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0:59

Hi, everybody. Welcome a cursed episode

1:01

of an intended horse cat's episode six

1:03

hundred forty five. I am your

1:05

host, Seth Macy, with me today

1:07

is -- Industry Legend. Kat Bailey.

1:09

I don't know how we actually managed to

1:11

start recording, but we're

1:12

doing it really good news. We got this.

1:15

He wasn't even supposed to be here today. Per

1:18

Schneider. I

1:18

am Jeff Vega today. Yes. The

1:22

Angel General. The Hugh Vega.

1:25

The hero that we need --

1:27

Yes. -- in holding a Kirby,

1:29

I believe, it is Rev Allen. I

1:31

am here with Warm Kirby. Warm

1:34

Kirby. New

1:36

York Katz reporter on IGN dot

1:38

com. New reporter who plugs in via USB

1:40

and gets very warm. Out you hug him

1:42

and he's cozy. That is if

1:45

well, that's the we're changing the topic of the

1:47

show again to the form of a warm curvy

1:49

review. Ten out of ten. There's nothing

1:51

wrong with him at all. Amazing. Actually,

1:54

we're gonna talk about Fire Emblem Engage.

1:56

None of us have actually played virus.

2:00

There you go. But Bernad Graeber didn't

2:02

review it, gave it a nine out of

2:04

ten on iGen dot com. Go out. Check

2:06

that review. However, none

2:09

of us have played it yet, but we

2:11

all have thoughts and

2:13

feelings. Here, I would like to start with

2:15

you because you are a little bit of a a

2:17

fire emblem aficionado. I think

2:19

that's fair to say. Are

2:22

you looking forward After reading the review,

2:24

after reading the

2:24

details, nine to ten on nine gen dot

2:26

com, are you looking forward to planning fireable

2:28

to engage? You don't even know how much. Like, when

2:30

when you were saying none of us had had played

2:32

it. It sounds like we're a loof about it. That's

2:35

absolutely not true. Oh, yeah. No. It's just because

2:37

it hasn't come out yet. That's right. We're not

2:39

the reviewer of the game, so they weren't enough codes

2:41

to go around for us to play it ahead of release,

2:43

but I am going to buy it.

2:46

The moment it's live in the eShop, I

2:48

am so excited to play it. And

2:51

many different reasons, I, you know,

2:53

I think I talked about this on the show before

2:55

I accidentally fire

2:57

and blood when I lived in Japan. I just picked it

2:59

up because it set Nintendo and the box art

3:01

was cool. And I absolutely

3:04

just got lost in this game and and kinda

3:06

couldn't couldn't believe how I

3:08

never how I never knew about

3:10

this this franchise before. And

3:12

then I proceeded and played every game

3:14

in the series since. And I

3:17

am I watch trailers for this.

3:19

I watch footage of this. I watch and

3:21

and red brandon's review. And

3:23

it feels like we're

3:26

doing a little bit more of a classic

3:28

fire emblem game where some of the

3:30

social elements that, you know, we

3:32

we we liked in three houses got

3:34

kind of, like, shrunk a little bit, which,

3:36

you know, I'm ready

3:38

for that. I really love

3:40

the strategy gameplay. I love it when

3:43

Fire Emblem is a little faster paced

3:45

and doesn't take too long to

3:47

tell its story. It's not to say that it

3:49

didn't really like. I I really like three houses

3:51

and I loved all the social elements, but

3:53

it's also these sort of If every

3:55

game was like that, I would get bored with

3:57

it. And so I'm happy that this this sort

3:59

of variation I

4:01

don't want all my Zelda games to be the same

4:04

either, and I I couldn't be more excited for

4:06

this one. So you're saying Fire Emblem

4:08

three houses is for babies? No.

4:10

I really like that. I I think it's

4:12

just kidding. It it was such a

4:14

such a fantastic game. I really really

4:16

liked it, but I you it's

4:18

like animal crossing. If animal

4:20

crossing came out every two years, I

4:22

think I would be a bit

4:24

bored unless something fundamentally

4:26

changed. Right? Because you you understand the

4:29

loop. And, you know, with this

4:31

sort of the hub world in the fire emblem games

4:33

getting bigger and bigger and taking up more of

4:35

your time and becoming more

4:37

important to the develop of your crew

4:39

and the relationships, you

4:41

know, it it does feel like if we

4:43

went down that exact same route and it

4:45

was again, like, you know, a fire emblem

4:47

Friday emblem Hogwarts or something, I'd

4:49

be like, I feel like I've played this before. So

4:52

I do love the dual I

4:54

do love the returning characters here. I'm

4:56

a obviously big fan of of

4:58

Martha and Friends and I

5:00

hope it is as fast paced

5:03

and and well executed as

5:05

a game like Mario rabbits or, you know,

5:07

our our recent Marvel

5:10

game that we got in in the term based strategy

5:13

genre.

5:14

What was the did Brandon didn't mention

5:16

how long it took him to beat it? I'm sure

5:18

he did. And completely I

5:20

forgot how long correctly we find out.

5:22

They usually, like, forty forty hour

5:24

games, but yeah. How long to beat

5:26

info isn't up yet. Because it has to

5:28

be released first for us to display that. But yeah.

5:31

Very cool. Kat, are

5:34

you looking forward to fire emblem Engage? I

5:36

mean, yeah, I was a

5:38

little bit on the fence for a while about it

5:40

because it seemed to me

5:42

to be a little bit of a gimmick. Bringing

5:44

back all of the original fire emblem

5:47

characters. I put a lot of hours into

5:49

fire emblem heroes, and I really enjoyed

5:51

it at the time. But I

5:54

wasn't sure if I wanted something

5:56

kind of in that vein, very fan service

5:58

y. But reading

6:00

the reviews tells me

6:02

that I think that it's a nice

6:04

little change of pace from

6:06

fire emblem three

6:06

houses, especially in the battlefield. I love that they're

6:08

bringing back the the weapons triangle?

6:11

Because I

6:12

missed that in the last one. Yeah. As much as I

6:14

loved fire emblem three houses, I thought the

6:16

actual action on the battlefield got

6:18

to be a little bit of a grind, especially in

6:20

the back half of the game. It

6:23

was much more strategic in the way that you

6:25

built up your character and leveled them up,

6:27

came up, figured out your

6:29

class composition, and then you just kind of grinded

6:31

through lots and lots of

6:33

enemies until you got to the end.

6:35

Whereas this one, they bring back the

6:37

weapons triangle, and it's very intense because you

6:39

can actually disarm opponents

6:42

and they can disarm you so that you have to be

6:44

a lot more. I think intentional

6:46

about how you place your your characters?

6:49

As you say, could you, like, maybe a little

6:51

brief overview of the weapon strangle for those of us who

6:53

are not familiar? It's like rock paper scissors,

6:55

so basically Oh, hell yeah. I know that game.

6:57

There's a Lance, there's an ax, there's a

6:59

sword, sword beats, ax, ax

7:01

beats, Lance, land speeds sword.

7:03

Yeah. The spear

7:05

has reached -- Exactly. -- cuts the spear

7:07

in half. Like, if you visualize it, it's similar

7:09

to, you know, fire water elementary

7:12

strength strengths in in role

7:14

playing games.

7:14

Yeah. And there's other aspects as well. Like, the

7:17

bow can shoot down a pegasus. Like, that

7:19

was an Alex Ashbeck and TreeHouse.

7:20

This looks like a real life. Yeah. Yeah,

7:22

if you're flying, you're vulnerable to errors.

7:24

So it it all makes sense, but what it creates

7:26

in the game is this sort of tension. Right? Like,

7:28

if you screw up and you

7:31

put your spear guy, you forget

7:33

to move your spear guy out of the way of an

7:35

axe attacker. You're fretting. Right? Like

7:37

you're hoping that that's not the end for the character.

7:39

And if you play fire emblem the way it

7:41

should be played with permanent

7:43

death. Thank you,

7:44

man. You know, like,

7:46

for me, that's I always

7:48

really loved that way and I've, you know, I

7:50

have a shortcut to restarting the mission.

7:53

I I just I just love that

7:55

sort of threat looming over you and

7:57

I you know, it sucks when you're

7:59

replaying a mission that's two hours long, but it's

8:01

still fun. Yeah. I I love

8:03

this kind of element of

8:03

tension. Look how could the art looks? Yeah.

8:06

It doesn't sound like the art the story as

8:08

much, but fire emblem

8:10

stories can be a little variable in their

8:12

actual quality. Mhmm. It's kinda

8:14

going back to where it was. I think three houses

8:16

as strength was definitely a story.

8:18

And for people and

8:20

I think fire emblem three houses as a result

8:22

brought in a ton of new fans.

8:25

And I think maybe those new fans

8:28

are looking at fire and lung engage and

8:30

side dying a little bit. But I'm also

8:33

not I don't have a problem

8:35

with a series taking a

8:37

different approach, trying

8:39

maybe going back to its roots a little bit

8:41

celebrating its history. I don't think

8:43

this means that the three houses approach is

8:45

dead forever. And

8:47

I think that firearm Engage should

8:49

be enjoyed on its own merits. Okay.

8:52

Reb,

8:52

you got in trouble online for

8:55

seeing what you thought? Yeah.

8:57

Never do that. I was gonna say, are you

8:59

willing to relist that? But No.

9:02

So I I had a very mild

9:04

take I thought, which was that, hey, these

9:06

reviews look like It's a mild take. Yeah.

9:08

It looks like it's really fun for

9:10

the hardcore tactics nerds. I think it's

9:12

probably not for me and that's okay. Like, I

9:14

hope I hope everybody who's into this has fun. That

9:16

was my take. And a bunch of people decided to come

9:18

be weird and accuse me of being a

9:20

fake fire emblem fan, which look, I am a

9:22

newer fire emblem fan. I play I I've

9:24

talked about this on the show. I play as a Valencia and

9:26

liked it fine. And then I

9:29

got really, really into three houses. I put so

9:31

much time into three houses. And I'm one of

9:33

those people cat was like I like I said, I'd play Childs

9:35

of Valencia before, so it wasn't my first fire

9:37

emblem, but it was like the one that And a

9:39

pretty core fire emblem. But it might add

9:41

Three houses was the

9:41

thing where I was like, oh, Okay.

9:44

Now maybe I'm really in the fire emblem

9:45

and maybe this is it. Well, this is good.

9:47

Well,

9:47

this is good back to Eko's

9:50

Valencia. This this one is kinda going

9:52

back more towards that gameplay. I like

9:54

tactics games. Like, I'm I'm still playing Mario

9:56

rabbit's sparks of hope. I played

9:58

floppy nights last year. Like, I I like

10:00

tactics games. I'm not a person who's anti tactics

10:02

games, but I like I like softer

10:04

tactics games. I like tactics games that have

10:06

like other things. So I really liked the

10:08

character customization in building your your little

10:10

school element. I liked all

10:12

of the tea parties and the socialization and the

10:14

romances and getting to spend time with the

10:16

characters and watch the modest area of all. Like, I really like

10:18

that on top of the tactic stuff.

10:20

And, like, I I would probably have a really good

10:22

time with this. It sounds like it's really

10:24

good, but the fact that it has a weaker

10:26

story and the fact that it doesn't have as many of

10:28

those elements means I'm like, You

10:30

can go fishing though. Yeah. I'm I'm less

10:32

interested than I was. And so I'm born.

10:34

It's not a it's not me looking at this and thinking,

10:36

oh, I would hate this. It's me looking at this and thinking,

10:38

you know what? It's gonna be I

10:40

I don't remember how long either

10:42

it was said to be. But yeah, like like

10:44

many hours long, and there's so many other games

10:46

out there right now. I think I'm gonna watch my

10:48

partner play it and play something else. And that's like,

10:50

okay. I'm so stoked for the people who

10:52

are excited about it. Normal. It's That's

10:55

normal behavior. It's fine. And

10:57

I'm I'm I I really I

10:59

agree with what YouTube have said about

11:01

it being good that the franchise gets to do

11:03

two different things. Mhmm. Like, I love that there's two

11:05

kinds of Zelda game. There's top down,

11:07

very dudgeon puzzle oriented, and then there's kind

11:09

of this more open three d adventure

11:11

y sort of thing. I love that those two things

11:13

exist simultaneously, and I I

11:15

hope that after this, we

11:17

get, you know, here in, like, 234

11:19

we get something that is more in the vein of three

11:22

houses. And then I hope we get more things like this

11:24

for the more, like, hardcore people. I hope

11:26

we keep getting many different kinds of

11:28

fire emblem for all the people who enjoy things

11:30

and especially for all the people who came in with

11:32

three houses and like a softer fire

11:33

emblem. I'm glad it all exists.

11:35

Please enjoy. It looks really fun. Yeah.

11:37

I think the comparison to the Zelda

11:39

franchise is is apt because, like, I

11:41

would not miss a link's awakening

11:43

reboot. But I also love

11:45

the direction that breath of the wild has taken.

11:47

Right? And then I'll I'll I'll say

11:49

that the difference between this fire

11:51

emblem in the way in the waking or

11:53

three houses probably not as big as

11:55

the difference between breath of the wild and legs

11:57

awakening. Right? They're much closer

11:59

together. From what I've seen, I've I've seen

12:01

this game played in the office before it

12:03

came out. The

12:05

UI is awesome. They're just and

12:07

and this is something about Nintendo. And

12:09

and some of its partners like Jupiter, we're we're

12:11

making the Picross games. Like, they

12:13

they really think about the control

12:16

UI and the menu systems

12:18

at Interim. They just kind of they

12:20

they tweak them until it feels right.

12:22

And every time I've played like an advance

12:24

wars or a a fire

12:27

emblem clone, And I'd move the unit.

12:29

I'm like, oh, no. Why do they make you

12:31

go to the bottom to finish the

12:33

move? Or, like, they they would, like, hide

12:35

an option that you would use all the time

12:37

and make kinda harder to select or

12:39

they won't automatically show you the range

12:41

of the character or some stupid thing

12:43

like that and then you go back to fire

12:45

emblem, you're like, thank you.

12:47

You know, it's just and and this one this

12:49

one seems like it's it's even

12:50

better. And can I just talk about the graphics for

12:52

a hot second? Yeah. Like, please. After

12:55

all the discourse about how

12:57

Nintendo Switch is totally washed, the

12:59

graphics are absolutely garbage.

13:02

We have what seems like a

13:04

very lovely looking game. Every

13:06

time I watch the the battle sequences,

13:08

the story sequences, I'm like, this game

13:10

looks great. Yep. It just shows to

13:12

me what really

13:14

strong art direction can mean

13:16

for a game on Nintendo Switch. No, it's

13:19

not nearly technically ambitious

13:21

as a Pokemon game.

13:23

Sure. It's not an open world game. It's a

13:25

top down tactics game. So

13:27

they're gonna have an easier time of it. But honestly,

13:30

I think the art direction, just in

13:32

general, is so much

13:34

better than either of the Pokemon games that

13:36

came out last

13:36

year.

13:37

Nope. Yeah. Yeah. It's real pretty.

13:40

I think I

13:42

agree with you a hundred percent. Just wanna

13:44

play it. Yeah. Beautiful

13:45

anime boys and girls showing their

13:48

navels. Want

13:50

to see it's very important. Battle. Very

13:52

important. It is a China import. It's important to

13:55

be very hot while you're fighting. I'm

13:57

gonna put this to the audience what the

13:59

over under is on me playing

14:01

this more than three hours. And deciding

14:03

it's not for me. Did you play three

14:05

houses? I played three houses and it

14:07

wasn't for

14:07

me. How are you? I love rabbits or or

14:10

Well, I thought it's not I've said it a million times, I'm

14:12

not strategy. RPG guy necessarily.

14:15

But I think it was the social stuff

14:17

in three houses that I've been, like It's so

14:19

much. Interesting.

14:19

Balcaria Chronicles four. I

14:22

loved, like, just battling in that

14:24

game.

14:24

Yeah. Really interesting with that. So And

14:26

to those who are, you know, like, if you're on the fence and

14:28

you ask asking is this game for you? Because that's

14:30

a really valid question. Like, a review

14:32

is never gonna be able to a

14:34

hundred percent tell you whether the game is right for

14:36

you. It's just the experience of the review. And

14:38

Brendan really loved it. Right? But

14:40

it's like, I would approach it with, like, if you've tried

14:42

a game like a tactics over or even,

14:44

you know, any of the isometric

14:46

churn based strategy RPGs, they're

14:48

a little bit more fussy. They require

14:51

you to kind of determine which direction you

14:53

face at the end of the turn. Right?

14:55

Because They have systems where if you get the

14:57

attack from the back, it causes more damage. And,

14:59

like, fire emblem and advance

15:01

wars are a little different in that

15:03

their abilities, the the characters

15:05

abilities matter and, you know, and find them

15:07

you can upgrade them and change them as well.

15:09

But it's, like, it's not as far see about

15:11

the little details of, like, which way you

15:13

face and all of that stuff. So

15:16

I think, you know, if this is your

15:18

first game, give it a try, like, in in that genre. I I

15:20

think this this might be the right

15:21

one. Yeah. I think it's also true. I mean, you can

15:23

kind of do what I'm doing if you're on the fence. Like,

15:25

if you don't have a whole lot else to

15:27

play now and I'm just curious, like, give it a try, see if

15:29

it's for you. But if you have twenty

15:31

other things that you're really excited to play

15:33

and you're not really sure about

15:35

one. It's okay to go play those other things and maybe come back

15:37

to this later if you really feel strongly about it.

15:39

It's like it's

15:39

coming out right now. And it's not like

15:42

it's not like Zeno Blade where

15:44

you start playing and there's one thousand

15:46

game systems and you're like, which

15:49

button does what? Again, it's like it it

15:51

slowly builds and it kinda eases

15:53

you into into into the

15:54

gameplay. Yeah. No.

15:55

There's not a million games coming out right now, but I have a

15:57

backlog, like, a million miles long. There's a bunch of, like,

15:59

little inks and stuff that have come out recently that I've been

16:01

poking my head into. think the

16:03

interesting thing about Intelligent Systems is

16:05

that even though they have this reputation

16:07

for being kinda hardcore --

16:09

Yeah. -- especially the Fire Emblem series

16:11

from back in the

16:12

day, I've always found

16:14

that they're surprisingly accessible and they've

16:16

only gotten more accessible since fire

16:18

emblem awakening came out because

16:20

It's very straightforward, I think, in

16:22

the way that it handles its tactics and

16:24

its positioning of its characters. It's

16:26

unforgiving. But it's very easy

16:28

to

16:28

understand. But you can tweak it. Right? Like the

16:31

later games and the early fireblips weren't like

16:33

that. The later games let you rewind

16:35

time, so you've got this ability to

16:37

undo a stupid move. And by the way,

16:39

we've all done them in fire emblem games where, like,

16:41

you move it, you and you're like, oh, no. I

16:43

meant to go the other way and, like, and then you

16:45

screw it. And so I think having

16:47

those scratches is is really nice. Ken, head butts

16:49

you're controlling. I think that's what turns me off.

16:51

All of them. With strategy, RPGs is

16:53

when I make a wrong move, I am

16:55

devastated and I can't get over it and I just don't

16:57

wanna play anymore. I'm like, well, I screwed that

16:59

battle up and now I'm gonna get a bad score

17:01

and I'm gonna lose a person and I just don't

17:03

wanna play as I Man perfection. We we

17:05

made a joke about gatekeeping earlier, but, like,

17:07

what they really did with fire emblem is, like, they

17:09

let somebody as a purist and has played fire

17:12

emblem forever they let them

17:14

continue to play the games like that, but they

17:16

added all these different options so that

17:18

you can tailor it to your experiences. Like,

17:20

if you don't if

17:22

you don't want your characters to be dead because

17:24

you made a stupid move at the

17:26

end of the the round that can be

17:28

revived and and --

17:28

Yep. --

17:29

you know,

17:29

though, you don't have those repercussions, and

17:31

and you can take back certain moves too. Yeah. And it's stuff like

17:33

that that I think helped me get into the

17:36

series on the whole just because

17:38

it was no longer this the

17:40

scary daunting thing. Yeah. And that certainly helped in

17:42

three houses. And, yeah, I I might circle back to

17:44

this later. Like like I said, I'm not

17:46

remotely put off I think it looks Oh, I

17:48

read an op ed. They said you hated it.

17:51

Right.

17:51

Yeah.

17:51

I read a bunch

17:52

of people on Twitter who said that I

17:54

clearly should never play tactics. Games

17:56

and should only put visual novels. So, you know Yeah. Oh, you're

17:58

a fire emblem fan named three

18:01

houses. The

18:04

the Perma death discourse, I think, from fire

18:06

emblem, is well in its past at this point.

18:08

It's -- Yeah. -- it's almost

18:11

At this point. Yeah. I mean, it's still it's it's

18:13

kind of like hardcore mode. Yeah. A lot of

18:15

other

18:15

games where it's like you could pick it if you

18:17

want, but most are gonna probably get It was the

18:19

sister topic too, you know, should souls

18:22

born's be easier or has

18:24

adjustable difficulty with maybe

18:26

the brother topic Well, the important thing on

18:29

discussions like that online is that nobody wins.

18:31

In fact, we all win. That's right. No. Our

18:33

humidity -- Yeah. -- by participating in

18:35

them. So well,

18:37

That's fire and momentum gauge. If you're wondering what pairs

18:39

gonna be doing this weekend, want to know

18:41

more. He's gonna post a picture on Instagram

18:44

some beer that you've never heard of. Mhmm. And his

18:46

switch with fire emblem -- Yep. -- it's gonna say weekend.

18:48

And that's gonna be it. We I gotta find a

18:50

beer that's blue and red and one.

18:52

That's two things. There's two

18:55

things. I guess, I've

18:57

What's the price? There you go.

18:59

Come here. Perfect. It's a perfect perfect

19:03

partner, the fire and lemon gauge.

19:05

Hey, what's that guy?

19:07

Oh my god. Jeffrey Vega from

19:09

the Internet. I didn't know that he was gonna be

19:11

showing up here. What's up, Jeffrey?

19:13

I think his mic is messed

19:15

up. He's very excited. Yes.

19:17

Jeffrey, by the way, has

19:19

been the super nintended world. And he was

19:21

so blown away

19:23

by it. He was unable to

19:25

speak. Has not Well, I think

19:28

the fact he's using an 645

19:30

expansion pack as a mic might have something

19:32

to do with that too.

19:33

Well -- Yeah. -- that his original mic just

19:35

didn't have enough RAM. Yeah. So that's why he

19:37

has that. He needs to get that k

19:39

u Pikachu microphone, the one

19:41

that's so, like, low quality that

19:44

Pikachu can't actually understand you. Yeah.

19:47

Yeah. We were we were supposed to ask

19:50

Jeffrey about Super Nintendo World this week, but

19:52

various guys have complicated

19:53

that. Yeah. So pardon our technical difficulties,

19:56

but Jeff Vega will return. You

19:58

can go check out

19:58

our speedrun of Super Nintendo World over

20:01

on ice can. How is supremely jealous

20:03

of the world? I would like to be there

20:05

instead of here right now too. Hair? I

20:07

mean, no offense to all of

20:09

you. But What are we doing our lives

20:10

here in the mortgage this One ninety

20:12

three

20:12

dollar show. You control the budget pair.

20:15

No. I don't have a big deal. I

20:17

need the budget first.

20:19

Twenty twenty three headwinds. Travel and

20:22

entertainment.

20:22

Let's go. We don't need to do games comp.

20:25

We were saying,

20:25

let's rent fifty three. Let's rent bicycles. Let's

20:28

all let's Let's fly to fly to

20:30

LA on the e three. It's in just

20:31

not do e three, and go to Oh, okay.

20:33

That sounds like Sticking my thumb out.

20:36

A good place. I'm gonna hit check across America. That will be an adventure in

20:38

and of itself just to get

20:40

to super Nintendo world. Does travel

20:41

log? It would be like the wizard you're

20:44

getting to Oh, my god.

20:46

No. California.

20:47

Yes. He goes universal studios

20:50

in that movie. I was more thinking

20:51

national lampoons. He does a

20:53

little bit like a young Chevy Chase too now that

20:55

I think about it. He

20:57

does. Does it? Yeah. I'm much

20:59

I'm much nicer. Oh,

21:00

okay. That's true. Well, the character

21:03

is -- Yeah. -- mister Griswold. Let's

21:05

say that -- Yes. -- whose first

21:07

name

21:07

escapes me even though it's Clark Clark -- Seth -- --

21:10

Oswald. -- Seth Mason -- --

21:12

Oswald. -- you were talking

21:12

about budgets a second ago, and that's the perfect

21:15

segue to talk about learning.

21:17

Wow. No. It isn't. But, yes, it is. Because they're

21:19

both empty money. MPAs, excuse me. MPDs,

21:21

which is the the

21:24

national Parmesan district.

21:26

I wish. Mhmm. Yeah. Can you

21:28

imagine a whole district of the United

21:30

States dedicated to Parmesan cheese.

21:34

Not shredded or in blocks

21:36

however you like it. But that's actually not what it stands for.

21:38

I don't remember, but it doesn't matter. They put out their

21:40

monthly list of

21:42

the top selling games which

21:45

side note, is it a hundred

21:47

percent accurate because not everyone reports the

21:49

same way? Like, Nintendo doesn't report.

21:52

It's digital. Sales. So when you see an

21:54

intent of you on there, it's only physical version. But

21:56

anyway, it's a close intent with that.

21:58

It's the closest we got. The best we got. What sold

22:00

in stores? Yes. And so

22:03

Nintendo did some

22:05

things. Surprisingly, to no

22:07

one, Mario Kart eight still Well,

22:10

a rep, you actually wrote

22:12

an analysis of this, so you can speak

22:14

to this with an expert voice

22:17

Whereas I am just talking out of

22:19

my

22:19

shoe. Yeah. So the

22:22

list the list we have up right now, if you're on

22:24

video is the December top ten

22:26

telling things. And I didn't talk about that too much

22:28

because it's pretty it's pretty straightforward. Right? Like

22:30

like no one no one is

22:33

shocked. To see Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

22:35

selling bonkers amounts of

22:37

copies. Like, we just know

22:38

this. Oh, that's is that the That's

22:41

just in general. Yeah. That's just in general.

22:43

Violet being at the top of the Swiss charts is no

22:45

shocker. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare two, selling the

22:47

most overall platforms in December.

22:50

Shocks no one. The thing that I found

22:52

kind of interesting that I ended up talking about in

22:54

an article on IGN was what was going on

22:56

with Mario Rabbit's sparks of hope? So So

22:58

Ubisoft had this kind of, like, emergency

23:00

conference call, like, a week ago where

23:02

they freaked out and canceled a bunch

23:04

of games that or not. They

23:06

canceled a bunch of games that we've never heard of before, and then they delayed

23:09

skull and bones for, like, the sixth time.

23:11

But then they also said in there that

23:14

Mario rabbit's parks of hope

23:15

underperformed. Mhmm.

23:16

And it's kind of the situation where they were acting

23:18

like they were gonna let that and just dance

23:20

twenty three carry their ear for them.

23:22

But I was looking into the NPD. And so to be clear, NPD

23:24

is only US sales

23:26

and it's dollar

23:27

sales. And -- Yes. -- because Spark's

23:29

focus on internal platforms, we don't have digital

23:32

sales. So and also, these are rankings. Like, we don't

23:34

actually get a unit sales number for how many

23:36

units it sold. So it's all, like, very

23:38

relative and fuzzy. But I

23:40

was looking into it and sparks of hope seems like it did

23:43

fine. Like, it

23:45

came out in hold on. It

23:47

came out in October. And

23:50

it debuted at number six and then

23:52

held on at number thirteen and number fourteen in

23:54

November and December, which I think is fine

23:56

for like a Nintendo Switch exclusive

23:59

that is not like a Call of Duty and is

24:01

in competition

24:01

with, like, Call of Duty, Eldon bringing a bunch of

24:03

sports titles, like -- And

24:04

Pokemon. -- and Pokemon.

24:05

I mean, that seems fine. But the the

24:08

context being, I think, Ubisoft

24:10

had such high hopes because they don't

24:12

have an assassin's creed. Right? They

24:14

don't have their sort of triple a

24:16

game that really brings in the money and gets

24:19

investors excited and all of that. And I

24:21

think they were hoping this would be it because there

24:23

was nothing else from Nintendo

24:25

like, no Mario

24:25

game, no Zelda game this holiday season. I think it's

24:27

just because it

24:28

has Mario in it. Yeah. I I think

24:30

that in my experience. So maybe maybe

24:32

it might bring advice in it. But he's a

24:35

battle. Like, see, Ken, we don't have comparison

24:37

numbers. So it's it's not possible to actually one

24:39

to one compare it with Kingdom Battle, but I was looking up how

24:41

Kingdom Battle did its own PD.

24:43

And Kingdom battle so it it's a little awkward because it came out

24:45

at the end of August, but the days

24:47

that it was out in August were

24:49

not counted for the month of August for NPD. So

24:51

it doesn't appear until September, which is

24:53

an NBD thing. But it it locked

24:55

a debut at number five. So it was a

24:57

little higher than Sparks Pope's debut in

25:00

September. And then just completely vanishes from

25:02

the top twenty in October, November, and

25:04

December. Yeah. So it didn't even

25:06

beat like anything else that was selling during that

25:08

time period. And great twenty seventeen was pretty stiff competition. I mean,

25:10

that year has breath of the wild and

25:13

odyssey. But even though it twenty

25:15

seventeen had a bunch of really big games, it

25:17

didn't have I think the sheer

25:19

number of enormous big games that

25:21

we have going on right now. And

25:23

so, like, it's just it's very weird.

25:26

Like, I want it makes me wonder what

25:28

what was Ubisoft expecting for sparks

25:30

of hope? Like

25:31

I think hoping more than expecting.

25:33

Right? Like, this is you

25:36

you you yourself and I I actually

25:38

really like a lot of Ubisoft games. I'm

25:40

a biggest absence creed fan, and I love it when

25:42

they experiment with stuff like Mario

25:44

and rabbits. And, like, from a

25:46

Ubisoft like Activision were really

25:48

good at annualizing franchise, like

25:50

having this sort of stream

25:53

of big AAA games, and then

25:55

they obviously hit some challenges

25:57

on the development side or maybe maybe things

25:59

were just kind of ballooning out of control. Like, when

26:01

you look at the credits of an assassin's creed game, right, that's It's

26:03

the entire country, plus a couple

26:05

other countries mixed together mixed in. Right? It's

26:08

it's just getting insane. And I

26:10

think, honestly, I I think they

26:12

I think the pandemic delayed a bunch of stuff

26:14

and we're feeling the effects now.

26:16

And they're kind of off their off their game and,

26:18

like, they don't have their usually kind

26:20

of fun experiments either. You

26:22

know? It's like And it used

26:24

to be that just dance was

26:27

just this money making machine that they would

26:29

put on every platform they would

26:31

still publish it on the last

26:33

N Nintendo platform, like the We or BU. And

26:35

it would still make a lot of money. And, like, I

26:37

think a couple of things are broken now, you

26:39

know, things things change. So

26:42

I hear you. It's, like, it diff it definitely, like,

26:44

to say Ubisoft is in trouble because

26:46

Mario and Ravits didn't

26:47

perform. I think that's nonsense. Yeah. Right?

26:49

Like Like, I think they had higher

26:52

expectations. They thought everybody loved the last game,

26:54

so everybody more people are gonna

26:56

buy this one and maybe that didn't happen.

26:58

Maybe they spun

27:01

a narrative for themselves, said, hey. Mario's in

27:03

this one. We've got a big marketing budget. It's

27:05

gonna be front and center. Yep.

27:08

And Nintendo's lineup. It's in

27:10

a prime position. It's only

27:12

really going against Pokemon.

27:15

Xbox literally has

27:15

nothing. Yeah. Yeah. Switch has a huge

27:17

install base. Surely, we can do better than we

27:19

did last time. I think they still They

27:21

would be the Mario game of the season. And

27:24

then, like, I will will say I don't I

27:26

don't I don't know how much they spend on marketing. It

27:28

wasn't ubiquitous. Like, I didn't I

27:30

didn't see a lot if I was gonna

27:32

bring that up. A lot of marketing. Like I'm, like, one of the

27:34

only people talking about that game. I really loved

27:36

it and and finished it. But it but

27:38

it was kinda quite around it. It being

27:40

a Mario game. Yeah.

27:42

Yeah. I did notice after after Laurent had

27:44

talked made made those comments about

27:46

the sales performance, like, in

27:49

the eShop, magically both Just

27:51

Dance and Martin Roberts went top in

27:53

the featured

27:53

category. So Funny. I think Nintendo went,

27:56

oh, let's let's at them somewhat sales.

27:58

Let's put it out there. So aside

28:00

from the fact that the rabbits, I think, are

28:02

actually a drag on this game. Oh. I

28:04

really do. Uh-huh. A level.

28:06

I think that it's a tactic series,

28:08

which is net niche anyway.

28:10

And so you need something that really

28:12

pushes it. And three, how's which

28:14

was very successful, but also not

28:16

like -- Mhmm. -- a huge seller.

28:18

It was successful by Fire Emblem

28:21

standards. Let's be honest, had the meaning and

28:23

had all of the peoples who are,

28:25

like, kissing and the thirsty characters.

28:27

You don't have that Mario plus rabbits

28:29

in sports culture. Even at

28:31

the same level of meaning, but you had the meaning in kingdom battle. Right? Because

28:34

everyone was surprised by Robin Peach --

28:36

Yeah. -- and all those kinds

28:36

of things. Yeah. It's kinda

28:39

old news. So I've been trying to sort of articulate

28:41

because I've been playing sparks of hope. I've actually annoyingly

28:43

been kinda stymied in the final world

28:45

because I keep like, I keep

28:48

having bugs Like, no. I didn't hear I didn't read and review that this was a buggy game,

28:50

so I don't know what's going on, but I now had three levels

28:52

just, like, bug out on me in a way that was making it

28:54

very difficult to complete. I'm trying

28:56

to finish it, and it's not working very well.

28:58

But, like, the thing I've been trying

29:00

to articulate about it is, Kingdom

29:02

Battle felt very surprising. Like,

29:04

people -- Yes. -- were not expecting it

29:06

to be good. And then over time, the

29:08

word got around that, hey, actually, this is

29:10

really good. And so everybody bought in

29:12

I think sparks of hope is good. I don't think it's a bad

29:15

game, but it doesn't have that same like

29:17

surprise factor. There's not a conversation around

29:19

being, hey, This is actually really

29:21

really freaking

29:21

good. Yeah. I

29:22

think there there was a little bit of chatter

29:24

saying, actually, the rabbits are fun. Right? Like,

29:26

there was -- Yeah.

29:27

-- you know, the the rabbits. They're

29:29

not I I I'm with you. If if

29:31

the rabbits were gone from this game, it'd be fine.

29:33

There's enough people in the in the

29:35

Mario kingdom to make this fun, but it's like

29:37

I thought they were actually really enjoyable and, like, you

29:40

know, this sort of the rabbit's

29:42

fandom for the Mario core

29:44

characters is is kinda charming

29:45

too. Like what they talk though,

29:47

I wanna say Yeah. That was weird. Right? Definitely. Part

29:49

of the original marketing

29:52

that could not have been planned or paid

29:54

for was when Shiguero Miyamoto

29:56

made the developer cry. That's

29:58

true. I think yeah. Yeah. And that was such

30:00

a sweet and, like, just amazing pure

30:02

honest moment that kinda just took everybody

30:05

Yeah. Like, it was still heartwarming and

30:07

that I think might have helped

30:09

sort of keep this game, the original game

30:11

in people's minds, not so much

30:13

there was nothing like that for for this one.

30:16

So I know, of course, you couldn't pay

30:18

to recreate that sort of thing. It would look

30:20

very weird. awkward. What's

30:22

what's funny is this one is much

30:24

more like paper Mario. Mhmm. You

30:26

know, like, the the sort of the

30:28

overworld has more hooks

30:30

in it. And the battles are more like,

30:32

you know, the the battles are like a variant

30:34

of the sort of battles you would get in Paper

30:36

Mario, whether you have some

30:38

interaction it's still turn based in a way,

30:40

but, like, you get to do more in. So it's more

30:42

interesting than a than a typical menu

30:44

menu driven battle from from

30:47

yesterday's JRPG's But, like, I I

30:49

thought the overall now,

30:51

visually, I think it struggled a bit. It didn't

30:53

run smoothly and had some

30:55

challenges. And I I don't think you

30:57

know, I I think it could have used a little bit more

30:59

time in refinement

31:00

there, but I thought the Overwatch was really interesting.

31:02

There were so many fun little things to

31:04

discover. I think the thing that I'm afraid of

31:06

is that this so Ubisoft has

31:08

so few weird franchises like

31:10

this

31:10

now. Like, they kind of nixed all of them

31:12

slowly over the years and and

31:15

this worked because rapid the Mario

31:17

Tennis Kingdom battle was such a hit for them and I thought

31:19

-- As far as the

31:19

hope would be successful

31:22

enough that they would this is worth continuing to

31:24

do. This partnership is worth continuing to

31:25

foster. But

31:26

I'm worried that now they've created this narrative

31:28

where, oh, this wasn't good enough. And so

31:30

I'm I'm very afraid that we're

31:32

gonna come up, you know, five years down the road, and they're

31:35

we're gonna be wondering, hey, I wonder if there's gonna be a new Mario

31:37

Roberts and they're not gonna do it

31:38

again. They're gonna just cling to

31:41

assasset's creed and all of that because the narrative was gonna be well,

31:43

it didn't do well enough for us. Yeah. Maybe

31:45

softness needs to fresh start in general. Like,

31:47

even the stuff that you would you would think would be

31:49

safe like rainbow six --

31:50

Yeah. -- that's

31:50

really not

31:51

paint panned out for them at

31:53

all. Prince of

31:54

Persia remake. What a disaster

31:56

Right? Like, we were supposed to get one and looked

31:58

really bad. These games aren't coming out

32:01

and wow. You look back on

32:03

twenty twenty two. Like, they're just

32:05

released late was totally barren, and they

32:07

are not like EA where they can fall back on a

32:09

fifa. Yeah. They're not like a

32:11

crazy blizzard where they've got Call of Duty bringing

32:13

in the monies. So it's like, what do

32:15

you do? All their attempts to make

32:17

those kinds of service games

32:19

have kind of fallen

32:20

flat. They

32:20

haven't most of the older ones were really Like,

32:22

one of the

32:23

one of the division which of the division? I don't

32:25

play these. Division two, maybe. One

32:27

of the divisions, like, carried them for so

32:29

for and long. Oh, yeah. An assassin's

32:31

creed Odyssey, I

32:32

think, did did really well for them from very low

32:34

ground. But it's dwindling. They haven't had anything to

32:36

report. Rainbow six is is a great game and

32:38

a long running game. And, like, when they succeed they succeed

32:41

well, I think one of Ubisoft challenges

32:43

is this sort of we want that two

32:45

syndrome. Right? Like, there's a

32:47

destiny. We want a destiny too. There's a

32:49

fortnight. We want a fortnight too. Right? And

32:51

so they they they do kind of

32:53

spread themselves thin. I

32:55

did like the announcements for what's happening with

32:57

Assassin's Creed. Oh, no. You know, like --

32:59

-- Mirage. -- Assassin's Creed. Mirage sounds good.

33:01

Going back to the Middle East, Hexa,

33:04

that's mid mid medieval Germany. I'm gonna pee myself.

33:06

I'm not here. So, like,

33:08

I I think there's a lot of interesting

33:10

stuff happening, not on Switch.

33:13

Yeah. Yeah. So I'm hoping I'm with you.

33:15

I hope they don't get discouraged by this. At the

33:17

very least, maybe reuse

33:19

that engine for a Zelda tactic game. Then we go. Hey.

33:21

There you go. Mhmm. Well, I for one, I'm looking forward

33:23

to playing skull and bones at e three again

33:25

because I played it at E30, god. Two

33:27

thousand eighteen. Which is the one and only

33:29

time I've been to e three. So I would

33:30

place Zelda tactics. If it's just

33:33

Zelda tactics -- Mhmm. -- don't put any

33:35

record. Not

33:35

Zelda. I didn't I don't think the

33:37

rabbits would fit there. I agree

33:39

with you. Have you seen some

33:41

of the concept for the for breath of the wild? They

33:43

got they got weird in that stuff.

33:45

True. They did. Oh, it's child of light

33:47

back. Remember child? Yeah.

33:48

It was cool. I remember back when they did. And I was

33:50

on the switch if I remember right? Yeah.

33:52

By the way, it was go streakon, not rainbow six

33:54

that I was thinking. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That one was

33:56

kind of a flop. I talked

33:57

about rayman, that's so

33:58

long ago too. Go straight on. And

34:01

and far cry I never finished either.

34:03

So I do, like, I to say a

34:06

finish assessment practice I just didn't

34:08

understand all about

34:08

Far Cry. Mhmm. I just Six.

34:10

That that even came up. Well, that's yet those games

34:12

got stale. I I have an entire rant about Ubisoft as a

34:15

a non fan,

34:17

but I'll it for another time. But also, to be fair, like, I feel like

34:20

we've seen the Ubisoft

34:22

certification of Open World Games, like

34:24

even breadth the wild

34:26

does Ubisoft elements of, like,

34:28

climbing the tower and stuff and, like, yeah, it's

34:30

that was really novel and unique

34:32

and very Ubisoft and now it's

34:34

everybody. Like, you know,

34:36

horizon feels like a Ubisoft game.

34:38

Other games do it. Whether those substitution Right. That's

34:40

the issue now. We get to visit,

34:42

you know, Japan and the the few the

34:45

robot future with Ubisoft kinda set

34:47

up. When you think about

34:48

Assassin's creed Odyssey, and this is getting

34:51

off track, but mean, they just wanted to be the witcher at a certain

34:53

point. Yeah. Yeah. It was

34:54

exactly what

34:55

only huge and bloated.

34:57

Too much. Yeah. Yeah. But I

34:59

just realized, like, it I just

35:01

realized that I was going through these, Ubisoft has a lot of slam dunks

35:03

on Nintendo platform specifically, like

35:06

just dance, like you were saying, pair, has

35:08

historically been

35:10

huge on Nintendo platform. Raymond Legends. Raymond Greyman,

35:13

Child of Light, Mario Roberts, like

35:15

every time they do something a little weird

35:17

or off the beat of those

35:19

big open war old tower shooty games, like and they

35:21

put it on an Nintendo platform. It does really well.

35:24

So it's yeah. I I want I

35:26

don't want them to give

35:28

that

35:28

up. I'm very afraid. I'm clinging to it. That's just part I love about YouTube. That's

35:30

the part I love

35:31

about YouTube.

35:31

Like at We launched, you know, they had they had

35:33

a game that

35:36

used we mode as as guns the way that it was advertised

35:38

in Nintendo Commercials, like, you know,

35:40

with I I think

35:44

they they experimented with some with some crazy stuff on

35:46

on pretty much every Nintendo platform when

35:48

you go back there. It's like a steal

35:51

Yeah. Red steel is the the gun game I'm gun game I'm

35:53

thinking of, but they did something really unique

35:55

for Ryu too. What was

35:57

the game with the And

36:00

Oh, with

36:01

this and

36:02

you I think you're on a

36:06

bike.

36:06

Oh, I you're thinking -- I believe. -- trials.

36:09

Trials. Trials. Which they bought. Oh

36:11

my god. Yeah. Trials. Yeah.

36:13

They

36:13

love those trials games. That was

36:15

really

36:15

fun. That was an act acquisition. Yeah. I love

36:17

those games too, but fun. But,

36:20

yeah, I want them to keep experimenting

36:22

on on these platforms. Got I don't think

36:24

there's any game I've ever been

36:26

madder at than trials.

36:27

Oh, I did. Really fun. Oh,

36:29

so good. You haven't played trials. Gochoo.

36:31

A

36:31

lot of -- Yeah.

36:32

-- very dumb. Switch. Put that game. Well, let's

36:34

take a journey.

36:35

We just watch the guy get hit by

36:37

a train. Gotcha. In trials.

36:40

In travel. Data. In the game. Yeah. It's not really Let's take

36:42

a journey to the meiverse. This is the segment of the

36:44

show where we're talking about what's going on

36:46

in our

36:48

real lives. Video games or things that we want to talk

36:50

about. Rev, you had something you've

36:52

specifically wanted to

36:54

call out or

36:56

the me verse this week. Do you mind,

36:58

please? I did. Okay.

37:00

So there is a rumor going

37:02

around that I have app no

37:06

information on. Cannot confirm our backup in any

37:08

way. It's just gotten people talking, which is why

37:10

I wanna bring it up. That

37:12

that kithos is

37:14

coming back. Folks,

37:14

let's bring Batten Kaitos back. Back game

37:17

slapped. It was so good.

37:19

There are thousands of people read

37:20

right now. Say that again. What's

37:23

the egg? Is Literally, tons of people are, like, yeah, Rev. Let's

37:26

do that. There's some part of the

37:28

refugee fans. There's no

37:29

right now. Myrtle wings in

37:31

the lost ocean. Is

37:33

this bizarre game cube game

37:36

that takes place on these Sky Islands

37:38

and you play as the gar

37:40

you don't play as the guy You

37:42

play as the guardian spirit of this guy named Callis, who's kind

37:45

of a jerk wand. And

37:48

he's he's just he's got this, like,

37:50

revenge mission that he's on, but it ends up intersecting

37:52

with this woman who's got a a

37:54

big save the world quest.

37:56

There are elements of this game that are very

37:58

not good, like the voice acting. And I think people

38:00

are I love bad voice acting.

38:04

It's pretty there's a couple of voice

38:06

actors in there who are really good, and then everything

38:08

else is just atrocious. Anytime a

38:10

child speaks, I wanna remove my

38:12

ears, and just pop them off my head like

38:14

a mister potato head.

38:14

You haven't had children yet? Because I wanna remove my ears when

38:16

my kids started. Uh-huh.

38:18

But but like and and the plot

38:20

is there's there's moments in

38:22

the closet really good and then the ending is like very cheesy.

38:24

It has what I think is one of the

38:26

best twists in video games at

38:28

the midpoint, which I will not spoil for

38:30

people because if they do remake it, I want people to experience it because it's so

38:32

cool. But if you know, you know, it

38:34

has an incredible soundtrack, Motoy

38:38

Sakura of dark souls,

38:40

golden sun, and many many other

38:42

things, fame. Absolutely, very

38:44

profile. Yes. Banger soundtrack from

38:46

that guy. And it has this

38:48

card battling system that is

38:51

really like, there there's problems

38:53

with it. Like, you can pick it apart and critique

38:55

it, but it's really cool the ways in

38:57

which, like, the cards interact You

38:59

use them in battle, but they also

39:01

have interactions with

39:02

the, like, with the real world. So

39:04

you can, like

39:05

-- Mhmm. -- if you have you can get

39:07

a a magnus of green bananas your inventory. And when they're green bananas,

39:09

you can't eat them, but you can throw them and do like a

39:11

small amount of damage.

39:14

But then

39:16

if you play for long enough and have them in your inventory for long enough, they will

39:18

ripen and then they're yellow bananas and then they

39:20

will heal you. But then if you let them

39:22

sit for even longer, then they become

39:25

brown rotten bananas, and then they

39:27

do poison damage. So it's it's stuff

39:29

like that. Like, it's this really cool, like,

39:31

time based system that there's like some that

39:33

depending on what other magnets you have in your inventory or if you use

39:35

them on the same turn as other magnets.

39:37

And it's it's just very cool and unique. And

39:39

I think this is a really interesting

39:42

RPG that Should it get a

39:44

remake, they could polish up some of the weaker

39:46

spots, like, they could tidy up the battle system, they

39:48

could bring in some different

39:50

voice actors, They can

39:52

maybe polish up the writing a little bit to make the plot

39:54

flow a bit more smoothly. And it's

39:56

just it's such this this weird

39:57

game. Its model is soft also, and it

40:00

was published

40:00

by Oh, I was gonna ask who And so, like, it's it's Yeah. Zeno

40:02

Blade Chronicles guys. It's

40:03

folks that are still around, and they they've said in

40:06

the past, I think, at some point, they were interested in doing

40:08

it like

40:10

a DS or

40:10

3DS. There's a prequel that's also There's a origins release,

40:12

I think,

40:13

only in Japan. But it's No.

40:15

There's a prequel that

40:17

came out here.

40:18

It came out

40:18

in YouTube because It was also very

40:19

good and -- I never played that one. -- it

40:20

fixed a lot of the

40:21

problems with the first game, not all of them, but some

40:24

of

40:26

them. It's it's

40:29

good.

40:29

So we launched columns on

40:32

IGN today's check out, you

40:34

know, rep rep already has one called

40:36

a who was it? Hidden treasures. Yeah.

40:38

About any games. I'm writing a column. I

40:40

think it'll it'll go

40:42

up week called Lost James, which is about games that

40:44

are forgotten and that, you know, deserve

40:46

another deserve

40:48

to come back into spotlight, and I'll

40:50

kick it off with Live Over Live, just as an

40:52

example, something that came back. Nostalgia is bringing back all these

40:56

forgotten gems. I might not have anything to write about

40:58

if this

41:00

continues this this game totally would have been on the list. Like, I

41:02

haven't heard anybody say the name of this

41:04

game since it came

41:05

out. Oh, I lost it. I played it

41:07

so many times. But

41:09

it but it but it was very notable. I remember when it came

41:11

out on GameCube. It was a time where Nintendo

41:14

games were kind of lacking that

41:16

sort of storytelling,

41:19

polish, rendered cut scenes,

41:21

voice acting, all that sort of stuff,

41:23

orchestrated music that the competition was

41:25

doing, and then outcomes this game on GameCube, and

41:27

it was, like, super polished. And it had all this

41:30

all the bells and whistles.

41:32

They didn't publish it

41:33

obviously, but

41:36

and it was such JRPG -- Yep. -- on the on the GameCube,

41:38

which is a pretty rare beast at the

41:40

time outside of, like, tales of symphonia. But

41:43

I would love it if monolith

41:46

soft, went back to the concept of Batten Kaitos

41:48

and just made a new one. Yeah. I'd be

41:50

cool with that. Too. I think

41:52

that the the foundation and the

41:54

nuts and bolts of it can be really

41:56

successful in this day and age because,

41:58

I mean, anime characters and a card based battle

42:00

system. If you like Oh, god. Forget it. Refine

42:02

and expand on that. I think that could

42:04

be a very modern and cool concept.

42:07

And I think Monolith soft has a lot of leash to

42:09

be able to kinda do whatever they want now

42:12

because they're a

42:14

huge part of

42:16

Nintendo's tech base, and

42:18

Nintendo really relies on them. And

42:20

also xenoblade chronicles three was very

42:22

successful, very well

42:24

received. So I have to imagine

42:26

that if they said, hey, can we can we

42:28

do a new BAT and Khidos --

42:29

Mhmm. -- that fully expands in the concept from

42:31

the original game cube, Nintendo would

42:33

probably be like, have

42:34

at it. So we're gonna report these like a collection just so

42:36

people can play the originals again. That'd be

42:38

nice. Yeah. Yeah.

42:39

I will say putting a

42:41

business hat on. That's much more risky

42:44

than, you know, bringing kind of

42:46

using what you've already released that nobody's

42:47

played. I don't think this this game

42:50

sold well at all. Right? I don't think it sold,

42:52

like, I don't remember. I don't think it sold, like,

42:54

atrociously in the sense that they're, like, oh, people didn't like

42:56

this because they they got got a green light on

42:58

a

42:58

prequel. But I mean, it was an RPG on

43:00

the game cube, so I can't imagine it was I'd

43:02

be interested to see what a remaster looked

43:05

like. Yeah. I think it might be a

43:07

little two dated at this point. I

43:09

see. But Yeah. Right. So that's

43:11

why I would be stomping for a suit cool,

43:13

but I'll hear you. It's

43:15

just it's it's super risky for

43:17

for something that -- Yeah. None of that.

43:19

--

43:19

you can go to the IGN store and get the

43:22

peritonator business hat in the apparel

43:24

section. Oh, yeah.

43:24

They say, well, that's pretty next week. Yep.

43:27

Okay. This game has an emotionally

43:29

conflicted young man with

43:31

long red hair who attacks people with a trumpet. It's

43:33

-- Oh, guys. -- mid to that as

43:36

one

43:36

we have. You should have led with that rather

43:38

than that one does. I

43:41

Yeah.

43:41

You're very delayed on that. That was a

43:43

child. And has whales? That you're not allowed to

43:45

call whales just like Avatar. Big fan

43:47

of cetaceans. Reb, real quick, what

43:49

was the song that people should go look out and and

43:51

find and just danced. I mean, listen to the whole

43:54

soundtrack, but I was playing for several years

43:56

later today, the boss battle being

43:58

chaotic dance.

44:00

Which -- Yeah. -- periodically. Again, if you know,

44:02

you know, if you don't, it's a great

44:04

boss battle team and very

44:05

unexpected. It's very But

44:08

check it what their scrubber usually does.

44:10

Yeah. It's very good.

44:12

Real quick, because we are doing a shorter

44:14

show this this week, I'm

44:16

sorry, fans. I wanted

44:18

to bring up that I started playing chain

44:20

echoes -- Mhmm. --

44:22

and I love it a lot. So if you have

44:24

Xbox Game Pass, it's

44:26

free or you can just buy it on Switch or

44:28

PC or

44:30

PlayStation five. Buy it on Xbox if

44:32

you don't have Game Pass, but if you

44:34

like colorful JRPG,

44:36

I wanna say likes,

44:40

but Omages? Yeah. Look, it's so It's gorgeous. Yeah.

44:42

It's just amazing. And I'm I'm

44:44

actually really enjoying it a lot.

44:47

I I have her ass. You would love it. You should play

44:49

it in Yeah. Eric

44:51

and I

44:51

was just telling me I should play it back. That's

44:53

like final fairness. Didn't know what it

44:55

was. Big final fantasy six in chrono trigger

44:58

energy. Yep. Yep. Yep. And then

45:00

it even has, like, when you get into

45:02

a battle, almost feels like secret to mana a little bit for like a half a

45:04

second because they're deadding. The enemies, they're like,

45:06

eyes will sometimes bulge out when they see you and

45:08

then they'll get into the battle formation and it's turn

45:10

based, which is

45:12

what I require of all my RPG. Terrific battle system

45:14

too. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Super

45:16

good battle system. It's a little z --

45:18

New Jersey

45:19

with the the max. Yes.

45:22

Well, that line actually

45:24

got me -- Mhmm. -- look at that. You got my

45:26

attention. It's got everything you want. And I think

45:28

this was developed by one guy

45:31

Matthias Linde, I believe, is

45:33

the name of the developer.

45:36

But, yeah, super good game. Go check it out. I highly

45:38

highly recommend. But now we have to hit the question

45:40

block because we're rapidly running out of

45:42

time. So

45:44

heat up sound. Did you

45:47

know that that's If you speed that up

45:49

five

45:49

times, that's the sound of Mario growing when he gets about Oh, we in

45:52

my family, we

45:54

call that.

45:56

Yeah. Like, when when, like, did it throw it yet? No. It

45:58

hasn't throw it yet. So you still have time to

46:01

finish the level. Yeah. Why

46:04

We just learned about the Schneider House Rules. That's Schneider

46:06

House Rules. Great movie. Yeah.

46:08

I got one person got

46:11

that. Thank you. Dear floor

46:13

guy. Okay. guy. Seth Macy this

46:16

week. Floor

46:17

guy. It's me. Floor

46:20

guy. Okay. Real

46:22

quick, several people announced or, excuse me, asked, what are

46:25

we getting new Super NES and or

46:27

NES or n64 games? And

46:29

the fake answer is they will all release immediately

46:32

after we get done recording. Oh, of course. The fake

46:34

answer is none of

46:36

us know. We don't have

46:38

Like, we can't answer these questions. We don't

46:40

know these things. So I'm not

46:42

saying, like, not to ask questions, but we don't

46:44

have like, the insider knowledge pair mite. But we the rest of us an Nintendo wants.

46:47

No.

46:47

It's Exactly. It's so strange. Like,

46:49

I it's, you

46:52

know, like, it's

46:54

a subscription program. So, you know, you would

46:56

figure they would have some nugget every

46:58

month that gets you back into

47:01

it where you go I feel

47:03

good about being subscribed, but then, like, literally, you'll you know, we talked

47:05

about how getting three JALIC JALICO games

47:07

doesn't count, but,

47:10

like, I would take a JALICO game announcement over nothing.

47:12

I would take bases loaded. That

47:14

was a very unique game. There you go.

47:16

You could baseball game. Yeah. Always

47:19

tough when you have something with sports licenses

47:22

to bring that back up. Any license. Oh,

47:24

this that's great. It is

47:26

like famous the the fake names that they have for the players. It's one of

47:28

those famous memes because they just

47:30

didn't know. Johnny -- The

47:32

original

47:32

baseball. --

47:33

the original baseball. Some

47:36

I bet we'll get like Golden Eye soon. You know, there's been I

47:38

mean, remember they announced a bunch of n sixty four games

47:40

that they haven't put out

47:41

yet. Yeah. They've been so I mean, they've tried

47:44

Pokemon puzzle leg on there, and I'm

47:46

happy. I'm gonna play devil's

47:48

advocate for a moment. I'm not gonna pretend that

47:50

this is a good value by any stretch of the

47:52

imagination, but

47:54

as somebody who has the disposable income to be able

47:56

to afford all of this. I love

47:58

having these old games on my Switch and I

48:00

play them all the time. Mhmm. Actually,

48:03

I would say Nintendo and maybe the n

48:05

sixty four app are two of my most

48:07

played games every single year -- Dang. -- on

48:09

the Nintendo Switch. And just

48:12

me. I like old games

48:14

now at this point. So I spent a

48:16

lot of time playing Super Mario all stars,

48:18

which is

48:20

also on this thing. And there's a lot of obscure games

48:22

like a penalty pawn --

48:24

Yeah. --

48:26

puyu puyo I

48:28

already mentioned Pokemon puzzle league. I think paper

48:31

marios on there. You can play

48:33

that. A lot of

48:34

mariners. Paper mario RPG is not

48:37

yet.

48:37

No.

48:37

But they're they're you're right. There's there's great

48:40

stuff on there, but, like, you

48:42

know, we're used to

48:44

subscribing, like, being

48:46

fed by the companies that we subscribe to. Right? Like, if you turned on

48:48

Netflix and it was always the same thing, you'd

48:50

be like, do I need this this month? And,

48:52

like, I do

48:54

feel like, not to be

48:56

ungrateful. Like, we got new Mario

48:58

Kart levels as part of the subscription, but they

49:00

asked us to pay more for a higher

49:02

tier of games than --

49:03

Yeah. -- through Genesis and n sixty four.

49:05

And I don't

49:05

feel fit. You're totally right. Yeah. There's

49:08

a whole section on Xbox whenever I

49:10

open up my Xbox that says new on

49:12

Xbox Game Pass. Here are all the things that

49:14

are coming this month. All the things that are coming We

49:16

haven't called them about it because it's such

49:18

a meaty top. Right. The

49:19

only thing that I'm paying for is giving me new

49:21

things to keep me here. But Nintendo has nothing

49:23

wrong. I would never say

49:23

that this is a good value for

49:26

sure. I think that

49:28

Nintendo really

49:28

needs to sit down and think about

49:31

how they can make people wanna be part of the

49:33

subscription platform because what they're

49:35

doing, it's not it. Having said that, if

49:37

you show

49:38

if you end those switch, to twelve year

49:40

old cat and said, you

49:42

can play all the Nintendo and SNES and

49:44

n64 and Sega Genesis games plus all

49:47

of this amazing other cool

49:48

stuff. I'd be like,

49:50

this is the most incredible platform I

49:52

have ever seen. So It's also just so

49:54

easy to set and forget. Like, I I have friend

49:56

who has an eight person family plan for a group chat. And I then

49:59

owe him ten dollars a year to

50:01

maintain a subscription, and that's the end

50:03

of the discussion. Like, don't

50:05

even think about it. He just yeah. He just invoices me for

50:08

ten bucks once a year. Whatever. But I'm

50:10

just gonna recommend that pair loan Nintendo your

50:13

business hat so that they can make better decisions when it

50:15

comes to their online service subscription.

50:17

But unfortunately, that's all the

50:19

time we have. For NBC this week, I

50:21

am so sorry before we go, I

50:23

have a few favorites to ask if you're watching us

50:25

on YouTube. Leave us a like and a nice comment.

50:27

If you're listening to us on a podcast

50:30

app, please leave us a review.

50:32

It helps us spread the good word. And

50:34

if you didn't know, I have a new monitor that's over

50:36

here now, so that's why I have to look.

50:38

Special thanks to pair for coming in

50:40

at the last second. Also read on

50:42

the ones and twos for bringing all the joy

50:44

and the clips that we have. And

50:46

remember, most of all, thanks to you for

50:48

hanging out with us. Because NBC is

50:50

the only place where --

50:50

Hey, this is Jeffrey Vega. -- is the only

50:53

place where Jeffrey Vega can get

50:56

the same thing. There he is. He made

50:58

it after all. Hi, everybody. It's me,

51:00

Jeffrey Bigel. I'm Sprint. Is he really

51:03

here? I thought that was him. Hi,

51:05

guys. TikTok. TikTok. Oh, he that is

51:08

he says that all the time. Yeah. He says that

51:10

all the time. He

51:13

said, Vega. And the four expansion pack, once again,

51:15

very cool that they get to meet

51:17

after the holiday special.