it wasn't biscuit. Yeah. Okay, guys, let's wrap this up. I know we went a bit long. Thank you for joining me. This one, I love the march radness. And if we want to do this again, like in November, that would be fine with me as well. All right, we'll just on my screen. Go left to right. Sick jake, tell everybody where they can find you, please.

Jake (B): You can find me a Sick?

GP (A): Jake? No.

Jake (B): K and sick over on YouTube and on Twitter. Check me out there. I got a couple of videos going up. Mostly me playing bell toads. And failing miserably. It's a good time.

GP (A): You said there's no K and sick. Okay, what about a d? Is there any d? Is there a D?

Jake (B): No, it's not Daddy Jake. It's sick. Jake. Thank you.

GP (A): I had heard there's a lot of duty. There you go. Why don't you tell everybody where they can find you? Sir.

Sins (D): I'm over at Twitch Cinemasar 77 playing chrono Trigger. Come watch.

GP (A): Yeah, it's top tier entertainment.

Sins (D): Mondays, Monday evenings, mountain time. Monday evenings.

GP (A): Yeah. If you need a reason to enjoy Monday, find him, send us somewhere else.

Sins (D): But if you want to watch me, come over to my channel.

GP (A): Yeah.

Jake (B): Fuck you.

GP (A): And then werewolf. What are you doing? What's up? Where can people find you?

Wulff (E): I have actually recorded a few videos. Now I just actually need to edit them and upload them. Search me on you can find me@youtube.com at werewolf. W-A-R-E-W-L-F-F search google tell it in a minute. You'll find me.

GP (A): Wow.

Wulff (E): It's been a long time since I've done this. Feel I forgot it. I was disappointed in myself.

GP (A): I could regurgitate it for you, man. I love that. Also. I love your thank you.

Chard (C): I got to say, it's nice to have everybody having a project that they're working on at the end of these episodes. Now that's true.

GP (A): Well, to that point, chard mug. And then there's one last thing we have to get out before we move on. Chard, where can people find you? What are you up to?

Chard (C): Twitch YouTube going through the 303 achievements on Final Fantasy Four. PSP, complete edition that includes the original Final Fantasy Four, the interlude and the after years, as well as all the trials.

GP (A): Fucking champion. Now, if you guys want, we can take a minute and try to add to our list of 100 or what I think might be a little bit more fun given this one. Not that I don't love doing our top 100 games you Must Play Before I Die, but maybe we should all mention an honorable mention. That wasn't on today's list, but it could have been.

Jake (B): I'll start off for worst movie adaption. Okay.

GP (A): For worst movie. Okay. There's a long discussion about whether or not Ghostbusters should be on there. It didn't make it because there is some redemption to it. The soundtrack not being one of them. But for anybody who's been screaming at us the whole time we talked about it and these were worse than Ghostbusters. Anybody else got one they want to throw on?

Chard (C): Yeah, I do. Batman for the NES. Batman for the NES.

GP (A): I'm not going to call on you anymore if you're going to say stupid stuff.

Chard (C): How is the Batman for the NES? A good adaptation of the fucking movie?

Jake (B): Yeah, gameplay is great, but movie adaptation is trash.

GP (A): Soundtrack great. Where I'm at, James Nicholson is the joker.

Wulff (E): Yeah?

GP (A): Yes. They took liberties.

Chard (C): A lot of liberties. I don't know why in the movie? Explain that to me.

GP (A): He shows up 30 years later in the Back Girl movie that just got canceled, played by Brendan Fraser.

Jake (B): That's true.

GP (A): Which one did you have?

Wulff (E): Oh, I don't remember. Now, if I had another one.

GP (A): Right on. That's all good.

Sins (D): Sinister, not a bad adaptation, but a game that I think everybody should play. That's a movie adaptation. But Alien on the apple, too.

GP (A): Right on. Okay. And then Jake, did you have any others?

Jake (B): One that I almost wanted to put on the list, but we ran out of space, was Dark Man on the NES? I'd like movie dark man with Liam Neeson. I love fucking Liam Neeson. And the movie is good. It's cheesy, but it's a good movie. The game, though, is so terrible. It looks gross. It just controls terribly. It makes no sense. It's such a terrible game.

GP (A): Was there a Super Mario Bros. The movie? The video game?

Wulff (E): No.

GP (A): That'S probably for the best.

Wulff (E): For the NES. It was a bad game.

Jake (B): Bad.

Wulff (E): It was okay. I just remembered it.

GP (A): So, yeah, like I said, there's no shortage of shitty movie adaptation video games. We'll be doing things like this again whether or not it's next March or later on, but cannot believe I forgot.

Chard (C): To bring up Batman. I'm sure this as soon as we fired this thing off, I was like, Fuck Power Rangers.

GP (A): The movie. The video game. Okay. Anyway, guys, gals, everybody out there, thank you very much for tuning in. If you're not following, go ahead and hit that subscribe button. If you're listening in, thank you, but check us out on YouTube or check out our discord, which I'm sure we can put down in the descriptions or something like that. So until next time, everybody, or go to press.

Sins (D): Speedycancel.com.

GP (A): Everybody, be well. Take care of each other. Take care of yourselves. Enjoy the rest of march. Radness next week. We'll see you then.

Press B To Cancel now on Youtube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel and Instagram @pressbtocancel.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Transcript: Jake (A): In the immortal words of the Iceman, go, Ninja. Go, ninja, go. Best ninjas games today on don't you start with that face. Welcome to another episode of Press Be. To cancel actually a very special episode. Why? Because March radness. I almost said madness, but no, it's March.

Chard (B): Ball.

Wulff (C): Yeah, there it is.

Jake (A): We're going to patent this son of a bitch is what we're going to do. March radness. So this is an idea that Walt came up with earlier this year I believe we are going to do because we love doing these. Was it last year? Well, either way, we're going to do the entire month of March. Every episode of Press B will be a bracket tournament episode where we decide through team driven, scientific proven methods, the best or the worst of something by this week. This week it's Ninjas, the best ninja game. And I'm going to tell you right now, this was hard to come up with a list. It wasn't. There's a lot of ninja games. And I'm not talking about games that have a ninja like Merle Combat or Bashida Blade. No games that focus on ninjas. There's a lot of them. But we picked twelve and we're going to go through them and the only way we know how, bracket style. But I can't do this alone. There's no in team. So I got a crew with me to help me. As always, GP, how are you doing this week?

GP (D): Oh, so we're part of your crew. Okay. I'm good. It's good to be here.

Jake (A): We have even five minutes in and you're already trash talking to me. This has been a great episode. Chart, how are you doing?

Chard (B): You ruined our cake sing along earlier today. So go dogs, bow down. We're talking.

Jake (A): How are you doing?

Chard (B): PB two dart.

Jake (A): How are you doing?

Sins (E): I'm doing well. How are you?

Jake (A): I wish I had a mute button. That's what I wish. All right, we need to get right into this for everybody. I'm going to put the spider in charge. I'm just going to throw it up.

Chard (B): We tried to make plans for this month and you said no. We all had to be here. And you're in Loud Voice before you complain about us all being here, you asked us all to fucking be here.

GP (D): Could we do March redness in, like, April 1?

Wulff (C): Who requested we were all here?

Chard (B): All no. You don't say that. Don't say that. This was all Jake's idea.

GP (D): Well, if you will never do anything wrong, ever.

Wulff (C): I'm convincing my wife of that.

Sins (E): Jake these two are mean.

Jake (A): Jake they are. Citizen, thank you for being in my corner.

Chard (B): Does it smell in your room?

Jake (A): Citizen?

Sins (E): Until Circus Charlie comes up. What was that chart?

Chard (B): Is it smell in your room? You got a little something right there. Ground jake, we like you.

Jake (A): No, fuck you guys. First game is Tmnt the arcade game. Oh, hidden Turtles, the Arcade Game. Yeah. It's hidden gem. Nobody's heard of this one.

GP (D): Preempt that one right fucking now versus.

Jake (A): The mystical ninja on the Nintendo 64. That is our matchup. So before collect your thoughts. Collect your thoughts. I don't normally do this, but I'm going to for this one. Hold on. I got buttons to this, right? I do.

Sins (E): This is a genuinely hard decision.

Jake (A): Yes. It's not showing up.

Wulff (C): How do you try to pull us gooey doo ending down there? What's happening?

Chard (B): John kelly my todd.

GP (D): I have a good ranking system on this piece of paper in front of me that I have worked on. I was not prepared to compare these two games right away because I would have liked to see these go much, much further. And I just look at that.

Jake (A): But I am sure I want to start off with something very important. Just I want you to watch this. I want you to watch just the.

Wulff (C): Tell me it's spoiler alert.

Jake (A): This is one of the greatest songs ever done on Nintendo 64.

Chard (B): News team assembled.

Sins (E): Wait, wait. Are you comparing it to the Donkey Kong on and 64 song?

Jake (A): Forget the DK rap. Donkey beats everything on that system.

Wulff (C): You don't understand.

Jake (A): You have to see this.

GP (D): The burning sun.

Wulff (C): The first time I played through this game with a friend of mine was this summer. It came out like the year it came out, and we were dying laughing at this cutscene the first time it happened. And then the song keeps going once you start playing the level where you're in this giant robot skating along the countryside in what, feudal Japan?

Jake (A): Yeah, it's ancient Japan, actually. The game is wild.

Sins (E): I was in your corner until you disparaged the Donkey Kong Rap.

Jake (A): Okay? Nobody likes the Tk rap. Nobody likes that game, but it's not on this list. Let's focus on the ninja games because otherwise we'll be here for 3 hours. Which legend of the mystical ninja on.

GP (D): The if there are any samurai games listed today, they're out. It's over.

Jake (A): Yeah, totally.

GP (D): There are no samurai ninjas.

Sins (E): Yeah, we are a ninja specific today.

Chard (B): Let's talk about last jamari of the game in the movie.

Sins (E): All right, who's going first on this one?

Jake (A): I think Jimmy needs to leave this one because he probably played this more than any of us, so go ahead.

Wulff (C): Okay, so as a kid, I loved Ninja Turtles, the arcade game. I will say I got a lot of time with that. But this is a game that I absolutely love, and I went out of my way to find it when I didn't even have an N 64. I was like, I got to go get this game. So that way, if ever I do have an N 64 and years later, I did get one so I could play this damn game. I love this game so much. It's so easy, and it's like, great zelda. Like, that really throws a lot of Silliness at you, too. The way I like to describe this game to people who are unfamiliar with it, it's The Legend of Zelda with the goofiness from Japanese TV that we've all experienced at some point or another on YouTube.

GP (D): Right?

Wulff (C): That's what this game is, and I love it. It's so much fun. It's actually challenging. It's legitimately hard at points, but not stupid hard. You just have to think about the encounter to overcome it. It's a really well designed game. There's lots of secrets to find, a huge island to explore because it's all over Japan and your characters get tons of upgrades, and there's lots of silly jokes where in the middle of the dialogue boxes, you just hear laugh tracks go off.

Sins (E): Now, again, I was going to say this game has a laugh track, and I didn't remember that until I watched the video today.

Wulff (C): Yeah, it's got plasma medasuma.

GP (D): I got to say, the sky backgrounds are just an entire vibe from that opening. Mech giant fight. I love that. I think they filmed that the same day they filmed the opening for Supercontra or Supersea because the skies and the cloud formation is just exact same thing.

Chard (B): Same set down the other side of the mountain.

GP (D): Yeah.

Wulff (C): I love how off the wall this game is. That robot. That giant robot is Dash, who looks just like Goyman, but he's his own person. He's got his own personality and his own career, and he got summoned from the United States because of his I think he has a Hollywood career in the United States, and he got summoned by going robot. He got summoned to Japan to come and help him with what they're dealing with. Silliness for dealing with this in this game.

GP (D): I love it if two phenotypically identical people with different personalities sorry. Blows your mind. Wait until you hear about twin giant robot dude modeled after Goymond who doesn't love giant robots. I get it. It's great.

Sins (E): Everyone loves giant robots.

GP (D): Yes, it is a staple in every young child's entertainment consumption diet.

Jake (A): Yeah, like Jimmy said or Wolf said. When I rented this as a kid or as a teenager, I guess I didn't know what to expect. I wasn't sure if this was like a marriage 64 platformer or was this Legend of Zelda. It's a mix of both with more platform than Zelda ever had. It's got that sense of humor that just throughout the entire game. It's hilarious. This is a game I rented and I later bought, and I almost never did that as a kid. But there was just so much in this game and so much fun in this. And again in 1064. I feel like there wasn't that many great games to that system as a kid. What there was was very expensive. I got this one fairly cheap. I don't want to call it Hidden Gem, but it might be because I didn't know many other kids who had this game like I did.

GP (D): It's a fluid concept, so nobody really knows.

Sins (E): So wait a minute. Wait a minute. Jimmy, what's your vote? Really quick, what's your vote?

Wulff (C): Oh, this hands down.

Chard (B): Be pretty funny if you went on and on about this game.

Jake (A): And it goes it's trash.

Sins (E): Sorry, Jake. I didn't have clarity either, so I.

Jake (A): Just want to talk more and miss Linga. This is a franchise that has been in Japan long before North America. This is the first my exposure to the character. I didn't play the superintendent versions of this game until much later, but I still go back to this one. This is the graphics. The music is hilarious. Just everything about this game is fantastic. Now, on the flip side, and I'll let you guys talk in a minute about Ninja Turtles, but TMT the arcade game, we knew that we needed to have at least one or two tmnt games on this list. It was hard to pick. I figured we would go with the original arcade one because that's the one that kind of set a standard for some of the home ports later on. Call it a graphics. It's fun multiplayer. It's a really great game. But my vote is going to go to mystical ninja personally. So who wants to talk about Ninja Turtles?

Sins (E): So I can talk about ninja turtles. Sorry, Chard. So I'm going to start with my vote and then give a little bit of a backstory here. I'm going to go with Ninja Turtles as my vote. I watch Jimmy play mystical ninja. I love mystical ninja. I've seen it. The laugh track is great. I was reminded of that today. But I feel like tmnt the arcade game extorted me for enough money that if I don't vote for it, it's going to come and beat up my kids.

Jake (A): That's fair.

Sins (E): Yeah. I have dumped so many coins into that game. And then the real joy is when a couple of your friends join you and maybe some rando at the arcade. And it's just epic. And it's a dump a quarter and continue fast. It's amazing. I love the thing. And the controls are good. Graphics are great. It has all the tie in you want to, the TV show, comic books, whatever you want to, and I mean, shredder. But really I feel like I've spent enough money that it extorted me. And if I don't vote for it, I'm going to have my knee caps broken. So tmnt the arcade game.

Chard (B): It's fair. I'll follow mine up. This is unfair. This is unfair. But this is where this is at. I have to lean on my nostalgia because I did not play a ton of Nintendo 64. I played Zelda's and the Marios, and that's pretty much it. Because I didn't own one. My friend growing up owned one, and I would go to their place, and I would play the games of there, and we never played this one. I played Mystical and Edge on the Super Nintendo and I love watching the videos that I saw of it. It is an awesome game. I would love to try and play 64, but I have so much nostalgia of going to Izzy's Pizza, which was down the street from where I lived. They had this game there every birthday. All of my friends birthdays. My childhood friend, they literally have known since we were born because their parents were best friends growing up. He's born and his birthday was two days ago. Mine is next month, 24 later. So two months we get to go to Izzy's together and coin up this game and play the hell out of it. And I got a lean on my nostalgia and all the fun times that I had to start said, you can come in, drop a couple of quarters in, fire it up, play it and then some rando will come in and it's like an instant friend maker. This was before the days that people told you sucked asset games. This is the people that came in were just as bad as you and you could play together and it was fun. You'd make friends for a little while and then you'd never see them again. It'd be that single serving friend kind of ordeal since we're talking about Fight Club lately. But, yeah, I got to go with ninja turtles. The ark game. And it's not fair because Mystical Ninja is a great franchise and I know that Mystical Ninja 64 is also fantastic. It's just more of the same, but more, you know what I mean? It's the same stuff that you love from the old stuff, but then all the laugh tracks and all the humor and the goofiness and the zaniness gets added and just ticks it up a notch. And I have to go with Tmnt. And I'm upset.

Jake (A): I have to pick that.

Sins (E): Yeah. This is a ruinous choice, really. It really is.

GP (D): Imagine having to be the tiebreaker fellas.

Sins (E): I purposefully wanted to make sure that somebody had a tiebreaker.

Chard (B): I frankly thought I was going to be the only one that picked him and T. So I'm glad I are on the same page.

GP (D): I will say this after my Will say week showing. Last week, I'll volunteer to go fifth. Yes. The rest of this episode, I will be the fifth person. Whether or not it's a tiebreaker, I don't know, but I have enough anger and resentment. What did you say?

Jake (A): Sloppy fifth?

Chard (B): I said floppy fifth.

GP (D): We need to hang out more chard anyway by then I don't think it's floppy. I think it's crusty. Crusty fifth. Doesn't matter, guys.

Chard (B): There's got to be phonetic.

GP (D): I don't know what that means. Here's the thing. Here's where I'm at. The fact that you chose Ninja Turtles to the arcade game at first I thought was the weakness for this particular entry. I think there are better games in the Ninja Turtles franchise, things that certainly did this better than that. But the fact that it's the actual arcade game and not the NES arcade game, I think kind of redeems it. I don't want to be predictable, which would dictate that I would choose Ninja Turtles. God dang it, I love Ninja Turtles. Yeah, that said mystical ninja.

Wulff (C): Yeah.

GP (D): Mystical Ninja is a top five game on the 64. I want to show it some love. It's a travesty that it's not going further, but we're going Ninja Turtles on this one. I don't need to elaborate any further. I got the nostalgia just like everybody else. Torture from the quarters. The great equalizer about the arcade style things is you guys are talking about the Rando friend who would just come in, plop a quarter in for a little while and play. It didn't matter if they sucked. This is what I love about arcade games. If you were the young kid in the family or the one who sucked at video games, even if you sucked at this game, it was your quarter, their quarter, not yours. And at least they were taking bad guys away from you so you could deal with your mess and then go help them out.

Sins (E): The hospital kid is being lifted by his dad and is holding the controllers like this. It's still good.

Chard (B): There'd be times where you'd be playing with somebody, you guys would be on a roll, and that person dies, and they're like, I'm out of quarters. And you'd be like, Take one of mine. You just like, pop it in for him.

GP (D): No, I never did that. Sucks to suck deuces. I was siphoning his quarters. I'm like, all right, cool. He's not paying attention.

Chard (B): The other thing, I'll figure that out.

GP (D): About our games real quick, and then we'll move on to the next disappointment, is I think one of the greatest video game mechanics ever is the blinking bad guy. We don't know their HP. We don't have a mechanic style thing, but the anticipation, the anxiety, and just like, the button mashing, you see them flashing more, you're just like, oh, my God, something's going to happen, and you didn't know where it was going to fall. I love that. And, yeah, I love arcade stuff. So had you gone with the IDs version, I would be saying mystical Ninja.

Chard (B): But more anxiety inducing, flashing bad guy, final boss or sonic drowning music.

Jake (A): Drowning music.

Sins (E): Drowning music is more terrifying. No, the flashing bad guy is exciting. You're like, I'm so fucking close. Just another corner.

GP (D): Before we move on to inducing. Is a lightning and thunderstorm happening when you live in kind of a shanty house?

Wulff (C): That was always before we move on to the second bracket. I know we've got everybody's vote, but had these been sorted differently, this could have been top three.

GP (D): Without a doubt.

Sins (E): I concur. I concur. This is the devil's choice. This is devil's choice.

GP (D): Jake sets up these brackets.

Wulff (C): He randomized them. But you know what? No.

GP (D): He won't let anybody see the process.

Wulff (C): GP, I asked if you guys want.

Jake (A): To witness the process.

Wulff (C): You know what? He uploaded Mystical Ninja with me. The rest of your traders.

Jake (A): Wow. Yeah.

GP (D): You play Mystical Ninja Forever Wolf. Like, it's one of the great joys in life, and I feel like that it's not there.

Chard (B): At least it wasn't like no.

Jake (A): We trust you, Jake. We agree with your judgment. I'm sure what it is.

GP (D): Matter of fact, I wanted to bring that up tonight.

Chard (B): I actually have it on record saying I don't trust you, but do what.

GP (D): You got to do all month.

Jake (A): My wife gives less mixed signals than you. Jesus Christ. All right. That's what makes a good TNT. The Ark game versus Missile. Ninja sadly missed. Ninja loses. Tmnt will move on. That's a tough choice, though.

Chard (B): I'm sorry.

Wulff (C): I get it.

Sins (E): It was literally like that Caesar choice where you're like, damn, if we could.

Chard (B): Save a game and bring it back up, I would rescue it.

GP (D): Yeah.

Sins (E): When I was a wrestler, we referred to that as the losers bracket.

Jake (A): Ouch.

Sins (E): You could take third place from the losers bracket. You could.

Jake (A): Yeah. Okay, well, moving on, because we have to move on. Our next match is the messenger PC and console versus Ninja Kid Two, also known as Red action in North America. But it's Ninja Kid Two.

GP (D): Oh, shit. Back to back ones.

Jake (A): Who wants to talk about have you even played Ninja Kid, too?

GP (D): Look, I'm not on trial here.

Sins (E): I watched the video.

Jake (A): Okay, who wants to start with the messenger first? I guess let's do that one. Go ahead. Gosh.

Wulff (C): You and I have gushed about this game for over an hour on one of our episodes.

Jake (A): Yeah, it's a great deal.

GP (D): It was an episode that had nothing to do with The Messenger.

Wulff (C): No, but the messenger is freaking spectacular. The sense of humor in the game again, the story is actually really freaking epic, despite the silliness that ensues constantly throughout the game. The music, the soundtrack, literally my spotify replay at the end of the year. Last year, the soundtrack for this game was, like, in my top three listen to all year.

Jake (A): Yeah. Same eight bit and 16 bit versions of it. You have the both sides of it, and both are really good. I mean, hell, the music even changes when you go underneath the water. It's just such a great the worst.

Wulff (C): Song in this game is still badass bangers quality. You know what I mean?

Jake (A): Yeah.

Wulff (C): So the soundtrack is great. The art style is great. They really nailed everything about it. The culmination of the game toward the end really feels epic. And you're coming to a close and you're kind of worried about how it's going to play out. It's like, how is this going to go? Because I have no idea. And then after that, you get the DLC, which some people can't stomach. I get it because it adds some new mechanics that weren't present before the DLC, but the DLC just throws things out of left field, and then by the end of the DLC, it's like, bam, here's how this all ties to the main game. And you're like, I did not see that coming. They handled this game so well. This game is why I'm so excited for Sea of Stars. Because the messenger is so good that Sea of Stars has to be at least as good. Right?

Jake (A): Even though Sea of Stars is a different genre, it's the same universe as the messenger. Messenger.

Chard (B): Massuda did the soundtrack. Who did Chrono Trigger and Chronic Cross?

Jake (A): Sounds good. Yeah.

Wulff (C): Did some of it, too, because damn.

Jake (A): No, this game is fantastic in terms of, like, when we look at indie games in the last five to ten years, this has got to be up in the top three for me. It's just everything about the movement, the gameplay, the controls, the music, everything about this game is so fantastic. The only dip the only thing is I barely even want to mention it, is it kind of opens up in the back half of the game. And it was easy to get lost and not know where to go. But there's, like, the shopkeeper character who gives hints and that kind of directs you where to go. So as long as you use those, you can get through the game fast enough. But, yeah, it's it's such a great game. I wish there was a sequel to it. I'm glad for Sea of Stars coming and Cause, which is like a chrome trigger type of game, and that's fine. But I also really like the platforming in this so much. The bosses and everything. I kind of wish they'd do another one of these. That's okay. But I really do love the messenger.

Wulff (C): This is cyberly a game.

Chard (B): Isn't this the same company that did.

Jake (A): No, different company, but it's a platforming ninja game.

Chard (B): I honestly couldn't tell the difference. So they look very much designed the same way to me.

Wulff (C): I believe the messenger was their first outing.

Chard (B): They did a great job.

Wulff (C): And then see if Stars is their second. So the fact that anything else, they've.

Chard (B): Only done so good yet. Really?

Jake (A): This?

Wulff (C): Yeah, and it's astoundingly good it is. You guys discuss. I'll be back. My choice is the messenger.

Jake (A): All right, well, let me do mine then, real quick, because look, Ninja Kid Two so much like your pizza story. Chard. There's a local restaurant I used to go to, and they had a couple of arcade machines. They had Miss Pacman, which was great. And they had ninja. Kid two was there. Ninja Kid One doesn't matter because number two is better in every conceivable way. You're a cute little red ninja kid. You have little Shirkins, and the way look, it came in 1987. The graphics are amazingly cartoony and fun. There's countless different enemies and mid bosses in this game. The music is jamming in every other stage. And the combat itself is why I like it so much. It's kind of like you can move up and down different levels, taking out enemies. Enemies are very easy to kill, but they also shoot shirkins for that. You as well. And when you both are shooting shirkins back and forth, it's kind of like a tug and war mechanic and who can jam out more shirkins first to kind of beat them back. Kind of like Harry Potter Voldemort with the wands feels like that. But with Ninja Stars, it's a really fun feeling. And if a mechanic okay, we don't mention that game. All right, you're right. Thanks, GP. But it's a really fun but there's other moves in it, like you can mall jump. There's other weapon power ups. There's really quite a bit to the game. But what really made this fun for me as a kid is in the Arc. It's an arcade game, but there's branching level selections. Every so often you get to pick a card on the table and that leaves a different set of levels. And the levels could be more different. Some are swimming levels where you're using a knife to get through. Some are like jumping related as you bounce from wall to wall. Others have kind of like larger not bosses, but bigger enemies. It's fantastic. It's a fantastic game. Start to finish. Whenever somebody says Arcade game, this is the one I say, you have to play on Maim. I wish they'd had a copy of it on the Mister. They don't. They have the first game, but it's not nearly as good. But this is a really fun one. I hope nobody sleeps on Ninja Kid, too. I don't want to say hidden gem, but it might be because any time I mentioned this game, everybody's like, this game is great. I've never heard of it. That's ninja kid two. Nobody's ever heard of it.

Sins (E): Yeah, I hadn't heard of it either.

Chard (B): Is this a vertical one or is.

Jake (A): It no, it's a horizontal one, but there's a lot of verticality in the levels. But it's a horizontal one.

Chard (B): Watching the video, it looks like there's a lot of climbing up stages and stuff. It assumed it was going to be a vertical.

Jake (A): And some stages are a single screen, some are a single screen, some are horizontally long, others are high enough. It's a lot of variety in the stages and it's surprising how many stages there are in this game. But that said, my vote is still going to be for The Messenger. Because The Messenger is the best indie game from the last freaking five years, hands down. So I love ninja. Tudor. I'm pissed off with the brackets this way. Wait. This is my evidence that they're randomized. Truly, because I really did not want to have this game loose in the first fucking round. I love Ninja Kid Two, but the messenger is a far better game.

Chard (B): Cross game of the year over Vampire Survivors.

Jake (A): The messenger. Yes. The messenger is definitely better than vampire survivors. You know what? If it came up this year, if it came up this year, it would be Contender. I'm really pumped about Sea of Stars at the point where I don't want to play the demo. I don't want to spoil it. Yeah, I don't know from itself.

Chard (B): I've been waiting for Sea of Stars for literally years. It's been in my wish list on Steam for like three years. I just cannot wait. But I want it because of the Chrono Trigger aspect in it versus the messenger aspect in it.

Jake (A): But the messenger is a fantastic game. So my vote is going to go for the messenger. So what are you guys who wants to talk next? GP, you want to be fifth?

GP (D): Yeah, I'll go fifth.

Sins (E): Mine is going to be short. I watched the videos of both. I haven't played either. And while I want to try Ninja Kidradaction, I think I want to play the messenger and so that's the difference. And so I'm going to have to vote the messenger.

Jake (A): Yeah. That's why I figured to go, all.

GP (D): Right, you and I are free to say whatever the hell we want.

Sins (E): That's right.

Chard (B): I've been watching a video outside of what Jake was showing of Ninja Kid, too, and it reminds me very much of Bubble Bubble, which is a game that I love growing up and was playing as a kid, same art style. I feel like this would be a lot of fun to play. I like the climbing walls aspect. I like the hanging from stuff. He's got the bombs and the boomerangs and all that stuff. Some of the miniboss fights he was doing look really cool. And the messenger. The messenger is ninja guidance on crack. It is a spectacular gameplay. Neither of these I have personally played myself. Or do I own? No, I do own the messenger.

Jake (A): Actually.

Chard (B): I do have the messenger. I got it somewhere. I don't remember where, but I've not played it myself because it looked too damn hard for little old me and my RPG. But I'm not sleeping on it. I'm not sleeping on it. I will go with The Messenger out of the two of these ones because I've watched numerous people play it and it looks cool as hell and I like the platforming puzzles and the different. Like I've watched a lot of people die playing the messenger, trying to figure out how to get from point A to point B. And it's really cool to watch it and watch the pieces come together as you're figuring out which platform to jump to and which thing propels you from one to the other and the upgrades you get. And I freaking. Love the store clerk guy. That guy kills.

Jake (A): He's great all the time.

Chard (B): The humor in The Messenger is spot freaking on. And when you actually get somewhere and not knowing this from personal feeling, but watching people successfully get from one point to another in this game makes you feel like a freaking badass. And that's the one thing about these ninja games that I like, is that when you get the flow and you start feeling the mechanics, you feel freaking amazing at these games and you just tear through levels and do all the stuff. I have to go with the messenger. It's incredibly well done. And I'm putting my hat on that one.

GP (D): Yeah, I'll keep mine short. The messenger is going to sweep the category the Flavor of Ninja Guidance with an amazing narrative, a dopass soundtrack, and puzzles. Like, the only way they could have made Ninja Guidance better is if there had been more puzzle aspect to it. So for this to be that so wonderfully balanced and well executed and being their first outing, it's going to be hard to knock this one off the list at all, let alone ninja Kid, too, which I don't have anything bad to say that the game looks fun and interesting and cute. But yeah, it's going to be the messenger for me.

Chard (B): Those boss fights in The Messenger are cool.

Jake (A): They're all fantastic.

Chard (B): Yeah, big Elder fan. Big boss fights are kind of things that I love to watch. So I love to watch the boss fights on the game. It's really cute.

Wulff (C): Get out of here.

Sins (E): Wait, Eldon. I've never heard of this game. Eldon, rung.

Chard (B): Oh, you haven't? It's a hidden gem.

Jake (A): It's a hidden gem? Yeah. Never heard of that one.

GP (D): Do I need to put in my two week notice or how does this work? All right, Goyman down. I'm sorry, Chad.

Jake (A): All right, ninja Kid Two also knows red action. You should play it, but it loses to The Messenger for sure.

Sins (E): It might be rad action.

Jake (A): Oh, boy.

Chard (B): Ninja Kid also okay, who wants to.

GP (D): Vote for Wolf in the next bracket?

Jake (A): He'll be back by then, don't worry. Okay, so the next match up, we knew we needed one of the games from this franchise in this tournament. It was kind of tricky to determine which one, though. But ultimately we went with Shinobi on the master system, the Genesis one. Genesis, the third game, is fantastic. The second game in Genesis has a lot of copyright infringement bosses. They're funny, but the original on the Master system has a lot of writing gameplay. So that's the one we went with and it's up against, we talked about earlier, Cyber Shadow, another indie ninja game. But it could be more different than The Messenger, where the messenger was a puzzley platforming, Wonder. Cyber Shadow is very much for the combat and it's like a challenge. It's a lot harder of a game, but they're both fantastic. So Cybershadow versus Shinobi on the master system. Who wants to start?

Chard (B): Sure, guys.

Sins (E): Sure. So, if I remember right, I watched Wolf play Cyber Shadow, and honestly, I know you say it's about the combat, but it looked like it had a fair amount of puzzles, too, if it's the one that I'm thinking of. But there's a place in my heart, and I know we're saying Shinobi on the Master System, but I played Shinobi on the Genesis, and I love that game. To me, it's like the better version of Ninja Gaiden, and I know that's throwing some shade here. Yeah, but that no, to me, Shinobi was like the Ninja game. When I was growing up, I had to go to my friend's house to play it on his Genesis. And I know we're talking the master system, but I tried the master system one they are basically the same games, right? Same mechanisms or same mechanics, et cetera, just different graphics and whatnot. But I absolutely adore shinobi. I adore throwing ninja stars at people. I'm going with Shinobi.

Jake (A): See?

GP (D): Of ninja stars. There we go.

Jake (A): Fair. Nice one. So we'll prefer talking about Shinobi in the Master System versus Cyber Shadow, the indie game.

Wulff (C): I'm sorry, am I the tiebreaker and I'm coming in not knowing?

Jake (A): No, you just started.

Sins (E): I am number one. I have gone number one.

Wulff (C): Okay. I don't have a whole lot of experience with Shinobi one.

Jake (A): Really? You're the message system guy.

Wulff (C): I've played it a little, but I've mostly played Shinobi's two and three.

Jake (A): Oh, damn. Okay.

Wulff (C): Revenge of Shinobi was the one I played most, and that was on Genesis, but I have fond memories of playing that as a child.

Jake (A): Gosh.

Wulff (C): You know what, though? I feel like Shinobi set a tone for Ninja Games, and Cyber Shadow didn't do enough new stuff for me to lean that way. I think I got to go Shinobi on this one.

Jake (A): Okay. All right, let me go.

Sins (E): Farewell. I spun up Shinobi on the Master System on my mister a couple of days ago, but most of my basis is actually from the Genesis Shinobi games.

Jake (A): For me, when I first played Cyber Shadow, I almost skipped it. I saw the price of it, and I got paid for that. And then game. Pass. It was on Microsoft game pass. Xbox game pass. And as I paint for that anyway, so I got to play this game for free, quote unquote. And I'm so disappointed myself for not giving it a shot earlier, because this game is fantastic. We talked earlier about feeling like a bad ass when you're playing a game with solid tight controls and fun power ups, and you feel like a badass when you get through an encounter. That's cyber shadow. When you beat Cyber Shadow at the end of that game, that final, boss. It may have taken me, like, 20 inch cries because this game is hard, but when I finally beat it, I felt like a freaking god of platforming enough that I went and took out Ninja Guiden and tried to play that and died. But this is a game where it was so good. It felt so good. I'm like if I can beat this, surely I can beat ninja guidance. No, but I beat Cyber Shadow. It's fantastic. I also didn't really appreciate it until I started looking at a few other NES games. Cyber. Shadow, though, wears its influences on sleeve, like Shadow Hand, Power Blade. And then, yes, ninja guidance. But there's a lot of great NES platformers that influence the style and the mechanics of this game. And it wasn't until I played those other NES games that I appreciated Cyber Shadow even more. The other reason I love this game is difficult, but before every boss or every difficult screen, there's like a power up dispenser and you have to unlock the power ups so you can save your currency and not unlock anything. But if you're stuck in an area, you can unlock power ups that are relevant to that area, like a shield that might get you through a tricky part with a lot of bullets or something. So that accessibility to kind of take the help when you need it at the expense of currency was really interesting to me, and I love that quite a bit. This is also the first game of this guy. I think his name is Mitoskull on Twitter. It's a 1 minute operation. He did have some help from yacht club games. The guys are just double night when it came to QA and publishing, but he developed this game on his own. I know he's working another title after this one. I'm curious to see what he does. I do like Show quite a bit. Shinobi. I never played it as a kid. Never played Shinobi as a kid. I think it's interesting with the different power ups you have. I think the variety of enemies is pretty cool. The controls not quite as good as I would like it to be, but it's kind of the same from that franchise, right? Shinobi and the Genesis had that same stiffer controls. Not bad. It's just not my style. What I do like, though, is the bonus stage with the ninja stars. That's cool as hell. And that's one of the reasons why I think this is probably better than the other Genesis games, because this had that those Genesis games didn't have that minigame the idea of throwing ninja stars. It sounds silly, but that's a fun bonus game. I like that a lot. So I'm all about multiple gameplay in a game. That's why I like Circus Charlie so much. But I think for me, it's hands down it's Cyber Shadow. I can't see myself. Yeah. Bingobi. Yeah. It's not trash. I didn't say hot trash, but that's our Shadow for me.

Sins (E): But Circus Charlie has been mentioned.

Jake (A): Fuck you guys. All right.

Chard (B): Okay. I guess it's next you guys picked not the Shinobi I like. There's literally one Shinobi out there, and I told you in the MPs, the one that I really like, that is also extremely difficult, but it's still a lot of fun. Was the shinobi for the PS Two. I could not stand Shinobi on this Genesis or on the Master System. Not a fan. Too stiff for me. Yes, the ninja stars throwing stage. The bonus stage stuff really cool. Upon watching and dabbling in our previous discussed game. That's the one Cyber Shadow is. I'm all in on it. It's got the callbacks to the Ninja guidance. It's got callbacks to several other artistically driven games from the NES era. It's smooth, the mechanics feel good, and like Jake says, the reason I like the Shinobi on the PlayStation Two is because it makes you feel like a bad ass when you figure out the mechanics and you get all the stuff up. I felt so dope playing both of these versions of the games that I felt unstoppable that I went and played Ninja Garden and then badged it on Retro laude.

Jake (A): Mr. Rare. A chivo guy.

Chard (B): There is that. But in all seriousness, Cyber Shadow, what is that?

Jake (A): GP.

Chard (B): I've watched you play the game where you're the big robot, that you can switch gravity and go up and down. It's the one shot.

GP (D): Metal.

Sins (E): Metal Storm.

Chard (B): Yeah. Pgomon. I get a lot of artistic style of Metal Storm, which I like, that artistic style. I got the gameplay of like a beefed up, cleaner looking ninja guidance.

Jake (A): It's just cool.

Chard (B): And the fact that I thought it was the same people in the messenger. You could have fooled me if you were like, yeah, they totally both did it. They look the same, but with a lot more serious driven. A lot more, like you said, combat driven, while the messenger was a lot more at its tongue in cheek moments and a lot more platforming puzzles. This is very still platforming puzzles, still difficult, but it's very much driven on fighting the enemies off and getting through them, as opposed to, how do I get from point A to point B and with some shit in the way. So I'm going my vote is Cybershadow on this run. It's an impressive game. I really do like it.

GP (D): So, tie breaker then, huh?

Chard (B): Yes, sir.

GP (D): Okay, so I'll say a few things again. I'll try to keep it short and concise for the sake of time. I still, to this day at least, without knowing, have never played anything from the Master System. Now, I believe when we put the list together, Shinobi was the one I had suggested. I didn't realize it was a Master System game. The only version I had ever played was the Black Cart Ten version for the NES. It's a fun game. I've got the nostalgia for it, which typically is enough to kind of push me over the edge and say, that's the one I want. You guys have nailed it. The controls are kind of clunky. The boss fights are memorable, which I like. The bonus rounds with the Throne Stars super dope. That said, Cybershadow is going to take it for me. It's not just a game that is a love letter to the things. Like you said, it wears the influences on the sleeve, which is fine. Whenever somebody does that, though, I always want them to kind of add or improve upon the things that make the game what it is or those influences. We used to play like a horse type basketball game growing up where somebody makes a shot and you've got to do that same shot, but you got to kind of add a different flair to it and then make that. And that's kind of what this does. It executes well, what it was influenced by, but it also kicks it up a notch and says, this is what I can contribute to those other things that came before me. And I like that a lot, and I think it did it well. I do feel weird voting for two indie games back to back, but that's just how it falls. So, yeah. Ninja kid too. Cyber Shadow hidden Gem. Yeah.

Jake (A): All right. Okay, so Shinobi, the Master System, even though it started a franchise of great games, they're well loved, but compared to Cyber Shadows, cyber Shadow is the better ninja game, and that moves on. Okay, our next match, if you think.

Chard (B): Shinobi for PlayStation Two would have been all over.

Jake (A): Yeah, I know.

Chard (B): That red scarf, dude, that thing is so sick. Oh, my God. The design of this game is brilliant.

Jake (A): Yeah, it's setting it with ninja guidance. There is a bunch on the Xbox as well, and it's just I don't know. Did it translate well to don't know?

GP (D): Now you know.

Jake (A): Next up is Strider two. Surprisingly not on the PS Two. PS one. There you go. Versus Sega. Is the ninja on the Sega Master System, another massive system game? Wolf, do you want to start this off? Because I know you're a big fan of the Sega Ninja system. I didn't think you played Strider.

Chard (B): You own it.

Jake (A): You showed me the card.

Wulff (C): Okay. All right, so strider two is the one we're going with. Right. Strider. Two on the PS.

Jake (A): Two.

Wulff (C): On the PS one. Okay.

Sins (E): Yes.

Wulff (C): Strider two on the PS One is spectacular. It is a great platforming game where Strider can basically hit you. He can climb on anything. Basically. It's really cool design that he can just be, like, on the ceiling, the walls, whatever. Doesn't matter if it's flat diagonal, there's a metal round. It's great.

Chard (B): Yeah.

Wulff (C): This game is a lot of fun. It's visually striking. I have not beaten it, though, because it's a pretty long game for being the type of game that it is because I don't think it was actually an arcade game. I think it's just inspired by arcade style.

Jake (A): I think so.

Wulff (C): It's a pretty beefy game. I kind of stop playing after I hit a certain chunk of time, and then I don't go back. I don't know why. I just don't. It might be that I'm trying to accomplish things in each stage or find stuff. I couldn't tell you. The Ninja on Master System is one of the earliest games I ever played. It is really cool. And Jake pointed something out that I wasn't really thinking of, but it's kind of a shoot him up style. Very schmup.

Jake (A): He has a schmup.

Chard (B): Very schmucky.

Jake (A): Yeah.

Wulff (C): It's kind of fun in that it's just your character looks so goofy, which just say, look at that to the charm about it. I know, right? It adds kind of the charm to it. But also when you go back to this game's origins, it was not called the Ninja in Japan. It was actually Ninja Princess. And so the main character was a girl. And so, of course, when they brought Tat to the west, they were like, oh, no, we're not going to sell a game if a girl is the hero. So they redressed the game to be a little bit more boyish looking. I guess as far as the sprites.

Chard (B): They didn't do a very good job.

Wulff (C): I believe we're the same.

GP (D): This thing here looks very organ trail.

Chard (B): It does.

Jake (A): He can only bring back £400 of.

Chard (B): Ninja, £400 of dog that you've killed in the field.

Wulff (C): But this game was super cool and it mixes things up. It's got the traditional run and gun up. It's got levels where you're going sideways. It's got a diagonal stage or two. There's a frogger style level where you're hopping back and forth between logs yeah. And trying to attack the enemies on the other logs and not get taken off the screen because you have to stay on the screen. So the logs go back and forth. So you have to time where you're going and it gets pretty challenging.

GP (D): There you go.

Wulff (C): Yeah. There you go. It's a really cool game, and I feel like it's one of those games that Sega sort of let fall to the wayside, unfortunately. Kind of like they did with a few of their early properties, like Alex Kid. They have stuff that has a strong foundation and then they didn't do much with it after that, which is unfortunate.

GP (D): He's sporting a river. I'm sorry, but tell me this isn't Oregon Trail, but with a ninja.

Jake (A): Okay. Looks like he's got Oregon Trail of.

Chard (B): The Diarrhea from World Games.

GP (D): Yeah.

Wulff (C): It's kind of like a Cari Warriors, but if it were a Ninja, damn it.

Sins (E): I was waiting. I was waiting for my turn and I was going to say, look, I've already played a Cari Warriors, but this.

Wulff (C): Is so much better than a Cari Warriors. The only downside is it's not two players at the same time.

Sins (E): No, it's not better than a Carry Warriors because a carrier, you have the spinner, so you can aim differently than where you're moving.

Wulff (C): He can aim differently, you see. He can pivot than where you're moving.

Jake (A): Pivot.

Wulff (C): He aims pivot.

GP (D): How does this game handle? Dysentery.

Sins (E): About as well as everybody else.

Wulff (C): And Terry. I think I'm likely to be the only one to vote for it, but I got to vote with the Ninja.

Chard (B): Okay, you broke your bo staff boarding the river.

Jake (A): What about you? Have you played either of these games?

Sins (E): I have not, but Wolf says that he thinks he's going to be the only one that's going to vote for the Ninja. I'm actually going to vote for the Ninja, even though I said I've already played a Car Warriors. And really what it was is it was the frogger level that sold me.

Jake (A): Yeah, I didn't realize that level was there. That's actually really interesting, more than I thought there was in this game.

Sins (E): Strider looks great and walking on your hands while still attacking people. Holy shit. But I'm going oregon trail of Carrie Warriors. Frogger.

Jake (A): Okay, I'll go then. Chard I have not played much of Strider too. The only reason I like this character is because of Marvel vs. Capcom. Strider is in that game and he's fantastic. He's one of my favorite characters in that fighting game. I didn't realize he was actually Strider. Strider from the old game because as a kid, I played the NES Strider, which is nothing like this. This game looks dope as hell. I mean, it looks really frantic, really fun. I want to play it, but I just don't have any nostalgia for this one, really, outside of liking the character design. I have played actually because of Wolf, a heck of a lot of Sega's the Ninja on the Mister, and once I realized it was just a schmup, I got really into it. I'm actually in a schmup's face. That's what I'm in right now, playing a lot of shooters. So I actually like Sega and Ninja more than Shredder Two. Although I do want to play strider. There's actually a reboot of this game or a sequel. I don't know what it is. I think 2014 and it's on Steam. I picked it up for $5, and I actually want to play that version of Strider quite a bit, but that's not what's on this bracket. It's Strider, too, and I think Sega Ninja is the one I'm going to vote for as well. Wow.

GP (D): All right, Shard, once again, you and I can say whatever we want.

Chard (B): I like echo pattern colors. I like poorly outlined characters. No, I don't mean to talk shit. I'm just mad because it's going to lose. I like my Ninja games to make me feel like a badass. And Strider Two delivers on all fronts of that feeling. Strider is a dope character. Like Jake said, he's awesome in marvel Capcom, but I love the Strider series. I've played quite a few of them.

Jake (A): You don't want to feel like a ninja princess. You don't want to be a princess who's dead.

Chard (B): I don't want to feel like a ninja princess. I want to feel like I can walk on my hands and still attack people and do flips and shit on a flying metal dragon looking thing whilst battling another person who has the same abilities that I do. No, I'm strategic. I think that game looks absolutely incredible and I know we rated. I'm going to give her a shout out to Rockstar Lexi the other day who was doing the retro achievements for this game. And upon watching that, I found myself completely mesmerized by all the cool stuff she was doing. It's got a little ADHD kind of feel to it, though, because it feels like you do a bunch of stuff and then it goes to the next thing and you do a bunch of action is crazy, and then stops and it goes to the same thing. And I don't know if it was because of specific achievements she was trying to get that just seemed like but it's timed. So a lot of the stuff she was doing, you could see like, she has to get it done within a certain amount of time or whatever, as the achievements go. So she was moving extremely quickly while playing the game, but still, it looks cool. I'm on strider too. 100%. The other one just looks very blaw to me, unfortunately. And I'm sorry if I had some nostalgia that hung on my head that I can hang my hat on, maybe, possibly. But I'm the flashy guy. I like the lights and the brightness and all the quick stuff and all that crap. So if you're going to put bells and whistles all over it, I'm going to be attracted to it a lot more.

GP (D): Yeah, I think I got to go with Strutter. Also, between the two, I'm kind of shocked that this one is losing. I don't know that I would have put the ninja even ahead of, like, shinobi, you know what I mean? So the thing is, looking at Strider, and we talked about Metal Storm earlier, got the upside down mechanic, you've got the parallax effect for the background, you've got overly animated explosions. The thing is, between these two games, strider makes me feel like a ninja. He's executing all this dope ass shit, whereas the ninja okay, you've got ninja stars, but it's a schmuck, and I don't want to disparage that and I don't want to say anything bad about it, but it's because I haven't played the ninja. But Strider hands down.

Jake (A): Okay.

GP (D): I'm sure both are great, but yeah, give me silly. It makes me feel like a ninja. I'm doing the shit now.

Chard (B): Strider has got that iconic sword arcut like animation that he has literally, through Genesis versions all the way through everything, and it's so Konic. It's so cool to watch it just go shing ching ching ching, because he does the same thing in the Marvel stuff. It just like she said, you feel like a bad ass play in that game.

GP (D): I feel like if I were in a room and I had to go through the strategic character, I don't know that I'm going to win. But if I've got to find a way to elude the ninja, maybe it was the same thing with Batman. Everybody wants to say that Michael Keaton is, like, the definitive Batman, and Michael Keaton is a good Batman. And this is how I used to explain this. If I run into Michael Keaton in a dark alleyway, I might be able to take him. If I run into Christian Bale in an alleyway, I'm going to lose that fight.

Jake (A): He'll mess you up.

Sins (E): But what if you're a log on a river?

GP (D): I guess I didn't think of it like that. Can I change my answer?

Wulff (C): No.

Chard (B): It's still strider no.

GP (D): Let's move on.

Chard (B): Wow.

Jake (A): Okay.

Chard (B): That's a big shock to me.

GP (D): That's a bigger shock to me than the first bracket was.

Jake (A): Yeah.

Chard (B): Agreed.

Jake (A): Yeah. I didn't expect Sinister to go with the ninja. I thought it'd just be me and Wolf on this one.

GP (D): At least it wasn't arbitrary. At least it wasn't arbitrary. Right. Sinister. That's got to make the wind feel better.

Sins (E): It wasn't William fucking Shahatner.

Jake (A): Nice. We don't need a tie breaker.

Sins (E): It wasn't William fucking Shahatner. I at least gave three reasons for this one.

GP (D): Shatner cereal.

Jake (A): That's true. All right. Strider. Two versus Sega ninja. The sega. The ninja wins. I did not expect that one. All right, our next bracket is ten shoe Stealth Assassins versus Ninja. Guidance on the NES. I only played the demo of Ten Shoes, so I really can't speak on it, but it looks good. And what I played with, it was fun. And it's the stealth mechanics, right? That pre mill gear, solid stealth gameplay, which is pretty great, but Ninja Guidance is fucking Ninja Guide, and it's like.

Sins (E): I want to go first on this one.

Jake (A): Go for it.

Sins (E): Okay. My vote is Ten Shoe for one reason, and that is accidental wall grab.

Chard (B): Oh, Jesus. Did my playthrough really piss you off that much?

Sins (E): That you I have watched everybody play that, and they accidentally grab the wall and get absolutely just fucked in that game.

Chard (B): It was no joke.

Sins (E): I have played Tension, and it's a glorious game. It is one of the few stealth games I like. I do not like stealth games, and that is one of the few stealth games I like.

GP (D): Have you ever gone to the refrigerator at 03:00 A.m.?

Sins (E): It's been a long time, the stealth game. It's been a very long time. But GP, I don't know if you heard, because you tossed your headphone. I said, for one reason, accidental wall grab.

GP (D): You're cutting in and out. I don't know what's going on.

Jake (A): All right, since you two okay, I get it.

Wulff (C): You would talk about playing a game where you feel like a ninja. It is hands down. Tenchu.

Sins (E): Yeah.

Wulff (C): Tenchu has you going around stealthing around compounds, entire compounds. Like sneaking around the walls, getting up on the rooftops, jumping over the walls, knocking on the walls to lure people and then going out hiding. It does all that before metal gear did? I'm pretty sure.

Jake (A): I think so, yeah.

Wulff (C): It is so good at what it does and it's so much fun to just keep playing. Even when you're having a bad time in the game, you're still like, oh, this is going to be cool doing it again. When you fail, it's frustrating. But then you get to go do all of it again and it's so much fun to do over and over. It's a blast.

Sins (E): It has horrible sounding blood. Blood fall on the ground. And that's nostalgia for me. That's nostalgia.

Wulff (C): Anyway, yeah, tension has got to be my vote on this one as well. It's just so cool. The first time I saw this game was at an import store months before it came to the west. A walk out of this room, everybody in that room. It was a little import store. There was like ten people in that store. One guy popped it in because he wanted to try it before he bought it and everybody gathered around like, oh, my gosh, this is cool. And so when it finally came to the west, I was like I got to play this. And I loved it.

GP (D): Why do I have nervousness about where this is going?

Chard (B): Because you know that jake is going to do this weird off the tusk selection and be like what an expectant.

Sins (E): To pick change.

Chard (B): With our guiding pants hanging out of our asses and don't understand how it couldn't get to the next damn bracket.

Jake (A): You tell me how good ten she is, go for it.

Sins (E): I just watched on the video sneaking up behind a guy and slicing their neck. I mean, what is more ninja.

Chard (B): Guiding.

GP (D): Ninjas get hurt by alive feet and then have to do it again.

Sins (E): Look, that's a real ninja. I can call my car a ninja. It doesn't make it a ninja.

GP (D): Is it a suzuki?

Chard (B): Yeah, ninja.

Wulff (C): You mean at you.

Chard (B): It's ninja guidance, guys. When you think ninja games, everybody thinks ninja guidance first and foremost.

Wulff (C): That's just because everybody knows it. That's not because it's a great game.

Chard (B): It is popular because it's good.

GP (D): It's known for being good.

Chard (B): It was hard and I beat it and I was super pumped.

GP (D): Is that what this is?

Chard (B): Challenging game?

GP (D): We feel like we beat it so we feel obligated to flex and be like, no, that's going to be it.

Sins (E): They said that tmnt the arcade game had extorted me out of money so if I didn't pay. If I didn't say it was good.

GP (D): I didn't play this game for all these decades, for 36 years before beating it just to lose the Tinchu.

Sins (E): My dad didn't slave over a hot ninja gaiden for 60 years.

GP (D): Just say. I want to have ten chu. All right, so who's going?

Chard (B): Ten chu looks like when he runs around that he shiz pants and he's trying to find a bathroom and he has to kill people to get to literally fucking drop his loaf.

Jake (A): Okay.

Chard (B): You are killing it. Ninja Guide is awesome. Accidental wall grabs aside, there was a wall grab involved, and that was pretty cool for the NES. Feeling like an absolute badass when you are fucking just darting through levels. Once you obviously get the patterns and everything learned down, it's fun. It's a great game. It's freaky Ninja Guidance to talk about the soundtrack. Not even going to go past this bracket. Blows my mind. The soundtrack for 62. I could probably hum that thing in my fucking sleep because I lived there for so long. But it's in your guidance, guys. You can't you get spin slash all the way home, you take the spin slash all the way home, and you're done. Games over.

GP (D): There are not many missteps in that franchise. Ninja guidance two. Great game. Ninja Garden three. Great game. The other Ninja Guidance and the newer platforms, good to, great game.

Chard (B): Sigma Black. I played those great games. Both difficult, but still very fun. I can't believe we're here. I cannot believe this is happening.

GP (D): Here, I'm going to read this real quick. I'm watching Chat, and actually, somebody mentioned something that is a hot take, but interesting. Tell me what you think. If Ryu didn't spin when jumping, this would just be Castlevania.

Chard (B): Kind of I mean, sure, whatever. It doesn't matter.

GP (D): I never thought of it. I know, you guys.

Wulff (C): It's Castlevania. If Belmont could run.

Jake (A): Yeah, because Ninja Guide is faster by far. Back is pretty awful, I got to say.

GP (D): Go ahead. No, that's it. I basically gave my opinions while Charter was giving his. I had his back. So we weighed for the win.

Chard (B): Let's move on.

GP (D): Let's move on.

Jake (A): All right. So for me so again, I only play the demo of Ten Shoe. But having played a demo, I think that makes me more than qualified to talk about it. I'm not a big fan of the PlayStation. I think a lot of the PlayStation games graphics are awful and have not held up at all. Tension, though, surprisingly, still looks good, even though it's obviously very blocky. It's PlayStation era. But there's textures. There's actually textures on things, which you can't be said for a lot of PlayStation games. It actually looks nice, you know, pixelated blood and all that. And it's also when you say, like, ninja movies and that kind of genre. Yeah, tenchu feels more on brand for a real ninja.

GP (D): Birds respawn. The birds respawn.

Jake (A): I don't think there's birds in Ten Chu, which probably a benefit. The birds and Ninja gym are ass the owls. And the ice level. Fuck, those owls are hard.

GP (D): How do we feel about ice level?

Jake (A): Yeah. Fuck everybody.

Sins (E): They're fine.

Wulff (C): Had you fucked had it been Ninja Guide Me arcade game, I think I might have been torn. But Ninja yeah, the arcade trash.

GP (D): Let's just go ahead and put a nail on it and close that coffin. And then let's go back to talking about how great Sega's the Ninja or the kid or whatever it was. Maybe this is the hidden gem thing again, and I don't really fully understand the assignment because come on, fellas.

Jake (A): All right. So anyway, Ten shoe looks fantastic. The graphics are good. Gameplay is very interesting, is stealth. It helped to find the stealth genre again before Middle Gear, which gets a lot of credit for that. There was Ten Shoes, so there are a lot of respect there. Now, on the other hand, you got ninja guidance. I fucking had a year watching Arcus Speedrun. That game felt like I could play it myself. Failed. But the game is a lot fun to play. And it's ninja fucking guide in on Nintendo. It's like the Ninja game on the Onion. When we made this list, there was two games on this list. I knew how to be here.

Chard (B): Stop giving you shit for a full week if we don't.

Jake (A): When this list was put together, there's two games I need to be on this list, and one was fucking Tenchu, because it is the PlayStation era stealth ninja game. And there's nothing quite like it, like, ever, right? Like every ninja game since then kind of omits the stealth aspect of ninja. Tenchu has it. So Tenchu is the one, and the other one was Ninja Guide on the NES. It's like the ninja game that everybody's familiar with. So it's those two games. So that said, I mentioned about the two indie games, Cybershadow, the Messenger, I fucking love them. And the same thing when I beat those, I can beat these. I got to go and play Ninja Guiding because it motivated me to go back to try and beat Ninja Guide. And Ninja Guiden was very close to being my sisafiian game this year over Baltos. I love ninja guiding, and I want to beat it someday. Ten Shoe. I want to play it. I have no desire to beat it. Honestly, as neat as it is, I'm just not a PlayStation guy. So for me, it's ninja guidance.

GP (D): This is the.

Sins (E): Wait, what is it? The Jimble. What is it? The Jimbal says rigged.

Jake (A): Right.

GP (D): The hand is red. Let's move on.

Jake (A): Balance cast.

GP (D): We're doing it.

Jake (A): I like it.

Chard (B): You can't throw Ninja guiding.

Jake (A): The Retention.

Chard (B): He can't throw the flag. Run the next play. He can't throw the flag.

Jake (A): All right, last of the preliminary brackets. And then we're going to motor through those semis we have to. All right, so Ninja Guide beats ten chu. That was a good one, though. Last of the preliminary is bullshit tmnt shredders Revenge, which is a modern take on Ninja Turtles versus fucking brackets Fruit Ninja VR.

Chard (B): On this one. You wanted together.

Sins (E): Shredders revenge.

Jake (A): Shredders Revenge. Look, I like Shredders revenge. I play through it twice with you guys. How many times have you played it since me?

Sins (E):

1. No, I haven't, actually.

Jake (A): Really?

Chard (B): I played it for charity event. Yes.

Sins (E): I played it for co op with my friends on one of our Sunday church video games.

Jake (A): Really?

Sins (E): Yeah.

Jake (A): I have not touched this game.

Chard (B): I played it for the last dgmw charity event they just had.

Jake (A): Okay, let me tell you about a game. Let me tell you about a game.

Sins (E): Fruit and injury.

Jake (A): Okay. Fruit Ninja, when it first came out on mobile, was one of the first addictive games on mobile. When they brought this to VR, my mind was fucking blown. I have an oculus quest. I'm going to put it myself. I have three VR headsets behind me. Two of them convert. Fruit ninja VR.

GP (D): I love the story to fruit. Ninja I love the plot. I love how the characters advance and grow.

Jake (A): Are you trying to tell me there's plot? Destroyers Avenge? Really? That game is light on everything.

Wulff (C): Shredder.

Jake (A): It's fun, but there's no plot. The plot is in the title fruit Ninja VR. I play that every other weekend with my kids. It's fun to watch. It's fun to play. It's different every time. It's challenging. It's like an arcade game. Fruit Ninja VR is fantastic. And it's one of a handful of VR games where I can point and say beat saber Les Mills, body Combat and fucking Fruit Ninja VR. Those are, like, the three games that are fantastic in VR and not enough people will get a chance to play this. Maybe that defines it as a hidden gem. I don't know, but it feels like one because it's fun to play. And nobody ever talks about fruit.

GP (D): Ninja.

Sins (E): VR.

Chard (B): Just completely ignore half life. Alex in that whole VR.

Wulff (C): I have never even considered fruit ninja VR. And do you want to know why? It's because it was based on a shitty mobile game.

Jake (A): It wasn't shitty.

Wulff (C): No business being as popular as it was.

GP (D): I love you.

Jake (A): Don't want to swipe right? Come on. Everyone likes to swipe right?

GP (D): Okay, do you know why I'm going to disqualify Fruit Ninja from the list? Because the original name for Fruit Ninja was not Fruit Ninja. It was asshole with the knife. Okay. Requires no training or ninja skills. I'm not saying it's a shit game. I'm saying ninja turtles. Shredders Revenge is the better ninja game.

Sins (E): We all see this movie Blind Fury in the 80s where it was, like, slicing like fruit.

GP (D): Yeah, like you're a stunt asshole with a knife.

Chard (B): I have to do enough food cutting at home. I don't like to do it on my phone.

GP (D): I don't like chores.

Wulff (C): Ninja. Developers of Fruit Ninja were like, I loved Gallagher, but we need to update the spiel.

Jake (A): And it worked.

Chard (B): Did you ever play the sequel?

GP (D): Who's going to clean this was copywritten.

Jake (A): Look, I'm just saying, when it comes to using motion controls, few games do it as good as Fruit Ninja. Sure. Like, it's really good.

GP (D): Yeah, play it's up here with loan.

Chard (B): Yeah, because if it takes Fruit Ninja to get you past that, to be, like, just as incredible, you need to really open up your VR library.

Sins (E): Does this make you feel like a ninja or does this make you feel like you're a grocery store? Like you're working at the deli, counter slicing your fruits?

GP (D): Preach.

Jake (A): It's fun. I'm just saying. Replay value none. There's nothing there. Thank goodness.

Chard (B): I'm going to send Jake the DLC to Fruit Ninja. Who's going to clean this fucking mess up.

GP (D): Yeah. It's a waste of food is what it is.

Sins (E): Yeah.

Jake (A): Okay. People are like, okay, all right.

Wulff (C): Okay.

GP (D): Does anybody else other than Jake vote for free Ninja?

Sins (E): No?

GP (D): Okay.

Jake (A): The only thing Sharia's Rebecca has for free Ninja is the multiplayer with you guys. That was the only reason I like it. Otherwise, it's fun.

GP (D): But it was a fun, sleek, entertaining date.

Sins (E): You know what? It plays fantastically on this device.

GP (D): Look at that.

Sins (E): It's great. It's great.

GP (D): Look at that.

Jake (A): Okay. All right.

Chard (B): Fruit Ninja.

Jake (A): VR versus Shredder's revenge. I mean, obviously it's me. Shredders revenge. That's fine. All right, we're going to bang through the semi's really fast so we get to the finals. Okay?

GP (D): Bang them all.

Jake (A): First one team and T. The arcade game versus the messenger.

GP (D): Messenger.

Jake (A): Messenger for me. Has to be.

Sins (E): Tmnt for me.

Chard (B): Tmnt for me.

Sins (E): So who's the tie breaker?

Chard (B): Everybody elseenger. You and I are the only tmnt.

Jake (A): Is great for what it did, but the messenger is just across the board. Such a great fucking game.

GP (D): Now, if we put team in T two against Ninja Kid or whatever, or the ninja. Yeah, that's going to go further. But it's the messenger.

Jake (A): Okay, I'm burning the ninja next.

Chard (B): I don't care what next to me.

Jake (A): Then is I'll take Cyber Shadow. Cyber shadow versus Sega Ninja.

Wulff (C): Cyber Shadow.

Jake (A): Cyber Shadow.

Wulff (C): Cyber Shadow.

Jake (A): Sega Ninja. Because somebody needs to I love me.

Wulff (C): Some Sega Ninja, but Cyber Shadow.

Chard (B): Cyber shadow is good. All right, don't pity vote, Jake. It doesn't look good on you.

Jake (A): Those are backfires. Learn that way and then what was it? What do we do? Damage?

Sins (E): No, guys, he's making up the bracket. He's making up the bracket.

Chard (B): Those doors are closed.

Jake (A): Hold on.

Chard (B): Strider, too.

Sins (E): He's going to introduce a game we haven't even voted on yet.

Jake (A): No. Okay. No. Just because we did twelve instead of ten. I think we need to do ten going forward. Otherwise.

Chard (B): All right, that's a ninja game, right? Why the final pro in this, by.

Jake (A): The way, he's not a ninja. We asked about this. Is he a ninja? I would have said he's a ninja.

Chard (B): Ninja qualities.

Jake (A): He's not a ninja.

GP (D): The darkness of his black belt is blacker than the darkest black belt.

Chard (B): It's almost like it's so black that it's not.

Jake (A): Alright, so the way we can do this then is that our final four basically is going to be the Messenger, Cyber Shadow, ninja Guidance and Tmnt. So how do we want to decide the third?

GP (D): Well, okay, I would say that well.

Sins (E): We lost GP. Say it again.

Chard (B): He moved. What if he throws with intensity, though?

GP (D): Yeah, okay. Sorry, my back. Can you guys hear me now?

Chard (B): Yeah, you're good.

GP (D): Do we need to put ninja guidance next to the messenger and see what's what? Because to me, really, that's the question.

Chard (B): I think so. Out of the other tops, those are the two. I think they're going to be the hardest to pick between the two.

GP (D): Yeah.

Sins (E): Folks, it's another hour episode.

Jake (A): No for me, when I look at like I played the messenger at such an amazing time, I went to play ninja guiding. The starkest contrast between the two was ninja guidance didn't control nearly as good as the messenger. The controls and the messenger are way better feeling and the way they input and the control were so much better.

Chard (B): Than 30 years of mechanics between now and there's.

Wulff (C): Lots of wall grabs, no accidental wall grabs.

Jake (A): But there's so many great dance games like Maryborough's three controls. Fantastic. Even today.

Chard (B): So there's no guidance, there is no messenger. I just thought I'd have that out there.

Jake (A): That's true.

GP (D): So yeah, but that doesn't mean that I'm less cool than my grandpa. Because without my grandpa, there wouldn't have been me.

Chard (B): But you exist because of said person that makes you cooler. So I just totally went around and shot my own stuff in the foot.

Sins (E): What if your grandfather was a misogynist racist asshole?

GP (D): Right.

Sins (E): I would know you're the better version because you're not. Right?

GP (D): Right.

Chard (B): But without them, I wouldn't exist. So I got to swallow my pride on that one and go with the accidental wall grab.

GP (D): This one's tough. I'll go last on this one again.

Chard (B): Everybody who wants to jump on this train? I'm driving the ninja guidance drain something.

Jake (A): I want to suggest that Cyber Shadow is our fourth game and that the top three. We'll figure out the order, but the top three would be the Messenger, Ninja Guidance and TMT's treasure Venge.

Wulff (C): I would agree.

Jake (A): Cyber Shadow is great, but I think it's the fourth.

Sins (E): Yeah, I'm good with that. So we've got to argue one, two and three.

Jake (A): Yeah. So the messenger ninja guidance and TNT treasures revenge.

Sins (E): Well, I think either way, Tmnt out of that it's going to be third. I think it's going to be yes.

Wulff (C): I would agree with Shredders revenge being third here.

Chard (B): Guiding and messenger are going to be top two. Whichever way they land, it's going to be top two.

Jake (A): We're still on messenger and ninja guide.

GP (D): I will speak here by virtue of difficulty and proliferation of the franchise and how good the other entries are. I'm going with Ninja guidance. Please understand this is eating me up because I said this earlier. If Ninja Guidance had was a puzzler, that would have elevated it even more. And that's what the messenger is. But I'm going to go with Ninja Guide on this one.

Sins (E): Two for guiding. Do we have any messenger votes right here?

Wulff (C): Messenger. I'm going with the messenger because I kind of agree with Jake in that the controls just don't hold up in Ninja Guide. And if you want to compare it to other games from 1988, super Mario Brothers, two, controls hold great. Super Mario. Three, the controls are great. Altered Beasts. The controls are better than Ninja Guide, in my mind at least.

Chard (B): The Genesis don't strongly disagree. Love you.

Jake (A): I was with you until that.

Chard (B): Yeah.

GP (D): Altered Beast is a bridge too far.

Wulff (C): There are games that came out in 1988 that the controls don't feel so janky. Blaster Master. Blaster Master is 1988. The controls in that are fucking spectacular.

Jake (A): I agree. Yeah.

Wulff (C): So the fact that the controls have not aged well despite the game being very popular, I get that the music was great in the game. The concepts were there, but the game does not make me feel like a ninja. I think it's just a bunch of horseshoe.

Sins (E): I'm going to vote before I have to be the tie breaker. I'm going to go messenger as well.

Chard (B): Wow.

Jake (A): Wait, does that mean I'm time breaker?

Chard (B): Yeah, you're tiebreaker bud right in the middle there.

Jake (A): Then you get pissed off of me either way.

Chard (B): What I say?

Jake (A): Fuck you guys. What the hell?

Chard (B): Be fine.

GP (D): It's now.

Sins (E): Are we pulling out William fucking shaftman?

Jake (A): No, we're not pulling the fucking hat. The hat can stay retired. I'm bringing the spider back.

Chard (B): The worst thing is that I think Cinnastar and I give Jake the most shit and we're on well, there goes GP cinema give Jake the most shit and we're on opposite side of the fence. So either way he picks it.

GP (D): Even the computers are crushing here from the anticipation.

Jake (A): Yeah, that's okay. All right. So when we look at Ninja guiding, it's ninja fucking guiding. It's like the ninja game. And it is a fantastic game on the NES and it controls good. As good as the nest. Messenger. No graphics still hold up versus the messenger. Is that fair? Because the message is a new game. Right. Even though it's retrolistically, the same soundtrack is the messenger.

Chard (B): I'm trying to be convincing. I'm just saying that they are one with the style. So it's still that I like this inspired look.

Jake (A): The soundtrack and Ninja Guidance is good, at least the first couple of tracks. After that not so much. The messenger is solid from start to finish, soundtrack wise, in terms of length of game, there is so much game in The Messenger. So much. It's good. It does draw out toward the end. But then I've said it before, in Ninja Guidance, I can't beat I get to six four, which is like, right at the end and I die. And if it continues, means you keep trying and you have to basically force yourself to walk away. And it's the worst goddamn feeling. The messenger gets hard, but it never feels impossible. So they're both very good games. I'm glad they made it to the top three. I'm really surprised. I was thinking that you guys would tank Ninja Guidance or something, but surprisingly, you didn't because I'm still salty. You guys didn't fucking vote for Mario in that first bracket episode.

GP (D): We're all against you, Jake.

Jake (A): I know. Anyway, that's true. My vote, I think it's the better game.

GP (D): Which one?

Jake (A): I like ninja garden a lot. It's almost a sisafiian game.

GP (D): I get it. But you just want to be friends. No, that's fine.

Chard (B): That's fine. GP he just friended us.

Jake (A): All right, so our top three. Best ninja game ever.

Chard (B): Not our top three. Not my top three.

Jake (A): I mentioned the cyber shadow.

Sins (E): Are you part of Presby or not?

GP (D): Chard, one of the worst ninja games. Mystical Ninja Goleman. That should tell you how accurate that is.

Chard (B): Second one.

Jake (A): Number three. Third. The bronze was Cyber Shadow. No team into East Reserve was number three. Number Two Ninja Guide. And number one is the messenger. The messenger is fantastic. Sabotage Studios is doing another game in that universe. Radically different gameplay. Sea of stars. You should also check that out as well. So, again, March Radnus. All month we're doing bracket episodes. We hope you enjoyed this one. We're going to end the month off with a special episode. If you want a hint, then check out our discord for links to all of us where you can find us, whether it's our audio podcasts or on YouTube, go to press b. To cancel.com or check us out, press b on Twitter and you can find us there and again. Yeah, join our discord. We're always looking for ideas for these bracket episodes. It's hard coming up with some of these lists, especially when I got narrowed down. So we always try and get your guys feedback.

Chard (B): Why can we shit like the ninja?

GP (D): I think I might be a little delayed.

Jake (A): Writer it's a schmup and it's good. Yeah, I think we had a lot of technical issues surveys delayed. I'm going to wrap it up really quick because we got to go, guys. Thanks, GP. Check out Sinister on Mondays. He's streaming Crowd Trigger. Check out Chart. He's playing some hot trash for Chivos because he hates himself. Check out Wolf.

Chard (B): It's Final Fantasy Four.

Jake (A): He's doing stuff. Check out GPS videos on YouTube. And check out me on YouTube. I'm trying for Baltimore. We are presbytered cancel. We'll see you guys all next week.

GP (D): Ninja guiding for life. Trash.

Press B To Cancel now on Youtube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel and Instagram @pressbtocancel.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Transcript: Jake (A): Digging through a pile of dirt for those hidden gems. And no, not circus. Charlie, today on, um welcome, everybody. Another episode of press B to cancel your favorite podcast for the next five minutes, if I can believe the YouTube algorithm and SEO. Yeah. Five minutes. Yeah. So today is another episode we got planned for you guys, and we're going to be talking about hidden gems. Now, I know that we did that in the past before, back when we did audio only episodes, but there's plenty of games out there, both new and some old, that are just games that don't get enough love or attention. Games that we think you may not even have heard of. I know my pick was surprising to myself. So we're going to go through some hidden games this week. And not by myself. No, never alone. I'm joined by three good friends. GP, how are you doing this week?

GP (B): I'm doing good, thank you. It's good to be here. Thank you for having me back.

Jake (A): And we checked those audio levels for nothing.

Sins (C): I also am doing well. Thank you for asking.

Jake (A): I hate you guys. And Werewolf, how are you doing this week?

Wulff (D): I am doing better than I expected I'd be, seeing as I've been feeling like garbage all week.

Jake (A): Well, I'll tell you what's not garbage our four picks this week. All right, so we're going to get right into it.

Wulff (D): That would be debatable if Chard were here.

Jake (A): Oh, boy. If he was here, he would just pick his hidden gem would be Elden Ring, and we'd argue that for 45 minutes. So we're better off without not what he had in this week.

Sins (C): No. His hidden gem. His hidden gem is the story inside of Eldon Ring.

Jake (A): So buried Circus Charlie might have more plot than Elder ring, but anyway, I think so. All right, Citistar, how about you kick us off first? What game do you want to bring to the table? Talk about as your choice of hidden gem.

Sins (C): Sure. So I looked at the quantity of reviews for this game on Steam. It's a modern game, and I don't know that it's hidden gem, but everybody I've spoken to has not heard of this game. But it has, like, something like 70 or 90,000 positive reviews. Anyway, I'm bringing to the table gunfire reborn.

Jake (A): Have you played this one before?

Sins (C): Okay, yeah, I've played quite a few hours of it, actually. I play this. I've done this. I have a family game night on Wednesdays, and it is a co op, first person shooter, rogue light, and it's great.

Jake (A): Okay.

Sins (C): Yeah.

GP (B): Looks like spyro, like the animation type.

Sins (C): Looks like spiral. Yeah, it very much does. Yeah. So basically the simplest concept is you go basically from area room to room. You have to defeat all of the enemies in each room to progress. You earn new weapons or you earn these things called elite scrolls, which modify portions of the game you beat a boss and then you progress to the next area and eventually you make it. I think there's four areas and then the end boss, if I remember right, don't quote me on that, but I should remember. I've played hours and hours and hours of this, but I don't know if this is truly hidden, but it was hidden to me. I found it looking for a co op game to play with my family, and it was buried down in the list of Steam co op games.

Jake (A): I've never heard of this one before, actually. I mean, I played roguelike first person shooters. I played Cigarette quite a bit, but that's not co op. This looks pretty rad.

Sins (C): Yeah.

Jake (A): Why are you a cat? Is that a class?

Sins (C): Yeah. So it's characters, I guess it's a class, but they're characters by name. And each player can be any of the characters. It's not like one that's picked makes it so another person can't play that character. Because when you start the game, I think you literally have one, like one choice.

GP (B): Is it a pro techer?

Sins (C): It is absolutely.

Jake (A): In Europe.

Sins (C): Yeah. Contradictory to protector. It's not. And then as you earn, you earn unlocks in the game. You earn unlocks as you level. And then you can also purchase unlocks via earned in game talent. They call them talent points. And that's where TPS. Yeah, exactly. It's TP for sure. That's where the rogue light function comes in. There are much like vampire survivors. You purchase unlocks that enhance every character. But then each character also has their own. It's just a straight skill tree. It's step 12345, I guess. It's not a tree, it's a skill line. But the rest of the enhance, everything is a skill tree.

Jake (A): What's the variety of enemies and bosses like? Is it pretty samey or is there a good variety?

Sins (C): There's a good variety. You get people, you get grenadiers, you get spear people that come up and try to stab you. You get big, big boss. Well, I guess I kind of look at them as kind of a mini boss that have giant shields that deflect most of your damage until you can either get around them or defeat their shield, or some sort of enhancement will do additional damage. And then certain enhancements will make it so that when a character explodes I'm looking at it right now, they will actually turn into a little beetle as they die and they come at you. That's a modifier in the game that happens depending on the area you're in. And then there are elites. Yeah, then there are elites that obviously are large and have some sort of modifier. Some of them will be stealth where you can't see them. Some will be just extreme hit points. Some will have large weapons, et cetera, et cetera. And then there are boss types that are hard. They're genuinely hard. And then, of course, much like every rogue light. You select your difficulty all the way up through Nightmare or whatever. The craziest levels are nice.

Wulff (D): This is actually a game I've looked at a few times as something to move on to with my buddy when we're done playing Ship of Fools because we finish a game and we move on to a new one. And this is one I was looking at, but I'm on the fence about it because he gets motion sickness with.

Sins (C): And this is fairly depending on what causes the motion sickness, I think you can turn off things like motion sway or whatever you call it.

Wulff (D): Yeah, head bobbing and motion sway are.

Sins (C): Really bad for him, but it also is pretty frenetic. And so if making fast turns and stuff will make him ill as well, it's probably ill advised, but it's a blast. Absolutely a blast.

GP (B): Yeah.

Jake (A): Sorry, I just had to pull it off. Well, seriously?

GP (B): You murder a spider?

Jake (A): That's what this was terrifying we did today. No, I just grabbed the string and.

GP (B): Just kind of prayed his way.

Wulff (D): You just moved him away. He's okay.

Jake (A): My heart's not okay. Spider is okay. Don't worry. That will haunt me tonight.

Sins (C): Yeah.

GP (B): Did anybody else see this spider? I mean, how big was this guy? Or gal?

Jake (A): He's a good size.

Wulff (D): They grow big up here.

Jake (A): They eat other bugs. I mean, we don't have any, but if we do, then I know that they would get eaten by this sucker. I don't kill spiders. The one bugs I don't mind. They freak me out, but I don't mind.

Sins (C): I'm sorry. I would take off a nuke from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

Wulff (D): Yeah, I mean, I'm not that bad. I used to be the one who would catch them and take them outside, but wife Wolf is so terrified of spiders that I can't do that anymore. I just have to smash them.

GP (B): Okay. Can I implement or at least posit a new rule or regulation for the channel? And maybe we can have chat where people in discord vote on this for us. From now on, if ever there's a spider on one of our cameras and we need to get rid of them, you can't do one of these. You can't be gentle. I'm not advocating murdering the spider, but if you're going to at least do some sort of, like, power move from wrestling, throw down some elbows, the only way to do away with it is give it one of those. That way, when we see it, it's not this. It's an action shot.

Jake (A): Excuse me while I tube stone this bug. Just give me a few minutes.

GP (B): Yeah, right.

Jake (A): It's a diamond cutter.

Sins (C): Oh, boy.

GP (B): I mean, if you can smell what.

Sins (C): The jake to getting back to gunfire so the unlocked tree is great. The weapons are fantastic. You start out with just basically your standard p shooter. It's just a little machine gun. You always have it. And the nice thing is that one always has unlimited ammo, but it's just a P shooter. So you can then carry two other weapons. And as you progress through the game, you unlock other weapons. There are some weapons that one of my favorites is you've all seen Fifth Element, right?

Jake (A): Oh, yeah.

Sins (C): There's the part where what's his name is showing his crates of weapons and he shoots the thing, and then he turns around and shoots, and all the bullets fly back to the thing and he says, My favorite, or whatever. Right? You have that gun. You have that gun in the game. That is an unlock. You have mealy weapons, you have sniper weapons. And these are all unlocks. And then some of the weapons are clever. There are some that are, like there's a little lizard that you squeeze and it belches. Rapid fireballs. The animations are great. It's colorful. One of the things that drives me nuts about Call of Duty is everything's gray and brown, right? In Call of Duty.

Wulff (D): More brown and more bloom.

Sins (C): Yeah. And this is colorful. And the bosses are epic. And some of the bosses are epically. Frustrating.

Jake (A): Yeah. Watching the gameplay footage, this looks really colorful, really cartoonish, really awesome style. It looks like it controls really well, too.

Sins (C): Yeah. This is a boss that they're working on right now.

Jake (A): Right?

Sins (C): And yeah, the controls are incredibly smooth. On top of your regular weapons, some weapons will have an alternate fire, and then you also have a secondary ability. And depending on the character, some characters freeze them in place. Those are those chains that you see coming out. Other characters launch a grenade or something like that. It's based on each character, so the unlocks are great. We've been playing for hours and hours and hours, and I'm still definitely unlocking in this game.

Jake (A): That's one of the great things about this kind of game, like rogue likes, is they're usually not full price. They're usually fairly inexpensive. And the rogue like aspects to it just give you so many hours of gameplay and keeping things fresh and different every time, especially he's back. What the fuck, dude?

GP (B): Oh, I see him.

Wulff (D): No, elbow, elbow.

GP (B): Okay, hold on.

Jake (A): All right.

Wulff (D): He's on a mission.

Sins (C): Yeah.

Jake (A): Jesus. He wants me to go because I.

GP (B): Just saw him fall down and I'm afraid he's in your lap.

Wulff (D): No, I saw him.

Jake (A): Bring him back.

GP (B): We need a special guest.

Sins (C): My brother brought up the run tactic. So the run tactic is treated differently than most first person shooters. It's not a simple hold shift or tap shift. And you get to run permanently. It is a dash action. Like, it is tap it and you dash forward a certain amount. And then there's a refill period or reload period. You can get scrolls that will enhance that. Some of them will give you, like, say, three, so that you can do three in a row. Some of them will change the amount of time for it to refresh, et cetera.

GP (B): I love that.

Jake (A): Yeah, this looks like an awesome pick. I've never heard of it myself, personally. I don't know. So, Wolf, you said you've heard of it but never played it. Was this ever a game on your.

GP (B): Radar or no, no, I mean, I've played Spyro and I've played Metroid Prime, so kind of yeah.

Wulff (D): Visually, this looks like somewhere between Spyro and Borderlands, which is really cool.

Jake (A): Yeah.

GP (B): I dig the hell out of this. And I'm going to be 100%. I have been jonesing to get into a first person shooter as of late with all the reviews and things I've heard coming out from the Metroid Prime remaster that just got released. So this might take me off that path of something I've played a million times to something new and fresh, and I like that.

Wulff (D): How many players is this one?

Sins (C): It's up to four, and it is called online.

Wulff (D): Nice.

Sins (C): Yeah.

GP (B): If we don't sell Charge, maybe we can I'm kidding. It's not like I would pick some sort of game and then start some sort of server that you guys play, but I don't play or something like that. So I'm not upset.

Jake (A): You're welcome to play Valheim whenever you want.

Sins (C): GP. Yes.

Jake (A): We'd love to have you.

GP (B): That's probably what I'll have to do before I play this, but honestly, this looks like a beautiful game. And as somebody who can appreciate a.

Sins (C): Good first person shooter charts over there. I'm right here. Kill me. Come on. Do it. Do it. So I'm looking the base price. It's not on sale right now, but the base price is $20. And it does look like there's a DLC, and I haven't played the DLC.

Jake (A): Nice.

Sins (C): Yeah.

Jake (A): This looks like a great one to check out. I'm definitely going to check this one out. $20 is totally worth it. And like, oops, all my windows closed.

Sins (C): Yeah.

Jake (A): And the graphics sounds really good. The replay online co op, that's freaking awesome.

Sins (C): Yeah. I have 40 hours in the game. I've played for 40 hours, and that's.

Jake (A): Still doing unlocked pretty good for $40.

Sins (C): That's $0.50 an hour, right?

Jake (A): Yeah.

GP (B): Chard no. If anything else, Chard is in Chat trying to say that I want him fired. If anything, he needs a promotion where he can be second in command right under Daddy. I mean, Jake. I'm fired. It's fine.

Jake (A): Have a list. Not tyrants, not Daddy. Okay.

Sins (C): So I'm going to stump a little bit here and say if you're listening to this or watching this on YouTube and you have heard of this game, please let us know in the chat or comments. We also have a discord. I want to know who's heard of this because it has a lot of reviews, but everybody I've talked to has.

Wulff (D): Been like, yeah, I was kind of confused because you were like, this is my hidden gem, and I looked it up and I was like, 70,000 reviews on Steve.

GP (B): Yeah, but I had the greatest secret.

Sins (C): A co op list to get to it.

Wulff (D): To be fair, that's how I came across it. I was like, okay, what's a good co op game I can play with my buddy? And I had not heard of it. I found it like that. It's never been pushed to me. Even though I play a lot of rogue lights, it's not something I've seen, mentioned, or played on YouTube. So I don't know.

GP (B): My family did something similar where my brother, myself, and a bunch of our cousins wanted to have some sort of online multiplayer experience at, like, once a week. This was a year or two ago. We haven't been able to do this for a while. And I wish we had found something like this, because what we ended up falling on was jack box, and then we ended up just doing TKO over and over, and you learn way too much about people in your orbit when you play that game. Apparently nobody in my family can run for any sort of office ever because they're all degenerates.

Sins (C): What's the jack box with the puppets? And they get murdered. Love that game. That game is fantastic.

GP (B): But anyway, I wish we had something wholesome like, this is what I'm saying.

Sins (C): Instead of murder.

Jake (A): Instead of murder. All right, that's good. What's?

Sins (C): It gunfire reborn.

Wulff (D): Fire Reborn.

Jake (A): Gunfire Reborn. I'm going to check that one out. Very well. Okay, who's next? GP, I'm going to save you for last because your pick is a good one. Let's wait to your last because of.

GP (B): The daddy thing, because I just barely meant that.

Jake (A): Look, stay in your corner and just wait. Eat your peas, werewolf. How will we do you next? Okay.

Sins (C): All right.

Jake (A): What's your hidden gem?

Wulff (D): All right, so mine let me preface this by saying it is a prequel to a game that I think more people have played than I realize called the game that I'm let's start with Beyond Oasis for the Genesis to Zelda. Like, great game, and as I understand it, a lot of people played this. Well, it got a prequel on the Sega Saturn called Legend of Oasis, and I didn't know that for years after I got the Saturn game.

Sins (C): It was a prequel.

Jake (A): It was yes.

Sins (C): Well, you had the game, but you didn't realize it was a prequel.

Wulff (D): Yeah, I had this and I did not know it was a prequel to the Genesis game.

Sins (C): Okay.

Wulff (D): I had never heard of the Genesis game.

Jake (A): That's different. Yeah.

Wulff (D): It'S kind of funny that I've played the one that I refer to as a hidden gem, but I've never played the Genesis one, and a lot of people are like, oh, yeah, that's a great game. The Genesis one.

Jake (A): Yeah.

Wulff (D): Well, this is probably a lot like the Genesis game, but the sprites like you can see in the video here. The sprites are actually really big. You can kind of call it a zelda, like because you don't have solid hit points or anything, instead of you have a health bar and a magic bar and all that. But the mechanics are pretty cool. There's a lot of puzzle solving. You can use enemies or delayed spells or whatever to trigger things that you need to trigger, like switches or events or whatever to time certain things. And it's hard to tell from the video, but it actually has vertical platforming in it to a degree. So there's different layers, of course. And sometimes it messes with you because you don't realize it's there, but they try to be pretty clear about when there's a height difference. It's just sometimes you can't always tell if you're on the higher or the lower. So falling off can end up being frustrating at times. But this game, it does a lot of really cool stuff. It's got a lot of really neat mechanics where you can strike weapons back at enemies and hurt them with their own stuff. You actually end up getting six different summons throughout the game. Various, like there's a freight, there's a plant one, there's an ice one, there's a bunch of them, right? Shade, air. And to summon them, you would actually use a light ball from your character's bracer and strike it against something. And depending on what you strike, that will determine what's summoned. So you have to be in the vicinity of something to be able to summon that. You got to strike something that's a plant to summon the plant summon, you got to strike fire to summon a freight and so forth. Water for the water one. I think the iron ball is shade, things like that. It's really neat. And they all have different abilities. And there's actually a cheat code you can put in to play a two player mode where one person controls the main character, Leon, and the other player controls the summon.

Jake (A): That's pretty awesome.

GP (B): Yeah, like that.

Wulff (D): But I mean, it's a cheat code. You have to enter a cheat code to play two player. But that's pretty cool. A lot of the moves and mechanics in this game are somewhat sort of fighting game combinations that you enter to do those moves. So it's button combinations to make certain abilities and actions happen, which is not a standard thing for an overhead action RPG, for sure. Also, the music is dynamic based on whether you're in combat or not or other things. So the music will change in the area based on what's going on around you. So it's got a lot of cool stuff that I had not seen before. When I played this game at, I don't know, 1314 years old, this was rad.

Sins (C): The movement reminds me of the Rotoscoped games, like the movement of the character, but put it on an X and Y instead of just a Y axis, right?

Wulff (D): Yeah. The animation in this game is excellent. It looks like a cartoon. Kind of like that's. The quality of the artwork in this, I think they actually put that on the box that it's all like, quality hand drawn art. Yeah. Unbelievable. Hand drawn animation is the term they use.

Jake (A): Oasis had a really smooth cartoony look, but this is that times five. Like, it's way. It's everything about Beyond Oasis, but ramped up quite a bit more on the Saturn. This looks rad. I've heard of this, but I never did play it. I did like Beyond Oasis, Genesis quite a bit, but this looks even better in every possible way. I really should play this one.

Wulff (D): Yeah. Everything I've read about this says it takes what worked in Beyond Oasis and improves on it.

Jake (A): Yeah.

Wulff (D): And so that's part of why I've never gone back to play Beyond Oasis. First, I've never beat this. Second, I feel like it would be a let down because trying to go back to play this guy a one, after playing two or three or four or whatever, it's so difficult to go back to the previous systems that were not quite as tightly tuned. And I feel like that's what Beyond Oasis would do or Legend of Oasis would do to Beyond Oasis. I wouldn't be able to do it.

Jake (A): Yeah. I will say, too, about the combat in these games. It's like Zeld, like you said, with a little bit of beat them up, added for good measure and the combos and whatnot. It's a very unique game. And this is one of those games where where's the sequel, like, why did Sega not do a sequel to this franchise? Right? I mean, on the dreamcast or later on, this would kill.

Wulff (D): Yeah. So I think Beyond Oasis only sold marginally well. And then Legend of Oasis, because it was on the Saturn, didn't sell. Like, I'm probably one of nine people who bought it. Right.

Sins (C): Out of the 27 people that bought Saturns.

Wulff (D): Yeah. Basically, this was probably not a common purchase for Saturn owners, which were already not a common thing.

Jake (A): Yeah. And that's the thing with Saturn. Saturn, I know it was technically a 3D platform, but it never did 3D. That great. It was always, for me, a 2D system. And games like this are why this looks straight out of a cartoon. This is almost like Aladdin, but overhead view and just it looks really fantastic. And if the music is like the Genesis game at all, then it's probably slaps. This looks really good.

Wulff (D): It's the same composer because the composer was the guy who founded the development studio Ancient, and so he did the music for all the games they've done.

Jake (A): Okay. Do they still make games, this company?

Wulff (D): The last one they released was 2019, but it seems like they're, like, every few years to release one. So it's not a quick turnaround.

GP (B): Follow me on this Prince of Persia meets Goof troop. Was it? Goof troop from the SNES. No, the same angle. Top down puzzle game. Insanely fun. I always enjoyed that game. And this seems like, okay, if that's maybe a little too young for you, this might be a good way to play something similar, but with the updated theming or not updated, but a little bit more mature theming. I'm here for it. I think it looks great, and I like the two games it reminds me of, so, yeah, I'd give it a shot. No alcohol required.

Wulff (D): It's also pretty cool. Like, the two player aspect is really neat. If you've got someone to play two player with, it's a lot of fun. Yeah, you got to have the cheat code, but you got to wait. Like, I don't think you get your first summon for the first hour so you can't play two player right away. It takes a little while.

Sins (C): When your friend's home doing chores and you're like, hey, can you come play? And they're like, no, my mom says I have to vacuum the stairs and clean the kitchen. You're like, okay, I'm going to start this now. I'll see you in an hour. Yeah.

Jake (A): I'm just looking at some of the friends.

Sins (C): I was the friend home doing the chores. By the way.

GP (B): Yeah. Why did vacuuming the stairs suck more than every other chore ever?

Sins (C): Oh, my gosh.

GP (B): Well, I'm not alone on that one.

Wulff (D): I don't mind it. I don't know why it's such a terrible thing, because I'm like, all right, it's time consuming, but if I'm vacuuming the stairs, I'm not vacuuming the whole house. It's like it's stairs day.

Sins (C): I had a dog that loved the vacuum cleaner, especially because I would do the stairs with the little hand vacuum, and so the dog would chase me down the stairs and just wait for me to vacuum its fur and yeah, it was great.

Jake (A): This company, Ancient, was founded by Yuzo Koshero, who everybody know. You may not know his name, but you know the games he's worked on. He did the soundtrack for Streets of Rage Two and Three.

Wulff (D): They developed.

Jake (A): Yes. Yeah. That's awesome. They also did some other games recently. The only one I recognize is Fusion Frenzy Two. Okay. But I haven't really seen anything recognizable otherwise.

Wulff (D): But, yeah, they also did act Razor Two specifically. Not the first one, but the second one.

Jake (A): Right.

Sins (C): But wasn't actrazer two the bad act? Razor?

Wulff (D): Yeah, it's the one that's all the arcade style platforming and none of the SIM status.

Sins (C): It's missing the populace portion. Right, yeah.

GP (B): Is that the one where they actually go to the world of the Cinnabites and there's like you see the leviathan thing yes.

Sins (C): And then they exactly. Some guy with, like, a bunch of pins in his head. We have such sights to show you.

Wulff (D): Yeah.

Jake (A): And then they peel back their skin and it shows the face of Goofy.

Sins (C): Yeah.

GP (B): Spoiler alerts.

Jake (A): Yes. If you're out there.

Sins (C): Wow.

Jake (A): All right. Yeah. This game is awesome. I really want to play it.

Sins (C): This looks fantastic.

GP (B): It makes me want to look up the Genesis one as well. I don't know that I would want to play that. This is probably where I would jump into it. But I'm curious to see what the other one looks like, what it sounds like as well, what the controls are like.

Wulff (D): It's on all sorts of stuff. It's on the Genesis collections. Like, I have the Sonic one for 360. It's on that. It's on the Genesis mini, I believe. It's on the Genesis collection that's on Steam. So it just sucks that the Genesis one has been ported to all sorts of platforms and this one has never been on anything except Saturn. And this one outshines the Genesis one by far.

Jake (A): When I first started streaming, I played Beyond Oasis on Stream, and it's a good game, but toward the end, it gets a little bit grindy and repetitive. But I heard that this game has none of those issues and his shame has not been ported anywhere. That's just wild to me. But that's the Saturn.

GP (B): I'm so sorry. The spider is back on your microphone.

Jake (A): Jesus. All right.

Sins (C): Is it all right?

GP (B): There he goes.

Sins (C): It likes the Mic Man.

Wulff (D): Yeah.

Sins (C): Oh, my wow. There goes the people's elbow. There goes the people's elbow.

GP (B): If there has ever been a reason to transition from the audio downloads to the YouTube videos, it's there. I don't know what the minute marker is, but, Jeez, that has to go on the reel. Season two.

Jake (A): Why has he come back?

GP (B): Episode 40.

Sins (C): Yeah, look, some people are just in.

GP (B): It for the attention.

Sins (C): Yeah. Maybe he's trying to get on the podcast.

Jake (A): Maybe. I don't know. Chard, I think you're fired. For replaced you with the spider.

GP (B): No. Bring Chard back.

Jake (A): He seems to be more attracted to me. So I will try to say there's.

GP (B): Nothing I'm going to have to say today that's going to be half as captivating as that darn spider.

Sins (C): Well, coming back to the game, this game does make me wish that the Saturn core for the mister were more complete. And when it is, it will definitely add this to my list.

Jake (A): Yeah.

Wulff (D): This is what I had a lot of fun with.

Jake (A): All right. That's legend of the Oasis on a Saturn. That's a good pick.

Sins (C): Fantastic. Yeah.

Jake (A): All right, let me do mine then. GP, before the spider comes back, are.

GP (B): You going to do that thing where you're like, we're out of time, GP. Maybe next time. What is it? Matt Damon. Are you going to Matt Damon Melissa podcast?

Jake (A): Matt Damon? Yeah.

Sins (C): Did you all see the one where Matt Damon took over the background?

GP (B): No.

Sins (C): Yeah, matt Damon had his day. Anyway.

Jake (A): All right, so I've been playing a lot of arcade games lately. I've talked about it a lot, and there's a. Ton of arcade games I never even knew existed. And this is a game that I found out is not only in the arcade, but there's also an NES version. But I'm going to talk with the arcade game and that's Legendary Wings for the arcade. I got to ask, have you guys even heard of Legendary Wings or no?

Wulff (D): Yeah, sounds fun.

Jake (A): Have you?

Sins (C): Or am I thinking of the SNES, whatever, wing? Pilot Wing. I'm thinking of Pilot wings.

Jake (A): Similar like goofy.

Wulff (D): Legendary Wings was on NES. So yes, I've heard of this one.

GP (B): Was the box covered the guy with the wings?

Jake (A): It might have been. Or a banjo, I don't know.

Sins (C): Was he Legendary Wings?

Jake (A): Yeah.

GP (B): Let me see what I'm thinking of. Pilot Wings. But I think I know Legendary Wings as well.

Jake (A): So Legendary Wings is a Schmup and what's neat to me is this a Capcom game? I didn't know this is a Capcom title. I've never even heard of this before. So there is some alterations from the regions. The North American version took the Japanese characters and kind of rethink them to two must lead men. In the original Japanese release, it was a male and a female. The female character, I think her name is Maria Hart, if I'm not wrong. No, not Entertainment Tonight, that's an old joke. But she's actually a cameo character in a few other Capcom games. I want to say marvel versus Capcom. She's one of the support characters. Yes, that's the COVID for the NES game.

GP (B): Yeah.

Jake (A): So the NES game in true Nintendo port fashion is quite a bit different than the arcade game, but there is similarities. So it's a Schmup and one button shoot, one button throws bombs on the ground. It's one of those where you have to take care of the enemies in front of you, but also the ones on the ground. What is neat though, is that it's not insanely difficult. Most schmups are like impossible for me, or they're really not meant to be beaten without a fistful of quarters. I feel like this game feels beatable. It feels like attainable goal to actually get somewhere in this game. But it's a really frantic action. There's a lot of images on the screen and the music is unique for each stage. Freaking awesome. But what's cool though is as you're playing the overhead view, about halfway through each stage, there's a big giant head. Stay with me.

Sins (C): I've seen this game, I've seen the.

Jake (A): Head opens up and you can void if you want to. But if you go into the big giant head and get swallowed, it turns into a side scrolling platformer. It's not amazing, it's not Mario Brothers, but it takes the action to the side scrolling plane and you're kind of going through like a brief maze like level. And it finishes with a small mid boss. But in addition to that, hidden in each level, there's like something you can bomb and when you bomb it, you go into it and you get a special stage where you pick up these treasure chests and you're kind of flying through that stage. So for a game like this that has different perspectives on gameplay is pretty wild to me. And they do a similar platforming thing at the end of every level with a boss. The only knock I have against this game, because it wouldn't be me picking a game unless I bash it, is that the bosses of each stage are basically the same boss. I think the very last boss is slightly different, but they all behave the same. And also, it's one of the things where if you max out your power ups, you can pretty much shoot and kill every enemy in one hit, including the bosses. So it's not a difficult game is what I'm saying. But for me, that's a bonus. I love playing a schmup that I can actually beat, but music is fantastic. The sprites are really cool. It's just a fun schmup I never even heard of before, and I think this is wild to me.

Sins (C): I'm liking the little helmeted hair walkers that open up their mouths and shoot the thing. It's great. I'm enjoying that.

GP (B): So you're telling me there's a side scrolling schmup where you can hit the top of the screen or the bottom of the screen without dying?

Jake (A): I know. What are the odds?

GP (B): So this is not made by Silver Surfer people.

Sins (C): It's no R type either. It's no R type.

Jake (A): Well, our type is a game I struggled with for months, and this is a game I feel like I could sit down and beat probably in an afternoon. I got quite far just playing through a couple of times this earlier this week. It's a fun one. So for those watching the YouTube video, here is the big giant head. And again, you can skip it if you want to, but if you want that high score, you're going to go into the mouth.

GP (B): But anyway, look, if you're familiar with Daedalus and Icarus and the Minotaur, this is the Steve for you. This is top tier video game adaptations of old religions. And that's what I look for personally in my arcade cabinets.

Jake (A): Yeah, genesis Ten is the part where they talk about the laser rifles. It's your biblical history.

Sins (C): So I think I'm going to refer to those big giant heads as the Face on Mars. It's the face on Mars that you fly into.

GP (B): Yeah, I remember seeing the Face on Mars for the first time and nobody could convince me that that wasn't put there by aliens. Now, I know this is a little off topic, but you guys have seen the show before. You know how this works. It's not really a face on Mars, it's a rock formation. That's exactly how the aliens would do it. They're not going to leave a building. They'd be like, no, we're going to build something. They're going to see this and be like, clearly, this is aliens. Anyway, after the show, if you don't know what we're talking about, google it or watch. Was it Mission to Mars or one of those movies?

Jake (A): Bad Mars.

GP (B): No, it wasn't bad. Gary Sinise. Come on.

Jake (A): It was terrible. The one with the aliens, they were really bad. CGI.

GP (B): No.

Sins (C): Just thinking of no, that's red planet.

GP (B): I love signs.

Sins (C): I think they're nice. No red planet was the Val Kilmer. Yeah. And the robot dog.

GP (B): Which one was Ghost on Mars?

Jake (A): Ghost? Not the one with Val Kilmer and the robots, but the one with the really crappy aliens that come to Mars.

Sins (C): I don't know.

Jake (A): They came out within six months.

Sins (C): Legendary wings.

Jake (A): Yeah, sure.

Wulff (D): I don't know. Check out legendary you're talking about also.

GP (B): If you guys are looking at the box art for the NES legendary wings, I would like to point out one of those alien heads is in the background, but it looks like a Cyborg muppet.

Sins (C): Yeah, I kind of hear a noise, like an old person noise.

Wulff (D): Yeah.

GP (B): Who are the guys who are sitting in the balcony? Yeah, that's him. But he's had some cybernetic updates, right? He's Kano meets that guy.

Jake (A): That's the ultimate form of Kano after he lost a fatality in Mortal Kombat. He's just a big giant head in the middle of the ocean. That's wild. Anyway, legendary wings. Go check it out. Arcade version. NES version looked okay, too, but the arcade really shines, I think.

Sins (C): All right, so is this on the mister? Is there a core on the mister for this?

Jake (A): There is. This is one of the vertical cores I can run on my machine until I get that new monitor. So that's why I've been playing it a lot.

GP (B): And the model for the character on the COVID mark Pillow. That is a deep cut. I'm not going to explain it. We don't have time. Mark Pillow. It was in exactly one movie. No one cares.

Sins (C): Okay.

Jake (A): The voice of Goofy and Goof trip, from what I understand.

Sins (C): And they rotoscoped him for that movie. It was great.

Jake (A): Yeah, awesome. All right, GP. So when I asked for a couple of gems this week leading up to.

GP (B): This, I know we're running short on time. If I can get through everything, we might be able to talk about it. When you first said, hey, we're going to do another hidden gems game, one game popped into my mind, and then I realized, oh, that's the game I did two years ago when we did the first one. And I want to pat myself on the back for not realizing that, remembering it right away. But also, I want to high five my younger self from two years ago because I apparently nailed the hell out of that one because I still feel this way. And that one was MetalStorm, which.

Sins (C): Play that a lot.

GP (B): It's a great game that everybody should know about, and some people do. It's probably like yours in a star where nobody really knows about it, or if they do, they don't talk about it. But there's all these good reviews.

Sins (C): There's 70,000 good reviews of this game.

Wulff (D): Right.

GP (B): But anyway, so that's not what I'm talking about today. And before I tell you what my pick is of today, I want to give you some other thoughts. Sick jack. I promise we're getting there, buddy.

Jake (A): Is this a hidden gem GP?

GP (B): Because I sure yes, it is. It kind of is. Final fantasy. Seven. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. No. Okay, so the reasoning I loved Star Wars, but I didn't really get all the political intrigue and really the story. I liked the action sequences, and I thought it was fun and Sci-Fi, and that's cool. So the game the hidden Gem, not Star Wars, but the same idea of, like, there's a lot of dialogue and a lot of it is political intrigue and backstabbing, and I don't really get it, but I like the action in this game. Are you ready? Is Final Fantasy tactics for the PlayStation One.

Jake (A): Hidden gem. Final fantasy tactics.

GP (B): I'm sorry, how many times have we talked about Final Fantasy tactics on this show? We are 400 episodes in. This is the first time anybody's mentioning it. It's a hidden gem. Nobody talks about it, but it's a great game.

Sins (C): That pick was so good. That pick was so good. You got my five head.

GP (B): Look, I don't understand why you all are hating on this. It's happening. This is my pick, and I don't think I'm wrong here. It's a great hidden okay, so are you saying that a hidden gem has to be buried so deeply in the bowels of steam that it takes Sinistar, just the luck of the draw, to find it? Or is it, again, a game that is part of a major franchise that is worthy of a lot of love, but again, nobody talks about it.

Wulff (D): This game, 2.4 million units worldwide.

GP (B): In 1998, that unit count dropped about 16.

Wulff (D): That's not including the PSP release. That's not including the iOS and Android release, dude.

GP (B): Okay, now that I've got you all worked up, I want to talk to you about my real hidden gem, Metal Storm. I'm sorry. Okay? You can say what you want about the sales, and that's great. I would like to point out that there was another game earlier in this episode that had 90,000 positive reviews.

Sins (C): At least nobody but me had heard of it.

GP (B): I don't know what to say. They can't all be circus. Charlie's okay. But I'm standing I'm sticking by this one. You can make fun of me all you want, and that's cool, and say it's hidden. Say it's not. And maybe I'm not a part of all the tactics forums, but I just don't know of a lot of people who talk about this game still. And if you've played it back in 97 and you haven't maybe played it in the past 2025 years, go back and play it because it holds up and there are Rom hacks of it. And I understand you're saying, well, if there's Rom hacks, it's probably not a hidden gem. But hear me out. Eat a big one, because it is, and it's a great game. And I think no matter the game, yes, I'm glad you've heard of it.

Jake (A): Yeah, surprisingly, I have heard of this one. I mean, I've heard no less than five times. Bash it on our podcast.

GP (B): I know.

Jake (A): Here's the other game that defined a genre, for sure. It did. The tactics games. This is the Tactics game for the last 15 years, at least.

GP (B): Nobody talks about tactics games.

Wulff (D): This an Ogre battle or like, the Ogre battle.

GP (B): Also, the reason I brought this one up is I wanted to be able to talk about it without Chart here because he would just tell me how bad it is.

Wulff (D): He's still telling you how bad it is.

Sins (C): Now we've come down to brass tacks. Now it has remakes.

Jake (A): Jeff says it has remakes. He's totally right. As three remakes, the Hidden Gem and two sequels.

GP (B): Okay, now the sequels don't count. Kind of like Ninja Turtles. Three. Not really an actual movie.

Jake (A): Okay.

GP (B): No, that's fine. It's all right, guys.

Sins (C): I'm going to need more water for this conversation.

Jake (A): It's a great game. I love fountain. Fantastics. This is one of my favorite Jrpgs on the PlayStation. This is one of the few I could actually go back and play. And the job system is freaking amazing.

GP (B): And it's another question.

Jake (A): So many games after it. That's how impactful it was.

GP (B): Sure. Here's a question for you, Jake. When I sent you the video clip for this several days ago, why didn't you say, maybe this isn't as hidden of a gym as you think, GP?

Jake (A): Because then I would have been able.

GP (B): To pick up another one and I could have saved myself all this embarrassment.

Jake (A): I was trying not to spoil it, so I was trying not to look at your guys video, whatever. That's what I was trying to do.

GP (B): For anybody who's not familiar with this game, and I'm sure a few of you out there are not it's in the Final Fantasy family, but it's not part of the numbered sequence, and essentially it is Final Fantasy Chess. And that's all you need to know. Play it. Thank me later.

Wulff (D): If you throw a tactics game at us and we're like, okay, phantom brave lapucell tactics. Eternal eyes. There's so many Tactics style games out there you could have brought in. But no, you bring the most well known.

GP (B): Yeah, I don't really play a lot of tactical games.

Sins (C): You bring the tactics game.

GP (B): Yeah, no, that's fair. I guess I got to own this one and have some egg on my face. But I will say this. I've owned this game since it came out, and I played it two or three times when I was younger. Again, didn't really get it, but I've gone back within the past year, played through it again, and realized, man, this is a great game that is completely off my radar. So maybe I don't play enough tactics games, but yeah, so that's why for me, it was a hidden gem.

Sins (C): So what you're saying is you're part of the 2.3 million people that bought.

Wulff (D): The game in 1997.

Sins (C): Hidden gem?

GP (B): I don't know that I've ever been this humiliated on the show.

Jake (A): No, when you sent me that link.

Sins (C): Another fantastic hidden gem. Doom.

Jake (A): What's that game?

GP (B): I hear you, but not Doom, as we've all played it. Doom on the pregnancy test. You guys have seen that, right? Somebody put Doom on the pregnancy test.

Jake (A): Yeah. Okay.

Wulff (D): Yeah.

GP (B): I'm not saying pregnancy test. Equates to god dang it. This is not my episode. I was upstaged by that fucking spider, and I'm really having a hard time recovering.

Jake (A): It'S. Okay? This is a fantastic game. Everybody should play file statics if you even remotely like it.

GP (B): Sounds like everybody has played it pretty much.

Sins (C): Charge just said a great thing in Chat. He says we're expecting doom.

GP (B): Congrats. And I'm sorry.

Jake (A): All right, before we wrap up, we have oh, yeah, go ahead.

Wulff (D): Can I throw in one more in there? Since brought a Final Fantasy tactic to the getting turfed. Yeah, let's bring another modern one in. We don't have video for this one, but it's called Nobody Saves the World. And I think I mentioned it in passing on the podcast.

Sins (C): You've pointed it out to me before.

Wulff (D): Yeah, but yeah, I want to mention this again. It is a Zelda like, it's another Zelda like, for me, apparently, it's that kind of night. It's up to four players online, which is super cool, and you mix and match classes in this game, so it's got a job system, so it's tangent from both Mine and GPS. Let's merge them. Right. You unlock all sorts of classes, from rat to dragon to be to robot, zombie, mermaid. They're all there. Like, there's tons of class. You could be a fucking egg in this game.

Jake (A): An egg?

Wulff (D): An egg. And you can cross mingle their moves to create your own sort of perfect class or to overcome the obstacles that you're given. And the fact that you can mix and match abilities to your classes and even passives. It's really wild what kind of stuff you can do and how overpowered you can get by the end of the game. But it's got a great sense of humor because it's from Drink Box Studios. The same as Guacamole.

GP (B): Yeah, Guacamole.

Jake (A): Okay. Right.

Wulff (D): And it's got this really dramatic sort of world that it's built, but plays fast and loose with everything. Right?

Sins (C): Nice.

Wulff (D): So it's a lot of fun. Highly recommend, great for multiplayer. Night if you play two to 3 hours a session with your buddies, you're probably looking at a good ten sessions if you get the game and the DLC.

Sins (C): Nice.

GP (B): I always enjoy a game where if you play enough of it, you can really get op. And it reminds me of a game that I used to play called Final Fantasy Tactics. And there's a job tree.

Sins (C): Guys, can I never mind.

GP (B): You guys.

Sins (C): Can I bring up another hidden gem for you all, please.

GP (B): We apparently have extra 15 minutes because.

Sins (C): I super metroid on the SNES.

Jake (A): I've never heard that one.

Sins (C): You play this character. We're unclear whether it's a boy or girl named Samus, and you're alone.

Jake (A): All right, before we wrap up, we are doing the press b's top 100 games need to play before you press b and cancel your life, I guess. I don't know. So we're doing top 100 list later this year, and we got nominator games for the list. I don't know if you guys have thought about that this week, so let me do mine real quick and while you guys think about yours really fast. So for me, Nintendo Game Boy, Donkey Kong, or most commonly called Donkey Kong 94, because it does share a name with the original arcade classic. And even the first few stages are like the original arcade game. But this Game Boy title after the first few stages opens up to a nine world 100 stage puzzling platformer. And it's freaking amazing. It is, I think, one of the top five games on the Game Boy Donkey Kong is amazing. It's just all 100 stages are really crafted really well. There's controls are really tight. There's multiple moves for Mario from backflips to triple dumps. Stuff that I've said in past episodes I think helped influence later Mario titles. Donkey Kong is a game you can't miss on the Game Boy. I think it's one of those fantastic titles. And even when you put it up against SNES games, I think it stands apart on its own. And there were sequels, kind of with the Mario and Donkey Kong franchise, but it's not the same. The original Donkey Kong game, I really wish they did something similar to this one. So that's my pick for the top 100. Who else has sinned?

GP (B): Sorry?

Jake (A): You said you had your pick.

Sins (C): I do. So I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to pick one that I think everybody's going to either. I think everybody's going to agree. Tetris. Tetris. I'm good with original ness, honestly.

Jake (A): Okay, which one?

GP (B): Not two?

Sins (C): No.

Jake (A): Tetris on tengen. And there's Tetris. And yes, there's Nintendo version. There's two of them.

Sins (C): Oh, boy. I don't know which one I've played. What's the difference?

Jake (A): One has multiplayer, I believe, and one doesn't, and I'll look this up. Okay, well, Tetris, I 100% agree with you. You just got fair. Which version? I love Tetris. For me, it was a Game Boy version. But I love Tetris.

Wulff (D): Yeah.

Jake (A): For me.

Wulff (D): It's Game Boy as well.

Sins (C): I mean, introduces us, introduced basically everybody in the world to Russian music, and it's great. Plus the concept, what do they call them? Tetra Nemos or whatever they are.

GP (B): Tetronomos domino's and tetris.

Sins (C): I still play this today. I went and bought the version. Tetris evolved or whatever. And what's funny is I always go back to the base rules, but I like one modern change that was made at some point, which is the ability to store one piece. That's the one change that I like from the original is the ability to swap out a piece and have one and and have one in your in your pocket, as it were. But otherwise, I like the standard rules. I like I i am one of these people that I feel bad if I don't always chase just all Tetris, but I love this game. And really, honestly, I feel like it probably was or is the puzzler that defined kind of the puzzle genre. Right?

Jake (A): Yeah. I know somebody in our discord was talking about Dr. Mario. I think it was Electromistro as their name. Yeah, Dr. Mario. It's great, but it never clicked for me. For me, when I look at that style of puzzle game, it's always been Tetris. I love Tetris. The speed running community is wild to see how they do the tapping now for controls on Tetris, it's just wild to see. It's a really great game.

Sins (C): I love watching people hold their controllers in the weirdest positions to play, and it's crazy. So Tetris is my nomination, and we're going to go with probably the original release, maybe the tengan. I don't know.

Jake (A): Well, we can have to do it later, but definitely Tetris on Nintendo then. For sure.

Sins (C): Yes.

Jake (A): Okay, GP, you want to go next?

GP (B): Yeah. And I'll tell you what, game I'm not going to nominate.

Sins (C): Tactics.

GP (B): Yes.

Jake (A): That's a good one.

GP (B): Switch this up real quick.

Sins (C): But it's a hidden gem.

GP (B): Yeah, I would never put it on the 100 list because I thought it was a hidden gem. No. Okay. I feel like I need to be the person to nominate some sports games because I don't see very yeah, I don't see you guys really doing much sports. So while I have a whole lot of games I would love to put on there, I feel obligated to represent that niche. So last time I had done Pole Position, which is a racing game. This time there's another three or four. I think we'll go on there. But I want to make sure NBA Jam gets put on there. You can do the arcade, you can do the Super Nintendo, which is how I was introduced to it, but it.

Sins (C): Was I love that game.

GP (B): Yeah, it's a classic. It's great.

Sins (C): I always liked turning on big head mode. Big head mode was.

GP (B): You can type in cheat codes and play as you be George Clinton from how cool is that?

Jake (A): Yeah.

GP (B): The Dick Vital style, background vocals.

Jake (A): He's on fire, baby.

GP (B): All that kind of stuff is so fun. And it's one of the ones I've got, like, the Tournament Edition for the Super Nintendo and go back and play it, and it's still so great and was ported everywhere. The Super Nintendo, the Genesis on newer consoles. Since then, I don't know what kind of Roms or Hacks are out there for it. People have updated it for more rehab.

Jake (A): Celebrities, update the stats on the players and replace players. Arcade updated a Shack Edition cabinet, which I'm not a huge sports game fan, but NBA Jam is one of those titles that's just fun. You're not into sports. It's just a fun game to play.

Sins (C): It's like NFL Blitz in the arcade. You don't have to know football to go play NFL Blitz in the arcade. Right?

Wulff (D): Yeah. NBA Jam kind of took what Jordan versus Bird for the NES was trying to do and really perfected it. Right.

Sins (C): I played that on the Apple, too.

Wulff (D): I think NBA Jam was three v. Three or two v two, something like that.

Jake (A): Two v two.

Wulff (D): Instead of one on one. But it made the gameplay more dynamic. It made it more interesting. The fact that you could pick your players was really cool. It really capitalized on that niche concept and exploded it tenfold. It's great.

GP (B): And I kind of feel like NBA Jam is to basketball games what the Harlem Globetrotters is to just basketball. Agree. Like you said, even if you're not into it, you can play it and still have a good time. The ball catches fire, all these things. And if I remember right, depending what port you bought or which version you bought for which system, that determined what special characters were available so you could get some characters on the Genesis, which you couldn't for the Super Nintendo. And even though it's gimmicky, I always enjoyed that kind of thing. Like, if you remember Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters, which is probably more of a hidden gem than tactics, depending on which version you bought or which console you bought that determined what your cover art was. And I always thought that kind of thing was fun. That's my thing. I really enjoy title.

Sins (C): Great nomination.

GP (B): Thank you.

Jake (A): Okay, we're all, how about you?

Wulff (D): I am going to submit crazy taxi.

GP (B): Okay.

Wulff (D): And this is because this game basically spawned an entire genre of games, and it's still never been done better than Crazy Taxi, in my opinion.

Jake (A): Yeah, I agree.

Wulff (D): Simpson's hit and run was good, but it got old fast. And Crazy Taxi is a game I played for months and months and months, and the fact that you could learn to really map it out and build up your score, it was kind of the epitome of a Score Attack game for me. I've never played a Score attack game that I've been more into than that one. And that's not to say I've not been into score attack games. They're generally not my jam. But crazy. Taxi really nailed it. And I mean, it's still getting imposters that are lackluster. There was Taxi Chaos last year, and it was apparently a total flop.

Jake (A): Didn't hear about that one.

Wulff (D): Yeah, it's something that people are still trying to do well and can't. Even Sega hasn't done as well as the first one. Like, Crazy Taxi Two was good, but it didn't have the staying power of Crazy Taxi One. Crazy. Taxi three also good. Still not as good as one.

Jake (A): Didn't even know there was a third game.

Wulff (D): Yeah, it's on the Xbox. It takes place in Vegas.

Sins (C): Yes.

Jake (A): Oh, wow. Okay. Possibly a hidden gem, maybe. I don't know. Try that one out. That's a good pick. The first Crazy Taxi is definitely you're right. There's nobody else who's done it quite like that. And I guess apparently even Sega hasn't been able to capture that magic. Again. The first one is fine.

Wulff (D): They tried with other things, too. They had one where you play as an ambulance. I think Sega did one that was an ambulance, too, like you were an EMT. I think they did one where it was a fire truck, like, they did a few. They were all arcade games, but between the Frenetic, getting there, stopping, turning around, going the other way with cab fares and the punk rock music, it nailed the feel and kept the game feeling constantly hyped up.

Jake (A): Good picks. All right.

GP (B): You know what the roughest thing about nominating games is stopping at one per episode.

Sins (C): Yes.

Jake (A): Well, yes, because we could easily fill a couple of hundred of these, but we only have 100 spots, and as we get close to that upper limit, I think we're going to be really struggling to realize we're going to lose.

Sins (C): I think we need to nominate more than 100, and then we need to have some shakeout.

Wulff (D): I think that's really yeah, that was the idea.

GP (B): And I think I might be getting addicted to you guys not liking my picks, because I got to say, after that verbal lashing I got earlier, I'm, like, in that happy standoffish mood. So I want to see how we get a few weeks. I'm really excited for next month.

Sins (C): Are we getting argumentative? GP back?

GP (B): I don't know. Are you getting yes, of course.

Jake (A): Put you in charge of the room.

GP (B): It's going to flow well into what we have in store for everybody all next month, which I don't know if we can talk about it yet, but I'm real excited for what's going to happen.

Jake (A): Maybe we'll just say that we're planning a series of bracket episodes in the very near future. We're just hashing out details, burying the lead.

GP (B): Good job.

Jake (A): I love it. If you're part of our discord, check out the presbytery discord links on Pressbytocancel.com. We are be. Hitting you guys up for ideas on items to nominate for those brackets, so keep an eye out for that. And if you're an audio listener, check us out on all your favorite podcast apps, whether it's Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, for some reason, Spotify, we're everywhere. And of course, we're live on YouTube most Fridays at 830 Eastern, 530 Pacific. Or you can catch our vods there. If you want to share anything out.

Sins (C): Tell your friends, like subscribe.

Jake (A): If you're watching this live, please hit the like button. That does help. And hit follow or subscribe. Let's start with you because you actually stream.

Sins (C): What about you?

Jake (A): What have you been doing lately?

Sins (C): I said this, I think, last time. I think I'm officially back. I'm only streaming one evening a week, most Mondays, although I did a Tuesday this week because Monday was an anniversary of something I am currently working through. Chrono Trigger. I just beat Magus Magus, take your pick. But I beat him.

Jake (A): Did you use Robo in that fight?

Sins (C): No.

Jake (A): Okay.

Sins (C): But you know who I did remember this. You know who else I didn't use? What's her name? I didn't use Isla either.

Jake (A): We have to do an episode of Crunchy. You have to beat this. Games in a star.

Sins (C): I'm working on it. I'm working on it.

Jake (A): Okay, GP, anything you want to shut out?

GP (B): I think I mentioned this last time, I reloaded up onto the retrotherapy's YouTube page, some of the old content videos from the channel. Not really trying to promote that. But I do want to point out of all the videos that are on there, there's one video that has gotten like, 100 times more views than all the other videos. And I think it's so bizarre because I don't know if everybody's just checking out this one video or if one person is just obsessed with this video, but it's so funny to me that those are there. But a lot of people have reached out and said, hey, man, if you can get those back loaded up sometime, we always enjoyed this. So we got those up now if you want to check it out@youtube.com. Athertrotherapy.

Sins (C): I loved the therapy bits you ever.

GP (B): Had that ultimately, I would love to do some more because there was never a shortage of ideas for videos and content things. I don't know about doing more drum stuff in the near future, but I would love to get back and do some of the ones that we didn't quite get to before. But thank you for saying that. It's very sweet. A real hidden gem, that channel.

Wulff (D): One of these days, I'll start Final Fantasy Six and get that dubbed video up. Keep saying, I'll do it. I think I have time this weekend to do it, actually. So here we go.

GP (B): If you can fit that game as a first full play through into a weekend, I think you've done it wrong. It should be savored.

Wulff (D): It's not a first full play through. I've played through the game before, just never beaten it.

Sins (C): It's the definition of a sisafian game.

Wulff (D): Yeah, I've probably gotten to Kepka's, not Tower, but where he's at his condo?

GP (B): Yeah, Kefka's condo.

Wulff (D): But yeah, I've gotten to that point in the game probably three or four different times. SNES, GBA, PlayStation all across the board. Just never beat them.

GP (B): Well, you got it this time, man. I believe in you.

Jake (A): It's definitely a good one.

GP (B): Okay, real quick, everybody's. Hidden Gem picks Umaro Mog, do one of his dances, Gal, and then who else can do the rando. But there's a squad of four people that you can have rando only. Just start the final fight and let it go. See how far you make it. It's a fun challenge.

Jake (A): All right. And I'm sick, Jake. You can find me on most social media under Sick Jake. No. K and sick. I was messing around with TikTok this week because I was bored. Check me out on TikTok, otherwise I am going to get back to Val toads. I've been working to get some free time, but I had the kids for a week, so working on it. But, yeah, I saw the work through my sisafi and game. Maybe in a few months we can do a sisafi and catch up to see where everybody's at. It also, GP, you got to start that Sonic Xbox 360 game some point soon. Fabulous. I'm looking for I need to load.

GP (B): Up the playthrough of Sonic, too, because that was the OG sisafian for this year. So I'll get that loaded up once I get that edited and then everybody also, since he's not here, check out Twitch TV Chardmunk. Yes, the missing fifth night. But yeah, he's great.

Sins (C): He's working through I picked some fights.

GP (B): With him earlier tonight on the show.

Sins (C): So I should recommend the 303 chivo set for Final Fantasy Four on the PSP, which includes the after years. And he finished the initial portion today. He finished Final Fantasy Four, so he's now onto the interlude and then the after years.

Jake (A): Yeah, Final Fantasy Four. Great game. After years.

GP (B): After years, not so much a game.

Jake (A): Yeah. But Chard is always a good watch on Switch. Make sure you check him out.

Sins (C): Hell yeah.

Jake (A): All right, so we have been presspie to cancel. We'll see you guys next week.

Wulff (D): The last hidden gem is in captivity. The podcast is at peace.

And now I'm back, with a vengeance in my eyes I've got my holy water, stakes, and garlic by my side And I'll keep hunting, I'll keep staking every night I'll be the one who survives, I'll stay alive!

Vampire Survivors, today on Press B To Cancel!

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Press B To Cancel now on Youtube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel and Instagram @pressbtocancel.

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Press B To Cancel now on Youtube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel and Instagram @pressbtocancel.

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Press B To Cancel now on Youtube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel and Instagram @pressbtocancel.

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Also, why is everyone sipping HOT Dr Pepper. Don't miss out on the fun as we reflect and set our gaming goals for the year ahead.

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This year has been an exciting one for gaming, and we've had a blast sharing our thoughts and experiences with all of our listeners, both old and new. We're grateful for the support and engagement of our community, and we can't wait to see what the future holds for Press B To Cancel.

So join us as we release the goats and share our top games of the year. You never know what we might come up with - it could be a classic game from the past, or a brand new release. Tune in to find out!

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Press B To Cancel now on Youtube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel and Instagram @pressbtocancel.

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Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel and Instagram @pressbtocancel.

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Press B To Cancel now on Youtube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel and Instagram @pressbtocancel.

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Watch this week's episode on YouTube! Press B #133: Elden Ring and The Game Awards! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel and Instagram @pressbtocancel.

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Mick Gordon's 2022 blog post

Marty Stratton's 2020 Reddit post

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This week, the guys really bite into the meat of recent release, Scorn. Inspired by the art of HR Giger, and dressed as an FPS, this puzzle game really has the bones of something interesting.

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For the video stream of this week's episode check out our YouTube Channel!

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Press B To Cancel now on Youtube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel and Instagram @pressbtocancel.

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Press B To Cancel now on Youtube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel and Instagram @pressbtocancel.

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Press B To Cancel now on Youtube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel and Instagram @pressbtocancel.

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Timestamps
0:00 - Intro
4:26 - Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2
15:46 - Batman: Arkham Asylum & Eternal Darkness
25:36 - BioShock Franchise
48:46 - Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
57:04 - Portal 1 & 2
1:09:53 - Last of Us 1 & 2
1:26:04 - Visage
1:41:02 - Resident Evil 7 & 8
1:49:01 - Wrap Up

Press B To Cancel now on Youtube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel and Instagram @pressbtocancel.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Press B To Cancel now on Youtube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel and Instagram @pressbtocancel.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Press B To Cancel now on Youtube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel and Instagram @pressbtocancel.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

View the video of this podcast on the Press B Youtube Channel!

Press B To Cancel now on Youtube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel and Instagram @pressbtocancel.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Press B To Cancel now on Youtube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel and Instagram @pressbtocancel.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.

Press B looks at Elden Ring, it's massive impact on the 2022 gaming scene. An easy bet for Game of the Year, we explore the realm of the lands between and try to explain what's up with two fingers, and how the open world design impacts this souls game.

Check out the Elden Ring GB demake created by Shin on itch.io

Video version of this episode is available on our YouTube - Should've put an Elden Ring on it - Press B Podcast Ep: 108

Press B To Cancel now on YouTube! For updates and more episodes please visit our website www.pressbtocancel.com, or find us on Twitter @pressbtocancel and Instagram @pressbtocancel.

Special thanks to The Last Ancient on SoundCloud for our podcast theme.