From Uncharted: Drake's Fortune to Crackdown, which were the best games of 2007? Matthew and Samuel share their top 10 lists, and delve into their memories of covering the early days of HD console gaming. 

This week's music is from the God Hand soundtrack by Masafumi Takada and Jun Fukuda, the Halo 3 soundtrack by Marty O'Donnell and the Hotel Dusk: Room 415 soundtrack by Satoshi Okubo.

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The long-awaited Nintendo Direct hit this week, and we've picked out 12 highlights for discussion, from No More Heroes 3 to Skyward Sword HD. It's definitely not just an excuse to hear some more of Matthew's great Nintendo thoughts and anecdotes, but hey, it's a nice bonus.

This week's music is from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword by Hajime Wakai, Shiho Fujii, Mahito Yokota and Takeshi Hama.

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Mario's greatest Wii U outing has landed on the Nintendo Switch, and this week, we discuss its place in the 3D Mario pantheon. Is it better than Galaxy? Definitely not. Odyssey? Nope. But it is still pretty great. 

We also talk about the challenges of writing about Mario with our first ever guest, Katharine Castle of Rock Paper Shotgun! This week's music is from the Super Mario 3D World soundtrack by Mahito Yokota, Toru Minegishi, Koji Kondo and Yasuaki Iwata.

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Our two top 30 games of the generation lists conclude this week, as we each read out our personal 15 best games on PS4, Xbox One and Wii U. 

This week's music is from the Mario Kart 8 soundtrack by Shiho Fujii, Atsuko Asahi, Shinji Hosoe, Ryo Nagamatsu and Yasuaki Iwata, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild soundtrack by Manaka Kataoka, Yasuaki Iwata and Hajime Wakai. 

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Two top 30 lists of the best games on PS4, Xbox One and Wii U from the past 7 or 8 years – this episode covers games 30-16 on both our lists. Part 2 is coming next Friday. Enjoy.

This week's music is from the Prey soundtrack by Mick Gordon, the Danganronpa V3 soundtrack by Masafumi Takada and the Final Fantasy XV soundtrack by Yoko Shimomura. 

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We've both played a lot of Hitman 3, and in this episode, we celebrate IO Interactive's World of Assassination trilogy and explore why it's one of modern gaming's greatest achievements. If you're a fan of Agent 47's many murders of nasty billionaires, this episode is for you.

This week's music is from the Hitman 2 soundtrack by Niels Bye Nielsen.

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Matthew and Samuel discuss the art of making covers for games magazines. See the covers discussed in the episode for yourself using this link: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/backpagegames/the-back-page-magazine-covers/
If you're having trouble using the link on your podcasting app of choice, you'll also find them on Twitter @BackPagePod.

This week's music is from the Pillars of Eternity soundtrack by Justin E Bell, the Mass Effect Andromeda soundtrack by John Paesano and the Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright soundtrack by Tomohito Nishiura and Yasumasa Kitagawa.

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In this 2021 preview episode, we sum up what's new with the next-gen consoles (and PC! And Nintendo!) in the coming 12 months. We also serve up 21 gaming predictions for the next year – from Cyberpunk 2077 DLC to Master Chief appearing in Smash Bros, it's all based on very few facts, and we hope you enjoy it. 

This week's music is from the Baldur's Gate 3 soundtrack by Borislav Slavov. 

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Wow, 2020 was the worst! Luckily, the games were pretty good, and in this episode, we each count down our personal top 10s of the year. From Doom Eternal to Final Fantasy 7 Remake, start off 2021 by capping off the last 12 months of fantastic games.

This week's music is from the Final Fantasy 7 soundtrack by Nobuo Uematsu and the themes of Destiny 2's Prophecy dungeon by Michael Sechrist, Skye Lewin, Michael Salvatori and Josh Mosser.

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The story of CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077 is now much bigger than the game itself. Still, in this episode, Matthew discusses his 70 hours playing the glitchy but nonetheless fascinating game, while Samuel throws questions at him about the game's best quests and why it's not a very good immersive sim. In the second half, we discuss the ways in which writing about big games has changed over the years. Note that this episode was recorded before Sony pulled Cyberpunk 2077 from sale on the PlayStation Store - the conversation around this game has changed quickly...

This week's music is from the game's soundtrack by Marcin Przybyłowicz, PT Adamczyk and Paul Leonard-Morgan, as well as the Super Mario Galaxy soundtrack by Koji Kondo and Mahito Yokota. 

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