Vidya Game News – January 29, 2016
Hey, it’s some news!
– Marc Deschamps had a fun review, with pictures, of his time spent at a museum with a NES exhibit.
– It was all around the Internet this week, but the original story seems to be from a Huffington Post site: Michael Jackson did portions of the soundtrack for Sonic 3. Read more here by Todd Van Luling.
– PAX South is in San Antonio from today to Sunday. You know, in case you’re in the area. For more info, visit the event’s website.
– From mbgreen78 at DeviantART, it’s video game dioramas! Check them out here.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– The most significant game released was Phantasy Star Online in 2001 for the Dreamcast. It was pretty much the first online console game that had a significant impact, and it makes plenty of “best of all-time” lists as a result.
– Depending on what source you look at, Final Fantasy Tactics came out today or yesterday in 1998. It was a cult classic for plenty of years, thanks to its awesome storyline and neat, turn-based strategy gameplay. Nowadays, it has been re-released for several different (mostly Sony) platforms, and it’s still worth checking out. (And by the way, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is out this week for the Wii U Virtual Console, per Gamasutra.)
Video game history information comes from GameFAQs and Moby Games. And as always, if you’d like to support the show, do so via our Amazon link.
Vidya Game News – January 14, 2016
“Please adhere to the following rule of the city square: No swimming, No swearing, No laughing, No crying, No talking out of turn, No line dancing, No moose calling, No sword play, No pumpkin carving, No mummified cat juggling, No wallowing in your own self pity, No circumstantial evidence, No walking on the grass, No pancakes on Monday, No dessert until you eat your vegetables, No slapstick comedy, No balloon animals, And absolutely, positively, No barking like a seal. It upsets me.” – Secret of Evermore.
While following the rules, enjoy this vidya game news.
– Cool old game news, as Natsume has their own eBay store now. This includes new, boxed copies of things like Pocky and Rocky, Lufia II and Harvest Moon. Check it out here.
– Nintendo has joined legions of teenage girls and the year 2007, as they have a Tumblr account now, per Destructoid. Check it out here.
– Also from Destructoid, the fresh screenshots from the PS4 remaster of Valkyria Chronicles!
– From Kotaku ’Stralia and some other sites, a gamer totally broke Secret of Mana the other week during his speedrun. Also, the original game of the series, Final Fantasy Adventure, is getting a re-release on phones and iOS devices, per Polygon’s Allegra Frank.
– Also, publicized on the Mary Sue, NES30 has released a wireless NES controller that works with modern systems. It’s a bit pricey, at $36.99, but pretty damn cool.
– UK site Digital Spy has 11 horrible realities of old school gaming.
– If you live in Barrie, in Central Ontario, congrats! There is a new board game and video game group you can join.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– In 2002, NBA Courtside 2002 was released for the GameCube. As you can imagine from this game being included, it wasn’t a great day for releases, historically…
– The fourth installment of the second .hack series came out in 2004. Quarantine was a weird game, even by Japanese RPG standards. The games go for a pretty penny now, so if you see them, snatch them up.
Video game history information comes from GameFAQs and Moby Games. And as always, if you’d like to support the show, do so via our Amazon link.
Episode 036 – 2015 Awards – Part 2 (2015)
Episode 036 – 2015 Awards – Part 2 (2015)
This week in Your Parents Basement, it’s the continuation of a celebration! We’re covering the rest of the favorite games we played in 2015, and also, touching on some of the worst games we played. And also, of course, emails!
You can manually download this week’s prestigious podcast here or subscribe to the show via the iTunes store. To manually subscribe, use this link in the device / podcast player of choice. You can also follow us on Twitter, or ‘like’ us on Facebook.
As always, if you like the show, support us by buying from Amazon! You can use this link to go to Amazon, and any purchase you make will kick a couple bucks to the show, with no extra cost to you. It’s a win-win! Want to have an email or comment read on the air? Send us a message on the ole Twitter or Facebook, or, shoot that mail to parentsbasementpodcast@gmail.com.
TIMESTAMPS
- 0:00 – Intro, which is an opening from the Academy Awards.
- 1:05:30 – From Todd Brisket, he has the nominees and the winner of the Sweetest Baby Boy of Year!
- 1:07:30 – It’s a big ole expanded email portion this week, as we hear from some of the greatest friends of the show.
- 1:13:00 – A musical interlude, based on an email.
- 1:32:00 – A snifferoo from next week’s show, which is a cult classic SNES action-RPG based on a tabletop game series.
SHOW NOTES
– All of the games mentioned on the show are current and not especially pricey. So if they sound interesting, be sure to help us out via Amazon!
Episode 034 – Home Alone (1991)
Episode 034 – Home Alone (1991)
This week in Your Parents Basement, we are playing a horrible adaptation of a classic 1990s movie experience! From 1991, it’s Home Alone by Bethesda Softworks(!), which surprisingly is truly awful.
You can manually download this week’s trap-filled podcast here or subscribe to the show via the iTunes store. To manually subscribe, use this link in the device / podcast player of choice. You can also follow us on Twitter, or ‘like’ us on Facebook.
As always, if you like the show, support us by buying from Amazon! You can use this link to go to Amazon, and any purchase you make will kick a couple bucks to the show, with no extra cost to you. It’s a win-win! Want to have an email or comment read on the air? Send us a message on the ole Twitter or Facebook, or, shoot that mail to parentsbasementpodcast@gmail.com.
TIMESTAMPS
- 0:00 – Intro, which is a collection of clips from a lil movie called Home Alone.
- 44:00 – While we’re overly negative about Home Alone on the show, Brisket manages to find someone who enjoyed the game! It’s the Most Best Game of All-Time!
- 48:45 – Again this week, we have Important Asks in the email portion of the show, like what would make the worst TV show or movie to base a game on?
- 1:04:30 – Snifferoo. We’re breaking format next week for a special, gala show!
SHOW NOTES
– According to Price Charting, pretty much all of the Home Alone games are cheap, ranging from $0.99 to $7.95 for the loose carts. The boxes and manuals can up the price for some of them to as high as $120, which is definitely a waste of money. The games haven’t been re-released, thank god.
– As usual, Wikipedia does a fine job of summarizing the series. Most people have seen Home Alone and Home Alone 2, which are the good films of the series. Some monsters even prefer 2 to 1! The third movie has a new character, Alex Pruitt (Alex Linz), but hits the same notes, although not as well. But…
– The fourth Home Alone movie sounds somewhat insane. It stars a new kid as Kevin McCallister, and French Stewart now plays Marv, one of the Wet / Sticky Bandits. He’s joined by his wife Vera (Missi Pyle). Kevin’s dad (another new actor) divorces his mom and moves cross-country, and only takes Kevin. Daniel Stern, noted thespian, said of this film, it was “an insult, total garbage,” and the star of Bushwhacked and Celtic Pride refused to participate in Home Alone 4.
Vidya Game News – December 10, 2015
Not much news this week, so really, focus on some holiday shopping! Can I recommend our linkthrough via Amazon? It doesn’t add anything to your purchase price, and it kicks some cash to us. We promise to use the money on inappropriate gaming purchases, like Cool Spot.
– Geek.com and some other sites bring up that the original Super Mario Bros. theme DOES have words. Check them out here.
– From various fashion sites, there is now a Mario and Nintendo-themed Italian fashion line. Read more and check out some photos here.
– IGN’s Jared Petty has an interview with Shaq on Shaq Fu. Also, a new trailer for the game has come out. And as always, check out our past episode on Shaq Fu.
– From The Escapist, “5 Video Game Consoles That Almost Hit The Market.” Read it here!
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– In 1993, DOOM was released, and pretty much became the first megahit for the first-person shooter genre. It expanded on the gameplay of Wolfenstein 3D, and features more weapons and more enemies to blow up real good! Thanks id!
– Breath of Fire 2 came out for the SNES in 1995. Steve was one of 10 people who owned this obscure console RPG! It was better in some ways than the first, since it had a town you could recruit people to, but there was soooo much level grinding, and the game would often leave you no clue about how to do things. Re-releases for the Game Boy Advance and other systems made it much more playable.
Video game history information comes from GameFAQs and Moby Games. And as always, if you’d like to support the show, do so via our Amazon link.
Vidya Game News – December 3, 2015
“Get over here!” – Scorpion. And, uh… read these news stories.
– On our Shaq Fu episode, we talked about how development on the crowdfunded sequel was oddly quiet. Well, according to IGN and other sites, piggybacking on Shaq’s twitter, a release date might be announced today. (And to check out our episode, which was one of our favorites, go here!)
– Know a hipster who loves old SNES RPGs? Then the perfect gift for him might be a Mother 2 (Earthbound) soundtrack on vinyl, as first publicized by Carlos Cadorniga of the Anime News Network.
– What’s the Angry Video Game Nerd up to this Christmas season? Why, examining bad cover art, of course! And it’s probably not a surprise that the second game he features is Mega Man…
– A fancy Super Mario Bros. watch can be yours for just $18,000! Good times, good times.
– Grey Carter of The Escapist has a modern review of Myst, and he’s not all that impressed in the game except as a fossil.
– T3 Online has a really awesome and exhaustive piece on the Dreamcast, and they even open up the system and look at its guts!
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– On TV Tropes, there is a concept known as Early Installment Weirdness. This definitely applies to Duke Nukem II, as most people don’t remember it started as a platform game in 1993. Apogee was an awesome developer of platform games back then, though. Since then, they’ve changed names to 3D Realms and done way more FPS stuff.
– Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire came out 19 years ago, in 1996, for the Nintendo 64 by LucasArts. While the interface is clunky at times, it features a cool-named character (Dash Rendar!) and serves as a neat side story between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
– Yesterday, 14 years ago, Pikmin came out for the GameCube. It’s kind of a cult classic for Nintendo, in that it “only” sold about 1.1 million copies back in the day. It has spawned two sequels, but it remains a minor series for the Big N.
Video game history information comes from GameFAQs and Moby Games. And as always, if you’d like to support the show, do so via our Amazon link.
Episode 031 – Bubble Bobble (1988)
Episode 031 – Bubble Bobble (1988)
This week in Your Parents Basement, we are playing as dinosaurs as we entrap enemies and solve puzzles with bubbles! From 1988, we are playing Taito’s Bubble Bobble for the NES and Arcade. WARNING: This week’s show does not have the swears censored out!
You can manually download this week’s podcast that encases your body with a bubble here or subscribe to the show via the iTunes store. To manually subscribe, use this link in the device / podcast player of choice. You can also follow us on Twitter, or ‘like’ us on Facebook.
As always, if you like the show, support us by buying from Amazon! You can use this link to go to Amazon, and any purchase you make will kick a couple bucks to the show, with no extra cost to you. It’s a win-win! Want to have an email or comment read on the air? Send us a message on the ole Twitter or Facebook, or, shoot that mail to parentsbasementpodcast@gmail.com.
TIMESTAMPS
- 0:00 – Intro, which is a cool rock cover of the Bubble Bobble theme song. You can find it here on YouTube.
- 45:00 – The Bubble Bobble Theater Players.
- 49:00 – Emails. The boys talk about snow levels, and about whether emails are real… Multiple times.
- 1:06:00 – Snifferoo. We expand into a new era of gaming next week, although we do so with stealth and tactical precision.
SHOW NOTES
– According to Price Charting, and mentioned on the show, the original Bubble Bobble goes for about $18 for just the cart, but shoots up to the $300 range if you want a copy in pristine condition, with box and manual. It’s available on the various Wii shops for around $5. The second game, which came out in 1993, is even worse, costing $290 for just the cart and $5,299 for a new copy.
– The oddly named Rainbow Islands is cheaper on Price Charting, ranging from $27 to $102. Although we were not really familiar with it on the show, critics ate it up, with most giving it 90-plus percent.
– Taito made its hay in the 1970s with a ton of arcade games, and its list of games is massive. It was purchased by Square Enix in 2005 though, and since then, things have of course gotten weird.
Vidya Game News – November 25, 2015
This week’s news post is a day early, because of Thanksgiving on Thursday. If you’re feeling grateful for YPB this year, give back via our Amazon link. ❤ It won’t add anything to your Black Friday purchase! Shop by using it here.
– The AV Club’s Annie Zaleski has an incredible roundtable interview with three Nintendo game counselors. It’s really long, but totally worth reading. Highlights: Nintendo would pay for limos and tons of booze at the annual Christmas party, counselors got free systems and discounts on games, and it was hell to answer the phones the entire day.
– One of the newest Rifftrax movies is vidya game “classic” The Wizard! You can purchase it here. It has Fred Savage, Rilo Kiley and others in full glory.
– From a Reddit user, it’s an old school ad from Electronics Boutique! At one point, Donkey Kong Country 3 was $69.99. A new SNES with Killer Instinct? $79.99.
– John Markley of The Escapist has a feature on the history of Nintendo’s religious censorship in games.
– Rollin Bishop of Tech Times has an oddly named feature, Licensed to Kill, although he has a nifty review of Chip ‘N Dale Rescue Rangers here.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– Depending on what country you’re in, Donkey Kong Country came out for the SNES either on Nov. 21, Nov. 24 or Nov. 26 of 1994. It’s renowned as one of the best vidya games of all-time, and re-established the vibrancy of the series. It is yet another strong game released by Rare. (Past YPB episodes on their games include Goldeneye and R.C. Pro Am.)
– Speaking of Rare… Killer Instinct Gold, the Nintendo 64 version of the arcade game Killer Instinct 2, came out this day in 1996. While the first game was seen as revolutionary because of automated combos, the sequels had diminishing returns.
– Chrono Trigger came out in 2008 for the Nintendo DS. The re-release added a bonus dungeon, and made the game much easier to play and purchase than past versions for the SNES and PSX.
Video game history information comes from GameFAQs and Moby Games. And as always, if you’d like to support the show, do so via our Amazon link.
Episode 030 – Mega Man 2 (1989)
Episode 030 – Mega Man 2 (1989)
This week in Your Parents Basement, we are using our mega busters and mostly the metal blade to defeat evil robot masters! From 1989, we are playing Capcom’s Mega Man 2. We are also joined by special guest, friend of the show and one-time letter writer, Hawk Man 5000, a.k.a. Dave! He’s a master of the series, apparently being one of the five people left that owns a cartridge version.
You can manually download this week’s podcast that wiles your eardrums here or subscribe to the show via the iTunes store. To manually subscribe, use this link in the device / podcast player of choice. You can also follow us on Twitter, or ‘like’ us on Facebook.
As always, if you like the show, support us by buying from Amazon! You can use this link to go to Amazon, and any purchase you make will kick a couple bucks to the show, with no extra cost to you. It’s a win-win! Want to have an email or comment read on the air? Send us a message on the ole Twitter or Facebook, or, shoot that mail to parentsbasementpodcast@gmail.com.
TIMESTAMPS
- 0:00 – Intro, which is the buildup and classic crescendo of the Mega Man 2 main theme.
- 55:15 – Emails. The boys talk about their favorite games from 30 years ago, dinosaur-based games and the lack of emails in Todd’s box.
- 1:09:30 – Todd gets something off his chest.
- 1:13:45 – Snifferoo. Between this and the Mega Man 2 theme, we are sorry that 8-bit theme songs will haunt your dreams.
SHOW NOTES
– According to Price Charting, pretty much all of the NES Mega Man games are now worth some decent money, whether you have the box or not. Thanks to their popularity and scarcity, loose cart prices range from $20 for the third up to $96 for the fifth. Boxed prices range from $180 to $1,800. Even the press kit for the ninth installment, which is a sort of faux-NES game for modern systems, is $275 to $300.
– We picked Mega Man 2 because it is a bit more modern and easier than the first game, but really, any game of the main series or the X-series is worth playing. There are various collections and games available for purchase on pretty much every system and online stores.
– The good Den of Geek story on the fall of Capcom and Mega Man is by Ryan Lambie, and you can read it here. Mighty No. 9, the spiritual successor by series creator Keiji Inafune, is due out February 2016.
Vidya Game News – November 12, 2015
“Over the centuries, mankind has tries many ways of combating the forces of evil… Prayer, fasting, good works and so on. Up until Doom, no one seemed to have thought about the double-barrel shotgun.” – Terry Pratchett.
– Remember a couple months ago, when some dudes claimed to have found a prototype of the Nintendo-Sony CD project? Well, Engadget has an awesome follow-up by Richard Lai, and the system actually works! The CD drive doesn’t function, but it’s backwards compatible with some SNES games. If you’re unfamiliar with the backstory, Nintendo and Sony were originally going to collaborate on a system, but Nintendo was allegedly uneasy with Sony’s dominance in the tech industry already and pulled out. This led to Sony creating the PSX.
– Also in “cool older game news,” the Genesis port of Duke Nukem 3D is now available worldwide for $39.99.
– Radiant Historia was an awesome RPG for the Nintendo DS that had a Chrono Trigger-like game element that allowed you to manipulate the timeline. Now, according to Nintendo Everything, the director is interested in making a sequel.
– On the latest UpUpDownDown podcast on YouTube, Xavier Woods and Curtis Axel played each other in “Super Tecmo Bowl,” a.k.a. Tecmo Super Bowl, which we played a few weeks ago.
– From Now Gamer, a neat feature on six games that pushed hardware to its limit. Included are Mayhem in Monsterland (Commodore 64), Under Defeat (Dreamcast), Street Fighter Alpha 2 (SNES), Conker’s Bad Fur Day (N64), Adventures of Batman and Robin (Genesis) and Solaris (Atari 2600).
– On James and Mike Monday (Angry Video Game Nerd) this week, they played Power Punch II, a bizarre sequel to Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out. For the NSFW video, click here.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– Metal Gear Solid 2 was released for the Playstation 2 in 2001. It has since gone on to sell seven million copies, and it was one of the first to heavily involve cinematics with a shooting sort of game.
– In 2007, Super Mario Galaxy was released for the Wii. It was super well-reviewed and remains a beloved vidya game.
Video game history information comes from GameFAQs and Moby Games. And as always, if you’d like to support the show, do so via our Amazon link.
Your Parents Basement 