Would anyone be interested in hearing a retro gaming podcast?

[miketheratguy]

mike, someday i will check out your podcasts. i've been meaning to for a while now, but never seem to have the time when i think about it (and vice versa!)

No worries, I'll just be excited to hear what you think if you do.

It's also worth pointing out that we should have our most recent episode online sometime this weekend (our ninth) and I'm going to start putting the rest of the episodes on Youtube since I've gotten feedback that some people don't like using itunes. Howard and I were kind of out of the game for a while (things really slowed down last summer and fall) but we've been newly invigorated with a sense of motivation and interest, and that's due in part to the positive reactions that our show got here on this forum. So thanks to everyone who did check us out, and we'll be hoping that it continues!

[kitsunebi]

Hey Mike, I actually just finished listening to the Punch-Out episode, so now I've heard them all. I was gonna post here and ask when the Turtles in Time ep would be released, but you've already answered my question!

I guess I'm one of those people who doesn't mess with iTunes. I listened to the first 3 on Youtube before moving to podomatic for the rest. At first I was streaming them on podomatic, but at one point I was called away from my computer for a bit and when I tried to go back a couple of minutes the timecode became completely screwed up and would just play some random part of the episode (for example, I might click the slider on what should have been the first few minutes of the episode, but it would play your closing thoughts despite showing a timecode of 03:00 or whatever). From then on I just downloaded the eps and let vlc handle any seeking I might have to do if the need arose.

But technical issues aside (I sometimes wish Howard's mic level was a bit higher) I really enjoy your show. Lately I've been doing a lot of tedious editing jobs on my computer (both work-related and magazine-scan related), and listening to you guys while I worked made it more tolerable. Looking forward to more!

[miketheratguy]

But technical issues aside (I sometimes wish Howard's mic level was a bit higher) I really enjoy your show. Lately I've been doing a lot of tedious editing jobs on my computer (both work-related and magazine-scan related), and listening to you guys while I worked made it more tolerable. Looking forward to more!

Thanks a lot! I feel that the sentiment of "your show made this task faster / more tolerable" is some of the best praise that a podcast can get. Being something of an avid podcast listener myself, it's one of the ways that I myself discover which ones are the best ones.

I agree about Howard's mic, we've actually talked about it before. We record the show by getting together on Skype, and he speaks through a nice expensive microphone attached to his computer while I speak directly into a headset that's attached to my Vita (which is what I'm Skyping with). We're not quite sure then if it's his mic that's a little quiet or mine that's a little loud, but he does what he can with the audio mix using software on his computer. The discrepancy is actually even more noticeable on the raw cut before the editing and publishing, but we seem to be getting a bit better at figuring some of this stuff out.

And yeah, if I recall correctly Punch-Out was finished sometime around April of last year and I think we did TMNT in May, but then things happened in the summer (including a two week vacation on my part) to kind of slow both of us down. The huge gap in episodes is really my own fault, I'm the one who does the first pass of each episode to look for cuts or issues and in the case of TMNT I just kept failing to remember to get around to it. We were also getting discouraged, myself in particular, when it seemed that no one was really listening to the show. We're passionate about the project, but of course passion can only take a person so far before they start to think "is this really a worthwhile expenditure of my time"?

Still, we always meant to get back into things, and I think that I just needed something to motivate me into wanting to get things rolling again. The feedback I've gotten here has a lot to do with that, and I think I also needed to remind myself that we knew this would be a labor of love, something that would take a while to gain an audience, and that it's still worth doing as long as Howard and I are having fun. He just delivered a second edit of episode 9 to me last night, so after I have the time to review it it should be ready to go live. And I'm going to get to the Youtube uploads as soon as I can too.

I'm actually kind of surprised that you flew through all 8 episodes already. Really encouraging to know that you enjoyed them! Any suggestions, questions, or thoughts about any of the individual episodes?

[kitsunebi]

I'm actually kind of surprised that you flew through all 8 episodes already. Really encouraging to know that you enjoyed them! Any suggestions, questions, or thoughts about any of the individual episodes?

Yeah, I've been pretty busy doing after-hours work on my computer lately. Also, I must have listened to three in a row one day while pushing to finish my scan+edit of the first issue of Famitsu.

I like how thoroughly you guys discuss the games - you seem to have developed somewhat of a standard format for discussion which I think works for you. Also, I think you should keep your list of upcoming games a mix of titles you have and haven't played. A lot of what retro-gaming is about is nostalgia, and nostalgia can often taint the objectivity of a review. I think that's why some of the more interesting episodes for me were ones where one or both of you guys were playing a game for the first time. I often wonder if I would enjoy things from my childhood with the same enthusiasm (or even at all) were I to experience them today for the first time. I may have disagreed with Howard's Monkey Island opinions, but I can understand how someone who had never played a graphic adventure before would have that reaction, and it made for fascinating listening, just as it was equally interesting to see how he took a liking to King's Bounty, despite never (as far as I recall) having played any of it's spiritual successors like HoMM. And watching both of you wonder in disbelief how a company could have tried to build its brand around a game like Bonk was certainly amusing.

I also actually really enjoy how you start each episode with topics that have nothing to do with the game, such as movies or other things going on during the year the game was released. Of course, once you start reviewing multiple games released in the same year I imagine you'll have to change things up a bit to avoid covering the same ground, but I think you should keep the segment - it helps the podcast stand out a bit from others which stick to games from start to finish. Other thoughts on gaming/retro gaming are welcome, of course, or anything else that you guys might be passionate about, preferably with a retro slant. Whether it's movies or music, cartoons or toys, candy or breakfast cereal -- if there's one thing kids of the 80s have going for us, it's a love for all kinds of commercial product from our childhood.

[MetalJuggalo]

This sounds like an awesome idea gotta check out the links you tossed up

[Areala]

Listening to episode 1 now, and I gotta say, yes, PLEASE upload the rest on YouTube. I don't have or really need an iTunes account, but I will sit and stream YouTube videos all night.

Also: I LOVE watching Let's Plays and Speed Runs. LOVE IT!! Reaction videos and the like, not so much. The really good Let's Players out there are something else: the ability to give commentary while playing a game is a very specific skill, and the people who do it well deserve to be well-compensated for their services.

*huggles*
Areala

[miketheratguy]

Yeah, I've been pretty busy doing after-hours work on my computer lately. Also, I must have listened to three in a row one day while pushing to finish my scan+edit of the first issue of Famitsu.

I like how thoroughly you guys discuss the games - you seem to have developed somewhat of a standard format for discussion which I think works for you. Also, I think you should keep your list of upcoming games a mix of titles you have and haven't played. A lot of what retro-gaming is about is nostalgia, and nostalgia can often taint the objectivity of a review. I think that's why some of the more interesting episodes for me were ones where one or both of you guys were playing a game for the first time. I often wonder if I would enjoy things from my childhood with the same enthusiasm (or even at all) were I to experience them today for the first time. I may have disagreed with Howard's Monkey Island opinions, but I can understand how someone who had never played a graphic adventure before would have that reaction, and it made for fascinating listening, just as it was equally interesting to see how he took a liking to King's Bounty, despite never (as far as I recall) having played any of it's spiritual successors like HoMM. And watching both of you wonder in disbelief how a company could have tried to build its brand around a game like Bonk was certainly amusing.

I also actually really enjoy how you start each episode with topics that have nothing to do with the game, such as movies or other things going on during the year the game was released. Of course, once you start reviewing multiple games released in the same year I imagine you'll have to change things up a bit to avoid covering the same ground, but I think you should keep the segment - it helps the podcast stand out a bit from others which stick to games from start to finish. Other thoughts on gaming/retro gaming are welcome, of course, or anything else that you guys might be passionate about, preferably with a retro slant. Whether it's movies or music, cartoons or toys, candy or breakfast cereal -- if there's one thing kids of the 80s have going for us, it's a love for all kinds of commercial product from our childhood.

Thanks for the feedback. First of all, I personally love being thorough. I want to individually discuss every character and stage and piece of music. In-depth discussions of things that I like make for my favorite podcasts, so that was something that I hoped would make ours stand out too.

Howard and I are definitely planning to mix things up between games that we've both played, games that only one of us have played, and games that neither of us have played. There's always going to be a bit of a bias towards games that we've both played since we have the most fun going back and giving them a second look, but we're also intrigued by the concept of tackling games that neither of us have grown up with. The situation of choosing a game (or, uh, having the GameMaster 2400 choose it for us, anyway) that only one of us have played is likely to be the one that comes up the least, since I'm the one who played the most games growing up and I'd feel kind of bad to repeatedly stick Howard into situations where he's playing catch-up. That said, we're completely open to all three categories and intend to keep mixing things up. In fact, the only real criteria that either of us had going into this (aside from the games' release windows) was my insistence that the first 10 episodes be a good mix of different genres across different systems so that initial viewers didn't get the impression that we were only going to stick to one type of game or console.

We both enjoy talking about other items that were released in the same year of that episode's game, so that's something that's definitely going to stick around. In fact in each episode we tend to want to talk about more things like that but we have to hold back a little bit for the reason that you mentioned - sooner or later we're going to be covering the same year quite a few times and we're going to want to have things to keep talking about. We've discussed it though, and figured that there's always going to be SOME type of candy, or cereal, or toy, music video, whatever, that we can discuss at some length if need be. There's obviously a finite supply, but we figure that there's probably enough to sustain us for a while.

This sounds like an awesome idea gotta check out the links you tossed up

Thanks Juggalo, I hope that you give it a listen and enjoy what you hear!

Listening to episode 1 now, and I gotta say, yes, PLEASE upload the rest on YouTube. I don't have or really need an iTunes account, but I will sit and stream YouTube videos all night.

Also: I LOVE watching Let's Plays and Speed Runs. LOVE IT!! Reaction videos and the like, not so much. The really good Let's Players out there are something else: the ability to give commentary while playing a game is a very specific skill, and the people who do it well deserve to be well-compensated for their services.

*huggles*

Areala

Ah, I'm glad that you came on board and gave our podcast a shot. You seem to have liked it, so I'm happy about that too. I'm absolutely going to have all the episodes on Youtube - possibly after this weekend, in fact. I do regret that they won't have all kinds of neat visuals to go with our dialogue, but if integrating them means that I take forever to get the things published then it's just not worth it.

As you heard I'm a big fan of the longplays, which allow me to reminisce by enjoying nothing more than the game's own audio and video. While I can see the appeal of let's plays, I generally just don't like people talking over video game footage. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that most of the let's plays, I've been exposed to WERE the more obnoxious, hypoglycemic reactionary types that I absolutely abhor, so I was really kind of turned off by the whole package. I don't doubt that there are some really good, really restrained and informative let's players out there though.

Don't mind speedruns too much but if I'm watching video game footage it's because I want to be immersed in that game (without actually taking the time to go back and play through the whole thing again) so for me the idea of seeing someone whiz through the game as fast as possible while he and a group of people talk through it is interesting, but not as useful. Plus so many of those speedruns are tool-assisted, which I simply don't get. Is it really a "speed run" if you're just exploiting game code to trick it into letting you skip to the end more quickly?

[kitsunebi]

In fact, the only real criteria that either of us had going into this (aside from the games' release windows) was my insistence that the first 10 episodes be a good mix of different genres across different systems so that initial viewers didn't get the impression that we were only going to stick to one type of game or console.

I was curious if you intend to stick strictly to consoles or if you would play any PC games as well. I assume you're doing consoles only, otherwise you probably wouldn't have played ports of Monkey Island and King's Bounty in lieu of the originals. I've never played either of those except on the PC, but I was actually wondering if playing Monkey Island with a console controller might have further exacerbated Howard's displeasure with the pace of the game. I imagine it works much like controlling the PC version with a joystick or keyboard (which I had to do when I first bought the game, before I owned a computer with a mouse). It's a small thing, but moving a cursor back and forth across the screen to select things that you could more or less instantly select with a mouse does slow the game down quite a bit.

[Areala]

Tool-assisted speedruns are awesome in the right context. There's a Gradius TAS run that is just hilarious, because the player doing the run comes so close to dying literally hundreds of times on the first stage alone, but pulls it off because a TAS allows you to perform pixel-perfect, frame-perfect inputs. Watching the ship fly literal circles around enemy bullets just because it can is equal parts awesome and heart-palpitating.

The ones I enjoy are the live runs done by the "Games Done Quick" community. Every year, they do two or three live, week-long events where somebody is always playing something on stream with the intent to beat it as quickly, or stupidly, as possible (sometimes both, like the guy who does a simultaneous speed run of SimCity on the SNES and Maniac Mansion on the NES).

They also will do competitions where multiple people will speed run the same game (Super Metroid is a popular choice for this) and see who beats it faster. It often comes down to mere seconds unless somebody chokes and dies, but that's part of the charm. Plus, the reaction shots of the other players in the room watching people pull off some of these tricks, glitches, and moves in real-time is great. They usually have someone giving commentary while the runner is playing as well, so the runner can concentrate and somebody else can field questions, explain the reasoning behind why a certain trick/glitch works, the history of who discovered it, and so forth. Occasionally these people set world records in front of a live audience, which is just that much cooler, and every dollar they raise during the event goes to a specific charity (Prevent Cancer Foundation, Doctors Without Borders, etc...).

Seriously, if you want to realize just how badly you suck at a game, watch four people co-op their way through Borderlands 2, starting fresh at level 1, in a matter of a couple hours. It's INSANE.

*huggles*
Areala

[miketheratguy]

I was curious if you intend to stick strictly to consoles or if you would play any PC games as well.

That's actually a really good question. I have to admit that we'd never really considered doing PC games, since neither of us grew up with one (and Howard, in particular, only began playing PC games within the last few years). It would also be kind of a learning curve to figure out which versions of each game are best, what games are emulated with which program, and how we'd go about setting up DOSBox (since last I tried my computer was way too fast to run it correctly).

We're born and bred console players - it is, by far, the gaming platform that we're most familiar with - but I don't think that either of us would be against trying out some PC games at some point. It probably wouldn't be right away but I definitely wouldn't rule it out. Let me talk to Howard once we get together to hammer out the next episode and see what he thinks.

In the meantime, we're always open to requests. Since you grew up as more of a PC gamer, are there any particular console games that won your interest when you were growing up?

Seriously, if you want to realize just how badly you suck at a game, watch four people co-op their way through Borderlands 2, starting fresh at level 1, in a matter of a couple hours. It's INSANE.

You might remember from our inaugural episode that I was already disheartened just seeing someone zip through Mega Man in fifteen minutes, lol. I don't know if my ego can handle seeing someone speed through Maniac Mansion and SimCity at the same time.

[kitsunebi]

It would also be kind of a learning curve to figure out which versions of each game are best, what games are emulated with which program, and how we'd go about setting up DOSBox (since last I tried my computer was way too fast to run it correctly).

Getting Dosbox configured correctly is a bit of a learning process at first, and in some cases is best done on a game by game basis. But I can guarantee that your computer isn't too fast. That's sort of the whole point of Dosbox - being able to play Dos games on modern systems, no matter how cutting edge. If the game was running too fast, it just means the config file wasn't set up correctly.

In the meantime, we're always open to requests. Since you grew up as more of a PC gamer, are there any particular console games that won your interest when you were growing up?

Console games? Pretty sure you meant PC games, but as for console games I was pretty much all about the NES classics - my first loves were Super Mario Bros. and Punch-Out, followed by Zelda and Metroid. What else...I really like the Adventures of Lolo, but I'm not sure a puzzle game would make for an interesting podcast, and I always enjoyed playing 2-player cooperative Bubble Bobble. Actually, I'd like to see you guys play through the original Metal Gear, which always fascinated me as a child, though my progress was severely hampered one day when I left the map that came with the game in my pocket and it was destroyed in the wash. Never did beat that game until I was an adult.

Btw, how does one do a speed run on Sim City? Is there an ending to that game I ever knew about? Maniac Mansion on the other hand is another game I loved. I preferred the NES version for the awesome soundtrack that the original PC version didn't have, although at this point the Deluxe remake on PC is the best version.

As for the PC games that I loved as a child, well...the first game i owned was Rogue. Not many other games originally released in 1980 have an entire genre named after them that's still going strong today (though I didn't play it until 1986/87 or so). It's still somehow enjoyable, even though actually beating it is something I doubt I'll ever be able to do. I also spent a good amount of time playing the assorted "gold box" SSI AD&D RPGs like Pool of Radiance. However, I was primarily a graphic adventure adventure gamer, and have played pretty much every adventure game made by both Sierra and LucasArts, among others. Myst pretty much killed the genre as I knew it for years and turned it into nothing but games made up of desolate slideshows of still images and esoteric logic puzzles which ironically had no logical reason to exist in the game world, but eventually, adventure games with plots and characters made a comeback and are still popular today. Not sure you wanna subject Howard to more adventure games, though...

Actually, a game I'd like to see someone approach for the first time is from Sierra, but not one of their typical graphic adventures. They published two very odd early mouse-driven games - Manhunter: New York, followed by Manhunter: San Francisco. These aren't good games - they weren't even all that great back in the late 80s when they were released. I fully expect that you guys would hate them. But they've got quirk in spades and I have to believe they would make for a thoroughly entertaining podcast.

Tell you what, if you do ever decide to play any old PC games, I'll be happy to help you get them up and running in the best configuration possible. GOG is a great service, but while the games they sell will run, their ancient DOS titles are often displayed at the wrong aspect ratio with the worst possible sound selected as default. You're already emulating a DOS computer with DosBox - there's no reason you shouldn't be also be emulating Tandy sound instead of PC speaker, or even Roland MT-32 sound instead of SoundBlaster on later titles. Also, a lot of old PC games are going to be unavailable for purchase, so if you're playing something you downloaded from an abandonware site, you'll have to configure DosBox yourself, anyway, which I'm pretty experienced with at this point, should you need assistance.

But, hey, you guys are only 9 games in. There's no need to have to dip into PC games at all if you don't want to. I may have somehow given the impression that I was primarily a PC gamer growing up, but I was equally into console games and love to hear about them. It's simply that the PC games I played growing up still have much of the same appeal to me now as they did then, while some of the console titles I liked as a child can't hold my interest in quite the same way anymore.

[miketheratguy]

But, hey, you guys are only 9 games in. There's no need to have to dip into PC games at all if you don't want to. I may have somehow given the impression that I was primarily a PC gamer growing up, but I was equally into console games and love to hear about them. It's simply that the PC games I played growing up still have much of the same appeal to me now as they did then, while some of the console titles I liked as a child can't hold my interest in quite the same way anymore.

Interesting, I definitely did get the impression that you were more of a PC player by far. Your further explanation makes sense.

I actually did mean console games when I asked that previous question, but I think that I phrased it poorly. What I should have said was "did any console games stand out enough to win you over like the PC games did". The ones that you listed are good ones, and I've played all of them but Lolo and, surprisingly, Metal Gear. That one would be interesting. I think you're right about Lolo, it looks like an interesting enough game but probably not one that we could wind up saying a lot about.

I wouldn't rule out a PC game or two somewhere down the line, but I do think that I'd probably need some help getting them set up. We'll see what happens. In the meantime I agree that Maniac Mansion Deluxe is probably the best version of the game out there, though I do miss the great music of the NES version. As for SimCity I did see a video on Youtube once that laid out a very boring and repetitive zoning structure that wound up growing to megalopolis stage within maybe a half hour, so I suppose one can rush through the game with relative speed if they know the cheesy success pattern.

[Areala]

Btw, how does one do a speed run on Sim City? Is there an ending to that game I ever knew about?

Like this, if you want to confuse everyone in the world with your mad mayoral skills:

In the SNES version at least (not sure about other versions, because I've never managed to keep a city going that long) there is a population limit you can reach based on the available area for your city. The speedrun aims to hit this max population (and Megalopolis status) as quickly as possible, since once you have the most people your city can possibly support, there's no further room for growth, thus creating a win condition.

*huggles*

Areala

[miketheratguy]

Yep, that's the boring cheese pattern that I was talking about for SimCity, lol. I mean I guess if it works then it works, so more power to whomever likes to employ it. But that kind of hints at exactly why speedruns generally aren't for me: You're not watching someone playing a game so much as watching them "going through the motions" as they exploit whatever shortcuts or memorized patterns will get the game over with in the quickest fashion. To me that's kind of a shallow experience. That's not to say that it doesn't require talent or that anyone who chooses to watch it is in any way "wrong" or unjustified, it's just that when you're the kind of person who likes to watch a game being played to have the experience of exploring the various levels of depth, challenge and entertainment value that it offers, a speedrun is going to be fundamentally insufficient for that purpose.

It's like watching someone beat Super Mario Bros. 3 in fifteen minutes by using the warp whistles to skip all the way to the last level: Sure, it takes knowledge to apply that shortcut and skill to go on to beat the game, but it would have been nice to see the person "earn" it by showing what it's like to go through the other 85% of the game that was completely dismissed.

But again, it just comes down to personal preference. It's like the longplay / let's play comparison: Some people prefer to hear commentary, some people don't. There's different reasons to appreciate both. Though I call folly on the guy who finished Maniac Mansion and SimCity at the same time. He really didn't, he just did all the prep work in SimCity while Maniac Mansion sat there waiting and then switched to Maniac Mansion when it was time to put SimCity down and let the population grow. Here I was expecting to see video of some guy simultaneously playing both games with each hand.

[Areala]

Though I call folly on the guy who finished Maniac Mansion and SimCity at the same time. He really didn't, he just did all the prep work in SimCity while Maniac Mansion sat there waiting and then switched to Maniac Mansion when it was time to put SimCity down and let the population grow. Here I was expecting to see video of some guy simultaneously playing both games with each hand.

Goldeneye, Mario 64, and Zelda: Ocarina of Time all speedrun simultaneously using the downtime in two games to gain progress during the third, and alternating around this way until all three are finished.

*huggles*

Areala

[miketheratguy]

Goldeneye, Mario 64, and Zelda: Ocarina of Time all speedrun simultaneously using the downtime in two games to gain progress during the third, and alternating around this way until all three are finished.

Fffffffeh! It's still not simultaneous if he's letting two of the three games idle at any one time. He fails! I will not be impressed until I see someone capably wielding one monstrous abomination Nintendo 64 controller with each hand and two more with their feet!!!

[Areala]

Now you're just being pedantic.

*huggles*
Areala

[miketheratguy]

Now you're just being pedantic.

*huggles*

Areala

Hey, if I used that guy's definition of "simultaneous" I could say that earlier this morning I took a shower and emptied my cat's litter box at the same time.

Coincidentally, what I did simultaneously accomplish today was the uploading of the most recent podcast episode onto itunes as well as the uploading of all remaining episodes, including that one, onto Youtube. That's something like 24 hours of Contra Code goodness on both sites! It's retro gaming podcast for all!

[kitsunebi]

That's not to say that it doesn't require talent or that anyone who chooses to watch it is in any way "wrong" or unjustified, it's just that when you're the kind of person who likes to watch a game being played to have the experience of exploring the various levels of depth, challenge and entertainment value that it offers, a speedrun is going to be fundamentally insufficient for that purpose.

But again, it just comes down to personal preference. It's like the longplay / let's play comparison: Some people prefer to hear commentary, some people don't. There's different reasons to appreciate both. Though I call folly on the guy who finished Maniac Mansion and SimCity at the same time.

Speed runs actually cause me mental anguish, and I refuse to watch them (just seeing the thumbnails on the videos above makes me uncomfortable). I think it's because my life seems to be defined by never having enough time. I'll never finish or even start a fraction of the things I want to do, and when I see a speed run, what I see is someone who put aside all else to do one thing repeatedly, sinking god knows how much time into practicing something for the simple purpose of taking less time to do it yet again. It causes me pain. But I'm a crazy person, so don't mind me lol.

As for let's play/long plays, the only time I've watched those is to figure out what to do if I'm stuck in a game, particularly a game set in a 3D space where reading a text description doesn't give me enough information to figure out where it is exactly that I'm supposed to do whatever I should be doing. But I just skip to the relevant part and then proceed to play the game myself. I guess whether they're doing it fast or slow, I just don't feel I have enough free time to give up playing games in lieu of watching other people play games.

[miketheratguy]

Speed runs actually cause me mental anguish, and I refuse to watch them (just seeing the thumbnails on the videos above makes me uncomfortable). I think it's because my life seems to be defined by never having enough time. I'll never finish or even start a fraction of the things I want to do, and when I see a speed run, what I see is someone who put aside all else to do one thing repeatedly, sinking god knows how much time into practicing something for the simple purpose of taking less time to do it yet again. It causes me pain. But I'm a crazy person, so don't mind me lol.

As for let's play/long plays, the only time I've watched those is to figure out what to do if I'm stuck in a game, particularly a game set in a 3D space where reading a text description doesn't give me enough information to figure out where it is exactly that I'm supposed to do whatever I should be doing. But I just skip to the relevant part and then proceed to play the game myself. I guess whether they're doing it fast or slow, I just don't feel I have enough free time to give up playing games in lieu of watching other people play games.

You bring up a couple of good points. I may prefer longplays to speedruns, whereas you have reasons not to like either. It just goes to show how different people's tastes can be. Also, you're right: what am I doing watching someone playing games at all when I could actually be playing them? What am I doing with my life?

[kitsunebi]

Finally listened to the Turtles in Time ep. I played through the original TMNT game at the arcade, but I'm pretty sure I only played Turtles in Time on the SNES - which I owned. It was interesting to hear your take on it, but I think you definitely got stuck with the inferior version.

The SNES version wins in my opinion due to extra levels/bosses, better music, and better controls (as you mentioned in your review, throwing enemies was random in the arcade version, but controllable and even necessary sometimes on the SNES)

Of course the arcade game has 4 player support, so if you have 3 friends it may be worth sacrificing all of that to have all 4 turtles fighting together.

A good comparison:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAyslkGl4NU

(I have no idea how to embed that here)

p.s. Also, I'm finding myself more and more entertained by Howard's dislike of Monkey Island every time it comes up. Don't force it, but it will be funny if that becomes the running joke of your podcast. I wonder how he would feel about the sequels/remakes lol...

[miketheratguy]

Finally listened to the Turtles in Time ep. I played through the original TMNT game at the arcade, but I'm pretty sure I only played Turtles in Time on the SNES - which I owned. It was interesting to hear your take on it, but I think you definitely got stuck with the inferior version.

The SNES version wins in my opinion due to extra levels/bosses, better music, and better controls (as you mentioned in your review, throwing enemies was random in the arcade version, but controllable and even necessary sometimes on the SNES)

Of course the arcade game has 4 player support, so if you have 3 friends it may be worth sacrificing all of that to have all 4 turtles fighting together.

A good comparison:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAyslkGl4NU

(I have no idea how to embed that here)

p.s. Also, I'm finding myself more and more entertained by Howard's dislike of Monkey Island every time it comes up. Don't force it, but it will be funny if that becomes the running joke of your podcast. I wonder how he would feel about the sequels/remakes lol...

I'd never played the SNES version of the game so once Howard started doing the comparison at the wrap-up I was actually pretty disappointed. Aside from that four-player option (which neither of us were even able to take advantage of) the SNES version is most definitely superior. On the one hand it's a bit of a bummer that it feels like we sort of "wasted" a game due to our natural assumption that the arcade version was better, but at the same time I like that we discovered this live on the show. It provided sort of an extra touch of authenticity that wouldn't have been there had we actively sought whichever format of the game was the best one ahead of time. We just wanted to do an arcade game, it's kind of funny that we happened to pick one that was superior on consoles.

I get a kick out of Howard's continued references to his hatred of Monkey Island too. He keeps calling it by the wrong name and I honestly believe that it might not be deliberate. I'd love to work in another game in the series but he honestly might be so reluctant to do one that it might never happen. Maniac Mansion, on the other hand, I'm definitely going to have us do at some point. Given the reasons for his dislike of MI, I don't think that he'd find that one nearly as bad. Well, the NES version of it at least!

Speaking of Monkey Island, I told him what you thought about that subject - how you could respect and understand his opinion but why it irked you that he was so hung up on what he perceived to be inexcusable limitations. In response he laughed and said "He was irritated listening to me complain about the game for twenty minutes? I was irritated for the ten hours of my life that I had to spend playing it. He can blow me". LOL don't worry, it was in jest.

[miketheratguy]

I apologize for bumping this but I figured that I'd just give an update to the people who were interested. After a months-long hiatus Howard and I have resumed production of the podcast, recording our 10th episode - Toejam and Earl - just minutes ago. It should be live on Youtube and itunes by the end of the weekend and from this point on we're going to try to do our best to get a new episode up every couple of weeks.

I gave a shout-out to this forum in the episode so hey, free publicity.

[kitsunebi]

I think I tried T&E on an emulator for a few minutes once and couldn't get into it. Looking forward to hearing you guys discuss it. Maybe you'll convince me to give it another shot.

[miketheratguy]

I think I tried T&E on an emulator for a few minutes once and couldn't get into it. Looking forward to hearing you guys discuss it. Maybe you'll convince me to give it another shot.

Oh wow, first time you ever tried that one?