Switch 2 The Past

Bop it! Twist it! Pull it! This month's patreon topic has Mike & Neil looking back at none other than the 90s and 2000s as usual but this time for the toys! A time of great toys from Kinder Surprises, McDondalds' Happy Meals, and whatever Burger King's kid's meal was called, it was a great time to be a kid. Join the boys to talk about Furbies, Tamagotchis, Hot Wheels, and many many more amazing toys from our favourite era.

Did you hear that? There's some weird sounds coming from the Unlocking What Was Cool's attic in this week's episode covering one of the best horror games ever made - Eternal Darkness. A cult classic that has been stranded on the GameCube since 2002, and developed by Canadian devs Silicon Knights, Eternal Darkness is one of the most frightening games you will ever play. Neil and Mike are joined by one of their favourite guests, @Toonietwirls who talks about her first memories playing this game and the fear and anxiety it brought with it's clever and incredibly innovative sanity effects. Listen and enjoy this GameCube revisit where the boys talk about the game for more than 15 minutes this time.

From one of the hardest hitting songs ever to open an album to a song known by anyone who grew up in the the 80s 90s or even 2000s to a beautiful ballad and an arena anthem, Jimmy Eat World's Bleed American has it all. Mike & Neil are proud to be finally covering one of their favourite albums of all time and they are joined by good friend of the show Brian to talk about the history of the record, break down some of our favourite tracks, and learn that the band was on the brink of bankruptcy in 2000 before this record help save them and their careers. Join us on looking back to a simpler time when every music video was a house party with a pool on this week's music episode of Unlocking What Was Cool.

It's time to lament the games that never were meant to come to the Nintendo GameCube. Neil and Mike sit down to talk about Donkey Kong Racing, Dead Phoenix and Super Paper Mario (which yes! did eventually come out on the Wii). There were all suitable reasons why these games and many others didn't come to the Cube but it hasn't stopped the boys from wishing and theorizing what could have been. With Rare being bought by microsoft DKRII was dead and probably will never be revived. Dead Phoenix being Capcom's 5th of the Capcom 5 was DOA and Super Paper Mario was always destined for a bigger selling console. Check it out and enjoy a trip down this cancelled memory lane.

Super Mario World is consistently ranked as one of the greatest video games of all time and frankly, who could argue that? The map, the cape, the design, the enemies, the accessibility, the secrets, the boos, star road, dinosaurs, yoshi! This game literally has it all, a complete masterpiece of exploration and platforming, Neil and Mike go back 33 years to talk about one of their favourite games of all time. Joining them is friend of the show Jed and @luigisapartment to discuss their memories, their favourite (or least favourite) secrets, and of course how Rip Van Fish is basically the Mr. X of the mario world. We hope this episode is "Just what I needed!".

EVERYBODY LOVE EVERYBODY. There've been some classic Will Ferrell movies over the years: Step Brothers, Anchorman, Talledega Nights, The Other Guys. But one movie that often gets overlooked is Semi-Pro, the "semi" true story of the ABA merging with the NBA in the late 70s. Mike & Neil are excited to talk about one of their favourite comedies of all time and one that they saw in a nearly empty theatre together over spring break in 2008. 15 years later the boys agrees it still holds up although it certainly has it's issues. Nonetheless this comedy featuring the likes of Woody Harrelson, Will Arnett and yes even Andre 3000 of Outkast boasts a great soundtrack, hilarious scenes, and even a few dunks. SOMEBODY HIT SOMEBODY!

The mid 2000s were an interesting time for Nintendo. A failing home console, a slowly to adopt handheld console, and new competition with Sony's PSP. To counter all this, the Nintendo DS is revealed as a "third pillar" in their console arsenal. Well it turns out that the DS was far more than a third pillar and ended up going on to be the highest selling console in Nintendo's history. From Nintendogs to the touch screen stylus to Pictochat and so much more, the DS captured the hearts of over 150 million people and remains a mainstay for many today. Neil and Mike dive into this patreon topic, talk about their memories with the GBA and DS and predict what Nintendo's next big leap will be.

Mike and Neil have covered 555 GameCube games and this week they are adding to that number by covering five exclusive Japanese GameCube games. Nintendo Puzzle Collection - a colourful set of Yoshi's Cookie, Dr. Mario and Panel De Pon games, Kukurin Smash - a sequel to the GBA game that's currently on Switch Online services, Robocop - That's right, a Robocop game that is made by the same developers as Superman 64 so take that as you will, DreamMix World Fighters - an insane crossover featuring characters like Optimus Prime, Bomberman, and Simon Belmont, and finally Homeland - a online RPG game resembling a mix of Animal Crossing Cubivore and Doshin the Giant. The boys are joined by Marcelo from the fantastic YouTube channel @gamecubegalaxy to discuss these games in depth and lament why we never were able to get North American ports of them.

Mike is on his way to Japan to research some Japanese GameCube exclusives so Neil is on his own with friend of the show Josh from the Still Loading Podcast to talk some Star Wars. Galactic Battlegrounds is a classic Age of Empires style RTS for the PC that seems to get better and more enjoyable every year. Josh and Neil discuss why this game still stays in the minds of many and where the series may go from here.

No one likes you when you're...24? Welp Neil and Mike may have missed their chance to release this on episode 23 of the Unlocking What Was Cool podcast but they still manage to have a great time talking about one of the biggest albums of the late 90s/early 2000s. Much like many other franchises and artists covered on this podcast it did really feel like there was once a moment when Blink didn't exist and then all of sudden they were everywhere. With Travis Barker coming on board and building off the success of Dude Ranch blink delivered an album of all killer and no filler that perfectly encompassed the culture and catapulted them to super stardom. Mike & Neil dive into the album track by track, talk about their memories, what songs are appropriate to walk down the aisle to, and if these boys have finally learned how to play their instruments.