Famicom Dojo Video Game Podcast

Nintendo appeases the hardcore Super Smash Bros. tournament crowd with a wired adapter for GameCube controls, playable at the Smash Bros Invitational. The newest Mario Kart was released

last week, selling out Pro Controllers everywhere, crashing the Club Nintendo website, and increasing sales of the Wii U in the UK alone by 666%. In less than a week, Mario Kart 8 has sold 1.2 million copies worldwide. YouTube announced a monetization scheme for users uploading Nintendo videos. Is Nintendo finally listening to its fans, or did it just take this long to unlock the Wii U's potential?

Vinnk and Sean put down Mario Kart 8 long enough to discuss what Nintendo is doing right, and if there are bigger things on the horizon. The Wii U is having a renaissance, and it's not even E3 ye.

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

This podcast is brought to you by the Famicom Dojo Video Series. Train Your Game at https://youtube.com/famicomdojo.

Vinnk and Sean take over No Topic Required for a special April Fool's Day episode, where we talk about movies, human centipedes, and answer listener mail!

Details about the podcast, links to related articles, and more audio bonuses are available at FamicomDojo.TV: https://famicomdojo.tv/podcast/90

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

"RPG" theme song by the Imari Tones: http://imaritones.net

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

We've long been wary of digital services on consoles at Famicom Dojo, because every time one shuts down there's the inevitable pain that follows, and features that can never be recaptured. This is what is happening with the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection going dark this week, which takes with it all online multiplayer (and related features) for not only Wii and DS titles, but anything that relied on GameSpy for online connectivity. Similarly, Microsoft has continued its Xbox One backpedaling and has decided that the Kinect 2.0 isn't required hardware after all.

Sean and Vinnk wonder if this change to the Xbox One will make them more likely to get it over the PS4, and decide how best to go out on Nintendo's original online service. Also, we discuss the Amplitude Kickstarter by Harmonix (which, by now, should be fully funded). We review a brand new game in Future Retro, and Pile of Shame isn't about video games at all!

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

This podcast is brought to you by the Famicom Dojo Video Series. Train Your Game at https://youtube.com/famicomdojo.

Physical game releases, and increasingly their digital versions as well, often get a hefty price cut as the game ages, but the price of the DLC never goes down. Should it?

Vinnk and Sean backtrack on some earlier positions to talk about DLC they like, grapple with their feelings on DLC in general, and what alternatives publishers can pursue without giving up a revenue stream that helps to increase the software development tail of a game and its engine.

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

This podcast is brought to you by the Famicom Dojo Video Series. Train Your Game at https://youtube.com/famicomdojo.

NES Remix 2 is chock full of sequels to games from NES Remix 1, and of course NES followups to other games not seen in the series before. Conventional wisdom dictates that sequels are mere cash-ins of a great idea, but sometimes they can perfect that idea in fun and surprising ways.

Sean and Vinnk discuss the sequels we think are better than the originals, some clearly superior, others more controversial. Vinnk touches a game designer's hair in Future Retro, and pile of shame goes digital-only... kind of like this podcast!

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

This podcast is brought to you by the Famicom Dojo Video Series. Train Your Game at https://youtube.com/famicomdojo.

Recent installments of the Super Smash Bros. series have included characters from third party companies as fighters joining the Nintendo menagerie. Game developers often hide references to their other titles in some of their games, either by obscure references or through sharing characters -- sometimes where they don't really belong. Gamers seem to enjoy these cross-overs and in=jokes... but why?

Vinnk and Sean share their favorite cameos in well-known games as well as more obscure titles. Future Retro looks more at the recent past, and Pile of Shame spans a couple of generations.

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

This podcast is brought to you by the Famicom Dojo Video Series. Train Your Game at https://youtube.com/famicomdojo.

While the rest of the world is picking up the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One at an admirable pace (sorry, Wii U), the former was only just released earlier this year in Japan, and the latter is not yet on store shelves. The latest Nintendo Direct makes it seem like the company doesn't understand that they need to support the Wii U over the 3DS with games like Smash Bros., but perhaps the situation underscores a deeper problem.

Sean and Vinnk discuss what happened to all of the console gamers, where they went, and what it means for the future of game companies if it all goes away forever. Maybe Nintendo's mobile strategy isn't so short-sighted after all.

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

This podcast is brought to you by the Famicom Dojo Video Series. Train Your Game at https://youtube.com/famicomdojo.

We're four generations deep into reasonably realistic 3D graphics based on nothing more than colored triangles, but if you go back to the first fully 3D console graphics the picture isn't so pretty. And yet we loved these games all the same. Was it am amazing as we thought, or were we just kidding ourselves?

Vinnk and Sean try to take off their rose-colored glasses and give a serious look to the Nintendo 64, Playstation, and Sega Saturn. What game franchises were born in that generation? Which ones met their untimely end?

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

This podcast is brought to you by the Famicom Dojo Video Series. Train Your Game at https://youtube.com/famicomdojo.

We take a trip over to our friend's house where everything sounds different. Er, where you play the games that you didn't play at your house because you didn't own the system, didn't own the game, weren't ALLOWED to own the system or game, or just like the atmosphere better than at your place. And for this episode, we invited a few friends over to our house!

Zac (@ZacShipley), aDam (@aDamRulz), and Ernie of No Topic Required (@NoTopicRequired) take over the show for this April Fool's Day episode. Supposedly Sarah Rattle (@SarahRattle) was there too, but we sure didn't hear her!

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

This podcast is brought to you by the Famicom Dojo Video Series. Train Your Game at https://youtube.com/famicomdojo.

While we smooth out some technical difficulties with our next episode, we thought we'd share another audio bonus that will soon become extremely relevant to listeners of this show. Episode 90 should be available early next week. In the mean time, enjoy Vinnk getting hit by a car. I mean, enjoy the story of it. I mean... just...

(This story was originally released on the 4 Color Rebellion Podcast under Vinnk's "Rebel in Japan" segment, and subsequently became an audio bonus for Episode 41 of this podcast.)

Details about the podcast, links to related articles, and more audio bonuses, and the full Episode 41: Video Game Babies are available at FamicomDojo.TV: https://famicomdojo.tv/podcast/41

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

"RPG" theme song by the Imari Tones: http://imaritones.net

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