Smashterpieces

Do you hear those drums in the distance? That’s the sound of Smashterpiece #18, Donkey Kong Country! On this episode Joe and Melanie jump into one of the most historically significant games on the Super Nintendo, famous for its state of the art graphics and a defining moment for Nintendo’s ape himself. How did Melanie’s first ever playthrough of the game go? How is this game connected to the evolution of a different famous Nintendo property (mostly through spite)? How does the level design and variety hold up today? And most importantly, how good is the legendary soundtrack? All this and more in today’s episode!

Join us next time as we leap through a painting into the third dimension in Smashterpiece #19: Super Mario 64

It’s finally happened, we’ve finally made it! After three long months our psychic journey has come to a close. That’s right everybody, the final episode discussing Smashterpiece #17, Earthbound, is here! Join us as we discuss our final feelings on the game, its delightfully quirky soundtrack, the iconic final boss that is Giygas, and more. It’s been a long road, and we’re so thankful you decided to stick with us for the whole thing. Remember: no crying until the end.

Join us next time as we make our way into the jungle in Smashterpiece #18: Donkey Kong Country

After trekking through the desert and dealing with the most evil entity of all (traffic), we have finally arrived in the big city of Fourside! That’s right, it’s finally time for Joe and Melanie to continue their discussion on Smashterpiece #17, Earthbound. In this episode we discuss the hustle and bustle of Fourside, the nonsensical nature of Moonside, and the introduction to the warrior prince Poo. We finally have our full team and are ready to take on whatever comes our way! … We hope, because frankly it’s still a long road from here. Join us next time as we continue our psychic adventure through Eagle Land, hopefully bringing it to its conclusion. Next stop: Scaraba or bust!

Hey everyone, we're doing something a little different with this episode of Smashterpieces. Now that Banjo and Kazooie have been revealed as playable fighters for Ultimate, it's time for us to select a game to play for them. We're going to be going with Banjo-Tooie, released in 2000 for the Nintendo 64. The original Banjo-Kazooie from 1998 may seem like a more natural choice, but we've decided not to play that game because we've already done a podcast episode on it.

A few years back, me and Joe started a short-lived podcast called Second Save File, which was basically Smashterpieces without the structured focus around the Smash Bros. roster. Since we've been so busy lately that Earthbound has been taking a while, we figured it would be nice to give you a special bonus episode: the first episode of Second Save File, covering Banjo-Kazooie. This podcast was recorded in a different time, when we were young, immature, and inexperienced, and it's honestly not up to the standards we hold our work to today, but hopefully you guys still enjoy it. We'll be back after E3 with more of Earthbound. For now, make sure you check out our coverage of E3 at nintendoworldreport.com; we're doing a lot this week.

With our adventure in the happy suburbs of Twoson complete, it’s time to hop on a bus and head to the creepy town of Threed and beyond! In this extremely short part two of our discussion on Earthbound we dive into zombie infested streets, meet a new friend with a knack for invention, and even spend the night in a town full of weirdos that keep shouting “ZIP” and “BOING” for some reason. Ignore the bad smell coming out of the nearby factory and join us as we continue this psychic journey together!

Very sorry for the shorter episode, the next one will be much more substantial! We wanted to at least get something out rather than nothing, so we hope you at least enjoy this little mini update on our progress. Join us again in a few weeks as we head to the big city (for real this time) and also meet our fourth and final party member.

Load up your backpacks, grab your skip sandwiches, and brandish your baseball bats cause we’re finally heading out on our adventure in Eagleland! That’s right, today’s episode is the first part of our discussion on Smashterpiece #17: Earthbound. In this episode we talk about our qualms with the game’s early hours through Onette, Twoson, and Happy Happy Village. Why do we feel it’s now obvious why we would have bounced off the game in our younger years? What quirky things does the game do right? In what ways was Earthbound seemingly ahead of its time, and in what ways do we find it to be a little bit dated? All this and more in today’s episode!

We’ll be back in a few weeks time with part two as we continue our psychic adventures and recruit our third party member on our way to the big city.

From the quiet isolation of space comes this audio file of two guys talking about shooting aliens with a laser gun. That’s right everybody, it’s finally here! Smashterpiece #16, Super Metroid! We dive into a classic game that defined an entire genre, and even features our first major female protagonist to boot! What do we think of the game’s design? How did Joe do on his very first playthrough of the game ever? How do we feel about the bosses and abilities? And why oh why can’t Joe figure out how to wall jump? All this and more in today’s episode!

Join us next time as we set out on a quirky psychic journey in Smashterpiece #17: Earthbound

I guess here we are. We’re sure here. We went hunting for treasure in Smashterpiece #15: Wario Land, but what we found was just… Iunno, some rocks? A bag full of rocks? And dirt? We didn’t like this game, but let’s talk about it anyways. What are some of our main problems with the game? How does this reflect on Wario as a character in the context of our show? And why am I so bored? All that and more in today’s episode! I’m so sorry…

Join us next time as we shoot ourselves into the depths of an alien planet in Smashterpiece #16: Super Metroid

Like the morning sun we have arrived at last to vanquish the horrible night in Smashterpiece #14, Caastlevania: Rondo of Blood. This is not only our first game with cutscenes, but with fully voice acted cutscenes! How does the enemy placement in Rondo stack up to the original Castlevania? How does the introduction of a second playable character change up the entire game? Are the bosses improved or just more of the same? All that and more in today’s episode!

Join us next time as we go hunting for treasure in Smashterpiece #15: Wario Land

Recorded live at the Nintendo World Report Charity Telethon, it’s Smashterpieces #13! Representing the pink puff himself we’re here to talk about Kirby’s Adventure, the NES game bizarrely released three whole years after the SNES had already hit the scene. Why is this game unfortunately such a technical mess the whole way through? How has this game potentially had some of the biggest impacts on Smash on our whole list? Why is Kirby such a friend? All that and more in today’s episode!

Join us next time as we take one final journey into Dracula’s castle in Smashterpiece #14: Castlevania: Rondo of Blood