Dadpod GamesCast Podcast

Welcome to the eighth episode of the Dadpod Gamescast!

Today we have author and friend of the show Kyle Muntz on to discuss Beatemups!

They Create Worlds on Fighting Games and Beatemups.

An oral history of Street Fighter II at Polygon.

Music by Damage Trax.

Artwork by Jake at Scott Creative.

Find eddy at his newsletter and Joe at twitter and Kyle at twitter.

The Pain Eater by Kyle Muntz

Buy Kyle and eddy’s new book out today!

Check out more about The Shattered Stars here!

Email your questions to the show at dadpod.blankcast at gmail.com.

Dadpod GamesCast is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Welcome to the seventh episode of the Dadpod Gamescast!

Today, we’re talking Mega Man with our sometimes third cohost Rik Johansson! We discuss the weather, gaming difficulty, how Mega Man came to Europe, the way Mega Man feels, and that music that STILL rocks our worlds.

As always, videogames intersect with our lives in surprising ways. In Rik’s case, Mega Man introduced him to his wife.

Children drawings becoming Mega Man characters.

Music by Damage Trax.

Artwork by Jake at Scott Creative.

Find eddy at his newsletter and Joe at twitter and Rik at his retro youtube channel.

Email your questions to the show at dadpod.blankcast at gmail.com.

Dadpod GamesCast is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Welcome to the sixth episode of the Dadpod Gamescast!

Today, we’re talking Street Fighter II in its various incarnations. Along the way, we detour through Walmart arcades, pizza styles, and competitive gaming.

Between the recording of this episode and its release, we learned a few things!

During the episode Joe wondered, Why do Ken and Ryu have the same movesets?

In the original Street Fighter, you could only play as Ryu or Ken and simplification led to a single moveset being applied to both. This carried forward into Street Fighter II.

One of the most important changes made between Street Fighter and Street Fighter II was increased accessibility for special moves. In original Street Fighter, the special moves were more complicated to perform and also required a fast and precise input. Street Fighter II made the special moves more sensible and loosened up the timing.

As we discussed in the episode, this is also what makes playing the game feel so good.

More importantly, this loosening of the timing led to the accidental development of combos. With the loosening of timing, an unintended consequence was that you could string together strikes. The developers found this accidental byproduct to be so fun that they made it a feature in the game. Thus and so: combos!

Street Fighter II was one of the most successful arcade games, possibly ever. Sales figures are not available, but across the various iterations, it’s estimated that it may have sold 100,000 arcade cabinets, which puts it in the rarefied air of cabinets like Pac Man and Space Invaders.

This popularity created the competitive gaming scene that we still know.

This also led directly to the accidental development of Street Fighter II Turbo.

With anything this successful, knockoffs proliferated. One of the changes made in some of these pirate versions was an increase in speed.

Distributors and salespeople encountered these cabinets and liked them a whole lot and convinced the Street Fighter team to increase the speed.

They Create Worlds on Fighting Games and Beatemups.

An oral history of Street Fighter II at Polygon.

Music by Damage Trax.

Artwork by Jake at Scott Creative.

Find eddy at his newsletter and Joe at twitter.

Email your questions to the show at dadpod.blankcast at gmail.com.

Dadpod GamesCast is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Welcome to the fifth episode of the Dadpod Gamescast!

Today, we’re talking Xenoblade Chronicles 2! A game that many people loved a whole lot but we didn’t like so much. We discuss the various systems at play within the game, the degree to which they do(n’t) matter, the way combat feels, and the horniness of cartoons.

Music by Damage Trax.

Artwork by Jake at Scott Creative.

Find eddy at his newsletter and Joe at twitter.

Email your questions to the show at dadpod.blankcast at gmail.com.

Dadpod GamesCast is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Welcome to the fourth episode of the Dadpod Gamescast!

Today, we’re talking Mario. Yes, THE Mario. We kept the discussion primarily to the NES Mario games and so may return again in the future to discuss more and more Mario, because there’s always more to talk about with this turtle hating plumber.

We discuss what makes Mario feel so damn good to play. Along the way, we digress through Halo, Zelda, and Final Fantasy XV.

You can read eddy’s essays on Mario, Zelda, Dragon Quest XI, and Final Fantasy XV.

The Story of Super Mario World by Gaming Historian.

Music by Damage Trax.

Artwork by Jake at Scott Creative.

Find eddy at his newsletter and Joe at twitter.

Email your questions to the show at dadpod.blankcast at gmail.com.

Dadpod GamesCast is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Welcome to the third episode of the Dadpod Gamescast!

Today, we’re talking the one and only Chrono Trigger. This is a spoiler free episode for no particular reason, but if you’re worried about being spoiled for a thirty year old game, don’t worry! There’s far more to say about this game so we’ll likely return to it and spill all the possible spoilers.

Music by Damage Trax.

Artwork by Jake at Scott Creative.

Find eddy at his newsletter and Joe at twitter.

Email your questions to the show at dadpod.blankcast at gmail.com.

Dadpod GamesCast is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Welcome to the second episode of the Dadpod Gamescast!

Today, we’re talking Joe’s all time favorite game: Final Fantasy VI. First we wander through the Mother series, which Joe loves and eddy hasn’t played, and God of War. Once we get to FFVI, we pay special attention to the various familial storylines.

Read eddy’s essay on Final Fantasy VI from 2021.

Music by Damage Trax.

Artwork by Jake at Scott Creative.

Find eddy at his newsletter and Joe at twitter.

Email your questions to the show at dadpod.blankcast at gmail.com.

Dadpod GamesCast is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Welcome to the very first episode of the Dadpod Gamescast!

Today, we introduce ourselves and the podcast as a whole. Eventually, we get to the real topic, which is one of eddy’s favorite games: Super Mario RPG. Read his essay on Super Mario RPG.

Music by Damage Trax.

Artwork by Jake at Scott Creative.

Find eddy at his newsletter and Joe at twitter.

Email your questions to the show at dadpod.blankcast at gmail.com.

Dadpod GamesCast is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.