The GameCola Podcast

Some of GameCola's greatest hits! When this section of the 200th podcast was live, it was at 4AM EDT and I figured it'd be a good opportunity to have a handoff from the night crew to the morning crew while most people would be asleep. Plus, it's a great opportunity to see how far we've come in 200 episodes and over 15 years of podcast! In this compilation, you'll hear some of my favorite clips from the following episodes, starting at the corresponding timestamps:

Ep. 1: The Janish (0:00)

Ep. 2: With Apologies to the GameCola Staff (2:18)

Ep. 3: Mid-February Edition (3:28)

Ep. 14: We Are Drama Queens (4:23)

Ep. 36: Boring Gaz Problems (6:40)

Ep. 44: That Was Limited (9:24)

Ep. 52: It's a Turtle! (13:50)

Ep. 75: We Don't Talk About the Dark Times (18:28)

Ep. 92: The Singing Podcast (21:52)

Ep. 95: Dandelions, Deponias, and Developments (25:23)

Ep. 117: Nintendo Labo and The Second Xeno (28:07)

Ep. 126: The Oxford English Mario Party (33:04)

Ep. 132: Cool Hamster Slang (36:12)

Ep. 137: Real Basketball Cosplay (37:29)

Ep. 148: The Death of Mario (40:59)

Ep. 152: Martin Joeseph Takes Over (42:44)

Ep. 157: Sonc 2 and Dune II Too (46:51)

Ep. 171: Unity Grr Cry (51:59)

Ep. 182: Patently Absurd (54:09)

Ep. 197: Looking Back and Forthward (54:52)

Greetings, GameCola Faithful! In recognition of 24 years and 200 podcasts last April, we celebrated with a 24-hour livestream extravaganza which we are compiling for your listening pleasure! However, due to the novel nature of our enterprise (aka Joseph did not know how long YouTube streams worked) we ended up losing the first four hours of the show. Therefore, we have created both a document and a podcast episode to recap what you missed! In this recap episode, you'll find James Pelster, Blu Ryder, and Joseph Martin cover the first four hours which are:

- 0:00 Opening Ceremonies

- Blu Ryder, Joseph Martin, Paul Franzen, Nathaniel Hoover, Anna Bryniarski

- Join us as we open the show and honor all GameCola has been so far!

- 1:00 Newsletter Hour

- Blu Ryder, Joseph Martin, Paul Franzen, Nathaniel Hoover, Anna Bryniarski

- Dive into the history of GameCola as it got its beginnings as a newsletter.

- 2:00 Blu Hour

- Blu Ryder, Paul Franzen, Anna Bryniarski, James Pelster

- An hour of fun hosted by Blu Ryder.

- 3:00 Gaming After Dark

- Blu Ryder, Joseph Martin

- Late night Gaming Chats about topics only allowed After Dark.

So have a listen, and join us for the rest of the show coming soon! The accompanying document can be downloaded here: https://www.gamecola.net/podcasts/Episode_200_Livestream_Text_Record.pdf

Which big player is doing the most damage to gaming? Is it Sony deprioritizing the single player experience? Microsoft anointing a new AI focused Xbox CEO? Nintendo treating major franchises as cheap cash grabs? Join Joseph Martin, James Pelster, and Blu Ryder as they discuss all this and the following on the last of the 100's of the GameCola Podcast!

- Paul Franzen and Michael Gray's Cat President: 3rd Rate Candidate is out!

- The Slop of Xbox Live Arcade vs the Slop of today

- Sony's new gaming priorities

- The CEO shuffle of Xbox

- How does Pokémon Winds and Waves stack up to our fears and experiences with Gen 8 and 9?

- Games we've been playing in RECENT TIMES ~

[Podcast Intro/Outro “5 is Average” by Meteo Xavier]

James went to Awesome Games Done Quick, and in that spirit let me speedrun this description. Join Joseph Martin, James Pelster, Blu Ryder, and Alex Jedraszczak as they talk about:

- James at AGDQ

- Blu's new opinions on Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

- Jeddy makes an NES game where door is locke

- Games we've been playing in recent times

- The potential for the sequel to 'Coladachi Life (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRvM8rEQuyA)

[Podcast Intro/Outro “5 is Average” by Meteo Xavier]

Has it been 365 days already? Well, Joseph Martin, Anna Bryniarski, John Rizzi, and Blu Ryder are here to look forward to the next year as well as look back on the most memorable moments from last year! Such topics include:

- Anna is Back In Action

- What are we looking forward to in 2026?

- Jason Momoa has electricity powers now

- What were the most memorable moments of 2025?

- What videogames did we play last year (aka in recent times)?

[Podcast Intro/Outro “5 is Average” by Meteo Xavier]

While companies try to gaslight us into thinking their AI art makes sense, while the new Steam Machine is affectionately referred to as the "GabeCube" and while Rosalina and Peach go head-to-head on who can be the biggest Mario girlboss, Joseph Martin, John Rizzi, James Pelster, and Blu Ryder truthfully allow male-individual-contributors into the biggest and best gaming news and discussion that also happens to be on this podcast. Such topics as:

- The Gang discusses the implications of the Steam Machine

- Grand Theft Auto 6? More like Grand Theft Employment-Due-To-Alledged-Union-Busting... 6

- The Game Awards have more indie darlings, confirming the suspicions of the previous podcast

- Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 uses AI art that's bad, even for AI art

- The Legend of Zelda movie had a few production photos revealed. Discuss.

- Getting ready for princesses to gaslight and gatekeep as they girlboss their way through The Super Mario Galaxy Movie

- Games we've been girlbossing in recent times

[Podcast Intro/Outro “5 is Average” by Meteo Xavier]

High prices, low expectations, gambling... it seems like the Golden Age of Videogames is long over. However, we're optimistic that we can convince you that the Silver Age of Videogames ain't to shabby either. You'll either agree with us (Joseph Martin, Blu Ryder, and James Pelster) or our out-of-touch opinions will drive you into a fevered rage. I guess you'll just have to listen to the following topics and see!

- James claims Halloween is over before October 31st

- How do videogames stack up as other media landscapes evolve?

- Joe pitches the Silver Age of Videogames and how it's not so bad

- Joe caveats that gambling is not included in things that aren't bad

- Blu makes Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 mad

- James makes Blue Prince fans mad (including Blu)

- I'm sure Joe said something to make people mad

[Podcast Intro/Outro “5 is Average” by Meteo Xavier]

Sometimes videogames are good. Sometimes they are not good. Sometimes your host and podcast commander Joseph Martin is compelled to tell you about the not good ones. Join him, James Pelster, Alex Jedraszczak, and Blu Ryder as they discuss such games of varying quality as

- Videogames are too expensive

- Virtual Boy Befuddlement

- All the folks there are to see in MARVEL Cosmic Invasion

- Blu interrogates the acclaim of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 

- Silksong and managing difficulty in videogames

- Joe and James compare notes on Metroid Fusion

- Joe's titular crash out over Metroid

- Crystalis

[Podcast Intro/Outro “5 is Average” by Meteo Xavier]

It's been 8 years since the last podcast... or something like that. Anyway, sometimes we have to wait a long time to get our videogames, and that makes us have thoughts when they eventually come out. Join Joseph Martin, Blu Ryder, and James Pelster as they ponder such related topics as:

- James gives a summary on Hollow Knight to get us up to speed for its sequel

- So why is everyone so excited for Silksong anyway?

- Joe explores his trepidations with long development cycles (he's been hurt before)

- Other games that have delayed due to Silksong's announced release date

- James still hasn't done his videogame homework

- What videogames have we been playing in recent (not 8 years) times

[Podcast Intro/Outro “5 is Average” by Meteo Xavier]

On this episode of The GameCola Podcast, Joseph Martin and Blu Ryder go deep in the paint on Creature Creators and the Creature Collector and Monster Taming videogames they make. If you can see the thumbnail for this episode, you'll see my attempts at my own Creature Creation, so you can judge for yourself if I have a right to speak on this topic, along with many other topics including

- Warner Bros. Discovery has been cleft in twain, what does this mean for videogames that Blu likes?

- The genre names people use to avoid mentioning their game is like Pokémon

- Tentpole games of comparison for various videogame genres

- The harmony of nature and technology inherent to the setting of Pokémon

- How did Overwatch get people to care about their characters so quickly?

- Should all videogames start by having a TV show?

- The importance of good human characters in Creature videogames

- Blu's experiences with card game rougelikes such as Monster Train

- Joe's continuing investigation into Coromon

[Podcast Intro/Outro “5 is Average” by Meteo Xavier]