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 19, 2015
“It’s dangerous to go alone! Take this.” – The Legend of Zelda.
– A cool project by a programmer dude is detailed on AtariAge, as he modified Dark Chambers into a version of Gauntlet that works on the Atarti 2600! Read about his work here.
– Confirming earlier trademark and copyright work, this week Sega confirmed that they are making a new Valkyria Chronicles for the Playstation 4, and remastering the old games as well. Sega Nerds had a translation of the Famitsu article. The third game never made it to the U.S., so it’s unclear if the new game or the remastered games will either.
– Two big Nintendo items this week. There will be a female Link, Linkle, in 3DS game Hyrule Warriors, per Twitter. Also, per almost every site on the Internet, the original Pokémon games will be getting re-releases.
– Neat advertising stuff, as Gamezone has an article by Samantha Bishop on the cool, old Kay Bee Toys flyers that got posted on Flickr. And from Tech2, they have the six worst gaming ads of all-time.
– Robyn Miller, the composer of Myst, has signed on to provide the music for Obduction. It’s a new graphical adventure that is clearly influenced by Myst.
– Cool Kickstarter project: an illustrated history of game controllers from 1972 to 1989. Check out the project from Player One Books here.
– Very important business from The Chicago Sun-Times, as Chicago Bulls player Tony Snell claims to have loved playing as Michael Jordan in NBA Jam. Say what? Everyone knows Jordan wasn’t in the game! He is probably confusing it with NBA Live 2000, which was the first basketball game in ages to actually have Jordan.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– In 2000, Banjo-Tooie came out. The sequel to Banjo-Kazooie, it was also well-reviewed. The platformer was the second-to-last game that Rare did for Nintendo, before becoming a developer for Microsoft.
– Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic was released for the PC in 2003, a few months after its initial release on the Xbox. It was an excellent RPG developed by BioWare.
– Not quittteee this day, but on Nov. 18, 1998, the Game Boy Color came out. It’s a popular day for Nintendo releases, because the Wii came out on this day in 2006.
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 029 – Jurassic Park (1993)
Episode 029 – Jurassic Park (1993)
This week in Your Parents Basement, we’re dealing with clever girls, and stun gunning dinosaurs! From 1993, we’re playing Jurassic Park for the Sega Genesis. Rawr!
You can manually download this week’s podcast that tampers with the laws of nature 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! (Might I suggest the Blu-ray of Jurassic World?) 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 combination of the dinosaur “roar” from the system power-up, and the game’s title theme.
- 41:15 – Another installment of Todd’s dynamite Most Best Game of All-Time! This week, featuring Baradur.
- 50:30 – Emails. The boys talk extensively about the exciting Fallout 4, and their favorite episodes from the first six months of the show.
- 1:04:00 – Snifferoo. We have a special guest for next week’s show, which will be about one of the best platforming games with some of the best music for the NES!
SHOW NOTES
– According to Price Charting, Jurassic Park is pretty affordable for the Genesis. It’s about $3.29 for the loose cart, and the game with a box and manual is about $40, which isn’t bad as far as older games go. Some of the later games in the franchise for the PS2 generation, oddly enough, are pricey, but most range from $3 to $15 for the loose carts.
– As mentioned on the show, there are way, way, wayyyy too many versions of Jurassic Park and its sequels floating around. For a full rundown, Wikipedia has you covered. There are likely more coming, as the sequel to Jurassic World is scheduled for 2018, as of November 2015. (Sorry if you’re reading this in the future, and surprised / disappointed.)
– We recorded this show on Nov. 11, the day after Fallout 4 came out. Per Wikipedia, it sold 1.2 million copies on Steam its first day out, and shipped 12 million units in its first 24 hours, for sales of $750 million. And according to PornHub, its views fell 10 percent the day of the release. Here is a link to a SFW site, Gamesbeat, about that.
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.
Episode 028 – StarCraft (1998)
Episode 028 – StarCraft (1998)
This week in Your Parents Basement, we’re locked up and good to go! From 1998, we’re playing StarCraft for the PC, because the third installment of StarCraft 2 is finally coming out this week!
You can manually download this week’s roughneck 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! (Might I suggest the second expansion pack for StarCraft 2?) 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 are various marine quotes from this wonderful YouTube collection.
- 51:30 – Emails. The best games from 27 years ago, and the best vehicles in video games.
- 1:10:15 – Snifferoo. We’re experiencing dinosaurs and classical music.
SHOW NOTES
– According to Price Charting, StarCraft 64 is very expensive, at $47 for a loose cart to around $100 for the box and manual included. It’s a console port of StarCraft that is seen as OK, but nothing special. The original PC game is sold in a slew of formats, typically with the expansion Brood War included, and ranges in price from $5 to $20.
– This news came out after the show recording, found by Brisket on a site: Blizzard is looking to hire staff for re-releases of its older games.
Vidya Game News – November 5, 2015
“I like video games, but they’re really violent. I’d like to play a video game where you help the people who were shot in all the other games. It’d be called ‘Really Busy Hospital.’” – Demetri Martin.
Shameless plug: Distant Arcade is a neat retro gaming site that Steve’s old reporting buddy Andrew Martin runs and writes for. Give it a click, would you? Steve also wrote a piece on Battletoads for the site back in the day. And oh yeah, the rest of the news links:
– A new Micro Machines game will be released on mobile platforms, according to Patrick O’Rourke at Mobilesyrup. The original racing game was one of the classics for the NES, although surprise surprise, it was hella hard.
– There was a really cool classic find this past week, as Cameron Koch of Tech Times posted the original press release for the NES.
– On the Fallout 4 release date of Nov. 10, Nuka Cola Quantum by Jones Soda will be available at Target. See a picture here.
– A formerly unreleased Swedish SNES game, Dorke and Ymp, is coming to Steam, per Chris Priestman at Siliconera. It looks like a puzzle platformer with a vibrant art style, although a bit awkward to play.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back is now an adult, as it came out 18 years ago.
– In 2003, The Return of the King came out for the PC, PS2, Gamecube and Xbox. It was way better than past YPB game The Lord of the Rings for Super Nintendo.
– It was only eight years ago, but Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare came out. In 2013, Call of Duty: Ghosts came out for the 360, so the series kind of likes November.
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 027 – Goldeneye (1997)
Episode 027 – Goldeneye (1997)
This week in Your Parents Basement, we’re loading up our PP7s, avoiding the Klobb at all costs and exposing double agents! From 1997, we’re playing Goldeneye for the Nintendo 64, in honor of Spectre coming out later this week.
You can manually download this week’s smooth and suave 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 from the Archives stage.
- 33:00 – We read letters and comments from readers on Goldeneye!
- 50:30 – Emails. The best games from 27 years ago, and the best vehicles in video games.
- 1:06:00 – Snifferoo. Standing by to play next week’s game! Who wants some???
SHOW NOTES
– According to Price Charting, loose carts of Goldeneye go for around $11, with the complete box and manual collections going for $22 to $45. Sealed new copies go for $60 to $150. And hey, if you’re going to buy anything Goldeneye related, buy a pal and buy from Amazon via our link.
– The good Guardian article on Rare’s making of the game is readable here, including some of the weird changes Nintendo and Miyamoto pitched.
Vidya Game News – October 29, 2015
“Intruder alert! Intruder alert! Chicken! Fight like a robot!” – Berzerk. Don’t be a chicken, read these news links and stories.
– In honor of 30 years of Bomberman, Konami has announced a new game in the series. Pocket Gamer has the story, translated from Japanese news suit Famitsu.
– A new Zelda game means a new addition to the series’ already confusing timeline. IGN has a breakdown here.
– Marketing Week’s Thomas Hobbs interviews Jon Rooke from Sega, who talks about their new strategy when it comes to mobile and traditional games, and confirms that they’re looking into re-releasing Shenmue.
– Also, Sega mistakenly named a character “Boob” instead of “Boo” in one of their mobile games, per Cinema Blend.
– US Gamer has an extensive interview with Masayuki Uemura, one of the creators of the NES. It’s definitely worth checking out.
– From Tech Times and many other sites, the Oliver Twins have discovered and released a long lost Dizzy the Adventurer game, Wonderland Dizzy. You can check out the news article here.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– In 1988, the Sega Genesis came out in Japan. While it strongly challenged the SNES in America, it always trailed in Japan. And as Steve has said repeatedly, check out Console Wars if you’re interested in the history of Sega.
– Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex came out in 2001 for the Playstation 2. It was apparently the fourth game in the series.
– It was only two years ago, but Battlefield 4 and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag both came out today.
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 026 – Castlevania (1987)
Episode 026 – Castlevania (1987)
It’s the spoooookiest episode yet for our sweet baby boys, as this week in Your Parents Basement, the game is Castlevania from 1987! Not surprisingly, it’s very tough, but very fun.
You can manually download this week’s podcast here – whip it good – 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 Miinibosses covering the main theme from ‘Vania. Their website is here, and they do a bunch of covers of old vidya game music.
- 43:15 – Emails. The boys talk about good games for kids, and more inappropriate things.
- 56:30 – Snifferoo. We are playing the absolute best licensed game of all-time, possibly, next week.
SHOW NOTES
– According to Price Charting, the original Castlevania has held its value very well. The loose cart goes for $21, which is high for a NES game. “Complete” sales (box and manual) average $76, and sealed new boxes range from $250 to $2,000, depending on when they go on sale. It is available on the Wii’s eShop. Symphony of the Night is on Sony’s online store. The other games in the range between $8 and $50 for the cart, up to several hundred for new copies.
– Various games of the Castlevania series have been fodder for the Angry Video Game Nerd, most famously, the second game. (Note: Very NSFW language.) He and his buddy Mike also played the Sega Genesis remake of the first game, Bloodlines. Also, past show subject Arino of Game Center CX played Castlevania 3.
– There are several Castlevania speedruns, but this one beats it in a little over 11 minutes.
– When it comes to the history of development in the Castlevania series, IGN has a good retrospective from February 2014 here. When it comes to the in-game canon history, the Castlevania Wiki is your best bet. Warning: It’s very tangled, as we mention on the show.
Your Parents Basement 