In the new episode of the vanguard Daydreamcast, we take up a new quarantine hobby: gardening of a... special kind! Join us as we discuss the seemingly harmless but immensely fun Pikmin, Nintendo's original take on a real-time strategy game. We discuss both the Gamecube and the Wii version in detail, focusing on the game's striking aesthetic, its not-so-daunting time limit, and the value of the almighty Blue Pikmin. Other insights of the episode: Nintendo listens to our podcast, Bloodborne is good (finally someone has figured this out!), and M2 is the supreme caretaker of The Old Games.

Timestamps:

Whatcha Playing

0:00 Panel de Pon (1995) and others coming to Switch SNES VC

3:16 Bloodborne (2015)

8:33 Pavlos' Animal Crossing Minute

17:33 Retro Compilations (Mega Man, Castlevania) aka M2 vs. the rest of the world

Featured Game

28:50 Pikmin

Ever listen to a podcast in the pale moonlight? Well, you should try – and what better opportunity than with a new sizzling episode of the only video game podcast around! This week, Brogan thought it was 2013 and bought a PS4, Pavlos breaks down laziness in the work place and the difference between music and rhythm games, and both of them discuss games based on comic books. Fittingly, Sunsoft's Batman, a short and tough sidescroller on the NES, gets the game-of-the-week treatment, providing our hosts with ample opportunity to talk about The Bat, The Burton, and, of course, The Old Games.

Timestamps:

Whatcha Playing

0:00 PS4 Experience & Bloodborne (2015)

5:18 Thumper (2016): Music vs. Rhythm games

15:19 ToeJam & Earl: Back to the Groove (2019)

22:10 Pavlos' Animal Crossing Minute

28:09 Spider-Man (2018)

Featured Game

31:42 Batman

In the first 'for real this time' episode of the Daydreamcast, our hosts discuss the possible pinnacle of walking simulators, Riot's new hero shooter Valorant, the revolutionary addition of NPCs into Fallout 76, and, of course, the meta of Windjammers. But nothing beats the thrill of non-stop brain-twisters and loveably overbearing British accents provided by this week's featured game, Level-5's debut for their long-running puzzle game series, Professor Layton and the Curious Village. Thankfully, every puzzle has an answer. Except the ones where you have to imagine dice in your head, jesus.

Timestamps:

Whatcha Playing

0:00 What Remains of Edith Finch? (2017)

7:00 Valorant (2020) Beta

10:50 Overwatch (2015)

15:33 Hollow Knight (2017)

22:34 Pavlos' Animal Crossing Minute

26:44 Fallout 76 (2018)

30:22 Windjammers (1994)

Featured Game

40:25 Professor Layton and the Curious Village

In this inaugural episode of the Daydreamcast, The Twin Geeks’ new gaming-focused podcast, our hosts talk about the grab bag of games they spent time with this week, including the game of the week, the indie game Minit. A short and simple Zelda-like on the surface, Minit relies strongly on puzzles involving its main mechanic, a time loop that is set off every 60 seconds. Our hosts discuss the characteristics of the game’s structure as well as the company Minit keeps with other games (and films like Groundhog Day, 1993) that are built on a similar chronological premise.

Disclaimer: As this episode served as a technical test, the audio quality is uneven in spots. Naturally, future episodes will not feature these issues.

Timestamps:

Whatcha Playing

0:00 Pokémon spin-offs: Puzzle Challenge & League (2000) & Pinball (1999)

8:05 Doom Eternal (2020) & Doom 64 (1997)

14:30 Animal Crossing: New Horizons (2020)

29:18 Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (2019)

Featured Game

34:37 Minit (2018)