We got a craaaazy episode for you today. Murph and Bro team up to cover all sorts of smaller titles and company buyouts. Murph complains about Zelda, Bro talks about System Shock, everything is aligned for engaging systems and fun titles.

Oh and Murph goes Pikmin CRAZY.

Time Stamps

Whatcha Playin'

1:10 - The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (2023)

19:00 - System Shock Remake (2023)

26:30 - Pokemon: Infinite Fusions (2023)

35:20 - Slipstream: Blue Hour Update (2023 for the update)

39:45 - Pikmin 4 (2023)

Variety Minute

54:25 Video Game Company Buyouts and Acquisitions

Game of the Week

1:21:00 Dark Messiah: Might and Magic

The time has come, and so have we. In one of the tightest episodes, we hit a platonic ideal of an episode at almost a flat hour. Murph and Bro tackle some indie sleepers and hits, and then tackle the Wii classic No More Heroes. Will we fall in love with the game or be frustrated? Is it possible to be both?

Time stamps:

Whatcha Playin'

1:30 Dreamwild (2022)

5:00 Raji: An Ancient Epic (2020)

8:30 Inscryption (2021)

13:00 Re:CALL (2023)

19:00 Street Fighter 6 (2023)

Variety Minute

26:20 Jerk Protagonists in Gaming

Game of the Week

42:00 No More Heroes (2008)

Taking a break from long video games and playing a little short horror title, Murph and Bro explore the complex worlds of rabbit fighting, street fighting, and cthulu dungeon exploring. First we talk Eldritch, then Overgrowth, then Street Fighter 6.

Murph reminisces over horror RPG maker games he used to watch Markiplier play, and then we talk about Ao Oni.

Time Stamps:

Whatcha Playin'

Eldritch (2013) 1:45

Overgrowth (2017) 6:00

Street Fighter 6 (2023) 11:00

Variety Minute

RPG Maker Games 29:00

Game of the Week

Ao Oni (2008) 43:00

ROCK AND ROLL! Brendan discusses visions of the future, Murph talks about the best Yakuza game yet, and Brogan schpiels about Tears of the Kingdom with the others for like an hour.

Then, we cover famous licensed needledrops in games, then we cover our game of the week: Brutal Legend. Double Fine, Tim Schafer, Jack Black. The list goes on, but this is one epic tour. Be sure to tear down that shitty merch booth on your way out.

Bro and Murph team up with journalist and freelancer Will Borger to discuss a whole bunch of stuff. Murph talks about Titanfall 2 and No Straight Roads, while Will talks about Strayed Lights and discovering Metroid Prime for the first time in 2023. Bro talks about Cassette Beasts, then we all dissect Zelda handhelds and their game design differences to the console Zelda outings.

Then, we venture to Koholint Island to wake the Windfish.

Time Stamps:

3:00 - Metroid Prime Remastered (2023)

16:00 - Titanfall 2 (2016)

28:30 - Cassette Beasts (2023)

33:00 - No Straight Roads (2020)

36:30 - Strayed Lights (2023)

Variety Minute

45:00 - Zelda handheld titles

Game of the Week

1:00:00 - The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (1993)

Cal Murph and Bro talk about the 1993 film Super Mario Bros, and the 2016 film Detective Pikachu. Which one is the best? The answer may surprise you. Or it won't.

Brendan, Murph and Bro team up to go over the summer game schedule, it's STACKED bruh.

Murph returns just as it's terror time again. Our hosts trade out the Satellite of Dreams for the USG Ishimura to talk about the original Dead Space from 2008. Can a game like this hold up when it has no limbs with which to hold?

Brogan also talks about some hot indies he found at PAX East, and Murph adds a new game to his Resident Evil Tierlist.

This is an additional THREE HOURS to cover the final game in Shigesato Itoi's MOTHER trilogy. That's right, we have 3 hours of discussion dedicated to MOTHER 3 and Lucas and Boney and the gang. No real time stamps but a huge disclaimer.

In general there is a lot of sensitive material in this game. MOTHER 3 is a complex title written by an auteur in a specific time period. There are spoilers, there are violent things that happen and death surrounds the game.

At roughly the 51 minute mark we will go into the subject of a particular race within the game. It's a controversial subject, there's a disclaimer within the episode, but we call them by their name within the game then discuss their portrayal for better and worse. Trigger warnings are possible for the Romani peoples or any of our trans or lgbtq fans. We love and support anyone's gender identity and do not support harmful stereotypes.

Can you read our minds? Bro and David tackle the entire MOTHER trilogy, but this episode only covers MOTHER 1 and MOTHER 2. Before that though, we tackle games David has played: Blanc and Fire Emblem: Engage. We then look at the legacy of Earthbound's subversive nature onto newer titles in the variety minute. Then, we finally tackle both games.

Oh, and Bro teases a PAX trip that already happened cause this episode came late. Oh well.

Whatcha Playin'

3:00 Fire Emblem Engage (2023)

15:00 Blanc (2023)

Variety Minute

27:00 Games influenced by the MOTHER series

Games of the Week

36:00 MOTHER 1 (1989)

1:24:55 MOTHER 2 (1995)