Explore every episode of the podcast Optional Boss Podcast

With the PS5 Pro coming out soon, Josh and Tyler decide to take a look back at Sony, Sega, Xbox and Nintendo to see what they have don. Console variations is nothing new, however within the recent generations thy have substantially changed.

This also starts year 3 of The Optional Boss Podcast! Thank you so much to everyone who has joined us on this journey, we've been having a blast!

Nothing quite like getting hyped for something coming out soon(TM), but what if it never does come out? What if radio silence happens and we have no idea what's going on with the title? Or, in a more cheerful fashion, what happens if it does come out and lives up to its hype? Gaming Hype has taken over and Josh and Tyler discuss titles they are hyped for, where hype has killed anticipation, what hype has done to our wallets in the past as well! All this in another new rambly episode!

Welcome to the Optional Boss Podcast where sometimes the hosts, Josh and Tyler, divulge into wacky wonder as they perform their own chance time mischief and give each badly described game plots for the other to figure out. Some are pretty simple but damn some are super convoluted! Feel free to play along and see how many you get! Feel free to let us know on our socials over at:

Twitter: http://twitter.com/optionalbossPC

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This episode Josh and Tyler touch on the older days of the virtual console and dive into what is now known as the Nintendo Switch Online Server. Retro games released officially by Nintendo, what they enjoy, what they don't like and what we guess the future entails.

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In this episode we discuss something that really sucks to see, the industry layoffs. We figured we shouldn't stay silent (As some major industry influencers have) and at least discuss some of the tragedies that have happened so far this year. We do try to keep it lighthearted as we do with every episode and hope you enjoy it!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OptionalBossPC

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/optionalbosspc

Mana is one of those series that we feel doesn't get enough love, especially now-a-days. With Visions of Mana lingering around the corner sometime this year, Josh and Tyler sit down with fellow Canadian content creator, KBash, as we all discuss and joygasm over the Mana series together as we wait patiently to see what the future of the series holds in store!

Special thanks to KBash for taking the time from his busy schedule and joining us on this episode, please go check out his content over on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@KBash

or Social media at https://twitter.com/KBashShow

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Twitter: https://twitter.com/optionalbosspc

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Josh and Tyler dive into some of their favorite games that spark nostalgia. Doesn't matter which system, how old it is or if it's deemed "Retro".

ToadieZzz has returns to guide Josh & Tyler through the second annual Bossie Awards.

First episode of 2024 and we are already looking back on 2023... sort of anyways. Reflection on the year past and we discuss the future and what 2024 may bring for us! Maybe this will be the year we can start sorting through our backlogs finally!

We also dive in for expectations and what we are planning for the podcast in the coming year as well!

Also new year means a new challenge, at the end of the episode we discuss the challenge title Josh and Tyler both had and we have now issued new ones for 2024!

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The game awards have come and gone. Last episode we took a look at the nominations and took our best guess what who would win what. This episode we discuss the award winners and all the announcements that took place as well as rambled about the abysmal state of the awards show this year

The Game Award season is among us once again as Josh and Tyler ramble on about the 2023 nominations, make our best guestimates and once again skip 90% of the e-sports stuff cause they know nothing.

Josh and Tyler are trying something by the Fly of our Sheets, Critic the Critic is planned to be a new mini series (akin to the Mindies, Oops Just Ramble, Launch Years) where they break down game journalist's top tier lists and... well rip em apart, question them and criticize the critic. This episode is on IGN's Top 25 MUST play for the Gameboy Advance

What really is retro when you talk about it in 2024? Josh and Tyler discuss about checking out titles we never got to back in the day and how archaic they can be to new comers who have never experienced what we know as retro. Do we give NES games slack for its jank because they are "retro" or are they legitimately good. There may be some bias in this video, we just wanted to talk old games

It's been a few episodes without a classic Optional Boss List of launch titles so lets dive into the wonderful polygonal world that was the N64 and its launch titles.... ok the year and a bit because wow that launch year was short and small!

Twitter and Instagram: @OptionalBossPC

The world of game collecting is a weird and strange thing. Instead of wallowing in the fact Josh or Tyler cannot afford some neat old things, they ramble about them instead! Episode 26 we each picked 5-10 games and got the current price they go for as we try to guess their value while dropping a bit of a tid bit sized info dump on each title. Enjoy this episode now as it will age like milk!

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Instagram: @OptionalBossPC

Twitter: @OptionalBossPC

1 Year of Optional Boss Podcast! We made it and it's only right to celebrate talking about one of our favorite games, Blasphemous. This episode we just stick to Blasphemous, aside from the intro rambles of course. Relatively spoiler free until the second half, we give you a good warning!

Todays episode is about limited print games from companies such as Limited Run Games, Special Reserve, Strictly Limited, Super Rare Games and many more. Being physical collectors that we are, we spent some time talking about where a huge portion of each of our libraries came from, how those companies are now and dive into a small talk about why collecting is fun for us!

Oops... this episode is all rambles, the kind of rambles we do well however! We decided instead of having a dedicated topic we would take some time and just talk gaming stuff, from upcoming releases we are looking forward to, hot takes and opinions, things we have planned for the future of the podcast and hell, even some games we don't think will be great but we will dive in regardless! Come join us on a ramble filled episode!

On this episode Josh and Tyler take a trip down, what we consider, the golden years of Rareware games. From the early games of Donkey Kong Country to Conkers Bad Fur day and Banjo Kazooie.... and I suppose Golden Eye too.

We said we would do this episode and here it is! We dive into some of the titles we want to play but lacking the time, how we handle the backlog and we wanna hear new ways to deal with that pile of games waiting for their chance in the sun! Lets go!

On this episode our hosts demonstrate their rambling skills to discuss their history and thoughts on gaming demos, what comes to mind and what makes them great, or not so great.

On this episode our hosts along with special guest Toadiezzz discuss their nostalgia and history with the Pokémon franchise. This is a big episode for a big franchise and the big impact it has had. Find ToadieZZZ on

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/toadiezzz

Twitter: https://twitter.com/toadiezzz

On this episode our hosts examine the launch of the Gameboy Advance in their trademark rambling manner and see if it was worth being first in line for this legendary handheld.

A sequel dynasty, or something. This episode Josh and Tyler dive into the topic of games that contain 2 (Two?) in it, so yes mostly sequels. But they try to emphasize those games of two that made drastic changes or swapped the formula around... crap we left out Helldivers. Games of Two everyone!

Our hosts get into the real stresses of being a gamer as they discuss a phenomena that plagues us all, abandoning a game well into playing it. It's not always a nice feeling and something we all try to avoid but sometimes it just happens.

Welcome to episode 16 of The Optional Boss Podcast

Growing up in the 90's has caused both Josh and Tyler to have some hearty nostalgia for those good old DOS Games. Some of them hold up, some of them are outright atrocious, some of them just don't live up to how we remember them. Join us for a trip down memory lane as we discuss a select few of the thousands of DOS games and relive our past (And possibly yours).

Welcome one and all to another episode of the Optional Boss Podcast with another Exceptional Optional Boss Guest, Crev! Crev is a long time Final Fantasy fan and we couldn't be happier when she agreed to join us for a discussion on the main line entries in to this long running franchise as we breakdown and discuss entries 1-15, what we love, what we hate and gush about the ones we adore! We had a lot of fun making this episode and hope you will enjoy it as well!

Feel free to drop Crev a follow on twitch and twitter using the links below:

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/Crev

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CrevLMTV

What happens when there isn't enough launch titles to make an episode out of? Bite off more than we can chew by upgrading it to a year! Josh & Tyler dive into every game we could find that released for the SNES in its first year on the market in North America and give our thoughts (Or in some cases lack of)

Let us know your favorite title that dropped in its first year over on Twitter or Instagram @optionalbosspc

The NES was such a special system for its time and still holds a place in our hearts, rightfully so! Today Josh and Tyler take a look back at the Nintendo created and published "black box" titles and discuss what we know, what we enjoy and what we dislike about them!

Feel free to drop us a line on Instagram or Twitter @optionalbossPC

We heard the feedback and decided to do something about it! Mindies #2 discussion coming at you with 4 more great indie titles, Death's Gambit, A Short Hike, Deaths Door and Unsighted! This appears to be the death episode with a surprising amount of bird protagonists! Hope everyone enjoys!

This is it! The first annual Bossie Awards! Announced by ToadieYPQ and Hosted by yours truly Josh and Tyler! 10 Categories are discussed and given out the exception Bossie Awards of excellence and we break into the new year!

Josh and Tyler love the NES and the NES Mini was such a wonderful item when they came out... but what if they came out with a new iteration, say a top-loader NES Mini? This episode they dive into and try to create a well rounded NES game line up of games (Without duplicates from the NES Mini). Clearly just wishful thinking and wouldn't exist, but what if?

Whoops we did this again! Early release to wrap up our discussion on mini-consoles. We discuss the libraries of the PS1 Classic and Sega Genesis Mini 1 and once again get a little carried away with the time!

Like the title says, this is part 1 of our look at the main line mini-consoles. Was intended to include the PS1 Classic and Genesis Mini 1 but things got a little in-depth! Part 2 will release next week!

In the meantime we do a fairly deep dive into all the games on the Nes Classic and Snes classic consoles, debate on which games were great choices and which ones were not so much! Come join us for a lengthy discussion as we dive head first into some beautiful nostalgia!

Josh and Tyler dive into some obscure but fantastic indie games. Tyler has decided this style of episode will be called Mindie Episodes, where we pull up a bunch of fun games that wouldn't make an entire episode alone and gives us a chance to gush on them a little. Games in this episode are:
Astalon: Tears of the Earth - 14:56
Carrion - 38:22
Narita Boy - 51:04
Tails of Iron - 1:09:34

Grab some popcorn, cause for our first Mindie, it's a long one! Enjoy!

Josh and Tyler dive into games they want to experience for the first time again, whether its due to story beats or sense of discovery!

Tyler and Josh get into a discussion about turn based battle mechanics, the pro's and cons of those mechanics, and are random encounters outdated. Two polarizing opinions meet head to head and while there is no winner, hopefully leads to some thought provoking points to leave you with!

With the successful launch of Elden Ring's DLC Shadow of the Erdtree, Josh and Tyler take a moment to reflect on what the genre "Souls-Like" means... loosely anyways. From King's Field to Demon Souls to Dark Souls to Elden Ring and what some good "Souls-Like" games are, what we enjoy, what could be better and what to look forward too!

Oops... we did it again! This episode is all rambles, the kind of rambles we do well however! We decided instead of having a dedicated topic we would take some time and just talk gaming stuff, from upcoming releases we are looking forward to, hot takes and opinions, things we have planned for the future of the podcast and hell, even some games we don't think will be great but we will dive in regardless! Come join us on a ramble filled episode!

It is finally time for Tyler to shine! We are talking the OG DMG, otherwise known as the Nintendo Gameboy, the grey brick the rules the 80's and 90's kids lives for those long road trips. In this episode we discuss memories, the games we played back in the day, what we wish we had and those wacky accessories like the Ultraboy!

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On this episode Josh and Tyler dive into all the previous GOTY and their respective contenders. Looking back at things really gave a good drive of nostalgia and reminded us of how good these past years have been

Despite Josh saying its episode 56 in a classic brain fart of dialogue dislexia, Welcome to episode 65 where we discuss box art descriptions, you know, the things on the back of the box that try to sell you on the game before we had internet like today. Assuming it wasn't caged up behind a glass pane. Josh and Tyler go head to head reading box art descriptions and attempt to figure out where they have come from, play along at home and let us know how you made out!

It would make sense to talk about the N64 for episode 64 right? Nah, instead Josh and Tyler take another top list and critique it, this time it's Gamerants top 32 games of the 90's. Not gonna lie some of them threw us off, fairly decent list but certainly a questionable order

We all have those titles that we just never had a chance to get around to and honestly, it kinda sucks. This episode Josh and Tyler discuss some of the titles that may eventually get played, but would of been better back in the day

The wacky world of "innovative" controls, some good some bad and some are just some wacky accessories for gaming. This episode we discuss some of the more bizarre controllers and control methods gaming has seen to date

We all have those games we get sucked into, love it and may not like admitting it. This episode Josh and Tyler discuss some of their guilty pleasure games and those they get sucked into

This episode Josh and Tyler discuss what they would consider the best end all be all Nintendo Console Tier list.... Handhelds can come too

With the Bossie's around the corner, Josh and Tyler discuss the vents and what they played this past year