[00:00:00] Hey, I'm Jerry. Hey, I'm Aaron. And this is Retro Rehab. Welcome back to Retro Rehab, the greatest collaboration of all time. On today's episode, we're going to be talking about the games that made us rage as kids. And also show some love to the analog pocket. Because I feel like we haven't showed it enough love. I can never show it enough love. And we're gonna show it some love today.

[00:00:39] Also, we're not gonna revisit these childhood video game trauma alone. Today, we are very excited to have a guest joining us. You may have seen them playing some sort of handheld console behind a Denny's or something. Or maybe you heard them on a podcast called Fun and Games. Of course, I am talking about none other than the one and only Matt Storm. Matt Storm, welcome to Retro Rehab.

[00:01:03] Thank you. Thank you for having me. I'm really excited to be here. I would have thought Aaron was sick of me by now because we just recorded last week, and then sent me a side quest. But yeah, I'm happy to be here. I love the show. I thought y'all did a wonderful interview with Vim, who I was also honored to have on my show, talking about legends and talking to legends in the preservation space never gets old. And your interview was great, because it was equal parts goofy and quite serious. And I love that. But yeah, I'm happy to be here.

[00:01:33] I laughed a couple times. I was proud of that. Yeah, I mean, that's all you gotta do, right? You make the person who's super serious laugh. That's the goal. But yeah, I'm happy to be here. I love the show and I'm excited to be a part of it. Thank you for coming on, Matt. Please let the record show. Please let the record show that I convinced Matt to give Chrono Cross a try.

[00:01:49] Yeah. Yeah, by the time this episode comes out, the episode that Aaron did, his second episode on SideQuest, was about Chrono Cross, which I was skeptical of because I disliked it as a kid. But you made some good points, so I'll probably give it another shot later this year. We'll see if that actually happens, because I also have a million games in my backlog, but I'm carefully considering.

[00:02:15] Yeah, yeah. Maybe we'll just do a follow-up episode later where I come back on and talk about retro PlayStation RPGs. Games I took for granted. Yeah, right. But before we get into all the juicy content today, we gotta talk about some news. So, Aaron, what could possibly be new with retro right now? Tell me. Give me the lowdown. Give me the sauce.

[00:02:43] Okay, get the gun away from my head. First of all, Vim Slayer, holy shit. What a morning, man. So, yeah, confusion and panic happening all over. Basically, a lot of Nintendo ROMs had been taken offline with a little note on the site saying, you know, at Nintendo's request. So, everybody's mind immediately went to, like, no, Nintendo, no. But it turns out to be just, it was like DMCH rolls or something that ended up getting them taken down. Yeah.

[00:03:12] And then Vim, I think you were emailing with him and he said that, I don't want to chance it, basically. Which, yeah, don't chance that. Take him down. He messaged me and, you know, he was like, hey, by the way, I haven't forgotten about you guys. Because he was going to post the episode on his website. But as you know, there's been, you know, just a mass panic over there.

[00:03:38] And I guess he's just been fighting with probably his ISP and just kind of trying to get everything sorted out over there. So, Vim, if you're listening, buddy, hats off. Keep up the good work. I'm sure you're going to pull through this because you always seem to. So, I have faith. And all of us here on this podcast right now are big fans of you and the work that you've done over the decades that you've been active. So, hang in there.

[00:04:06] Grateful that at least the pages for those Nintendo first party, to be clear, it's the Nintendo first party games. Like, the pages are still up. You just can't download the games right now. So, at least the cataloging part of it still exists. Apparently, all of GameCube is still up, though, which is weird. Yeah. It's weird. And, like, I checked a bunch of other, like, popular ROM sites. And, like, they seem to still have everything up. So, it's curious. But I don't blame him for not wanting to chance it.

[00:04:33] Because, like, you know, it's expensive if it goes to legal action. And you don't want to mess with Nintendo because you just end up paying them. Like, there's no winning that. Yeah, you don't win. Wouldn't it be wild, though, if this was, like, the first case ever that he was like, Fuck this! And he, like, lawyered the fuck up and was like, I'm taking all this VIM money and I'm lawyering up. And he just beats Nintendo. It would be on the national news. It would be on 60 Minutes. It'd be everywhere. Don't meander with the Nintendo. I don't know.

[00:05:03] I was trying to think of some cool, like, don't fuck with Nintendo slogan that I used in my days. VIM kills Miyamoto. No. Just like a cool anime, like... In court. In court. Yeah, there we go. Yeah, never mind. Sorry. Minecraft. Yeah. Miyamoto chops all of his diamonds. What else we got? Oh, I'm doing it too.

[00:05:30] RetroArch is on the iOS app store now. Yeah, that's insane. That's wild. Yeah. RetroArch and Delta now, both on the iOS store. iOS store. That's awesome. And PPSSPP. Go Apple! Yep. I swear to God, man. Somebody at Apple, for sure, was just like... They were like, alright, Nintendo's fucking around too much. We gotta show it to them. Like, they're... Like, cause...

[00:05:58] And it's funny because Vim mentioned on the last episode that the Delta app going live made his site crash. So, like, I would probably guess that part of the reason why now his site is coming under fire is because now there's just like this new spotlight being put on. Yeah. Which is great and unfortunate at the same time. And I guess now that RetroArch is out and people that have been waiting for RetroArch, like myself, like, I got nothing against Delta.

[00:06:27] Delta's pretty damn good for what it is. But, like, I am a big RetroArch fan. And that's, like, where my roots in emulation have been for the last, I don't know how many years. So, to see that on the App Store, like, officially was, like, insane to me. And then, like, I started thinking about, too, like... I never really put it together that the App Store is also on Apple TVs and you can also get these emulators on Apple TVs.

[00:06:56] And if you were smart about it, you could set up your save state and save folder on your iCloud drive and then you could have cloud saves so that you could be playing on your phone. And then you could just go to your Apple TV and then just continue from there. What the fuck? Okay. Yeah, that would be awesome, actually. Yeah. I don't know. I don't even know if that works. I mean, you never know. It makes sense.

[00:07:21] But what really happened was they were, like, they were doing a seance to try to summon the spirit of Steve Jobs. They were, like, oh, please, Steven Jobs, please help. What else can we do to make Apple cool again? Or, well, not again. Apple's cool. They were, like, yeah. They can be. What can we do to make Apple cooler? There we go. And Steve was, like, ooh, put emulation on the fucking app store.

[00:07:48] And then they were, like, you got it. And then they tossed out one of those Ghostbusters boxes and sucked up his ghost. And they were, like, you heard him. He's in the Apple TV. Ghostbusters trap from Ghostbusters. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know why. Real quick, Aaron, can we get a check? Is Steve Jobs still alive? No, he's in the Ghostbusters trap in Apple headquarters right now. That's what they use for all of their cool.

[00:08:18] What's the name of the new CEO? What's his fucking name? Something, Cook? Steve Cook? I don't know. Adam Cook? Joshua Cook? Bradley Cook? Chef Cook? Chadley Cook? Chadley Cook? Chadley? Chadley? Oh, man. He totally is a Chadley. Speaking of cooking, breaking news. Breaking news, Jerry. Breaking news. Tell me. What is it? No more endless shrimp. Red Lobster closes nearly 50 fucking restaurants.

[00:08:46] They're liquidating like 48 restaurants and going bankrupt because of how much money they've lost off of endless shrimp in the past couple of years. I saw this article after we stopped talking last night. I saw this article while I was brushing my teeth about Red Lobster and I was like, fuck, this affects me in a big way. It's important news for an important news show. It is.

[00:09:14] So, Red Lobster, if you're hearing this, I'm very sorry, but also I wish you the best or something. Endless shrimp is a godsend, though. Two tragic stories in one episode? Like, Vim Slayer getting attacked and no more endless shrimp. Are you crazy? World's ending. What is happening to the world? 2024 claims another. First thing on OJ, now they got that one. Good lord.

[00:09:46] Oh, good god almighty. Oh, shit. Yep. I feel like after that we need a Mario oof. Yeah, we gotta get a Mario oof. There it is. Gotta love Mario oof. Two more. I'm sorry, Charles Martinet. It sounds like you're getting the shit kicked out of you. Yeah. Oh, man. When you got hurt in Mario 64, I felt bad.

[00:10:15] Like, just the noises he created. It was awful. Oh, my God. That is a good idea for an episode. I'm just gonna say it right now. The best hurt sounds in games. Oh, my God. There's so many. I feel like Link, though, takes the cake. I feel like I heard his knees snap in half and then go up into his chest. When you get that, like, ah! Yeah, when you, like, jump from too high. Yeah. Oh, man. Yeah. I can't think of any off the top of my head. Oh, there's lots. There's... There's... There's... Hmm.

[00:10:45] Dude, there's a million. Well, you'll just have to do an episode so you can talk about them all. Obviously. Sure. I mean... Okay. All right. Well, that's the news out of the way. You know, tragic news. Didn't mean to start off on such a fucking bummer, but... Well, here we are. Rip English shrimp. Rip English shrimp. And God bless Vim and his lair. Yeah. All right.

[00:11:14] Well, the topic today is games that made us rage as kids. And God knows I raged a lot as a kid. I'm pretty sure video game rage taught me how to swear. And I recently said on an episode of Super Ghost, it was the first time... Like, I was raised Roman Catholic. So, like... Not, like, heavy religious in my household, but, like, you know, I had, you know, the big guy watching over me, or so I thought. The G-man himself.

[00:11:44] The G-man. And, like, you know, we were taught, like, this is, like, the guy that makes things good happen in your life. So, every time things bad happen in video games, I would literally look up and be like, why are you doing this? Like, why? Why can't you let me pass this level? My God, why? Why? We're exercising some demons today is what it sounds like. Oh, yeah. Yeah. We're getting into some childhood trauma together here today.

[00:12:13] But before we do that, Matt, our guest question that we ask all of our guests, just to kind of get, you know, a feel of who you are and how video games kind of shaped you growing up. The question is, what is your favorite video game memory? Such a good question. And, like, besides just being a well-experienced podcaster and knowing that if I talk through my thought process, I can completely stall on the question and not have to answer it, while sounding like it's completely intentional.

[00:12:42] This is amazing. There are a few, but I think the one that I'm kind of known for now-ish, I've told it a few times, I think it's just because it reflects the kind of pure joy that I still get from games now, but something that you can only really get as a kid. So on the SideQuest episode I did for Super Mario 64, which is one of my favorite Mario games of all time, I told this story about how the N64 was the first video game console I remember coming out.

[00:13:11] And what I mean is, like, I was conscious within the world of video games enough to know when the release date was, to be excited for it, and to also painfully know when it was sold out everywhere. Um, and the year that the, uh, N64 came out, I also turned 13 and I was bar mitzvahed that year and immediately told my parents, that's what I want. I don't want anything else. I don't care. I just, I want an N64. I want this new Nintendo console. I'm so excited. And of course, I think, cause so my birthday is in October.

[00:13:39] I think it had come out maybe just before that. Um, I obviously, uh, wasn't able to get one right away and didn't have a pre-order. Pre-orders weren't common back then back. So don't do the math about how old I am, but, uh, back then, like, especially Toys R Us, kind of like all the video games were in kind of a back room. They didn't really have the big display cases they have now. You kind of just talk to a person at a counter and they would look in the back for whatever games were out and like, you'd bring you what you needed.

[00:14:08] You would bring them these little slips and then they would bring out the games themselves. Oh yeah. I remember that. And so on a whim on one weekend, I don't remember how far after my bar mitzvah it was. I begged my dad to take me to Toys R Us. Let's see if they have it. You never know. Can we please go? And so he took me, uh, and so we get to the Toys R Us and I go up to this counter where this guy who could have been 13 or 35 or 50, I have no idea. Like it was that because it's at that age where like people who look older than you just look older than you.

[00:14:36] You have no concept of age, you know, had a mustache, dark hair. And I was like, hi, do you have the N64? And he's like, oh, no, I'll go check in the back. Very nonchalant. Comes out with the N64. Looks like we have another one. I was like, awesome. So my dad bought me that and tomorrow 64. Uh, my co-host likes to give me crap now. He's like, I just created someone's villain arc because I took their pre-order because this guy wasn't paying attention.

[00:15:00] Uh, but that besides this, besides this being someone else's villain origin story, uh, I can't even begin to actually put into words how I felt when I got home with them with that Nintendo 64, because it was the first time I was that excited for anything in video games and booting up Mario 64 for the first time felt like magic. Like there's an electricity I felt only a few times in my life while playing a game, like

[00:15:29] specifically that I feel from video games. The set, the other clear memory I have of it is when I played, when I first bought a Xbox 360 and Mass Effect one and played that for the first time on my own terms, because I'd played it at a buddy's house first, really fell in love with it. And then like within weeks after I like scrambled to pick up a 360, um, just to play that game. And Mars four is one of them where like, I just, my mouth was a game. I was just dumbfounded by how is this real?

[00:15:56] How is Mario 3d doesn't make any sense. And like, it stays my most, my favorite gaming memory because it was first of all, dumb luck. I love dumb luck. I have a lot of it in my life. And so that just happened, them happening to have the N64, even though it had been sold out everywhere, but then getting home and plugging into my tube TV, the red, uh, white and yellow

[00:16:21] cables in the back of my TV things kids don't know about these days and playing this console for the first time. It just, I couldn't explain to you what that feeling was like other than unbridled joy. Again, other games have given me that, but I think there's something special about this one because it was kind of the start of my journey of like more critically paying attention to video games and like, I'd go on to of course, get the Wii at launch and some other stuff at launch and then some other consoles not at launch.

[00:16:49] And like, I think this, the N64 specifically was the pivot point of, I'm not just getting games that have been out forever because I want to play them and I heard about them. And now I'm like, I'm actively reading game pro game and former Nintendo power, looking at forward to games coming out and becoming the kind of video game player that I am today. That moment was pretty pivotal for it. That's amazing. That's, that's such a nice story. Yeah. That's why, that's why I love that question.

[00:17:18] Video game memories are crazy, man. Cause like, that's the thing. Everybody's video game memory is going to be unique. And I, that's, that's a cool story. Like, do you remember holding that controller for the first time and not understanding a single goddamn way to hold it? No, because I'm an intelligent person, Jerry. Every complaint I hear about, I don't know, Mario Oof, a controller. Mario Oof. I mean, I, I, I, I just did that to Jerry. No, seriously though.

[00:17:47] Like I did, like I held it and I was like, wait, do I hold it in the middle? Do I hold the sides? What? And then, but you know, you play Mario 64 for a few minutes. You're like, oh, I hold it in the center and on the right side. And then if I had the D pad, like it comes together, but it was confusing. One kid that I used to hang around with used to hold like the other side and you like, Oh yeah. And I was like, what are you doing? I like, I couldn't figure it out at first, but like, Jesus Christ, man, what are you doing? My children and like his hands, like didn't reach that well.

[00:18:17] Do I have a fucking story for you? Okay. So there's a, there, there's kind of like in super pod saga, uh, lore, if you will, there's like kind of a little, a little, another villain, uh, Andrew M. I don't know if anybody's ever heard of Andrew M on the show. Okay. The other M. Hang on. The other M. I'm getting, I'm getting a controller for demonstration. So this motherfucker. So we'll say like, we'll say, you know, middle and right. I don't know.

[00:18:44] It's mirrored on my camera, but he would just, he would hold the control stick like this and like, like a, like a, he would, he would put a teacup on his lap. He would put the controller on his lap. Then he would two finger the control stick and then uses like one finger on his other hand to push the buttons and shit. Oh my God. He used the controller like an arcade stick. That's wild. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's a total madman. I have no idea where he is now. God bless you.

[00:19:13] Andrew M wherever you are, but wherever you may roam, someday this guy's going to find your podcast and be like, what the fuck? I fucking hope not. I might get assassinated. If so. Remember he's, he's a half wolf demon, dude. Yeah, that's true. It's true. Element ninja of lightning or some shit. I forget. I, I had a cousin that used to hold, his control is like, he would hold it this way. Oh, like a keyboard. Yeah. Like a keyboard.

[00:19:41] It was like his, he would hold it and he would use his pointer and his middle finger to use the D pad, which was absolutely bonkers to me. Um, and yeah, I remember like, I, I seen him play video games probably first before I even started playing them. And I remember like picking up a controller and going, why does he hold it so stupidly? Like I, it's not that hard to figure. I was a child and I was like, isn't this the right way?

[00:20:14] Amazing. Yep. Um, also before we get into, uh, our childhood trauma of raging, uh, Matt, you and I have had some lovely discussions about our analog pockets and I felt like it would be, it would be a, a, a, a miss if we didn't shed a little bit of light on, on this amazing console and, uh, maybe shame Aaron for not owning one yet. Yeah.

[00:20:40] Even though he keeps trying to hold out for, you know, one of those glow in the dark ones and buddy, that was a one time thing. Those are no buddy. It's not, it's not going to happen. I really want the transparent ones, but yeah, I know it's so mad. The transparent ones got announced like a month after I got mine. I was so mad. I got a hot take about the transparent one though. I don't really like that. The, like, I don't like how the buttons look because like the buttons, they don't really

[00:21:09] have like, I don't know the, the, the, the look and the feel of like the, the original ones. I got a, I got a white one and I got the white dock as well. And it looks, Oh my God. It looks, that's the thing about the analog pocket. You can say what you want about the company. The company is like, eh, it's okay. Um, but the hardware, Jesus Christ, the hardware is like top notch. I cannot believe how good the hardware is. Yeah. Yeah. I got the black one. I didn't get the dock. Um, cause I didn't think I'd need it.

[00:21:39] And I don't cause I have a million USB-C wires at this point. So, uh, I didn't seem to see, see it necessary, but yeah, I, I love it as well. It was one of those devices that when it was announced, I was like, I don't need that. And then over the last couple of years, I got my hands on a EverDrive for the Game Boy Advance. And I was like, all right, well I should, you know, get an SP to play this on, which my co-host helped me find, uh, Jeff shout out to Jeff Moonen. He found me one for a decent price, booted it up and it was a first gen one.

[00:22:06] So the backlight is not a real backlight. It's like a front light shining on it, which is still better than no light for the Game Boy Advance, but like trying to play some games, I was like, this looks okay, but I don't know what about an analog pocket? And at one point I had been able to save up a bit of money. I think I had already started to save for the next switch successor. And I was like sitting on a pile of, you know, whatever it was, the 200 bucks. And I was like, or I could just buy the analog pocket now. And they came back in stock.

[00:22:34] And so I bought one and it's kind of changed my life. It's my go-to in the sense that like, it's the only video game console that doesn't feel like work even when it's work. Like, because I'm playing often playing old things from my childhood. Um, I got the cores working on it. So I have all the old, like eight, uh, eight and 16 bit consoles on it also. And like, I really just enjoy it so much.

[00:23:00] It's, it's one of it, it also harkens back to the original Game Boy, which is one of my favorite consoles as well. Uh, but, and also the first time I booted up one of my favorite Game Boy games of all time, the original Kirby, uh, Kirby's Dream Land. And it just looked so good on the, the, the LCD screen. Like the HD of fine. It's a 1440 fucking screen. It looks so crispy. Yeah, dude. It's, it's, it makes it look like how, how my favorite phrase.

[00:23:28] And I think you guys use this phrase too, is like how I remember the game being, it's not how it actually looked when I played it, but it, it, it displays the game, how I remember it looking so sharp. That's a huge thing for me with, with the pocket and the same thing with the Mr. FPGA, like the way that I'm playing like stuff on the Mr. like with PlayStation and like N64 and stuff like that. I'm like, this is how I remember this looking like nice and crispy and sharp looking.

[00:23:54] But like, I, I remember back in like probably like 2017, I started collecting retro games and I quickly realized, cause all I was trying to do was rebuild my childhood collection. That's all I wanted to do. And then it was just a fucking downward spiral into depression. That's how it always goes. And I was just like, like my wife was getting mad at me cause she was like, how much money did you spend on Congress bad for a day? And I was like, it doesn't matter. It's fucking, we got to remortgage the house.

[00:24:23] It's here now. Actually, I didn't have that one, but I did have Mario RPG and I paid like $70 for that thing. Yeah. And like that, it just became a thing where I was like, oh, this isn't, this isn't viable. And then I also was just hooking up to like my flat screen TV and I was like, this looks like shit. And like, it felt like shit. And it's because like those TVs and those consoles don't work well together and they never were supposed to.

[00:24:52] Also like, you know, you're, you're missing like stuff like scan lines. And like, that's what the analog pocket does so well. Like, especially with some of those other like non-official analog cores that have now implemented all the different like filters and stuff. Holy shit. The, the filters for Game Boy Advance are a game changer. Yeah. Like I love the, uh, the original SP filter is the one that I always go with and it just, it's so holy shit. It's good. Yeah.

[00:25:21] It's also awesome to see these games as they were meant to be seen. Like my favorite thing about my, so my favorite handheld console of all time is the Game Boy Advance. It has one of the best libraries I think in video games. But the thing about growing up with the Game Boy Advance is I never saw those games as they were intended to be. I didn't see Metroid fusion. One of my favorite games of all time as it was meant to be seen until I, it was on the switch until they, they put it on there because the colors were just so washed out and they had to adjust the colors to like fit the prep for the washout or whatever.

[00:25:51] And it just, it never looked as good. And then I, I popped, I have a, I'm lucky enough now to have a physical cartridge of fusion. I popped that into the analog pocket and it's just the prettiest that game has ever looked. And it's a, it's a pretty Metroid game. There's a very good looking Metroid game, but like, you know, same with the Wario land for one of my favorite platformers of all time. And that one, like some of the best music design on the Game Boy Advance and the weirdest.

[00:26:16] And it sounds so good on the analog pocket, the speaker, like it's not the best speaker, but I think it, but it's correct. Yeah. What it needs to do for this. It works so well. Yeah. It's, it's just at it. Again, the, all the FPGA stuff is always like striving to be as accurate as possible. And I think that's, that's what's so amazing about it is just like, this is a new console

[00:26:39] that is like perfecting and even going above and beyond what the original console could do. Yeah. And it's like, you know, it's basically the Game Boy Advance plus, or like if Nintendo re-released like a brand new version of the Game Boy Advance, like it's just, it's, it's fantastic. And, you know, it's funny, like you mentioned about, you didn't need the dock.

[00:27:05] I actually mentioned to Aaron, if he's not going to build a mister, which you should, but I don't know. Look, I get it. I'm good with the Embernic, man. I'll give you a testimonial on that after you give your spiel here. But like the cool thing that the dock does is it basically turns your analog pocket into like a switch kind of thing. And it kind of does act like a, like a little mister. It doesn't have the same capability as the mister.

[00:27:32] Like, I don't think it's a replacement or even an equal to the mister, but it's a really cool, like, I guess like a, a companion to the mister. Cause like you can hook up your controllers and stuff. It has like extremely low latency. It's got all the things that you want. So that's, that it's, it's pretty cool. I tested it out with some stuff and yeah, it's, it's, it's basically because the dock itself has some sort of FPGA chip in it as well.

[00:28:02] So it's, yeah, it's fantastic. I can never say enough good stuff about the analog pocket. So, yeah, I mean, and I love all of that, Jerry. And I also, another thing that I love about having the analog pocket is, so I don't know how much both of you follow Shantae. It's one of my favorite franchises. I've never played one. I've never played one. Tell me the best one. Tell me the best one. Shantae and the Pirate's Curse on the 3DS. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Okay. They're all good.

[00:28:32] The Game Boy game hasn't aged perfectly, but I think it's still worth playing. But the third game in the series is still by far the best. But anyway, there was supposed to be a Game Boy Advance game that was going to come out. And then because they were so far behind after making the Game Boy Color game, that the DS was going to be the main thing by the time they were ready to release a game. So they started over and built a new game from scratch for the DS, that Game Boy Advance game set in Purgatory. And then last year they announced, or early, no, it was last year, they announced that they're

[00:29:00] going to go back and finish that Game Boy Advance game. Not only are they going to finish it, but they're also going to put it out on Game Boy Advance cartridges, as well as the Switch ports and all of the other stuff they've been doing. Oh, no way. And so I pre-ordered a purple, see-through, electric atomic purple cartridge of Shantae Advance, which is going to come out, I think, some point this year for the Game Boy Advance. And so I'm going to be able to put that right in the analog pocket and play this missing Shantae game. And I love the franchise. I think it's great. They're all good.

[00:29:29] Some are better than others. But being able to get now this game that fills in, there are gaps in the story. They're not huge. It's not a hugely narratively important game. It's mostly about the mechanics. But there are some holes in some of the narratives of how the characters met. And it was because they just kept the story going in hopes that they would eventually be able to make this missing game. And so they are now. And having the analog pocket makes me so excited because now I can play this game as soon as it comes out. And I know it's going to look great. Nice. That's really cool.

[00:29:59] I love it. I didn't fucking McDonald's just recently released like a Grimace game for the Game Boy Color. For Game Boy Color for Grimace's birthday. Yep. What a dumb, stupid, awesome thing to do. Yep. Man, I really want to get an analog pocket. Probably more. Well, the mister is just really fucking expensive. And it's a lot. Like, it's a lot.

[00:30:28] But the analog pocket looks cool. But then I also don't have much of like a physical collection of handheld games. I mean, I have... Which is also fine. If you could play DS games, I'd be fucking set. I've got like a million DS games because I love that in the 3DS. But the NBurnic is pretty fucking dope too. Like, whichever one you get. I have one that goes up to Dreamcast and PSP. And that's pretty cool.

[00:30:57] And it's pretty wild. And it's got all sorts of filters you can add to it too. I mean, yeah, it's not... It's probably not as accurate as FPGA. But it's still pretty cool. I think RetroArch, I think you said, right? Like, that's what the... It's... All RetroArch. Yeah. Which, I mean, again, I love RetroArch. I think RetroArch is fantastic. And what it's done for the emulation community is like... It's like the king in my opinion. Yeah.

[00:31:26] Like, yes, there's like standalone emulators that can do better and more accurate. But for what it's worth, RetroArch is just easy. Like, I mean, it is kind of a... Like, if you didn't know anything about emulation, you pick up RetroArch, you're probably going to be a little bit like taken aback. Because it can be complicated. But, I mean, now that they have like the run ahead, which reduces like the latency and stuff.

[00:31:52] And all that stuff is like making really, really good improvements to how high-level emulation is coming around. But... I will say this, Aaron. Yeah. I was just going to say also, not having a physical library part. Like, I don't. I have a handful of Game Boy games. Because the analog pocket has a micro SD slot, you can just load it up with the cores and a bunch of ROMs. And it runs them as well. Fuck.

[00:32:22] And so, like, I'm carrying around Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Color, NES, SNES, and Sega Genesis, and Game Gear all on this device. And if I downloaded them, it can also run. It has a core for the Neo Geo Pocket. So, like, you can just load it up with ROMs. And then just, it could be your all-in-one device. I have every single Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance. Like, every... I have every single game for both US and Europe and Japan.

[00:32:50] And I also have every... Like, I keep up on the translations, too. So, like, anytime a ROM hack... I have, like, separate folders for ROM hacks, translations, improvement hacks. Good Lord. Yeah. I could literally just give you my SD and be like, here you go. Man, I don't know if I need every... I don't know if I need every single fucking Game Boy Advance.

[00:33:22] You do. Hang on, guys. I'm just gonna go watch Shrek for a second. I just gotta catch the first 20 minutes of Shrek real quick. In fucking 140p. The really fucking cool thing about the Amberneck devices, too, is that... It... Yeah, it can do up to so many consoles. But, yeah, it doesn't require any coding like some of the other fucking... What's the other brand of handheld things? Aneo? Aneo?

[00:33:52] No, there's another brand of handheld consoles out there that can do up to like... No, not Steam Deck. That one's easy to set up. I even could do that. So, playing my PS2 games in peace on the Steam Deck, they actually run really well. Like, I played Max Payne for the first time on the Steam Deck, the PS2 version, and it was a blast. Oh, nice. It looked great. Sounded great. Yeah, it was awesome. Hell yeah. Let's just skip what I was... I don't know where the fuck I'm going with this. I'm just...

[00:34:20] Amberneck is just easy to fucking use. It's so easy. Everything's so fucking easy. I literally just pop my SD card into my laptop, drag and drop as many ROMs as I want into it, pop it into my fucking Amberneck, restart emulation station, and bam! Now, another copy of Mole Mania, baby. Nice. You should just start calling that thing the Tabernak. Every time you say Amberneck, it sounds like you're saying Tabernak. I keep thinking of the band Amberlynn.

[00:34:49] Shout out to Feel Good Drag, best song ever made. Listen to it. It's a great song. Amberlynn rules. Yeah. Thank you, Matt. Thank you. You're welcome. I got you. Well, what do you think? You want to get juicy here? Want to get into the sauce? Yes. All right. I'm already sauce. You want to revisit some childhood trauma together? Yeah. That's the way to do it. Let's go. Let's go of me. Oh, yeah. Bring out the olives.

[00:35:19] Bring out the olives. All right. It's time. Shout out to Andre from Fine Time. He and I love, we have a shared love of olives. Sorry, Dre, continue. Yeah. I mean, you did give me that sweet tip about putting olives in beer. Yeah. It's got to be. Holy shit. Miller. I believe in draft. Damn. You got there. I'm getting popcorn brain already, man. All right.

[00:35:48] Well, let's get into the sauce. Bring out the olives. It's time to talk about games that made us rage as kids. Are you guys ready? Let's do it. Okay. You know what? Matt, you are the guest here today. I would like you to start off by sharing with us some trauma. All right. Well, let's start with a game that I feel like is pretty universal because anyone who's played this game stops at the same place and gets angry at the same part.

[00:36:15] So we're going to spend a little time talking about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game for the NES. Yes. The original game based on a comic book. Top down levels, side scrolling levels, and that God damn bomb mission at the dam. Everybody got stuck there, died there, game over there. If you happen to get past it, you would die shortly after.

[00:36:39] And one of the most rage-inducing moments I had with this game is when I was in college, often my friends and I would have LAN parties and get together, hang out, bring a bunch of consoles, old ones, new ones, play. And this friend of mine, who went by Egghead, whose actual name I can't even remember in this moment. Egghead was very good at retro games. Like, the harder the game, the better. And so he's like, oh, I can get past the damn stage in the Ninja Turtles game. I can actually get to the Technodrome. And we're like, what?

[00:37:09] And so he did. He spent a couple hours and got there. No way. And when he got to the Technodrome, he said, all right, he said, I'm done. I can't. I can never beat the Technodrome, so I'm not going to play anymore. He's like, what do you mean you're not going to play anymore? You're at the end of the game. He's like, no, no, but Shredder's impossible. I was like, all right, well, I'll do it. And so I played and I tried and I tried. I don't throw controllers anymore because they're very expensive. But as a kid, all the time. Like, I love this Turtles game so much because I spent so much time with it as a kid.

[00:37:39] But like just one of the most impossible rage inducing video games I've ever played. The damn level. Is that the is that the underwater thing with all the electrical fucking seaweed and shit? And you have to go to each bomb and disarm it. And if you don't go in the right order, you'll blow up because there's a bomb that's like tucked away to the side that if you swim past it, you won't have enough time to swim back. It was the worst, literally the worst video. And it lends to underwater levels, which are notoriously not great either.

[00:38:09] Probably more on that later. But like that one in particular. I've played this. It required like pinpoint accuracy, like pixel accuracy to not touch the electric seaweed. It was it was insane. It was insane of them to make a game that difficult for the time. If you touched it at all, you got electrocuted and it would stall you. And like you just had to keep swimming and then you get your rhythm and shit. But yep, it's the worst. Usually one of my most hated memories about a video game.

[00:38:39] And yet I still go back to that game and play it every so often and then get to the stage and go, nope, I'm out. I remember just cruising around because that's the one it's like top down on like almost like a world map where you get in like the turtles van and just like drive around and shit. I remember I was like, this game is amazing. And I'm just like driving around the turtle van. And then my older cousin was like, you're such an idiot. Like why? Why are you doing this? Like you're not even in a level. And I was like, I'm having a good time. She was like, no, man, go in the level. And then I was like, oh, this game sucks.

[00:39:08] What the hell? I was having a good time until you showed me what the actual game was. Yeah. Fuck off, Cheryl. I was doing good. Having fun. Ruined my time. What's her name? Cheryl. Probably. I don't know. I don't know. She's dead now. Oh, shit.

[00:39:36] Aaron, I see you. You also share some underwater stress. Boy, did I. Your notes. Hit me with it. Any underwater level in Super Mario 64. Probably more back in the day because I was a dumb kid with no like hand-eye coordination and or dexterity, but like nowadays it's all right. But yeah, back in the day I was always like, why the fuck does he go up when I push down

[00:40:04] and like down when I push up and like, sure, the music was chill as fuck, but the levels chill were not. There's like contrast for that level. Yeah. The music is just like the most. Oh, man. I could listen to that song. I want that song played at my funeral because it is so good and so just like chill. But then you get down to the depths. Mario's fucking drowning and shit like holding his face.

[00:40:31] Dude, the Mario drowning animation scarred me. Yeah, dude. And brutal. It's so bad. Same with like the little jingle that plays in like Sonic when you're drowning where it's like, oh, fuck. Oh, fuck. Is he really going to die? Is the game over? And then you hear him choke like the. It's the worst. Also, Mario. But Mario also in that game controlled pixel perfectly until you hit the water.

[00:41:02] And then he suddenly had tank controls. I was like, what the hell? Like, why? Why is this so bad? The rest of the game is so perfectly like tuned. And then you hit the water and it's all over. It's just like, this is terrible. Were either of you scared to death of that eel? Yes. Horrifying. The piano in the ghost house? The piano. Worst jump scare in video game history still to this day. Like, I still jump. And I know it's coming. And I still jump.

[00:41:32] It's awful. Oh, so mean. Such a mean scare. Can go fuck itself. The water levels in Super Mario Bros. 3 also can get fucked. Because that was the only one that we had for a while was Super Mario Bros. 3. And yeah, dude. Just trying to. Basically, it was like Flappy Bird before Flappy Bird. You know, you just tap A to not touch shit. And then if you do touch shit.

[00:42:00] Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun. Dun, dun, dun. Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun. Yeah. I mean, unless you had the frog suit. Then the frog, then the swimming was easy. You fucking rip around in the frog suit. But unless you're on land. Yeah. Then you're screwed. Man. You know what? Fuck Nintendo. Double fuck Nintendo. Because fuck Nintendo for earlier about Vim's Lair. And also fuck Nintendo for making us think how good this frog suit was for like the first couple of water levels and then they're like, oh, now you're going to go on land and this

[00:42:28] goddamn fish is going to try to eat you. And you're going to feel like you cannot control the frog suit now because you're just like hopping around shittily. And this giant fish is like jumping out of the water. That was so bad. Like, because I mean, the first few levels, you're like, oh, this is amazing. This frog suit is so crazy. Like move perfectly in the water. And then as soon as you get to the like the second or third level with that big bastard of a fish. Oh, that was bad too. Fuck the angry son too, dude.

[00:42:57] As a kid, I was like, he's like homing in on me. He's impossible to dodge. Mom. My mom would just be like, shut the fuck up. It's a game. Yeah. A friend of the show, Dave Jackson literally quit Mario Brothers three. He didn't, he notoriously hasn't played a lot of retro games, but played Mario three and said that stage shouldn't exist. This game sucks. Like, and it doesn't Mario three is one of the better Mario games, but he was so mad at

[00:43:24] the sun and I don't blame him because that stage is incredibly cheap. It's the worst. Rip Dave. Oh, fuck. So I actually thought of something as I was prepping for the episode that I actually didn't put in my notes. I think one of the times that I just felt so defeated, like, I mean, like I still have

[00:43:50] like sympathy for little Jerry for this moment because it makes me feel so bad. I was playing secret of mana as a child and my older cousin was like, like she didn't give a shit about video games and stuff. And like, I was trying to like, you could, you know, secret mana, one of those games, you can't just save anywhere. You know, it wasn't like a Mario game where like after a castle, it's saved or whatever.

[00:44:18] You had to get to a, get to an end and then you had to save. And I had just finished beating a really, really tough boss that I struggled with like bad. It was the, it was like the tiger, the tiger at like the castle. And it's a while after that before you can actually save because there's a lot of dialogue and then like, you have to like go talk to like, you know, the, the elder person or whatever.

[00:44:45] And this bitch came in and was like, okay, we got to go now. I was like, well, just hang on. I'm like, I'm in the town. I just need to go save. She was like, no, turned it off on me. What the fuck? Yeah. Brutal. Yeah. It was, it was bad. I had one. I kind of liked that too, but I'll, I'll let you finish. I thought you were done. Sorry. I was just going to say, I will never like patch that scar. That scar is deep.

[00:45:15] No. All right. Fuck. My, my little brother. I forget how old we were, but he was, he was probably like four or five maybe. And I, I, I'm like, maybe, I don't know how much older I am than him. Maybe like 10 years, 10, like eight, nine or 10 years. Anyway. Uh, so I had this big, like, well, not big.

[00:45:43] I had this awesome, uh, village on animal crossing on the game cube. And, uh, my little brother decided like, I want to play Pikmin. And then he saves over my fucking save, um, for animal crossing. Oh, I think that's what happened. Or he corrupted my save file. He, it was something like that. Basically my, my entire save on animal crossing got fucked. And I was like, why would you do that? Why? And then he's like, like fucking 10, 11 year old. Shaking him. Why?

[00:46:13] Why would, why did you do that? Your brother's just like. Oh man. He's the all lady. Like, ah, yeah, that sucked. Yeah. Yeah. I think we all have like trauma related to save issues or not saving or like, uh, like thinking a game auto saves and then realizing it doesn't like the

[00:46:40] first mass effect was notorious for having the worst auto save system. Really? Oh yeah. Like you had this manually save often. Cause it would only save when you entered a dungeon kind of area or building, or if you, uh, like left the planet, but like if you did a bunch of stuff and didn't enter any kind of building or dungeon and then died, you would go all the way back. You don't just go back to the beginning of that fight in the later games. It does that. But yeah, you had to like pretty much save scum on the Xbox three 60 to get

[00:47:09] through that game, just to make sure you weren't like set back three hours. And there was definitely a time I was fighting like a get a geth juggernaut and like it owned me, it hosed me in one shot. And then I ended up losing like three hours of progress and had to play through a whole chunk of story. Like I think this is when you go to get Liara and like, just had to get through the planet again. And the Mako, it was the worst. I was so mad. I wanted to flip my TV. I love that little Mako though.

[00:47:36] I learned to appreciate the Mako more after playing Andromeda, which ultimately I ended up enjoying, but the, I hated the vehicle in that game, the vehicle in Andromeda almost killed me. I just, I hated it. And I was like, God, I missed the Mako. That's at least predictably ridiculous. I, one of the things I put on this list, I actually realized that I, I am, you'll hear me talking about this on, if you listen to Super Ghost Radio,

[00:48:05] you'll hear me mention this. Donkey Kong Country 2 was the, was the game that I learned how to swear on. And it was, it was due to the level where your controls are backwards and you're swimming. It's a, so get this, here we go. Another swim, another swimming level. Okay. And your controls are reversed. Why? Cause it's like this toxic, it's like a toxic water or something.

[00:48:33] So like you're up, up is down, down is up, left is right kind of thing. Like it's, it's totally fucked. Now it wasn't until years later that I was like flip, I flipped my controller upside down. I was like, Oh, now, now this works. I can do this, I guess. And it, it, it was actually not that bad, but back as a child, again, being raised as a, as a Christian, which clearly not now.

[00:49:01] And maybe because of this game, uh, I just remember playing this level and just like cursing at God. Like also again, mom, I hope you don't hear this episode. Um, just cursing and being like, you're such a fucking asshole. Why can't you just let me beat the game? I'm so close. Like, and I, and then like my mom was like, what did you say down there? And I was like, I'm just playing my games, mom.

[00:49:26] Like, and I was like, so fucked up over this, like going to school and stuff. And like telling my friends, like, you guys wouldn't understand, man, just like what this game is doing to me. Like, I feel like it was like a full week of just like playing this level over and over again. Cause I was determined. And like, you know, my mom, it got to the point. I think I, it, it became obsessive to me because like I used to, I was allowed to rent a game every Friday after school.

[00:49:54] And that, I remember that Friday, my mom was like, Hey, do you want to go to blockbuster and get a game? I was like, no, I have a game to beat. And it just, I, I, I had to, I had to beat it. And I did, I did get through that level. But then there was a level after that very shortly after that, where there's like lava rising and you have to use that stupid goddamn spider and shoot at spider webs and then click the button to make the web. And you had to like that, fuck that, fuck everything about that.

[00:50:22] But I, I did not beat that until maybe five years ago. Fuck that spider. But I love Donkey Kong Country 2 and I love Donkey Kong Country 3 as well. And that game made me rage quite a bit too. Yeah. And that's the thing. We rage about these, but I love them. Yeah. I don't, I recently talked about this with some friends.

[00:50:44] Like I, I remember that game being my favorite of the Donkey Kong Country games, but I also know so many people who've played it recently who said it's like really difficult. And it's like, well, I haven't played it since I was a kid. So maybe it's just rose colored glasses. But I also, I mean, I raged on a lot of games as a kid just because of their difficulty and unfairness. I mean, the big one that I have on my list is Battletoads for the NES. Famously, famously one of the more difficult beat-a-bops.

[00:51:11] And I forgot until very recently, made by Rare, one of my favorite studios. And like, I love the Battletoads game, except for the bikes levels. The motorbike levels make me want to throw my Nintendo out the window. It's just, and then at the end of the motorcycle level, you have to fight a rat something. I can't remember his name, the big motorcycle rat, a biker rat. And it's like, it's just, it's the, the, the level itself is hard enough. And then you got to do a boss battle at the end. It's just the worst. And it's like the third level.

[00:51:40] So I know the first two levels of that game so well. And then that third level on the bikes, I was just like, this game sucks. I know people that are, I know people that are good at that game that are just like, yeah, fuck this level. This is bad. Like, and it's almost like luck. Like, just being able to get through that and properly have, you know, yourself intact with lives and health to be able to beat that boss and then continue on.

[00:52:05] It's so funny how there was like, kind of like gatekeeper things in some of these games that just was like, that's as far as I've ever seen in that game. The hard wall. Yeah. I never got really far in Castlevania 1 until I had save states on the Switch. Like, in the old school days, it was just like, you got, I got to like the third level or the fourth level, whichever level has when you actually fight Frankenstein. I think that's the third level. And that was it. Like, I would fight him. I would die. And then that would be it. I wouldn't want to start over.

[00:52:36] But yeah, Battletoads now I could probably beat because I would just save state after every wall I pass. And then if I hit a wall, I would just rewind. But like back then, there was none of that. And it's just, it felt impossible to pass that stage. Yeah. My brother and I, back in the day, we all, not the one that I like nearly shook to death because he annihilated my save on Animal Crossing. My stepbrother. Never shake a child, please, folks out there listening. Yeah, please.

[00:53:06] We would take turns trying to get as far as we can in Super Castlevania 4 without like running out of continues or whatever. And the furthest either of us could ever get was, I forget if it was like a boss fight with Medusa, but like Medusa. Yeah, something with Medusa. We would get up to that. And then we would just get destroyed because she was impossible for little kid us. Then we would just move on and play Killer Instinct and beat the crap out of each other. As most kids did.

[00:53:35] Yeah, I, the first Castlevania game I think I ever beat was probably Symphony of the Night. Right. Because all of the Nintendo and Super Nintendo ones were just, they felt impossible to complete without Game Genie at least. Thank God for emulation. Thank God for save states. Because I don't know how anybody can make it through the original Castlevania without save stating that shit. Like I would just tear my fucking hair out. I'll be like, what do you, what do you mean?

[00:54:04] Where are these floating fucking Medusa heads coming from? The worst. Between the not back. Oh, the fucking knock back. Between the knock back and then the, if you walk off a ledge, like you fall like a rock, like the no momentum jumps. It's just, that game was, felt impossible to finish. I pride myself as being pretty, like, pretty good at like those types of like the Mega Mans and like the Castlevania games. I'm really good at them. But I'm with you.

[00:54:33] I had to use save states on Dracula. Because like when it gets to the point where it's just like that you're standing on like the fucking pillars. Man, come on. Seriously. It's just unfair, dude. Come on. It's just unfair. That's. Suck my ass, Dracula. Gladly, Dracula. Notorious ass sucker Dracula. I mean, there could be blood back there. You don't know. That's true.

[00:55:03] So this is unrelated. Don't mind my hemorrhoids. I used to like, I used to hate taking medicine as a kid because cough syrup tastes like shit. I'd be like, no, I'm not taking it because I'm a kid. Fuck. Fuck that. And my parents would be like, okay, well, if you don't take your medicine, you're going to get a shot in the ass. I was like, no, no. So I would always have to get shots in my butt because I didn't want to take cough medicine. So, yeah.

[00:55:32] Consume my shitty child stories, Internet. I mean, it's all related to childhood trauma, right? It's all the same. It is. I'm still terrified of needles as an adult. And I'm a grown ass person. And I still hate needles. I don't cry anymore. I don't like getting blood taken. Yeah. I don't like that. Yeah. I'll get like a shot. Yeah. Fuck cough syrup. Especially if it's cherry. Who? Yeah. What? It's not cherry. It's a lie, dude. That's a fucking lie. It tastes like medicine. That's what it tastes like.

[00:56:01] Big Pharma's tricking us into thinking this shit's cherries. You know what's funny? You know what's really funny when I'm a child of trauma? I thought for years I didn't like cherries because the only time I ever tasted cherry was from fucking cough syrup. And I was like, no, I fucking hate cherries. And then I remember trying a cherry blaster and I was like, do cherries taste like this? And people were like, no, not at all. But like, it's good. And then I remember tasting a cherry for the first time and I was like, oh my God, this is amazing.

[00:56:30] Is this what cherries taste like? Yeah. Or they had like the Robitussin had like the grape kind that absolutely did not taste like grape. I love grapes. Yeah. Or fucking like grape slushy here. It's like, yeah. Like, no, it's totally different. It may as well just call that bleach. Because that's all it's fucking disgusting. Wait, do you drink a lot of bleach comparatively? To know what it tastes like? Just curious. Just throw it out there.

[00:57:00] After my cousin turned off that secret of manna that time, yeah, I was looking for a jug of NyQuil and a shot of bleach. This fucking bitch Cheryl, dude. Take a shot, take a shot. Take a long drag off your cigarette. Ten-year-old Jerry. Like, uh. Chain smoking cigs. It's a hard knock life for old Jer Bear. Oh, man. What's next? What's next on the docket?

[00:57:32] Uh, who is next? I don't know, but I don't. Matt, give us some trauma. Sure. Uh, I remember being so, so excited. So excited for Sonic to get his first 3D game on the Genesis. I was like, this is going to be it. This is the next wave of Sonic the Hedgehog games. And we got Sonic 3D Blast. One of the worst isometric games I have ever played.

[00:57:59] And like, it's truthfully not the worst game I've ever played. Like, it's just so piss poorly controllable. Like, Sonic has weird momentum. Aiming is impossible. Trying to kill enemies is impossible. Having to find all the flickies feels impossible. Like, it was just one of those games that just. Flickies. It's just, the game didn't control. It wasn't the worst controlling game I ever played.

[00:58:28] But it was just off enough that I think it was worse. Because at least in bad controlling games, you can kind of like get used to consistently bad controls. But Sonic 3D Blast just almost never controlled well or the same. And had absolutely no momentum. Like, Sonic would stop on a dime and also would take forever to gain speed. It was the worst. And by the time you do gain speed, there'd be three enemies or a flicky that you missed or a ring that you need to get. It was the worst. I hated that game.

[00:58:56] Maybe I want to throw my Sega Genesis down the stairs. I feel like that was a very ominous, you know, precursor to what 3D Sonic would eventually become. Because 3D Sonic can be good, but not very often. I was about to tell you to hold your goddamn horses. Because yeah, the first two were really fucking good. Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 are two of the best Sonic games ever made. I'll stay in by that. And I think Sonic Frontiers isn't that bad.

[00:59:25] I think it could have been a lot worse. Yeah, absolutely. You know what? I wanted to play Frontiers and I never got around to it. The open world. Colors too. Like, colors is pretty good. But like, being able to run around in an open world as Sonic or an open zone was incredible. The stuff they put in the open world is kind of garbage. But like, the actual flashback stages and the story are really good. Like, it's not perfect. But it's the best controlling 3D Sonic game in a long time. Besides Generations.

[00:59:53] And Generations was like hybrid 2D, 3D. Sorry. Don't get me started. You're talking to a Sonic super fan. I'll defend. I like Sonic Spinball. That's how you know how broken I am. Sonic. Speaking of Sonic, yeah. Shout out to Thrak. Yep. Sonic Spinball. I can get behind that, dude. Yeah. I'm not even going to. I'm not going to test you on it because that's a good game in my eyes. It's a good pinball game. It's not the best pinball game, but it's a good pinball game.

[01:00:20] But yeah, Sonic 3D Glass blows and it's impossible to control and makes me want to throw controllers. Yeah. You heard it here first, folks. From the Sonic lover himself. Yeah. Holy shit. While we're on the topic of that, I remember going to my. This is kind of one of my picks. I'm just going to like shove my way. Shove Jerry out of the way for a minute so I can get this one in before I forget. I also jotted it down, but whatever. So my family. Tell us. Okay.

[01:00:50] My family, we would go over to my aunt and uncle's. Well, a different aunt and uncle's for Thanksgiving or Christmas. And my one cousins had an SNES in Kirby's Dream Course. And so we would gather around, take turns, play Kirby's Dream. No, no. We play co-op or something. I forget. Yeah. There's a co-op. There's no player mode. Yeah. Yeah. Is there? Yeah. I didn't know that. I'm pretty sure. Then yeah, we would just take turns, play Kirby's Dream Course or play at the same time or something.

[01:01:20] And I would just get so fucking mad because like dumb kid Aaron, again, I was a fucking idiot as a kid and I didn't understand anything. I was like, I was like, why is he going off the map? How are you supposed to get into the hole without falling off the fucking map? I don't know if I said fuck as a kid or not. I probably did. You should. But yeah, I would always get so mad at Kirby's Dream Course and they'd be like, okay, kids, dinner. And I'd be like, yes!

[01:01:48] Finally, I don't have to play this bad game anymore. I'm going to eat my rage away. I'm actually going to eat those Brussels sprouts tonight. God damn it. Hey man, Brussels sprouts are good. Don't knock Brussels sprouts. That's the rule. Worst lie. We were told as kids because they are delicious. Roasted Brussels sprouts with like a little bit of like salt and pepper and like throw a little bit of rosemary on there. Anyways, this is not the time and place for this, but I could talk about Brussels sprouts

[01:02:17] all night long. Yeah, they're just little mini cabbages, man. Who the fuck told me? Savory cabbages for my mouth. Yum, yum, yum. Yes, please. Another one that people like, you always see cartoons like, no, I don't like vegetables. They always have broccoli. Like, bitch, broccoli's great. I fucking love broccoli. You know where those people are now? They're dead. They're dead. They died young because they didn't eat their broccoli. Thank you, man. Mystery solved. Yeah.

[01:02:46] Eat your fucking broccoli, folks. Don't be afraid of it. You heard it here first. All right. You can go. I'll hit you with another one. Earthworm Jim. Oh, I love these games, but I know where you're going. I know where you're going, but I love these games. Earthworm Jim is fantastic. I would say that that is the best game that Interplay put out. Yeah. And they put out a lot of games and like good games too.

[01:03:15] Like, I mean, some people shit on like Clayfighter and stuff. Like, Clayfighter was fine. Yeah. Clayfighter's not bad. I remember having a good time. Boogerman. I used to rent that all the time. That was another good one. And I think they did. Shout out to Professor Monkey for a head. Yeah. I don't know why. I keep pointing up for all these shout outs, but yeah, shout out to Professor Monkey for a head. Yeah. Earthworm Jim was fantastic. Fantastic.

[01:03:40] However, I remember renting it, getting, it was hard to get through the first level. Yeah. And I remember being very confused by the fact that I don't like, I don't know what it was about that game. That game seemed like it was more mature than it should have been. I mean, it definitely was on some level. Yeah. Yeah. It was something about the humor and stuff. And just like, I don't know, something about it was just like, I feel like I shouldn't play this, but I love it.

[01:04:10] Then when you get to the second level, what the heck? And you're in hell. And it's playing that like fucking classical. I don't know what the name of it is. I think it's, is it a Beethoven song or something? It's like classical like. Vocalize the song for me. It's like something like that. I don't know.

[01:04:35] I'm going to cut that out because that was a terrible vocalization of what it actually is. But yeah, it's like playing this classical music and it's horrifying. You're in hell. And but the funny thing is night on Bald Mountain. That's the song night on Bald Mountain. That's it. Yes. And it is terrifying to hear that as a as a child while you're playing a game where you're literally in hell.

[01:05:03] Like you're in hell and everything is trying to kill you. Like every every little flame is like popping out of nowhere. And I just remember being like so frustrated, so scared. And then the music changes from that like super tense, like horrific music. And it just you hear a record scratch. It goes. And it's just like this elevator music.

[01:05:28] And man, I feel like this game was like fucking with my head because I was just like, I don't know how to feel. I don't feel anymore with this game. Like it's it's so funny, but also I'm so scared. And once I finally was able to get past what the heck after I think I had to write it like two or three times to get past that level. And I was like, oh, my God. Yes, I finally beat this level. And then it throws one of the hardest fucking levels I've ever played at you right after that one.

[01:05:56] You're in a goddamn bubble, like little ship thing. And you have to it's almost like weird tank controls. Yeah. And like it has like a certain momentum and like you have to like you have to glide through this level and you can't hit like the rocks and stuff or else it cracks. And it's so stressful because the more you hit it, the more the cracks appear on the thing. And like there's no way of knowing how many hits you could actually take. Not to mention you have a fucking time limit to get this thing done.

[01:06:26] Dude. So like you're rushing, but you're also having to like not hit these rocks and capsize poor Jim inside this poor Jim. Jim at the no. And yeah, like there's no way of telling how many hits you could take until it literally just goes and it breaks and it's so abrupt. And then he just dies. And I it I was an adult before I beat that level.

[01:06:54] The only reason I beat any of those levels was because I used Game Genie back then. It's like they were impossible. But and also you do the submarine thing multiple times because you would like connect to these other like tubes and then you'd run around and fight some to get more air or something. And then you would get into another one. It was the worst. Yeah, it was it was brutal. I think the only thing harder than that that made me rage was in Earthworm Jim 2 when you had to run with the fucking with the pillow. Oh, Peter puppy.

[01:07:23] Pete's puppies, man. He's like throwing these stupid fucking puppies out of a window and you got to like bounce them over. And then if you miss he turns ravenous and rips you to pieces. That was fucking terrible. And also, oh my God, Matt, do you remember the bungee jumping level with major mucus? Yes. And you had to like bump into him enough to break his bungee cord. But if you when you bump into each other, both of your bungee cords start to break and you have to like bump him into the rock. So his breaks more.

[01:07:53] It was the worst. It was. Aaron, I need you to play Earthworm Jim. Okay. I need you to do it. Because I need you. I need you to get on our level. I've played a little bit of I forget which one. I think I actually have. Earthworm Jim on 64. God, no. That game is in a prominent game. Yeah, it sucks. I played the first level that. It's terrible. I think I have the special edition Earthworm Jim Sega CD ISO on my Amber Nick.

[01:08:22] So I'll get right fucking to it. Nice. A fun little little aside, though, about Earthworm Jim. I'll tell you something. That soundtrack sounds way better on Genesis. Oh, yeah. What? One of the best Genesis soundtracks. Yeah, it was designed, I think, for the Genesis. Yeah, it was. It didn't sound good as good. It has like the griminess. It's got like the griminess of the of the Genesis.

[01:08:47] And yeah, there was just certain there was games that sounded way better on Genesis just because of that like gritty, grimy, like soundtrack that they that was like the limitations of what they had to work with. But yeah, it just sounded way better on Genesis. Hell yeah. So play it. Play it on Genesis if you're going to play it. Well, OK. Fuck. Fuck Sega CD then, I guess. Sega CD is basically a Genesis. That's true. That's true.

[01:09:16] That is true. Who turn it is? It's Matt's turn, right? Yeah, I believe so. So this is the last one I have on my list. And so we come from an era in retro games of the best and worst licensed games of all time, like the Nintendo Disney afternoon games on the NES. Some of the best stuff. Tailspin, Darkwing Duck, the original DuckTales, Aladdin on the SNES and Genesis. Lion King? No. Oh, no. Lion King's not good. That one was awful.

[01:09:45] Oh, my bad. I love how Aaron's like, and Lion King. We're like, shut the fuck up, Aaron. We also got some of the worst licensed games ever. And I think one of the earliest ones I played that was so bad was the original Home Alone, which the SNES and the Genesis versions were different. The SNES one was kind of like this. You had to go find items and set traps. And then, like, it was so weird.

[01:10:14] They didn't give you really, like, you had to prep for the attack of the bandits and the wet bandits. And, yeah, it was like this kind of tower defense, kind of sim something. It was awful. And, like, the combat was awful. The gameplay was awful. And I remember just renting it and getting so mad at it. But loving the movie, so I wanted to play this game based on this movie I love. That still holds up, in my opinion, especially the first one. But, like, I just, I would get so mad at this game because it was so unfair.

[01:10:43] Wasn't the soundtrack really shitty, too? Yes. Wasn't it just, like, one looping song for, like, the majority of the game? Correct. And the sound effects didn't always work. Yeah, it was bad. The sound effects didn't always work. What the? Nope. Yep. Yep. That's cool. Perfect game. 10 out of 10. 10 out of 10. Hell, yeah. Hell, yeah. Aaron, did you have another thing? Mm-hmm. I sure do. Okay.

[01:11:10] Have either of you ever played Marvel Nemesis Rise of the Imperfects? So, like, when I saw this in the notes, I got a brain blast because, like, I forgot this game existed. But then I looked up the cover and I absolutely played this game. Really? But remember absolutely nothing about it, Aaron. So, re-enlighten me. Yes. Okay. Okay. So, it was a, like, a top-down, I guess, like, brawler, kind of a fighter a little bit.

[01:11:39] Yeah, the story mode you play through and you can unlock more characters and stuff. So, you have, like, Wolverine and Hulk and shit like that. Human Torch, I believe, and also Storm. And, yeah, you have all the Marvel characters that you know and love. And then there's this other side called the Imperfects who are, like, I'm going off the top of my head here. There's one called Hazmat who's, like, a sticky, gooey Spider-Man.

[01:12:05] Um, Legion, who's just, like, a big, strong guy who has, like, the souls of, like, a billion people inside of him or something stupid. And then, oh, fuck. There's Paradigm. Fuck. My friend. So, when you're playing multiplayer, um, only one person can be, like, like, one character, right? Like, um, if someone picks Wolverine, nobody else can be Wolverine.

[01:12:32] So, my friend Brandon, if you're listening to this, Brandon, which I, you're probably not, fuck you. He would always pick Paradigm. And Paradigm's, like, the best character in the fucking game. Whenever we play multiplayer, he would auto-lock Paradigm. Like, I would get distracted by something. And Paradigm, um, she can, like, teleport all over the goddamn place. She's impossible to fucking hit because you have the teleporting and stuff. So, I'd be like, dude, stop! Like, pick a, pick a different fucking character next round.

[01:13:02] Pick a different character. And he'd be like, oh, okay, man. Okay. And he would just fuck around with me. And then next round comes around and he auto-picks Paradigm again. And I'd just be like, dude, I'm fucking done playing this game with you. I'm going upstairs because my bedroom's in the basement. So, I'd stomp upstairs like a little baby. And, yeah. Yeah. It's, uh, I mean, you know, when somebody doesn't pick Paradigm, it's a fun game to play with friends and just goof around and just have a great time.

[01:13:30] But if someone does pick Paradigm, I'm not playing. Do you guys remember the first time you beat a controller? Probably Dark Souls. Oh, Dark Souls. That's a good one. Super Nintendo for me. Yeah. Super Nintendo for me, it was, um, oh, what game was it? Oh, it was, um, it was Super Mario RPG. And the only truly difficult fight in that game, fighting Kuliks.

[01:13:58] And I got like two thirds of the way through that fight. Like, I killed like, I think two or three of the crystals. And then he one-shotted my whole party. And like, I definitely bit my controller. I was so mad. Like, I was so angry. Oh, my God. I've never, I've never beat him. I've beat Mario RPG so many times. It's one of my favorite games of all time. I've never beat him. Oh, I keep telling myself I'm going to beat him in the remake just to kind of make amends.

[01:14:26] I'm, uh, I'm stupid. Her name is Paragon, not Paradigm. Holy shit. Oh, yeah, well, same thing, right? Six to one, half dozen, another. I'll send a picture of this bitch that I hate so much. She's got like cool arm blades and like, she seems cool. But then, yeah. No, somebody take the wheel. I will drive us off a cliff.

[01:14:55] Well, I think it's a good way to transition to hear a word from our sponsors. And then hit our folks listening here with our closing and our random recommended games. What do you say? Let's do it. What say you? Everybody loves pizza, right? What if I were to tell you? I like pizza. Okay, yeah. Matt, do you like pizza? I mean, if I'm gluten, I'm gluten tolerant. So I liked pizza when I could eat it.

[01:15:25] Don't they have like cauliflower crust, don't they? They do. Yeah, it's fine. It's not really pizza. It's not real pizza. You remember, I come from where pizza was invented. I'm from New York. So like, this is where real pizza lives. Hashtag not my pizza. What if I were to tell you that pizza itself is doing a Mario crossover? You got Mario themed pizza toppings. Hey, and other video games. No, pizza is doing a crossover with all sorts of retro games.

[01:15:55] You've got Mario mushrooms. You've got the wall chickens from Castlevania. You've got... I heard they're bringing Yoshi eggs into this. Yeah. Cracking some Yoshi eggs. Fried Yoshi eggs. That's a bit... Yeah, but it's kind of like... It's like that Filipino cuisine balloon. When the Yoshi is still kind of alive inside of it. So like, they're all over the pizza as well. They also... Like, you can get a squid substitute on the pizza. But they're made of bloopers from Mario. You know?

[01:16:26] If you... If you... If you... If you pay extra, there's a secret menu item where Wario just farts on your pizza for you. Yeah. There's also... He puts extra garlic on it first. Yeah. And then rips a fatty on there. Also, all the vegetarian pizzas just have live piranha plants on them. And you have to fight for your food. Are you getting all your ideas from Jerry's shirt? Pretty much. It's really working for me. I mean... It's helping a lot. I'm looking at my Banjo-Tooie poster over here.

[01:16:54] And yeah, they also do like a honey crust. Honey coated crust on the pizza. That's pretty good. Also, don't fret, folks. If you get a pizza delivered and you open up that box and there's nothing in it. That's just the boo. Yeah. It's just the boo pizza. It's invisible. But tastes delicious. Oh, it's so good. You just have to pretend. Right. Exactly. I was... I was gonna go with like... Pretend harder. I was gonna go with like the boo stolen like it does in Mario Kart. Um... Fuck that, I guess.

[01:17:24] Yeah, they didn't say anything about that happening. They just said that the boo pizza, you can't see it. Anyways, we gotta get paid for this. Remember. We gotta say the right... We gotta say the right things. That's right. That's right. You're gonna lose your sponsorship. Come on, get with it. Shit. Fucking Aaron, you thought... I thought you had to fucking read. The read. The read? Where's the read? Where's the notes? Hold on, get the notes. Wait, hang on. We'll quickly Google all video games.

[01:17:54] Wasn't there a Waluigi thing? Was there a Waluigi thing? I'm struggling to think of other random shit. Oh, and you can get Sonic Chili Dogs on top too. Just put together the perfect chili dog. Just slop on the dog, more slop, and then put it on top of your pizza. Boom. Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun. Here is your fucking pizza. And then you can get Donkey Kong bananas on there too. Banana pizza, no joke. Yeah. That's really good.

[01:18:21] Link, you can just pour a fucking glass of water on there, I guess. I don't know what... Or Lon Lon Milk. The cheese is made with Lon Lon Milk. There you go. Gotcha. You can also get Bayou Billy's Machete just thrown on there for good measure to cut your pizza with. Also, they don't serve jellyfish on pizza, but they are serving rare Metroids, which is basically the same thing. Same kind of steak. Totally edible. Yeah, completely same. What's the word? Here we go. They're vegan.

[01:18:51] It's a Metroid sashimi. Yeah, exactly. It's a Metroid sashimi. Yeah, you've got bloopers. You've got... Pokemon? I don't fucking know. There's a full Squirtle shell on there. Don't worry, folks. He was killed humanely. Oh, come on. Ooh, get the invincible lollipop from Kirby just stuck right in the middle of there. Ooh, yeah. Yeah, you have a spicy pizza with that invincible lollipop. Spice it up. That's what we say here on Retro Rehab.

[01:19:19] Then your waiter comes up to the table. He's like, fresh ground Pikmin? And he's like, blue, please. He's like, ch-ch-ch-ch. He's like, ah! That's the Pikmin dying sound. Because you're shredding its entire body away. Ah! This is the second time we've done that to Pikmin now. Or Pikmin? Rip Pikmin. If only I played those games. Rip Pikmin. Rip Pikmin. Rip Pikmin. But thank you so much for... Hold on. If you haven't... This just in. This might be doing... You got a finger in the ear? Yeah, yeah.

[01:19:50] Like the reporters do this just in. If you happen to get any kind of acid reflux or criminal indigestion or something, Dr. Mario. Head on over to Dr. Mario's... Yeah, this is a dual ad with Dr. Mario's emergency hospital. Yeah. Emergency intestinal distress medication. Dr. Mario's got a big level. Just like Osmosis Jones, it works at a microscopic level.

[01:20:19] A little form into like a little human being and like walk around in your body and be like, Hey, I need your clothes. It starts off, I need your clothes, your boots, and your motorcycle. And then it hunts down... Is Osmosis Jones voiced by Arnold Schwarzenegger? I truly don't know. I missed that one. This is just like... This is like Osmosis Jones, like Terminator crossover. Isn't it Chris Rock? I'm not going to do a Chris Rock impersonation because I can't... I can't do...

[01:20:48] Legally, you're not allowed to. Yeah. My attorney's... So safe, the ad read. I don't know what this ad is anymore. Hey, Osmosis Jones, Terminator crossover. Pizza and Dr. Mario. Thank you for your sponsorship. Give us... Give us money. Well, you know what time it is now. You ready for this? Ready. Matt. I'm ready. You're about to hear...

[01:21:18] You're about to hear this for the first time. Nobody else has heard this yet. Ready for this? Yeah. Random Recommendated Games! Amazing. Glorious. Love it. High... So high tech. You got to add some like laser sounds in the background. You're like... Pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, pew. Like way too many. Pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, pew. All right.

[01:21:46] It is the saddest but most generous part of Retro Rehab. It is when we have to bid you adieu until next time. However, we always leave you with a nice parting gift. And today, you know, we have a guest here who's going to also be able to give you a nice parting gift with a random Recommendated Game. And Matt, why don't you go first? Why don't you let the folks know what the fuck is up and what they should be playing next? Sure. Is this game?

[01:22:14] I'm going to recommend one of my favorite Nintendo games that no one's ever heard of. And one of the earliest games Game Freak has ever made. Do you like Pokemon? Well, this game has nothing to do with it. Since I was a kid, I've been playing a game called Mendel Palace. It was one of Game Freak's earliest games. And basically what it is, it's a dungeon crawler where you pick, I think, from one of like three or four different characters.

[01:22:39] And you slide these like playing card tiles on the ground to slide people into walls and they shatter. And it's like, and you explore each stage, you know, beating all the enemies on screen. And then you move to the next stage. And you compete in the Mendel Palace. And then when I think you climb to the top and then you win, I don't remember the narrative super well, but like it had this fun mechanic where you're just kind of moving around, puzzling out how to like shatter these characters the most easily because you defeat them by slamming them into a wall.

[01:23:08] And as a kid, I had no idea it was made by Game Freak. But recently when I was looking up or I was doing research for something, probably a Pokemon episode of fun and games, I was just looking into Game Freak's library besides Pokemon. Because I know they'd done that like little town hero game and a few other things. And I was like, I wonder what else they made. It turns out they made one of my favorite games from my childhood that no one has ever heard of. The expression on Aaron's face as we were recording about what this game was like is

[01:23:37] usually the look I get when I recommend it. But it's an NES game. Oh, folks are always looking for NES gems. And this is one of them. It's not super difficult from what I remember. It was a lot of fun. It's really quirky and weird. The visuals are really interesting. The music's really interesting. Yeah, I can't recommend it enough. Hell yeah. I'm definitely going to check that out. And you said it's on NES? It is on NES. Yeah. I'm going to be throwing that on the old mister. Or maybe the analog pocket while I'm laying peacefully in bed.

[01:24:07] I'm excited to hear about your pick, Jerry. I've never heard of this game before. Really? Have you ever heard of the TV show? There was a TV show? What? So I got both you guys. So here's the thing. Oh. Super Widget. Yeah. If you look it up, you're going to know. You're going to know exactly what I'm talking about. I remember the Widget TV show now. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:24:35] So Super Widget was a platformer by Atlas on the Super Nintendo. And I used to rent it a lot. And I thought it was really cool. It's actually a very good platformer. Action platformer. Kind of like Kirby. Because you get different powers. And you can change into different forms. And there's a lot of them. There's a lot of different forms. And they all do different things. And they help out in different situations.

[01:25:03] And there's bosses and stuff. And it's just an all-around really good action platformer. For anybody that likes Kirby, 100% check this game out. It's also strange back then to see Atlas making a platformer like this. So it's kind of a bit of a gem. But yeah, it is based on a TV show called Super Widget. I've never heard of that. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:25:33] It's a little gem from the early 90s. We had weird cartoons in the 90s. Yeah, we did. Remember Bud Ugly Martians? That was a little bit... Later. That was, I think, late 90s, early 2000s was Bud Ugly Martians, I think. I don't remember. Yeah. Yeah. I remember the Super Mario Brothers Super Show. Absolutely. Dude, a Mario. Of course. Captain Wild Banner. It's the Super Mario Super Show.

[01:26:01] I used to fucking love that thing. But you... From side to side. From side to side. Oh, man. I remember being treated when you would get the Zelda episode every, like... What was that? It was once a week? Every two weeks? Like a week or two weeks. Yeah, something like that. Yeah, every, like, second week or something, you get the Zelda episode. And it was just like, oh, man, the Zelda episode. Excuse me, princess.

[01:26:29] I can't believe that that is, like, the first version of Link that we've had voiced. The first and only Link that we've had voiced. Correct. And that's what he sounded like. If he doesn't say, excuse me, princess, in the new live action movie, I'm leaving. I'm walking out. I hope that he doesn't say a goddamn thing until the very end and just goes, excuse me, princess. And it's like, says something, like, super, like... Super sassy. Super serious. Yeah. Sassy Link. Don't go there, girlfriend.

[01:27:00] Hey, my random recommendation. Definitely not as old as your guys' picks, but Valkyrie Profile, Covenant of the Plume. It's a DS sequel of the... Oh, it's a DS game. So, yeah, there was the first Valkyrie Profile on PS1. There's Valkyrie Profile on PS2. Two on PS2, right? Yeah, PS2. Yep, and this one was on DS.

[01:27:24] And instead of being, like, a dungeon-crawling, like, I guess, side-scrolling RPG, this one's a tactics RPG. Oh. Ooh. Yeah, man. And it's fucking brutal. It's so fucking brutal. So, yeah, your characters, they all have, like, their own unique... Like, if you've played the first couple of Valkyrie Profile games, each character is, like, really well fleshed out.

[01:27:53] Like, they have, like, backstories and shit like that. They do the same thing in Covenant of the Plume, except the main character... I forget his fucking name. He makes a contract with... He makes a contract with the withheld goddess of the underworld in Norse mythology. And, uh, basically every stage, he has to, um, accumulate a certain number of... I think it's, like, sin or something. And, uh, basically, if you don't...

[01:28:24] Um... And you accumulate that by doing a certain amount of damage to enemies every turn, and then there's other... Other tasks you'll have. Like, oh, pick up this item, or use this item, or whatever. And if you don't, all hell will break loose, uh, in the next, like, one or two stages, because it'll summon just, like, these fucking impossible-to-kill monsters. Uh, because there's also this other mechanic called the plume. Like, the titular plume. Uh, where if you're...

[01:28:53] If you're stuck, like, you're between a rock and a hard place, you can straight-up sacrifice a character, like, permanently kill them to super-boost one of your characters, and they'll learn this new, like, super-ultra move that you can keep forever based off of that character. What? And, uh, yeah, it's... Like I said, it's difficult, though. It's super-fucking-difficult. It's fun, super-satisfying, and it's dark as shit. Wow. Hell yeah. It's great. It's good shit.

[01:29:22] Three really, like, different games here on these, uh... On these recommendations this week. But, yeah, that's it. That's what it's in the title. That's all about. Yeah, that's so Raven. I don't know what else you want from us. Jesus Christ! It's... This is what it is. There's only so much we can do on the show. But, unfortunately, that brings us to the end. Uh, first of all, Matt, I want to thank you so much. Thank you so much for coming on and doing this.

[01:29:51] This was absolutely fun, and it's been long overdue to get you on the show. We want something that all three of us could do something on, and this is... Chef's kiss. Couldn't have been better. It was a blast. Thank you for having me. I love podcasting with you both. We had a blast on Super Pod Saga doing an episode about who we'd want to grab drinks with. That was a lot of fun. Rip slip. Yeah. Forever. Rip slip! I forgot about that. But, uh... But, yeah, this was a blast. Uh... I'm honored to be one of your early guests. Uh...

[01:30:21] It's a great show. I love that someone's doing a show focusing on retro stuff. Uh... Because, you know, I've been playing video games since the Atari 2600. So there's a lot in the past that I really still love. And this was a blast to relive and work through some trauma together. I think it worked out really well for all of us. That's right. And I'm pretty sure we could probably do another hour on games that make us angry. And who knows? Maybe we'll do a sequel. Maybe we'll do a part two. We definitely got to do the, uh... The Chrono Cross follow-up.

[01:30:51] I mean, I have to now. People are going to be wanting that. Yeah, it's true. People be saying that. The folks be clamoring! Before we go, can we check to see if, uh... If Milli Vanilli is still alive? Yeah. Check it out. Uh... One of them is not, dude. Wait. Hold on. It's not just the one person named Milli Vanilli. It's a... Did you not watch the documentary? Yeah. It's like... No! Technically, it's like a group of people... And they didn't even sing! Yeah. So Milli Vanilli were, like, actors.

[01:31:21] And then there was a group of, I think, three or four... Yeah. Four, like, different soul singers who did their music for them. And they were, like, just the faces. They were also the same people that did Boney M's shit. Because the same producer was like, Yeah, man. Boney M. We're just going to get these people that are the face of the music. But, like, these other fucking guys are going to do the music for you. Oh. So, yeah. And one guy's dead. Yeah. Oh, my God. The guy that was, like, jacked is dead.

[01:31:50] Frank Farian, the producer of Milli Vanilli, looks... He's so cool. Hey, God. Let me get a... I don't mean to keep you guys, but, like, hold on. This person, this... This is the way to end it. Look at that hair. There's no way that the hair on top of his head is real. There's no way. There's actually no way. It's so red and, like, real, dude. This is just a photo of Jerry without his beard in, like, 30 years.

[01:32:22] We're going to need another Mario for that one. Yeah. Let me throw Mario Oof out to the folks. Mario Oof? Yeah, Mario. There it is. Get one more. Get one more in. Yeah. All right. Well, Matt, please plug and promote anything and everything that you're doing right now. Well, I won't plug everything because we'll be here for another hour and nobody wants that. But I think the show that folks...

[01:32:50] I do a few things, but the show that I think folks will identify with the most is Fun and Games, which you mentioned at the top of the show. I host with the incredible Jeff Moonen. We mostly cover a broad range of topics from interviewing developers about specific games. We recently recorded an episode with the head of Balloon Studios who made Botany Manor, which is a really popular indie game that's out right now. That should be airing soon, which was a lot of fun. We also interview composers.

[01:33:16] We do retrospectives on game consoles, genres, specific franchises. We talk about signposting in video games or the best side quests in video games. It's just kind of like a way to celebrate gaming. And we have all sorts of different guests on the show. And then we also do a subseries within the feed called SideQuest, which Aaron has done by the time you're hearing this two episodes on. And it's a different host every episode talking about a game they love and why they love it.

[01:33:45] And it's a judgment-free zone. You just get to monologue for five to ten minutes about why you love the game and share your love of that game with the world. And that's born out of, I don't know if you've noticed this, but the internet tends to be pretty negative about video games lately. What? And so this show was born out of seeing a screenshot of the new Paper Mario on Switch. Mind you, just a screenshot. And someone going, that game's going to suck. And I'm like, because of a screenshot? Origami King? Yep. It was like, what can you read from this?

[01:34:15] That game was awesome! It was. But it's like, what can you read from a screenshot that you know this game is going to be bad? And so anyway, that inspired me to start this series. And it's been great. We're over 300 episodes now. It's wild. And so that's fun. And then the other video game show I do is called Reignite. The first three seasons covered the Mass Effect trilogy. Then the fourth season was Andromeda, which I played for the first time. And now we're working on the Dragon Age franchise. It's become a Bioware retrospective podcast where me and my co-host Frankie build the lead characters to be as us.

[01:34:44] And then we pursue relationships and decisions based on how we would handle them. And then discuss why we made those choices. Bring on guests. Oh, man. A lot of fun. We just wrapped up Dragon Age Origins. And we're going to move on to Dragon Age 2 soon. And then who knows? Maybe there'll be a new Dragon Age soon, in theory, before we finish the series. But those are the two big ones. I have some other stuff I work on. I'm the editor for the Game Informer show, which is kind of a dream come true and a lot of fun. And yeah, if you want to find me, I'm DJ underscore Stormageddon in most places.

[01:35:10] Except Blue Sky, I'm only DJ Stormageddon there because they don't like underscores for some reason. And then if you want to find links to all that stuff and the Patreon for fun and games, you can just go to DJStormageddon.com. I have my merch store there. I have a Ko-fi there. Patreon for fun and games. Links to all the podcasts. All my socials. All that good stuff. So thank you again for having me. This was a blast. And yeah, if you want to check out my stuff. The pleasure is all ours. The pleasure is all ours. The pleasure is all mine, goddammit. Let us fucking have the pleasure.

[01:35:42] I'll pleasure you all right. Fuck you, let's have the pleasure. That came out wrong. Anyway. Oh, shit. Well, Aaron, tell the fine folks that are listening here today where they can find us. They can find us. We got a new website for Retro Rehab. It's a mouthful, though. It's podpage.com slash retro dash rehab dot one or dash one. Dash one. But that's going to get fixed soon. You can just go to SuperPod.

[01:36:12] For now, just go to superpodsog.com and click on the banner up top. It'll take you right to it. Super easy. Yeah. YouTube at Retro Rehab Pod. Instagram, Retro Rehab Pod. Twitter, Retro Rehab Pod. Retro Rehab Pod everywhere. Check us out. Look us up. Yeah. Look us up. Well, thank you again, everybody, for listening. If you love us and you love this show, please subscribe to us on whatever platform you want. Please leave us some reviews.

[01:36:41] Get those reviews going. We'd love to know what you guys think of these shows. And again, Matt, thank you so much for coming on to do this. This was absolutely so much fun. And we're going to have to. We got like at least another two or three episodes we've got to cover off with you. Oh, well, twist my arm, don't you? Yeah. Yeah. You're not going nowhere. You just stay right here. You just stay right where you are. I'm trapped. I can't get out of the podcast. Sorry. Anyway.

[01:37:07] In the meantime, Aaron is going to work on beating Battletoads with a Dark Souls banana controller. Sorry. Jerry needs to get surgery for cataracts caused by playing Virtual Boy for 18 hours straight. Oh, my God. All right. Well, that's going to do it for us today. Thank you for listening. And we'll see you again. Bye.