In our last episode of 2017, Nate, Sebastian, Ryan, and David all gather to discuss ANOTHER WORLD, or OUT OF THIS WORLD as it was titled in the American market. We talk about how games borrow the language of cinema, games made by a single creator, and failed science experiments from our youth (stay for the story about boiled hamster brains).
SHOW NOTES:
GDC post-mortem talk w/ creator Eric Chahi:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjnUUIPIMn4
Nate, Sebastian, and Jordan gather to discuss SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, the debut game of Sega's mascot who was custom-built to take down a certain mustachioed plumber. Nate and Sebastian discuss being on the Sega side of the "console wars," Jordan dunks on the battery life of the Game Gear, and Nate gushes about the musical stylings of Masato Nakamura. Also there are some technical difficulties.
Nate, Sebastian, and Jordan sit down to discuss STREET FIGHTER II: THE WORLD WARRIOR, the game that started uncountable arcade brawls and heralded the arrival of a new genre: the fighting game. Hear us try to sort through the nine different iterations of the game, find out who's "the Taylor Swift of Street Fighter," and discover which classic combatant Jordan feels comfortable comparing to Eeyore. Then, after you're done listening, go home and be a family man!
SHOW NOTES:
The inspiration for Dhalsim, from "Master of the Flying Guillotine":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGkn8TFaySg
Polygon's excellent oral history of SF2:
https://www.polygon.com/a/street-fighter-2-oral-history
The final dumb tableau of the Street Fighter live action film:
https://youtu.be/VKsGYhb3g7g?t=1m21s
Nate and Ryan sit down this episode in bat and mist form, respectively, to discuss 1990's CASTLEVANIA III: DRACULA'S CURSE, the most fun you can have with a whip without bringing Devo into the picture. Hear discussion of Universal movie monsters, find out which host loves the Netflix Castlevania and which hates it, and discover the secret love that binds two men together (it's manticores).
SHOW NOTES:
Castlevania III on the Nintendo eShop:
https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/o1RG7sVLN_8mkQ2I31JCx7ZDVPofx1KG
I couldn't find the picture of the manticore that we referenced, sorry.
:(
Nate, Sebastian, David, and Jordan gather to discuss LEMMINGS, the 1991 puzzle/herding game from DMA Designs. Hear Nate's frustration at trying to play the game with a controller rather than a mouse, David's defense of actual lemmings (the animals), and Sebastian's theory that the Lemmings are Fraggles who have joined a cult. Also, we ponder what "Lemmings: Tactics" might look like.
SHOW NOTES:
Here’s a history of Lemmings in Mike Dailly’s own words: https://web.archive.org/web/20150627001229/http://www.javalemmings.com/DMA/Lem_1.htm
Apple’s 1985 “Lemmings” Ad:
Jordan returns to join Nate and Sebastian in discussing SUPER MARIO WORLD, the flagship title of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and one of the best side-scrolling platformers ever made. Come for the discussion of SMW's elegant level design, stay for infighting about the console wars and banter about swears. Jordan tells us about nightmarish ROM hacks, Nate tells a story about mushrooms in bubbles, and we make Sebastian watch the Super Mario World cartoon show.
SHOW NOTES:
An attempted Kaizo Mario run at AGDQ:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkMuNRjodCQ
Another Mario ROM hack, “Super Panga World”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt-unq5i_oU
All 13 episodes of the Super Mario World cartoon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCgS64Le_PA&list=PL7F9A88911148633F
“The Mama Luigi Project”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liqrfUYsOtA
Nate, Sebastian, and Ryan gather to discuss THE SECRET OF MONKEY ISLAND, a piratey point-and-click from LucasArts that still stands up as one of the funniest games in the medium. Nate discusses his love for interface jokes, Ryan seethes over a particular kind of gag, and Sebastian tells some heinous lies about episodes yet to come. Come for the discussion of comedy in videogames, stay for the rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle.
SHOW NOTES:
Play the original Monkey Island at the Internet Archive:
https://archive.org/details/012360
Or buy the Special Edition on Steam:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/32360/The_Secret_of_Monkey_Island_Special_Edition/
Here's Sam & Max Hit the Road:
David joins Nate and Sebastian to discuss FIRE EMBLEM: SHADOW DRAGON AND THE BLADE OF LIGHT, the Japan-only title that first blended the delicious chocolate of tactics with the peanut butter of JRPGs. Nate laments the lack of kissing in this first entry, David wonders about abstraction and scaling, and Sebastian takes every opportunity to turn the conversation toward SHINING FORCE, the tactics RPG that shaped his childhood. Come to hear the origins of one of our favorite genres of game, stay to listen to the legend of Jogurt.
SHOW NOTES:
Gaze upon the face of Jogurt:
https://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/shining/images/6/60/SF_Yogurt.png/revision/latest?cb=20160325141857
Nate, Sebastian, and Ryan gather to discuss JOHN MADDEN FOOTBALL, the 1990 game for the Sega Genesis. Join us as we discuss how football is a hybrid real-time/turn-based strategy game! Mourn as we reveal the childhood trauma caused by being Cleveland sports fans! Hear a story about Sebastian's job interview!
SHOW NOTES:
Madden NFL 18 - "Longshot" trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBZwjP6MpZo
Madden NFL 15 - "Madden Season":
Nate, Sebastian, and Ryan all gather - in one place this time! - to discuss SIMCITY, the revolutionary open-ended city simulator by Maxis Games. Come to hear about the bias inherent in the simulation, stay to learn which one of us compulsively added island prisons to his cities as a child.
SHOW NOTES:
SimCity at the internet archive:
https://archive.org/details/msdos_SimCity_1989
"Micropolis":
http://www.graememcc.co.uk/micropolisJS/
SimCity SNES manual PDF (note Mr. Wright on the cover!):
Paolo Pedercini's essay on the bias inherent in the Sim-ulation:
Nate, Sebastian, and David gather to discuss POPULOUS, the progenitor of the God Game. Thrill at the raising and lowering of land! Hear Sebastian shout "Volcano!" several times! Find out whether we think its creator, Peter Molyneux, is a visionary or a huckster! Discover what it means to "Shoot the Hooch!"
SHOW NOTES:
GDC Postmortem on Populous featuring Peter Molyneux -
Nate, Sebastian, and David spend some time reminiscing about FINAL FANTASY, a game near and dear to their hearts. Come for the discussion of how the game unfolds itself before the player, stay for the sordid tale of the boys' proudest and most shameful undertaking. Also, we discover how much it would cost you to buy an intact box of Swedish Chef-themed breakfast cereal "Croonchy Stars."
SHOW NOTES:
Here is that picture Sebastian insists that Nate share with the listening audience. A truer portrait of pride and shame was never captured on film.
https://gobackandplay.tumblr.com/post/162679733026/the-podcast-hosts-having-just-finished-a-five-day
Nate and Sebastian are joined by newcomer David to discuss MANIAC MANSION, the game that put LucasArts on the map and spawned a new genre: the "point-and-click" adventure. Come for the jokes, stay to find out which one of us microwaved a hamster.
SHOW NOTES:
YouTube playlist of Maniac Mansion TV series episodes: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqA06yA79_IkUWxugT-RSkP6diKpo1Hib
Hint poster:
http://www.maniacmansionfan.50webs.com/images/pc%20hint%20poster.jpg
Alarm book cover:
http://www.maniacmansionfan.50webs.com/images/nukem2.jpg
Nintendo Power cover:
Nate and Sebastian have a quick discussion about R-TYPE, one of the best shmups of the 1980s. Learn about Nate's encounter with Edward James Olmos, Sebastian's favorite game box art of all time, and how games can be overwhelming in a way much different than other media.
SHOW NOTES:
Sebastian's favorite game box art of all time:
https://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/9/93770/2364533-snes_phalanx.jpg
Nate, Sebastian, and Jordan gather to discuss METAL GEAR, a game about being sneaky and talking on the radio. We discuss donuts, the commonalities of codec conversations and Shakespearean soliloquies, and how a game can be anti-war but pro-soldier. Jordan tries not to get too deep into the weeds of Metal Gear lore.
SHOW NOTES:
A picture of the Metal Gear cover next to a promotional still from Terminator:
http://www.cannotunsee.net/post/1051633464/metalgear
A Kotaku UK article about "Worlds of Power":
http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2015/07/21/the-metal-gear-novelisation-is-super-weird
Nate, Sebastian, Ryan and Jordan all gather to discuss Dragon Warrior, one of the earliest breakout JRPGs. Come for discussion of grinding and exploring, stay to hear a long digression about slow TV and to find out who drank an entire boot full of beer this weekend (it was Sebastian).
Nate, Sebastian, and Ryan gather to discuss The Legend of Zelda, the biggest open-world game they've encountered so far and the origin of yet another of gaming's longest-running series. Come for the discussion of the dichotomy between textual and meta-textual information, stay for Ryan's daddy issues and to find out what kind of bed sheets Sebastian had as a child.
SHOW NOTES:
Original NES manual:
http://legendsoflocalization.com/media/the-legend-of-zelda/manuals/ZeldaNESManual.pdf
The opening to the Zelda cartoon that ran as part of the SMB Super Show:
https://youtu.be/OE4VkfYaP1w?t=1m
Playlist of episodes:
Nate, Sebastian, and Ryan are joined by special guest Lucy to discuss The Oregon Trail, staple of all '80s elementary classrooms. Come to hear about the hardships of cross-country emigration in the 1840s, stay to find out why Ryan means to take pictures of his local Cinnabon.
SHOW NOTES:
GDC Post-mortem of The Oregon Trail with Don Rawitsch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdGNFhKhoKY
Game Informer's history of the MECC:
Play The Oregon Trail (MS-DOS) at the Internet Archive!
Nate, Sebastian, and Ryan gather to discuss Gauntlet, the arcade game that popularized four-player co-op and raised the bar for game narratives with classic lines like "WIZARD NEEDS FOOD BADLY." We discuss the tensions between cooperation and competition, four-player games we've loved, and Ryan's nostalgia for sword and sorcery.
Nate, Sebastian, and Jordan convene to discuss Super Mario Bros., one of the truly revolutionary games. Naturally, they quite bungle it. Learn, in this episode, how Nintendo revitalized the home console market, why Sebastian thinks SMB is an "elegant" game, and why Nate would be comfortable being married by the ghost of Captain Lou Albano.
SHOW NOTES:
Super Mario Bros. 3 commercial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrATmeFoJPE
"Super Mario Bros. Super Show" intro:
Nate, Sebastian, and Ryan discuss Tetris. Maybe the best game ever made? Listen to Nate relate the mixed-up story of the game's intellectual property rights, listen to each host's pitch for the filmic version of Tetris, and find out which block Ryan thinks "has a nose."
SHOW NOTES:
Tetris on an oscilloscope:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmFPQJRkb5s
"Tetris: From Russia With Love" (BBC Documentary):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhwNTo_Yr3k
Box Brown's "Tetris: The Games People Play":
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M28OM76/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Commercial for Jurassic Park Tiger handheld game:
Nate, Sebastian, and Ryan gather to discuss Marble Madness, gaming's most spherical pastime. Come for our discussion of the game's awesome music, stay for the beginning of Sebastian and Ryan's life-long blood feud over whether or not Star Wars is trash. All hate mail can be delivered directly to the @GoBackandPlay twitter account, addressed to Sebastian.
Show notes:
You can play the original arcade version of Marble Madness for free at the Internet Archive:
https://archive.org/details/arcade_marble
Here's a link to Mark Cerny's GDC post-mortem of the game on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klPs3KrXiJE
Here's a link to a video by Gaming History Source showcasing tons of different ports of MM to various systems:
Nate, Sebastian, and Jordan gather to discuss Dragon's Lair, the arcade game that ran on Laserdisc and looked just like a cartoon! Because it was a cartoon. We talk about Don Bluth films, "Quick Time Events," and problematic damsels.
All four boys sit down to unpack E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial for the Atari 2600, frequently saddled with the title of "Worst Game Ever." We discuss whether we think that's a fair assessment, as well as why the videogame market crashed in 1983 and whether we were ever gifted any terrible games. Ryan makes several off-color jokes, Jordan brings up "Custer's Revenge," and Nate eats from a bag of Reese's Pieces to regain his energy.
Nate, Sebastian, and Ryan return from holiday hiatus to discuss Robotron: 2084, the apocalyptic action classic that popularized the twin-stick shooter. Come for a discussion of robots and flashing lights, stay to learn Ryan's grievous misconception about the Williams Sonoma corporation and Sebastian's morbid fascination with Sean Connery's outfit in "Zardoz."
This episode is rated "Explicit" because Ryan says a swear once and also uses the term... ugh... "Thick Dad."
