Game Scoop! 856: What the Fox?!

10:26Mark Medina:But it doesn't universally look good. That water part looked like a Sega Dreamcast level a lot. It just doesn't have the same direction. A Sega Dreamcast? That's crazy! I don't think the art direction looks very good in this. They were just showing a boss battle against a flying saucer. And the original game would have come out right around the same time as Independence Day. Independence Day, yeah. I think it's got to be a reference to that. Yeah, totally. I wish they had leaned into the anime thing. Yeah, that'd be way cooler. But barring that, lean into the puppets. Like if the whole world was like a little diorama of puppets.

11:02Mark Medina:I just think Star Fox needs a style. It needs some kind of style change. because like the honestly the gritty realism is is goofy to me but i think this game will be good and i think that starfox fans deserve this as a leaping point to like kind of like reset starfox and i think that's what they're going for with the name which is just wild just to call this this is the reboot when they chose a completely different game to reboot but whatever one thing i think ocarina of time remake just be zelda dude well i think this kind of sells that they

11:34Sam Claiborn:One, Nintendo's not above remaking their classics, and I think that that's going to be next. I mean, yeah, they already did that with Mario RPG and Mario vs. Donkey Kong, so there's precedent for this.

11:44Nick Limon:This is on the same skit. If Zelda comes out later this year, I think that's exactly how the 3DS release was, right? Star Fox was, I think, a launch title, and then Zelda came out like...

11:57Mark Medina:Star Fox took a little bit. You're talking about the 3DS order of releases? yeah which for games that nobody cared about no we're not gonna be able to drop

12:10Sam Claiborn:nobody cared about i i really like a lot of the stuff that they're adding the game i think the ability to replay missions with like the objective list i think is inherently cool and interesting because once you play through all the paths in the game you're like all right i think i've done everything but the one thing that's a little bit weird i'm mixed about is the addition of like all the cut scenes that you can learn about all the star fox like i think that's fun and exciting and it's something to fill the time. But then they do weird stuff like here's the entire prologue of when James McCloud goes missing.

12:38Sam Claiborn:It's like part of the appeal of Star Fox 64 is in the late game when there's a really cool thing that happens with James McCloud. We were like, well, who is this guy? What the heck? It removes a lot of the mystery, which is a bit of a bummer to me, I think. But maybe I'm just being nitpicky. But there is some sort of enigmatic stuff, the mystery of it all. Don't spell it out. Just show me. Don't tell me. there's some other fun details you can use the new n64 controller to play the game yeah that's nice that's cool or you can use mouse controls yeah that was weird could be cool first person no thanks i've actually never used a mouse control on switch to anyone here

13:19Nick Limon:yeah i tried with cyberpunk and it was it was the worst thing i've ever done in my life the

13:23Mark Medina:you know the the you pay to play the switch to demos game i know the the welcome tour oh welcome

13:31Sam Claiborn:tour hey i like welcome tour and it was fun in there i'm not throwing any shade of welcome tour

13:36Nick Limon:except for selling it yeah yeah i mean it was only five bucks this is or 10 bucks this is 50

13:43Sam Claiborn:which is no i don't know it's 50 digital and it's 60 physical which i think is still a bit too expensive for what the game is granted the game is good uh but uh nintendo's gonna nintendo

13:57Nick Limon:though. Be glad that it's 50 and not 70.

13:59Sam Claiborn:This just tells me the Ocarina of Time or Ocarina of Time. Sorry. Someone yelled at me for calling it Ocarina of Time. That's what I've heard. I've never heard anyone say Ocarina. I might have said Ocarina then, but regardless, I think that that game is going to be$69.99 when that comes out. 100%.

14:16Nick Limon:Where is Mario 64? I'm getting sick of this. What do you want, the remake? Yeah, I want this, but for Mario 64. Mario 128. We can finally do 128 Mario. Mario 64 has never gotten a remake. Yes, it has. We got one on the DS. Dude, the DS one is great. Oh, man. I will cancel. Good game. Show's over, guys. I mean, it's just a fact, Mark.

14:41Mark Medina:I'm not saying it's good, but saying that it never got a remake when it got a remake is wild. That's not a remake. I would love a remake of Mario 64 that looks like Odyssey and actually lets you hecking control the camera. No, no.

14:58Nick Limon:The camera needs to stay exactly the same. And the controls need to stay exactly the same.

15:02Mark Medina:I think that's the problem, Mark, is that there's too much to get wrong by tweaking it.

15:10Nick Limon:If they appease Damon, they're going to make me sad.

15:14Sam Claiborn:But that's okay. They're going to destroy the Mario speedrunning community. That's okay.

15:20Mark Medina:Exactly. they added stars to the ds1 which is like the coolest thing ever and it would just be amazing to get you know mario 64 x anniversary edition with you know twice as many stars that'd be

15:32Sam Claiborn:i mean multiple characters too in ds you start the game as yoshi it rocks yeah does not rock

15:39Nick Limon:it does but yeah i mean so bad that one's that one's tough i mean like just an upscale to look

15:45Mark Medina:nice and everything would be great but how great would it be if the um next mario game is you know a game more like odyssey it's huge has a lot of different places but one of those places is the mushroom kingdom yeah and then when you go inside the castle it is the full remake of mario oh my gosh in that engine and that castle but it's just like you know a side a side part of the game kind of like the end of odyssey spoilers sorry yeah yeah that last level is gorgeous and imagine just go inside over the drawbridge and all of a sudden paintings galore this is weird because this I wanted to talk about this AR filter thing yeah but also these are very important internal Nintendo people to be putting Koizumi and Miyamoto Miyamoto makes a little more sense, I made Star Fox and I love Star Fox but Koizumi, did they make this at R &D 1?

16:35Mark Medina:what's happening? it doesn't look like it I don't know this is kind of interesting this tech has been in our iPhones for years now but now Nintendo put it in Star Fox.

16:47Sam Claiborn:But now instead of an Apple Fox you have Fox McCloud and I would argue that's even better.

16:54Nick Limon:It does look very silly and I'm kind of into it.

17:00Mark Medina:It's almost like they designed the chat to look like Star Fox though because when you see the chat with the four Star Fox characters that's so cool except they put like a three-level little mini multiplayer game in there.

17:13Nick Limon:I love this idea that Nintendo actually thinks that it's like people are going to be on there using their AR filters, talking all innocently. I call Snoopy.

17:27Koizumi is getting more emotion out of Star Fox or Fox McCloud's face than I've seen in the cutscenes of the game.

17:33Sam Claiborn:That's true. Okay, I mean, okay, I've never played this game. It's supposed to be good, so I look forward to playing it in June. is it still fun Damon? Well that's actually that's a good idea There's only one way to find out But what do we think about if this Ocarina of Time remake is true now would you want can they get away with just doing this same game, everything's the same, just make it prettier graphics or should they do more of like a Final Fantasy 7? I want them to add more I want there to be more side quests like take a note from Majora's Mask in terms of like all the different side activities that are in Castletown or the Hyrule Castletown, whatever it's called, and give me more stuff to do there because in Ocarina of Time it feels very, you know, it's exciting the first time you play the game, but once you know the game, it's like oh, there's not that much to do here.

18:22Mark Medina:You gotta find the puppy.

18:23Sam Claiborn:You gotta find the puppy.

18:26Mark Medina:But yeah, I think keep the

18:28Sam Claiborn:same structure, but I think you just give me some more stuff to do in the game. You know what they definitely have to do, Mark? Let me control the camera.

18:39Mark Medina:That's very unlikely in Hyrule Castle Town. That's fine. You can do it in that game. Hyrule Castle Town, I don't care. They can keep that pre-rendered. That's fine.

18:46Sam Claiborn:You know what? I'm already calling it now. They're going to add a jump button to the game, and it's going to be the most controversial thing in the world.

18:53Nick Limon:I mean, the rumors is that it's like Breath of the Wild style remakes.

18:58Sam Claiborn:I mean, that would be a fundamental remake.

19:01Mark Medina:That doesn't mean much except for like, I mean, unless it's like open world. If it means like that's the design they're drawing from, and they solved a problem that star fox was unable to solve which is like what does star fox look like in high fidelity and like looks good in the mario movie even the 3d character looks good in the mario movie but like not in the game like look at how it doesn't look right look at how it looks like the the first iteration of science looks great like don't get me wrong i i love ocarina

19:29Sam Claiborn:of time but like this is that like i see the opportunities here and just in hyrule field I was like, okay, you can add a cave over here. You can add a little mountain over there. Like, why not?

19:39Mark Medina:What about a hole under a tree? Would you settle for that?

19:41Sam Claiborn:Oh, I'll take a handful.

19:44Mark Medina:Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, this needs more. And definitely they need to give it a style and pick a style that's interesting and everything. But, like, we don't know what the goal is. Like, is the goal to introduce a new generation to puzzle-solving Zelda? Is the goal to reuse the Breath of the Wild engine? is the goal to make a 10 out of 10 game that's just kind of inspired by Ocarina of Time. I don't know.

20:08Sam Claiborn:Movie synergy, potentially.

20:10Nick Limon:Yeah, movie synergy. The thing that I'm afraid of is the rumors that they are taking a remake approach and that we're getting Ocarina of Time Part 1 and it's childlike. That'd be nuts. That's a fundamental...

20:23Sam Claiborn:I don't know. I guess people said that about Final Fantasy VII Remake, but that's just unusual to me. That is just unusual to me.

20:30Nick Limon:And then it would be part two, and then that would be all the adult. I would call that big movie synergy. Link's shadow is so weird. Yeah, but they tried. Yeah, I mean, they did something. They did something, yeah.

20:44Mark Medina:I remember looking at it and being like, oh my God, the sun is casting a shadow.

20:50Sam Claiborn:The cut scene you get where Princess Zelda is kidnapped, spoilers for Ocarina of Time. it just blew my mind as a child like this looks like real like this is incredible graphics will never look better than this

21:04Mark Medina:you know in that part if you don't go get the ocarina then you don't really continue the story it's just like sitting there at the bottom of the mirror

21:14Nick Limon:mine was Final Fantasy 10 when Final Fantasy 10 came out I was like that's it they look like humans now they figured out graphics games will never look better than this

21:23Mark Medina:I felt that for Resident Evil 4 on GameCube. Not that they couldn't look better, but I was like, I don't think things need to look better because this game is so fun and looks so good. I didn't think water would ever look better than Mario Sunshine at the time. It's never been as refreshing as that game. That game definitely has a summer vacation is too hot vibe to it, which will never be replaced.

21:46Sam Claiborn:It's a chill game. I just want to hang out in Delfino Plaza.

21:50Mark Medina:I love when it gets lighter. It stresses me out when you start the game now and it's dim. It's a cool effect. Nintendo should do a Sunshine 2. They should make a sequel to Mario Sunshine. A Sunshine 2 would be so sick. Is this making Mark angry too? Hashtag bring back Flood. Justice for Flood.

22:06Sam Claiborn:Justice for Flood.

22:08Nick Limon:If they give Sunshine any attention over 64.

22:12Sam Claiborn:I think 64 has had plenty of attention over the years. Oh my gosh. I'm sorry.

22:18Mark Medina:It was a launch title for two systems. One of them was the best-selling one of all time.

22:23Sam Claiborn:And it's in a limited edition triple release pack on Nintendo Switch that you can no longer buy physically.

22:30Mark Medina:So is Sunshine. Did they bring that back? Wasn't there like a resurgence of that triple pack for some reason?

22:36Sam Claiborn:I think it's just unsold copies is my idea.

22:40Mark Medina:Look how good this looks.

22:41Sam Claiborn:I know. And then the challenge levels where you don't have Flood are so fun. Oh, they're so good.

22:46Mark Medina:we have the technology to make a Mario game like this every year I swear I swear it's impossible

22:53Nick Limon:I just wish it played better sorry guys

22:55Sam Claiborn:I can also agree with that

22:58Nick Limon:I just don't think it this is the only game where Bowser and Bowser Jr. are fully voiced and there's a reason why this is the only game that's funny alright well Nintendo remakes Star Fox sounds good I think in conclusion we're all

23:16Mark Medina:excited for this though. I don't want people saying that we're raining on their parade. There's just a bunch of jokes you can make about it. That's all we're going for here. Yep, that's all. I am excited to play Star Fox.

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26:13I have to stop. Oops, I'll bleep that.

26:18Sam Claiborn:I loved it. That's where I am, yeah. Yeah, I loved it. Despite all the issues I have with my current home state uh i think that i could not he means the state of his home yes the state of my home uh my home flooded for those who are unaware but it's all fine nothing's damaged it's mostly just waiting to get the floors done but all my gaming setups is what i'm getting at is gone but this was the one game where i was at the very tail end i was like i gotta figure out how i can play pragmatist so i like set up a makeshift little pc setup in the corner of a room that was safe to do it and then i just powered through the game and then there's extra stuff to do once you beat the game i did that and did all that that's where the game gets really fun is the extra content that's like the challenge content oh that is so good but yeah this is exactly what i want from capcom's new uh ip quote-unquote it feels weird calling something that but that's what it is that's what that's that's what capcom's calling it so capcom attributes the success to marketing initiatives such as the playable demo plus an aggressive campaign to boost visibility of the all-new ip but the developer also believes the emotional narrative-driven story on top of its unique gameplay has solidified its position in Capcom's storied portfolio alongside Resident Evil and Devil May Cry.

27:29And then Capcom USA's chief operating officer Rob Dyer says, we're to a point now where we've got another IP that Capcom, and God bless them, has an arsenal that we can continue to go down. A weird way to put it, they're going to go down the IP, but okay.

27:43Nick Limon:Yeah, this isn't the only Pragmatic. Yeah, look forward to Pragmatic 2 in 3 years, maybe.

27:48Mark Medina:There was a sales figure. there's a million a million two million yeah now it's still two million cool yeah i mean i completely disagree about the marketing like they're fine now and now future marketing is going to be great because everyone wants to see what's what pragmat 2 is going to be like but like boy i still had no idea what this game was until mark they're right about the demo like mark played the demo i was like heck this game is really fun like it's actually like a really great cool capcom game and then that made me want to play the game and then also they're right too about like just from the start of the game you're like i want to play more of this like it just has a good intro and it's simple and it has a mystery and and you can you can feel powerful right away like all all of all of that works but i think their strategy of like getting their ip out like was terrible

28:34Nick Limon:well also something nick touched on capcom has this crazy ability to make their games more fun after you've beaten them yes so i think that that replayability that's how that's how resident evil 9 was as well it's like you beat the game and you're like now i really want to play it again and that's how this game is it so much stuff opens up and you have tons of incentive to do it all and

28:56Sam Claiborn:it's a skill check like it's the kind of content that i want in an end game where it's like hey did you learn all the systems in this game do you know how all the weapons work does your play style suit the challenge like i love it when games force you to like try in a way that feels fair and when you fail you know exactly what you did wrong and i think that's what pragmata does so well especially in the late game capcom is very transparent with its sales figures you can go to his website look for just if you search capcom platinum it'll give you a list of its best-selling games of all time so at two million sales pragmat is already tied with the super nintendo version of street fighter 2 wow and the wii edition of resident evil 4 which if you'll remember every person you knew

29:38Mark Medina:owned multiple copies of Street Fighter 2 at that time. But that's cool. You haven't finished it yet, have you, Sam? Pragmana? No. It's such a good game, though, and I recommend it to anybody. I will keep playing it, but I'm now on deadline for multiple games, and I have to pause my playing. But I did do that once and went back to it, and a rare game in which I was totally able to pick up where I left off. Nice.

30:02Nick Limon:Well, Sam, tell us. It's definitely worth seeing it through. I was just going to say, it's worth very good cool yeah sam tell us about mixtape of 10 out of 10 from igm yeah mixtape is a um it's a

30:19Mark Medina:it's an interesting non-game game you know it's part walking simulator which for people that don't know what that means that's a pejorative term for games where you're kind of like you know not doing a lot of combat maybe not doing puzzle solving as much as kind of adventure game walking around in 3D. It is really like that's what this is not that though. It is more of a series of playable cut scenes with music videos and the music videos are playable too. The one you keep seeing like let me give you three examples. One you're skating down a hill to Debo's that's good. Just plays the whole song.

30:52Mark Medina:You just ollie and jump you can't fail. If you hit something you just back up. They've just introduced the characters. Another one is you're walking around holding a camcorder and looking through the camcorder at a party. And while that party's happening, a song is playing, and each person you go up to might guzzle a beer or do a keg stand, and you can give them the finger or give them a thumbs up or, I don't know, a shock or something. And then you encourage somebody to jump off a roof into a pool, the I'm a golden god scenario. That's another one. Another one is like a, you saw a teepeeing one there.

31:27Another one is like you and your friends are trying to find the house

31:30Mark Medina:in the woods that you're going to party in using like a little map from your sister you walk for a little while walking simulator people talk nothing to solve but then you're like they come to an open field they're like well what what song do you pick for this and then the girl that's picking all the songs is a little bossy picks the song and then they start running the field you have that traditional like dreamscape thing where like you can like kind of jump you can jump higher and higher and then you start kind of like flying over the field so they're kind of like dream like experiences and stuff linked with cut scenes like that i mean that clearly is not a game quote-unquote game for everybody right like it's just not it seems like an experience yeah and then you have to really imprint on these characters and luckily they make that easy because it's like full-on nostalgia plus life is strange drama right like it's got all that um and then the nostalgia is a little bit confusing though i mean it's set in you know i think northern california it looks like portland more than or oregon more than california but um like it's not in san francisco like that's not where it is it's like somewhere north of there so and then uh the the soundtrack has a joke about alice coltrane which is funny as like an older track but mainly it's who's a jazz uh musician harpist but it mainly is like um kind of uh 70s 80s retro music for them and then their current music like silver chair and stuff like that so they they have like that that's the mixtape and idea the premise is that the girl is leaving town after school to go be a music um consultant for a film where you like pick out soundtrack music so that's why the whole time they're always deferring to her and saying like what would you pick for this scene and she's she's kind of doing that and that's like kind of a problem with guardians of the galaxy too it's like when you're actually with like six people on a spaceship and this guy is always picking the soundtrack to everything like it doesn't always feel great to me it always feels like maybe let somebody else have a turn at the radio.

33:26Mark Medina:But she's like, but this is my destiny. So I don't know. That always strikes me as a little bit weird. And so that's that's the thing that you just have to eat up with this. Just accept that somebody selecting the music and it's just this girl. And she's she has good taste. Not no complaints there. So there's that. The characters are pretty good. Like her friends are really interesting and they dive into those friendships in a good way. The game has this like incredible sheen of polish. Like there's scenes where the characters are stoned and you're walking around in a blockbuster and it's like one of the best looking things I've ever seen.

33:57Mark Medina:Like it's really funny because you stumble in the way that it's stumbling and giggling. It's like great. It's really funny. The camcorder stuff looks incredible. They all have kind of stop motion animation. Like it's just so polished. Like it's just incredible looking. So and it's so short. It's like two hours. So like everybody should play it. The final thing I'll say and I'm sure you all have questions is that there's first of all, I mean, I think Damon and I are like exactly this age, which is I think is kind of funny. So like when you play this, you're going to be like, oh, the things that they're doing are like exactly when you were a sophomore in high school or junior high school.

34:29Mark Medina:Like it's just exactly that house parties and doing bad things, doing good things, just having fun. The sound of the beer opening is perfect there. So here's the kind of flying thing. However, I think this has it has a little bit of an earthbound effect where if you weren't there, Earthbound for people that don't know, is a Japanese RPG set in America. And all the things are really boring American things that were really cool to Japanese kids. But it's really, it looks really bland if you play it as an American. And it's charming. I'm not saying it's not charming, but it's like, it's not like it's set on the moon.

35:04Mark Medina:It's set in Tucson, you know? Like, it's not interesting. And in some ways where it could be if it was a fantasy. But it's interesting to people that want to live out an American fantasy. This is a very nuanced argument I'm making here. So try to stay with me. This is more entertaining for people that didn't experience this stuff than people that did. Because it's really like, wow, how cool is it to live out this life? And I just think that's interesting. Like the kind of California childhood is in so many movies. It's in E.T., you know, it's in all these things. And it's just a thing that's revisited a whole lot.

35:39Mark Medina:And I think it's a little tired for me. Having grown up in Phoenix and it looked exactly like this and my life was exactly like this. That makes it nostalgic for me. That's cool. I like that part about it, but it also makes the setting just, I just, I think it's revisited a lot. And I think Gone Home revisited that setting exquisitely, exquisitely. And I think it did a really good job. Mixtape does a really good job in a lot of other ways too. All right. Just talked about Mixtape for a long time. Well, cool. I will check it out.

36:05Nick Limon:One of my favorite games of all time is What Remains of Edith Finch. And your description of it almost comes off like that, where it's like a normal kind of serious story, but like with goofy weird elements like and edith finch like has all these like dream scenarios where you're like cutting fish's heads or you turn into a cat yeah the fantastic kind of it kind of comes off like that and did that one have puzzle solving yeah like on home there's a lot of puzzle solving and so it's like looking at this game didn't interest me but your description of it

36:38Sam Claiborn:did so i might give it a go yeah it's like bouts of magical realism for all you literary folks out

36:44Mark Medina:there i mean and a hundred percent if you wanted to play this with a friend or a loved one or like in a room of people that like it may have been like nostalgic for the 90s like it's totally good for that because all you're doing is playing through these like scenes there's a little bit of stuff where you're like walking around a kid's bedroom and like you can get stuck there for a long time if you don't know exactly what you're doing it's not the game's fault like there's the there's the blockbuster scene that's very funny um yeah so you know it is fun for that stuff too and like I think this is a genre basically as I said like life is strange is more like this than anything and these are just going to be around and so you know is there any is there any dispatch in this or completely different like is there any DNA of dispatch yeah yeah there's no there's no central kind of strategy or anything like that and then there's no character choice at all you don't you don't ever choose dialogue so that's not one of those like play through it three times to see what happens you're just experiencing the world through these kids and this music and as you can see like the music is it's just it's it also like does a lot for the game yeah they're listening a lot of my favorite bands so yeah yeah i will have and they don't they don't choose the singles either they choose deeper cuts which is kind of cool all right mixtape i'll check it out i don't know about you but i like keeping my money unfortunately traditional big wireless carriers also seem to like keeping our money.

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40:36Mark Medina:Go to shopify.com slash realm. That's shopify.com slash realm. Now, Bioshock. And the next Bioshock. Bioshock 4, the fourth one. Take-Two CEO is deeply disappointed by Bioshock 4 delays. but I think his quote is actually pretty funny. Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two. You know, I've never met Strauss, but as executives go, he seems all right. He seems all right. He's been doing it for a while, right? He has been hearing his name for many years. Steven Totillo of GameFile asked him if he was surprised by Bioshock's delays, and I like Zelnick's quote. He says, surprised? Never. Think about what surprise implies.

41:21That's like one day everything's awesome, and then the next day I'm like, holy shit. that is a pretty good cool quote but I think if you're saying

41:32Mark Medina:tell me when you think Bioshock is coming out let me take a big drink of water

41:38Nick Limon:holy shit that was good but I think if you're saying disappointed yes deeply disappointed and that's actually pretty so it's funny his comment is funny and then it's actually pretty forthcoming that he's admitting he's deeply disappointed in this game that his company has been making for a long time

41:53Mark Medina:yeah well i mean that's kind of wild it's like so many somebody well i hope their boss doesn't find out they're taking a long time to make a shot game well from what i really cracked down

42:03Sam Claiborn:from i recall there being like several or just one very like hard reset on the game development semi-recently maybe maybe a year or two ago just like we're starting over folks uh so they're very curious it's weird for metroid prime to beat it to market when they brought in rod forguson to sort of get things back on. Yeah. Rob Ferguson, I always call him the cleaner, man. He's always like, all right, what am I working with? Let's make this happen. He's still there, right? He's the wolf. Yeah, he's the wolf from Pulp Fiction, yeah.

42:35Mark Medina:Give me a cigarette and a big drill hand. Well, they've been working on this Bioshock for a long time. Yeah. I don't know. I see a lot in the comments on IGN, I say people, they're like, well, it's been long enough. Just remake the first one. or maybe just revisit rapture at this point right you know you don't need to like reinvent the wheel

42:55Sam Claiborn:but that feels a little bit just like inherently wrong based on like the entire ethos of what bioshock is is like the i don't know when i think of bioshock i think of things i've never seen before put on the screen i guess bioshock 2 you do revisit rapture but it's just i don't know i just expect something dazzling when i think of you want it to be an anthology series because it

43:17Mark Medina:was angling that way.

43:18Nick Limon:Yeah, I mean, the whole thing is like these like failed capitalistic like political things where it's like, we're just going to go into water and it's now we're going to go up into the sky. But what's left? That's it. The Earth.

43:30Sam Claiborn:Just take a note out of one of Jules Verne's novels. We've already gone under the sea. We've gone in the sky. You go into the center of the Earth. Or space? Space. I mean, that's Judas though, right? Also, is Judas space? Judas is in space.

43:45Nick Limon:Also, where's that game? I also don't believe Judas is a real game either.

43:51Mark Medina:It would have been great if they asked Strauss Zeldnick, who has nothing to do with Judas, about Judas. What do you think about Judas? Can we at least get a Judas before then? I mean, both these games, Bioshock 4 and then Judas, which is a spiritual successor, for both of them it's been 13 years since Infinite. So come on. We talk about this all the time. Why can't Western developers make video games anymore? The cinematic bull shot is just the funniest thing ever.

44:14Sam Claiborn:Yeah, Bioshock Infinite looks nothing like this.

44:17Mark Medina:I don't know what I was, IGN!

44:20Nick Limon:Somebody at IGN was blown away. Could have been me! I'm a pretty big Infinite defender. I think this game's cool. I liked Infinite. It doesn't look like this, but I think Infinite's cool. The DLC for Infinite revisited Rapture, so...

44:37Sam Claiborn:We kind of already did that. I think I'd rather replay the original Bioshock and Bioshock 2 Minerva's Den. Infinite I replayed recently. It's still a good time. Is it still fun today? It's all right. It's an all right out of 10. But no. All right. I don't got time for all rights out of 10. Yeah, yeah. If you've never experienced Bioshock Infinite, it's worth playing. Oh, no. My dad's going to bite me. My dad's going to bite me.

45:05Mark Medina:Oh, man. As soon as Star Fox's dad came out, he was just a dog with glasses. I was like, oh, no. My dad's going to bite me.

45:13Sam Claiborn:Watch that. more parappa watch that is it still fun for power app of the rapper you'll get all the references

45:17Mark Medina:yep uh yeah it's a really good episode but i played more this weekend i had some friends over we busted out for app and i was like just just so you know it's on it's an unplayable disaster by this point but the first couple levels are still fun and i had like some like musicians you know and they're like i just don't know what's going on here like it's like it looks like i'm like you gotta believe you really do you just gotta believe

45:45okay joebert let's pull up our nintendo power episode or issue that we have this week this is what i come for this is uh again may and june 1989 who's on the cover of this one sam oh let

45:58Mark Medina:me see i don't don't show you uh it's is is it track and field is not is it is it is it zelda or castlevania no it is neither of those okay no no okay then is it ducktales nope is it metroid Detroit. Not Tetris. Let's show. Let's show. That's 10. Who is on the cover of Ninja Turtles? The Ninja Turtles themselves. Leonardo's looking wild. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

46:26Nick Limon:All of them are looking. It's some original art. Some very soft airbrush style original art of the.

46:33Sam Claiborn:Dude, this on the spray painted on the side of a van would go crazy.

46:37Nick Limon:Yeah, yeah. They just look like emojis. Look at the purple.

46:45Nick Limon:Sorry, I don't know their names, so I just have to call them by their colors.

46:49Mark Medina:You see TMNT is in quotes because this is the first time they ever used that. People were like, what's Timnt? Phips?

46:55Nick Limon:It's the same thing as Phups. How many Phups? I love below that. It says plus, plus. Bayou Billy and Cobra Triangle. I don't know why. Ninja Gaiden.

47:07Mark Medina:At this point, I was fully reading Nintendo Power and buying games based on how cool games looked in it or renting them or whatever. This is probably how I ended up with buyability to own.

47:17Sam Claiborn:Yeah.

47:17Mark Medina:I can't think of any other way it would have happened.

47:19Sam Claiborn:But did this cover story convince you to get TMNT?

47:22Mark Medina:It was probably the cartoon that did that. I was a snob. I didn't like TMNT as a kid. I thought it was for kids.

47:29Nick Limon:This is where AI gets tricky because if a magazine came out today with that art, I'd start looking for the slop. I feel like how many fingers do they have? Oh, they only have three fingers. I think I see it.

47:46Nick Limon:AI slop detected without...

47:50Mark Medina:Look at him. He's only got three fingers. Do you see his belt? Is that the right belt for Leonardo? The right colors? Is that who that is? I mean, he's blue. Leonardo's blue, yeah? He is blue? Yeah. I don't know. I thought that was a Z. They've got the right colors. It does look like a Z.

48:06Nick Limon:it looks like a Z and then you zoom in you realize the Z is the shadow or the light from the L I was like which one's Z?

48:14Mark Medina:You know He-Man was really really lame and for some reason it like bled over into like the neighborhood kids that were a little bit younger than me like T-Man a lot and they liked Ninja Turtles that's why I was for some reason not into it but I liked all kinds of little kid stuff like bigos and stuff like that for this for some reason the neighborhood kids were too annoying about it so this is the obviously the NES game which was released under Ultra which is an imprint of Konami and then this is the game that was famously very difficult and obtuse and this one with the underwater level yeah yeah yeah and and seemed to include stuff that that just wasn't from the the cartoon show that everyone knew that's because Konami started making this before the cartoon show was even out they got the license first and they started making it and then like a few months after this came out that's when the arcade game hit and that's the one that was seemed fully in the world of the of the of the cartoon show this one has some tough jumps in the sewer i'll tell you that and then that that that everybody hates the level where you underwater disarm bombs because it's so stressful and timed and crazy but it has some really cool stuff like the top down dam scene which is like just awesome looking it's like this like well yeah it just looks comic booky and also the music was cool oh yeah it was great i mean visually and sonically it was great it was just i mean everybody i know played this game for dozens of hours you know like it's just like we all played this so much i have the stat i have the set it's something crazy i think it's the best selling third party game on the nes wow and it's like the the 11th best-selling game overall on the platform so like yeah pretty much everyone owned tmnt if you had an nes anyway the 12th best-selling game of all time let's go to the mailbox there's some really good mailbox here i like how they show the nintendo headquarters in Redmond, Washington.

50:03Cool.

50:04Sam Claiborn:Cool. Representing. Podcast listeners, he's wearing an official Nintendo Redmond shirt. Yeah, the wife was actually at Nintendo yesterday and bought this from their shop in their actual Nintendo office. NES Grimace. This is from Vince, Jeff, Adam, and Jim from Freeport, Illinois. They say, four of us got together and made a magazine called Nintendo News for a school project. We thought NES fans would enjoy the following recipe that we included for Mike Tyson's punch. You just take two cups strawberry Kool-Aid, two cups raspberry Kool-Aid, two cups ginger ale, and one box of frozen strawberries.

50:37Mix both flavors of Kool-Aid and ginger ale. Add the strawberries. Chill for at least 30 minutes before serving. That's a cool kid, dude. What the heck? I'll try it.

50:46Mark Medina:That's really great. But I'm having... So two types of Kool-Aid. Two types of Kool-Aid. And with bubbles added from the ginger ale, but then the frozen strawberries...

50:56Sam Claiborn:It's supposed to look like fresh punching wounds. I don't know. Like, you're red and purple. I think of drinking something with, like, frozen strawberries in it. Yeah. It's kind of like ice cubes. It's a little ice cream-esque. I guess it's like a mostato. Delicious, guys. Remember to have an adult supervise in the kitchen. If you've never tried putting a recipe together. Yeah, don't mix two types of Kool-Aid, kids. Don't cross the streams. It's so good.

51:22Mark Medina:Kool-Aid was definitely popular in my household. I miss it now. Just thinking about it. Maybe I should get some powdered Kool-Aid this summer. Andrew from Greensboro, North Carolina, made a rap for Zelda. Would you like me to rap it for you? Please. Okay, I will. He says, I made a rap for you. Give him a beat, Mark. I hope you and all the NES fans will like it. It's the Legend of Zelda and it's really bad. Okay, that's just the commercial. You're just stealing that from the commercial. Come on, Andrew. Bad isn't good, though. Not bad meaning bad, but bad meaning good. Okay. Here's the rap in its entirety.

51:58It's the Legend of Zelda and it's really bad. The creatures in the game are really rad. Darknuts move very fast, but if you are quick, they will not last. Poles voice jump super high, but if you watch your speed, you will not die. Wizroves move fast, I agree, but if you get touched, you lose a lot of a heart of energy. I'd like to thank Nintendo for all the fun, but I'm sorry to say my rap is done. And all Nintendo Power had to say about this was totally deaf rap, Andrew.

52:24Sam Claiborn:Andrew might be cooler than Nintendo Power. Look at his cool Marty McFly vest. Oh, yeah. He's 100 % cooler than Nintendo Power. That is a totally diff rap. Okay. And Alaric, that's a cool name. Alaric from New York. The graphics in Super Mario Bros. 2 are some of the best ever by Nintendo. Sometimes the enemies in the game even help you get through tough spots like World Force 6, but the ending is the best thing about this game. Will you ever release Super Mario Bros. 3? And Nintendo Power says, we're glad you enjoyed Super Mario Bros. 2. We are, in fact, producing Super Mario Bros. 3 for Nintendo's PlayChoice 10 system late this summer.

52:58At this time, there are no immediate plans to release it for use with the NES. But keep your eye on Nintendo Power for updates.

53:04Mark Medina:Can you imagine reading that? That would blow your mind. There are no plans to bring Super Mario Bros. 3 to the NES. There's no Mario 3. And it did come out for PlayChoice 10. I have it right here. And it's super cool, and it has a little bit of differences, which is really neat, just like the Japanese version.

53:18Sam Claiborn:Was that PlayChoice 10 version the one that was featured in The Wizard?

53:23Mark Medina:Well, would it have to have been? I think they probably just used they could have just used the Japanese version because it's well known they could have I don't know who does they have prime types and stuff by that point Sam might be the only one who remember Discovery Zone I went to a Discovery Zone yeah we had them in Phoenix, Ball Pit yeah they're like giant indoor play

53:44Sam Claiborn:my brother's girlfriend worked there so I got the hook up indoor play places in 1990 I think my Discovery Zone had a play choice 10 and one day Super Mario Bros. 3 was just in it That's the first time I played Super Mario Bros. 3.

53:56Mark Medina:You know what's crazy is that the only one I've been to was visiting my relatives in Kansas City. There you go. Because they called them something else in Phoenix. So that was the same one, Damon, that you went to. Well, there you go. That's cool. Which is crazy. Because in Phoenix, they had them, and it was maybe the same owner, but they might have been called something different. And they converted, that mine had an arcade, and then they converted it all to a laser tag arcade. That's where I played Mortal Kombat 2 the most. But they also had the Nintendo Punch-Out machine, but not the play choice.

54:23Mark Medina:Oh, nice. well regarding this not having plans to bring it to the nes the only thing i can think of is that you know super mario brothers 3 today is maybe considered the best game on the platform yeah but of all time but yeah one of the greatest of all time but back then it wasn't a note that known quantity what they knew about the mario series is that super mario brothers one had been a huge hit and then the super mario brothers 2 that japan sent over was kind of a disaster so they had to send it back and have them make a different super mario brothers 2 out of a completely different game so maybe that's why after that experience they were like let's wait

54:56Nick Limon:and see how i don't know about this mario guy we're not sure about mario i don't know if he

55:02Mark Medina:has the staying power the play choice was used for that it was used for testing stuff in a market but it's just wild to see them just full-on say that yeah yeah yeah okay if we go on to the next page jobert uh someone else kath this is a katherine calling it from naperville illinois I'm a regular caller to your game counselors, and I'm incredibly impressed with the way they treat callers. In over a year of seeking their assistance, I've always found them to be friendly, knowledgeable, professional, kind, and very patient, no matter how simple a question may seem. Considering the stress involved in such a job, I cannot commend you enough for assembling such a sterling staff of people to deal with your public on the front lines.

55:40It goes on for some time, like just compliment, really, really complimentary of the helpline people.

55:47Mark Medina:Do you think this is somebody's mom who's just getting fed up with, you know? That's expensive. She's calling a lot. Here's a Matt Bozon, which this is interesting. Matt Bozon from Minnesota. Matt Bozon. There is a Matt Bozon who, what's the, who's the Shantae developer? Yeah. Who makes Shantae? WayForward. Yeah, WayForward. There is a Matt Bozon. Is it spelled the same? I thought it was. Oh, wow. Yeah. And brother of Mark Bozon, who used to work here on the Nintendo team at IGN. And Matt Bozon does WayForward. I don't know if they're from Minnesota, but I think the age lines up that it's possible this could be a Matt version.

56:20Sam Claiborn:Matt, if this is you, please write in. Matt says, I'm a beginning cartoonist and commercial artist who loves Nintendo games. And then he drew this little sketch of some enemies. He says they're enemies from Legend of Zelda, but that Goomba is... That's a Goomba. Yeah, that's a Goomba.

56:33Mark Medina:Well, Nintendo might have ripped them off because they did put them in Link's Awakening.

56:37Sam Claiborn:Yeah, there's a Darknut. There's a Moblin. There's the, not a Zora, but the sea creature. Yeah. And then the snakes. Goomba's a little bit weird, though.

56:45Nick Limon:Based on what he's typing there, that sounds like a person who's about to go on to make... To found a way forward. I'm kind of thinking that this might be him.

56:57Sam Claiborn:I love his little art style. That's awesome.

57:00Mark Medina:It looks like Nintendo Power, which is the funny thing. Cliffy B appeared in Nintendo Power submitting a score. That's funny. Someone says, who's Andrew from Wald Lake, Michigan, says, I have just purchased the most thrilling game ever Zelda 2 The Adventures of Link The game is filled with very impressive graphics music and strategy I would recommend Zelda 2 to everyone who owns an NES Dude and then everyone got mad at you

57:25Sam Claiborn:and everyone was like what? This is nothing like Zelda I like Zelda 2 Really good music in Zelda 2

57:32Mark Medina:And everybody would have argued whether it was an RPG or not Well you know what this is what I say this is June from 89 but the previous holiday season 88 that we got Mario 2 Zelda 2 and Castlevania 2 all that holiday season it's a hell

57:50Sam Claiborn:of a season what a zag for all of those franchises that's actually a good point but would have been very happy with those at the time okay the Nintendo Power Awards 88 these are the Nester Awards best graphics and sound was given to Castlevania 2 Simon's Quest yeah best challenge was the original Legend of Zelda. I'd probably give it to Castlevania 2 again. But also, that's an 87 game. So why not? Cool. Best theme or fun was Super Mario Bros. 2. Best play control, Super Mario Bros. 2. Best character, who'd they pick? Link. They picked Link from Zelda 2.

58:28Mark Medina:I mean, they're giving awards to themselves, and these are pretty bad. Do you say they're pretty bad or good? No, they're pretty accurate. Yeah, they are pretty bad. Best ending, Super Mario Bros. 2. I gotta agree with that. It was a twist. no one saw coming. Best player versus player was Blades of Steel. I love that. We didn't have the word multiplayer back then. However, Blades of Steel also has a really good ending where everything's a dream. Spoilers, Sam.

58:52Nick Limon:Spoilers for Mario Bros. 2. And best overall game was Zelda 2. Which is surprising they wouldn't give it to Super Mario Bros. 2. Yeah.

59:01Sam Claiborn:Seems like Super Mario Bros. 2 got more awards. I would rather play. Definitely was the big game in my house. I like Zelda 2, but I would rather play Super Mario Bros. 2 today. A hundred percent. Also, what is this off-brand Link and Zelda here? Oh, they're cute. Oh, just more AI sloth. Yep, look at that.

59:21Mark Medina:Four fingers. Okay, there's a preview for Life Force, which just looks so badass. It's from the box there. Hell yeah. So badass. And I just want to say... Volcanic stage. If you zoom out a little bit, Joe Bert, this is every boss in the game, including the final boss so i always i always whenever we go through an old magazine and they do this i will reiterate this is why i will never think bosses are spoilers yeah bosses are not the dark souls issue their marketing points yeah i don't want to know that there's bosses a big a big you know lion boss okay okay well this game showed you that the last boss is just a big embryo

1:00:00Sam Claiborn:isn't life force a game that was also named salamander okay the japanese arcades gotcha gotcha yeah um okay and then go two pages forward and we have a preview for megaman 2 that just has

1:00:11Mark Medina:the most delightful oh man it looks so good right oh i just poured over this i could i could probably recreate this spread from memory i remember the level layouts and how cool it looks look at look at the the screenshots there of the big dragon it looks just like the art oh i know yeah the little chibi art style is delightful we were just talking about this last week nick i i i would love for Capcom to make a Mega Man game that looks more like this.

1:00:35Sam Claiborn:They made that one on the PSP Mega Man power up that was the closest. Yeah. I love how Wily has an NES. Why is he standing on a box of carrot bombs?

1:00:44Mark Medina:Yeah, it's the rabbits throw carrots. Oh, that's cute. What a cut.

1:00:50Nick Limon:He knows he's the final boss. He put himself right in the middle. Yeah. On the next page, more great art. And there's actually an exchange between Wily and Mega Man. What? No, not you. hiya doc i heard about what you're up to and i've decided to pay you and your goons a little visit

1:01:06Mark Medina:see you soon it's clearly still not the japanese art by the way this is yeah some jackass with colored pencils over at nintendo power now i'll show you all the the robot masters here too this is just great magazine layout oh i love at the bottom jobert it says stay tuned for that's never resolved it just goes to it just goes to another game on the next page that's it stay tuned for Wait, wait, wait. Hold on, I think the stay tuned for was Mega Man 3 stuff? What do you mean? I'm just looking at these bosses. These are all the two bosses. Woodman, Quickman, Bubbleman. Is it Flameman? They call him there?

1:01:44Sam Claiborn:Is it possible to spoil a Mega Man game since it shows you all the bosses right up front? Exactly. Fanman. Crashman. And you see up in the left corner, they've given their own ratings, but then they have a blank one for the player to write in their ratings for like sound control challenge. Oh, that's cute. Yeah. I like it. They think the game's great. Now, this Fester's Quest preview is just baffling. What's happening here? There's a picture of the title screen from the old TV show at top, then a big arrow that points down that's over the sheet music for the theme song, back down to the opening screen from Fester's Quest.

1:02:26What is the layout here?

1:02:28Sam Claiborn:It's avant-garde, dude.

1:02:31Mark Medina:This was the style at the time. Which was the style. It looks like a Trapper Keeper. they're just saying that the TV show has been turned into a game.

1:02:39Sam Claiborn:It's been adapted.

1:02:40Nick Limon:Yeah, yeah. They're like, look, this is what it was.

1:02:42Sam Claiborn:It takes some leaps to get there. You know, I had this game. This is Sunsoft game. Sunsoft also did Blaster Master. So if you look on the next page, the bosses in Fester's Quest go hard. Look at these guys. Oh, hell yeah.

1:02:55Nick Limon:Damn.

1:02:56Sam Claiborn:They look like Castlevania bosses. I know. They're awesome. Fester's Quest is pretty difficult though, right? Like that's a tough game. To be honest, I don't know if I ever made it to any of these bosses.

1:03:05Mark Medina:No, I don't think I ever saw a boss in the game, but it's a good walking simulator. Those look like Resident Evil bosses. Yeah, this is some Dark Souls stuff.

1:03:14Sam Claiborn:New Fester's Quest remake when? Yeah. Okay, the next one is interesting. It's Clash of Demon Head, which has an anime art style in the game, and I think in the Japanese box art, but of course they didn't want to do that at the time, so they created different sort of western style fantasy art for the box art but now this is a holy a third different art style that they're using here in this preview it doesn't look like the game or the box art yep yep yep anyway exactly that's clash of ds it's just they just

1:03:43Mark Medina:had these internal teams at nintendo power that got to do this art and they must have been really

1:03:47Sam Claiborn:think how into it think how much more successful dragon warrior quote unquote would have been if they just used the japanese art you know it's funny you mentioned dragon warrior nick because on the next page, it's a two-page spread for Dragon Warrior that includes not a single screenshot. It's all art. Why were they so scared of showing people Dragon Warrior? It's too Japanese, Damon.

1:04:09Nick Limon:The kids will never understand it. This is like 80s romance novel art.

1:04:13Mark Medina:Yeah, I mean, it's D &D and it's very funny. To be fair, this

1:04:17Sam Claiborn:Western art is pretty badass. It is.

1:04:19Mark Medina:This is the coolest fantasy

1:04:21Sam Claiborn:Western art I've seen in a minute.

1:04:22Mark Medina:The minute you signed it, it says Tarith. This is what we all imagined while playing Dragon Quest, right? Maybe they wouldn't want to show the overworld, but when you're in a battle, it's just like close-ups of cool monsters. Just show that. The slime's too cute.

1:04:38Sam Claiborn:Kids don't want to kill that. Yeah, all the monsters are smiling. Experience the birth of a new era in role-playing adventure. The introduction of Dragon Warrior represents more than just the release of a new game. It marks the beginning of a new and different direction for NES games. They're really... I mean, they're not wrong, but they're a little too early. But didn't they basically give away?

1:05:01Nick Limon:And then Final Fantasy ate their lunch.

1:05:02Sam Claiborn:Well, in America. But didn't they give away Dragon Warrior basically to Nintendo Power subscribers?

1:05:08Mark Medina:Yeah, subscribers got a free Nintendo.

1:05:11Sam Claiborn:What a dream. If I had grown up like five years earlier, I would lose my mind if I got a free NES game.

1:05:18Nick Limon:All we got were demo discs with the same Tony Hawk over and over. Yeah, exactly. And Parappa. Changing the name to Dragon Warrior for the U.S. was a strange move because everyone just called it Drawa.

1:05:33Mark Medina:I always called it Donrar. Next, we got the Counselor's Corner, and I love when they show the pictures of the counselors in the corner here. Tom, Tom McConville. I mean, this guy looks like he's like 45. But, of course, it's been established recently that people used to look older. That's 100 % true. A 70s 13 looks like a 40.

1:05:54Nick Limon:yeah that's amazing that's a rough 45 yeah so but look look what his hobbies are it'll make sense he's keeping young with his mathematics mathematics and cartooning i love how they put their highest game score yeah and his favorite nes game is gradius man he's got good taste yeah you think he rounded up um oh yeah the next is the winner of a a writing contest someone he people wrote stories and then nintendo power picked the winner and this one wrote a story about how he would go into his Zelda or Zelda 2 game and he was friends with Link and the story is called Friends. He actually goes into his television.

1:06:31Mark Medina:That's pretty cute. And it starts with lunch and that's why there's a sandwich on the page. He tries not to eat all of his lunch because he takes the food to Link. I don't know why Link can't get his own food, but Link will starve to death. This kid does not deliver him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

1:06:46Sam Claiborn:This is like the first isekai in America. He gets transported to another world. I love it.

1:06:52Mark Medina:Oh look, this is from San San Jose, California. There you go. Bay Area. Okay, top 30. I'll count down the top 10. This is... One of them was. This is, you know, they would give these games scores and I think it's based on their surveys and retailers and their own picks anyway. And what they wanted to push in front of people too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The top 10 of this month would be number 10, Rampage, then Metroid, then Bionic Commando, Metal Gear, Blaster Master, Track and Field 2, Contra, and then the top three are Zelda, Mario 2, and Zelda 2.

1:07:22Sam Claiborn:Man, Metal Gear. Some of the absolute best games of the whole system. Metal Gear on NES, though. Not a good game. MSX. The MSX version is so much better.

1:07:32Mark Medina:It's just hard to figure out. I just remember... It's not the Kojima one.

1:07:36Sam Claiborn:You can smoke cigarettes in it. I feel asleep. I feel asleep. I feel asleep. Someone set us up the bomb. In the classified information, they have the great trick for Blaster Master with the extended grenade. Does everyone know this trick? No, no, please. You have grenades in it. Yes, where you hit the pause. If you pause the game while your grenade is exploding, it'll just keep exploding and doing damage. It's like the Mega Man boss thing where you kill the yellow eye guy by pausing and unpausing very quickly. That's very cool. That's good. And then they have their own extracurricular activities.

1:08:08And you know, what was the big movie of 89? Sam should know. No, well, now you know. I'm seeing it now. You ever dance with Devil in the Pale Moonlight, Sam? Batman. I would have been 11 years old. at this time and like it's hard it's it's hard to explain what a big deal batman was at the time like the movies don't become phenomenons anymore the way this was a phenomenon back then everyone

1:08:33Mark Medina:had that it was crazy and it was like completely made by like you know like a crazy out of the blue like artiste and it had no right to be such a great action movie and it was weird and it was

1:08:47Sam Claiborn:also it's a gorgeous looking movie still to this day like it is a little it is a little bit weird watching it today you're like this movie's odd not bad it's odd but it's odd it's hyper stylized in a way that i think you know as a child i took for granted because this was like on repeat on my vhs back then yeah and now i look at i was like oh my gosh this is like a neo-noir masterpiece

1:09:08Mark Medina:and then returns doubles down in the weirdness right so like it kind of freaked out the studios i think but it did great and then uh and then it but none of these are as weird as the mask so

1:09:18Sam Claiborn:oh man the mask also on repeat at my on my family vhs well there's a bad video game based on that for super nintendo i'm trying to think had he only done nes games great though it is good so he had already done beetlejuice at this point he'd done pwee's big adventure and beetlejuice and then batman was his third what a back-to-back though i mean yeah i mean he kept it going with yeah uh i guess he did edward sisterhands in between batman and batman returns was ed woodman all-time That was his inception.

1:09:49Nick Limon:That's awesome. And the next they interview a star of 21 Jump Street, Holly Robinson. And I just love this. She says, Gumshoe is my all-time favorite game. Is that a brand new sentence? Gumshoe is a light gun game. A light gun game for NES. A platformer. But it's an auto-scroller and you have to shoot the Gumshoe detective to get him to jump. That's her favorite game of all time?

1:10:16Sam Claiborn:Maybe she's just chill as hell. That's awesome. Yeah. I don't know. I think maybe that's the only game. I mean, there is a novelty to that. I can understand, like, oh, I get to shoot at the screen? Like, I can see that being a...

1:10:28Nick Limon:That game was behind the interviewer. She's like, oh, sure. The next segment is another male segment called Video Spotlight, where people write in, and they just brag about how great they are at games. It's like Jeremy says, I consider myself a power player. I just solved Zelda 2 in a week and a day. This is just one of my many accomplishments. I've solved Super Mario Brothers, Jackal, Legend of Zelda, Jaws, Renegade, Legend of Kage, Kari Warriors, and Goonies 2. I've also beaten Mike Tyson in Mike Tyson's Punch-Out and finished Metroid in Kid Icarus six times. I've also reached the end of Russian Attack in Castlevania.

1:10:58It goes on for like a long time.

1:11:01Sam Claiborn:I've solved the games. I've never heard that phrase before. I've always said beat. But maybe before that was really established, people would say, I solved. I heard people say, I finished or I completed. What's this guy's name? This is Jeremy. Jeremy. Sam Mark you gotta hit up Jeremy let's get him on the IGN guides team

1:11:20Nick Limon:Jeremy needs to touch grass this reads exactly like our YouTube comment section I've solved Crimson Desert anyway that's that whole segment there oh there's more on the next page which one did I want to read here oh yeah Myra I think when you asked for power players my uncle and I got together with the rest of the family and friends to set up our NES Defeating Force Club. We now have a total of 14 members. We have many cartridges and are getting more all the time. For almost two months, we competed for our first annual power player. We chose my uncle, an all-around good guy, Ronald E. Munar. He has to be the best player in Pasadena.

1:12:02I have not seen anyone beat him yet. I guess that's why we unanimously nominated him for president of our club. It goes on for some time like that too. What is it? It's the NES Defeating Force Club. that's pretty good what does that mean they defeat the nes game that sounds better than solve i defeated super mario brothers 2 yeah this is a goal my this is where we heart this is where we

1:12:24Nick Limon:should be harvesting talent yeah i love i love this world where it's like a very defined like i asked one of my friends the other day like do you think i'm the best marvel rivals player on my block so it's like i love this i love this i want to i want to say yes i think i think that ended

1:12:40Sam Claiborn:with Super Smash Bros. Melee because everyone was the best at Super Smash Bros. Melee within their friend group. And then once they got exposed to the real world, they're like, no, I'm not.

1:12:49Nick Limon:You get humbled real quick. 89, this would be the year the Game Boy was released. Probably a pretty big deal. If we turn the page, this is the back of the magazine. Here's how the Game Boy was unveiled. They unveiled it this way. Have you ever secretly dreamed? Wow, really? It's at the bottom of the page. Have you ever secretly dreamed you could put your NES in your pocket so that you can play it wherever you go. Well, our dreams are about to come true as Nintendo will soon be introducing Game Boy. It is a portable game system that is about the size of a Walkman and uses interchangeable game packs.

1:13:20Titles already announced are Super Mario Land, Alleyway, and Baseball. There is an incredible network feature that allows you to hook two Game Boys together. You'll get an all-new type of two-player competition as you each view the action on your own system. Game Boy will also feature built-in gameplay controls and personal earphones that transmit, in all caps, STEREO SOUND, scheduled for late summer. Hot, very hot. Hot, very hot.

1:13:41Nick Limon:That's how they revealed the Game Boy. That's the Game Boy. They had no idea what they had.

1:13:46Sam Claiborn:Dude, I'm still getting chills. Imagine reading this for the first time as a kid. You're like, what? They made it portable.

1:13:55Mark Medina:Look how they used a piece of paper inside that photo of the Game Boy to get it to look like a Game Boy. Exactly. They've got baseball on there. They made it look like an LCD system. Dude, I love Super Mario Land. Yeah, it looks more like LCD. Super Mario Land is so good. I like Super Mario Land a lot.

1:14:09Nick Limon:So is this before they got the rights to Tetris? Because you would think that they would talk about that. Except Tetris was not a known quantity. And they can't say, we've got this cool game from Russia. That's not going to go over very well in 1989.

1:14:24Mark Medina:Maybe people knew the Atari game by then. Those are the highlights. No, I don't think so.

1:14:31Sam Claiborn:McCarthyism is going to shut down Nintendo if they reveal a game from Russia. Those are highlights from the May and June 1989 issue of Nintendo Power.

1:14:46Real quick before, 20 questions, extracurricular activities. I finished mall. Shadow Lord. Has anyone else watched this? You've gotten me interested, but is it worth watching? Yep. It's good. It starts out. Awesome. Starts out. You're like, okay, this is good. The relatively low bar that has been set for Star Wars on Disney Plus, it's surpassed this. This is good. But by the end of it, you're like, okay, all right, everybody. Let's do this. This is good. Let's do this.

1:15:10Sam Claiborn:I've seen a lot of stuff of like Sam Witwer, who's the voice actor of Darth Maul, who also is the character model and voice actor for Starkiller from Force Unleashed. Force Unleashed. Force Awakened. Force Unleashed. There's a lot of comparisons of like imagery of Darth Maul doing a lot of Starkiller poses, which I would assume is 100 % intentional, which also got me kind of hyped to check this out. So I think you got me. I'm going to watch this. they do an interesting artistic choice but the lightsabers appear to bend when they're being uh swung fast that's kind of cool and you just you don't ever see that in the movies so i don't i don't like you're seeing it there yeah i don't hate or or or uh like it's like the trailing light yeah it's just interesting this is a badass thing yeah that's it on episode four and uh it does have

1:15:53Mark Medina:a little bit of a slow start but the slow start is good because it's more like it's like adult situations it's like they're talking about this cop and his family and like you know the escape from jail and like all these things are like just a little bit surprising. It ain't the Clone Wars. No. The back half of the series is not slow. It's like non-stop lightsaber battles. Yeah. It also introduces not one, but two great new droids. Yeah. The first droid that I know is super cool. Yeah. It's good. It's really good. It's good. Very, very good Star Wars on Disney+.

1:16:33All right, that brings us to Video Game 20 Questions. Our suggestion this week comes from Marcus in Chicago, who says, if you ever want to throw Redacted a bone when they make a GameScoop appearance, I'd recommend picking Redacted. And with that, let the questioning begin.

1:16:49Nick Limon:Well, so it's either me or Nick, because we're the only ones that make appearances. And so it's probably me, and it's probably Mario 64. So is it Mario 64? First ever scoop in one question.

1:17:06Sam Claiborn:Is this game from the 70s, 80s, or 90s? No.

1:17:09Nick Limon:Not Mario 64. Let's see here. Hey, I want to guess the redacted. Is that legal? Legal. Yes. Are you going to allow it? You can guess. Well, actually, no. Because then what's the point of redacting? Let's not allow that. We can't metagame it. So it's illegal. Is this based on a license?

1:17:37Sam Claiborn:No. Unlicensed 2000s onward.

1:17:41Nick Limon:I don't play that many licensed games.

1:17:43Sam Claiborn:Is this game from Japan?

1:17:45Nick Limon:No. Just talked about how much you played Marvel Rivals.

1:17:48Sam Claiborn:So now this is a marked game then, if it's not from Japan.

1:17:54Nick Limon:Oh, it's not from Japan? I mean, that used to be the only thing I played back in the 90s. not from japan not from japan and so it's a 2000 onward we have 26 years to come through

1:18:09Mark Medina:unlike this game have a sequel that's coming out or out already on the playstation 5 generation no

1:18:23Sam Claiborn:is this game still relevant to this day what do you mean i mean is this is this part of a franchise yeah no that's fine not part of a franchise well okay was this game exclusive to the platform it came out on uh at for for a time got it okay um is this game at with the prior question in mind um was this a xbox in the xbox family of consoles no okay

1:19:02Mark Medina:same question nintendo no well playstation it wouldn't go exclusive off of nintendo usually

1:19:12Mark Medina:unless it was resiul 4 unless it was zombie you

1:19:19Nick Limon:um so it's a sony okay so it was was playstation we we need to figure out where we're at in these 26 years of

1:19:27Mark Medina:Was this out on an even numbered PlayStation system? No. Oh, okay.

1:19:33Sam Claiborn:Either PS1, PS3, or 5. Is this a PS3 game? No. That's 10. Is this a PlayStation 1 game? No. Oh my gosh! Okay, so it's a PS5 game.

1:19:46Mark Medina:There's no sequel on the PS5 because it's on PS5.

1:19:49Sam Claiborn:It's not part of a franchise, so it's the first one. And it's not from Japan.

1:19:56Mark Medina:It sounds like it went to PC Shortly after or something Yeah Returnal maybe

1:20:03Nick Limon:Could be Yeah Okay what

1:20:09Nick Limon:Is the studio Is it first party Uh Hold on hold on hold on You can ask if Sony published it Are they Yeah That's the question you want to ask because I was going to ask what if they're first party now

1:20:27Mark Medina:why don't you just ask if it was developed by Gorilla or who's the eternal developer? Housemark Gorilla or Housemark

1:20:35Sam Claiborn:is it developed by Gorilla is it developed by Gorilla, Housemark or Naughty Dog?

1:20:41Nick Limon:or Bend or Bend no

1:20:46Sam Claiborn:the answer is no what? okay so it's Sony Santa Monica Santa Monica Studios

1:20:55Nick Limon:yeah but but I can't I mean they haven't released any games that like I wouldn't consider God of War Ragnarok

1:21:02Sam Claiborn:oh well that's part of the

1:21:05Nick Limon:franchises and stuff um oh it could be what if it's dreams it could be medium molecule oh that's not PS5 that's PS4

1:21:15Mark Medina:what did medium molecule do for PS5 uh

1:21:20Nick Limon:nothing I don't know if they've done anything i can't recall wait no did they make the the sack boy adventure game was that media molecule

1:21:31Sam Claiborn:sack boys adventure that was um yeah well i can't remember i think it's media molecule

1:21:37Mark Medina:could also be insomniac but legit though what if sony didn't publish this game because we just don't

1:21:43Sam Claiborn:yeah yeah did sony did sony publish it oh do we not want to ask that then no i think you should

1:21:49Mark Medina:asked it because it doesn't sound like they did it sounds like is it a sony published sony published game yes sony published this game okay uh it could be no man's sky i just i wouldn't consider that a ps5 game true yeah and it's on everything it's for a game

1:22:08Nick Limon:but not at launch it wasn't how many questions you asked 13 questions 13 questions all right

1:22:15Sam Claiborn:PS5 not part of a franchise not from Japan

1:22:21Nick Limon:sorry what was the question about oh Japan okay so then it could be like shift up

1:22:27Sam Claiborn:true stellar blade stellar blade and it was ported to PC right

1:22:35Nick Limon:and if the redacted is mark

1:22:37Sam Claiborn:I mean there you go this all aligns is this game from Korea

1:22:42Nick Limon:Yes. That's Stellar Blade. It's 100 % Stellar Blade.

1:22:46Mark Medina:Let's ask, is this game a star, an actual model for the model?

1:22:52Sam Claiborn:Is the star of the game modeled after the developer's wife? Yes. Is the game Stellar Blade? It is Stellar Blade. Yeah, we did it. Don't know if she's technically a model. I think she is. Professional model, but yeah. Yep, Stellar Blade. Good game. What a game. The redacted was marked.

1:23:10Nick Limon:What a great game. they wanted to throw you a bone with Stellar Blade oh and they did great game never had before but we have had three other games with Blade in the title that would be Muramasa the Demon Blade last year Infinity Blade in 2023 and Blades of Steel in 2022 nice

1:23:29Mark Medina:I remember not getting Blades

1:23:30Nick Limon:Stellar Blade I mean there is a sequel in development but obviously they haven't really announced it they just are working on the next Stellar Blade game

1:23:38Sam Claiborn:yeah I'm looking for honestly I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this game. Great soundtrack.

1:23:43Nick Limon:It's kind of like... Incredible soundtrack. It's kind of like Pragmata. Like when we say just video game ass video game, that's what this is. It's just fun. There's no fluff to it. It's not overstuffed. It's just a fun adventure you can do in like 15 hours. You can beat it in 15 hours. Every zone has like the next best song. Your next favorite song is in the next zone. It's very near automata. The story is a little, you know. you know well yeah I mean they've had crossovers with Nier and everything

1:24:12Sam Claiborn:also none of her outfits seem particularly strategic

1:24:17Nick Limon:no no I think the guy who did the music for Nier is the guy who did the music for

1:24:22Sam Claiborn:oh okay Keiichi Okabe I don't know about that well anyway nicely job thank you for the suggestion Marcus in Chicago viewers listeners if you have your own suggestions for video game 20 questions email them to me at the email address Gamescoop at IGN.com and I wanted to let you know we've got a new spot for us all to hang out and talk about all things Gamescoop. Please join the brand new IGN Discord. To connect with us, your favorite Scoop hosts as well as Scoop fans will all be hanging out there from around the world. It'd be a great place to share your conversations around 20 questions, suggest music for me to use on the show.

1:24:57We'll be there chatting, putting up polls and more and more as time goes by. So I'll put the link in the episode description but join the IGN Discord and we will see you there, I guess.

1:25:06Mark Medina:We'll solve games with you all. Yep, we will. Send us some fan art.

1:25:09Sam Claiborn:We're all going to be Nintendo counselors for you. You're all personal Nintendo counselors. It'll be good. Well, that's all the scoops we have for you this week. Thank you, Nick. Thank you, Sam. Thank you, Mark. Thank you to Jobert working behind the scenes to make this episode possible. My name is Damon. This is IGN Game Scoop. And we're out.

1:25:40Mark Medina:Did you hear about our devastating loss on BG20 questions last week? No. Devastating. What happened? Oh, boy. All right. So, first of all, we had swung in Miranda at the last minute, and she did a good job. This is my fault. We got to the game. So, what happened was that we found out it was a game about crime that was based on a license from the PS2 era. okay they ruled out godfather yeah they ruled out scarface yeah i mean those are kind of like we you know yeah i guess it's ps2 like we were ruling out those by the eras of them we actually ended up finding out that it wasn't a 70s or 80s crime movie which was really helpful um so right at the end i was like fuck this sounds like it's a reservoir dogs game but like that's a ridiculous idea and then maybe that is what it is and then we said And that was the last thing I said.

1:26:39Mark Medina:It sounds like it's Reservoir Dogs, but I don't know if that existed. Well, what is it, Damon?

1:26:44Sam Claiborn:It was Reservoir Dogs. What do you do in the Reservoir Dogs game?

1:26:50Nick Limon:Just do the gas, man. You play the bank robbery.

1:26:54Mark Medina:Is it Reservoir Dogs? And then it's, you know, why would they ever make that?

1:26:57Sam Claiborn:It's a rhythm game to cut off an ear. They have the likeness of some of the actors, but not all, and none of the voice talents. It's a really weird thing. I'm trying to stream this year cutting scene

1:27:09Mark Medina:and they keep on taking me off Twitch.

1:27:13Sam Claiborn:Very strange. Hopefully this week can be better. In fortunate news, I have Floorza again. Oh, good. Floorza Horizon. Floorza Horizon, indeed. Did you say you were upstairs where the leak was? I'm in the middle floor of my apartment and the apartment above me and the apartment below me and my apartment all flooded i got back from vacation and went where did it start from our kitchen sink but it's because it's a shared pipe so somebody was putting stuff in their sink that they should they were putting like a cooking oil and coffee grounds

1:27:53Mark Medina:i'm like yeah yeah but how did it flood the up above you that's a great question i don't really

1:27:59Sam Claiborn:know the logistics of it i just know i got looped into an email chain with the hoa and then like all of the owners of the different apartments saying, hey, my tenant just got back from a vacation. There was another dude on vacation at the same time as me. But just, yeah, it was all three apartments. So they're fixing it.

1:28:15Mark Medina:You don't have a pet or anything though, do you?

1:28:17Sam Claiborn:I do, but he was being babysat by my parents in a flood-free home.

1:28:23Mark Medina:I just can't imagine a cat home alone. Oh my gosh, that's my nightmare.

1:28:30Sam Claiborn:Nightmare.

1:28:30Nick Limon:We did try, there is a new mexican place in my town i can't decide if it's really really good or just salty i don't know i mean you know how it is that's the trick isn't it you're right like you eat like some refried beans and you're like damn these are good and you're like wait they're also just like maybe like super salty which salt is good so like maybe that's salt is good salt is good it is good I can't Yo I fuck so salt

1:29:01Nick Limon:The fuck is on my screen right now Well they're like LARPing right But they aren't doing anything They're all just standing around They're waiting

1:29:10Sam Claiborn:It's a siege What are they waiting for For nightfall They're gonna wait for the soldiers They've already cut off supply lines They're waiting for people to starve So that they can attack when they're the weakest

1:29:23Nick Limon:They just get really hangry when they run out of pizza. The long game. They're playing Civ right now.

1:29:30Sam Claiborn:That should be an IGN outing right there.

1:29:33Mark Medina:I'll suggest this to the...

1:29:37Nick Limon:I just went to a Ren Fair with Jobert and it was the worst experience. Jobert had nothing to do with why it was bad. It was the sun. Oh, was it hot? Fuck yeah, dude. It was so hot. It was the worst. yeah chain mail a lot of stinky nerds yeah but i told you guys i said i said it on the chat the other uh the other day it was great some guy walks up and he goes oh mark i love you in game school that's great just out of nowhere just i was in line and then we're like we're like this is jover and he's like oh shit jover he was so excited that's cute i think we were in line to shoot

1:30:16Sam Claiborn:bows and arrows?

1:30:17Nick Limon:Bow and arrows, yeah. Luckily he left before he saw that because I don't think I'd be his favorite game scooper after that.

1:30:26Sam Claiborn:Mark sucks at shooting bow and arrow. Dude, yeah.

1:30:31Nick Limon:I learned that in real time. I like this new table setup.

1:30:34Sam Claiborn:Yeah, this is nice. This is cozy. Okay, I think we're ready to go.

1:30:40Mark Medina:Do we have a wide shot yet?

1:30:43Sam Claiborn:Hold on, do we? Hold on. the reveal i think there is a light directly in front of the wide nope that's not a live you guys look great it's not live but

1:30:56Mark Medina:that's what you guys are sitting at right now yeah i'm shocked it looks up exactly like 65 second street's like first podcast studio yeah yeah it does sam kim brought me a nintendo redmond shirt home that's oh that's awesome and it's really cool that it's like from the actual internal Redman shop. It's fucking cool. Chelsea brought home like 10 Dittos. They've got Dittos like changed into other Pokemon.

1:31:24Sam Claiborn:Oh, those are so cute. I love those. I have a Snorlax Ditto. The Gengar one is my favorite.

1:31:29Mark Medina:Oh, yeah, yeah. It's basically Gengar with those derpy eyes, right? Okay, we're ready to go. Damon, I'll count you in. In 5, 4, 3, 2, and on you.