Ho ho ho Podfans Or should we say CODfans? Our last review podcast of the year sees us serve up a festive buffet of gaming goodness. Rich plumbs for a more contemporary affair with Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered (PS4), a bloated title for bloated holiday stomachs. Is this remaster worthy of the base game or do we wish that we'd swapped it with the original disc and placed it in the freezer with an entire PS3 console as Fazz once did? Yes, that really did happen... Whilst Rich has the modern side of gaming covered, Fazz dumps his face into a retro gaming feast. First up, he runs through some recommended retro gaming reading in the form of Retro Gaming: A byte sized history of video games by @MikeDiver and The Nostalgia Nerd's Retro Tech: Computer, Consoles and Games by @nostalgianerd Peter Leigh. A big shout out goes to the @game_older_podcast for their deep dive(r) interview with Mike Diver which, in one of those weird twists of fate, dropped about 17 minutes after Fazz had finished reading Mike's book. A great interview and a great podcast listen! Finally Fazz blasts through a review of Antstream Arcade (Xbox Series), the cloud based subscription service for retro gaming. Can an industry based on physical collections really live hand in hand with a digital based solution and is it worth finding out? A last shout out goes to @garygillgaming and his brilliant #amigasunday posts. We wonder what retro gaming stalwarts such as him make of having so many Amiga games in the digital cloud?! Enjoy the pod.

Patapatapatapon... patapatapatapon... Is that the gentle sound of rain against the window during the UK's stormy season or is it the rhythmic drumbeat of a 2007 PSP game from Japan Studio? Likely, it's both but only one is really welcome here at Living La Vita Loca and we know you didn't come for a review of the s*&t weather! We've gone big this week and by big we mean rather small as both of our featured games are story driven adventures with diminutive characters being controlled by quasi-deity's in the sky... Rich rips through Tearaway (2013, PS Vita) whilst Fazz beats his way through Patapon (2007, PSP). Will the video game gods look as fondly upon these games in 2024 as they did upon their release or do they look as disturbing as Rich's face pasted into the Tearaway background with the PS Vita's 'spectacular' camera? Tune in to find out! Patapatapatapon... patapatapatapon... That really gets stuck in your head huh?!? Enjoy the pod.

What are "War Adjacent" video games? Certainly not something we just made up on an amateur podcast, no sir. But let's say that the 'War Adjacent Video Game' awards did exist, how would this weeks games fair in the best 'War Adjacent Video Game ever' category? First up for selection, Crrrrrraazzy Taxi: Fare Wars (PSP), a faithful port of Crazy Taxi and Crazy Taxi 2. Did Fazz have any idea this port existed until 2 weeks ago? No. Does that matter? Maybe not it seems. The meat of this weeks sandwich is a review of XCOM2: War of the Chosen by our returning guest star, Haikers. This PC expansion has us wondering how unfair a game (and life in the human resistance) is allowed to be?!? Finally, a leading candidate for the award in this particularly specialist category, is Freedom Wars (PS Vita). Recently, a remastered version has been announced for home consoles in 2025. Does this Vita fan favourite deserve to break free of its 1,000,000 year sentence as a handheld exclusive? Rich is on point to help decide. Enjoy the pod.

Hi podfans Welcome to another edition of 'Freeplay Fortnightly' where we all pick a video game that we want to play and keep it secret from our co-host (and special guest this week!). We then review said game on the podcast and ask our other pod pals to score the game out of 10 based on our review. Simple? You bet we are! Haikers guest stars this week with a review of Brutal Legend, a 2009 Jack Black action adventure/RTS vehicle. Would the Stardew Valley cast survive in a world we describe as "Too F*!@#%g Metal"? Rich fights his way through 14 years of development hell to deliver a review of Duke Nukem Forever on his Valve Steam Deck. Does Duke cook (say it with a posh accent) or make us puke? Finally, after taking a little time to reappraise the Steam Deck together, Fazz remembers skipping(?) down the high street gleefully to pick up Grand Theft Auto IV for the PS3 16 years ago. So why did he skip on the expansion to Liberty City released just 2 years later? It's time to right a wrong and play through GTA IV: Episodes From Liberty City. Eclectic, scattershot, controversial... and that's just our take on the potential dangers of Dodgems! Enjoy the pod.

You want PSP shmups? We got PSP shmups! You want all time classic video gaming series? We got all time classic video gaming series! You want crazy-ass sand lion enemies just constantly comin' at ya bro?! You don't?? Well we don't blame you. It's psychologically terrifying... We're not messing about this week (not the whole time). We're shooting from the hip, elbow, belly button... anywhere we can take aim from really. Target: Gradius Collection (PSP, 2006) Operative: Fazz Target: Neo Geo Heroes Ultimate Shooting (PSP, 2010) Operative: Rich Target: Full engagement and enjoyment of the listening public Let's hope we're better at that than we are at beating shmups... Enjoy the pod.

Attention Pod Tac squad! This week, we're infiltrating the 3rd person shooter genre with the help of our cutting edge remote technology... The er... PSP and erm... PS Vita... But never fear! It is far from mission over before it's even begun as our holy hand(held) grenades actually give out quite an explosive kick when it comes to performance across our reviews. Well... some of them anyway... First up, Fazz plays through Syphon Filter (PS1 via remote play, 1999), the very first game he reviewed with his friends at the age of 11 on tape cassette. The tapes are out there somewhere, we're sure of it. Maybe we need Gabe Logan and Lian Xing to help track them down? They're always looking for data disks somewhere! Next Rich takes a shot/stab at Unit 13 (PS Vita, 2012) which comes from Zipper studios who are known for their well regarded SOCOM series. Is the Unit 13 still fully operational almost 13 years later or is it more like a 13th edition of the Expendables by now? Syphon Filter gets another run out as Fazz rounds things out with a review of the PSP (2006) exclusive (subsequently ported to PS2) SF: Dark Mirror. Can Gabe still look himself in the eye at this point? Finally, reflections (sorry) on the franchise as a whole leads Fazz to this question: How does a game get on a greatest of all time list anyways!? Enjoy the pod.

Hi Podfans. Well here it is... an actual retro gaming podcast for SOME... MANY... ALL (?)... of your retro gaming needs... We're off to the Leeds International Beer Festival this weekend. That's good. Fazz lost the previously recorded podcast. That's bad. We're here to talk about current retro gaming news instead. That's good. Rich is less than invested by the proposed current retro gaming news. That's bad. M.U.S.H.A (Sega Mega Drive, 1990), Commando (Capcom Arcade, 1985) and Street Fighter (Capcom Arcade 1987) get super speedy reviews. That's good. We are very ill informed and vastly against the clock to jump on the bus. *Blank Stare* That's also bad. Enjoy the pod.

As Fatboy Slim once span... "Back once again for the renegade master" and by "renegade master", he obviously meant "a retrogaming podcast after a week's holiday". And by "retrogaming" we obviously mean "a gaming podcast that reviews games from 2024 but their original iterations are between 25-50 years old". Are you still with us? Potentially not. Someone who is definitely with us this week is our resident (literally, she owns in the pod house) Final Fantasy special guest expert, Fiona. She has played Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (PS5) recently and tells all. Is it as good as all of the hype suggests and how good is it compared to the original Final Fantasy VII? This leads onto a conversation about how loyal a remake should be to its original game and what do fans really want? Rich then takes us on a delightful tour of Digital Eclipse's Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter story (Nintendo Switch). Does the pod's local cardigan lover enjoy 'Yak's' life story and gaming backlog? Finally, Fazz wanted to review his first PS Vita port for the pod but the pod breaks so he'll have to wait until next time!!! Enjoy the pod.

Hi everyone. Welcome to Living La Vita boat-cast, for all of your gaming knees... What's the best way to follow up last week where we had a record number of podcast listens and listeners? (Thank you all so, so much by the way!) Leaving you all wanting more by going on holiday for a week obviously! That's right, there is no official episode of Living La Vita Loca podcast this week for the first time in 75 weeks. We know... we have commitment issues! So please accept this short "WE WERE ON A BREAK!!!" message in absence of the pod. Or if you're missing us THAT much, why not check out some of our back catalogue that might not have caught before? A few personal recommendations from your co-hosts are as follows: Rich: Episode 33: Soldier Blade/Fazz learns a SHMUP LIVE Episode 41: Our 2023 Reviews ReTrO rAnKeD Fazz: Episode 52: GQ's Best 100 Video Games draft Episode 60: Hatoful Boyfriend and Olli Olli World Rad Edition (World Exclusive review... we think...) Enjoy the pod. Wait... that doesn't work this week... Enjoy your time back. Play some video games instead!

Hi Podfans The M42 motorway runs north east from Bromsgrove in Worcestershire to just south west of Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire. We just thought you should know that (00:52). We also think you should know that the Evercade series of consoles from Blaze Entertainment are pretty awesome. With the company due to release their latest upgraded Evercade cartridges and consoles next week (although breaking news is that the handheld EXP-R has been delayed to November) we ask "Should you buy an Evercade in 2024?" We break down costs, pros and cons of owning a console that provides a genuine method of game preservation. Is this the best way to play retro games in 2024? Deliberations ensue. Also Rich breaks down Fireshark from his beloved Toaplan Arcade 2 cartridge leaving us wondering "Will it ever be safe to fire a flame thrower from a biplane?" Enjoy the pod.

Hey Podskags! We're not above trying to be popular okay? We are happy to get down in the Pandoran dirt and release a Borderlands podcast to coincide with a tent pole summer blockbuster movie. What we're not too happy to see is that the movie looks like it is going to flop harder than a Claptrap unit being (rightfully) booted off a cliff... Maybe everyone is just Bored-erlands right now? Let's forget about all of that and get back to where it all began... Borderlands is a 2009 action role-playing first-person shooter video game developed by Gearbox Software. The thought of playing through an RPG-FPS on the PS3 from 2009 causes Fazz to basically have a mental meltdown at the start of the pod citing a bunch of mid-late 90s cultural references. See if you can spot them. Rich brings some semblance of order to proceedings with a nostalgic review of Borderlands 2 for the PS Vita from 2014. Can the Vita heroically handle the hectic Borderlands 2 port? Or is it in the running to win a 'most ugly' competition with Handsome Jack? Lastly, Fazz asks Rich a bunch of questions about the Borderlands series as a whole. Rich answers said questions. Now Fazz never has to play Borderlands again and you never have to listen to him try to awkwardly compare the Borderlands 3 villains to a night out in the local social club. It's a win-win. Enjoy the pod.

Hi podfans. Thank Goodness You're Here... Literally. An alliance is "a relationship where people or separate groups come together to work towards a common goal". According to the internet... somewhere... we think. So this week we thought it would be great to bring together two 'alliance' games to work alongside each other to make a retro handheld gaming podcast! Our game links become more tenuous by the week... First up Dungeon Hunter: Alliance, a hack and slash action RPG developed by Gameloft in 2011 for the PS Vita and a remake of a 2009 mobile game... surely that's a winning team combination? Rich decides. Next up we have Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, an action role-playing game, developed by Raven Software and ported by Vicarious visions to the PSP in 2006. This is a well regarded Marvel video game entry before the MCU even existed, does it form a bond with Fazz? Speaking of the MCU, we take a little time to break down our relationship with Marvel over the years. Do we love Marvel or is it 'Affinity War'? Finally Rich touches on (slaps) Thank Goodness You're Here! on the Nintendo Switch and thinks it's reet good n'all. Enjoy the pod.

Hi there groovy podboppers We're hitting two heavyweight handheld ports this week which both have legitimate claims of being in the top 25 games of each of their respective platforms. First up is the annoyingly named Mortal Kombat (2012, PS Vita) which is actually the 9th entry of the series... Go figure. This soft reboot was well regarded as one of the best fighting games for the Vita. Is it still legendary today or is it just a mere mortal 12 years later? Can Rich's eyes handle the pale, meaty graphics or will his hands give out first with "Vita cramps?" (02:30) As a palate cleanser, we take a few minutes to complain about the state of the UK high street when it comes to buying new physical video games. "Old man shakes fist at cloud". (15:30) Fazz follows up with a review of The Warriors (2007, PSP), a port of the 2005 PS2/Xbox action adventure/beat 'em up based on the 1979 movie from Walter Hill. Rockstar rarely take on licensed material but they rightly spotted a diamond in the rough when it came to this source. Already a fantastic, if a little svelte, chase movie, The Warriors works incredibly well as a playground for a game developer delving into it's bag of tricks. 1979 New York never felt so good (25:15) There's 'Nowhere To Run' this week. Accept your fate(ality) and enjoy the pod!

Hi podfans Welcome to another edition of 'Freeplay Fortnightly' where we both pick a video game that we want to play and keep it secret from our co-host. We then review said game on the podcast and ask our co-host to score the game out of 10 based on our review. Simple? You bet we are! Which tenuous link should we use this week to string together our randomly chosen games? Falling? Yes that seems to work... Is falling from a rope ladder hanging from a helicopter a legitimate way to leave the atmosphere in Pilot Wings (1990, SNES)? How many Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (2019, PC) fans will fall out with us over the arbitrary score we assign to Rich's review? How far out of love have we fallen with modern Star Wars... and cutesy robot companions!?! How did Tony, Shirley and Lance fall into the clutch of the enemy in Pilot Wings? And why does Pilot Wings 64 (1996, N64) fail to capture the same essence of fun? Fall in line and don't let this pod fall on deaf ears. There. Nailed it... Enjoy the pod.

We now declare the 2024 Living La Vita Loca Olympiad open! And what scenes we have in the retro gaming community today as 3 titans of Olympic video game history come together to do battle. First out of the starting blocks, we have Olympic Gold, a Barcelona 92' Olympic offering on the Sega Mega Drive. It brings back great memories for Fazz. Or some memories at least. Pirouetting onto the podium next is DecAthlete (or Athlete Kings in Europe) for the Sega Saturn, an early 3D polygon showing that gets Rich's heart rate pumping. Finally, diving into the review pool with no fear we have International Track and Field for the Gameboy Colour. This game was a port of the popular 1996 Playstation showing. Does it have enough guile and technique to perform on a Gameboy pocket in 2024? We'll also chat about our favourite Olympic events that we're looking forward to seeing at Paris 2024. "Ouvrons grand les Jeux". Enjoy le pod.

Golf is a good walk spoiled.’ – Mark Twain We couldn't agree more Mr Twain so let's skip the walk and play some golf video games instead! We've got a special guest starring in our pro-am tournament this week, Paddy Gunn, host of The Swiss Football podcast and @swiss stadia social account. - Paddy tees us off with Mario Golf: Toadstool tour (2003, Nintendo Gamecube) and Mario Golf: Super Rush (2021, Nintendo Switch) - Fazz finds it hard to 'chip in' anything useful about Everybody's Golf 1&2 (2005, 2008 Sony PSP) - Rich rounds off our... well... round... with a quick bump-and-chase through Ninja Golf (1990, Atari) Finally we 'putt' our heads together to decide to ask if Golf makes a better video game than real life game?

Hi podfans! Due to unforseen circumstances, we are subbing in a slightly shorter remote pod this week before resuming normal service next week. We're using the break to take time to thank all of the listeners we've had so far and look forward to all of the listens yet to come. Fazz tells us why he's in Handheld Heaven right now We also take some time to demonstrate how very little we know about Esports. Special thanks go out to @veggiehotdug for his insights into Esports and why they matter. Finally Rich let's us know why Street Fighter 6 is appearing at both Evo and the Esports World Cup. Because it kicks ass, that's why! Thank you all once again for all of your support and we hope you're loving listening to the podcast as much as we love making it! Enjoy the pod.

Hi podfans Welcome to another edition of 'Freeplay Fortnightly' where we both pick a video game that we want to play and keep it secret from our co-host. We then review said game on the podcast and ask our co-host to score the game out of 10 based on our review. Simple? You bet we are! After a little chat about backlog evasion, Rich leaps into action with the 1998 Sega Saturn action game, Burning Rangers. Is this the best 'Soniclike' (trademark pending) game you've never played? Whilst the Burning Rangers focus on saving others from fires, Fazz chooses a protagonist who is trying to save us all from the fires of Hell itself, Dante, Son of Sparda. In this playthrough of the HD version of the 2001 PS2 classic, Devil May Cry, Fazz comes to the conclusion that Dante might just need a hug. And will someone save that beluga whale from a localised environmental disaster already?! Enjoy the pod.

Ole ole ole ole... This week on the pod, we're on the ball as we take aim at some 'soccer' games as part of a Euros/Copa America 2024 special. Last year, we gave the EA Sports FIFA series its moment in the Sun but now it's time to turn our attention to some of its rivals... First up, it's the mid 90s and Sega/Nintendo are regularly duking it out between each other in the 'Console War Conference league'. Some of the best players to represent the teams, ISS Deluxe (SNES) and Worldwide Soccer (Sega Saturn) are being asked questions ahead of the big match such as "Are you a great video game?". Let's see how they respond in tonights matchup. ISS '98 and FIFA '98 also invade the pitch for a short time too! Fast forward to 2006 and Pro Evolution Soccer 6 (PSP) is a technical powerhouse up front but will it ever knock FIFA off its perch? Something tells me (hindsight!) it might be time to let go of one of the greatest players to have ever graced the soccer video game scene... Probably on a free transfer to Trad Bricks to play alongside Ruud Von Mistelroum. Finally, we ask should you play retro soccer games for fun in 2024? Enjoy the pod.

Is it a game? Is it a movie? No... its some kind of freak show in the middle called Full Motion Video. We were inspired to take a dive into the history of interactive FMV games by a random purchase from the Xbox store by Fazz. Where did they come from? (Night Trap, 1992, Sega CD) (Sewer Shark, 1992, Sega CD) Where are they now? (Bloodshore, 2021, Xbox Series S) And what is the future of interactive gaming? Is it in photorealistic interactive storytelling (The Quarry, 2022, Xbox Series S) As usual, we probably don't have the definitive answers but we do answer important questions such as: Where does Rich rank on Fazz's list of favourite things? Is Rich really 'The Scatman'? Is the scariest part of the X Files PS1 game being 'softlocked'? Enjoy the pod.

Hi Podfans It's the showdown that you didn't know you needed: One of the most ported games of all time with cute suicidal protagonists. One of the most famous cinematic characters of all time with a desire for destruction/redemption. And Brian Lara (who Fazz reckons could take Godzilla out with a bat on a dying wicket). Lemmings are 6cm average height. Godzilla is upto 150m tall. Brian Lara hit 400 not out vs England in 2004. Who has the better video game this week? We decide. Enjoy the pod.

Keep rollin', rollin', rollin', rollin... When Limp Bizkit released that track in 2000, we're pretty sure that they were just predicting the arrival of Katamari Damacy 4 years later... For the uninitiated, the Katamari series consists of a small prince rolling around a sticky ball (Katamari) cleaning up a multitude of the King of All Cosmos balls(!)ups. The Prince does this by rolling up all sorts of random bits which increase in size from candy to continents It's all a bit... well... insane really. We thought it would be useful to take a sample of the whole series across various consoles and circumnavigate them for you to let you know whether you should roll back the years on Katamari. The games in the rotation this week are: - Katamari Damacy Reroll (Xbox One, 2020) - Me and My Katamari (PSP, 2005) - Beautiful Katamari (Xbox 360, 2007) - Touch my Katamari (PS Vita, 2011) Podfans... let's roll out! Enjoy the pod.

Driving games... We love em here at Living La Vita Loca! So what about the well known game series that is literally titled 'Driver'? Surely there's nothing that'll put us in a spin here... right? This week we've popped the hood on several games from the Infogrames franchise to see if they are 'wheely' good or 'ariely' bad... sorry. The games drifting into our rear view mirror are: - Driver (PS1) - Driver 76' (PSP) - Driver: San Francisco (Xbox 360) How does being the wheelman, feel, man?!? Seriously... no spoiler(s)... Okay w(he)e'll stop now. Sorry. Enjoy the pod.

Hi podbeasts Welcome to another edition of 'Freeplay Fortnightly' where we both pick a video game that we want to play and keep it secret from our co-host. We then review said game on the podcast and ask our co-host to score the game out of 10 based on our review. Simple? You bet we are! Did any of you watch Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul? Allegedly over 100 million people did. We didn't. We dont even know what a 'Jake Paul' is?!? You just can't trust a man with 2 first names. It's a universal law. Fazz chose to play Punch Out!! (1987, NES) and Super Punch Out!! (1994, SNES) instead and by all accounts, it sounds like he had a much better time than those who witnessed the "real" fight. Well except for when he was getting his ass kicked by Bald Bull. And Piston Honda. And Great Tiger. Aaaaannnnddd Soda Popinski... We think you get the idea. Next up, we stick with the combat sports as Rich grapples with Beast Wrestler (1991, Sega Mega Drive). You know when a game has the following remarks on its Wikipedia page, you're in for a treat; "The presentation, although generally the most-well received aspect of Beast Wrestler, garnered a mixed response". Mmm... delicious mixed response from a 1991 game. Slap that in a burger bun and get it in ya! Enjoy the pod!

Hey podgoers We've got some real abandonment issues this week... Before we get to psychoanalysing that, we spend some time celebrating some of our favourite podcasts and YouTube content providers with effectively an IOU starter. And gravy. Thicc gravy. Now, about those abandonment issues... First up, Rich wiggles his worryingly strong digits in the direction of Typing of the Dead (2000, Microsoft Windows) which is available as abandonware online right now. It took a lot of brains from Sega to develop something this cool. Mmm... Brains... brrraaaaiiinnnssss... wait is that how you spell brrraaaaiiinnnssss?!? We'd better ask the guy with the typewriter. Next up, Fazz tackles the abandonment of a mute female protagonist who wakes up in the middle of Aperture Science facilities with no real idea what is going on. Yes, we're talking about the Portal Companion Collection (2022, Nintendo Switch). How well ported is this Portal port to the semi portable console? Is Fazz 'GlaDOS' to have played a pair of the best reviewed games of all time? Now where did we put that morality core down? Ooh... cake... Enjoy the pod.

Hi everyone and welcome to RE-living La Vita Loca... wait, hang on a minute! Yes that's right, we're so unoriginal we're running it back on a few franchises we have hit already... but for good reason! Firstly, we're heading back a whole 4 episodes to dip back into the world of Sonic The Hedgehog. Just weeks after 'murdering' the Blue Blur, we're bringing him back through popular (some) demand with Rich checking out Sonic 1 & 2 AGAIN (Sega Master System). Will childhood memories be spiked? Next, we head back to look at something we (sorta) reviewed over a year ago in Episode 12... Locoroco rolls back into our lives but this time we're focusing more on Locoroco 2 (PSP) and how well it holds up against the original. Fazz famously(!) declared Locoroco as his favourite PSP game of all time giving it 10/10. This was wrongly removed from our arbitrary score rankings in Episode 41... by Fazz. Now, he wants to put some respect back on Locoroco's name. Respect he removed.... because he's an idiot. We also discuss how 'samey' sequels should be??? Enjoy the pod.

Hi Podfans. Are you ready for a hat-o-full of crazy, irreverent indie gaming kookiness? Take your pick from the following in this weeks 'Freeplay Fortnightly' episode... • A main protagonist who is dating birds in a powerpoint format (Hatoful Boyfriend, PS Vita). • A skating sim where aliens REALLY want you to land a hardflip on a rainbow (Olli Olli World Rad Edition, Nintendo Switch). Which ever path you choose, we hope you struggle as much as we did to arbitrarily score these games this week! Enjoy the pod.

Yiasoo and Bonjour podfans! You join us as the podcast swan dives straight into Cyprus at the start 13th century and somehow ends up in French Louisiana at the end of the 18th century through the magic of the Templar Animus. This week we both take a 'stab' at playing the PSP and PS Vita versions of the Assassin's creed franchise, Bloodlines and Liberation. Bloodlines (PSP) was released in 2009 as a direct sequel to the original Assassin's Creed on PS3 whilst Liberation (PS Vita) acts as a spin off to ACIII from 2012. Do both games do enough to earn a place in the Creed or are they simply just Ab(surd)stergo? We really had to crowbar that in there. Finally, we discuss a really important subject... What is the most successful 'Creed' ever? We probably put too much effort into this portion of the pod but I'm sure you'll invite it into your heart 'with arms wide open'... Enjoy the pod.

SURPRISE POD FANS!!! We bet you didn't see that coming did ya? Well thats not the only shock in store this week as we asked each other to 'Do Something Unexpected' in our latest Freeplay Fortnightly episode. Whatever that meant was left up to each co-host and it seems that this particular podcast isn't very retro at all. First order of business... a very surprising, unplanned high score SHMUP battle broke out between your co-hosts on Raiden IV X Mikado (Nintendo Switch). Who would come out on top and would the battle threaten the very existence of the podcast due to 'ungentlemanly conduct'?! Oddly, the oldest game played this week was... Fortnite at the grand old age of 7 years (Nintendo Switch). But fear not, its worth listening to hear Rich's skin crawl as he tries to get 'down with the kids'. Lastly, Fazz drops a bombshell on everyone as he decides that he should do some ruddy exercise and found a way to combine it with video gaming by investing some time into Ring Fit Adventure (Nintendo Switch). Can he defeat Dragraux, save the nation of Sporta and avoid the threat of type 2 diabetes? Tune in to find out. Enjoy the pod.

Hi there Ropodniks This week on the pod we decided it was time to talk about Sonic the Hedgehog. Back in Episode 18, we voted Sonic #3 on our list of Video Game Mascots and last week #BAFTA voted Sonic #4 in their list of most Iconic Video Game Characters Ever so he's clearly a very important spiny mammal to us all. So why are most of his video games bang average and does he deserve the pedestal he stands upon? We take a spin through Sonic's back catalogue and decide... Is Sonic actually any good??? We've taken a selection of Sonic based media this week to help us decide: - Sonic Rivals (PSP) - Sonic Superstars (Nintendo Switch) - Sonic Mania (Nintendo Switch) - Sonic 3 and Knuckles (Mega Drive) - Sonic CD (Mega CD) - Sonic 3D blast (Mega Drive) - Sonic Chaos (Master System) - The Murder of Sonic The Hedgehog (Steam) - Sonic TV Shows ranked! - Sounds of Sonic 2 Enjoy the Pod.

Ho now Podders Welcome to our Freeplay Fortnightly episode where we both pick a video game that we want to play and keep it secret from our co-host. We then review said game on the podcast and ask our co-host to score the game out of 10 based on our review. Simple? You bet we are! This week we review two classics. It just so happens that one is only 40 days old and one is about 9300 days old. And that was all just a dream too... (30 year old spoiler alert!) Rich takes on the new Poker-themed roguelike Balatro and does a great job of explaining what it is and how accessible the game is for gamblers of all shapes and sizes. From a deck of cards to the deck of a ship, washed up on the shores of Koholint Island where the Wind-fish lies in slumber... Or some absolute bollocks along those lines anyways. Fazz bites the bullet and dives into the world of Link for the first time proper in his life and takes on Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening DX for Gameboy Colour. And hes totally aligned with its status as a classic. Isnt he? We ask important questions such as: -How quick can you pick up the pace of popular Balatro? - Will Dodongo snakes will haunt Fazz's dreams for weeks? - Koholint Island is MENTAL. Now wheres the hole in the wall??? Finally we spend more time chewing over a question Rich posted all the way back in Episode 13. Should we remaster classics like Links Awakening or should we really be remastering average games? Enjoy the pod. Link in Bio

Hi Podghast warriors This week we're dipping our toes into the area of Alpha Centurai where the planets of Vekta and Helghan reside. Thats right, we're fully inside the 'Killzone'. A series, it turns out, we know very little about. But we're not sure that's actually our fault... We're taking an (isometric) view on the battle between the warring ISA/Helghast factions through our Sony handhelds. Fazz is aggressively assaulting Killzone Liberation on PSP whilst Rich is our gun for hire targeting Killzone Mercenary on the PS Vita. Finally we disagree on which angle is the best to view games from which of course is super unimportant but we chew it over anyways! Enjoy the pod.

Hi Murderous Podronauts Welcome to our Freeplay Fortnightly episode where we both pick a video game that we want to play and keep it secret from our co-host. We then review said game on the podcast and ask our co-host to score the game out of 10 based on our review. Simple? You bet we are! This week there was fear in the camp we'd picked the same game for absolutely no reason other than we are just small terrified mammals at heart. Speaking of small terrified animals, Rich sent some into galactic battle in the guise of Starfox 64 (N64) although he does show some concern for their expected lifespan. Fazz meanwhile displays a complete lack of knowledge for any video gaming history at all demanding to know "Is it ANYTHING AT ALL like Dariusburst?" at several points during the pod. On the flipside, Fazz has absolutely no concerns for the lifespan of anybody at all whilst reviewing Hotline Miami (Nintendo Switch). In fact... the more people we kill with doors, the better. So much so, we even begin to drool at one point... How good are these games? Crack open this pod's gooey insides with a Billy club to find out!

Hi Pod Peeps "This must be just like living in (Dead or Alive) paradise and I desperately, desperately want to go home..." David Lee Roth. This week we take a dive into Dead or Alive, understand the allure of Soul Calibur and we do it all through the power of our aging but beloved Sony handhelds. Rich loves a fighting game. Fazz loves debauchery. There's a bucketful of both in this week's pod. Do they make for good bedfellows in a video game?! Enjoy the pod.

Hi Poddogs, In this episode we're inviting you to 'rub an unfeasibly long sausage dog' in a dead hero's crypt. It's exactly as it sounds we're afraid... Before we do any of that, we spend some time discussing demo discs once again. This leads to the age old question... Who or what is Net Yaroze and is he friends with The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha?!? The reason we're banging on about demo discs again is that one of of our games is effectively a tech demo for the PS Vita, Frobisher Says! (2012) and the other is a PSP reimagining of an original game which was probably one of the most played demo's on the PS1, Medievil Resurrection (2005). What does Frobisher actually say and why is Kevin Eldon, of low level comedy fame, distracting Rich's wife so much? Was reviving Dan Fortesque on the PSP a wise idea? Could Dan have been Playstation's unofficial mascot? Will the Medievil online community go medieval on Fazz as he reveals he's not quite as enamoured with the series as he thought he might be? Find out the answer to these questions and more as we take on the Galllowmere graveyard shift this week. Hopefully there is enough moonlight around for the PS Vita's camera to function correctly...

Happy Birthday to you... Let's not do a game review. Why not look at a long list by GQ? Happy Birthday to yooouuuuuu! Hi Pod Party Well we made it... a whole year of podcasting that nobody asked for. How did we celebrate (nobody asks)? We take GQ magazine's 100 greatest video games of all time article from 2023 and draft our own squads of '10 best games we've played' and '5 games we want to play but have never played'. https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/best-video-games-all-time Why not check out the article and answer this question: Which games would you draft and why? Thank you to everyone who has listened over the past year. We hope you're enjoying our content. We appreciate you! Fazz and Rich

Greetings Podders. Motorstorm dropped as a launch title for the PlayStation 3 in 2006/2007 and took the world... by... storm?!? Yeah... That probably works. But what then? Well after a well received follow up in the form of Pacific Rift, the series went the only place it could go next, the PSP... And the PS2?! Arctic edge-y? You bet. The last time Motorstorm was spotted in the wild was in an RC version on the PS Vita in 2012, over 12 years ago. And according to Rich... it was barely even an overcast cloud of a game. Whatever happened to Motorstorm and will it ever come back?! Enjoy the pod.

"This is definitely a good idea..." Concept: We both picked 4 x PS1 demo disks at random from the UK Official Playstation Magazine with no prior knowledge of what is on each disk. We then played through each disk and brought our thoughts/feelings back to the table. What we actually brought back was a weird bowl of nostalgic goo full of random crazy Playstation tidbits. Were demo disks a great value addition to gaming magazines? Dip your head into aforementioned goo to find out! Enjoy the pod.

It's a funny word 'Tomb'. If you say it enough times in a row, it can lose all sense and meaning. How about if you play a bunch of Tomb Raider games in a row? How about if all those Tomb Raider games are a spaghetti mess of remakes and remasters and retelling?! Yes yes... we're fully aware that Tomb Raider I-III remastered has just dropped but is the newest retread of Lara Croft's life really necessary? We almost certainly don't have the answer but we play through some of the Tomb Raider back catalogue to help us make a decision anyway. This week we poke around in Croft Manor to unearth the skeletons of the following games: - Tomb Raider I (PS1) - Tomb Raider II (PS1) - Tomb Raider Legend (PSP) - Tomb Raider Anniversary (PS3 HD) As long as someone murders a polygonal butler, We're happy. Enjoy the pod.

Hi podboppers. Welcome to our Freeplay Fortnightly episode where we both pick a retro game that we want to play and keep it secret from our co-host. We then review said game on the podcast and ask our co-host to score the game out of 10 based on our review. Simple? You bet we are! This episode unravels within the first four seconds and then gets crazy from there. We just about pull ourselves together to review some games and then some magazines and then some more games. When we're on task we manage to review Donkey Kong Country (SNES), Suika Game (Switch), Carmeggedon64 (N64) and evolving games. When we're off task we have a real introspective look at our podcast relationship, we talk sexy monkeys and how you should really try not to seep through someone's letterbox. It's just not okay. Enjoy the pod.

Hi didily ho podderinos... Welcome to (2) episode 47 (74) of the podcast. Tenuous link: 742. 742 Evergreen terrace. Get it? This week on the podcast we're reporting back from the Leeds Video Game Market we attended at the weekend which was... fun??? We've also played Pursuit Force (PSP) and The Simpsons Game (PSP) which were... fun??? We'll also have a little silly diversion talking about our favourite Simpsons episodes and a (Trivial) Pursuit force quiz! This definitely was... fun??? Remember you don't win friends with salad or the terrible, terrible ordeal of this specific podcast... Enjoy the pod.

Welcome to our Freeplay Fortnightly episode (which we last did on 27th November last year of course) where we both pick a retro game that we want to play and keep it a secret from our cohost. We then review said game on the podcast and ask our cohost to score the game out of 10 based on our review. Simple. You bet we are! This week we've lumped for Alex Kidd In Miracle World (Sega Master System, 1986) and Gears of War Ultimate edition (Xbox One, 2015/Xbox 360, 2006) Vital talking points this episode include: - Rock, Paper, Piss - Classy yawning - Falling in... a massive pile of affection Enjoy the pod.

Hello you sinful gamers out there. Something wicked this way comes... its LLVL's Guilty Gaming Pleasures! What is a Guilty pleasure? Oxford English dictionary defines it as: "Something, such as a film, television programme, or piece of music, that one enjoys despite feeling that it is not generally held in high regard." Its 2024 so we'll just deny and ignore this definition and do whatever we the hell we want with it instead. Here are OUR guilty gaming pleasures. We hope you enjoy them. We think? Because if you enjoy them, are they really guilty pleasures?!? Ah... who cares... Exciting tidbits to listen out for: - Actual Tit Bits (Dead or Alive) - Opposites attracting (Call Of Duty) - 'Haggard as Fuck' Tag Team Champs (AEW Fight Forever) Enjoy the pod.

Hello Podgoers. Welcome to Part 2 of our Final Fantasy Extravaganza. We continue to annoy and antagonise Rich's wife Fiona, our resident Final Fantasist, who in turn decides to Trojan horse the pod with her own agenda. She's a regular Yuffie Kisaragi alright. The Final Fantasy series does a great job wandering around aimlessly (just an opinion!) and so, we too, will meander away from the mainline games this week and take a look at the following maelstrom of fantastical voyages: - Final Fantasy Tactics: WOTL (PSP) - Final Fantasy XV Pocket (PS4) and sneaky Final Fantasy XV (PS4) - Final Fantasy Crisis Core Reunion (Switch) Most importantly we pontificate: - Is Tug of War a spin off from Medieval times? - Would Vivenne Westwood have enjoyed FFXV's side quests? - Is Pronto going to win a Photography of the Year competition? Perhaps not. Enjoy the pod.

Ho there fair Podmaidens! Happy 2024 to the lot of ya. We hope you all had a festive period full of frivolity. To continue the theme of overindulgence, we've decided to super size our pod this time and hit the Final Fantasy franchise hard. We've invited Rich's wife, Fiona, along for the journey. A bigger fellowship means more FF coverage after all. Over the next 2 pods we will delve deep into the Square Enix series. This week we take a detailed look at: - Final Fantasy IV 3D (Nintendo DS) - Final Fantasy XVI (PS5) - Final Fantasy VI (SNES Mini) Are you not entertained?! Don't answer that. We'll also hit a bunch of FF tropes and talk about which of the series is nearest and dearest to our hearts. Enjoy the pod.

Welcome to another edition of 'Freeplay Fortnightly' where we both pick a video game that we want to play and keep it secret from our co-host. We then review said game on the podcast and ask our co-host to score the game out of 10 based on our review. Simple? You bet we are! In March, we walked through GQ's Best 100 Video Games and Fazz was appalled to learn how few had played. He's already taken care of a couple of candidates this year and decided it was time to take on a very popular game he, somehow, knows extremely little about, 2K's Bioshock (2007, Xbox 360). Like... literally... absolutely nothing... • Why is it called 'Bioshock'? • Will Big Daddy give him a big hug? • Why are you making me get inside this Bathysphere?!? Rich has also barrelled into the FPS/horror sub-genre this week with a playthrough of Trepang² (2023, PC). You know when a games studio names a game after itself, it's gonna be an absolute belter... Probably. • Should he have shot all of those weird cultists in Goole? • When will the story hang together? Does it ever? • Why can't Fazz read the room and score Rich's freeplay better?!? We cap things off with a swift chat about mute protagonists: Yay or nay? Silent nod or shake of the fist?! Enjoy the pod.

Hello there, Podfans. Welcome to the world of (Twitchplays)Pokemon! 10 years ago, a simple social experiment started on the streaming channel Twitch created by a freelance Australian computer programmer. The premise: Play through and complete Pokemon Red. How? By allowing followers on the Twitch stream to enter commands (A, B, Direction, Start) for the protagonist to follow. Sounds easy, right? It was anything but. Over 1.1 million viewers tuned in over an 18-day period with over 80,000 people live during its peak. Every one of these viewers had the ability to input actions. Inevitably, Chaos ensued. 10 years later, we've decided to reissue the Reddit recap of this playthrough of one of the coolest mass gaming experiences of all time in a mini audio book. https://www.reddit.com/r/twitchplayspokemon/wiki/historyoftpp_gen1/ Watch TwitchPlaysPokemon with me on Twitch! https://www.twitch.tv/twitchplayspokemon?sr=a Enjoy the pod.

Happy End of Calendar Year to All! T'is the season to provide others with gifts and here is ours, to you, the listening public. The kicker is that the gift is an already chewed dog toy wrapped in tinfoil and it's not even completely wrapped either. The tinfoil is falling off and it's inadvertently choked some of the local wildlife... where was I heading with this again??? Anyway... This year, since we started our podcast, we have reviewed 94 different games, consoles and even a viral infection. We have ranked them all arbitrarily out of 10 and we spend the best part of 2 hours re-ranking them all again within their own score bracket. Who will win the best 3/10 game of the year? I'm sure you're all on tenter? ... tender? ... no, its definitely tenterhooks. We really hope you love having a retroactive look at some retro games in further detail. Some of the last few fleeting thoughts of 2023 include... - I've never fisticuffed anyone before... - Why are some games like chewing gum? - How the hell did the Lion King get in here 3 times?! Enjoy the pod.

Hi retrofans This week, we take some time out of our busy gaming schedules to do some reading. But it's not just any old book... This year Retro Gamer released a special bookazine dedicated to Handheld Gaming so we decided to take a deep dive into the history of handheld gaming and ask some questions: - Which is the best handheld console ever made according to Retro Gamer and us too! - Which is your favourite Handheld you've played and why? - Which retro Handheld would you love to own now? You can buy the special bookazine here: https://www.magazinesdirect.com/az-magazines/60081851/the-handheld-gaming-collection.thtml?j=BKZ *We are not sponsored by Retro Gamer* Enjoy the pod!

Hey pod fans We're exactly three quarters of the way through our first year of podcasting so its definitely time to talk about our favourite sandwiches. Why have we waited so long?!? Okay okay... we're really here to review Daxter (PSP) and Gravity Rush (PS Vita) and at least half of these games are better than a generic every day sandwich. In fact... could one of these games be one of the best handheld games ever??? Rounding out the lunchtime meal deal this week... - Is this the best collectable process ever? - How do you go about dodging yourself?! - Mmm... Sandwiches... Enjoy the pod.