Arrggh! A Video Game Podcast from The Waffling Taylors

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We finally wanted to tackle a video game film which is considered an outlier; one which doesn't seem to be that well known outside of the Venn diagram of people who like video games, people who like Japanese horror, and people who have watched the Parasite Eve movie. That's right, we decided to watch the movie version of Parasite Eve from 1997.

The following is a reduced version of the full show notes, which you can find here.

Content Warning

Due to the nature of the movie we talk about in this episode, we'd recommend that you don't listen to this one with little ones around. Whilst we don't go into the detail, this movie does hit you in the feels hard. So be prepared for that, as we talk about the movie.

There's also talk about nudity-without-any-actual-nudity (you'll understand why when we get to it) towards the end of the discussion on the film; just to prepare you for that.

Please listen responsibly

Show Notes

We're back

... indeed.

And this time we wanted to cover the movie version of Parasite Eve. One thing to note about this movie is that the relationship it has with the games - as of right now: Parasite Eve, Parasite Eve II, and The 3rd Birthday.

The relationship is has is that it's based on a book by Hideaki Sena, and so are the games. Except that the games are more of a "what if" continuation from about the halfway point of the book. And that the movie only has the basic plot from the book.

So all three things (book, movie, and games) can be thought of as three separate universes.
In fact, we've already covered the book on this website way back in 2017. So we'd recommend giving that post a quick look-see, too.

Thoughts Going In

Squidge is a big fan of the action RPG PlayStation title which was made, based on the book. The movie and the game entered pre-production at roughly the same time, and the teams behind both were unaware of each other. Indeed, Hideaki Sena was unaware of the game series until the early 2000s.

The production company behind the movie (Fuji TV) started production of the movie in January 1997, and was done 8 weeks later. The entire movie had a total cost of (in 1997 money) $900,000 - for context, Titanic had a budge of $200 million (again in 1997 money).

Interestingly, considering that it had a sizable budget, it was only released to Japanese theatres for one week. After which it went to VHS, and was exported to the West - starting the J-Horror craze of the late 90s and early 2000s - alongside Ringu and Ju-On: The Grudge.

And it was just under a year after the movie came out that the first game was released. 1998's Parasite Eve for PlayStation must have been in development from shortly before the movie started pre-production, which bears out quite well because a demo was shown off at E3 in 1997.

As mentioned above, the movie and the games take two slightly different paths: where the movie is an attempt at retelling the story.

The video game was a direct sequel to the book, with the main character (Aya Brea) being the daughter of Mariko Anzai - who is a junior high schooler in both the book and the movie.

And Hidekai Sena - the author of the book - didn't know about the games until the early 2000s.

The Cast

Because it might prove difficult to keep tabs on who is who, here is a list of the most important characters:

•  Dr. Toshiaki Nagashima; he is the protagonist
•  Kiyomi Nagashima; this is Toshiaki's wife
•  Sachiko Asakura; Toshiaki's lab assistant
•  Mariko Anzai; a junior high school girl who needs a kidney transplant
•  Takatsugu Yoshizumi (aka Dr. Curtains) is the surgeon who will perform the kidney transplant
•  Whilst not a character, per se, Mitochondrial Eve will feature heavily in this movie

The Plot

Here's a 10,000 ft view of the "plot", as we see it:

•  A strange collage and a console boot sound
•  Bad CGI bird, is bad
•  Some science in the form of a lecture, all about Mitochondria
•  Meanwhile it's laundry day
•  A lesson on bacteria, for children who think that bacteria are yucky
• But they love snails, which are equally as yucky
• And Mariko flings herself into a swimming pool
• Dark synth and snail beheading
• Playboy style candid images of Mitochondria
• Kiyomi plays "chase me" and a faraway kiss because reasons
• And Toshiaki forgets their first anniversary
• Ominous line is ominous
• Meanwhile there is science happening in the Bat Cave
•  But that's not how you use a microscope

• Kiyomi drives home
• "Do you think the Mitochondria have their own agenda"
•  Something terrible happens
•  There's a Bunsen burner and everything

•  Kiyomi has a horrific traffic accident, and it hits you in the feels
•  The transplant committee break every rule in the book
•  "I'll give you the kidney, if you give me her liver"
•  Hollywood cliche 437: it only rains when it's sad
•  Flashback: it's Christmas, yo!
•  "Kiyomi" can be read "Christmas eve", and they meet on Christmas Eve!

See the full show notes for a description of how this is possible.

• Dr. Curtains gets the kidney
•  There's an awful tie
•  Toshiaki goes full mad scientist
•  Resident Evil-like music
•  Mariko is uphappy
•  A bloodied handprint
• We are the snails
• There's so much water around in this hospital
•  Tummy bulges
• "Simba!" in the samples
• Asakura is possessed by the Mitochondrial goop
• Shenanigans are afoot
• Eve is all over the floor
• Suddenly Kiyomi is back... from the dead
• Nudity-without-any-actual-nudity
• Tea and cake... and revelations!
•  Asakura gives a TED talk
• Western actors with AMAZING. ACTING. TALENT.
• It starts raining on the stage
• An old man is set on fire
•  Mariko is flung about by some unspoken force
• Everyone rushes to the hospital
• Is it The Blob or is it Eve?
• Nurse flambé and Morticia Addams'ing their way through a hospital
• A ...

Remember that you can always get in touch with us on our Facebook page, on Twitter, or with our Contact page. Don't forget to check the chapters tab in your podcatcher. This is a thing we're doing now, so keep an eye open for those.

We had the incredibly rare privilege of talking with Philip Oliver - one half of The Oliver Twins - about their history in the British Game Development scene; from the early 80s all the way up to now. We talked about Dizzy, the EverCade, BitlzGames, and everything in between.

Here's a sample of the full show notes - make sure to click through and check them out.

Show Notes

I honestly don't know how we pulled this one off - to be fair The Oliver Twins are really nice people - we had Philip Oliver on this episode of the show. Philip Oliver is one half of the Oliver Twins, whose work includes (among many, many things) the Dizzy series of games.

Seriously both Andrew and Philip have been involved in so many games over the years, their official website lists 55 of them and that's just the earlier titles. And this is something that Philip mentions in the episode:

So combining that total (154) with the 55 "Oliver Twins" games from their website - source; I've not included the collections titles - we get 209 games.

That's a lot of games, and not a duffer among them.

Let's Talk About Dizzy

For those who don't know, Dizzy is a super cute egg character who goes on platforming and puzzle based adventures.

Although Dizzy started out on the 8-bit consoles, there was a brand new game - Wonderful Dizzy - launched a few months before we recorded this interview. We'd always wanted to interview both Andrew and Philip, so the launch of the new game drove us to reach out proper.

But one thing we didn't realise about the newer Dizzy titles (aside from the rights issue - technically Dizzy is owned by EA now) is that all of the profits went to charity. In the case of the Dizzy collection on the Evercade, the profits were given to the National Videogame Museum in Sheffield.

Wonderful Dizzy & Looking Back

But why make a new Dizzy on a retro platform:

And at the time the Spectrum Next was starting to pick up steam; so why not combine that with a new Dizzy game?

Full Show Notes

Make sure to check out the full show notes for more discussion on the points we raise, some extra meta-analysis, and some links to related things.

Have you ever played the Dizzy games? What about the other 200-odd games that The Oliver Twins have been involved with? Did you know that they used to have a turnaround time of one month per game? And no ("real") source control?

Links

Catching up with The Oliver Twins is a doddle, here are some of the places you can find them:

• The Oliver Twins' website
  • The Oliver Twins on Twitter
  • The Oliver Twins on Facebook
  • The Game Dragons
    • This is being shut down soon, though
  • The Oliver Twins book
• Panivox
  • The new project that The Oliver Twins are involved in

Let us know on Twitter, Facebook, leave a comment on the show notes or try our brand new contact page.

And have you left us a rating or review? We really like to hear back from listeners about our show, so check out https://wafflingtaylors.rocks/our-podcast/ for links to services where you can leave us some wonderful feedback.

The Waffling Taylors is a proud member of Jay and Jay Media. If you like this episode, please consider supporting our Podcasting Network. One $3 donation provides a week of hosting for all of our shows. You can support this show, and the others like it, at https://ko-fi.com/jayandjaymedia

Remember that you can always get in touch with us on our Facebook page, on Twitter, or with our Contact page.

Don't forget to check the chapters tab in your podcatcher. This is a thing we're doing now, so keep an eye open for those.

Let's Ditch the Gatekeepers

Who cares what you're playing, as long as it's fun to play. I hate gatekeepers, and see the behaviour all over the place. So let's talk a little about gatekeeping, and why it's all nonsense.

Series Intro

This is The Waffling Taylors Raw with Jay, a series of shorter episodes of indefinite length. These episodes will cover shorter topics which don't really fit well within the scope of the show, or topics that I want to cover in my own way. That's not to say that we won't cover these topics in the main show, but I'd like to take a whack at them here, first.

I can't guarantee that all of these shorter episodes will be as deep or technical as this one. But I wanted to start big.

Anyway, let's get to it.

Gatekeeping

Have you ever been mid-conversation with someone about some new thing - a game, an album, a book, movie, whatever -and they turn to you and say:

and they always emphasise the "real" bit, as if trying to disprove their point

If so, they're attempting to dismiss your new-found enthusiasm by claiming that you don't qualify as a "real" fan of whatever it is - hopefully you can hear the bunny quotes around "real" there. Well, guess what? You are a "real" whatever. But you don't need me to tell you that.

I remember being told by someone that I wasn't a "real" Star Wars fan because I hadn't read any of the (at the time) extended universe books - they've since been renamed "legends" or something. I don't know

I retorted with:

Maybe I'm a little more level headed when it comes to gatekeepers, or maybe I was just really hungry for cookies. The real answer is lost to the ages.

Exclusionism

As a supportive community, somewhere along the way we've gotten lost.

I can remember a time when I was bullied at school for playing video games. I can also remember the gamers at the school banding together for support, and swapping tips and techniques for beating whatever boss we were stuck on. Over time it's become more acceptable to spend some of our free time at play in virtual worlds. But somewhere along the way, parts of the communities we've started have turned on us.

I hate that phrase.

One of the ways that I deal with criticism (constructive or not) is to deconstruct what was said so that I can apply something from it. So let's do that.

First, this sentence is the opinion of the speaker. They are telling you that, in their opinion, they don't think that you are whatever whatever. Here's the great thing about opinions: we've all got one. And here's the bad thing about opinions: we've all got one.

There's a comment here about opinions being like butts: we've all got one, and they all stink from time to time.

But I won't make it.

So what they are saying cannot ever be fact. Meaning that we've immediately debunked what they've said.

Next, what does "real" mean? I'll be that if you asked them, they wouldn't be able to tell you without talking about themselves. That should tell you everything you need to know.

I agree that gatekeeping is a form of bullying and exclusionism, and we need to stamp it out. I don't have any advice to give for dealing with this other than, "call them out and move on," which is way easier to say than to do.

Full Show Notes

A full transcript of this "raw with Jay" episode is available over in the full show notes - because there are loads of books you can read, and web resources.

What are your key techniques for dealing with gatekeepers? Is there such a thing as a "real" gamer? If so, what does a "real" gamer look like?

Let us know on Twitter, Facebook, leave a comment on the show notes or try our brand new contact page.

And have you left us a rating or review? We really like to hear back from listeners about our show, so check out https://wafflingtaylors.rocks/our-podcast/ for links to services where you can leave us some wonderful feedback.

The Waffling Taylors is a proud member of Jay and Jay Media. If you like this episode, please consider supporting our Podcasting Network. One $3 donation provides a week of hosting for all of our shows. You can support this show, and the others like it, at https://ko-fi.com/jayandjaymedia

Season 2 episode 25 of Behind the Mic focusses on The Waffling Taylors - a pair of brothers who have transitioned from blogging into podcasting, and to music production for some of the biggest names in the business. With a bio-pic from Old Circle Cinema slated for release in 2027, we look back on the only true dynamic duo of podcasting: The Waffling Taylors.

Since their first episode - "56 Games in 63 Minutes", released in November 2017 - Jay and Squidge have been steering both the podcasting and music industries from behind the scenes; but how did these two brothers, from the unknown town of "Cakeland" somewhere in the UK, rise to fame? This episode of "Behind the Mic" gives listeners unprecedented access to the brothers - one of whom is a cartoon wolf with a multi-coloured mane.

We start with the genesis of their website - wafflingtaylors.rocks - and how they transitioned from blogging about video games to podcasting about them. Along the way, we present listeners with intimate interviews with people who were there during the brothers' rise to fame; including:

• Stoo Cambridge
• Andrew Dickinson
• Joe Zack
• Dr. Feelsbad (Jay's personal physician)
• and statements from Chief Problems

Behind The Mic: The Waffling Taylors also includes exclusive tidbits as to how Squidge became one of the most sought after music producers in the 2020s - having worked with the likes of Taylor Swift, Hank Truvton, and Japan's rising stars Orange Whip (a pop duo consisting of Hiroruki Mikami and Mr. Kite) - and how he wished he could give it all away for the simple life.

Music in this episode comes from the following sources:

• "Dreams of Glory", "Hope", and "Go to success" by Muz Station Productions
• Funny Quirky Comedy by Redafs.com, Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
• Paul Seal aka @paul_seal

Copyright Ⓒ Nimby Productions 2026

Remember that you can always get in touch with us on our Facebook page, on Twitter, or with our Contact page.

Don't forget to check the chapters tab in your podcatcher. This is a thing we're doing now, so keep an eye open for those.

Andrew Dickinson (i.e. oddment84, aka "that guy who creates a bunch of podcasts" ) returns for a discussion on Resident Evil Apocalypse. We had that much to say about the 2004 action-horror (which is heavy on the over-the-top action, and incredibly light on the horror) that we've had to split it into two parts.

The following is a reduced version of the full show notes, which you can find here.

Content Warning

Due to the nature of the movie we talk about in this episode, we’d recommend that you don’t listen to this one with little ones around.

Please listen responsibly

Show Notes

We couldn't possibly cover everything in the 2004 zombie-a-thon Resident Evil Apocalypse in one episode, so we had AndrewD return to talk with us about this train wreck of a film. As this is part two of our discussion on this film - you can find part one here.

The Plot So Far

Here is a summary of the "plot" so far:

• Flashbacks to set up the backstory
• Is it Matt or Max?
• "2 Weeks earlier", opening the hive, and portable CD players
• Dr. Ashford loses his daughter because his car is hit, but she's alive
• Jill "Bad-Ass" Valentine murders a bunch of people in the middle of a police station, and no one bats an eyelid
• Captain Switzerland is sent by Umbrella to run the mop-up operation
• Running up several flights of stairs in heels
• Carlos saves the day... or not
• Leg fu for the win
• Bluetooth earpieces
• Totally not the Berlin Wall
• Surplus and more!
• Dr. Ashford has frowny-face glasses but hacks the system
• Recreating the intro from Resident Evil 3
• Activating Nemesis through science and gratuitous bar charts
• Help me, Alice Kenobi. You're my only hope
• Fighting in a graveyard
• Entering the church
• That person I know... maybe they're not a zombie
• Jill's badassery makes her forget her training
• An action scene which Jay describes as:

• Leg fu saves the day, and donkey kicks for the win

The Plot... continues?

• The helicopter drops its hip-gear
• Why does Nemesis need to kill STARS members?
• Alice is magic now?
• Superhero fights
• Alice is the Deus Ex Machina
• Bombs have yields, and Jill knows what that means
• Zombie kids are creepy
• You won't miss the dogs, they make a _huge_ point of showing you them
• Jill is Lara Croft, at this point
• Terry gets munched

• Chair fu is not a valid self-defence mechanism
• Infected people can tell who else is infected?!
• Who needs gravity? Certainly not Alice

• Code Veronica references abound
• A fistfight with Nemesis... because that makes sense
• There's still 25 minutes of the film left?!

• "I can give you the world on a platter"
• Criminal underuse of LJ
• How does the virus actually work?
• Hubris?
• "I won't beg" also "WAIT!"
• More shakey fist logic than you could shake a fist at
• 1-800-555-JAIL
• Alice is reborn (a.k.a "Lets rip off Alien Resurrection")

• Alice is Eve from Parasite Eve now?
• Wait, Alice is a robot now?
• An ending that makes no sense

Make sure to check out the full show notes for more discussion on the points we raise, some extra meta-analysis, some out-of-context screen grabs from the movie, and some links to related things.

Did you listen to part one? What did you think to our recap at the start of this episode? When do they drop the nuke? Who asks for the nuke's yield!? Why did Mr. Fantastic make a young girl cry? And whose eyebrows offend Andrew?

psst. we've actually done a bunch of these "goes to the movies" episodes. Check this page to see all of the released specials.

What other movies would you like us to cover? Let us know on Twitter, Facebook, leave a comment on the show notes or try our brand new contact page.

And have you left us a rating or review? We really like to hear back from listeners about our show, so check out https://wafflingtaylors.rocks/our-podcast/ for links to services where you can leave us some wonderful feedback.

The Waffling Taylors is a proud member of Jay and Jay Media. If you like this episode, please consider supporting our Podcasting Network. One $3 donation provides a week of hosting for all of our shows. You can support this show, and the others like it, at https://ko-fi.com/jayandjaymedia

We interrupt your regularly scheduled episode programming to bring you a bonus interview with the folks behind lock-on Volume 1: Jon Doyle and Jason Maddison. We'll be right back with part two of our episode on Resident Evil Apocalypse very soon, but we were excited to release this discussion as soon as it was available - which is why it's seeing a weekend release.

Jon and Jason are in the process of getting an impressive collection of content creators together. Why? Because they have a project which has the potential to be really quite amazing: lock-on Volume 1. This is going to be the first in a series of journals (hardcovers are only available for the Kickstarter backers) on gaming, by gamers.

Check out the Kickstarter campaign for this project here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lost-in-cult/lock-on-volume-1

About the Podcast

Find out more about the podcast, and how to subscribe here. You can listen to the show anywhere that you consume audio content. Here are some examples:

• Podchaser
• Apple Podcasts
• Pocketcasts
• Spotify

Follow us on Twitter and find us on Facebook. We're also on Twitch and YouTube.

Music Credits

• Intro music is Among The Stars, from the Cosmos Music Pack by Muz Station Productions
• Outro Music is I N e e d Y o u 私の側て by G.H (removed from BandCamp)
• Pallet Cleanser music is Breath Deep Breath Clear (Wu Chi) by Siobhan Dakay

We interrupt your regularly scheduled episode programming to bring you a bonus interview with the folks behind lock-on Volume 1: Jon Doyle and Jason Maddison. We'll be right back with part two of our episode on Resident Evil Apocalypse very soon, but we were excited to release this discussion as soon as it was available - which is why it's seeing a weekend release.

Jon and Jason are in the process of getting an impressive collection of content creators together. Why? Because they have a project which has the potential to be really quite amazing: lock-on Volume 1. This is going to be the first in a series of journals (hardcovers are only available for the Kickstarter backers) on gaming, by gamers.

Whilst you're waiting on the episode to drop, consider checking out the Kickstarter campaign for this project here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lost-in-cult/lock-on-volume-1. The episode will be dropping in a few hours, so keep it locked.

Find out more about the podcast, and how to subscribe here. You can listen to the show anywhere that you consume audio content. Here are some examples:

• Podchaser
• Apple Podcasts
• Pocketcasts
• Spotify

Follow us on Twitter and find us on Facebook. We're also on Twitch and YouTube.

Remember that you can always get in touch with us on our Facebook page, on Twitter, or with our Contact page.

Don't forget to check the chapters tab in your podcatcher. This is a thing we're doing now, so keep an eye open for those.

Andrew Dickinson (i.e. oddment84, aka "that guy who creates a bunch of podcasts" ) returns for a discussion on Resident Evil Apocalypse. We had that much to say about the 2004 action-horror (which is heavy on the over-the-top action, and incredibly light on the horror) that we've had to split it into two parts.

The following is a reduced version of the full show notes, which you can find here.

Content Warning

Due to the nature of the movie we talk about in this episode, we’d recommend that you don’t listen to this one with little ones around.

Please listen responsibly

Show Notes

We have another video game movie discussion episode this week, as we tackle the 2004 train-wreck that is Resident Evil Apocalypse. Unlike when we talked about the first Resident Evil movie - here's a link to that - we knew that we'd need help in discussing this movie. Luckily, AndrewD had some time off between his podcasts, radio show

did you know that the DreamCast Years podcast has joined RadioSega?

and his Dreamcast Years Two book project, and wanted to discuss the second Resident Evil movie with us.

As with, pretty much, every episode we've put out so far this year, this one was recorded a little in advance

in fact, it was actually recorded before the episode on the first Resident Evil movie went out 

What's great about this show is that we often get updates on Squidgey's life goals:

And, to be fair, there's not much you can say to that really.

Thoughts Going In

Squidge immediately came up with a better name for the movie:

which, we can all agree, would be a better movie. Andrew mentions:

you'll have to click through to the full show notes to see an example of what he means

For each 10p piece you put into this, it would dispense a small piece of Cadbury's chocolate. That is, if you had loaded the pieces of chocolate into the machine beforehand - which was the ONLY flaw in this device's design -Imagine being peppered with chocolates while watching a movie. Wouldn't that be great?

....

Anyway, so Resident Evil Apocalypse came out in 2004, and Jay hadn't seen it since it came out. But before we dove into the sequel, we talked about the George A. Romero script, which was commissioned but never produced. Reading through it, you get a feeling that Romero had played the original game and had a handle on the story and characters.

The three of us felt that the fact that the previous film had so little to do with the franchise meant that Paul W. S. Anderson was forced to put as many references to the series into his sequel as possible. And clearly, he hated having to have Alice alongside Jill Valentine in this film.

The Plot - Part One

Here's a 10,000 ft view of the "plot", as we see it

• Flashbacks to set up the backstory
• Is it Matt or Max?

• "2 Weeks earlier", opening the hive, and portable CD players
• Dr. Ashford loses his daughter, because his car is hit, but she's alive
• Jill "Bad-Ass" Valentine murders a bunch of people in the middle of a police station, and no one bats an eyelid

• Captain Switzerland is sent by Umbrella to run the mop-up operation
• Running up several flights of stairs in heels
• Carlos saves the day... or not
• Leg fu for the win
• Bluetooth earpieces
• Totally not the Berlin Wall
• Surplus and more!
• Dr. Ashford has frowny-face glasses, but hacks the system
• Recreating the intro from Resident Evil 3
• Activating Nemesis through science and gratuitous bar charts
• Help me, Alice Kenobi. You're my only hope
• Entering the church
• That person I know... maybe they're not a zombie

• Jill's badassery makes her forget her training
• An action scene which Jay describes as:

• Leg fu saves the day, and donkey kicks for the win

Make sure to check out the full show notes for more discussion on the points we raise, some extra meta-analysis, some out-of-context screen grabs from the movie, and some links to related things.

Are you a fan of the Resident Evil Movies? If so, what makes them fun to watch? What's with the leg-fu usage? Just how over the top is the church scene? Why did they spend so long making Jill out to be a badass, if they were going to replace her with Alice?

psst. we've actually done a bunch of these "goes to the movies" episodes. Check this page to see all of the released specials.

What other movies would you like us to cover? Let us know on Twitter, Facebook, leave a comment on the show notes or try our brand new contact page.

And have you left us a rating or review? We really like to hear back from listeners about our show, so check out https://wafflingtaylors.rocks/our-podcast/ for links to services where you can leave us some wonderful feedback.

The Waffling Taylors is a proud member of Jay and Jay Media...