Famicom Dojo Video Game Podcast

Region locking is nothing new. Though it hasn taken many different forms, it wasn't always deliberate.

Many handhelds were exempt from this scheme (including the Game Boy and DS series), but with time all things change.

SeanOrange and Vinnk discuss the very state of affairs that necessitates the existence of organizations like

Operation Rainfall, how they came to be, and where they might go from here.

Also, another Rebel in Japan! "An Open Letter to Nintendo" is only available at FamicomDojo.TV: https://famicomdojo.tv/podcast/9. Why not head over there now and take a listen?

Leave us a voicemail at 608-492-1923, or share your thoughts on Facebook (https://facebook.com/famicomdojo), Instagram (https://instagram.com/famicomdojo), Twitter (@FamicomDojo), or our Famicom Dojo YouTube channel (https://youtube.com/famicomdojo).

This episode is brought to you by the Famicom Dojo web series. Get Season 1 on DVD today: https://famicomdojo.tv/store/fdojos1.php

There are problems with announcing new hardware that's not available everywhere, such as the New 3DS coming out in Japan but not the US, including features that the regular 3DS does not have, yet Nintendo claims that because the North American market hasn't peaked yet with the old hardware that it will hold off releasing it. Instead, we're getting a line of special 3DS designs (never minding that a feature of the New 3DS is removable faceplates).

Vinnk and Sean (well, mostly just Sean) head off to the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells for this first-ever live recording of the Famicom Dojo podcast, wondering why anyone would even get a 3DS for the holidays when a new one will probably be out in 2015. This is only the sort of thing you can get away with because of region locking. Vinnk explains his person Osborne Effect with Smash Bros. for 3DS, and Sean gushes about P.T., which he played on his new PS4. Plus, questions from our live audience!

"Famicom Thrash" and "RPG" theme songs by the Imari Tones: http://imaritones.net.

This podcast is brought to you by the Little Podcast Network. Sponsor an episode, or listen to other great shows at http://LittlePodcast.com.

Problems with video games are already something of a first-world issue, but some of the specifics can be so much worse. Which controller to get for Smash Bros. Wii U? GameCube or a GameCube-like HORI pad? Buy a PS4 on Black Friday, or do it some other time so we don't feel icky? How are we supposed to organize our video game collections when the labels don't wrap all the way around?

Sean and Vinnk assert their privilege this week. We move yet another game from Pile of Shame to Future Retro, and need a little help determining where to start playing the Fire Emblem series.

"Famicom Thrash" and "RPG" theme songs by the Imari Tones: http://imaritones.net.

This podcast is brought to you by the Little Podcast Network. Sponsor an episode, or listen to other great shows at http://LittlePodcast.com.

Magazines have themselves become a retro medium, but what if someone could use that to their advantage in a dying industry? Double-win if you can tie it to retro video games. That's exactly what we have with our guests this week!

Vinnk and Sean welcome co-founders Mike Kennedy and Mark Kaminski of Retro Magazine to talk about their Year 2 Kickstarter, and their favorite retro games. They also stick around for Future Retro and Pile of Shame to share some really interesting games we (or at least some of us) haven't played before!

"Famicom Thrash" and "RPG" theme songs by the Imari Tones: http://imaritones.net.

This podcast is brought to you by the Little Podcast Network. Sponsor an episode, or listen to other great shows at http://LittlePodcast.com.

What are your favorite scary games? How about just ones that remind you of Halloween, or are about traditional "scary" critters, but are just too darn cute to be scary themselves? Or, depending on what actually scares you, extreme isolation?

Sean and Vinnk invite Sindra and David back to the podcast for this special Halloween episode! And we may or may not discuss the P.T. Silent Hills demo... JUMP SCARE!!

"Famicom Thrash" and "RPG" theme songs by the Imari Tones: http://imaritones.net.

This podcast is brought to you by the Little Podcast Network. Sponsor an episode, or listen to other great shows at http://LittlePodcast.com.

Rob Matsushita is a Madison, WI based filmmaker and playright. More importantly for our purposes he is also host of the 10 Minutes About Your Favorite Movie podcast on the Little Podcast Network. We're big fans of his show, and thought that the best way to get Dojo Disciples to become fans to is to show him how awesome it is through the lens of video games. Fortunately, Rob plays them too.

Vinnk, Sean, and Rob give each other their top five favorite games, and chose one to talk about for ten minutes. Er, apiece. This is Ten Minutes About Your Favorite Video Game! Times three.

"Famicom Thrash" and "RPG" theme songs by the Imari Tones: http://imaritones.net.

This podcast is brought to you by the Little Podcast Network. Sponsor an episode, or listen to other great shows at http://LittlePodcast.com.

Some of our favorite Famicom and NES games are nearing the end of their respective lifespans. Famicom Disk System games degrade, no matter how well you take care of them. Cartridge games with battery backups will eventually lose power, along with your data, and never be able to save again. Even the batteries that help consoles like the PS2 and Dreamcase keep time are fizzling out. Is there anything we can do to stop it.

Sean and Vinnk ponder the move to digital media as a way to preserve their game collections, but at what cost? No, literally, what would that cost? Especially since only a portion of those games are even available on anything but the original release media.

"Famicom Thrash" and "RPG" theme songs by the Imari Tones: http://imaritones.net.

This podcast is brought to you by the Little Podcast Network. Sponsor an episode, or listen to other great shows at http://LittlePodcast.com.

Way back when we ended Season 1 of the video series, we announced our new Denshimail segment. While we've answered many of your questions in video forms, we've only been getting more and more of them in the years since. While we'd love to answer many of the in video format, we have a lot of catching up to do!

Vinnk and Sean answer a backlog of voicemails, and a selection of listener and viewer questions asked on Facebook, YouTube, and our email. We'll also try to answer one question per episode from now on!

"Famicom Thrash" and "RPG" theme songs by the Imari Tones: http://imaritones.net.

This podcast is brought to you by the Little Podcast Network. Sponsor an episode, or listen to other great shows at http://LittlePodcast.com.

We haven't been to Tokyo Game Show in person, but that doesn't mean we haven't been to Tokyo Game Show! Famicom Dojo has had an official presence covering the show in 2013 and 2014. This year we got Mr. Presence on the show to discuss what he saw on the floor this year.

Sean and Vinnk welcome David to the podcast for the first time to talk about how the console market is going, bemoan Square-Enix's risk-averse library, and the difficulty of coming down with Sonic Boom.

"Famicom Thrash" and "RPG" theme songs by the Imari Tones: http://imaritones.net.

This podcast is brought to you by the Little Podcast Network. Sponsor an episode, or listen to other great shows at http://LittlePodcast.com.

Is it wonderful or worrying that two grown men need a place to store all of their stuff from a childhood that in some ways never ended? Or is doing a podcast and video series about classic video games excuse enough?

Vinnk and Sean have both moved into new houses, and new places to keep all of their cool stuff. Sean rediscovers Punch Out for Wii in Future Retro, and Vinnk tells the harrowing tale of his missing Retron 5 in Pile of Shame.

"Famicom Thrash" and "RPG" theme songs by the Imari Tones: http://imaritones.net.

This podcast is brought to you by the Little Podcast Network. Sponsor an episode, or listen to other great shows at http://LittlePodcast.com.