And now, once again, it's time to discuss the worst this year had to offer. Of course, while there's plenty of heinous shit going on, I guess this year there isn't that much of a gap between the lows and highs, such as they are. Instead, we simply continue sliding deeper into the morass, looking forward to receiving our SuperStations so we can play games that don't have all of this HORSESHIT in them. god DAMMIT. That's a quote from Robert Odenkirk, co-creator of Mr. Show, alongside David Cross, of Halo 1 fame.

GAMES MENTIONED:

Hydlide (PC-8801) - Larry's review

Ball X Pit - Larry's review

FBC: Firebreak - George's review

Doom: The Dark Ages - Larry's review / George's review

Clover Pit - Larry's review

Brutal: Above the Claw (32X) - George's review

A quick notice up front: The audio here turned out kinda wacky, with my audio levels being way louder than George's. I've done everything I can to try to smooth it out, but there's your warning. Turns out that recording once a year, sometimes with new hardware, is sort of unpredictable! But in the end it's right. I hope you have the time of your life, listening to us yak about a bunch of 7/10 games!

O, how we yearn for the Halcyon Days of 2024. Angry in our ignorance, we had yet to bear witness to the true nadir of the video game industry. Repent, all ye Hades Enjoyers! Kneel upon the Altar of Admonishment before you're sent into the Brazen Bull so you can experience one-one-thousandth of the pain that has been inflicted upon us, we pure Roguelike Haters.

Anyway, uh, indies will save us, I've been told.

GAMES MENTIONED, IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER:

Assassin's Creed: Shadows - Larry's Review / George's Review

Cronos: The New Dawn - Larry's Review

The Outer Worlds 2

Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound - George's Review

Brazilian Drug Dealer 3: I Opened a Portal to Hell in the Favela Trying to Revive Mit Aia I Need to Close It

Keeper

Marvel Cosmic Invasion - George's Review

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach - George's Review / Larry's Review

Like a Dragon Gaiden: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii - Larry's Review

The Alters

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance - George's Review

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater - George's Review / Larry's Review

Donkey Kong Bananza

Ninja Gaiden 4 - George's Review

Blade Chimera

Split Fiction - Larry's Review / George's Review

Silent Hill f - George's Review

________________

Shadow Squadron (32X) - George's Review

Dragon Slayer IV: Drasle Family (MSX2)

Following the Golden Gizmos, it's time for the darker side of video games... The sinister counterpart... The Golden Gremmies! We, once again, ruminate on what an absolute clusterfuck the industry has become, while trying to maintain some optimism for the future. Whether that happens or not, dear listener, is something you will have to discover for yourself!

It is time, once again, to review what we considered the best games of the preceding year. Just, uh... Ignore that tumbleweed moseying on by.

REVIEWS OF GAMES MENTIONED, IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER:

Arctic Eggs - Larry

Astro Bot - George , Larry

Crow County - George

Dungeons of Hinterberg - Larry

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - George

Home Safety Hotline - George, Larry

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle - George

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess - Larry

Metaphor ReFantazio - George

Outcast: A New Beginning - Larry

Pacific Drive - George

Persona 3 Re:Load - George

RKGK: Rakugaki - Larry

Shadow Generations - George

The Talos Principle 2 - Larry

In the second, and final, episode of Big Money Podcastas, Larry and George review 2010's Big Money Rustlas, directed by Paul Andresen. Despite being, in their estimation, a massive improvement upon the first film, it's actually rated lower on IMDB. I'm not sure why... ICP fans are known for their discerning taste, after all. Now let me take a swig of this ice-cold Faygo...

In preparation for recording this year's Golden Gizmos, and as a result of severe mental illness, George and Larry decide to review the entire filmography of the Insane Clown Posse.

First up: 2000's Big Money Hustlas, directed by John Cafiero.

After recording the regularly-scheduled Gremmies, everything somehow got even worse. So, here we are, ruminating on the impending demise of the AAA game industry, and running down Embracer Group's many and varied subsidiaries while trying to determine if they will survive or not.

What, you think that's grim? Well, tough shit, that's reality, baby, and we're all living in it! We eat the pig and together we burn!

Now that the good is out of the way, it's time to talk about the worst that 2023 had to offer. And, oh boy, there was a LOT of shit.

It's that time again! Time for us to run down our Top Ten Games of da Year, including the recipients of the most Prestigious award in all of video games: the Golden Gizmo! After that, we run down the currently scheduled/hopeful titles of 2024 to find out what we're looking forward to.

NOTE: I kept referring to Case of the Golden Idol as "Curse" of the Golden Idol. In my defense, that SHOULD be the name of the game, and it's a mistake I've made ever since I played it. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!?! George also likes to call Bomb Rush Cyberfunk "Cyberpunk" so whatever, we all have our burdens.

Ending music: "Pseudo's Theme" from Clash: Artifacts of Chaos, composed by Patricio Meneses.

If you'd like to read our full reviews of the games mentioned here, I've linked them below, in no particular order:

Pikmin 4:

Larry - https://www.backloggd.com/u/LarryDavis/review/955664/

George - https://www.backloggd.com/u/Weatherby/review/981993/

Melon Journey:

George - https://www.backloggd.com/u/Weatherby/review/1001710/

Case of the Golden Idol:

Larry - https://www.backloggd.com/u/LarryDavis/review/945434/

Super Mario Bros. Wonder:

Larry - https://www.backloggd.com/u/LarryDavis/review/1101684/

George - https://www.backloggd.com/u/Weatherby/review/1126820/

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk:

Larry - https://www.backloggd.com/u/LarryDavis/review/1042069/

George - https://www.backloggd.com/u/Weatherby/review/1024517/

RoboCop: Rogue City:

Larry - https://www.backloggd.com/u/LarryDavis/review/1131187/

George - https://www.backloggd.com/u/Weatherby/review/1142770/

Resident Evil 4:

Larry - https://www.backloggd.com/u/LarryDavis/review/727755/

George - https://www.backloggd.com/u/Weatherby/review/742426/

Super Mario RPG:

Larry - https://www.backloggd.com/u/LarryDavis/review/1157294/

George - https://www.backloggd.com/u/Weatherby/review/1172594/

Final Fantasy XVI:

George - https://www.backloggd.com/u/Weatherby/review/909512/

Clash: Artifacts of Chaos:

Larry - https://www.backloggd.com/u/LarryDavis/review/737705/

Marvel's Spider-Man 2:

Larry - https://www.backloggd.com/u/LarryDavis/review/1125306/

George - https://www.backloggd.com/u/Weatherby/review/1116122/

Star Wars Jedi Survivor:

Larry - https://www.backloggd.com/u/LarryDavis/review/783822/

George - https://www.backloggd.com/u/Weatherby/review/1183353/

We're back, with our lists of the TOP FIVE best games of 2022! If you still had this subscription in your RSS feeds or whatever, uhhh, sorry! But we had to deal with this depressing-ass year and a dearth of quality content, so now it's your problem too. This year, the Gizmos and Gremmies are released as one episode because, honestly, we had a lot of overlap in the Gizmos and there wasn't a whole lot else to talk about. There were some great games this year, though, and I got to join in George's Best Old Game category. 

The Gremmies begin at 1:47:17, if you want to skip the spoilers for a certain game. 

NOTE: This was recorded before Justin Roiland's recent Law Problems. Doesn't really change anything, I just wanted to point out that we're right to hate him.