The full panel reunites to determine what a video game is, how to do RPG dungeon music right, and Bob Oldfather. Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Tim Rogers and Brandon Sheffield. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

Questions this week:

LIGHTNING ROUND: From Yeso: Guess the game based on its Metacritic review (01:06:38)

Recommendations and Outro (01:13:31)

A SMALL SELECTION OF THINGS REFERENCED:

Recommendations:

Brandon: Five Fingers for Marseilles (2017)

Frank: Bookmans Entertainment Exchange if you’re in Tuscon or Phoenix

Jaffe: Vote! And tell your friends to subscribe to the new Apple Podcasts feed

Support on Patreon

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Game music composer and console restoration expert Christa Lee joins this year’s monster hunting party, taking on evils like foreshadowing, deceptively powerful industry figures, and ranking the Silent Hill series. Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Tim Rogers, Brandon Sheffield, and Christa Lee. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

Questions this year:

LIGHTNING ROUND: Ranking the Silent Hill series (01:00:39)

Recommendations and Outro (01:12:32)

Visit the forums to see the final ranking of the Silent Hill series!

A SMALL SELECTION OF THINGS REFERENCED:

Tim: Have already put a “Skip Intro” on Star Trek: The Next Generation if you’re someone who has the ability to make that happen inside Paramount+ by the time this episode airs

Brandon: Virtuosic Hair Metal Band T-Ride, buy from CastleMania if you’re gonna buy any of these rereleases coming up

Christa: Insmouse no Yakata, get your VirtualBoy ribbons fixed at SoundRetro.co, Furuhata Ninzaburō, Mikey and Nicky (1976)

Jaffe: Wishlist Demonschool and Hyper Gunsport on Steam, Welcome to the Fantasy Zone

Support on Patreon

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The panel reunites in total to cover the death of the Stadia, if it’s ever okay to make a 30 FPS game, and Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

Questions this week:

LIGHTNING ROUND: GameFAQ&As - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (59:18)

Check out the forums to Colossus scream about this episode!

A SMALL SELECTION OF THINGS REFERENCED:

Recommendations:

Brandon: Reservation Dogs, play Control in German

Tim: Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, put a “Skip Intro” on Star Trek: The Next Generation if you’re someone who has the ability to make that happen inside Paramount+

Frank: Check out the weird rough draft of the HD restoration that introduces each episode of The Next Generation on Pluto TV’s Star Trek channel

Edited by Esper Quinn. Original Music by Kurt Feldman.

EIC of Polygon and co-host of The Besties Chris Plante fills in for Frank on topics like the Cyberpunk anime, Anthem, and a Republican poet’s paradise.

Questions this week:

LIGHTNING ROUND: Name Design – Panic! At The Disco songs (01:05:38)

Recommendations and Outro (01:18:57)

If you look behind this episode’s waterfall you’ll find people discussing it in the forums!

A SMALL SELECTION OF THINGS REFERENCED:

Recommendations:

Jaffe: Watch One Piece

Brandon: hold the up and down buttons to control those barrels in the Carnival Zone in Sonic 3, don’t watch Austin Powers, don’t watch any of the Bill & Ted movies, Mom and Dad Save the World (1992)

Tim: Check out Star Trek: Discovery if you want to see David Cronenberg be weird and Michelle Yeoh be weird

Chris: Subscribe to Shudder or The Criterion Channel

Support on Patreon

Subscribe: RSS, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and more!

Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Tim Rogers, Brandon Sheffield, and Chris Plante. Edited by Esper Quinn. Original Music by Kurt Feldman.

The full panel reassembles to create an Insert Credit approved ranked list of twenty arcade games. Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Tim Rogers, and Brandon Sheffield. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

Nominees in Order of Discussion:

View the finalized ranked list in the forums!

A SMALL SELECTION OF THINGS REFERENCED:

Support on Patreon

Subscribe: RSS, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and more!

Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Tim Rogers and Brandon Sheffield. Edited by Esper Quinn. Original Music by Kurt Feldman.

Game annotater and journalist John Learned joins the panel to cover dead babies, doing a Batman, and Mr. Bones and me.

Questions this week:

LIGHTNING ROUND: Pull Quotes (01:03:30)

Recommendations and Outro (01:08:19)

Return to the forums to discuss this episode!

A SMALL SELECTION OF THINGS REFERENCED:

Recommendations:

Brandon: Buy stuff from Japan right now since the exchange rate is so good, Cypher (2002),

Frank: Beavis and Butt-Head

John: Breaking Bad

Jaffe: Send proof of new or upgrading Patreon membership to personally choose an obscure video game reference to open a future episode with! Wishlist Demonschool on Steam by Necrosoft. Check out our sister show, The Video Game History Hour. Enjoy the new action button reviews boku no natsuyasumi. Subscribe to Annotated Games by John Learned.

Support on Patreon

Subscribe: RSS, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and more!

Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Brandon Sheffield, and John Learned. Edited by Esper Quinn. Original Music by Kurt Feldman.

Brandon continues his time in Japan for the Tokyo Game Show by covering hidden shrines at Sega HQ with Lotte May and Yumiko Miyabe, Rez development with Mark Macdonald, Kaiju bars with Jun Shimizu, Tokyo Game Show games with Andrew Kiya, the Japanese language with Cheryl Ng, and video game purchases with Paul O’Leary McCann.

Discuss part II of this episode in the forums!

Hosted by Brandon Sheffield, with Lotte May, Yumiko Miyabe, Mark MacDonald, Jun Shimizu, Andrew Kiya, Cheryl Ng, and Paul O’Leary McCann. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

Full moon, hot cars, cool games, good records. Brandon Sheffield is in Japan for Tokyo Game Show 2022, and has lots to share from the trip, including a Nintendo HQ visit, Maidreamin’, highway driving and street racing spots with Chibi-Tech, and record store finds with Kenan Alpay.

Discuss this episode in the forums!

Hosted by Brandon Sheffield, with Chibi-Tech and Kenan Alpay. Edited by Esper Quinn. Original Music by Kurt Feldman.

The reunited Ash Parrish and Chris Kohler, both formerly of Kotaku Splitscreen, join Frank Cifaldi and Alex Jaffe in answering the top video game questions on Quora.

Questions this week:

LIGHTNING ROUND: Overwatch League Team Slogans (46:37)

Recommendations and Outro (50:35)

Any questions? Ask them in the forums!

A SMALL SELECTION OF THINGS REFERENCED:

Recommendations:

Frank: The Video Game History Hour

Ash: BPM: Bullets Per Minute

Chris: Immortality

Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish and Chris Kohler. Edited by Esper Quinn. Original Music by Kurt Feldman.

Brandon Sheffield reports from the Demonschool booth at PAX 2022, where he shares stories direct from Ian Adams, Frank Howley and our own Frank Cifaldi.

Hosted by Brandon Sheffield, with Ian Adams, Frank Howley and Frank Cifaldi. Edited by Esper Quinn. Original Music by Kurt Feldman.