In this episode, Colin, Lucas, and Neal sit down and discuss the first entry in one of the longest-running role-playing game franchises around, Final Fantasy. And to make things even more special, the date of recording for this episode - December 18, 2022, marks the series' 35th anniversary!

Designed by Hironobu Sakaguchi, Final Fantasy was developed as a swan song for the failing company Square, who were facing the possibility of bankruptcy in the late 80's after a string of unsuccessful releases. If the game were to fail, Sakaguchi had planned to leave the gaming industry, but as we know, the opposite would be true, and Final Fantasy would go on to become a smash hit in Japan, and also in the United States when it found its way over just a few years later.

Known for its innovative gameplay, fantastic musical scores by the great Nobuo Uematsu, grand adventures, and gripping storytelling, the Final Fantasy franchise has gone on to include 15 mainline entries with number 16 on the way in the summer of 2023, and a plethora of spin-offs. And with the coming year being its 35th anniversary, the series is showing no signs of slowing down.

Find the music featured in this episode here!
https://open.spotify.com/album/4NI97RhbfKnKtrkADWGdyb?si=PPMT6m7pT_SqMsVG-mSGSQ

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That One Gaming Podcast website
https://thatonegamingpodcast.buzzsprout.com

Join the official TOGP Discord!
https://discord.gg/JsaQ2xu7kU


Find all our links...in the trees!
Colin:
https://linktr.ee/DeliciousMorsels

Lucas:
https://www.linktr.ee/karn_evil_999

Neal:
https://linktr.ee/vmk89

This week Colin, Lucas, and Neal take you back to the past in an epic quest to save the world and banish the evil Ganon from existence. That's right, this week we're talking about That One Game - The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Released in Japan on November 21st, 1991, North America on April 13, 1992, and later in European regions on September 24th of that year, A Link to the Past is the third game in the Zelda franchise, and marks the series' jump into the 16-bit era on Nintendo's Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

Helmed by the legendary Shigeru Miyamoto, this game returned to the top-down style popularized by the first game, while also serving to introduce many series mainstays such as the Master Sword, hook shot, spin attack, and probably most notably - parallel worlds. In this game the player is able to travel back and forth between Light and Dark Worlds - two opposite but fully realized worlds with their own unique characters, enemies, and dungeons. At the time such a feature was unprecedented and to this day it remains a showcase of the capabilities of the Super Nintendo hardware.

Find the music featured in this episode here!
https://open.spotify.com/album/70yxmwH2wyKktRqnFWgZEs?si=zI6T2EgISpKhtVWTt9RNRA

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That One Gaming Podcast website
https://thatonegamingpodcast.buzzsprout.com

Join the official TOGP Discord!
https://discord.gg/JsaQ2xu7kU


Find all our links...in the trees!
Colin:
https://linktr.ee/DeliciousMorsels

Lucas:
https://www.linktr.ee/karn_evil_999

Neal:
https://linktr.ee/vmk89

This week Colin, Lucas, and Neal have a chat surrounding the state of the retro game market and collecting in 2022, discussing things like graded video games and game preservation. And Colin makes everyone sad with his new game!

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That One Gaming Podcast website
https://thatonegamingpodcast.buzzsprout.com

Join the official TOGP Discord!
https://discord.gg/JsaQ2xu7kU


Find all our links...in the trees!
Colin:
https://linktr.ee/DeliciousMorsels

Lucas:
https://www.linktr.ee/karn_evil_999

Neal:
https://linktr.ee/vmk89

Today we fasten our seatbelts and fling some shells as we give our ranking to the much beloved and long-running Mario Kart series! The series recently celebrated its 30th birthday and we thought it would be a great time to weigh in and provide our thoughts on each mainline entry to the series. Prepare yourselves, because this is likely gonna be a very spicy episode!

Ranking criteria
S - The best of the best
A - really really good, but minor imperfections keep them from S
B - Not your first pick but still happy to play some Mario Kart
C - The imperfections are really starting to show and drastically affect enjoyment
D - Actively try to avoid

And just a reminder, we won't be covering any of the three arcade releases in this episode since to really experience them as they were meant to be played it would require actually playing them in an arcade, something none of us really have access to unfortunately. Also we will not be discussing Mario Kart Live Home Circuit because, while a cool novelty, ain't nobody round here got a hundred bucks to fork out for it.

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That One Gaming Podcast website
https://thatonegamingpodcast.buzzsprout.com

Join the official TOGP Discord!
https://discord.gg/JsaQ2xu7kU


Find all our links...in the trees!
Colin:
https://linktr.ee/DeliciousMorsels

Lucas:
https://www.linktr.ee/karn_evil_999

Neal:
https://linktr.ee/vmk89

If you've been gaming for a long time like us, you know that licensed games (which are games made using an intellectual property that didn't originate in gaming - like Marvel, DC, .etc) have had a pretty...rough history. In an effort to make a quick buck cashing in on the success of a hit movie or tv show, these games frequently turn out undercooked at best, and completely broken at worst. However every now and then a real gem breaks through and this week Colin, Lucas, and Neal are gonna be running down a short list of licensed games that we think are worth your time.

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That One Gaming Podcast website
https://thatonegamingpodcast.buzzsprout.com

Join the official TOGP Discord!
https://discord.gg/JsaQ2xu7kU


Find all our links...in the trees!
Colin:
https://linktr.ee/DeliciousMorsels

Lucas:
https://www.linktr.ee/karn_evil_999

Neal:
https://linktr.ee/vmk89

This week Colin, Lucas, and Neal are back with another of our That One Game episodes, with the game (or games in this case) in question being the much beloved second generation entries in the Pokemon series - Pokemon Gold and Silver versions. Released in Japan on November 21, 1999, North America on October 15, 2000, and later on April 6, 2001 in Europe, Pokemon Gold and Silver introduced players to the Johto region and its 100 completely new and unique Pokemon, putting the total number of Pokemon in the Pokedex up to 251. While the world may have been introduced to these lovable Pocket Monsters with Red, Blue and Green versions, it was this second generation that signified that Pokemon was here to stay (even if the developers did not necessarily intend that at the time).

So as always, a disclaimer for this episode: we have no intention of covering every little detail surrounding these games in this podcast. There is so much information out there outside of what we got with the final retail product that it would be near impossible to cover it all in the time we're given today. And also, just due to the nature of conversation, it's also entirely possible that we can, and will, just straight up forget to talk about something. These episodes are meant more as fun conversations about games we enjoy than comprehensive masterclasses on the games being discussed. But if we did forget to go over something you'd like to bring light to, feel free to leave a comment or email us at [email protected] and we might read your message on a future episode!

Gold and Silver Prototypes:
https://tcrf.net/Proto:Pokémon_Gold_and_Silver

Find the music featured in this episode here!
https://open.spotify.com/album/5yg2xhf4X1mOvnR9iQOCsH?si=ZpyyAIuOQXChwVDqfGz3cQ

---------------------------------

That One Gaming Podcast website
https://thatonegamingpodcast.buzzsprout.com

Join the official TOGP Discord!
https://discord.gg/JsaQ2xu7kU


Find all our links...in the trees!
Colin:
https://linktr.ee/DeliciousMorsels

Lucas:
https://www.linktr.ee/karn_evil_999

Neal:
https://linktr.ee/vmk89

*Apologies in advance for some glitchy audio this week, we were suffering a bit of technical difficulties! Should be better next episode*

This week on the show: Colin, Lucas, and Neal discuss boss fights! Specifically the boss fights that absolutely wrecked us. Every so often when you're playing a game, you come across one of these encounters that just absolutely stonewalls you and stops you in your tracks, and today we've each picked out a few such instances from our own experience to share with you all!

---------------------------------

That One Gaming Podcast website
https://thatonegamingpodcast.buzzsprout.com

Join the official TOGP Discord!
https://discord.gg/JsaQ2xu7kU


Find all our links...in the trees!
Colin:
https://linktr.ee/DeliciousMorsels

Lucas:
https://www.linktr.ee/karn_evil_999

Neal:
https://linktr.ee/vmk89

Today we're celebrating our 10th episode with a top ten list (of sorts!). We're going to be ranking the best video game controllers of all time! We've compiled a list of nearly all the mainline console controllers from the NES all the way to modern consoles and we'll be weighing in and compiling the definitive TOGP Controller tier list. We've tossed in a couple surprises here and there, but for the sake of brevity we've mostly limited our options to controllers that were included in box with its respective console at some point in time. Even still we've got a good 40 years of controllers to get through so let's just dive right in!

As far as ranking criteria, we've chosen to rank each controller from S to F

• S tiers are considered the greatest controllers of all time. They're always the first controller you reach for when given the option.
• A tiers are generally all-around good controllers but may have minor little nitpicks that hold them back from true greatness
• B tiers are pretty solid but you probably don't care to use them outside of the console they were made for
• C tiers are just plain middle-of-the-road controllers. They're not bad, but they're not great either
• D tiers are awkward and at times clunky to wield and don't do much to excite
• F tiers are abominations that make you scratch your head and wonder "What were the designers thinking?!"

---------------------------------

That One Gaming Podcast website
https://thatonegamingpodcast.buzzsprout.com

Join the official TOGP Discord!
https://discord.gg/JsaQ2xu7kU


Find all our links...in the trees!
Colin:
https://linktr.ee/DeliciousMorsels

Lucas:
https://www.linktr.ee/karn_evil_999

Neal:
https://linktr.ee/vmk89

Today on the show we'll be breaking down all of the game announcements from the last month that caught our eye. Thanks to the absence of e3 and the structure it provided, publishers and developers went wild with their own showcases all throughout the month of June. We did our best to round up most of the big showcases from Sony, Microsoft, and, of course, Nintendo, here for you today, along with some smaller ones here and there that caught our eye.

Events covered:
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet trailer 2 - June 1
Sony Playstation State of Play - June 2
Sonic Central - June 7
Summer Game Fest - June 9
Devolver Digital - June 9
Xbox & Bethesda Showcase - June 12
Capcom Showcase - June 13
Final Fantasy VII 25th Anniversary Celebration - June 16
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Nintendo Direct - June 22
Nintendo Direct Partner Mini - June 28
God of War Ragnarok release date reveal - July 6

---------------------------------

That One Gaming Podcast website
https://thatonegamingpodcast.buzzsprout.com

Join the official TOGP Discord!
https://discord.gg/JsaQ2xu7kU


Find all our links...in the trees!
Colin:
https://linktr.ee/DeliciousMorsels

Lucas:
https://www.linktr.ee/karn_evil_999

Neal:
https://linktr.ee/vmk89

Today on the show we'll be taking a look at what many consider to be the greatest Sonic the Hedgehog game ever made as we discuss That One Game - Sonic 3 & Knuckles! Sonic the Hedgehog 3 released for the Sega Genesis on February 2, 1994 in North America. Later that year, on October 18, Sonic & Knuckles would follow, and bring with it Sega's famous "lock-on" technology. This allowed certain games to be slotted into the top of the Sonic & Knuckles cartridge to unlock additional gameplay features. However, when Sonic the Hedgehog 3 was locked-on, the two games melded together into one single game, Sonic 3 & Knuckles! The game in this form is actually the original intended release for Sonic 3, but due to time constraints imposed by Sega, the game ended up being split into two parts.

In our discussion we talk about our favorite levels, music and more! Additionally we offer some thoughts on the recently released Sonic Origins as part of Sonic the Hedgehog's 31st anniversary celebration on the 23rd of June. And what episode about Sonic 3 would be complete if we didn't also discuss the infamous Michael Jackson conspiracy?! All that and more, this week on That One Gaming Podcast!

Resources mentioned related to Michael Jackson in Sonic 3:

"A Brief History of Michael Jackson's Sonic the Hedgehog 3" by D-Pad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Uko0fCp86c

SonicRetro music deep dive
http://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_the_Hedgehog_3/Development/Music

Find the music featured in this episode here!
https://open.spotify.com/album/2TwLFDutInOvrJMNqUFpfq?si=2Uta3tmbRbyOpOvQab6J3w

---------------------------------

That One Gaming Podcast website
https://thatonegamingpodcast.buzzsprout.com

Join the official TOGP Discord!
https://discord.gg/JsaQ2xu7kU


Find all our links...in the trees!
Colin:
https://linktr.ee/DeliciousMorsels

Lucas:
https://www.linktr.ee/karn_evil_999

Neal:
https://linktr.ee/vmk89